Hands from Pittsburgh

[Klaymen]

I did fairly well at Pittsburgh. I believe the NAP flight C field started with 76 pairs. After two sessions they reduced the field to the top 36 and we were ranked 11th with an average of about 54%. The final two sessions were more challenging and we averaged a touch above 50% for that pair to end in 14th place. I'll have more details and several hands hopefully later tonight.

I looked at the Monday bulletin and noticed that the winner of the B flight included an actuary who was from our district as well. That winner has since informed me that 3rd in C also had an actuary playing!

[Klaymen]

We arrived Friday afternoon and played in a compact KO with our District 14 partners in crime - bracket 7/9 (1425-1824 total MPs). We took second place, winning our 12-board matches by 12, 24, and 39 IMPs and losing the last one by only 5. We won 5.72 MPs (1/2 gold) which helped our friends get very close to achieving life master. Here was an 11-IMP swing when I made 4:sp: and our partners also gained on a 3:ht: partscore in the other direction.

HAND #1

:sp: Qxxx
:ht: xxxx
:dm: xx
:cl: Axx

:sp: AKxxx
:ht: x
:dm: KJxxx
:cl: xx

LHO opens 1:ht: which is raised to 2. I come in with 2:sp: followed by 3:ht: and 3:sp: by partner. RHO passes and I raised to 4 with my 6-loser hand.

LHO led out her A:ht: and obvioiusly there was only one defensive heart trick, so she shifted to the K:cl: which I took with my ace. Opponents followed to the second round of spade won in dummy with the Q, and now I'm going to try to hold the diamond suit to one loser. Assuming RHO plays low, what's your plan?

[Klaymen]

ANSWER TO #1:

LHO's two face cards suggest two more: the AK of hearts and the KQ of clubs which is 12 hcp to begin with. LHO is unlikely to hold the ace of diamonds as well after a minimal 3 heart competing bid, so I placed that card with RHO and determined to go up with the K. RHO was kind enough to produce the ace and I was soon scoring up +420.

[Klaymen]

:sp: 8
:ht: AQ83
:dm: AK863
:cl: T93

:sp: A9
:ht: K
:dm: Q542
:cl: AQJ872

I opened this hand as north as we found our way to a 6:cl: slam that made 7 with the :cl:K onside for 26/37 matchpoints.

1:dm: 2:cl: 2:ht: 2:sp: 3:cl: 4N 5:ht: 6:cl:

The first 4 rounds (out of 13) were very discouraging. We had a serious case of bad luck and computer hands at the onset, registering a 38.7% in retrospect. We told each other to shake it off and forget it, that things would get better. Indeed, we finished with a 53.1% which placed us in 20th place out of 76 pairs.

[Klaymen]

HAND #1A

This hand from the second session was played against people from Montreal and was one of the weirdest:

I open 1:dm: with
:sp: AJ97
:ht: Q4
:dm: AJ92
:cl: AQ7

Partner bids 1:ht: and RHO bids 1N which is alerted as showing the black suits - not sure of the strength. I double and LHO bids 2:cl:. Pass pass I double and now RHO bids 2:dm: which I also double to end the auction.

Partner leads the J:cl: and dummy is as follows:
:sp: K8632
:ht: 63
:dm:
:cl: T96432

I play the :cl:A and switch to the :ht:Q. Declarer plays the ace and partner the 2 (discouraging). Declarer now plays the :dm:K to your ace. Now what?

FYI declarer actually made 2:dm:X for a near bottom board. The hand records actually indicate the double dummy makeable contracts and declarer should be -1.

This was our best session: we scored a 57.9% and moved up from 20th to 11th place.

ANSWER:





:sp: x
:ht: AKxx
:dm: KQT8xxx
:cl: x

My problem was getting continually endplayed. It turns out the solution was to play the ace of spades and knock out the king in dummy. Then we have the top spades afterwards and can work on making declarer lose control of the hand.

[Klaymen]

One set of opponents got their NT inference confused and were made to pay. Over my 1NT LHO made a 2:sp: bid. The other opponent bid 2NT under the presumption that a minor contract was an alternative. LHO bid 3:sp: and Sherry followed with the red card and all 17 matchpoints were ours. Enjoy the defense from the opponent's perspective:

:sp: 96
:ht: QJ3
:dm: QT543
:cl: A84

:sp: KQT532
:ht: T4
:dm: J96
:cl: Q9

Sherry led :ht:A and switched to the :dm:8 while declarer played the 9 under my ace. I did pause to consider the situation, hoping the 8 was not hi-lo from 4. I was pretty sure it was not - instead your normal doubleton. Sure enough we scored the :dm: K and a ruff. Now Sherry leads a club to my K and I return a heart to her K. I score my :sp:A as well for +500. On the lie of the cards we could only make 1NT ourselves!

[Klaymen]

HAND #2

Is this hand worth an opening bid in 4th seat? You're vul and they are not.

:sp: Q9853
:ht: QJ2
:dm: Q85
:cl: QJ


ANSWER:

This time it was. I passed the hand out for 6.5/17 but we make 2 spades and the opponents have nothing to compete with. Sherry suggested I use the rule of 15 to decide (hcp + # of spades) and I wondered if any observers follow this rule regularly?

Our third session seemed pretty unremarkable and we had a 51.4% game to finish in the middle of the pack.

[Klaymen]

The last session had the craziest set of hands and we felt after 3 solid rounds we were giving the farm away. But the hands were crazy to everyone. I expected a 40% but to my surprise we ended at 50.9%

Both Sherry and I had the chance to play in a 3-3 fit this weekend. Watch me harvest the tricks out of this one: I opened 1:dm: with both sides vulnerable and it was passed out. It was only 11/17 matchpoints but you could just feel the "I can't believe this is happening to me" expression on the Asian opponents' faces throughout the hand.

:sp: 762
:ht: 94
:dm: T73
:cl: A8532

:sp: A985
:ht: QT63
:dm: AJ6
:cl: K7

LHO leads the :ht:K and shifts to a low club. LHO is a favorite to hold the :ht:A so I win the :cl: in dummy to take the obligatory finesse. The :ht:9 is ducked all the way to the LHO's ace. Now LHO leads a low trump and my jack holds?! I cash the K:cl: and then the Q:ht: and pitch a spade and they both follow. Righty holds the :ht:J so I play my T, hoping to score a ruff. LHO beats me to it so I pitch another spade. Now LHO leads a spade. I take my ace and then score a ruff. I then call for the 2 of clubs specifically to make my ruffing intentions clear and RHO pitches and I score my :dm:6 as well. The opponents got in at the end and immediately watched their good diamonds and spades crash on each other. Making 2: according to the analysis the opponents should take 7 tricks in a diamond contract. :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol:

[MNBridge]

HAND #2

Is this hand worth an opening bid in 4th seat? You're vul and they are not.

:sp: Q9853
:ht: QJ2
:dm: Q85
:cl: QJ


ANSWER:



I would not have opened this.

Welcome Back! Sounds like you had a good time.

[Klaymen]

HAND #3

With everyone vulnerable, you open 1:cl: after three passes holding

:sp: 975
:ht: J75
:dm: KQ8
:cl: AQ64

LHO bids 1:dm:, partner 1:sp:, and RHO 1NT. I couldn't bring myself to bid any higher on this flat ugly hand. I lead my low spade and down comes dummy:

:sp: Q83
:ht: AQ8
:dm: 97532
:cl: K7

Declarer plays low, and partner's J is taken by declarer's ace. Now declarer plays low to the K:cl: and rips off four heart tricks ending in his hand. What card must you now jettison in order to take the last 7 tricks?

ANSWER:

The 7 of spades. Partner has denied the ten by playing the J so declarer has another trick in the works. It turns out that your partner only has 4 spades (surprise) and declarer started with AT4. Declarer played a spade from the board and partner took the trick and observed the 9 out of my hand now. She went on to cash diamond ace and led another one to me. I cashed the remaining two and declarer pitched a club and held onto his spade and I took the AQ6 of clubs for +100 and a tie for top. Partner held T9 of clubs and a club lead would have been safer, but we got the job done.

[Klaymen]

There are other hands I could share but I'll leave you with this last one.

HAND #4

You open 1:sp: with

:sp: AKT32
:ht: KT76
:dm: 962
:cl: K

LHO bids 4N, partner bids 5S which is passed around to LHO who bids 6C which is passed around to you. Now what?

ANSWER:










LHO's hand was
:sp:
:ht:
:dm: KQT743
:cl: AJ97532

And -1370 was a near bottom. Most people we surveyed only bid 2NT with this hand to begin with and there were only 4 slams (7 in the B flight). 6 spades doubled is only down 2 with careful play. :wall:

[Klaymen]

MISCELLANEOUS

After the Compact KO, a friend and I recruited Tony Ames & Judy Nassar, Minnesota A players to join us for the midnite Swiss. They were very kind to oblige, but they were so worn out that they rotated with a third person. All four of our matches were against A teams, and we won the first three matches and had a close 4th one for 4th place.

Our NAP cohorts that were closing on life master got just enough gold from both the compact KO and the 8th overall award for their NAP finish to go over the top. That was also a pleasant surprise.

Sherry & I also played a side game and placed. With the help of a bit of Diet Mt. Dew I was able to stay focused the entire time. I did learn a couple of lessons though:

1) When they trim off the worst-performing 53% from an event, the event gets tougher.

2) Don't let a few bad boards discourage you from playing your best and getting back that and more. Twice we felt like goners early on and ended up miles above expectations.

3) We could have been more aggressive at times and gotten away with it.

4) NABC's are kinda cool but I'll stick with the regionals. However I want to see if Chicago will host a Red Ribbon pairs next summer. I don't know if it's every year or every NABC. I'd probably get my butt kicked but I think it would be good experience.

[MNBridge]

There are other hands I could share but I'll leave you with this last one.

HAND #4

You open 1:sp: with

:sp: AKT32
:ht: KT76
:dm: 962
:cl: K

LHO bids 4N, partner bids 5S which is passed around to LHO who bids 6C which is passed around to you. Now what?



I think you need to bid 6 :sp: . P's 5 :sp: bid to me shows no tricks in the minors and opp for a 4 NT bid is sure to be at least 6-6 in the minors.
So with your bare K :cl: it looks like 6 :cl: is sure to make.

[Captain Nemo]

I enjoyed reading the report! Thanks :)

I would not have opened the dead 10-count with no Aces or Kings. I think it you are kicking yourself, you're being a result merchant.

I am also not sure I'd have opened the 4-by-3 12 count in 4th seat... but you turned it into a plus, so...

I've seen a 3-3 fit before on an intelligent auction. I was 3-4-0-6, about a king over minimum. I opened 1C, LHO jumped to 2D (preempt), partner with a weak 3-3-5-2 passed. I reopen and partner picks his better 3-card major. Made 8 tricks.

2) Don't let a few bad boards discourage you from playing your best and getting back that and more. Twice we felt like goners early on and ended up miles above expectations.
Or even a bad session. For the NAP Unit finals many years ago, my partner and I had a 38% 1st session or so... we had a killer 2nd session and made it just above 50% to qualify for the District finals. We had 2 killer sessions there and ended up with a subsidized trip to DC.

4) NABC's are kinda cool but I'll stick with the regionals. However I want to see if Chicago will host a Red Ribbon pairs next summer. I don't know if it's every year or every NABC. I'd probably get my butt kicked but I think it would be good experience.
IIRC, there are 3 NABCs each year, and there's a ribbon game at each; Red at one, Blue at one, and Silver at one. If you have a Blue Ribbon qual and REALLY want to get your butt kicked, that's the way to go :wink:

I think I still have 4 Blues and a Red left over from my college days; you can use a Blue for a Red, but you can't use a Red for a Blue. There's some conversion to Silver, if you meet the age requirements, but I don't remember what it was.

[E. Blackadder]

HAND #2

Is this hand worth an opening bid in 4th seat? You're vul and they are not.

:sp: Q9853
:ht: QJ2
:dm: Q85
:cl: QJ

This POS?! What it lacks in quick tricks, it also lacks in distribution. I suppose if you assume all the hands at the table are balanced (nobody preempted), it has some value. But, really.

What were the other hands? Where are all the Aces? Where are the Kings?!

[E. Blackadder]

The Red Ribbon is once per year.

[Klaymen]

First and second seat were 11 hcp and had more aces and kings.

[Sandman]

The Red Ribbon is once per year.

I played in the Red Ribbon last year. It was a lot of fun. I think we might have done really well except that we had the kids with us and they were not adapting to the late schedule. So we would play until midnight, go back to the hotel room and the kids would wake us up at 6:00. Just not enough sleep. For the curious, they were hanging out with their grandparents while we were playing bridge. On both days of the event, we scored 60%+ in the afternoon game but only had around a 50% game in the evening because we were so tired. We still ended up placing in the low 30s in a game that started with more than 300 pairs. On the last day, there were 76 tables in play and the boards were being played at every table and scored across the field, so top on a board was a 75. If you scored in the 70's on a hand, you knew that you had really been a superstar (or more likely, your opponents did something completely brain dead). Fun.

[Klaymen]

It was gratifying to see my name in the bridge bulletin this week...