The Most Spectacularly Awful Defense Ever

Last week in Vegas, my partner Greg and I were playing in the finals of a Bracket III KO against a very solid team: friends Mike and Eric were at the other table against our teammates Ellianna and Adam, and Greg and I were facing Victor and Steve at our table. On one board, we had the following auction:

(1S) P (1N) 2N! (3N)

or something like this. Neither Greg or I can remember it perfectly, actually. Greg is the one who stuck in the 2N bid, which shows the minors (at least, that's our agreement). He then led the diamond jack.

Dummy hits with something resembling this:

AJxxx QJ Kxx Axx

My hand was:

Qxxxx Kxxx xx Qx

Declarer thought long and hard, won the opening lead, then finessed into my spade queen. I switched to the club queen, which went low - KING - Ace. Victor faced his hand and said through a burst of laughter, "Making 5?" What just happened here?

Well, partner was off in la-la land, thinking he was showing HEARTS and a minor with 2N (not so much). So I led the club queen to unblock and set up his long clubs. But he unblocked the K from Kx to unblock what he thought were MY long clubs. Really, Victor had JTxxx of clubs in HIS hand. Oops.

Greg commented after the hand that if he had led a heart, that might've been a little better. His hand was:

x Axxxx JTxxx Kx

The only problem is that I'm quite likely to duck a heart, thinking the only way I'll score my K is to wait out the two inevitable finesses. Partner doesn't have hearts, right? D'oh!

If I'm in on the joke, we'll take five hearts off the top, and a few more tricks after that. This was one of the few boards all week where our stellar teammates were unable to cover our butts. But since we did go on to win the match, it goes down in history as a good story rather than the reason for the demise of our partnership... :)

In all seriousness, I don't think I've ever had a more fun group of teammates, and I certainly made my fair share of boneheaded plays (though none quite so entertaining as this one -- thanks, Greg, for permission to immortalize it). Even if we had lost the match, this is not something I would've been mad about. It's the ability to recover from such disasters that make a winning squad, after all.

We'll be looking to repeat our success in the North American Swiss Teams in DC later this month. Hopefully we'll have worked out our agreements by then :)

Patting ourselves on the back

McKenzie and I are finally home after nearly four straight months of being on the road, almost entirely for bridge. Our world tour ended in fine fashion. McKenzie tied for first overall masterpoint winner at the Penticton Regional with partner Robert Todd and teammates Ed Ulman and Jim Looby.

In Las Vegas last week, I played with all new teammates Adam Meyerson, Elianna Ruppin, and new partner Greg Humphreys. We won the two KO's that we entered, and I made Silver Life Master at that tournament. A good time was had by all, and now we're finally home with some time off. I can't wait to reunite with these folks again. What a blast.

(L-R: Cathy Van Dyke (NPC), Greg Humphreys, Meg Myers, Elianna Ruppin, and Adam Meyerson)

More frequent updates soon, as soon as we're done sleeping off the last four months.

Ack!

At all white at teams, you hold

AKQT862 5 AQT8 5

and RHO opens 2S! What's your bid?

If you pass, everyone else does too. What's your lead?

New Life Master

It's one of those moments you'll always remember. Where were you when you made it to Life Master? And how did you feel? It's a great moment for any bridge player -- the first big milestone among what will hopefully be many to follow.

I'm closing in on Silver now, but I'll never forget how great it felt to collect my 300th point and get that gold card in the mail. It's been so much fun for me today to go through that emotion all over again with my good friend Gail. She and I traveled together to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, for a regional this week, and this morning, we won our match to advance to round 3 of the morning KO, earning just shy of 10 gold points. Gail was only .2 gold points shy of the milestone, so that win was more than good enough to put her over the top. I was so pleased to be on that team and honored to be the one to deliver the news to her (she was sitting out the second half, so she wasn't present for the comparison).

Congratulations Gail!

Sometimes it really is just bad luck.

To start the week at the Richmond, Virginia MABC Regional, I'm playing with three friends who are all on the hunt for Life Master. My partner is very, very close, and I'd love to see her go over the top this week. We were playing in a Bracket 4 KO yesterday, and won our first round handily. There's certainly no team in this bracket that we shouldn't be able to beat.

So, it was a little annoying when our first seven boards out in round 2 were minus scores. That's never a good sign. The seventh of these was really demoralizing -- partner opened, and I had a balanced 15-count. We reached what seems like a reasonable vulnerable 3NT, but the opponents took the first eight tricks when my LHO can run seven hearts and cash an ace. All I could hope was that the -300 was a push. But you never know in these lower brackets.

It was a push, but we were still down 33 imps at the half. The team turned to me to wonder what the heck we were doing wrong. I'm pretty sure they didn't believe me when I said it was just bad luck. But it really was. Of course we weren't playing perfectly, but we weren't playing -30 imp bridge, either. We were bidding our close games, and our obvious ones, and none of them happened to make. At the other table, they were being conservative, and so there was a long string of part score swings. But at imps, and at any level, it is right to bid games when there's anything close to a 50% chance that they're working. We were doing that, and 0% of our 50%-and-better games were making. Does that mean we were wrong to bid them? No. We were unlucky.

-33 imps is something like five or six part score swings (-100 where we bid a vulnerable game opposite -140 where the opps stay out is -6 imps). So let's say that we bid 5 close vulnerable games, and the opponents bid none of them (which is exactly what happened). If any two of these games had made (so we're basically hoping that 40% of our 50% chances work out -- conservative, right?), we'd be +620 opposite -170 for +10 imps instead of -6, for a sixteen imp difference per board. If we had just two of those, that's 32 imps in our favor, and -33 becomes just -1. That's if any two of these five close games had been a maker. On most days, you can count on making at least some of your close ones.

I really wanted my team to understand this, because I felt like we were playing good bridge, and I didn't want anyone to make any adjustments. Eventually, the pendulum will swing and those close games will start coming home -- and we don't want to be scared out of bidding them when the time comes.

But alas, it was a very unlucky night. There was all of one game to bid in the second half, and while we gained ground, there just weren't 33 imps in the cards in those last 12 boards.

It's demoralizing, but these things happen. Sure it's disappointing, and of course we all made mistakes here and there, but it's important not to second guess yourself when a loss like this happens. If our team keeps playing the game we've been playing, we'll win far more imps than we'll lose. Last night it just really wasn't in the cards.

So what can you do but buy a new entry? Wish us luck!

Brilliant defense

England's Michelle Brunner, in the 2007 Venice Cup (Womens' World Team Championship) found a very clever defense to defeat a grand slam:

North-South had blasted their way to seven clubs on the uncontested auction

1C (1) - 1D (2)
2S (3) - 2NT
3C - 4C
5NT - 7C

(1) Strong, artificial, and forcing
(2) 0-7 HCP
(3) Huge hand with long spades

Michelle's partner led the jack of hearts, declarer covered with the queen, and Michelle ducked! She knew there were plenty of spade winners to cover the losing heart, so wouldn't be giving a trick away. Declarer's 5NT was asking for good trumps, so she knew that the only trick for their side could possibly be in the club suit. When she ducked smoothly, declarer found herself very conveniently in dummy to take the trump finesse...

Deja vu?

Last week I played the Fort Lauderdale Regional with Robert Todd. One afternoon, he showed me his latest article for the Sunshine Bridge News, ACBL District 9's bimonthly magazine.

Follow this link for that article. Read it before the rest of this one!

Two boards into the next session, we had this eerily similar defense:



N-S wound their way to 3H over our 3D. I started out with the queen of diamonds. Robert overtook with the king and switched to a low spade through declarer. South misguessed, playing low, and I won with the queen. I shot a spade to Robert's ace, and he returned the eight of diamonds (suit-preference) to my known jack. I then gave him a spade ruff for the first undertrick. My queen of clubs late made for a very satisfying down two.

Bridge on TV

...but not where I can see it, of course.

England's SkyTV has put together a celebrity bridge competition for their SkyArts channel. You can read all about it here.

Also, here's a short video of the introduction to the programme.

Does anyone know how we could see full episodes of this show?

Time off again...

The Southeastern Regional is over. We had a fabulous time in Fort Lauderdale, making new friends and playing some good bridge. I have a few hands to share... but right now, time to rest. What a week!

A couple of nice auctions from the club

Board 11 Dlr: S Vul: None	QJ8652 A8 AK3 AT
3 9762 65 K87543		K9 Q3 QJ987 QJ92
	AT74 KJT54 T42 6

We were N-S and bid this one uncontested:

P - 1C [16+ any];
1N [8-10, 5+H] - 2S [natural];
4C [splinter raise; usually 4531 or 4621] - 4N
5C [one keycard] - 6S (all pass)

Making 7 easily on the trump finesse and hearts coming home. Only three of 22 pairs bid this 26 HCP slam.

Board 18 Dlr: E Vul: N-S	6 K32 Q64 Q97642
KQ43 JT98 AJ92 8		AJ8 65 KT8753 A3
	T9752 AQ74 KJT5

This time we had opponents to deal with:

(1D) X (1H) 2C;
(2D) 3C (3D) 5C (all pass)

With trumps breaking 2-1 and spades setting up for a heart pitch, 5C was easy. [5D is a maker if they guess trumps correctly.]

A neat defense from Gatlinburg

In the Friday two-session Swiss teams in Gatlinburg last week, Robert Todd and I put together a nice defense. E-W subsided in 2NT after an invitational sequence in which West may or may not have had four spades. I got off to the lead of the two of diamonds. Declarer played low from dummy, and Robert made the very thoughtful play of the seven! Declarer won with the king, cashed the king of clubs (Robert playing the six, his lowest, as a Smith echo - showing that he liked my opening lead), and played a diamond up. Not yet believing that partner had made the good play in diamonds, I split my honors to guarantee me a trick in the suit if RHO had KQx(x). East let me hold the trick. Not really seeing anything else constructive to do, I played another low diamond. Dummy won and declarer pitched a heart. A club was led to the ace, and a spade to the queen. Two more rounds of clubs were played, ending on the table, and I pitched down to AJ of spades, KJ of hearts, and the good jack of diamonds. A heart was led to my jack; I cashed the good diamond and exited the now-stiff king of hearts to the now-stiff ace, and a spade through the queen was our sixth trick for down one. At the other table, our teammates were +400 in 3NT!

Fun in Bracket XVI

I've been spoiled playing in higher brackets with McKenzie, but this week, it's bracket sixteen for me and my squad of players who actually all have more points than I do. It's sort of awful down here, but it's really fun, too. My biggest laugh of the week so far was this auction and the post mortem that followed:

I opened the bidding:

1C (1D) 1S (P)
1N (2D) all pass

Dummy hit with the world's fair -- an 11-count with clubs double stopped and diamond support. When declarer made 4, dummy said, "Whew, I was starting to worry I hadn't bid enough!"

Declarer said, "Oh no it was perfect -- I only had a weak 2."

There's more where that came from, but for now it's back to the bridge table.

Gatlinburg Regional

Everything they say about Gatlinburg is true. If you've never been to this regional, you're missing out. McKenzie and I will be rolling into town in time for the first session of the tournament, and we're really looking forward to the week!

I'm pretty sure this is the only tournament in America where you can play five sessions a day, and I must have forgotten to take my brain medicine, because that's what I'm signed up to do -- stop by and say hi; I'll be there around the clock!

I am currently soliciting ideas for something I have wanted for a long time. Gatlinburg is the capital of tacky souvenirs, and I would really like to get a customized airbrush t-shirt this year. I just have no idea what I want on it! Any ideas?

Interview with a Junior

As a young bridge player, I recognize that I am somewhat of a novelty at most bridge events. Even though I play hundreds of sessions a year, I still get these questions every time I play. It starts with "It's so nice to see young people playing bridge!" And then the interview begins:

How long have you been playing bridge?

I was born with a deck of cards in my hand. My mother and grandmother tag-teamed to teach me the game from the time I was just a baby. I learned addition by adding up the points in a bridge hand, and the first letters of the alphabet that I learned were A, K, Q, and J. That said, I didn't start taking the game seriously until I was about 23. When I met my husband, I started taking it really seriously, and I think it's fair to say that I've been actually playing bridge for about 2 years. I've been an ACBL member for 18 years.

What grade are you in?

Sigh. I graduated college five years ago. I'm not sure if people ask this question because I look so young, or if it's just to be patronizing. It *feels* patronizing. Please knock it off.

How old are you?

See above. My answer to this question, when I'm feeling spunky, is "How old are YOU?" But okay, okay, I turn 26 later this month. Party in Gatlinburg!

Who taught you how to play bridge?

My mother taught me, then my husband untaught me everything and started from scratch. My mother is 100% responsible for my interest in the game, but McKenzie is 100% responsible for my success.

Is this your mother?

Several of my partners are women who are a little older than I am. Very rarely do I play with my mom, but she does play. Please stop and think about how rude this question is before you ask it. It makes me very uncomfortable, and I worry that you are hurting my partner's feelings. You may think I'm 16, but my partner knows I'm 26. When my partner is in her 40's, do you think she wants to be asked if she has a 26-year-old daughter? It embarrasses me when you ask me this. If you're curious about a relationship, it's always safe to ask "How do you two know each other?" "Are you related?" or best yet, "Is this your sister?"

Are you related to Donna Compton?

Okay, not a question most juniors will get, but apparently everyone in the bridge world thinks Donna is my long lost twin. I don't know her and have never met her, but I understand I am to take this question as a compliment. Thanks, then, but no, we're not related.

So there you have it, just in case you're one of the few who've never asked me these things :)

Well defended hand

My partner Pat Riding put together a nice defense on this board to get us a plus score and top board on the way to 1st overall on Tuesday:



We were defending 2H in the East. Pat started things off with a low diamond to the ace. Declarer led a club to Pat's ace. She laid down the king of diamonds and played a third round, ruffed by declarer. East now played a club to the board to play a heart to the jack. Pat won with the king and pushed her deuce of diamonds through dummy. I ruffed with my lone queen of hearts, declarer overruffed, and Pat now had four trump tricks to go with her ace of clubs and king of diamonds for +100! Well done.

On the road again

I'm in the airport at the moment waiting to head off to the Toronto Regional. If you're there, come over and say hi!

Building fences

West led a spade to his partner's king, which held the trick. East looked at the two tricks in his hand and the menacing club suit in dummy, and thought "the only way we're going to set this contract is if partner has the ace of diamonds. Then he can give me a ruff for our fourth trick." So East led his singleton diamond. West won the ace, thought for a while, and decided his partner wanted a spade led through the queen. So he tabled the spade jack, trying to smother declarer's supposed ten. Declarer ruffed, drew trumps, and claimed +420. East berated his partner for never giving him ruffs.










A few boards later, this was dealt:



West led a spade to his partner's king, which held the trick. East looked at the two tricks in his hand and the menacing club suit in dummy, and thought "the only way we're going to set this contract is if partner has the ace of diamonds. Then hopefully he'll figure out to duck the first one so when I'm in with my trump ace I can lead another diamond and he can give me a ruff for our fourth trick." So East led his doubleton diamond. West, having been yelled at just a few hands prior, jumped up with the ace and led another one back. Declarer scooped up the tricks, drew trumps, and claimed +420. East yelled at West for never knowing what the hell was going on at the table.








What went wrong here?

I think East was the culprit in both of these hands. First of all, his behavior was horrible. If you can't keep from yelling at or berating partner when he makes a mistake, you need to take up a new game. All players make mistakes. You do, I do, Jeff Meckstroth does. If you can't live with you or your partner making mistakes, bridge is not the game for you.

Incidentally, I heard a local player the other day analyzing a two-session event he'd played the day before. "I made three errors yesterday," he said. This person is fooling himself. Even the top experts make several errors per session. I asked my friend and top Canadian expert Cam Doner once, "What's the biggest number of hands in a row you've gone without making a mistake?" His answer: "One." Now there's a man who's honest with himself.

Every player makes mistakes, but it's the good players that work hard to keep their partners from making mistakes. On the first board, East should have won the first trick with the ace of spades. "Knowing" that declarer had the king, West would see no future in the spade suit and return the diamond for East to ruff. On the second board, when East wins with the king and puts a diamond back again, West should realize that now that he has a partner who's trying to get the right information to him, the defense isn't a blind guess any more. He needs to weigh the possibility that East has led a doubleton diamond [it can't be singleton since the king won the first trick] against the possibility that he led from three or more diamonds and needed a spade led through.

My reasoning would be this: It's far more likely on the auction that East is 5=2 in spades and diamonds than that he's 4=3 or 4=4, because I know he has at most two hearts. If he had a good hand with 4=2=3=4 or 4=2=4=3 or 4=1=4=4, he'd probably double 1H rather than overcall 1S. Since he did overcall 1S, I'll play him to have five spades and two diamonds. I'll duck this one, hope partner has a trump trick so he can lead a second diamond to get his ruff!

See how much easier the defense is to figure out when West knows that East's diamond isn't a singleton?

Amusing hand from bidding practice

Last night, I was practicing bidding with my partner Garth. Garth and I are playing several upcoming tournaments, and we have a very complicated bidding system, so we want our agreements to be in tip-top shape for our first big test-- Gatlinburg in just over a week. We've been practicing several hours a week, and getting better every time.

This hand came up as the last one of the session.


I was very amused to notice that game was most likely on in all five strains - these hands will probably make 3NT, 4H, 4S, 5C, and 5D! I've been experimenting with the E-W hands a bit, trying to see if I can make a full hand where N-S can make game in all five strains but can't make slam in any of them. I've come close, but it seems like 6C by South is always making. Can you come up with a better construction than I did?

All Red

Is there a better way to celebrate your first anniversary than to go down to the bridge club? I suppose there must be, but we settled for the club. Toward the end of the game, with no one vulnerable, I picked up this hand:

-- AK9743 KQT8632 --

I don't believe I've ever held this distribution before, and certainly not this strength. Before I say what happened, what's your plan for this hand?

I was still weighing my choices between 1D and a strong 1C when righty, the dealer, took those choices away from me with 3S.

This actually made my hand much easier to show. I bid 4N, which is a 2-suited takeout. When Z bid 5C, as I suspected he would, I leapt to 6D, showing my strength and making my two suits known. With Axx of diamonds, he had an easy raise to 7D, which was a laydown when my righty doesn't have any voids.

7H actually would've been the better contract (McKenzie held QTx in that suit), but bidding a making grand is usually good enough for all the matchpoints at this club, anyhow. Anyway, I thought I described my hand pretty well, and left the decision to my partner. McKenzie thinks I had a better way to show my hand. How would you have proceeded over 3S?

The Rabbi Won't Leave Me Alone!

Houston was not my best NABC. I had a lot of great experiences there, but also a lot of really crappy luck. I felt like I was playing pretty well most of the week, and I certainly had moments of brilliance, but luck was really, really not on my side.

My partner Theri will agree that I was dealt a ridiculous number of stiff kings throughout the four days that I played with her (and also in the six days prior to that). In my four days with Theri, I'd estimate that I was dealt somewhere between 15 and 20 stiff kings, and not one of them ever scored a trick. Even when it was counterintuitive for the opponents to play the ace, they always did. Every stinkin' time.

That kind of luck can really wear a girl down. On Sunday, in our last session together, the opponents dropped three of my stiff kings. Every time it happened, Theri and I would lose our composure, laughing. I appreciate that none of these opponents called the director on us for sending secret signals somehow, but I started to think I should've called the director on some of them -- surely they were peeking into my hands.

I thought that I could leave the rabbi in Houston and shake this bad luck, but he followed me to Virginia. I lost several more stiff kings yesterday playing in a sectional Swiss in Norfolk. It was rather demoralizing, but at least we won our event! Maybe my luck is turning after all...

But for now, a word of advice to my opponents: when I'm at the table, you should probably cash your aces. Sigh...