Preparing your mind

Here at the Reno NABC, most of the national championship events are pair games. No six-man teams, no time to rest, just a lot of thinking, hand after hand after hand, all day long. It's taxing. Some folks prepare to warm up by playing the morning session, or relax before game time by sleeping in. I've tried these methods, and they're acceptable, but I often feel fatigued by the second half of the day.

This tournament, I'm sleeping in a little each day and going to the gym before the afternoon session. Studies that I'm too lazy to google have shown conclusively that exercise improves brain function. It's no surprise to me that I run into many of the top bridge players here in the gym each morning. I feel like a good hard workout clears my mind and prepares me for the hard thinking I'll have to do for the rest of the day. It gives me the energy and stamina I need to stay sharp all day. And when I exercise before a game, I spend less time looking around the playing area and worrying that one day I'll start to look like the average bridge player...

Good luck to everyone competing here in Reno!

A New Bridge Tournament Resource

Most of you know that I blog for a living. I've been writing, among others, a travel blog called The Perpetual Tourist, for over two years now. I've just recently launched this blog on my very own website, Jianantonic.com. If you click over to that site, you'll notice a little link on the side that says "Bridge."

DoubleSqueeze.com will continue to feature interesting deals, play problems, analysis, and other commentary from the bridge table, but the Bridge page at Jianantonic will be a tournament resource. This is where I'll post information about tournament schedules, travel and lodging logistics, restaurant recommendations, and editorial comments. McKenzie and I travel to so many regionals and sectionals, as well as all the NABCs, that this page will soon cover most of the major tournaments in the ACBL.

My hope is that this website will become a valuable resource for players planning to attend a tournament for the first time, or who want to find an easier way to attend tournaments they've done before.

This page is still in its infancy, but I am constantly updating it, and soon it will include dozens of tournaments as well as a search feature to find information about particular tournaments. You can also comment on these pages to chime in with your own advice or ask questions about details I may have left out. Please check it out, tell your friends, and keep coming back. You can also follow me on Twitter -- @jianantonic.

Enjoy!

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions from the San Diego NABC

1. No, I'm not related to Donna Compton.

2. Thanks, but I wasn't in the play.

3. 26.

4. Attitude. Yes, I do understand the question. Attitude. Really, not 4th best, not 3rd & 5th, attitude.

5. Portland, OR.

It's been a fun tournament, and I'm glad I was able to get here and play after all -- bought my ticket at 2am on Tuesday and was here in time to kibitz McKenzie in the Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs on Wednesday. We're leaving a day early so we can get some sleep before getting to work early on Monday. We'll see some of you in Tacoma next weekend, Reno at the end of the year, or Monterey after that.

Construction time!

Everyone's vulnerable at matchpoints. Here's the situation:

What's partner's hand / handtype? What do you do? In the words of Bob Hamman, what the hell is going on here?

San Diego

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! The San Diego Fall NABC starts today. I'll try to post some interesting hands and goings-on from the tournament. If you're here, say hi!

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...

Well bid hand from Boston

Jenni and I tackled this hand in the Open Board-A-Match:




Playing against our friends Robert Todd and Richard Helams, I picked up this huge one loser 6-6 red hand... and saw my partner open 1D! [1D was limited to 15 HCP and could be as short as 2 in a balanced hand.] I started with a quiet 1H. Robert, having passed his eight-bagger on the first round, bid 2S at his next turn. Jenni passed, I forced, and I kept making slam and grand tries until Jenni showed the king of clubs. My 6D bid was a plea for her to bid 7H with the king of diamonds. She didn't have it, so she couldn't bid the grand... but she was able to put it in the top BAM spot of 6NT! This was not what I had originally planned with my 6-6, but it seemed like it had to be a good contract for the form of scoring.

We were very happy with the result, until we found out that our opponents had a bashing auction to 6H, and our teammate made the very reasonable lead of his stiff diamond... our +1440 lost the board to -1460. Too sad!

Hands from the Open Board-A-Match in Boston

I played the Victor Mitchell Open Board-A-Match Teams with Jenni Carmichael. We played a fun version of Transfer Precision (much like Meg and I play, with a few tweaks). Click here to read my earlier post on this event, written from Boston.

Here's a few more hands from the BAM:

(A) All red



Partner opens 1D (2 or more diamonds, 10-15 HCP), RHO passes, you bid 1H, and LHO jumps to 2S. This gets passed around to you. What's your call?

(B) Red vs. white



You open 1D (could be short, again...), partner bids 1H, you rebid 1S, and partner splinters with 4D! What's your call?

A few bidding problems from the Boston NABC

Here are some problems I faced in the Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs playing with Mike Develin. All problems are at matchpoints.

(A) All white



LHO opens 3H, partner overcalls 3S, and RHO passes. What's your call?

(B) All white, matchpoints



Partner opens 1S. RHO overcalls 2H. What's your bid / plan?

(C) All white



LHO opens 1C, partner overcalls 1NT, and RHO passes. You can:

-pass
-bid 2H (transfer to spades)
-bid 2S (to show an invite with diamonds)
-bid 3C (weak transfer to diamonds)
-bid 2C (Stayman; pulling 2H to 2S shows an invitational hand with 5 spades)

Wrapup: You Be The Judge II

I recently posted two terribly underbid hands from the Boston NABC and asked for readers' opinions on where the blame should lie. I received a very nice set of responses, but sadly, not enough to meet the Fabulous Prize threshhold of twelve respondents. Maybe next time! Anyway, here's the results:

(For reference, here's Hand One and Hand Two.)


Hand One:

Percentage of blame: West 89%

Worst call: 6C

Hand Two:

Percentage of blame: West 25%

Worst call: Pass

You Be The Judge II: Boston NABC (Part Two)

Here's the second You Be The Judge hand from Boston:

Hand 2:

♠ AKT73 ♥ KQJ7 ♦ AJ3 ♣ Q

♠ 862 ♥ AT9 ♦ 6542 ♣ K73

IMPs, all red

North dealt and passed. East passed, and South opened 1D. Here's the total auction:

West	North	East	South
	P	P	1♦
X	P	1♥	P
3♥	P	P	P

Here's your questions:

(A) What is West's percentage of the blame for these ten lost IMPs?

(B) What was the worst action taken?

Once again, if we get enough responses, a fabulous prize* will go to the jurist that comes closest to the consensus.

Let's get those votes in!



*Prize is not even moderately fabulous.

You Be The Judge II: Boston NABC

For the original You Be The Judge post, click here.

Your job (yes, you. Even if you've never commented before, this is a great time to start) is to answer two questions for each of these two hands.

I will post one hand today and one tomorrow.

(A) Assign a percentage of the blame to West. (If you think both partners contributed equally, West gets 50%. If West had three times more of the blame then East, West gets 75%.)

(B) Name the worst action of the entire hand.

If we get enough commenters (12 or more), the person with both consensus answers and is closest on the percentages will receive a fabulous prize*.

The case before the jury today is a crime of underbidding:

(1) All red, matchpoints



East opened 1NT (14-16). West Staymanned and bid 3C [forcing] over the denial reply. East bid 3D, and West splintered with 4S. East cued 5H, West bid 6C, and East passed. Here's the auction:

--- 1NT;
2C - 2D;
3C - 3D;
4S - 5H;
6C - P.

There are clearly thirteen runners in any of three strains.

(A) What was West's percentage of the blame for missing this granny?

(B) What was the worst action taken by either partner? (This does not have to be by the player to which you assigned most blame)

Hand #2 tomorrow. Let the deliberations commence!



*Prize is not fabulous.

Boston NABC Wrapup

It was a historic North American Bridge Championship. Eric Rodwell put together an unprecedented performance. Rodwell was second in the two-day Life Master Pairs, first in the two-day Open Board-A-Match Teams, first in the three-day Blue Ribbon Pairs, and first in the three-day Reisinger Board-A-Match Teams for a staggering 623.75 masterpoints [all platinum] for the ten days. This performance should solidify his standing as the top American player, if not the top player in the world.

On a more personal note, it was a successful NABC for me as well, even though I earned only about 1% of Rodwell's points. I created very fun partnerships with old friends Jenni Carmichael and Mike Develin, as well as new friend Adam Parrish. I also played a national event with my good friend and former regular partner Drew Hoskins. On top of that, there were two successful days with my student Michael. I had a good time with all of my partners this week, and learned something from each of them.

I have lots of hands to report... but not today. Now I just need rest!

It's your lead: Part II

Here's the full deal from yesterday's post (deal rotated for reader's convenience):

	♠ K85 ♥ 7 ♦ AT753 ♣ AKQ5
♠ A92 ♥ QT62 ♦ J64 ♣ J43

The auction had gone: (1S) P (2D) 2H; (3D) 4H (6S) [all pass]. I hoped that the opponents were 5-4 in diamonds, so I led the four of diamonds, planning to hop in with the ace of spades on the first round and triumphantly give a diamond ruff. Besides, with LHO's jump to 6S, it didn't sound like he had any hearts... so, the four of diamonds came out.

I was mildly surprised to see a heart in dummy, but had no worries-- trusty partner would give me trump suit preference! A high spade would show the ace of hearts, and a low spade would show a singleton diamond.

Declarer won in hand and led the queen of spades. I jumped with the ace, and partner played... the four! Thrilled with my chain of reasoning, I led another diamond. The whole hand, of course, was:

	♠ K85 ♥ 7 ♦ AT753 ♣ AKQ5
♠ A92 ♥ QT62 ♦ J64 ♣ J43		♠ 43 ♥ AJ9853 ♦ 92 ♣ T82
	♠ QJT76 ♥ K4 ♦ KQ8 ♣ 976

It's your lead...

You're East, non-vul against vul at matchpoints. You hold:

♠	A92
♥	QT62
♦	J64
♣	J43

West	North	East	South
	1♠	P	2♦
2♥	3♦	4♥	6♠
P	P	P

What's your lead?

Think about it, and I'll post the full hand tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Boston NABC: Open Board-A-Match

On Sunday, I played the first day of the Open Board-A-Match with Jenni Carmichael. Jenni is an old friend, but this was our first time playing together [outside of the midnight game]. We decided to play a version of Transfer Precision with lots of fun stuff. Our teammates, T.C. Yang and Li-Chung Chen, played vanilla two-over one.

A quick word about Board-A-Match [BAM]: This is a team of four event that looks a lot like a pair game. You play two boards against one team at the same time your teammates are playing the same boards against their teammates. It's scored like matchpoints, but your score only gets compared with what happens at the other table. The three possibilities are to lose the board [zero points], tie the board [half a point], or win the board [one point]. It doesn't matter how much better you do than the other table's result – beating them by 10 points gets you the same “win” as beating them by 1000 points.

Here's an example of BAM bridge:

I held

954 753 QT32 AQ4.

Nobody was vulnerable, and partner opened 1NT [14-16]. My RHO overcalled a Cappeletti 2C, showing an unspecified long suit. I passed, LHO bid a forced 2D, and RHO showed his suit with 2H. I passed this as well. Jenni made the good decision to reopen with a double with

AK87 T4 KJ95 K85.

RHO passed, and I pulled to 3D. LHO bid 3H, which got passed around to me. Now, I certainly couldn't see the five tricks we'd need to set 3H, but I doubled anyway. I felt that our cards could easily go +90, +110, or +120 at the other table, so if we were about to go -140, a double wouldn't cost anything. But if we're about to go +50, a double turns it into +100, beating the possible 90 at the other table. And if we're about to set it two for +100, double would turn it into +300 which beats any possible partscore result. The only time that double would cost was if our teammates were also in 3H and 3H was making. The chances of both of those things being true was so miniscule that double is going to be right more than 90% of the time.

At the other table, our teammates were indeed in 3H... but they went down the same two tricks as our opponents did. +300 at our table and -100 at theirs adds up to a win!

In the first session, we scored 16 points out of a possible 26, a very good score. We dropped down to twelve and a half (a touch below average) in the second set, but we qualified for the second day quite comfortably. In the second day, we didn't do much of anything, and ended up half a board shy of the overalls.

Two problems:

(A) All red

3 Q954 T32 K9872

You pass in first seat. LHO opens 1C, RHO bids 1S, LHO lifts to 2S, and RHO hops to 4S. This gets passed around to partner, and she doubles. What's your lead?

(B) All red

T762 76 KJ9862 J

There are three passes around to partner, who opens 1C [strong, artificial, and forcing]. LHO overcalls 1H, you double [artificial, 5-7 HCP], and LHO jumps to 3H. Partner doubles [takeout]. RHO passes. What's your call?

A few more hands from Boston

For the first Friday and Saturday of the Boston NABC, I played pairs with a student. Michael is very easy and fun to teach. He's always interested in learning something new, and he retains what he's learned very well.

Here's a few tough hands we faced:

(A) Red vs. white

AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75

Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?

(B) All white

KQT97642 4 none T954

Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?

We had a nice auction with these hands:

[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT942

South first to bid:

1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C

1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs

They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!

There was a cute play position on this board:

[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:

Q8
none
none
T

T2
2
none
none

I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!

(C) White vs. red

K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53

LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?

A few more hands from Boston

For the first Friday and Saturday of the Boston NABC, I played pairs with a student. Michael is very easy and fun to teach. He's always interested in learning something new, and he retains what he's learned very well.

Here's a few tough hands we faced:

(A) Red vs. white

AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75

Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?

(B) All white

KQT97642 4 none T954

Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?

We had a nice auction with these hands:

[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT94

South first to bid:

1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C

1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs

They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!

There was a cute play position on this board:

[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:

Q8
none
none
T

T2
2
none
none

I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!

(C) White vs. red

K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53

LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?

Warmup Pairs: First Thursday, Boston NABC

I played the first event at the Boston NABC – the Thursday Stratified Open Pairs – with Cincinnatan up-and comer Adam Parrish. Adam and I had a fabulous time but didn't matchpoint very well. Adam's lots of fun – we'll be playing the North American Swiss Teams later in the tournament.

All problems are matchpoints.

(A) Red vs. white

Q7 KJ984 AQJ52 8

Partner opens 1C, and over your 1H, rebids 3NT. What is he showing here? What's your bid?

(B) All white

AJT94 9 QJ7 9862

LHO opens 1NT, showing “good 10 to bad 13”. RHO invites with 2NT, and LHO bids 3NT, which gets passed around to you. Your call.

(C) Red vs. white

A3 AQT9753 742 8

LHO opens 1D. Pard passes, and RHO bids 1S.

(C1) What's your call?

(C2) LHO will pass, and RHO will bid 3NT over 2 or 3H. Your lead.

(D) All red

QT KJT832 J8 K92

Partner opens 1C. You respond 1H, He rebids 1S, and you bid 2H (showing constructive values). He rebids 2S, presumably 5=x=y=6. What's your call?

(E) All red

A AK74 AQ9854 52

There are two passes to you, and you open 1D. LHO overcalls 1S. Partner bids 2H, and RHO leaps to 4S. What's your bid?

Find this grand

Playing teams, you are in first chair, all white, and you pick up these cards:

Kx AQxx AKQ9876 --

Your partner's hand is this:

AQJT Kxx T5432 7

Grand is a laydown, but how are you going to get there?

At our table, Tammy opened 2C, and I responded with an artificial and forcing 2D. Lefty preempted 4C, and Tam bid 4D. I asked for keycards, she showed 3, and I bid 6, knowing we were off one keycard. We don't have any agreements on how to show a void when you also have 3+ keys, but even if she could show an unspecified void, I'd never believe it's clubs. McKenzie had some system suggestions for getting there, but I do think it's a devil of a hand, especially with the interference.

At the other table, the opponents found the grand, but only because our teammates attempted to sacrifice 7C over 6D. Shucks.

So -- how would you and your partner find this grand, with or without the 4C overcall on responder's left?