The Victorian Playoff continued

Sorry, the big question I was going to ask everybody has to wait til tomorrow, as I think this story and hand are relevant to the topics in hand.

Yesterday I put up two posts. If you didn’t see the second one, a ‘what do you bid?’ you might want to look at it first before reading on….

Jamie Ebery, who was on the ‘B’ Australian team last year and the ‘A’ Australian team this year, sent me the following story about Hayden Blakeman who is on the Victorian Open team this year, his first really exciting result in bridge, though he’s been keen enough for some time.

When I was playing in the under 5 master point section at Essendon congress event (and not doing well either) I noticed Hayden for the first time. They announced him as the winner of the under 25 master point section (playing with John Cox). Then Martin Jacobs got up and said this is the guy that Keith Kat wanted to get his hands on to train up. Boy,.. was I envious, here we have a guy who is 1) Younger than me 2) better than me, and to top it all off he is going to get special training from the best player in the state. At that point I knew that I would never be as good as Hayden. Hence I have always closely watched his progress from that day forward. Cheers, Jamie.

Great story, thanks Jamie. Of course we need a hand to go with that, and it does fit in rather neatly with the hands we have been looking at.

Board 25
Dlr North
EW Vul

	NORTH K983 AQJ862 A2 5
WEST Q652 4 876543 K7		EAST AJ107 K9 9 A109863
	SOUTH 4 10753 KQJ10 QJ42

When the losing Butler team sat EW, North opened 1H, East overcalled 2C and South’s 4H bid ended the auction. An interesting hand in the context of the ongoing discussion about 6-4s and how they should be bid and what a high level negative double opposite that should show…

In the other room Blakeman for the winners sat East. Over the 1H opening he overcalled 1S!!! Smart bid 4H, Dilks 4S and now what should North do?

1H…….1S…….4H……4S
?

I think it is a really tough decision. In the end Beale pushed on to 5H, one down when the heart finesse failed. The Pennant team had won the board anyway, simply by getting to 4S.

Your bid. Victorian Playoff continued.

This is the second post for Tuesday

K983
AQJ862
A2
5

EW vul, you are first in hand, IMPs.
You open 1H, LHO overcalls 1S, partner bids 4H, RHO 4S What now?

Victorian team playoff

This post has been updated 6 hours after being first published. There is now an additional hand, see below.

Please all drop by tomorrow, I have a question to pose which I hope you find interesting. I’d love everybody’s thoughts.

This board was right near the end of a closely fought contest, so it was enough to swing the whole affair.

Board 28
Dlr West
NS Vul

	NORTH K10 54 Q8 QJ108753
WEST J853 KQJ102 104 AK		EAST 9 A8763 97652 42
	SOUTH AQ7642 9 AKJ3 96

At both tables the auction began:

1H….P…..4H…..4S
?

For the Trials team West now doubled, East had no reason to remove that and now, of course, declarer picked trumps, +790.

Dilks for the Pennant team passed on the West cards and Blakeman decided to take the push now that his shortage was less likely to be opposite values. One down and a good swing to the eventual winners.

Although it looks like Blakeman might also have passed out 4S for one down, I wonder how true that is? Is there any case in 4S undoubled for hooking the spade on the basis that East is likely to have a singleton, irrespective of whether there has been a double by partner?

Update

It seems relevant, given the theme and the discussion of it, to present this hand, which took place earlier in the playoff:

Board 17
Dealer North
Nil Vul

	NORTH AQJ2 A9853 4 765
WEST K873 4 KJ3 KQ1093		EAST 95 76 AQ9865 A42
	SOUTH 1064 KQJ102 1072 J8

Yes, 4H certainly need not be a singleton:

Morgan….Smart…..Hinge…..Beale
1H……….2D………4H………5D
All Pass. -50

In the other room:

Hollands…..Wein…..Gold…..Ozenir
1H………….2D……..4H…….Dble
All Pass -690

Double turned out disastrously, but is it such a bad bid? Whatever it means, presumably partner has to pass.

Toxic assets continued.

—
AQ95
AK8632
1065

Nil vul, IMPs scoring: (explanation of auction in last post)

1D….2C….3D….3S
5D….5S….Pass…Pass
?

Doesn’t the spade void look good, once partner hasn’t doubled? But are those clubs a toxic asset? Hate bidding on with no chance of making, but it has to be possible, if partner has something…..and meanwhile, why shouldn’t they be making? At least it’s going to be cheap.

So, 6D, double on my left, SK opening lead and:

	NORTH 95 108 Q1097 AJ984
WEST KQJ3 J73 4 KQ732		EAST A1087642 K642 J5 —
	SOUTH — AQ95 AK8632 1065

After the non-club lead 6D was gin. Maybe you all hate the opening lead, but isn’t the double more at fault? Passing it around to partner to double makes it easier to start with a club, doesn’t it?

Did I go unpunished for doing something bad? Should partner have thought about doubling on the basis of his club ace? By all means pick away….

As for the other hand:

A4
J107
AJ109
8763

Your side is vul, RHO opens 2H, 5-5 in hearts and another. Partner doubles in passout and you bid 2NT which is forcing and typically no clear action to take, ie, likely to pass 3C/D, but might be intending something excitable instead.

2H….Pass…..Pass….Dble
Pass…2NT….3H….Dble

I chose the same path as Khokan at this point. The cue bid and corrected 4S to 5C. But I was somewhat concerned that this might imply longer clubs then diamonds. At the same time, however, I was more concerned that 4NT after 4S might be blackwood. What about a direct 4NT bid over the double? Is that blackwood or equal length minors? And will we be bidding enough if we take the cue bid and the correction to 5C?

The auction continued:

2H….Pass…..Pass….Dble
Pass…2NT….3H….Dble
Pass…4H…..Pass….4S
Pass…5C…..All Pass

The whole hand is:

Board 18
Dealer E
NS Vul

	NORTH KJ103 Q Q32 AKQJ2
WEST Q9865 A865 4 1095		EAST 72 K9432 K8765 4
	SOUTH A4 J107 AJ109 8763

The ‘Double and lead a trump’-ers are doing ok…not well enough to be excited by taking this action rather than bidding a game….and not as well as 6C. Do we want to be in 6C? Has North got more than we can expect from the second double, not forgetting that several of his HCP are irrelevant? And if we should be in slam, how do we get there???

Tomorrow: to preempt or not to preempt….that is the question.

Toxic assets.

Comments for this post are being suppressed til tomorrow. I’ll publish them in the morning.

Another couple of decisions I found hard and yes, well, an invitation for you all to pick on me again.

—
AQ95
AK8632
1065

1D – are you all with me so far? Diamond opening ok? So, nil vul, IMPs scoring:

1D….2C….3D….3S
5D….5S….Pass…Pass
?

Sorry if you hate the 5D bid, I didn’t have a clue what to do.

Explanation of 3D: it is good diamonds. If only 4 diamonds it is about 6-10 with emphasis on diamonds. If 5 card support it could also be about no HCP. If the diamonds themselves aren’t good, then the hand is offensive:

Kxx
Qx
QJxx
xxxx is NOT a 3D response.

Kx
xx
xxxx
KQxxx is a 3D response. Something like that, anyway. (Typical examples, nothing to do with the particular auction….)

So, what do you do over 5S? Given that partner isn’t likely to be defining his hand by quality of trumps so much as offensive potential?

Next up:

A4
J107
AJ109
8763

Your side is vul, RHO opens 2H, 5-5 in hearts and another. Partner doubles in passout and you bid 2NT which is forcing and typically no clear action to take, ie, likely to pass 3C/D, but might be intending something excitable instead.

2H….Pass…..Pass….Dble
Pass…2NT….3H….Dble

What now? Is this as difficult as I thought it was?

VBA State Pairs final begins.

It’s round one of the State Pairs final.
How do you play 4S doubled?
Opening lead jack of hearts. Let’s suppose you win, play a spade to the ten and king and another spade to RHO’s eight, LHO following twice. Another heart, you ruff and? Over to you.

WEST ♠ KQ9752 ♥ — ♦ J7652 ♣ A4		EAST ♠ 6 ♥ A9653 ♦ K108 ♣ KJ102

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
Chua	Caplan	Hinge	Thompson
	Pass	1♥	Pass
1♠	Pass	1NT	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

I guess I bid too much. I was torn between 2S to play, 4S and even 3D. It is true I hit a great heart holding, but dummy otherwise has little to recommend it and even with spades 4-1, I should have made it…..I suppose that means overbidding to game wasn’t such a bad move.

Victorian State Pairs final
Session one
Board 21
Dealer North
NS vul

	NORTH ♠ 43 ♥ J107 ♦ Q93 ♣ 98653
WEST ♠ KQ9752 ♥ — ♦ J7652 ♣ A4		EAST ♠ 6 ♥ A9653 ♦ K108 ♣ KJ102
	SOUTH ♠ AJ108 ♥ KQ842 ♦ A4 ♣ Q7

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
Chua	Caplan	Hinge	Thompson
	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	1NT	Pass
1♠	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

Partner thought about sending back 4S after RHO doubled and he has good reason for thinking so. The heart ace on this auction is gold. On the other hand, there is that spade support….

After winning the HA I played spade to the king and a spade. RHO continued hearts, I ruffed, the jack of diamonds went around to the ace and another heart brought me down to 2 trumps, the same length as RHO. After a diamond to the ten, the layout is known. RHO is 4522.

It is the critical moment. One could consider club back to hand and the club hook…but if it loses -300 will be zero when -100 – well, you never know, it could be worth something. And more to the point, it won’t give you enough tricks even if it does work. I gave in at that point, played a diamond and claimed one off. It didn’t occur to me that it is no cost to cash two rounds of clubs after diamond to the ten holds. If the queen drops – as it does – you are gin by continuing clubs. If it doesn’t, you can revert back to diamonds as before.

Making a mountain out of a molehill….

You pick up

7
104
AJ85432
1052

Nil vul, RHO is first to speak and begins with 2D a standard multi. You pass, on account of what happened last time you bid on something like this (you don’t want to know, trust me), and LHO bids 2H for correction. Partner doubles and RHO passes.

What now?

5D crossed my mind, and then 4D – it’s always nice to get a plus, isn’t it? And then I started thinking about the hand and the auction to date. Maybe I need to get a life, but really, it is quite an interesting situation.

One of two things is happening. Either LHO has made some sort of psychic 2H bid or partner has an extremely strong hand. Nothing else fits your hand, does it? That made me think I wanted to bid 3H to get him to bid 3N if he had a heart stopper – and if he bids anything else I can correct to five diamonds. If we have the auction to ourselves I think this’ll work well as a plan. But if LHO has psyched (and is planning more mischief) I could get into trouble.

Once I started considering this fact I realised that what I really wanted to do now was bid 3D on the basis that partner was so strong they were bound to bid again. But while I’ve been thinking about all this a considerable time has passed. 3D might just bar partner from bidding any more. So in the end I went with 3H.

As suspected, LHO hadn’t finished yet. She bid 4H and partner said 4NT. Is there anything to be said for passing that? It is MP Pairs, we are in notrumps, and if we were going to make 3NT we are going to make four. Call it too many drugs without a helmet in my younger days. Sometimes they still kick in. I showed my ace – always nice in dodgy auctions if your blackwood reply is also a 7 card suit – and partner bid 6C. Is there anything to be said for correcting that? Maybe. But what are you going to do over 6S next? I passed.

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
Chua	Schroor	Hinge	Sheather
			2D
Pass	2H	Dble	Pass
3H	4H	4NT	Pass
5D	Pass	6C	All Pass

VBA
State Pairs Qualifying
Session 3
Bd 27
Dealer South
Nil vul

	NORTH S K9632 H AQJ3 D 1097 C 9
WEST S 7 H 104 D AJ85432 C 1052		EAST S AQ5 H 6 D KQ6 C AQJ873
	SOUTH S J1084 H K98752 D — C K64

I guess it was a case of the operation being successful but the patient dying. One off was not a lot of matchpoints…but at least it is likely, if I have managed to find a 3D bid in tempo, we probably would have gotten to 6D which suffers the same fate (in clubs the diamond ruff was not found).

What’s a king gotta do?

Spring National Open Teams
Round 7
Board 20
Dealer West
All Vul

	NORTH Brown S Q2 H K6 D KJ98 C AKQ64
WEST Chua S K97 H 1073 D Q74 C J1097		EAST Hinge S J106543 H A82 D A10 C 32
	SOUTH Bilski S A8 H QJ984 D 6532 C 85

After a nebulous Polish 1C opening by North, East bid 2S, South doubled. North bid 3S and South ended the auction with 3NT. This meant single-dummy they’d wrong-sided the contract. Double-dummy, alas, they had done the right thing. Two wrongs make a right? Maybe so. As it happens the spade I put my fingers on as the opening lead was the king and now the contract can no longer be made….except that after declarer won and played the king of hearts off the table partner failed to duck the first round. Hence 3NT made.

It’s an example of what happens when it seems that the critical point of a hand is over. In this case as soon as dummy came down the whole table had a chat about how lucky NS had got because they had accidentally right-sided the contract. And yet there was still a critical point to the hand. How easy to write about it, how hard to keep that in mind at the table.

One heroic act with a king had failed. It’s only a week later and this happened:

VBA
State Pairs qualifying round 2
Board 15
Dealer South
NS Vul

	NORTH S 6 H 97532 D K743 C J103
WEST S 83 H 1086 D J986 C 9765		EAST S KJ542 H J4 D Q1052 C K2
	SOUTH S AQ1097 H AKQ D A C AQ84

I was on lead to 6H with the East hand. For better or for worse I began with the C2. Declarer ran that to his hand, played ace of spades, ruffed a spade, crossed to a club and played a spade off the board – wow! What a payout for the low club. Except that partner pitched on the spade…..slam now making.

‘Hey, Mister, can you spare me….’

29 October
Victorian State Pairs qualifying round 2

WEST S K762 H J9 D 108762 C 73
	SOUTH S 54 H A1073 D QJ3 C AK96

You sit West, it’s MP pairs and you know declarer has no major, having opened 1NT. Partner leads the H6, (3rds and 5ths) and your nine draws the king. Declarer bangs down the DK, rather startling partner into taking the ace. She shifts to the jack of spades….what do you do?

Maybe you should have gotten her that second cup of tea she asked for. But it’s too late for that now. YOU CAN STILL SAVE HER THOUGH. Keep that king. When you don’t, this is what happens:

	NORTH S AQ9 H K42 D K5 C Q10842
WEST S K762 H J9 D 108762 C 73		EAST S J1083 H Q865 D A94 C J5
	SOUTH S 54 H A1073 D QJ3 C AK96

It is a straightforward squeeze, with no room for declarer to go wrong. They cash their winners and as it happens their last card is high.

There is probably more than one moral to this story. On an opening spade lead – I had to pick a major – partner has, again, to keep that king or it is the same sad story. I’d gotten off to the right lead. It was a crass shift in the spirit of ‘it’s nothing declarer can’t do herself’. Still, maybe partner will get me that second cup of tea next time. It could be an investment well made.

Please help me, doctor, I’ve been playing Pairs.

Honestly, it must be a couple of years since I’ve had a pairs game and let’s just say there is room for improvement.

Last night was the first qualifying night of the Victorian Open Pairs and things didn’t go altogether according to plan.

Suppose you pick up, vul against not:

S 109xx
H Jxx
D 98x
C Kxx

RHO opens 1D, you pass, LHO bids 2C and partner butts in with 2S. This is passed around to LHO who doubles. RHO bids 3H over that. So what do you do? ANYTHING? Pass looked like the best bid I’d made all night, but in fact 3S makes 9 tricks and plenty of people bid it. Partner has nothing much, either:

S AJxxx
H Kx
D AJx
C J109

Was I just unlucky: spades broke, HA was onside, CQ was onside, the 98 of diamonds were worth about a trick when there was DK10 doubleton under the ace….