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.

Hunt Valley Weekend KO: Second Session

After skating through the first session, we came into another three-way. We had a repeat from the first ring (the MABC allows playbacks at any time. I think this is a poor idea) and our old friends Cheech and Chong.

First quarter, vs. Cheech and Chong:

(A) Q KJ864 J532 AK7, all red
RHO opens 1D. You overcall a heart, lefty passes, and pard advances with a forcing 1S. Pass on your right. You bid 1NT (do you?) and pard bids 2D. What's your call?

(B) 62 73 KT942 T854, all red
Pard opens 2NT (good 19-awful 22). Do you have a bid?

After six boards, we held the commanding lead of 11-10.

Second quarter, vs. Cranky Old People:

(C) 9754 AJ96 KQ9 AK, all red
LHO passes, pard passes, and RHO opens 1S. Green? Red? Else?

(D) KQJ763 5 K J9652, white vs. red
RHO opens 2H. You overcall 2S. Lefty bids 3D, pard cues 4D, righty passes, you bid 4S (do you?), and lefty bids what he probably should have the last time, 5D, pass, pass. You're up.

After six, we were up 14-3.

Third quarter, vs. C+C:

(E) J 432 AK73 KT752, white vs. red
Partner opens 1C in first chair, and RHO comes in with 1H. You cue 2H to show an invite or better in clubs, which pard pulls to 2NT. Pass, 3C, or 3N?

This was a very quiet set. Our teammates bid to a good game and went down on a ruff while C and C stopped in 2S making 3 for the only swing. We lost 12-18.


Fourth quarter, vs. COP:

I screwed up this hand mightily:

KT7 QJT87532 none 72, all white

Pard opened 1D, I responded 1H, she bounced to 2N, I bid 4H, and she passed. RHO came out of the bushes and doubled! I forgot to redouble, and when LHO led a low spade and dummy came down as

A95 A4 QJ96 AK93,

I also failed to pick up Kx of hearts onside... what should have been +1480 and win 14 was turned into a sad +790 and win 7.

We didn't need the seven imps. It got ugly... we won the match 41-8. On to the semis! We drew... you guessed it... Cheech again. Grr.

I'll post what happened at the table in the Comments. Please feel free to leave your own thoughts about these hands!

Hunt Valley Weekend KO: First session

We entered the Weekend Knockout with our old friends UK and Mullet. With 11,000 MPs on our team and only 54 teams in the event, we expected to make Bracket I, but when the sheets came out, we ended up in the middle of II. There were ten teams in the bracket, so there were two three-ways and two head-to-head matches in the first match. We fell into a three-way.

As always, I'll post what happened at the table in the Comments. If you're reading this via RSS or LiveJournal feed, come to the site and find out.

First quarter:

MY LHO made some insane calls. At unfavorable, she bid 3D over my 2S with xxx xx Axxxx ATx. Apparently her partner had seen her overcalls before-- she competed to 4D only over pard's 3S with a hand I'd be making a slam try on. +100. This was a quiet six boards, except for our teammates' going for 800 at unfavorable in a weak notrump escape auction. We were down 2-12 after six.

Second quarter:

(A) KJ862 KJT652 8 Q, white vs. red
RHO passes in first chair, and you?

(B) K KT4 AKT52 8642, all red
LHO opens 1H, pard overcalls 1S, RHO bids 1NT. Your bid.

(C) 963 54 AJ8752 K8, all white
Pard opens 1H in first seat, and RHO overcalls 1S. You make a negative double (do you? What would you do if your minors were switched?), and LHO leaps majestically to 4S. Pard's in there with 5C, righty passes, and it's up to you.

After six boards, we led 35-0.

Third quarter (down 2-12):

Again, nothing very spectacular our way. The big swing hand was the opponents flailing their way to slam off three bullets for win 11. The final score of the match was 27-15.

Fourth quarter (up 35-0):

(D) 84 A7 KQT84 9872, white vs. red
RHO quickly passed, and when I pulled out my Stop card prior to opening 2D (which I strongly believe is the right call), lefty disinterestedly pulled out a pass card. We certainly could have called the Director and exercised our options, but it didn't seem too necessary in this match. Pard passed 2D, and righty balanced with 2H. On the table action, do you have a call?

This was the quiet set we wanted it to be, and won the match 42-2. So onward to the quarterfinals! With six teams left in the bracket, it was another three-way. We drew the other survivor of our ring (the slam off three aces team) and our old friends Cheech and Chong.

Stay tuned.

Hunt Valley: Tuesday Evening Hands

This was the wackiest set of hands I've played in years.

All problems matchpoints. What happened at the table will follow in the Comments.

(A) KJ963 A 9 986432, red vs. white
RHO passes. First of all, what's your action? I decided to open 1C. LHO bid 1D, pard bid 1NT, and RHO tabled 2H. What's your call here?

(B) AQ74 none KQT753 Q42 white vs. red
You open 1D in first chair. Lefty passes, partner bids 1S, and RHO butts in with 2H. You're up.

(C) 43 J72 AT43 T865, all red
LHO opens 1C. Pard doubles, and RHO bids 1H. I know I won't get a lot of support here, but let's say you bid 2D. (For those of you who disagree with 2D, would you bid if you could show the suit at the one level?) LHO now bids 3C, partner bids 3H, and righty passes. Your call.

(D) KQ9 A96 AJ754 K7, red vs. white
You open 1D (1N would have been 14-16). LHO overcalls 2C, which is raised to 3C on your right. What's your bid?

(E1) A9 T65 KJ8765 T4, white vs. red
Partner, in first seat, opens a 14-16 NT. Your choices are 2N (natural), 3N, or 2S (clubs or invite in diamonds). What's your guess?

(E2) Say you go the third route, and start with 2S. Pard bids 3C (does not accept an invitation in clubs), and you bid 3D, revealing your hand. Partner continues with 3H. You're up.

(F) 62 AJT8753 72 KJ, all white
Pard opens 1D in first chair. RHO bounces to 3C, and it's your call.

(G) AK6 J85 93 AKQ63, red vs. white
In second chair, pard opens a weak 2D. RHO comes in with 2S, and you bid 3N. This is passed around to righty, who viciously doubles. You can make a "content" pass, a "doubt" redouble, or a "pansy" pull.

(H) 8763 none A732 J6542, white vs. red
Pard opens 2S in first chair. Righty doubles. You can bid some number of spades, or stick in a lead director at the three level (by bidding one under the suit). You're up.

Hunt Valley: Tuesday Afternoon Hands

Mike and I placed 3rd overall (of 78) in the Tuesday Open Pairs. The event certainly was ours to win if we'd played perfectly. We ended up about 1¼ boards out of first place. There were an amazing amount of interesting hands. All problems matchpoints. What happened at the table will follow in the Comments.

(A) Q Q653 AJ43 AK84, red vs. white
LHO open 2S, pard passes, RHO lifts to 3S, and you?

(B) A2 AJ6532 A7 A83, all white
You open 1H. LHO overcalls 1S, pass, pass to you. Your call.

(C) A5 T5 KQJ4 T8753, red vs. white
Pard opens 1C, RHO overcalls 1H, you bid 2H (limit raise or better in clubs), and partner rebids 2NT. Pass, 3C, or 3NT? [A 1NT opening by partner is 14-16.]

(D1) J63 J973 AQ4 A93, all red.
Pard opens 1S. Your choices are 2C [game force], 1N [semi-forcing], or 2N [limit raise or better].

(D2) If you bid 1N, what are your rebids over partner's two-level rebids?

Hunt Valley: Monday Hands

Mike and I played in the Single-Session Knockouts. We did some bad things, and some good things, and a lot of neutral things. There wasn't a heck of a lot in the cards. It was a surprisingly boring set.

All hands IMPs. What happened at the table will appear in the Comments.

(A) A5 T943 AKQJ94 A, all white
In fourth chair, I opened 1D. Pard bid 1H. I pulled out an undiscussed 4D (one of our final agreements was "anything we haven't discussed, assume expert standard"), and he keycarded with 4S. I showed 0 or 3 (5C), and he bid 5H. We had also agreed that 5H is a signoff opposite zero and the queen ask opposite 3, "unless you've opened 2C or something." Do you pass 5H or bid 6H to show three without the queen?

(B) AKQJT3 AJ T3 A63, red vs. white
You to open. Your choices are 1S, a semi-wacky but not ridiculous 2NT, or an Acol 3NT (16-21, source of tricks with side stoppers).

(C) T5 AKT JT2 JT742, red vs. white
You pass in first chair. The auction continues: P (1C) 1D (1H) 1N (2H) P (P). Do you have a call?

(D) 6 AQ873 AT5 QT84, white vs. red
You open 1H, and partner splinters with 4D. You're up.

(E) KT63 J AQT843 A5, red vs. white
Pard opens a weak 2H in first chair. Righty passes, and you...?

(H1) JT8 A7 QJ3 KQT73, red vs. white
Righty opens a strong notrump and plays there. Your lead.

(H2) KJ954 865 K95 Q8, all white
RHO opens 1D. You overcall 1S (unless you're Brian Meyer). LHO cues 2S (LR+), RHO bids 2NT, and LHO lifts to 3NT. Your lead.

Hunt Valley: Monday

For the Hunt Valley Regional (held this week just north of Baltimore, MD) Meg had a previous commitment for the first two days, so I get to try out a new partner for a few days. Mike Gill was nice enough to agree to join me. Mike is a great player and a heck of a nice guy. He's a grad student at the University of Maryland in astrophysics. He was also a member of the 2005 USA Junior Team in Sydney, Australia.

Mike and I had a couple of hours to cobble agreements together. Here's a few of the things we decided on.

14-16 notrumps, with extended Stayman and better-minor lebensohl
1H-2S and 1S-2N as a limit raise or better (with these responses)
3S relay over 2N
Semi-forcing notrumps over 1M
Fit-showing jumps in competition
Upside-down count and attitude with standard Smith echo
Snapdragon and Doorknob doubles and redoubles
Modified Landy over their notrumps (2C = majors, double of a strong NT = major/minor, all else natural)
Transfer McCabe
Kickback
Exclusion Keycard
Non-serious 3NT
Modified responses to Michaels
Acol 3NT openings
Pass-double inversion
Bad/good 2NT

...and a few other fun things.