Friday night fools

At the end of a long week me and Anna took on the Friday night game at St. Andrew. We were both very tired. On arrival I claimed I'd never been there before, but I have, several times.

For the second session in a row I bid a Grand Slam while missing a key card. Last time I played it and got away with it, this time I landed Anna in it. She didn't like it. This was her trump suit in 7♠:

AT9732

Q64

The only hope is to play for a singleton King (or singleton Jack). Anna played for a singleton King and cashed the Ace. The King didn't drop and my foolish bidding had doomed us again.

The good news was that we didn't lose all the Matchpoints as some people went down in 6♠, because the King-Jack were both offside. Anna wisely said that if she was in 6♠ she still would have cashed the Ace first, rather than finessing twice. I disupted this, thinking the finesse was better. Just now I looked up the correct way to play this combination on Suitplay. Anna was right of course, with nine trumps holding AQT9 between the hands you cash the Ace first, with only eight you finesse.

Here's a hand where we were both a little silly (Board 2 here).

NS vul E deal ♠ 9 4 2 ♥ Q 9 5 4 ♦ T 9 ♣ 8 7 5 2 ♠ A K 7 5 3 ♥ A T 6 3 ♦ 8 6 3 ♣ K 2 14 7 17 ♠ J T 6 ♥ J 8 7 2 ♦ Q 5 4 2 ♣ Q J ♠ Q 8 ♥ K ♦ A K J 7 ♣ A T 9 6 4 3

Danny Anna W N E S - 1♣ 1♠ - 2♠ 3♣ 3♥ - 4♥ -

South opened 1♣. I was sitting West and overcalled 1♠. Anna was very courteous and gave me a courtesy raise of 2♠. South came back in with 3♣ and I had a decision to make. With a sixth Spade I'd bid 3♠ straight away. As it is I have 14 points but lots of losers. I didn't like my three small Diamonds, but in the end I liked the idea of making a descriptive 3♥ bid so much I went for it. Anna had a total minimum but liked the double fit so much she found a raise.

That was the final contract, 4♥ by West. North lead a Diamond, and when I saw dummy it was pretty clear I was going loads down.

The defence was good. They quickly took three Diamonds. Then South shrewdly cashed her Ace of Clubs. This was necessary to stop me throwing away a losing Club on a subsequent Diamond lead (Anna pulled a similar move later on in the evening). So the defence already had four tricks. Then South played the killer fourth Diamond through. I was on the ball (it was still early) and envisioned the Heart layout. I ruffed with the Ten and West over-ruffed with the Queen. I then won the Spade return, cashed the Ace of trumps, dropping Souths's King and finessed North. Bingo! Still two down though.

Such is the power of a double fit that even though we went two off, we didn't get too bad a score on the hand. -100 compared well with -110 for North-South making 11 tricks in Clubs. Overall me and Anna got 48%, for 5th place East-West pair.

Notes from Norman

These are some things I learnt from Norman's bridge class at the Buchanan Club last Thursday.

1. Strong replies to 1NT.

We play that any three level response to 1NT is a slam try with a good six card suit and a good hand. For example:

W	N	E	S
1NT	-	3♦	-

What about opener's next bid? It works like this:

3♥/3♠	Natural, showing 5 card suit and suggesting 5-3 fit
3NT	Jx or worse in responder's suit
Anything else	Cue Bid, with Qx/xxx or better in responder's suit.

The auction at the top actually happened with me and Norman. I was the 1NT opener who had to rebid. I had ♠KJx ♥KQx ♦xxxx ♣AJx . What's my bid? With Norman's help I got it right on the third attempt (4♣).

2. Finesse or Drop?

In the hand above I actually ended up in 6♦ (as did Anna on the other table). We had one clear trump loser, so needed to play this Spade suit for no loser.

KJx

Axx

It looks like with only six cards the only sensible thing to do is finesse. But actually, you can do better. Norman's advice is this. Play off all your other winners, so you're down to just the Spade suit. This is risky, as if you now lose the lead you'll lose the rest, but is the best chance to make your slam. As you're playing off winners count the Spades being discarded. If there's four enemy Spades left you play for the drop, if there's five Spades left you finesse.

As it happened I got a nice Spade lead and made the slam. Anna didn't and had to finesse and go one off.

3. Check your checkback

After the following type of auction:

W	N	E	S
1♣	-	1♠	-
1NT	-	?

What can East rebid with extra length in Majors?

2♣	Checkback, with 5 Spades or 4 Hearts (or both).
3♥	5 Spades 5 Hearts or better
3♦	5 Spades 5 Diamonds or better

As a follow up point on Checkback, suppose the auction is:

W	N	E	S
1♣	-	1♥	-
1NT	-	2♣	-
?

West is being asked if he has three Hearts or four Spades. What should he reply if he has both? The surprise answer is that he should bypass bidding 2♥ and go for the 4-4 fit by bidding 2♠. That way if you have a double fit you play in the 4-4 fit and not the 5-3 (note this is different from normal Stayman, where if you've both Majors you bid 2♥, the lower bid).

4. Jumps to the five level.

This causes a lot of confusion. I think it's always going to be a bit confusing. Here's a summary of what it means when you jump to either 5 trumps or 5NT.

In an auction where it's not clear what trumps is:

5NT	Pick a slam

In an uncontested auction when you've agreed trumps:

5 trumps	Small slam invite. Bid 6 with 'good' trumps.
5NT	Grand slam invite. Bid 7 with two of AKQ in trumps.

In a contested auction:

5 trumps	Small slam invite. Bid 6 with second round control (King or singleton) in opponent's suit
5NT	Grand slam invite as before.

Gone to Gorenberry

In a cottage in the Borders last weekend. To my surprise, after batting around a balloon for about twenty minutes, we played a few hands of bridge.

There were some good hands, and powerful bidding:

Love all E deal ♠ A J x x x ♥ Q x x ♦ Q x ♣ J x x ♠ Q T x ♥ x x x ♦ K x x x x ♣ x x 10 5 16 9 ♠ - ♥ A K J T x x ♦ A x x x ♣ A x x ♠ K x x x x ♥ x ♦ J x ♣ K Q T x x

Neil Anna Danny Andy W N E S 1♥ 1♠ - 3♠ 4♥ 4♠ - - -

I had a monster hand as East. We were playing with no conventions, certainly not Reverse Benji, so I had an easy 1♥ opening bid. Andy sitting South was bold enough to overcall 1♠. West passed. As we were all playing with simplified bidding Anna supported Andy with a nice bid of 3♠. Although this takes up space it quite suited me, as I could then show all the power of my hand by coming in again with a big 4♥. The only downside was that it might have given the impression that you just bid wildly with a monster hand regardless of what partner has (and everyone knows I never do that).

Andy's instinct was to come in again with a bid of 4♠. This was queried but someone (Louise?) checked his hand and gave him the all clear. 4♠ it was, passed out.

In the play Neil was advised to lead a Heart. I won this first trick with the ♥T, and tried another Heart, which was ruffed. Anna moved round from dummy to advise Andy on the play. Four losers were detected. After drawing trumps (finessing West) there was a desperate attempt to set up Clubs to avoid Diamond losers. I ducked the Ace of Clubs on the first round (don't know why), but won the second Club and brilliantly switched to a Diamond. One off!

Consolation for Andy (who played well), is that 4♥ makes easily.

Too good for Benji

Went for a romantic night out with Anna at the Bridge Club last Tuesday. She didn't fancy the No Fear Tournament, so we headed upstairs to Norman's class. Tony had saved a seat for Anna, and when Norman asked Anna where she was going to sit Tony quickly offered the spare seat and Anna sat down. I sat on another table, back to back with my date. How did this happen?

It was a typical madhouse at Norman's Class. On Anna's table Alan was on fine form, and on my table Elma and my partner were in a riotous mood too.

Here's a board where, with Norman coaxing the bidding along, we got to the right contract:

Love all S deal ♠ K Q J x x ♥ 9 x ♦ J T x x ♣ x x ♠ A x x x ♥ K J x x x ♦ x x ♣ Q J 7 11 5 17 ♠ x x x x ♥ x x ♦ K Q x x ♣ 9 x x ♠ - ♥ A Q T x ♦ A x x ♣ A K T 8 x x

Danny W N E S 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ - 3♣ - - -

I had the big South hand and didn't know what to open. I thought the hand was strong enough, and the Clubs good enough, that I ought to open a Reverse Benji 2♦. Norman advised against this though, saying that as my hand also had good Hearts I'd be better opening 1♣. I approved, as I never like opening Benji Twos.

West overcalled 1♥, partner bid 1♠ and I had another dilemma. Norman says never to bid 3NT with a void in partner's suit so I went for 3♣, passed out.

I could potentially lose two Diamonds, two Hearts and a Club, but actually it went a lot better than that. West led the ♠A, which I ruffed. I now had three top Spades in dummy, but no way to reach them. I played two rounds of trumps, then gave up the third round of trumps to East. She recklessly played a low Diamond, which I won in dummy, and cashed three my three Spade winners, throwing two Diamonds and a Heart. The only suit left was Hearts, and I still had ♥AQT in hand. Playing up to the Queen forced West to win and lead round another Heart into my Ace-Ten. So I made 11 tricks, just losing one Heart and one Club.

On the other table Tony and Anna had the same North-South cards. Tony was South and opened 2♣, and despite Anna doing all she could to slow down the auction, ended up in 5♣. Tony did not get such a favourable defence and finished in 5♣-2, duly recorded by Alan in his score sheet.

7NT

Saturday night at the Buchanan, and it's total points scoring. There's only 3 1/2 tables, which is going to cause problems later on as no one's quite sure of the movements. The expected Director is absent, so we're going to have to muddle through ourselves.

On Board One I try and be clever and put Anna in a 4-3 Heart Fit, believing it will be better than 3NT.

Love all S deal ♠ A x x ♥ T x x ♦ Q 9 x ♣ A J x x ♠ K Q J x x x ♥ J 9 x x ♦ - ♣ Q x x 11 4 9 16 ♠ x x x ♥ x x ♦ K J x x ♣ x x x x ♠ x x ♥ A K Q x ♦ A T 8 x x ♣ K x

Danny Anna W N E S 1♦ 1♠ 2♣ - 2♥ 2♠ 3♠ - 4♣ - 4♥ - - -

Anna sitting South opens 1♦ which gets overcalled with 1♠. I'm sitting North and should probably just have bid a natural 2NT here, which Anna would raise to 3NT. But instead I bid a slightly dubious 2♣, which probably ought to show five clubs. Anna showed her hand with a reverse into 2♥, and West comes in again with 2♠.

I figured that since West had bid twice, he must have decent spades but also outside high cards, so 3NT would be a bad idea. I first bid 3♠ just in case partner had a Spade stop, but Anna could only bid 4♣. So I bid 4♥, knowing it would be a 4-3 fit.

Even with partner's bumper hearts, 4♥ is very dodgy. West led the ♠K, which declarer took with the Ace. She then cashed two rounds of trumps, then started on Diamonds. Leaving a trump in dummy is a good idea, but I think you should still go down if the defence forces you in Spades. To make it you either need hearts 3-3 I think, or only one Diamond loser. But on the actual hand, after winning a Diamond, the defence played Clubs. Declarer now just lost one Heart, One Diamond and One Spade, leading to 4♥=.

3NT actually makes easily, as West has no entry. You can duck the Spade lead twice then collect around 10 other tricks at leisure. Maybe I should have realised 4♥ wasn't going to be a great contract, as since I have three Spades it's partner who has short Spades and will be ruffing in the long trump hand.

Next hand, Anna opened a weak 3♠. The rule at aggregate scoring is "Bid game if its got any chance at all", so I topped her up.

♠ Q x ♥ Q x x ♦ A J x ♣ J T 9 x x x Danny Anna W N E S - 3♠ - 4♠ - - - ♠ K T x x x x x ♥ K J x ♦ Q x x ♣ -

The hands fit well. Anna gladly ruffed the club lead. She managed to somehow avoid any Diamond losers and when trumps split 2-2 she had 11 big tricks.

That's two games Anna's made for the team. In contrast, I was only allowed to play one level contracts. First I opened 1NT, which everyone passed. That's not so unusual. Then I opened 1♥ which again everyone passed. Don't worry though, I made it. Then I had a nice hand with lots of clubs so I kicked off the bidding with 1♣. Everyone passed again! Don't you trust me partner? I made it nicely, but 1♣+1 only gave us 90 points. Why do I only get to play one level contracts? Time to kick things up a notch.

Time in fact, for a master class in Reverse Benji slam bidding.

Anna Danny W N E S 2♦1 - 2♠2 - 3♦3 - 3♠4 - 4♦5 - 4NT6 - 5♦7 - 5NT8 - 6♦9 - 7NT10 - - -

1. Eight playing tricks, with a strong suit and two outside winners. 2. Positive reply, with good spade suit. 3. My suit is diamonds. 4. How about spades for trumps? 5. No, diamonds, I already told you. 6. RKCB (in Diamonds?). 7. Showing 0/3 keycards (so must be three). 8. Excellent, any extra Kings? 9. Showing one extra King. 10. Bosh!

Here are the actual hands, which don't quite match the auction.

♠ J ♥ A x ♦ A K T 9 x x x x ♣ Q x ♠ A K Q x x x x ♥ K x ♦ J x ♣ x x

We've a bit of a hole in Clubs. I'd rather not be in 7NT. Where did it all go wrong? Let's look at the auction. Firstly, after partner's 5♦ I made a basic Ace-counting error. Partner showed three keycards, and I only have one, so we're actually one short. I also forgot about the Queen of trumps. But even though we're missing one keycard and the Queen of trumps, I decide to push on and ask for Kings with 5NT.

There's another mix up here with partner's 6♦ reply. I thought we were playing number of Kings, and partner had shown one (which mush be Clubs), but actually partner thinks we play specific King responses and she's denying the King of clubs. In my mind there's 13 tricks now - my top 3 spades, the AK of hearts, the top six diamonds, and the AK of clubs. So to stop the opponents getting a ruff I play it safe and bid 7NT. Partner may have bid diamonds five times, but I don't care. There's an argument that at total points scoring it's worth having a punt at 7NT. If you figure it's only a a 50-50 that the defence will find the killing lead, then it's worth the gamble to have a 50% chance to get 2000+ points. Maybe West could infer partner had Clubs, because East never made a lead directing double of one of the other suits. To be fair though East didn't get much chance, as North has just bid Diamonds five times.

Weighing in

Me and Anna were playing on Bridge Base last night with Anna. Had a nice table set up against Ted and Jake. We played on quite late as Anna wanted to stay up in preparation for switching to working nights, and I went on the tilt. I ended up bidding a bit too aggressively, getting doubled, and going down, several times.

Firstly, here's a bid I made with very little to recommend it. I'm sitting South, at unfavourable vulnerability:

Jake	Anna	Ted	Danny
W	N	E	S
-	-	1♠	-
2♣	-	-	?

The opponents have opened then passed out a 2/1 bid from a passed hand, so must have around 22 points between them, with no fit. Would you let the auction end, or would you weigh in, vulnerable, with your rubbish five card suit?

♠ KT97 ♥ K9543 ♦ Q6 ♣ KJ

I bid a foolish 2♥. Jake doubled, and so I played 2♥x. Here's the full deal and auction:

NS vul W deal ♠ 8 5 2 ♥ A 7 ♦ T 9 5 3 2 ♣ 9 8 7 ♠ J 4 ♥ Q 2 ♦ K J 8 7 ♣ A T 6 5 3 4 11 13 12 ♠ A Q 6 3 ♥ J T 8 6 ♦ A 4 ♣ Q 4 2 ♠ K T 9 7 ♥ K 9 5 4 3 ♦ Q 6 ♣ K J

Jake Anna Ted Danny W N E S - - 1♠ - 2♣ - - 2♥ x - - -

West led the ♠J. I ended up making 1 Spade, 1 Club, and 4 Hearts for two off. I didn't realise that actually East had the long hearts which cost a trick, but then I made a trick back by endplaying Ted. A moral victory, but 2♥x-2 was -500, slightly worse than East-West making 3NT (which they did on some tables).

Two hands later, I did it again. With no one vulnerable LHO opened 3♥ (on a solid six card suit), and I weighed in with 3♠ with this miserable lot.

♠ AT984 ♥ A9 ♦ Q2 ♣ Q743

RHO had a big hand including ♠KQJ65 and doubled me for penalties. Everyone passed, Anna cursed. It went three off as I ran out of trumps. 3♠x-3 was another 500 away.

Next hand was another big one. In my eyes this is a 4♥ opener, at unfavourably vulnerability.

♠ - ♥ KQJ6432 ♦ J ♣ Q7432

I was doubled again. But this time I hit a very tasty dummy. The full deal and auction:

NS vul S deal ♠ K J 9 5 4 ♥ T 7 ♦ A 3 ♣ K 9 6 5 ♠ A Q 8 7 6 ♥ 9 ♦ Q 9 8 6 5 4 ♣ A 11 12 8 9 ♠ T 3 2 ♥ A 8 5 ♦ K T 7 2 ♣ J T 8 ♠ - ♥ K Q J 6 4 3 2 ♦ J ♣ Q 7 4 3 2

Jake Anna Ted Danny W N E S 4♥ x - - -

West lead the ♣A, and I made 11 tricks. 4♥x+1 scored 990. What should West have done?

Despite that one good hand me and Anna were still slightly behind on IMPs. We should probably have been further behind, but were lucky to have been dealt most of the cards, which on Bridge Base is good news as if you make a normal game you seem to gain IMPs. It was close enough that it all came down to the last hand:

♠ A 9 8 4 2 ♥ A J ♦ J T 2 ♣ J 9 3 Jake Anna Ted Danny W N E S - - 1♦ 2♠ - - 3♥ - 5♦ - - - ♠ - ♥ Q 7 6 4 3 ♦ A K 9 8 5 3 ♣ A T

With 6-5 shape I opened 1♦, my longer suit. West made a weak jump overcall of 2♠, and Anna had a choice. She could have bid 2NT, or waited for me to make a reopening double then passed that for penlaties. She chose to pass, but instead of a reopening double I rebid 3♥. Given that I'm bidding a new suit at the three level, opposite a partner who could have nothing, I've shown a very distributional hand. Anna realised this and put me in 5♦.

Probably we should be in 6♦, but with ♦Qxx offside, and the King of Hearts offside, there are two losers, so 5♦ made exactly.

Tired on Bridge Base

Me and Anna were playing in the Acol club last night. We bombed. Here's a summary of our blunders, in the hope they won't happen again.

Bodge #1

You've overbid to 5♥. You've already lost two tricks, and this is your trump suit. You have to play it for no losers.

A K T 9

8 6 4 2

Firstly, it was me driving to slam, with those trumps in South. What was I thinking? Anyway, the correct play, which I missed that the table, is the double finesse.

Bodge #2

Next, you've been dealt this stinker, sitting South.

♠ xxx ♥ xxx ♦ KQxxxx ♣ x.

The opponents open 1NT. Looks like you're going to be passing throughout. Or are you? LHO makes a transfer bid of 2♦. Anna passed this.

I think you should double ♦, showing diamonds.

	Danny		Anna
W	N	E	S
1NT	-	2♦	x

You've not got much, but doubling at least tells partner what to lead (and partner probably will be on lead, as he sits after the 1NT opener).

There were more disasters, but that's all I can remember for now.