Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Oregon Grinders: Day Two


Paul and I continued along in the pair games on Tuesday, with less success than Monday. We scratched both sessions, but didn't make the overalls.

All problems matchpoints.

(A) All red

AK J53 A875 AKQ6

RHO opens 1H. Assuming you double, what is your action over partner's 1S?

(B) All red

T42 J4 QT852 J63

The opponents bid uncontested to 6S on this auction:

1D - 1H;
1S - 4NT;
5H - 6S.

What's your lead?

(C) White vs. red

J63 J5 K543 A762

You pass in first chair, LHO opens 1H, pard overcalls 2D, and RHO jumps to 4H. Do you or don't you?

(D) All white

A987 JT7642 9 KT

Pard opens 2H (!) in second seat, and RHO overcalls 2S. Your bid.

3 comments:

McKenzie said...

(A) Paul held this hand and cued 2H. I rebid 2S and he passed. This was not a success opposite my Q74 T62 6432 J85. Oops.

(B) Paul also held this. He led the jack of hearts, but I think a spade is the right call. The opponents are in a known 4-4 fit, and this is highly unlikely to blow the 12th trick. It just might prevent the 12th trick to come from a crossruff.

(C) I bid 5D, which was not a success. We went down one when even 3H wasn't making.

(D) I jumped in with 5H. I wasn't interested in defending anything lower, and wanted to take up all the space I could. Wrong again! The last making spot for either side was 4H.

Noble said...

(A) 2c
I am not willing to bid notrump with no stopper in the opponents' 5-card suit. Also I think this hand is a little trick-soft for a cuebid.

(B) club
Trump is a reasonable lead too, but I prefer aggressive leads against slams.

(C) 5d
This seems very clear to me at favorable. We might even make it.

(D) 5h
It seems fantastic that we will be allowed to play in 4h here, and I think we might beat a slam, should they land in one.

Meg said...

(A) Harvey held Paul's cards last night and we had the exact same auction to 2S. I can understand the excitement, but I think 1S should pretty much deny anything of interest, so rather than cuing, I think this hand needs to bid his own suit. I'm too strong, yet also too missing a heart stopper, for 1N, so I think I try 2C. (I was only down 1 in 2S though. Heh.)

(B) Again, we saw the same auction at our table. I can't remember what Harvey led ATM, but I would tend to lead a low club here. No good reason.

(C) Favorable at matchpoints? Of course.

(D) Without the spade length, this is an automatic 5H, but with four spades to the ace, I'm not sure they're bidding over 4H. Depending on table feel, I'll bid 4 or 5. All white, and with these spades, I think I'm going to 4H, willing to compete to 5 if they bid 4S.