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Board 12 from 1st March 2006 session

Here's an interesting hand from today's session -

 

The bidding was: West North East South Elwynne Frans Sid Diana Pass Pass 1D 1S 2C 2H 3D 4H 5D Pass Pass 5H Pass Pass Pass

As it happens, 5 makes by E/W!!  South will show out on the first trump to the king and North's J can be easily picked up.

Well... you are East defending 5.  Your lead?

The spade ace was led then East underled the club ace.  Rather surprised to see her club queen hold, Elwynne recovered quickly to play back a much-needed spade.  -1.

The other scores for this hand?

•  5 v/s 3:  5-1       (a heart was led - should make now!)
•  8 v/s 9:  5 making  (a heart was led - win and discard a club on A first)
• 10 v/s 2: 5 making  (K was led here; -switch now?)
• 11 v/s 4: 5 making  (a heart was led here...  club went to sleep)
• 12 v/s 6: 5+1!  (a heart was led - club got discarded and no heart ruff!)
• To beat 5 you must lead the K, switch to a heart then obtain a heart ruff

Was a lovely hand, yep.

 

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April 16 Simultaneous

Beatrice and Peggy bid three slams!

Here is one of the slams that assisted in Beatrice and Peggy achieving a fine score.

The contract was 6, typical of the aggression of these two young ladies. The lead was theA.

Beatrice ruffed the lead, K, -ruff, A, A,
club-ruff, K-10.

Now Beatrice played off the K (just in case the queen drops) and then came the avalanche of trumps. Poor East was squeezed in hearts and diamonds.

Beatrice made an overtrick in the small slam, where nary a player made more than 10 tricks in spades! This earned the ladies 100% at our club, and a mammoth 98.4% world-wide. A perfect temperature.

Well done, girls!

Count v/s Attitude

Tony Sowter of UK in his writings popularised the premise that the lead of a king asks for kount and ace for attitude. This is great advice on the following hand, played on 26-Feb-2003, where Peter Daffy preempts all the way to 5D:

All Vul, East Dealer, MPs KJ10xx 9xx A AJxx 9 AQ8xxx AKQxxx J52 Jxx - xxx Q109x 7 8 KQ10xxxxxx Kx Bidding: W N E S 2S 5D All Pass

You lead the HK and partner gives you the H2 - count - showing 3. Now you switch to your spade. East need not think here - thanks to the useful count principle at trick 1. East knows that another heart will not stand up (you would have cashed out) and the right return is a small spade at trick 3. The trump knave makes now!

Useful convention, huh?

2 Grand Slams on 5 February 2003!

Bid and made by Bridie/Margaret and James/Trish

Board 19, E/W Vul, Dealer: S    A1086  A105  AK974  K    732  976  Q5  Q10865  J4  83  J10832  J732    KQ95  KQJ42  6  A94   +1510

South North Bridie Margaret 1H 2D Bridie's reverse showed a 2S 4NT* forcing-to-game hand over a 5D 5NT* 2-over-1 response. With all 6H 7S aces and kings accounted for, P Margaret bid the cold grand with aplomb. 7S is bid just in case a heart ruff is required in dummy to set up the suit. Well bid! South North This first-time partnership play Trish James different styles. James leaps to 1H 4C a Gerber ask. Trish thinks it is 4H 4S some sort of advanced preempt 5C 6H and confirms a respectable heart 6S 7H suit. 4S by James is "progressive P king ask". Trish thinks it is a suit. She therefore makes a catch-all bid of 5C! "Is there a slam?" James has heard enough. "One king missing," he mused, and signs off in 6H. Trish does not believe James has more than xx in hearts, but... he has spades. Ergo! 6S! "So Trish found a second king after all" James thinks. 7H is bid, but a trifle slower than the other bids. The play takes but 2 minutes, after which Trish exclaims her opinion on the hand:  "Not too shabby, hey Nige??!"

For the record, 2 pairs (the above) bid the grand, 2 pairs bid the small slam and made an overtrick. Three pairs stopped in game.

Joan Keegan scores a top on 6-Nov-2002

I was casually walking past the table when I saw this beaut:

Board 3, E/W Vul, Dealer: E Board rotated 180° for convenience    AJ107 642 Q75 K63   542  9873 J963 J4 KQ6 105  AK842 952   983 AKQJ 10  AQ1087	West North East South Hilary Annette Trish Joan 1D 1H Pass 2H Pass 4H! All Pass Hilary leads the 3 and Trish wins the first trick with the king and continues with the ace. Joan nonchalantly pitches a small spade! The contract is now iron-clad. In fact, Joan pitched a further spade later on on the established Q to make 5-up, and a resounding top. Well done!
At first glance, it seems that 3NT should also make. Full marks to Gordon Chown (pair 2 v/s pair 13) in finding precisely theJ lead!   Any other lead and it's cold with an overtrick! As an exercise, how do you make 5 on a diamond lead to the king, and a heart switch?

Grand Slam bid and made on 9-Oct-2002

Elwynne and I were indeed fortunate to play a hand that was ideally suited for our system.

Bd 13 All Vul Elwynne  A54  AKQ864  4  AJ7   Suzanne  QJ95  10973  J965  2 Jill  K1072  52  Q87  8653   Sid  63  J  AK1032  KQ1094

(Board rotated 180° for convenience) W N E S 1D Pass 1H Pass 2C Pass 2S* Pass 3C Pass 3H Pass 4C Pass 4NT Pass 5S** Pass 7C! All Pass *2S = Fourth Suit Forcing, and created a forcing-to-game situation **5S showed 2 key-cards + queen of trumps (clubs implicity agreed)

The lead by Suzanne was the effective Q. This removed a vital entry. To guard against 4-2 breaks in the suits, a diamond was first ruffed, then all the trumps were played. If either opponent was holding four diamonds and four hearts, that person would get squeezed. +2140. Leif Stabell of Zim suggests that there is a better line available: Win the spade lead, CK, HJ, CA. If trumps break, ruff heart high and a trump to table.   As the cards lie, simply continue hearts until East ruffs, overruff, and return to table with a trump. Thanks, Leif!

Competing with 2-suiter hands

Most players play stayman and blackwood. In a new partnership, those two conventions are accepted as standard. Here is another toy you and your partner would like to look at, played on 14-Aug-2002.

Bd 4 All Vul Bernie  876432  KQ953  2  3    J9  A642  KQ6  KJ104  105  1087  J984  AQ87   Barbara  AKQ  J  A10753  9652	W N E S 1C 3D* P 4S! P P P Bernie and Barbara got to a game in spades with a combined count of 19! And made 5 when the spades broke 2-2 and the10 dropped in 3. They were the only ones in game, and scored 8-out-of-8 for their efforts. Wow. There are various ways to show 2-suiter hands and we will discuss the three popular ones. Bernie plays Copenhagen.
Do discuss with your partner the point-count ranges of the method you adopt. Usual is to play it as 4-11 not-vul and 9-12, vul. Of course, as Bernie has shown us, with 6-5 you can reduce the pre-requisite count for the bid. With 12+, go about bidding your suits in turn. 5 - 5 distribution is the norm, but players have been seen to do it with 5-4 also.

Michaels This is by far the most popular 2-suiter tool. This has become standard in the modern Standard American and "2/1" systems. When you meet a strange partner online, and you agree to play "SAYC" (Std. American Yellow Card) Michaels is not discussed even - it is assumed.	Over 1/1, the cue bids of 2/2show both majors; Over 1/1an overcall of 2/2shows the other major and an unspecified minor. If responder wishes to know what the minor is, he bids NT; A 2NT overcall over 1-anything shows the two-lower suits of the remaining 3. The structure of natural jump overcalls is fully maintained.
Copenhagen The method preferred by the Goldmans and Eli Edelstein of JHB.	2NT = 2-lowest; 3C  = lowest and highest; 3D  = 2-highest suits. This structure is simple to remember, and a big advantage over Michaels is that you know straight-away which 2 suits partner has. However, you have lost the 3C and 3D in the natural sense.
Ghestem This method became popular in the early 80's when the famous Italian "Blue" team wreaked untold havoc with it.	cue = highest and lowest suits; 2NT = 2-lowest suits; 3C  = 2-highest. Like Michaels, the immediate cue was incorporated as a 2-suiter strategy. Devotees of Ghestem and Michaels use a double, then a cue, to show a BIG takeout.