Diary of a Bridge Pro, #5

Picking up where we stopped last time:

(Link of our game for reference: https://live.acbl.org/event/NABC241/OPPR/2/scores/C/N/13 )
 
  Board Eight: Again, we had problems where we didn't simply "Bid our Points". Ellis, holding AQx, AJ9x, AKTx, xx, opened One Diamond with his 18 points. 

  I held a yarborough (near - yarborough) opposite, xxx, xxxxx, xx, Qxx. I chose to pass, rather than respond, and LHO, Max Schireson, now made a clever re-opening bid of One No Trump.

  My view, shaped by sharp experience, is that you have to suck it up and double here. There is some risk attached (what if partner truly has zero?) but that is a risk you must absorb.

  We ended up defending against One No Trump, rather than competing in hearts. The full deal:

  

Board Nine: I held AQ98xx, x, Kx, T9xx - Partner Opened with a weak two in diamonds and the next hand passed. 

  Like Al Roth and others before me, I am a big advocate of playing "New Suits Not Forcing (in response to weak two-bids)". Roth is credited with inventing the weak-two, along with this method of non-forcing new suit responses.

  Partner, holding Void, QJx, QJ9xxx, Kxxx rebid 3C after my Two Spade response. He wound up playing there, and with favorable breaks was able to make the contract. Plus 110. Full deal:

  Board Twelve: The opponents held this pair of hands: AKJx, Kxx, J, AJxxx, opposite Qx, AQxx, Q98x, Txx.

  Their bidding began 1C - 1H - 1S - this was alerted: "Promises an unbalanced hand".

  This is quite a playable method, very popular, but not always effective. Here, it led to a poor result for our opponents when this responding hand chose to make full use of that information and he preferenced to 2C (rather than bidding the more obvious 1NT).

  With lots of tricks available in Hearts or no trump, the club part-score reached by our opponents was not their top spot.

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Board 13 featured the same theme - our opponents chose a club partscore rather than the more obvious one or two no trump. A couple of side-notes:

  I held Axx, xxx, KJx, KQ87 - Both Vul, there was a One Club opening on my right.

  I elected to double, slightly unorthodox. 

  The opponents landed in Two Clubs, and at Trick Two declarer led towards the JT9x of clubs in dummy. While there didn't seem to be much room for partner to hold the ace of clubs, I ducked anyway, and it turned out my partner did have the ace of clubs, singleton. Had I gone up with the king or queen, we'd have crashed honors (a defensive maneuver to generally be avoided at all costs).
  
   Thought for the Day: Second hand low

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 Board 15: Lynn Baker opened one of her trademark Weak Two bids, with a heart suit of T8xxx - Olivia Schireson, a rising young star in the ACBL, gave her a little too much room and sold out to our Four Spade contract. 

  I'll contribute two thoughts: 

  1) If you play an extreme style (super-light opening bids, pre-empts on weak five card suits), then it is important not to "give partner too much room". While it wasn't the case here, sometimes partner simply has a "normal" hand for the action taken. Something like ATxxxx of hearts rather than five to the ten. So don't dismiss the possibility that partner may have a normal hand for her call, regardless of your agreed bidding style.

  2) At matchpoint scoring, with favorable vulnerability, take the save if that seems like a reasonable option. Yes, sometimes it will be a phantom, and sometimes you'll go down too many, but neither of those will happen very often. On the plus side, sometimes the opponents will take the push and compete to the five level. If that ever happens to you after you sacrifice, you should be pleased with yourself, whatever happens from there.

​ Board 16: I looked at this hand in some depth in the previous blog. We missed a slam with AKQxx, AKQxx, Ax, x opposite J9x, xxxx, Jxx, Qxx. Despite our missing the near-cold slam (it will make as long as hearts don't break 4-0 and spades don't break 5-0), we got 87% on the board, simply for finding the right trump suit (our 5-4 heart fit, not our 5-3 spade fit).

  Board 17: I was a little too shy on this one: I held KQJx, AJT, T9x, AKx - With a balanced 18 points, I opened One Club - LHO pre-empted with Two Diamonds, and Ellis raised me to Three Clubs; RHO passed.

  In retrospect I think I should bid (cue-bid 3D), but at the time I reasoned along these lines:

  If partner has no diamond stopper, then Three (or possibly Four) Clubs is likely the limit of what we can make - no game for us. If partner does have a diamond stopper, and also the maximum point count, and fitting clubs, and the cards lie favorably, then - we might have game.

  With all those "if's" running around, I simply passed 3C. 

  Ellie had a diamond stopper, a good fitting hand (tons of honors in the black suits), and a maximum. So if I bid 3D, and he bids 3NT, then we make a game.

  Department of Bad News / Good News:

   Bad News: We're cold for 3NT
  Good News: With four spades likely to go down after a diamond ruff, we got a decent board (54%) simply for making 110 in 3C.

The full deal:

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  Board 18: We got a (near) zero when we failed to get in the bidding with good values and a good spade fit, instead selling out to 2 Diamonds.

  It's hard to imagine how we could fail to get in the auction on that one. (see below).

  Board 19: I "committed" a weak two bid with a horrible suit and a really bad hand: xxxxxx, Qx, Kxx, xx - Partner neglected to bid 4D after 2S - (3H) - ? with A, Txx, AQJxxxx, AQ, and we got a very poor result.

  Board 20: I held xx, K9xx, xx, QTxxx - Partner Opened One Spade, and, with both sides vulnerable, I passed. Ellie made an overtrick, for Plus 110. If I respond, there's a good chance we'll end up minus. So conclude what you will about responding with marginal hands, from this very small data point  ​

  Board 21: We rested in 4D, with good play for 5 - still, we made +150, for a 70% board.

  Board 23: They pre-empted with a 3C opening - we didn't bid. We should have. We got a 53% board anyway.

   Board 26: With AQxxxx, Jx, QJx, xx, I had to lead against the auction 2NT - 3NT. I led the automatic spade, though a case can be made for the queen of diamonds. We got 55% for minus 660, though a diamond lead might have led to north of 90% for minus 630. 

  At IMPs, the spade lead would be mandatory, as the best chance to defeat the contract. At matchpoints, there's a lot to be said for leading a diamond.

  That's about all I have to say about this session, our bridge was horrific and even some of the intermediate players among our readership should have been able to outscore us (we wound up with 46%).

  Still, I had a great time playing, and was reminded of the ever popular bumper sticker, more commonly citing fishing but equally applicable to our favorite pastime:

  Even a bad day playing bridge....beats a good day doing anything else!

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