A couple of nice auctions from the club

Board 11 Dlr: S Vul: None	QJ8652 A8 AK3 AT
3 9762 65 K87543		K9 Q3 QJ987 QJ92
	AT74 KJT54 T42 6

We were N-S and bid this one uncontested:

P - 1C [16+ any];
1N [8-10, 5+H] - 2S [natural];
4C [splinter raise; usually 4531 or 4621] - 4N
5C [one keycard] - 6S (all pass)

Making 7 easily on the trump finesse and hearts coming home. Only three of 22 pairs bid this 26 HCP slam.

Board 18 Dlr: E Vul: N-S	6 K32 Q64 Q97642
KQ43 JT98 AJ92 8		AJ8 65 KT8753 A3
	T9752 AQ74 KJT5

This time we had opponents to deal with:

(1D) X (1H) 2C;
(2D) 3C (3D) 5C (all pass)

With trumps breaking 2-1 and spades setting up for a heart pitch, 5C was easy. [5D is a maker if they guess trumps correctly.]

Amusing hand from bidding practice

Last night, I was practicing bidding with my partner Garth. Garth and I are playing several upcoming tournaments, and we have a very complicated bidding system, so we want our agreements to be in tip-top shape for our first big test-- Gatlinburg in just over a week. We've been practicing several hours a week, and getting better every time.

This hand came up as the last one of the session.


I was very amused to notice that game was most likely on in all five strains - these hands will probably make 3NT, 4H, 4S, 5C, and 5D! I've been experimenting with the E-W hands a bit, trying to see if I can make a full hand where N-S can make game in all five strains but can't make slam in any of them. I've come close, but it seems like 6C by South is always making. Can you come up with a better construction than I did?

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+

Quick bidding problem from the Sarasota Regional

Via Robert Todd:

♠ KQJT3
♥ none
♦ KJ7
♣ KJ753

All white at matchpoints, your partner opens 1C. RHO pops to 2H; you bid 2S. LHO jumps to 4H, which gets passed back to you.

(A) What's your call?

(B) LHO makes the cheapest heart bid (up to 6H) over your bid. Partner and RHO pass this too. Now what's your call?

Hands from the Charlottesville Regional

The Charlottesville Regional was a huge success! Almost 1600 tables, great people, great hospitality, and a great job done by both our directing staff and the hotel staff. Thanks again to Millard and his team of directors, as well as Mark and his team at the DoubleTree.

I’ve been so busy since the tournament that I haven’t had a chance to share all the tough hands that I ran across then! Here, almost a month later, are a few of the problems I faced.

In problems A and B you’re playing with an unfamiliar, but expert, partner. All problems are from knockout (IMP) play.

(A) Red vs. white

A652 3 AJ74 AQT9

You open 1D (promising 4+), LHO overcalls 1H, partner bids 1NT, and RHO raises to 2H. You’re up. [Double would be for takeout here.]

(B) All red

K763 QJ95 J8752 –

Partner opens a strongish (good 14 to 17) 1NT, and RHO passes. What’s your bid / plan?

(C) Red vs. white

A65 AJT65 – T9843

Partner opens 1S, and RHO sticks in a 2D call. Systemically, here are your choices:

2H, natural and forcing to 3H;
3C, natural and forcing to game;
3D, invitational or better spade raise;
3H, invitational with long hearts and a spade fit, at least nine cards between the two suits;
4C, game-forcing with long clubs and a spade fit, at least nine cards between the two suits;
4D, game-forcing spade raise with at most one diamond;
And, of course, Other.

What’s your call?

(D) White vs. red

A3 KQJ85 Q QJT62

You open 1H in first seat, and your LHO’s weak 3D bid gets passed around to you. What’s your call?

Back to it

The Bermuda Regional starts tomorrow, and I'm red-eyeing it out tonight. This tournament is always the best one on the ACBL's schedule. The local organizers work with the country's tourism department to create a wonderful experience. I'll give you all the details next week (if I can find an internet connection).

To hold you over, here's a couple of matchpoint problems:

(A) Red vs. white

♠ Q2 ♥A3 ♦KQJ5 ♣AT753

Partner, in first chair, opens 1C, and RHO bounces to 5S! What's your call?

(B) All white

♠ K ♥AKJT96 ♦JT973 ♣T

LHO opens 3C and RHO lifts to 5C. D0 you bid?

Regional Time!

The Charlottesville Regional starts today! Meg and I are the co-chairs of the tournament, so I don't know how much time I'll have to post this week. I'll try to put as much up as I can...

For a warmup, here's a bidding and play problem faced by England's Phillip King (coauthor of The Kings' Tales and many other fabulously entertaining bridge books).

Phillip was in fourth seat at all vul and held

♠ A ♥ 543 ♦ AQJ82 ♣ AK52

His LHO opened 3H, and there were two passes to him. What would you bid in this situation?

Phil pulled out a brave 3NT! Here's the whole hand:

Dealer S Vul All Scoring IMPs	♠ KQT94 ♥ K ♦ KT63 ♣ 963
♠ J7532 ♥ T8 ♦ 94 ♣ J874		♠ A ♥ 543 ♦ AQJ82 ♣ AK52
	♠ 86 ♥ AQJ9762 ♦ 75 ♣ QT

West	North	East	South
			3♥
p	p	3NT	p
p	p

South was leery about leading away from his hearts, so he started with the ♠8, won by declarer's stiff ace. The ace and king of clubs were cashed, and King was pleased with the drop of the ♣QT giving him two entries to dummy in the club suit. He led to the ♣J (South pitching the ♠6) and tried to run the ♦9. North covered with the ♦10 and King won with the ♦J. He played his last club up to the dummy, South pitching a heart and North a spade. Then came the ♦4 to the ♦8 (both defenders following) and he stopped to take in the distributional information.

If diamonds were 3-3, he could cash the ace and claim ten tricks - five diamonds, four clubs, and a spade. Could that be the case? He decided not. South had led a spade and pitched a spade, so he had two there. He'd followed to two clubs and two diamonds. With the opening 3♥ call almost always showing 7, all thirteen of South's cards were known! So there wouldn't be a friendly diamond split. Since he knew all thirteen cards in the South hand, he could work out the North hand as well. These are the remaining cards as seen in declarer's mind's eye:

Dealer S Vul All Scoring IMPs	♠ KQT ♥ ? ♦ K3 ♣ ---
♠ J753 ♥ T8 ♦ --- ♣ ---		♠ --- ♥ 543 ♦ AQ2 ♣ ---
	♠ --- ♥ ?????? ♦ --- ♣ ---

Taking the only chance he could see, he led a low heart from his hand! South (who, remember, had AQJ9762) couldn't work out the position (the ♥A from him allows him to claim the rest of the tricks!) and played the ♥J. North had to win the trick and was endplayed into giving declarer two spade tricks or two diamond tricks. Declarer just lost two spades and two hearts for a scary +600.

A few bidding problems

Here's a few bidding and lead problems to help get you warmed up for the Charlottesville Regional:

(A) IMPs, white vs. red

♠ A ♥KT964 ♦none ♣QJT7542

RHO passes, you open 1C (or do you?), LHO passes, and partner bids 1H. RHO passes to you. What's your call?

(B) Matchpoints, red vs. white

♠ KJ862 ♥T92 ♦AJ3 ♣J7

RHO opens 1H, you pass, LHO bids a forcing 1NT, partner sticks in a 2S (!) bid, and RHO passes. What's your bid?

(C) Matchpoints, red vs. white

♠ AJ95 ♥42 ♦97 ♣AT932

There are two passes to you.

(C1) Do you bid?

After you, the auction continues 1NT (15-17) on your left, pass, 2C on your right.

(C2) Your call.

(D) Matchpoints, white vs. red

♠42 ♥AQJ73 ♦A8642 ♣3

You open 1H. LHO jumps to 2S (weak). The next two players pass. Up to you.

(E) Matchpoints, white vs. red

♠A86 ♥Q95 ♦T842 ♣984

The opponents bid uncontested (1D - 1H - 1NT [11-14] - 3NT). What's your lead?

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)

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?

Virginia Beach Morning Compact KO: Day Two

After barely surviving both round-robins of the day before, Geoff and I entered the semi-final of the Morning Compact KO.

Match One: We met up with one of the teams that had beaten us the day before.

(A) All white

T9764

432

AK95

Q

RHO opens 2S, which gets passed around to partner. He balances with 3H, and RHO passes. What's your call?

(B) All red

T72

Q43

KT72

AT2

RHO opens 2NT, 20-21. Everyone passes. What's your lead?

We had a great time of it at both tables -- final score (for 12 boards): 54-4. Revenge is sweet.

Match Two: We played against the Grand Old Couple of Mid-Atlantic bridge, the Bloomers. Always tough but always fun, George and Judith have been winning bridge tournaments since before my parents were alive.

(C) All white

KJ9

AK5

K874

T43

The opponents have the uncontested auction of:

1NT [15-17] - 2D [transfer]; 2H - 3H; 3NT - Pass.

What's your lead?

(D) Red vs. white

J8

Q5

98542

Q964

LHO passes, partner opens 1D, and RHO bids 1S. What's your call? I bid 2D... but whatever you do, you'll be on lead against 4S when LHO forces to game. What's your lead?

(E) All white

KQJ4

A

KJ9763

A6

Partner opens 1H. You force to game with 2D, and he rebids 2H. You show your second suit with 2S, and he rebids 2NT. What's your bid?

Final score: 40-10. We were much stronger as a team on the second day, and Geoff and I had many fewer misunderstandings. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play again sometime soon.