Playing a qualification heat for the national pairs today (in our district), two pairs was way ahead of the pack going into the last round. Q-ing was guaranteed, but finishing 2nd is never an option. The other pair was sitting out the last round (one pair didn't show up for the event), netting about 60% for the round. We were behind going in and needed therefore better than that to eke out a win. On the first board our opps bid a 25 hcp 3NT, after partner opened, collecting a normal 10 tricks. This proved too challenging for the field giving us a mere 20%.
We were playing the Swedish 2-way 1C system and on the last hand (2-session 1-day event) my partner, Håkan Nilsson, opened 1C showing 11-13 balanced or any 17+. Complete auction (all vul):
1C - (pass) - 1H - (2D);
2H - (2S) - 3C - X;
4H all pass
RHO took a while for his final pass and after the K of diamonds was led, this was the view:
AJ
K863
8754
A93
8652
AJ542
A
J54
Some aggressive bidding for sure, but we needed an 85+ % board. Technically, this looked like a very simple deal; 4H makes with trumps 2-2 or 3-1 with stiff Q and goes down otherwise. Instead of going after hearts immediately, I decided to open up spades and give West a chance to go wrong. 2 rounds of spades to East as West followed small and a diamond shift ruffed in hand. Another spade from hand and West fell from grace by ruffing in with the H 9 as I discarded a club from dummy.
Complete deal:
________AJ
________K863
________8754
________A93
63____________KQT92
Q97___________T
KQJT3_________962
KQ8___________T762
________8652
________AJ542
________A
________J54
Ruffing in with the actual holding was wrong (of course) and resulted in +620 and we won by a fraction at 61,5%.
Remember that people do more silly things at the end of a long day as long as you give them a chance. In the fashion of a Nike slogan: Just let them!
__________________________________________________
EDIT:
My good friend Anders Wirgren kindly (and of course correctly!) has pointed out that the hand always can be made legitimately if declarer plays for trumps 3-1. Crossruffing puts West in a very uncomfortable position with threats in both minors (what to discard when the final spade is led from hand).
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Oops - we did it again!
Bidding slam when missing too many cashing aces happens to even the best players in the world. Here's a hand from this weekend's action in China at the Yeh Bros Cup.
This deal is from a knock-out match in the play-off (vs USA2) and features the reigning world pairs champions from China, Jack Zhao and Zhong Fu.
A86_________K7
3___________KQJ965
KQ9865______AT32
K83_________5
N/none, the auction went
(pass) - 1D - (2C) - 2H;
(3C) - 3D - (pass) - 4C;
(pass) - 4S - (pass) - 5C;
(pass) - 6D all pass
This cost 11 imps. What went wrong?
Clearly 2H was forcing and 3D seems ok (despite short H and minimum strength) playing a strong club (which I believe they do).
4C looks like a cue agreeing diamonds (but may have been only way to make a slamtry in diamonds if 4D would have been invitational only).
4S is a clear misbid in my view, this shows a better hand than this; I'd temporize with 4D instead.
Now West gets in an awkward position, not wanting to use Blackwood as a 2 ace reply will carry them overboard, although it's hard to see an East hand with only 2 aces after that 4S-bid. Maybe there is more to the auction for this pair than meets the eye.
5C looks like a "last-train" effort with better than expected trumps, a source of tricks with interior solidity in H's and the K of S. Could, on the other side, have been a plain cue-bid if 4C was just agreeing diamonds.
Whatever 5C meant, I looks like it was mis-interpreted as 6D suffered from a fatal shortage of aces. Maybe East expected a void with unsufficient strength to jump to 5C previous round.
Is there a point to this deal then? Yes, in my [subjective] view. An than important part of the methods your partnership uses is that they should, to the most possible extent, assist you and your partner in minimizing problems. If the Parity Key Card mechanism (described in previous post) had been used, West could effortlessly have bid 4NT over 4S, gotten a 5C-reply (0 or 2 keycards) and ended things with 5D.
If you think that "we would never gotten in to that mess", then you are kidding yourself. If something like this can happen to the world champions, then it sure can happen to you too.
This deal is from a knock-out match in the play-off (vs USA2) and features the reigning world pairs champions from China, Jack Zhao and Zhong Fu.
A86_________K7
3___________KQJ965
KQ9865______AT32
K83_________5
N/none, the auction went
(pass) - 1D - (2C) - 2H;
(3C) - 3D - (pass) - 4C;
(pass) - 4S - (pass) - 5C;
(pass) - 6D all pass
This cost 11 imps. What went wrong?
Clearly 2H was forcing and 3D seems ok (despite short H and minimum strength) playing a strong club (which I believe they do).
4C looks like a cue agreeing diamonds (but may have been only way to make a slamtry in diamonds if 4D would have been invitational only).
4S is a clear misbid in my view, this shows a better hand than this; I'd temporize with 4D instead.
Now West gets in an awkward position, not wanting to use Blackwood as a 2 ace reply will carry them overboard, although it's hard to see an East hand with only 2 aces after that 4S-bid. Maybe there is more to the auction for this pair than meets the eye.
5C looks like a "last-train" effort with better than expected trumps, a source of tricks with interior solidity in H's and the K of S. Could, on the other side, have been a plain cue-bid if 4C was just agreeing diamonds.
Whatever 5C meant, I looks like it was mis-interpreted as 6D suffered from a fatal shortage of aces. Maybe East expected a void with unsufficient strength to jump to 5C previous round.
Is there a point to this deal then? Yes, in my [subjective] view. An than important part of the methods your partnership uses is that they should, to the most possible extent, assist you and your partner in minimizing problems. If the Parity Key Card mechanism (described in previous post) had been used, West could effortlessly have bid 4NT over 4S, gotten a 5C-reply (0 or 2 keycards) and ended things with 5D.
If you think that "we would never gotten in to that mess", then you are kidding yourself. If something like this can happen to the world champions, then it sure can happen to you too.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Defence logic
In a brand new partnership, there may be quite a few defensive situations to work out when it comes to signals etc. Other situations work themselves out by sheer logic. It's still nice to see that you're on the same wavelength.
This one come up in t' Onstein against Team Orange's Ricco van Prooijen.
I had xx/AK9x/T987xx/A, white/red at imps and the auction went:
pass - (1S) - 2D - (3D);
pass - (4S) all pass
1S was 5+ and 3D showed 3-card support with invitational or better values. Some may not agree with the overcall, but I wouldn't dream of passing when we easily could have the highest making contract. The fact that the suit is bad is not an issue.
I led the K of hearts, playing Rusinow.
__________KJ9
__________T843
__________K
__________KQJ85
52
AK97
T98754
A
Encouraging 2 from Freddan and 6 from declarer. At this point I don't know if partner has a doubleton (singleton), wanting a ruff, or the queen. No problem, I cashed the ace of clubs, which must be a singleton (no reason otherwise to play it) and checked Frederic's signal. He followed with the 10 which must indicate the queen of hearts as an entry. Low club would indicate a ruffing entry.
I continued with a low heart to partner but it was all in vain as declarer ruffed and claimed.
____________KJ9
____________T843
____________K
____________KQJ85
52___________________T86
AK97_________________QJ52
T98754_______________J6
A____________________T732
____________AQ743
____________6
____________AQ32
____________964
I had never seen this variation before but as long as logic is used a lot of layouts can be interpreted correctly on-the-fly. We both recognized right away here how the club signal should be used.
We could obviously have gotten another trick with an intial club lead, but that might have given me a nasty guess later on a slightly different layout.
This one come up in t' Onstein against Team Orange's Ricco van Prooijen.
I had xx/AK9x/T987xx/A, white/red at imps and the auction went:
pass - (1S) - 2D - (3D);
pass - (4S) all pass
1S was 5+ and 3D showed 3-card support with invitational or better values. Some may not agree with the overcall, but I wouldn't dream of passing when we easily could have the highest making contract. The fact that the suit is bad is not an issue.
I led the K of hearts, playing Rusinow.
__________KJ9
__________T843
__________K
__________KQJ85
52
AK97
T98754
A
Encouraging 2 from Freddan and 6 from declarer. At this point I don't know if partner has a doubleton (singleton), wanting a ruff, or the queen. No problem, I cashed the ace of clubs, which must be a singleton (no reason otherwise to play it) and checked Frederic's signal. He followed with the 10 which must indicate the queen of hearts as an entry. Low club would indicate a ruffing entry.
I continued with a low heart to partner but it was all in vain as declarer ruffed and claimed.
____________KJ9
____________T843
____________K
____________KQJ85
52___________________T86
AK97_________________QJ52
T98754_______________J6
A____________________T732
____________AQ743
____________6
____________AQ32
____________964
I had never seen this variation before but as long as logic is used a lot of layouts can be interpreted correctly on-the-fly. We both recognized right away here how the club signal should be used.
We could obviously have gotten another trick with an intial club lead, but that might have given me a nasty guess later on a slightly different layout.
Best bulletins
Serious players read World Championship book and tournament reports to analyse, improve and observe the best partnerships in action. Others may read just for fun.
Whatever the reasons, reading bulletins from various tournaments is often of a lesser value, bridge-wise, as they focus on results and often just some highlighted deals. Bulletins from WBF & EBL events are pretty good though.
A brilliant exception is the bulletins from the NEC Bridge Festival (played in Yokohama every Feb); this year was the 12th time.
Web site here:
http://www.jcbl.or.jp/game/nec/necfest.html
The bulletins are produced by Eric Kokish & Richard Colker, with Barry Rigal filling in for Kokish this year (good job!). These bulletins are just superb and, in my view, of higher quality than the reports in the World Championships books.
In the archives now you can find hundreds of pages. Go get them. Now.
Whatever the reasons, reading bulletins from various tournaments is often of a lesser value, bridge-wise, as they focus on results and often just some highlighted deals. Bulletins from WBF & EBL events are pretty good though.
A brilliant exception is the bulletins from the NEC Bridge Festival (played in Yokohama every Feb); this year was the 12th time.
Web site here:
http://www.jcbl.or.jp/game/nec/necfest.html
The bulletins are produced by Eric Kokish & Richard Colker, with Barry Rigal filling in for Kokish this year (good job!). These bulletins are just superb and, in my view, of higher quality than the reports in the World Championships books.
In the archives now you can find hundreds of pages. Go get them. Now.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Parity what?
Parity Key Card Blackwood. Yes, yet another variation of old Blackwood.
"Parity" refers even/odd number of key-cards. Regular RKC uses an either/or variation also of course, but with a discrepancy of 3 (0/3 & 1/4). By reducing this to 2, valuable space is preserved and the need for the 1430-switch is eliminated.
This may lead to problems distinguishing which number to expect. That's why it isn't used all the time, only in cue-bidding situations where ambition, captaincy etc reveals what to expect.
PKC (Parity Key Card) applies when both players have made at least one cuebid (splinter-jumps are by definition not a "cuebid"). Non-serious 3NT (or serious if that's the prefered version) is regarded as a cuebid. Whether non-jump shortness-showing bids should be regarded as a cuebid or not are a matter of partnership definition (I think not). When a minor suit is trumps then 4m (setting trumps or “waiting”) followed by 4NT over cue is also PKC.
Responses:
1step = 0/2/4
2steps = 1/3 no Q (unless ¨ is trumps; then could have Q with 1)
3steps = 1/3 + Q.
Step 4 shows unexpected “max” reply otherwise coinciding with trump suit (don’t want to risk pass from asker).
Continuations as after regular RKCB.
The parity concept has been used in variations of denial-cuebidding within a relay-framework bidding system. This variant is an original idea, I believe. Remember where you saw it first!
"Parity" refers even/odd number of key-cards. Regular RKC uses an either/or variation also of course, but with a discrepancy of 3 (0/3 & 1/4). By reducing this to 2, valuable space is preserved and the need for the 1430-switch is eliminated.
This may lead to problems distinguishing which number to expect. That's why it isn't used all the time, only in cue-bidding situations where ambition, captaincy etc reveals what to expect.
PKC (Parity Key Card) applies when both players have made at least one cuebid (splinter-jumps are by definition not a "cuebid"). Non-serious 3NT (or serious if that's the prefered version) is regarded as a cuebid. Whether non-jump shortness-showing bids should be regarded as a cuebid or not are a matter of partnership definition (I think not). When a minor suit is trumps then 4m (setting trumps or “waiting”) followed by 4NT over cue is also PKC.
Responses:
1step = 0/2/4
2steps = 1/3 no Q (unless ¨ is trumps; then could have Q with 1)
3steps = 1/3 + Q.
Step 4 shows unexpected “max” reply otherwise coinciding with trump suit (don’t want to risk pass from asker).
Continuations as after regular RKCB.
The parity concept has been used in variations of denial-cuebidding within a relay-framework bidding system. This variant is an original idea, I believe. Remember where you saw it first!
A grand lead
Another board from the weekend in Denmark ended very luckily for our side thanks to the good old advice of leading trumps against grand slams.
The opponent on lead held K742/742/965/J82 and listened to this auction:
1D - 2C
2H - 3H
3S - 4C
4D - 4N
5D - 5S
7H
1D 11-15 various
2C artificial gameforce
2H 4H & 5+m (not 5422 shape)
3H supp
3S/4C/4H cue's
4N Parity Key Card
5D 1 A and denies trump Q
5S grand slam try
He lead a trump and this was the full deal (rotated).
E/EV vul
_________A
_________T963
_________KDT43
_________K73
JT953____________K742
D5_______________742
J72______________965
D94______________J82
_________D86
_________EKJ8
_________E8
_________ET65
My partner (not Frederic) played the system for the first time and forgot about the Parity Key Card response denying the trump queen. (There was also a mechanism available after 2H for finding out sidesuit & shortness.)
After the low heart lead, I naturally dropped the queen offside to make. The lead was certainly somewhat unlucky, but trump leads vs grand slams have a far worse track record than most believe.
There are some people out there who willingly bid grand slams (with split top honors) without the queen, expecting to get a trump lead solving the situation or otherwise playing the non-leader for it. On this deal, for instance, possesion of the queen was only implied; it wasn't explicitly shown.
The opponent on lead held K742/742/965/J82 and listened to this auction:
1D - 2C
2H - 3H
3S - 4C
4D - 4N
5D - 5S
7H
1D 11-15 various
2C artificial gameforce
2H 4H & 5+m (not 5422 shape)
3H supp
3S/4C/4H cue's
4N Parity Key Card
5D 1 A and denies trump Q
5S grand slam try
He lead a trump and this was the full deal (rotated).
E/EV vul
_________A
_________T963
_________KDT43
_________K73
JT953____________K742
D5_______________742
J72______________965
D94______________J82
_________D86
_________EKJ8
_________E8
_________ET65
My partner (not Frederic) played the system for the first time and forgot about the Parity Key Card response denying the trump queen. (There was also a mechanism available after 2H for finding out sidesuit & shortness.)
After the low heart lead, I naturally dropped the queen offside to make. The lead was certainly somewhat unlucky, but trump leads vs grand slams have a far worse track record than most believe.
There are some people out there who willingly bid grand slams (with split top honors) without the queen, expecting to get a trump lead solving the situation or otherwise playing the non-leader for it. On this deal, for instance, possesion of the queen was only implied; it wasn't explicitly shown.
5-card majors or 5-card majors?
A never dying system debate is the fundamental one about the length required to open in 1 of a major. The world at large has voted for 5. Now the italians (Lanzarotti-Buratti & Fantoni-Nunes) have taken that a step further by not allowing 5332 (or even 5422) with a minimum hand when opening 1H/S.
This seems to me like a way to go, especially since computer analysis of large samples of hands played at BBO and OKBridge shows that 5332's (with long M) are best opened with a 1NT (in a 15-17-range). Does this apply for weaker hands outside the NT-range?
I believe so and therefore in my current strong club system (the structure increasingly popular in Sweden):
1C 16+
1D balanced/(4441)/4-M & 5+m
1M 5+
1NT 14-16
... we open 1D with all 11-13 and 5M332. This isn't a original idea, but we go as far as stating that it is obligatory in 1st/2nd position. This hand can't be shown systematically after 1H/S.
What's the verdict so far? With only a couple of hundred boards played it works well. A board from the Danish first division (imps) a couple of weeks ago against the Danish Open Team mainstays Dorthe & Peter Schaltz:
S/all
___________JT743
___________ET986
___________4
___________98
2__________________ED
KJ52_______________73
DT73_______________EJ952
6542_______________KDJ3
___________K9865
___________D4
___________K86
___________ET7
1D - pass - 1S - -1NT;
2S - D - pass - 3D;
pass - pass - 3S - 3NT;
pass - pass - D all pass
Spade lead into the tenace but still +800 with no game on our way. But, in practice, a lot of auctions went 1S-4S and no club lead for +620. Still +5 imps. More to come on this theme.
Last, an anecdote from Rosenblum 1994 in Albequrque. The three best placed junior pairs (de Knijff-Börgesson from Sweden) on the butler from the Junior European Champioships earlier that year were sponsored by the WBF to compete in the teams. As part of the package Bobby Wolff gathered the youngsters in his suite for a social outing and some fatherly bridge advice. "Boys! If you ever to want achieve anything in bridge - play 4-card majors!"
This seems to me like a way to go, especially since computer analysis of large samples of hands played at BBO and OKBridge shows that 5332's (with long M) are best opened with a 1NT (in a 15-17-range). Does this apply for weaker hands outside the NT-range?
I believe so and therefore in my current strong club system (the structure increasingly popular in Sweden):
1C 16+
1D balanced/(4441)/4-M & 5+m
1M 5+
1NT 14-16
... we open 1D with all 11-13 and 5M332. This isn't a original idea, but we go as far as stating that it is obligatory in 1st/2nd position. This hand can't be shown systematically after 1H/S.
What's the verdict so far? With only a couple of hundred boards played it works well. A board from the Danish first division (imps) a couple of weeks ago against the Danish Open Team mainstays Dorthe & Peter Schaltz:
S/all
___________JT743
___________ET986
___________4
___________98
2__________________ED
KJ52_______________73
DT73_______________EJ952
6542_______________KDJ3
___________K9865
___________D4
___________K86
___________ET7
1D - pass - 1S - -1NT;
2S - D - pass - 3D;
pass - pass - 3S - 3NT;
pass - pass - D all pass
Spade lead into the tenace but still +800 with no game on our way. But, in practice, a lot of auctions went 1S-4S and no club lead for +620. Still +5 imps. More to come on this theme.
Last, an anecdote from Rosenblum 1994 in Albequrque. The three best placed junior pairs (de Knijff-Börgesson from Sweden) on the butler from the Junior European Champioships earlier that year were sponsored by the WBF to compete in the teams. As part of the package Bobby Wolff gathered the youngsters in his suite for a social outing and some fatherly bridge advice. "Boys! If you ever to want achieve anything in bridge - play 4-card majors!"
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