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...

Tools and toys over 2C openings, part one

The standard two clubs opening can be somewhat ungainly if you're not prepared. Here's a few tools that can help your strong auctions go more smoothly.

Two Diamonds Positive, Two Hearts Negative:

I like to play that an artificial, negative 2H response is the only way to stop short of game, thus leaving the 2D response positive and game-forcing. Auctions are much easier when both partners know that they won't be passed below game. I have the agreement with some partners that the "positive" bid should show an ace, a king, or at least six points in quacks, but with others, we allow "shape positives" - hands without the high cards, but with enough distribution to suggest lots of tricks, maybe

JT87532
842
9
74

or

Q8652
97
J9874
3

I'm actually undecided as to which way works out best. Shape positives work really well when a fit is found, but can be disastrous with a big misfit. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions in the Comments section.

Kokish

The Kokish 2H is a very necessary tool for 2C opener. When your partner bids 2D, you can bid an artificial 2H with two handtypes: hearts or balanced. Responder is forced to bid 2S, and opener will clarify his hand. In short, the auction will go like this:

2C -2D - 2H - 2S - ?

With a balanced hand, opener rebids 2NT, and all systems are on as if he'd opened 2NT. With the "hearts" hand, he makes the most natural rebid possible. So,

2C - 2D - 2H (Kokish) - 2S (forced) - 3D shows 5+ hearts and 4+ diamonds. Simple enough, right?

The real gain in Kokish comes from being able to better define the ranges of your balanced hands. Since 2C shows 22+, here's how Kokish tightens up the ranges:

2C - 2D - 2NT = 22-23

2C - 2D - 2H (Kokish) - 2S (forced) - 2NT = 24-25

2C - 2D - 3NT = 26-27

2C - 2D - 2H - 2S - 3NT = 28+

BBO Bidding Problems

I played in an online tournament last night with my friend Gail. We've had a handful of games together lately, but I didn't have our card in front of me so we kept our agreements extremely basic. 2/1 with very few bells and whistles. Here are a couple of problems I had:

(A) Favorable at IMPs, first seat, you hold:

A9764
KJ
AKT2
T3

A1) Playing 15-17 NT, do you like this for 1N, or do you open 1S? (Or something else?)
A2) Over 1N, pard will Stayman and invite. Over 1S, pard will bid 2S. What does your auction look like?

(B) Here's a hand Gail held in 4th seat, favorable:

T4
AK7
3
KQJT832

(P) P (1D) 2C
(2S) X (4S) ?

(C) This was the final hand of the evening. If I'd gotten it right, we'd have placed a lot higher than 16th out of 217, which was certainly respectable:

Fourth seat, unfavorable, I held:

A97543
4
QJ4
J82

(3H) 3N (P) ?