Silver and Black Points

Here are a few deals from clubs and sectionals. Even though I'm an A's fan, the title wasn't a Raiders reference.

Playing 10-12 notrumps brings a lot of fun and excitement to a dull club or sectional session. When they smack you for penalties, especially at matchpoints, trying to get out for a few points less than their game is a big thrill. More on that, later. My favorite part, though, is talking about the runout sequences after the game. Here's my favorite so far:

1N-X-2C-X, XX-P-2D-P, P-X-P-P, XX-P-2H-P, P-X-P-P, 2S-P-P-X, P-P-P

If I had wanted to stretch things out, I could have redoubled and let pard play 2S. We made 2SX, btw, but that's not the fun part. I think they're cold for 4H anyway.


Yesterday I played swiss and we had this auction:
1C-P-1D-P, 1H-1S

RHO insisted that 1S showed primary clubs, otherwise he would have bid the previous round. Fine, as long as you've read all the bridge world magazines from the early 60's (he has, I have) and so has your partner (his hasn't, mine haven't). Oh well. Last week I had this auction:

P-1C-P-1H, P-1S-2D with 62 9 AJ975 AKQ93, and pard wanted to know why I had passed the first round. Sigh.

11) 1st, none
AQ972 T J864 Q43
- AK52 AKQ93 AJT6

1D-1S, 2H-3D, 4C-4H, 5H-6D, P
How do you play on a spade lead? If you play SQ, RHO covers. Since it was matchpoints I wanted to try to make seven, so I ruffed, HA, H ruff, DA, H ruff, DJ (trumps were 3-1), SA pitching a club, run CQ. Turns out RHO started with three diamonds and a stiff club, so I was about to go minus, but LHO didn't return a club. Weird. Against expert opps, perhaps LHO might have ducked the first club from Kxxx, and then given his partner a ruff. Against near experts, if they tried this, they'd probably give away the show.

So, did I misplay it?


3) 1st, favorable
AKx KQ97xx Tx Tx
QJx T8x QJx KQJx

We bid 1N-2D, 2H-4H, P. Even though we don't play 4H as a slam try, I still think it was an overbid, though I guess I would have bid 4H, at matchpoints, just to stay with the field.

Please note that I only opened 1N because it was 10-12. I wouldn't have considered a 12-14 NT or, heaven help me, 1C. I canvassed a few people around the room and they all opened. Monkeys.

Anyway, half the field went down, the rest made four or five (not all in game) or squeezed out a +1400. Just another day at the club. I, however, was the only player with the mad skillz to find a way to go down three. Observe:

LHO cashed DAK, CA, so now, at best, I can swing a 2.5 on an 11 top. Then he exited with a club and I led to HK as RHO pitched. Oops. Luckily, I'm all about the Dentist's coup. I know that if I play a spade to my hand and lead HT LHO can win HA and exit a spade, locking me in dummy for down two. I won't fall for that. The correct play is to cash SA, SQ, THEN lead HT. When LHO has a doubleton spade he has to exit a minor, and I can pitch SK, win in hand, and draw trump with a marked finesse. Note that, on the auction, it's far more likely LHO has three spades, but if I cash SA, SQ, CK pitching SK, I can't win ANY plain suit exit in hand since dummy will be trump tight.


Here's a hand I played a few weeks ago, and pard put it on his blog.

23) 1st, both
Txx xxxxx xx xxx
AKQxxx AQ xx AJT

1S-P-P-2D, 3D-P-3S-P, P-P

They cashed two diamonds and RHO played S9. I cashed SAK (trumps broke 2-2) and I had a decision to make. I had one entry to dummy, so I could take the heart hook, or I could try to catch CKQ on my right (or a doubleton honor). The heart hook seemed more promising. So, to enjoy the vig, I led CJ and stared down LHO. He won CQ and was endplayed. He exited a club and I could go to dummy for the heart hook anyway (it was off) trying to make four. Please note that I'd go down without the extra chance in clubs. Also note that if LHO ducked (not smoothly) I could win RHO's round return and try to throw in LHO in that suit, if I judged the card's lay foul. Also, also note that if LHO ducked smoothly I can finesse the round suit RHO returns and still get to dummy to try the other finesse. Pretty sweet, I thought.

I have a convention I insist on with all my partners: Keller. Like Helen. No talking about bridge during a session. Part of the reason is that when you spot analyze a hand (ok, maybe not when YOU do, but when my partner or I do) you might make a tiny (or huge) error and look stupid. Even worse, you might be right and make partner feel bad. Not what you want to do during a session. Finally, the main point of a post-mortem is to improve, and attacking before he gets to write down the score fires off defensiveness that gets in the way. I mention this because pard's congratulations on my brilliance went like this:

Why didn't you go to dummy, take a club finesse, and enjoy the 100% play?

He sounded so convincing I panicked and told him my play was better since I had significant chances to make an overtrick, at matchpoints. True, but more importantly his play was 24%, since they could exit passively in diamonds after I play off dummy's last trump.

My Fast Arrival Nightmare

I've written more than one whiny email to Eric Kokish begging for sympathy because I can't find a decent partner who's not wedded to fast arrival. All the gold/diamond/emerald life masters I've gotten dates with are IN LOVE with burning bidding space to tell partner...nothing very interesting. Ok, whatever. For the most part, I don't sweat it because those auctions aren't terribly frequent. I've started a new partnership with a pretty good player (Grand LM!). Good enough, in fact, to win a sectional swiss with me. Even though we played...it. No big deal, right? It never comes up. Anyway, going into the final round, playing for the event, we faced these two deals:

16) 3rd, unfavorable
ATxx AKx Axxx xx

1S-2N, 3H-3S, 4C-4N, 5S-5N, 6D-6S, P

Pard dealt, opened 1S, and the opps were silent. I prefer 3C as the forcing raise, since it's useful to have a forcing, natural 2N, but when I have the raise 2N Jacoby works fine. Pard bid 3H, showing at most one heart. Ugh. It would be great to know whether he had extras, but standard Jacoby doesn't cover that. In my regular partnerships, even when I play standard Jacoby, I can punt with 3S here, and pard can either make a cooperative noise with 3N non-serious, or he can make a serious control-bid, showing extra values, at the four level. We didn't have that agreement. Instead, we played fast arrival. Did that apply here? If so, what did 3S and 4S mean? Where do you draw the line? How good a hand can I have to make a fast arrival 3S instead of making a control bid? I just don't get the point...

Anyway, here I thought that 15 HCP in the form of 4 quick tricks had to be good enough to try 3S (stronger than 4S?) leaving room to discover pard's putative club control below game. He bid 4C (extras? Minimum? No interest in slam at all, but felt he had to show club control because I was unlimited?) and now what? A red control bid might get him to sign off, afraid I couldn't control the other. I still wasn't sure I'd show extras, so, just in case he had, I certainly couldn't sign off in 4S. I got to do what everyone always does, successfully, against me: Blackwood with a doubleton. I found we had all the key cards, and the trump queen. I got to bid 5N specific king and found our tenth trick. Yipee. I'd promised all the keys, so I could sign off and let him bid grand if he felt like it. He didn't, and he made exactly six.


A few boards later:

21) 2nd, favorable
KQT9x xxxx Qx Ax

1S-2D, 2H-2S, 2N-3D, 4S-P

If the last auction made me uncomfortable, this one was EXCRUCIATING! I'd have preferred to open a 10-12 notrump, but I felt that 1S, willing to pass 1N semi-forcing, might win a partscore battle. Pard forced to game with a natural 2D. 2H on four to the deuce was pretty gross, and pard showed spade support with 2S. Great. Is that SUPER FAST ARRIVAL, showing a 25 count, since it is stronger than 3S, and 3S is stronger than 4S? Even if we had to play this method, it would be much more useful with some (any) discussion.
On the other hand, what am I supposed to do? Would 3S by ME be fast arrival? I'd LITERALLY vomit if I bid 4S with this hand (how could partner ever play me for this hand?). 2N wasn't appealing, but what's left? Over his 3D I was in, essentially, the same position. I swallowed my pride and jumped to 4S, hopeful he'd pass and be right. And he did. +450.

We need to talk.

Those Extra Chances

Tx AJTxx AJx xxx
KQx KQxx xx AQTx

Play 4H on a diamond lead. The double finesse in clubs is 76%, but you get an extra chance: play spades first. If the ace is onside (it was) you can pitch a club, and make even when both club honors are wrong (they were). An you lose one IMP when you're teammates are, improbably, -650. Oh well.

5) 2nd, favorable
Qxx AJxx Txxxx x
AJxxx T AQ8 QJTx

1S-2S, 3C-4S, P

Ok, it's a slimy game. You get a diamond lead, and win your eight. Now what?
I'll give you a hint: that was the only diamond trick I scored.

RHO had four spades, so I won HA, played to CQ and A, they ruffed a diamond loser, and tapped me in hearts. I cross ruffed the round suits and gave RHO another diamond ruff, then he had to lead from SK at trick 12.


On one board I didn't write down (and waited too long to write up) an opponent executed a dentist coup on himself. That was neat.


I've been told by experts that top players don't preempt when completely bankrupt. That is, 1S-X-3S is more likely to be Kxxx x xxxx xxxx than xxxx xx xxxx xxx. Fine, that sounds great and I talk the same game. But does the auction matter?

12) 1st, favorable
Txxx x Txxxx T9x

P-1C-1S-2H, ?

Once the opps had a power auction, and I had negative defense for pard's measly one level overcall, I fell from grace and jumped to 3S. Pard was soon in game (doubled). Oops. I was ashamed to put down the dummy since I was the one who'd insisted jumps show...something.

+590. Shows what I know. I'm receptive to comments...

The Halloween Individual

My wife and I were invited to a Halloween party featuring the marquee bridge event of the fall: the Panette Individual. Seven tables, no partnerships, lots of drinking, and good, tight bridge.


3) 1st, favorable
764 J74 KT87 K63
K853 52 AQ4 AJ42

1C-1D, 1N-P

In real life I might have tried 1S over 1D, when not playing Walsh.

I won the SQ lead, ran four diamonds, and judged that LHO had something like his actual hand: JT9 AQT6 J6 Q987. I unblocked CK and exited a spade. RHO won and returned CT. I hopped CA and threw LHO in with the last round of spades. He cashed CQ, HA, and played HQ at trick 12. Now his partner can overtake and let me score HJ at trick 13, or duck and let me score CJ at trick 13. Pard entered a +120 below an unblemished string of 90's.

Taxonomically, what should I call that sequence of plays? My favorite part is that LHO was probably the only one in the room to score CQ, and he scored one fewer trick than the other defenders.


21) 3rd, unfavorable
T86 K53 T53 T764

I'm not proud of this board, I'm only including it as a curiousity. It was my last board of the evening, and I was afraid I needed a good board to win. P-P-? I couldn't stand it, and opened 1C. That was a mistake. Pard, with AJ 9762 Q642 A95, and a distinct lack of humor, committed this auction:

P-P-1C-X, XX-1S-P-2S, X-P-3C-P, P-P

She doubled 2S!!!!! Ugh.

I fought like CRAZY to take my fifth trick and got out for -400. Pard, near tears (well, not really), apologized profusely. I told her things would be ok. Except for the single 180 (and we might have beaten that, too, if she'd passed 2S) our 400 beat all the 420's.


So, I won the individual, and my wife was second! Yay! That's a $15 Jamba Juice gift card for me (I would have gotten it even I'd gone down 1100, because she doesn't like Jamba Juice), much better than silver points.

On the way out the door, pard suggested, in front of the opps, that I should thank them for their letting me win the event. I suggested that they might not appreciate said thanks, though a high five might be appropriate.