Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Virginia Beach Regional: Tuesday

We arrived too late Monday evening to play, so we relaxed and hung out at the beach for a while. We played The Fabulous Side Game Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we bought an entry for TFSG again (we were planning a non-bridge-related celebration for the evening), but the directors needed us to fill a hole in the Open Pairs -- so we had stronger competition than we were originally planning.

That's a good thing, by the way. As I was telling my friend Karen yesterday, meeting tougher competition is the only way to get better. We certainly needed the practice!

Here's a few interesting hands from TFSG. All problems are matchpoints. Please read the Comments section at the end of the post to see what we did and what others would have done, and feel free to leave some comments of your own!

(A) Red vs. white

97 62 A5 KJT8752

Partner opens a strong (good 14-17) 1NT. RHO passes, you jump to 3NT, and LHO jumps in with 4D! This is passed around to you. What's your call?

(B) All red

9852 KJ84 AJ9 A2

You open 1D. Pard bids 1H, and after you raise to 2H, partner makes a short-suit game try of 3D. Is this the right hand for game?

(C) White vs. red

T 86543 QT8 JT32

Pard opens 1S in first chair. This is passed around to LHO, who overcalls 1NT. Pard doubles this, and RHO passes. (C1) Do you pull? If not, what kind of hand would you have to pull this double? (C2) Say you pass. LHO will redouble, and RHO will pull to 2C. Your call.

(D) Red vs. white

T8 AJ K2 AKQ9854

You open 1C. LHO jumps up with 3H, pard bids 3S, and RHO bids 4H. What's your call?

(E) White vs. red

A93 AJ3 AQ976 Q9

RHO opens 1C. (E1) What's your call? (E2) I'm forcing a double in E1. LHO passes, pard bids 1H, and RHO passes. Your bid.

2 comments:

McKenzie said...

(A) I decided to bid a "fourth and final" notrump. This was passed around to RHO, who confidently doubled. I reconsidered my position and pulled to 5C. RHO less confidently hit this.

If RHO leads a diamond against 4NTX, we're wrapping up ten tricks. As anyone who's ever played with Patricia would know, LHO's 4D was "Cappeletti" -- both majors. They could take five tricks against 4NTX, but surely wouldn't. They could've taken four against 5CX, but only took three. Nuts.

(B) I thought this was very, very close -- it seemed that there would be lots of spade losers -- but I bid 4H anyway. I guess I shouldn't have worried much Pard made 5 without breathing hard.

(C1) I didn't pull the double-- pard knows what she's doing.

(C2) I made a penalty double of 2C! We got it for 200.

(D) Meg held this hand and launched straight into keycard. I think it's a good hand for a forcing pass -- wait and see what pard can come up with.

(E) I doubled and then passed 1H. Pard overplayed it for +200 (the defense to set 4H would have been easy).

Noble said...

(A) 4NT

(B) yes (4h)

(C1) pass, I would need a more offensive hand and more playable suit to pull, for instance x xxx QT8xxx Jxx

(C2) double

(D) 4NT, planning on bidding 6c or 7c later

(E1) 1d, planning to double later

(E2) 2d