Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Hunt Valley Weekend KO: Third Session

Just so there's no suspense, we lost 9-60. It was hideous.

We were down 25 at the half. 13 of those were fairly random imps, and 12 were due to over-optimism on defense. On the first board of the second half, another 10 went out the window, and it became a scramble from there. Nothing worked to our advantage, and neither pair had a very good card either half. Not many problem hands, except for the easy ones we got wrong.

(A) A643 A K95 QJ865, red vs. white
It went three passes to me. Had this been in the second half, I probably would've called this a strong notrump... but I opened 1C.

(P) P (P) 1C;
(P) 1D (1H) 1S;
(2H) P (P) ?

(B) KT853 K5 52 J973, all white
You pass in first chair. LHO opens 1D, pard passes, and RHO bids 1H. Is this enough to overcall?

(C) AQ7532 K94 975 K, white vs. red
You open 1S, and partner lifts to 3S - a 4-card invitational raise. Is this an accept?

I misplayed this hand:

Dealer: S

Vul: All



KQJT85

AT9
Q5
82




♠ 5







♥ K7643







♦ AT972







♣ A5



1♥ (2♣) 2♠ (3♣)
3♦ (P) 3♥ (P)
4♥ (All Pass)

West led the queen of clubs, two, three (encouraging), and I won to lead a spade up. West hopped ace and tried to cash the jack of clubs, but East overtook with the king and shot a diamond through. My only shot was to let it ride to the queen... but West won the king and they later took a trump trick for down one.

Now, if I had just let the queen of clubs hold the trick, assuming the diamond king (and spade ace) on my left (what else can he have for a vul two-level overcall on a QJ-high suit?), when trumps break 3-2, all they can take is a club, a diamond, and a spade. Yet another case of playing too quickly.

Apparently, this was played card for card in the other room.

8 comments:

McKenzie said...

(A) I [over-?]competed to 3D. Maybe 2N should be this shape? Down one, lose six.

(B) I made an awful overcall here (forgive me, Buffy). Pard gave lots of leeway and bid 1N on her red 13-count, for down one and a push.

(C) I thought (and still think) that this is worth an acceptance. Dummy was about average, and we were on a finesse. Down one, for another push.

Memphis MOJO said...

Am enjoying your blog.

I agree that (C) is an accept for two reasons:
1. it is worth 4S on its own merits, but
2. you prevent a swing by bidding 4S because they rate to be in it at the other table. If so, you push the board if 4S is just down, but you may have a pickup if you play it one-trick better to make it.

RoboJenny said...

A) pass
B) no way. It's death seat.
C) Hm. I kinda feel like I should accept and I'm looking hard for a good excuse but I don't think I see it. Pass (unless I'm playing against weak opps who keep throwing tricks at me in other contracts I've played. Then I'm totally bidding 4S)

checking answers....

A) 2NT is totally good/bad there. =p (you've played with me enough that I'm sure if I bid it you'd know that from me, even if that's not your preferred treatment w/other partnerships. Hey, it's our agreement too since we said "almost always")

Noble said...

(C) This was an automatic accept.

No strong feelings on the other two one way or the other.

Meg said...

Actually, we play bad/good 2NT, so 2N on (A) would've been even more of an over-compete.

Kevin said...

If anyone feels they need an excuse to accept the invite on (C), it's a six-loser hand and pard counts on a 7-loser hand for most opening 1-bids.

-- Kevin

David Banh said...

(A) Double seems reasonable. I don't like that I'm red, but it looks like partner has to have something useful for me. He can't really have 4 hearts, the way I play, but even if he does, he'd have 5D. And if he only has 3 hearts, he's 3-3-4-3? Unlikely.

(B) I tend to think that anything is enough to overcall, but that could be get me in trouble at your level.

(C) Nah. If you look at it one way, its a 12 count with 6 spades. If you look at it another way and say you have a singleton, its a... 12 count with 6 spades... or worse.

RoboJenny said...

Kevin -

I actually think it's a 7 loser hand. I count: 1 loser in spades, 2 losers in hearts, 3 losers in diamonds, 1 loser in clubs.

I'm guessing you counted 0 losers in clubs or messed up in the addition. I believe singleton A counts as 0 losers while singleton K or Q or x counts as 1 loser. To expand, Ax counts as 1, Kx as 1, Qx as 2, Axx as 2, Kxx as 2, and Qxx as 2.