BBO Inquiry

image for bridgebase

2011-08-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

This is to test posting images for bridgebase dot com forum.

Test three.. .a nice compound squeeze

2007-06-16T08:56:00.000-04:00

Dealer	N
Vul	-
Lead	♦4

♠	QT642
♥	AK3
♦	T72
♣	T8

♠	J95
♥	T964
♦	43
♣	J643

♠	3
♥	Q8752
♦	J986
♣	Q72

♠	AK87
♥	J
♦	AKQ5
♣	AK95

West	North	East	South
	p	p	2♣
p	2♠	p	3♦
p	3♥	p	4♣
p	4♦	p	4NT
p	5♦	p	5NT
p	6♦	p	7NT
p	p	p

This will be the first new hand in chapter 4 of the identifying squeeze blogger book, assuming I can get the template thing working as I know it should. This is a typical compound squeeze where save 7 spades was bypassed to play in 7NT.

test two

2007-06-15T19:30:00.000-04:00

This is a test of the ability to publish a hand with the encoded template information. It seems to work. althought the diamond symbol is missing.

♠	654
♥	T98765
♦	AKQJ
♣

♠	T987
♥	AKQ
♦	T32
♣	732

♠	32
♥	J
♦	654
♣	AKQJT98

♠	AKQJ
♥	654
♦	987
♣	654

One From Kenrexford

2007-06-12T08:40:00.000-04:00

BBO user Kenrexford posted an interesting hand on the BridgeBase Forum page a few days back. It was..

Dealer	S
Vul	All
Lead

♠	A432
♥	7
♦	Q5432
♣	AK9

♠
♥
♦
♣

♠
♥
♦
♣

♠
♥	AKJ65432
♦	A76
♣	102

In the problem, as stated, you won the spade ACE at trick one, and discarded a diamond. That is ok, although you might choose to ruff the first lead and save the spade ACE, it will not be important for the rest of the discussion.

You have 8 heart tricks -- assuming you can find the queen (in the problem, you drop Qx offside), 1D, 1S, and 2C. That comes to 12 tricks. You can always play WEST to have QJx(x) of clubs (double finessee) which is just less than 25% (somewhere around 24%).

What squeeze chances are there? West could have 6S and 6C (ruff spade at trick two) and be squeezed, but we assume bidding eliminates that possibility. Someone could have 6D and the QJ of clubs, again a very long shot.

So as you look for squeeze chances, it seems that BLUE will be violated because of lack of a double threat. In fact, it is not clear any single threat is guarded by only one opponent (the long diamond in dummy can not be a used to isolate a threat against opponent with three diamonds because you have to lose a trick to turn it into a threat).

What squeeze chances are there? Well both black threats HAVE TO BE in north *you have no spades and the thrird club is in dummy), so for any three suit squeeze to work, the diamond threat will have to be south's remaining "x" after one is thrown on the spade ACE.

This begins to look like a hexagonal squeeze, where both opponents stop all three suits. But they have to give something up when you run hearts. You can imagine an ending where south retains 2H, 2D, and 2C, and dummy 2S, 1D, 3C. In this six card ending, no opponent can keep 3C and 2 cards in both additional side suits. So you will have isolated a threat against one opponent, as typically found in a compound squeeze.

Can a compound squeeze work here? The requirements for a compound squeeze is that whenever the opponent abandon's a suit, the remaining one of the remaining suits can serve as a "both" threat (guarded by both opponents). The problem here is that such a "both" suit requires an entry in its own suit. Here, if they make spades the "both suit", there is no double squeeze, because there is no entry in the spade suit.

When the both threat suit lacks an entry, a possible remedy is a guard squeeze. Can this hexagonal squeeze resolve to a compound guard squeeze? One requirement for guard squeeze is that one threat be partially finessable (unblock clubs and that suit is). Another is the side suit have a winner (diamond Ace) makes that true. However, if EAST keeps spades and clubs (behind dummy), west can keep diamonds and there is not squeeze of any type.

So against perfect defense (EAST knows to keep quards against threats in front of him), the squeeze must fail. Suggesting a straightforward club double finessee. But can there be any reason to forgo the finessee? Well if EAST has five diamonds, the quard squeeze has to work, but 5-1 diamond split with EAST having four plus is less likely than QJ of clubs onside (4-1, 5-0 splits are 13.2 + 1.9 or 15.1%).

However, you need not be in a hurry to take the double finesse in clubs. You can apply the pressure by running a bunch of hearts. On the hand in question, EAST did have five diamonds. Which becomes obvious by the discards. Now a double quard squeeze shows up when the ending becomes something like:

Dealer	S
Vul	All
Lead

♠	xx
♥
♦	x
♣	AK9

♠	Kxx
♥
♦
♣	Qxx

♠	QJ
♥
♦	KQ
♣	Jx\

♠
♥	xx
♦	Ax
♣	Tx

Here you lead the club Ten to the ACE, ruff a spade, and play out the last trump. East will have to keep both diamonds and the club jack, so he discards his last spade. West, can comfortably discard his next to last spade. Now you cash the diamond ACE, and WEST is squeezed in the black suits. A spade and you throw a club from dummy, a club and dummy discards the spade.

Note, if you can not READ the diamond position, the odds favor the double finessee. Once you cound down WEST with loads of clubs and spades, and EAST shows up with the diamonds, the odds switch to the double guard squeeze. EW should try to make it a little more difficult, but they really have very little room.. EAST has to keep at least two clubs. If east is able to keep three clubs and had 4+ spades, nothing will work here, but his five card diamond holding forces him to give something up.

First try at formating Squeeze hand

2007-06-11T22:45:00.000-04:00

This hand is from French BBO Gold Star "Patapon" and was posted without solution on the BBO Forum (some time she will come back and tell us how it should be played). The problem is to figure out the best line to make a contract of 6S by SOUTH on the HK opening lead.

WE can count quickly 5S, 1H, 2D, 3C for 11 tricks. If clubs split 3-3 we have 12. Chances of 3-3 club split are not so good (roughly 36%). Can we do better. Our mind turns to our squeeze lessons (see the identifying squeeze blog). One possibility that might occur to you is if North has KQJ of hearts and four clubs, but we can see EVEN if that is the case, all the guards are behind the threats (that is no threat in the "upper" hand and "U" is defective).

Next squeeze chance is north has KQJ of hearts and five or more diamonds. Now the dummy's small diamond and the heart TEN would be threats against him. That is a long shot, but you can play for that or 3-3 clubs, which increases your chance of making over the 3-3 clubs alone.

There is some reason to hope that WEST has KQJ of hearts. The next possible threat card is your small club. Only one opponent can hold four clubs. If it is WEST, that is of little use to you, unless he has five diamonds to go along with his known clubs. But if EAST has four+ clubs, now you have something almost. If WEST has KQJ of hearts too, then you have a proven double squeeze. Duck the heart, and they crumble.

But what if EAST has the heart JACK, and WEST switches to a spade at trick two (a heart helps you isolate a threat). Now, you worry that EAST guards clubs, and both guard the red suits. This is the defective case for the double squeeze, but fortunately, a double guard squeeze can help you out of this pickle. You play either for 3-3 clubs, or south having long ones.

Play four rounds of spades, pitching a diamond, then win three rounds of clubs, ending in dummy. If clubs are 3-3 claim. If south has 4+ clubs, cash the last spade in an ending something like this...

Note, EAST has already been squeezed out of his diamond stopper (or his heart stopper). This happened on the next to last free suit winner, as he was squeezed in three suits. You can cash the two top diamonds, ending in north, and play the last trump now. East will have to keep the club, so he can keep only 1H. Once he throws a heart, South lets go the Cx. Now it is West turn, he has to keep the DJ or dummys diamond is good, so he comes down to one heart. South now wins the H-A H-T on the last two tricks.

Next time, a compound guard squeeze.

How did this display of hands work?

Test Post

2007-06-11T16:50:00.000-04:00

By George, I may have got it....

North with a comfortable ZAR count, opens 1H, and WEST feels compelled to double with three trump tricks, but that is all he will get.

testing Firmit's template

2007-06-10T19:08:00.000-04:00

BBO user Firmit has offered up a template for bridgehands for Blogs. Right now, only EW hands, this is an attempt to see if it works for me.

Misho-inquiry versus Kraft-mittmouse

2007-05-08T00:12:00.000-04:00

Beverly kindly invited me play against her and Dianna in a practice session tonight. As you can imagine the first thing I had to do was find a partner. Fortunately, MishovnBg was online. So we were ready for them when they showed up (well, we where waiting might be better wording).

A couple of interesting hands.

Board 3. Dlr South, vul EW

♠ A J 4
♥ T 6 5 2
♦ J 7 4
♣ A 9 7

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
--			Pass
Pass	Pass	1 ♦	pass
1NT	Dbl	3NT	Pass
Pass	Pass

♠ Q T 2
♥ 9 8 4
♦ KQT98
♣ 8 5

♠ K 7
♥ A J 7
♦ A 6 5 3
♣ K Q42

Lead SJ

♠ 9 8 6 5 3
♥ K Q 3
♦ 2
♣ J T 6 3

At matchpoints you might have a problem on playing this hand. After the spade JACK lead, you see 5D, 2S, 1H and at least one club. For the speculative SPADE JACK (do we thing north can have only or 2 spades?) we have to believe that HK from KQ would be preferential. So one or more of those cards is woth south. North passed originally so we will watch her points. WE can dela with 4-0 diamonds by starting DK. On diamond to the ace, first surprise, Diana had 3 diamonds! Bev throws 2 spade on three rounds of D's. I guess we can assume I hold spade A ( they lead rusinow, so just enough for me to have Ax of spades and KQxxx of diamonds and pass. )

I decide that Dianna has the club ACE for this defense, and Bev has to have at least one heart honor and so would keep spades for exit. So i play a club up to KQ and when that wins, i establish my second spade trick. Diana wins and leads a heart, I duck, and Bev plays an honest Queen and exits a spade. I still ahve a diamond entry to my hand. I f this was matchpoints I would consider leading a club now and on the actual hand make an overtrick. But I am quite happy with my 9 tricks (2S, 1C, 5D, 1H) so I simply cashed out. This was a great result because partner took an aggressive view with 17 hcp (most talbes open 1NT and play it there). Our NT range is 14-16. With his hand I would raise to 2NT which I would pump to 3NT based on diamonds.

Board 1. Dlr North, vul Neither

♠ T 9 6 4
♥ J T 9
♦ Q J 3
♣ K 3 2

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
--	Pass	1 ♦	Pass
1NT	Pass	3NT	pass
Pass	Pass

♠ A 8
♥ 7 3 2
♦ K 6 4
♣ T 8 765

♠ K 7
♥ A 6 4
♦ A 8 653
♣ A Q J

Lead HT

♠ Q J 5 3 2
♥ K Q 8 5
♦ T 9
♣ 9 4

They lead "rusinow" so the HT promised the Jack. It was unclear if it was from JTx or KJTx type holding. Once agains at matchpoints I have a shot at an overtick possibly, and once again I gave up the chance for obvious reasons. I held up on the first heart. North conintued with the 9 looking like someone holding JT9 which was confirmed when Bev played low. I would rather north have the long heart. On third round of hearts (the jack) South dropped the King which I assume was suit preference for spades. At this point it seems north will have no more than 4 spades and 3 hearts (well you might go sequence lead with five bad spades and no entry),

On a low diamond from dummy I considered ducking, but if the club hook is off, they might score 3H+1C+1D. I took the club hook, and when that won, I again had a choice. I could play club Ace and club, or cross to teh spade honor and hook a club again. This would require diamonds to be 3-2 with north having 3 -- then I could make 4.

An advantage of club ACE is odd. If south show out. on the club jack, north has to duck, now I would abandon clubs and try to set up diamonds (give north 3-3-3-4 or 4-3-2-4 for instance), Which ever opponent wins the thrid round of diamonds can cash a winner, but I have spade entry to long diamond.

Another intresting hand was this one: SAxx H-KQTxxx D-x C-xxx, I opened 1H (not a weak two) a ZAR 26 pointed hand. LHO overcalled 2D partner bid 2S, I raised to 3S and we bid game that almost no one bid. Partner held S-QJTxxx H-x D-JTx C-AK7.

A Squeeze in a short tourney

2007-05-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

Had some interesting hands in an online tournament last night. There were two challenging declarer play hands that require squeezes to make (one after misdefense). Sadly, I wasn't playing either of them. :( There was also some interesting defensive positions.

Here is one of the hands (we were in 4Hx -2 at our table, so this is more from the standpoint of those who reached 5C's).

NS vul

♠ J T 7
♥ T
♦ A K 6 3
♣ A K 9 8 5

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
1 ♥	Dbl	3♥	4 ♣
Pass	5 ♣	Pass	Pass
Pass

♠ Q95
♥ AKQ63
♦ JT82
♣ 6

♠ 8632
♥ J8542
♦ Q9
♣ Q3

Lead
♥ A

♠ A K 2
♥ 9 7
♦ 7 5 4
♣ J T 7 4 2

West starts with two rounds of hearts, second ruffed in dummy. There ae a couple of chices here. Straight up spade finessee (that choice would not be available without spade ten) and playing for 3-3 diamonds first, then straight up finessee, or some sort of diamond-spade squeeze.

So you start by pulling a few trumps, then duck a diamond. They will continue probably a diamond, and you note the fall of the 9Q from EAST, and that south had only one club. If you are like me, after EAST shows up with the diamond Queen, and the club queen, you are pretty sure the spade Queen must be with WEST for his opening bid, so you forget about the spade finessee. Your best chance is that West has four diamonds (or diamonds are 3-3). Simply win their diamond return cash your top spades, and run clubs. If the spade queen does not fall on the last trump, discard the spade from dummy and play your diamonds from the top. This squeeze in not only automatic, card reading makes it clearly the right holding to play for.

BridgeBrowser and World Class Hands

2007-04-30T16:58:00.000-04:00

A common complaint about the commercial product, BridgeBrowser (see hyperlink to the right) is that it lacks world clsss examples of play. For the most part, the more then 200 million deals played in the Bridgebrowser databases (and growing) are played by online players at BBO and OkBridge (rumor has it that OKbridge hands will no longer be added to the database, because there are too few of them to make it worth the effort to collect them). Every month milions deals are played on the BBO gaming site, and added the tournament/team game/main room databases.

Some of these hands are played by great players, there are the nearly daily 28 board matches played by Jimmy Cayne's team, there are evente with Oz1 team from australia, and a host of other excellent matches. But, for the most part, the database is full of hands played by clunkers like me (and you). The general argument goes, why would anyone be interested in studying/reviewing etc hands played by average players like us (or worse).

There is a lot of validity to this observation. But it is true, that the double dummy results closely match what happen in real life on average. That is, the players chunking tricks on defense are compensated by players throwing away a like number on offense. Not a glowing recommendation for the use of the program. But people seem to overlook a lot of reasons why the program can be usefulf for serious students of the game. Imagine if you wanted to study a roman 2D opening bid, wouldn't it be nice to fine hundreds if not thousands of hands that fit your requirement for this bid in a minute or two, and then examine how your flavor of this auction might go compared to what happened on that hand in the "real world" (if online game can be classified as such).

But the complaint about the quality of the game has its merits. So what about a database of world class players playing in top level events. Would the availability of such a database and access to great tools that allow you to review these plays be useful to you? Did you know that someone, Tim Seres I think, wrote a bridge book or two on what would Belladonna lead from different hands on different auctions? No doubt he had to wade through hand records of world championships, find the hand he was on lead, record the hand, record the auction, and prepare the material. This might have been 200 hands to look through. How nice would it be to show me every one of 1000's of hands where Belladonna was on lead, give me the complete hand and complete auction, and find those hands in seconds? That time of information is what such a product would allow. You could even group when he leads from long suits versus short suits against 3NT in auctions where his side didn't bid, to try to determine what factors may influence his decison. Then when you tire of looking at his leads, try those of any other palyer in the database, or try to figure out when the world class guys bid 1H response to 1m on a three card suit.

Anyway. I am going to try to work on building such a world class database. In part this will be constructed using vugraph records from the BBO, but also from other sources if the information can be proven to be reliable and (importantly) in an electronic format. Time will tell if this is valuable.

Changes coming to Inquiry 2 over 1

2007-04-29T20:52:00.000-04:00

As you may know, I have a fairly complete bidding system, termed inquiry 2 over 1. It has gone unchanged for about 2 years, but not untested. A few changes (improvements) are now ready to be described. The areas of improvement include ditching criss-cross, as being too wasteful of space. This makes 1C-p-2C no longer game force but responder can easily separate the limit raises from the GF raises. Experience suggest this is a much better use of bidding space. Same situation exist for 1D-p-2D.

Another twist is more variation in Reverse Flannery by responder. We had used 1m-p-2H and 1m-p-2S both as reverse flannery by responder. With freeing up 1C-p-2D (no longer needed for criss-cross), we now use this as the weakest reverse flannery response, and now that frees up 1C-p-2H as the better (but non-forcing) version of Reverse Flannery. This leaves 2S free to be almost anything you want. One idea is preemptive. Another is a natural 2NT bid where the 2S bidder doesn't wnat to be the declarer in NT (no positional advantage), making 2NT being a positional 2NT bid. I am thinking a better use is 2S is a Reverse flannery bid but with 6Spades and exactly 4H. I have tried all three, and found the balanced 1NT can most often go through 1C-2C (new response schedule used as well, since it is no longer "GF").

I still like the Jacoby 2NT Plus concept, and I have finally found true happyness with the NEW MINOR forcing concept. It was rough around the edges when it was suggested to me by Mishovnbg. I think I will add the little pieces here, and also update the inquiry2over1 system blog.

After two years of experimention. the biggest winners are the layered raises of majors that we play after 1m-1M-raise, and the three way 2C response to 1M. The Kaplan Inversion has been both sucessful and disaster. The disasters are mainly due to one partner forgetting either that KI is being played, or forget the unusual opener rebids to take into account that KI is played. I have not made any changes to the KI part of the system.

Here is a hand we Misho and I played

S-AQJ2
H-A3
D-KQ943
C-K9

S-T843
H-T84
D-A65
C-AQT

1D -- 1S
2N -- 2S (2NT = strong spade raise)
3D -- 3H (3D = GF, no slam ambition, 3H = show shortness)
3S -- 4C (3S = no short, 4C = cue)
4D -- 4N (4D = cue, 4N = rkcb)
5H -- 6S --all pass

Improvements to BridgeBrowser

2007-04-29T20:45:00.000-04:00

Working with Stephen Pickett, we have made a nice improvement to his software product, Bridgebrowser. The new improvement allows users to click an option of the view tab when searching so that hands found work automatically when used with the BBO gaming site's partnership bidding room.

Also, on a plus note, Mishovnbg, after a couple of years of missing in action on the BBO is logging back on. He has also started a new blog describing his new bidding system, MOX. You can find his MOX blog at http://mox21c.blogspot.com

No Raise Inverted Minor Raise

2006-11-18T21:52:00.000-05:00

Mzny expert players use a conventional response after an inverted minor raise. Such that, for example, 1C-2C-2D and 1D-2D-2H show either a balanced minimum, or the way I like it, an unblanced minimum. See inquiry2over1 blog for more details on such response schemes.

Well, if 1D-2D allows 2H to show an unbalanced minimum, I thought, how about 1C-1D-1H showing exaclty the same (two suited in nature)? This allows a number of nice features. For example, opener can then use 1C-1D-1S to show balanced minimum, and the 1NT rebid shows a hand too good to open 1NT. Let's examine how this scheme might work.

1C-1D-?

1H = unbalanced limited, 4441, 4450, 6421, 6430, hcp from 10 to about 16
1S = balanced minimum, 5332, 4333, 4432 (11-13 hcp, could be 14 hcp with 4333)
1NT = 17-19 hcp, balanced
2C = unbalanced minimum, one suiter (clubs)
2D = better than minimum with diamond support, ~15 hcp+
2H = 4+ hearts, 5+ clubs, strong hand
2S = 4+ spades, 5+ clubs, strong hand
2NT = 20-22 hcp, balanced (I don't open 2NT with these hands)

A couple of issues if you are going to play this. First you MUST PLAY walsh as responder so that you will bypass diamonds to bid a 4 card major anytime you have less than near game force values. The above changes have no affect on 1C-1H, 1C-1S, or 1D-1any auctions.

So if you are going to play this, first what type of hands start 1D and what kinds do not? With balanced 9-1o, over 1C you can bid 1NT. With balanced 11-12 over 1C, you can bid 2NT, with balanced 15-17 over 1C you can bid 3NT. So with a balanced hand you bid 1D only with less than 8, or 13-14, or 18+. With a 4 card major, you bid 1D only with 11+, and with as few as 11 with longer diamonds and thus "shape". With 5+ club support, you only bid 1D when you are too good for criss-cross (limit raise).

So how does responder show his balanced hands after the 1D bid? With NT rebids... for example,

1C-1D-1M-1NT is the weak hand
1C-1D-1M-2NT is 13-14 balanced, no four card major
1C-1D-1M-3NT is 18-19 balanced, no four card major
1C-1D-1M-4NT is 20-21 balanced, no four card major

So, responder describes his balanced hands very effectively over openers rebids. Next is responders really big hands with long diamonds and a major. Here he just can make a reverse into his major and bidding continues naturally from there. This is game force.

1C-1D-1M-2M is game force, shows 5+D, 4+ major. This is slam try type hand. Bidding continues naturally.

So lets see how the bidding might continue after 1C-1D-1H were responder does not bid as shown above.

Over 1H, responder can bid 1S to ask for openers second suit. Can bid NT to show the hands above. Can bid 2C to play, can bid 2D to play. Now, if responder rebids 1S, it ask for clarification. Openers rebids are:

1NT = 4 hearts (responders heart raises GF)
2C = 4 spades (respnders spade raises GF)
2D = 4 diamonds
2H = 4-4 majors (GF)
2S = 4 Spades (3/4 D)
2NT = 4 hearts (3/4 D)

As you can see, if opener shows 4-4 in majors, this is game force. And if responder raises openers single major, this is also game force. So the question becomes how do you continue when a major fit is not found? Remember, responder could have bid 2M over 1H to establish GF. The use of 1S shows significant values, but on misfits you need to be able to stop the bidding somehow.

So, lets just examine the auctions where there is no major raise.

1C-1D-1H-1S

1NT-2C = no heart fit, one round force,
1NT-2D = no heart fit, one round forcing,
1NT-2H = GF heart fit
1NT-2S = art GF
1NT-2NT = passable, no club fit
1NT-3C = GF
1NT-3D = GF

So then there is a 1C-1D-1S auction. This is a balanced hand (may still include a four card major). A 1NT rebid by responder shows the 8 or less hand. A 2C and 2D rebid over 1S are both to play (instead of xzy). 2H and 2S are both natural and forcing and suggest unbalanced hand. A jump to 2NT is the GF balanced hand, both parnters may still have a four card major, 3C is check back by opener.

Next time we shall try to examine some hands to see how all this might work at the table.

Teaming up

2006-11-18T00:19:00.000-05:00

Since MishoVnBg has abandoned the BridgeBase, I have enjoyed playing with Hannie. He is silly enough to try to play inquiry2over1. So tonight we played a team game, that was quite enjoyable... so I thought i would post a few interesting hands.

I held, not vul versus vul S:9754 H:Q7 D:AKJ96 C:K9

The bidding was, (1C) to me, I made a preemptive jump overcall of 2D. My preempts at this vulnerability are famous (stretch to say famous) for being very weak. So this hand is quite a departure from the normal hand for me. The opponents climbed to 4C. I lead the Diamond AKJ winning three tricks as partner had Qx and they were split 3-3. Dummy had Axx of clubs and declarer had seven, but he couldn't believe I held the king of clubs so he went for the only chance, that is to drop the king singleton offside. Down one, and we win 6 imps when opponents with our hands bid 3NT down 3.

There was a classic everyone overbid hand. It was

..........K976
..........43
..........J92
Inquiry...AQ42
A4...................T2
AKJ762...............Q98
T653.................K874
6....................KJ95
..........QJ853
..........T5
..........AQ
..........T873

North East South Inquiry
Pass Pass Pass 1H
DBL 2D 2S 4H
Pass Pass 4S Pass
Pass Dbl All Pass

As you can see 4H loses 2D, 1C, 1D ruff, and 1S for down two. On a spade lead, it will be down only one. 4S is down three if EW can manage a club ruff. Both tables defended a spade contract. Both West lead a club, won the first heart, exit a small heart to the queen.

On table in 3S, other 4Sx.

Then I had this teaser....S-T8xxxx H-72 D-7 C-KQT2, both sides vul.

Rho deals and I hear..
(1D) - Pass - (2C) - 4H
(Dbl)- Pass - (4S) - Pass
(Pass)- ?

I was worried that 5D might have a play, so I chose to pass 4S. We beat this 3 tricks. Amazingly 4Hx at the other table went down 3 despite having 8 heart tricks. Declarer took a risky line that should be down four except for a club discard by my partner (and could be down five too boot if declarer makes a bad play)

Enjoyable massacre

2005-09-22T13:09:00.000-04:00

I had a pleasant evening playing with Hannie last night on BBO. We bid two slams (both down). One need to find the King of Queen of trumps on side (~75%). The field missed it, we bid it. The king-queen was off side. Dang. The other need to find Q of hearts missing Qxxx (so singleton queen, or doubleton queen, or you could choose to play for a finessee). Finessee was on, I played for the drop. We also bid a grand slam (that one made).

There was another hand, I held
S - Kx
H - Tx
D - AKxxx
C - AKQx

I opened 1D and partner bid 2H, showing 5S, 4H and a horrible hand. It is tough, but I bid 2S. As it turns out partner has Jx of clubs, and QJxxx of spades and the J9xx of hearts. Without the nine of hearts, they can take 4H and 1S. Even with hearts stymied, 3NT would have no play except that spades divide 3-3. Sigh. We were the only pair not "overbidding" but as is often teh case, overbidders were rewarded.

If I had time, I would post some of the interesting hands... Three hands based upon Riton 2C came up. On one, I used a jump to 3H (1H-1S-3H) to show the good suit (inferece from not using riton 2C)... to get to great game. On another, Hannie was able to "accept" a game try with 13 hcp because he had limited his hand by not using Riton 2C (1S-1N-2H-3H-4H). This game was not bid by others. And partner opened 2S of a 6-5 hand where the opponents are gin for 4H, and we can make 4S, so we stole the hand. Quite a successful use of the convention (without bidding 2C itself), if I must say so myself.

Three suit 2CLUBS works well

2005-09-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

Hannie and I played and this hand came up...

S - J863
H -AQ8
D - 853
C - KJ2

S - AKQx
H - 98532
D- void
C - AQ9x

I was shouth with 15 hcp, 4 losers, 3 suiter, 5 controls. I naturally opened 2C (hehehe). West overcalled 2D on not much (QJxxxx of diamonds in 2362 hand nothing else). Hannie passed. Technically showing one trick for me. 2H would been same negative as if next hand passed, and DBL would have shown two or more useful cards. RHO leaped to 4D, had diamond fit after all, hoping to mess up our auction. I made double, showing three suit hand, short D, and Han took a calculated risk at 6S, which was cold as it turns out, despite only two stoppers.

Unbelievable

2005-09-12T18:20:00.000-04:00

Misho and I were practicing MisIry when this hand came up...

S-7643
H-98764
D-54
C-54

S-K
H-AKT52
D-A2
C-AK762

Ok, you and me might not get to excited about north;s hand, but if you needed a board, how about this auction misho and I had...

3C 3D
3H 3S
4N 5D
6C 6H
PAss

3C = Diamond preempt or Clubs and Major strong
3D = pass/correct
3H = C/H two suiter, 4 losers
3S = DENYS spade control, shows three real or imagined potential cover cards
4NT = Missing both Major queens, and less thatn two quick spade losers
5D = non-material cue-bid, looking for Ax
6C = unbelievable...

Actaully bid in practice session

Roman 2 bids and ZAR

2005-09-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

I had the following hand/auction last night.

Dealer:	West
Vul:	EW
Scoring:	IMP

♠	J7
♥	QJT92
♦	Q986
♣	K9

♠	K6
♥	875
♦	A7543
♣	875

♠	Q983
♥	K64
♦	KJT
♣	Q62

♠	AT542
♥	A3
♦	2
♣	AJT43

West North East South

Pass Pass Pass 1♠
Pass 1NT! Pass 3♣!
Pass 3NT Pass Pass
Pass

My partner and I play Inquiry 2/1 with an opening bid of 2H or 2S showing 5+Spades, and 4+ clubs and a minimum "opening" hand. The definition of what is a minimum opening hand is altered a tiny bit because we open hands with SPADES with 25 ZAR points. A hand with 54 pattern starts off with a minimum of 12 ZAR points (5422) and if you are 55 the mininimu is 14. When you add to the mix that controls count towards the point total, with 55 you could open some hands with an ace, king and Jack.

The upper end of the Roman 2 bid is around 15 hcp. This will always be a 5422 hand with 15 hcp. This total 15 hcp + 12 = 27 ZAR already without counting control points. I have sort of fixed in my mind that the opening bid should show (25)26-31 ZAR points. This isn't based upon much more than my feeling that 32 ZAR is too many to bid like this.

Which brings me back to the hand last night. Three aces, 5-5 pattern, great clubs, and 33 ZAR points. Too good for 1S in my opinion We could miss some great games or slams as there will be no way to catch up. Add to this with 5-5 I have protection in that I didn't open with MisIry, so I upgraded this 13 hcp hand to be "better than a minimum" and blasted away.

I am not sure how much this "lower limit" jumpshift should be pushed. Henri was kibitzing when I used this toy and he thought this was way too aggressive. This was "a perfect hand" for 2S. I wonder. Maybe i need to expand the ZAR point range for 2S. Of course, 3NT made, and 4S is cold opposite this VERY HORRIBLE hand for partner on this auction, so that sort of is a justification for my evaluation, of sorts. The fact that 4[sp] makes with 4-2 spade split and missing KQ986x and my JACK was dead is interesting from a ZAR persepective.

System and ZAR...

2005-08-31T09:10:00.000-04:00

Here are couple "system" hand from late last night, and the contribution ZAR evaluation made to the hands.

Dealer:	North
Vul:	None
Scoring:	IMP

♠	J85
♥	JT932
♦	Q
♣	9642

♠	6
♥	AKQ5
♦	A8
♣	KQJ753

♠	K9743
♥	4
♦	KJT54
♣	AT

♠	AQT2
♥	876
♦	97632
♣	8

West North East South

- Pass 1♠ Pass
2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass
2♥ Pass 3♦ Pass
4♣ Pass 5♣ Pass
6♣ Pass Pass Pass

DQ

2C was the "drury, or balance, or 2/1 GF response we use." Here 2/1 GF

2D showed "EXTRA VALUES" despite measly 11 hcp. This hand has 29 ZAR points, plus two more for [cl]AT if partner has clubs, and if not, then he fits one spades or diamonds. This hand is not a minimum, and I said so.

2H = shows real "hearts" and thus "real clubs". This is 2/1 GF auction now

3D = shows diamonds. This is not some, nebulous fourth suit forcing.

4C = slam try. Long clubs.

5C = ok, ok, I said it was better tahn minimum, but I am not ready to jump to slam. This should speak of short hearts.

6C = best spot. Hannie didn't like the auction. I sort of did.

Dealer:	South
Vul:	All
Scoring:	IMP

♠	K4
♥	Q76
♦	QJ74
♣	K986

♠	Q62
♥	AT94
♦	3
♣	QJ543

♠	975
♥	K85
♦	AK65
♣	T72

♠	AJT83
♥	J32
♦	T982
♣	A

West North East South

- - - 1♠
Pass 1NT Pass 2♦
Pass Pass Pass

I responded a semi-focing 1NT, while technically my hand is good enough for 2C followed by 2NT, but I did not like the placement of my values. Partner bid 2D. Technically, my hand has upgraded. I get plus one for spade King, and plus two for QJ of diamonds. So ZAR says bid on. But 5D is clearly too far away and the doubleton spade is not a great blessing. So I choose pass (lucky I did as we made only two), the correct bid is 3D and technically, 3D could be made.

Life would not be complete without a MisIry hand, so here it is..

Dealer:	West
Vul:	EW
Scoring:	IMP

♠	JT83
♥	J98
♦	T82
♣	532

♠	AK762
♥	75
♦	AKQJ6
♣	4

♠	Q5
♥	K6432
♦	5
♣	AJT96

♠	94
♥	AQT
♦	9743
♣	KQ87

West North East South

3♦! Pass 3♥! Pass
3♠! Pass 4♠ Pass
Pass Pass

Over 3S, I had a choice of 3NT (playing in 5-2 fit), or 3NT. I am as well informaed at this point as anyone esle on this auction. Fortunately there is no losing option. Opposite four losers, my hand might have just enough covers for slam, but with only 2 spades, and only 1D, slam is just not going to be biddable. So I had to choose between 3NT and 4S.

Complaining About the Bot

2005-08-31T08:49:00.000-04:00

The BBO introduced (at least at the Beta Test level), bridge playing robots. There has been a flood of complaints that the bots are ruining the scores of other players, as in the robots play poorly.

Someone, to prove the point, complained about the following hand, which I happen to be very familiar with. On this hand, EVERYONE played in 3NT. At one table, south was on lead and played the CLUB QUEEN, and extra tricks easily made. At the other 15 tables, 14 north's lead a heart. West quickly wraps up a minimum of 3H + 1S + 3D +2C.

At my table, against a BOT, I choose not to lead a heart, as I had an entryless hand. Instead, I lead a spade. And down the bot went.

Dealer:	West
Vul:	All
Scoring:	IMP

♠	863
♥	QT842
♦	872
♣	92

♠	954
♥	AK5
♦	A95
♣	AT73

♠	KQ2
♥	J76
♦	KQ3
♣	K864

♠	AJT7
♥	93
♦	JT64
♣	QJ5

West North East South

1NT Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass

S6 SK SA S5
SJ S4 S3 SQ
D3 DT DA D8
D5 D2 DK D4
DQ D6 D9 D7
C4 CJ CA C2
CT C9 C6 CQ
ST S9 S8 S2
DJ H5 H2 H6
S7 C3 H4 H7
H9 HA H8 HJ
C7 HT CK C5
C8 H3 HK HQ

Now the bot could have made it with a strip-throw in after Han played club Jack on first round. Cash the two heart winners and exit with a SPADE. Han would be endplayed and have to lead away from his club honor. Not an easy play to find. Still, my thought processes on this hand in choosing to lead a SPADE was richly, and in my view, rightly rewarded.

Two more MisIry hands.. of note...

2005-08-25T13:27:00.000-04:00

One I played last night, sadly I wasn't playing misIry, happily, I closed my eyes and bid the slam. The hand was...

Dealer:	East
Vul:	All
Scoring:	IMP

♠	K98
♥	97
♦	8
♣	AKT9543

♠	74
♥	KJ854
♦	643
♣	Q62

♠	T65
♥	T632
♦	KJ52
♣	J7

♠	AQJ32
♥	AQ
♦	AQT97
♣	8

West North East South

- - Pass 1♠
Pass 2♣ Pass 3♦
Pass 4♠ Pass 6♠
Pass Pass Pass

Our auction deserved its luck. MisIry would have been...

3D - 3H
3S - 4H
4N - 5C
5S - 6S
Pass

4H = denial showing no Heart, but promising a club
4N = saying only club ACE is useful
5C = I have ace, are you missing any queens.
5S = Missing no queens, but extra values. Usually AQ of hearts, so one loser might disappear. Very control rich.
6S = My AK of clubs full two covers in this case. No need for hook in hearts

The second one was a post on rgb where people are discussing how lucky EW were to avoid 6S, they should be in 6D :-)

Always on the lookout for MisIry hands where people had trouble with standard methods, here is one from rgb. The poster got to 5S, his opponents a whooping 4D. Of course, the best spot lookng at the cards is 6D. Is that attainable?

KQT94
T3
---
AK8653

A6
A52
AKJT743
2

Simple auction

3C 3D
3S 6D

hope partner passes. 6D is undefined, and so should be to play.

Technical correct aution
3C 3N
3S 5H
5S 6D
Pass

*3NT = You know partner has misIry hand,bid 3NT so D can become possible contract.
*4C = spade/club two suiter. 3/4 losre. No surprise.
*5H = is not to play, (4D would be to play, btw) This promise AK A om red suits either way,
*5S is something wasted (so 65 in the blacks) or Kx x in the reds.
*6D to play (no ruffing cover needed with AK A. And I started with 3NT

Undertry auction
3C 3NT
4C 5D
5H 6D
Pass

Where
*5D shows heart Ace and Ace or king of diamonds (implies no AK in either red).
*5H ask if red thing in diamonds is Ace? Since DK is not working, partner has one diamonds at most, and may have no diamonds and xx in hearts.
*6D again can not be how about third round control, since if you partner doesn't care if you ahve second.

Thoughful (and best) auction.
3C 3NT
4C 4H
4S 4N
5C 6D
Pass

Where
*4H = denial in hearts despite holding the ace (hehehe)
*4S = two small hearts, or diamond cover no good.
*4NT = Still slamming, tell me more, how about queens?
*5C = I have not heart cover, we lose two quick tricks there, signoff.
*6D Opener has xx in hearts, and is missing spade ACE. There are three of his losers. If he has small diamond that is all of them so his spades and clubs are solid. With a diamond void, he has either KQ of spades or AKQ of clubs, and remember, on this auction, 3Loser might be the limit.

Remember getting into the transfer suit requires (usually) you start with 3NT... the first auction above is an exception.

More MisIry Magic

2005-08-17T10:48:00.000-04:00

Post Preview

Dealer:	East
Vul:	NS
Scoring:	IMP

♠	T653
♥	A
♦	J97
♣	AKQJ8

♠	9
♥	85
♦	AK8652
♣	9652

♠	742
♥	J932
♦	QT43
♣	73

♠	AKQJ8
♥	KQT764
♦
♣	T4

West North East South

- ------ - Pass 2NT
Pass 3♣ Pass 3♠
Pass 4♦ Pass 4♠
Pass 7♠ All Pass

The misIry auction is quite "easy"

3♠ = H/S three loser, need club help. Responder is going to 6♠ at least over this
4♦ = no D control
4♠ = your club cover is working whatever it is, and I have both major queens
7♠ = AK of clubs is two covers, Ace of hearts is second, and I have long trumps
Results,

7SXX S 2940 16.47
7S S 2210 12.07
6SX S 1860 8
6S S 1460 1
6S N 1460 1
6S S 1460 1
6S N 1460 1
6S S 1460 1
6S S 1460 1
6S S 1460 1
6S S 1460 1
6H S 1430 0
5S S 710 -11.13
4S S 710 -11.13
5S N 710 -11.13
4S S 710 -11.13

The auction to 7Sxx was not "credible". It was, 1S-2N-4N-5S-6S-7S

The 5S bidder alerting 5S as two key cards plus trump queen (he didn't have trump queen or extra legnth). The 6S signoff, the 7S go to game with no idea if a keycard was missing, then redoubled. The other 7S was believable, with south making use of a 5D exclusion blackwood auction and relying on sufficient spades in dummy to handle his second club loser.

Not My Day

2005-08-15T13:17:00.000-04:00

You know it is not going to be your day when on the first hand, you foget you are playing two way checkback, so you play in 2D in 4-2 fit with game on. Then next handd you overcall a natural 2NT and the opponenets compete to 3♠ and 1) partner fails to double (ok, not clear), 2) You decide not to double due to lack of quick tricks, and 3) they should always be down three (+150 without double) for 85%, but your partner, forgets to play Diamond Jack on third round (with only 10 out). If he wins and returns a trump this might even go down four. Sigh

Dealer:	East
Vul:	NS
Scoring:	MP

♠	Q763
♥	KJ74
♦	KQ
♣	AQ5

♠	AKT54
♥	8
♦	T62
♣	T432

♠	98
♥	A532
♦	A874
♣	J76

♠	J2
♥	QT96
♦	J953
♣	K98

West North East South

-- -------- - Pass ---Pass

-2♠--- 2NT-- 3♠-- Pass
Pass --Pass

If first two hands were not bad enough, your third hand is this where you pull of a masterful auction, getting partner to bid 3NT (showing heart Ace or King, and short spades), so you can bid the iron clad 6D. Only thing is the 4-0 off side trumps doom it (yes, double dummy you can still make it, but they didn't bother to tell you to play for 4-0 offsides. This was slam only three tables out of 30+ found.

Dealer:	South
Vul:	EW
Scoring:	IMP

♠	A854
♥	QJ2
♦	AJ97
♣	A3

♠	KT762
♥	KT764
♦
♣	T84

♠	QJ93
♥	83
♦	KT83
♣	J97

♠
♥	A95
♦	Q6542
♣	KQ652

West North East South

------------------ - - -1♦
Pass --1♠--- Pass-- 2♣
Pass --2♥! --Pass-- 3♣
Pass --3♦! --Pass-- 3NT
Pass --6♦ --Pass-- Pass
Pass

2♥! = fourth suit forcing
3♦! = forcing raise

This was the start to the bridge yesterday, and it never got much better. Sigh. I should have stayed in bed.

Kantar Roman Keycard Blackwood and Inverted Minor Raise

2005-08-12T09:05:00.000-04:00

Had this hand yesterday. It was not a huge success for me.

Dealer:	North
Vul:	EW
Scoring:	IMP

♠	AJ92
♥	J9
♦	K853
♣	A85

♠	Q86
♥	KQT3
♦	4
♣	J9642

♠	T743
♥	87654
♦	6
♣	QT7

♠	K5
♥	A2
♦	AQJT972
♣	K3

West North East South

- 1♦ Pass 2♦
Pass 2! Pass 3♣
Pass 3♦ Pass 3♥
Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣
Pass 5♦ All Pass

This was not a bidding success. Playing Kantar Roman Keycard Blackwood our auction should have been

1♦ - 2♦
2♠ - 4♦
4♥ - 5♠
6♦ - pass

Where 2D was inverted raise, quasi game-force. 2S was balanced hand that didn't want to bid NT (here because of the heart weakness wanted to "right side" NT. Usually because too good). 4D is RKCB. Opener is not limited so responses are 03,14, so 4H shows 0 or 3 keycards. Slam must be reached with three keycards, so responder could bid 4NT which opener could pass with 0 or show useful extra cards without. Over 4NT, opener would simply bid 6D (no useful unshown cards). But here we have responder take the different route looking for an extra card. The truth of the matter is, after 2S (balanced hand), and then three controls (AKA), that comes to 11 hcp. Opener can not have another king, unless he is too strong for 1NT. So opener bids 5S looking for Queen of hearts. If opener is sitting on 17+ he is sure to bid grand anyway over this even without the queen. 6D denies the queen and ends the auction.

To Read More about Kantar Roman Keycard Blackwood. Buy his book :-) or see my very abbreviated notes on his methods on my bidding blog (those are a work in progress, I will add more as time goes by).

Jacoby 2NT by Opener

2005-08-04T12:34:00.000-04:00

A recent BBO Forum post posed the following question. What do you rebid after you open 1D and your partner responds 1S and you hold.

♠ A K J 9
♥ A
♦ A K J 8 5 2
♣ Q 3

The answers were as interesting as they were wrong. Some actually proposed a 2H reverse!!!, others favored a jump to 3H (splinter). One got really "creative" and thought 5C as an asking bid would be best (partner is to describe his club control).

Of course, playing Inquiry 2/1, this hand requires no such dramatics. We have a safe (as compared to 5C) and sane (as compared to 2H) method of bidding this hand. We start with the 2NT (jacoby by opener), and proceed logically from there. Let's run over the various options for raising partners spades after we open a minor and see why the Inquiry 2/1 approach works better than these seat-of-the-pants modficiations.

With game "forcing" values, we have several options. Super splinter to 4H (void, control in the fourth suit -- remember we can not have strong two suiter), normal splinter (3H), Jump to four of our minor, jump to 4S, and 2NT by opener.

Jump to 4H here is a super splinter, showing both a void and a control in clubs
Jump to 3H here is a descriptive splinter: singleton heart (not ace), and no club control
Jump to 4D here is six great diamonds, four hearts, 2-1 in the other two suits, no ace in either
Jump to 4S is 4-2-5-2 with great values, but no controls in the other two suits
2NT any strong game invite hands with four card support, or any game force hand with four card support that doesn't fit neatly into the options above.

We will start by looking at what is wrong with the "spllinter" bid of 3H.

How do you bid this hand after 1D-P-1S-P?

♠ A K J 9
♥ 2
♦ A K J 8 5 2
♣ Q 3

Of course, we splinter with 3H. This shows, in inquiry 2/1, a singleton heart (never the ace), giid support, and no CLUB control (ace or king), and values for game. PArtner without a club control can signoff right now. To not signoff, shows a club control. This also allows partner to cue-bid diamond QUEEN when he HOLDS a club control (as any non-signoff shows possession of the club control). Also, if partner is lacking both the club ACE and heart ACE, he also knows to signoff. Let's look at some example hands he could reasonable hold.

♠ Q T 9 8 2
♥ K Q J
♦ Q T 3
♣ K J

As nice as the above hand is, after 3H, he knows you are missing two aces. Good news, you avoid 5S when they can get diamond ruff at trick two.

♠ Q T 9 8 7 6 4 2
♥ A K Q
♦ void
♣ J T

More good news, partner knows about the two quick club losers and stops in 4S.

♠ x x x x x x
♥ J x x x
♦ Q
♣ K x x

Again, painless stop

♠ x x x x x x
♥ J x x x
♦ Q T
♣ A x

Here partner can actually imagine possible slam. A 4D cue-bid (promising either heart ace or club ace, and if not heart ACE then absolutely club ace) and slam is bid automatically.

Now, back the hand in question. Where you have the singleton heart ACE or a hand like the one above with a small heart, but you where you have a club control. In Inquiry 2/1 you are not allowed to splinter with those hands. Instead you have to reply 2NT. Let's start with one with a club control (we will make it the ACE, but on hands above where responder has the ACE, then it has to be the club King). So we give opener...

♠ A K J 9
♥ A
♦ A K J 8 5 2
♣ A 3

After 2NT by opener, we will see how the auctions would have proceeded with each of the responder hands.

♠ Q T 9 8 2
♥ K Q J
♦ Q T 3
♣ K J

Over 2NT, this hand is definitely thinking slam. The approach could be 3C (no slam interest to be followed by showing slam interest), or bidding 3H asking opener for shortness. If opener is short, it is singleton ACE or void or singleton with control in the other side suit. This is the way I would go. The bidding, 1D-1S-2N-3H-4C (short heart... so either void stiff ace, or a club control), 4D cue-bid, opener will now take control, and slam bid.

♠ Q T 9 8 7 6 4 2
♥ A K Q
♦ void
♣ J T

Over 2NT here, responder can explore with 3H as well. Here when partner bids 4C, the correct try is 4H (last train) denying diamond control. That will work as well. Or responder can bid 3C then make slam try.

♠ x x x x x x
♥ J x x x
♦ Q
♣ K x x

This time, you might try real 3C (no game interest) and when partner insist on game with a 4H splinter (and does not signoff in 4S) your hand becomes very good indeed. You will show the spade "Q" when partner blackwoods after your 4C cue-bid

♠ x x x x x x
♥ J x x x
♦ Q T
♣ A x

Here you would bid 3D (game, no slam). Partner's 4H splinter over 3D leaves you room to get very excited. That splinter now shows short heart, club control, 4 spades, and lots of diamonds (since he will not have 3 suiter not strong two suiter). 4-1-5-3 is worse distribution, and that would be strong.

Which brings us to the hand in question. When you bid 2NT, you can very nearly take control. Over whatever your partner bids, you rebid 4D, pinpointing the need for the club control. If you lacked controls in both side suits, you would not have bid 2NT (important caveat of this method), but rather gone with the picture jump to 4S.

It will be interesting to see what the companion hand to this monster is, to show how well (or poorly) the different treatments people choose did.

MisIry Out, New misiry in

2005-07-27T23:49:00.000-04:00

After looking at 1000 unique strong two suiters, I have decided to go with New MisIry, despite the downside of losing a natural 2NT opening bid.

This leaves the question of what a 3&heart; opening bid and 3@spade opening bid means. I am not sure what is best. 3♥ as spade preempt and 3♠ as any solid suit is the easiest for me to implement, so that is what I am doing for now. But ideas would be welcome. Soon the MisIry link on inquiry2over1 will be deleted and replaced with a rewritten New MisIry one which will be the way this will be played in my system.

New (improved?) MisIry

2005-07-21T11:10:00.000-04:00

MishoVnBg has expressed an interest in a version of MisIry where 2NT is a transfer to 3♣ and weak, or a strong two suiter without clubs and with hearts.

I have resisted this change for a couple of reasons. Primarily because I didn't want to give up a natural 2NT that the entire field was playing, and because I didn't want to mess with the meaning of other bids in the system to adjust for the loss of the bid that describes a balanced 20 to 21.

Yesterday, while studying yet more MisIry hands (some posted here), I realized that Misho is right. Starting with 2NT GREATLY simplifies MisIry, and with the new features added to Inquiry 2over1 nothing is loss by doing this.

The traditional strong 2NT hands are opened 1 of better minor, and then use 3NT rebid (or if possible 2NT showing major raise). So that, 1C-1D-3NT is balanced 20-21 without four card major. With 4 card major, jump shift to the major then blast 3NT. It is not optimal in some sense (because weaker partner will declarer major suit fits after 1m-1M, but who knows, this might turn out ok.

Here is a couple example hands why New MisIry is better

MP-1                    Dlr: West
Board 129   S 43        Vul: None
            H T432
            D 8
S Q8        C JT7654    S JT97
H Q9865                 H KJ
D KT5                   D 7632
C A83       S AK652     C K92
            H A7
            D AQJ94
            C Q

02-Jan-00  5:49:39 PM Duration 05:40
NEW MISIRY
North    East     South    West
Pass     Pass     Pass     3D
Pass     3H       Pass     3S
Pass     Pass     Pass

OLD MISIRY
Same, but North would feel guilty about
passing since partner might have same
hand with spade queen-Jack (3 loser)

=======================================
  # Contr   Ld  Decl     Tr  Score   Pts
=======================================
  1 4SX   W H6  dbldummy  8  -300   0.00
  2 3N    W H6  brigby    4  -250   0.97
  3 3N    W SQ  neiderp1  5  -200   2.43
  4 5C    W H9  callie    7  -200   2.43
  5 3N    W H6  cj1       6  -150   5.83
  8 4S    W H5  NLilja    7  -150   5.83
  9 5S    W SQ  irmrob    8  -150   5.83
10 2N    W D5  skydi     6  -100  15.05
11 3D    W H6  aladam    7  -100  15.05
12 3S    W DT  Bobbie1   7  -100  15.05
22 4S    W H6  R_Jacobs  8  -100  15.05
23 5S    W CA  TERRY99   9  -100  15.05
24 2N    W H5  chaps     7   -50  31.55
28 3D    W H6  robkat    8   -50  31.55
31 3S    W H6  blueboot  8   -50  31.55
32 3N    E HK  SteveS    8   -50  31.55
33 4D    W H5  mwinc     9   -50  31.55
42 4S    W CA  tobym     9   -50  31.55
43 5C    W H5  smilee   10   -50  31.55
46 1S    W C3  DCT       7    80  43.20
47 2C    W H6  skleeger  8    90  46.60
51 2D    W H6  farrel    8    90  46.60
53 2H    N D8  Roald     6   100  50.00
69 1S    W H6  Pete_R    8   110  62.62
70 2D    W H6  Coleys    9   110  62.62
73 2S    W H6  rtk       8   110  62.62
77 3D    W CA  Demary    9   110  62.62
85 1S    W H6  JRMayne   9   140  83.01
89 2S    W H6  Aruba     9   140  83.01
95 3S    W H6  MR1       9   140  83.01
96 1N    W H6  Lyndia    9   150  92.23
97 1S    W H5  gl       10   170  93.20
100 4S    W H6  seatbelt 10   420  95.15
102 3N    W H6  ramu     10   430  97.57
104 4SX   W CA  toothman 10   590  99.51

Let's examine a routine hand opposite a new MisIry auction...
You hold...

♠ K 10 4 2
♥ 10 3 2
♦ Q 4
♣ A J 10 5

Bidding
3♦ - 3 ♥
4 ♣ - 4♥
5 ♣ - 6♣

Explanation. 3♦ showed hearts or a strong two suiter with diamonds and without hearts. 4♣ showed three losers, with both minors (3NT would have shown same hand but 4 losers). Responders 4♥ bid denied control in hearts, and suggested something in spades.

Over 4♥ opener can bid 4♠ to ask if spade ACE is held, or he can bid 4NT to ask for distributional queens, or he can bid 5♣ as a warning that spade cover is wasted (or that two heart losers exist). When opener bids 5♣ you simply bid 6&clubs, as you have two covers (diamond queen and club ACE).

If partner had bid 4NT, you would have bid 7♣ as spade king would have been cover then.

2.5 hours on April 1, 2005, MisIry Examples, Part I

2005-07-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

MisIry Auction given in each example, along with a table of the from BBO. Comment are added. These hands cover from 9:30 AM EST to 1 pm EST on April 1st. The bidding has been modified to conform to new misIry.

Click here to read delails of MisIry

========================================
C:\BRBR\M11.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 stefvar Dlr: South
Board 60373 S AJ65 Vul: E-W
H QJT42
Televinken D 86 nairda
S K9743 C T3 S QT82
H 863 H K75
D J72 Pavell D K43
C J6 S C Q72
H A9
D AQT95
C AK9854

4/1/2005 10:19:48 AM
First 0:14:46 AM, Last 0:24:33 AM

West North East South
3D
Pass 3H Pass 4C
Pass 4H Pass 4S
Pass 5NT Pass 6C
All Pass

Six clubs might not be bid at imps
But south with finessable diamonds
And when partner picks clubs, it is
Just too enticing with no quick losers
I admit, some might stop in 5C, if you
Are one of them, this is only 2 imp
Pick up instead of 10.67.
Running, 62.54

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6C S H6 mito88 12 920 10.67
2 6C S S4 Pavell 12 920 10.67
3 6C S C6 Alix13 12 920 10.67
4 3N N S2 222 12 490 3.53
5 4H N D3 Ewita 11 450 3.07
6 5C S SK Bridget6412 420 2.00
7 5C S S4 lyncarra 11 400 1.60
8 3N N C2 JR83 9 400 1.60
9 5C S CJ emilio_0111 400 1.60
10 3C S S3 milleran 12 170 -3.13
11 4C S S3 hanyfk 10 130 -3.93
12 4H N S2 artattack 9 -50 -7.67
13 5C S C6 bcandas 10 -50 -7.67
14 3N N S2 geo_pro 8 -50 -7.67
15 6H N H5 OVIDIUS3411 -50 -7.67
16 4H N H7 axel 84 9 -50 -7.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M12.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-14 xls Dlr: West
Board 6531 S Q9742 Vul: Both
H A
imece D mnbmnb
S J C AKQ6542 S K8
H J8543 H QT76
D AT965 kalmar ago D K7432
C J9 S AT653 C 87
H K92
D QJ8
C T3

4/4/2005 11:33:48 AM
West North East South
Pass 3C Pass 3D
Pass 4S Pass 4NT
Pass 5C Pass 5H
Pass 6C Pass 6S
All Pass

4S = club/spade two suiter, 2 losers
Q9xxx is minimum suit, see notes
4NT = heart king,
5C = heart king no good
5H distributional Queen?
5S = no need for one. At least in
spades
6S = dang it if opener had Kxxxx
instead of Qxxxx grand bid.

Routine, +3.27 imps, running 65.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 7SX E C8 nelligan 12 -200 -16.27
2 5S E C8 bricacel 12 680 -8.93
3 5S W CJ Kasten 12 680 -8.93
4 4S W DA kalmar ag12 680 -8.93
5 3N W SJ DH 13 720 -8.07
6 6C E DK petter_6312 1370 1.87
7 6S W DA a_beauty 12 1430 3.27
8 6S E D2 baron51 12 1430 3.27
9 6S W DA alert2 12 1430 3.27
10 6S W DA sbas 12 1430 3.27
11 6S E H6 aligurhan12 1430 3.27
12 6S W D5 tryit 12 1430 3.27
13 6S E H6 ue2003 12 1430 3.27
14 6S W SJ a_kuba 13 1460 4.00
15 6SX W DA jc chang 13 1860 11.20
16 6SX W DA gofeval2 13 1860 11.20
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\m13.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 clotilde2 Dlr: West
Board 60563 S Q84 Vul: Both
H QJ
megan37 D AQ93 Ourethi
S AT9 C 8764 S KJ6532
H 876 H 54
D T872 novembree D KJ54
C JT3 S 7 C 9
H AKT932
D 6
C AKQ52

4/1/2005 11:17:18 AM

North East South West
3C
Pass 3D 3S 4C
4S 6C Pass Pass
Pass

4C = same meaning as if RHO passed.
6C = I have two winners, you have
3 losers.
Wins +5.8. Six hearts is better.
Net +71.76

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 5C W D8 mweasel 12 620 -7.87
2 5C W C3 mohan_hal13 640 -7.13
3 4H W S9 ann06130 12 680 -6.60
4 5H W D8 Burt000 12 680 -6.60
5 4H W CJ EFI G E 12 680 -6.60
6 4H W SA novembree12 680 -6.60
7 4H W C3 eliza19 12 680 -6.60
8 5N E DJ cappellin13 720 -5.73
9 6C W SA kjarval 12 1370 5.80
10 6C W SA mf3423 12 1370 5.80
11 6C W SA wojur 12 1370 5.80
12 6H W SA grzechuu412 1430 7.27
13 6H W SA SallyK35112 1430 7.27
14 6H W CJ tilde39 12 1430 7.27
15 6H W S9 xenfab 12 1430 7.27
16 6H W SA boulouka 12 1430 7.27
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M14.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 bandera Dlr: North
Board 60566 S QJ984 Vul: None
H Q92
Sfra D KT93 italo3
S KT65 C 4 S A732
H J H 764
D J75 lacrima D AQ842
C K9862 S C T
H AKT853
D 6
C AQJ753

4/1/2005 11:18:26 AM

West North East South
3C
Pass 3D Pass 4C
Pass 4S Pass 4NT
Pass 5H All Pass

4C = C/H two suiter, 3 loser
4S = denial cue-bid
4NT = do you have D ACE
5H = no, this is enough

Broken record, win 4.53, running, 76.14

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 5HXX N D5 RIOLO937 11 1000 12.80
2 4H N HJ carol193811 450 4.53
3 4H N D5 mirk 11 450 4.53
4 4H N D7 xandy 11 450 4.53
5 5H N SK jafran 11 450 4.53
6 5H N C2 Myszka_M 11 450 4.53
7 5H N C2 Gkati 1 11 450 4.53
8 4H N D5 manazas 10 420 3.80
9 4H N S6 olddentis10 420 3.80
10 3H N S5 THE 25 9 140 -1.73
11 4N S D4 sammeng 9 -50 -5.80
12 6H N C2 lancelot 10 -100 -6.73
13 4H N D5 lacrima 8 -100 -6.73
14 6HX N C2 kosebose811 -100 -6.73
15 6HX N D5 googggle 10 -300 -9.93
16 6HX N DJ majo0519 10 -300 -9.93
=======================================

========================================
C:\BRBR\M15.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 scledum Dlr: South
Board 60586 S T6542 Vul: None
H 64
Nikipiki1 D 73 ssally
S Q8 C 9842 S KJ73
H K3 H T752
D J8 GiannaRM D 654
C AKJT765 S A9 C Q3
H AQJ98
D AKQT92
C

4/1/2005 11:31:36 AM

East South West North
3D Pass 3H
Pass 4NT Pass 5D
Pass Pass Pass

Playing MisIry you get warm feeling when
You pick up hands like this. On this one,
The warm feeling turns to puke when you
Over bid.
4NT = no club honor needed. Both 4H and
5D CAN make, but we Will assume down one.
Dang, the first minus Of the day,
-1.93 imps. Running 74.21

But if WEST overcalls 4C (after 3H), now you
Stop if 4H and with the overcall, you will
Make. You lose room for all the fancy stuff,
So you simply bid 4H over 4C.

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 4H N CA patpar 10 420 8.93
2 4H N CA J a s e 10 420 8.93
3 3D N CA demonjim 11 150 2.87
4 4D N CK varenne2 11 150 2.87
5 3H N CA larrieu 9 140 2.80
6 4CX E D7 starss_ 9 100 1.60
7 6D N CA juanyboed11 -50 -1.93
8 5D N CK fthy 10 -50 -1.93
9 5D N CA hippolyte10 -50 -1.93
10 5D N SQ f_oso 10 -50 -1.93
11 5D N CK GiannaRM 10 -50 -1.93
12 6D N SQ grod1 10 -100 -3.67
13 6D N CA thanasic 10 -100 -3.67
14 6D N CA gie41 10 -100 -3.67
15 5D N CK agresja 9 -100 -3.67
16 3S S CQ rahels 7 -100 -3.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M16.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 roberto13 Dlr: East
Board 60663 S K984 Vul: None
H 2
Ozku D K754 sigbac
S QJ76 C QT72 S T532
H Q95 H J743
D 2 zimzam D T6
C AJ843 S A C K96
H AKT86
D AQJ983
C 5

4/1/2005 11:49:53 AM

South West North East
Pass
3H Pass 3S Pass
4D Pass 4NT Pass

An ackward hand for method.
4C = 3 loser, need club cover
4NT = Spade king, may or maynot have C
5C = looking for Mr. Club
5D = no club lets stop here.
6D = no.

Explaination. After North made slam try
With 4NT, 5C asked for club cover,
5D denied one, but since he was trying
without, he has to have one solid cover
and a likely one. Whatever likely one
is bound to be good. Try to draw up
hands consistent with bidding that will
not have a play opposite this hand.

+8.87, rolling again, +83.08

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6H E CA ernesto2 10 -100 -11.40
2 2D E CA pfft2001 12 170 -7.27
3 2D E SQ PietNijs 13 190 -6.93
4 4H E CA zimzam 10 420 -2.13
5 5D E CA bennur 12 420 -2.13
6 5D E CA belphagor12 420 -2.13
7 5D E SQ vaughngs 13 440 -1.60
8 3N W CK Gerard08611 460 -1.07
9 3N W C6 roffe47 11 460 -1.07
10 3N W CK servi1 11 460 -1.07
11 3N W C6 dieego 11 460 -1.07
12 5DX E CA redcandy 12 650 3.20
13 6D E CA YN1 12 920 8.47
14 6D E CA Zabeau 12 920 8.47
15 6D E D2 Idefix2 13 940 8.87
16 6D E D2 skids 10 13 940 8.87
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M17.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 drums_c Dlr: East
Board 60744 S QT4 Vul: E-W
H QT76
falcone_tr D AT62 prunus
S J53 C 65 S 98
H J98 H A53
D QJ94 Maurinho D K8753
C J42 S AK762 C T83
H K42
D
C AKQ97

4/1/2005 12:22:28 PM

South West North East
3C
Pass 3D Pass 3S
Pass 5D Pass 6C
Pass 6S All pass

Club and spade two suiters are always
A problem With 4 losers, you need
Extras” this explains why north
Pushes here. Partner may have 3 loser
And he has 2 covers, and even with
4 losers, the extras should give it
a play.

3S = 4/3 losers, black 2 suiter
4H = denial, promise D value
4NT = diamond ACE?
5D = yes
6C = pick slam
6S = gotcha.

+7.73, running, +90.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 7SX E DQ fitzh11 12 -200 -14.20
2 7S E DQ maltunbas12 -100 -13.60
3 4C E DQ Maurinho 12 170 -10.60
4 4S E DQ iosi1 12 680 -4.40
5 4S E D4 ranaq8 12 680 -4.40
6 4S E DQ suitable 12 680 -4.40
7 4S E D4 kemsat63 12 680 -4.40
8 4S E DQ chummy 12 680 -4.40
9 6C W D7 OrShoham 12 1370 6.27
10 6S E DQ ICBM 12 1430 7.73
11 6S E DQ mos6 12 1430 7.73
12 6S E DQ bjkerhan 12 1430 7.73
13 6S E DQ docmurat 12 1430 7.73
14 6S E DQ Aslak A 12 1430 7.73
15 6S E DQ funandgam12 1430 7.73
16 6S W S9 renargent12 1430 7.73
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M18.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 benic Dlr: West
Board 60797 S J752 Vul: E-W
H 62
churri3 D 6532 menal
S KT94 C QJ4 S 863
H 95 H J874
D A7 spotpio D QJT984
C A6532 S AQ C
H AKQT3
D K
C KT987

4/1/2005 12:39:03 PM

North East South West
Pass 3C Pass
3D Pass 3NT Pass
4C All pass

Not all hands lead to game. Here quiet
Four clubs. Just making. Win one modest
Imp due to poor play at other tables.
+1, running, 91.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 4HX W CA resko45 8 -500 -10.93
2 3N W C3 mario2005 5 -400 -9.33
3 3N W CA mweasel 7 -200 -6.20
4 4H W DA hanrey 9 -100 -3.93
5 4H W DA jancke 9 -100 -3.93
6 3H W CA tietu18 8 -100 -3.93
7 3S N H6 slav6411 7 100 0.53
8 1H W DA Claudiolo 9 140 1.47
9 1H W DA bo1 9 140 1.47
10 1H W DA lauga 10 170 2.20
11 3H W DA flerl 10 170 2.20
12 2H W DA spotpio 10 170 2.20
13 2H W DA musti16 10 170 2.20
14 3SX N H2 pinokiss 7 300 5.07
15 4H W ST tutaja 10 620 10.47
16 4H W H9 luna55 10 620 10.47
=======================================

========================================
C:\BRBR\M19.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 aalef Dlr: East
Board 60809 S A92 Vul: None
H AJ96
karasu D 986 azepulsar
S K87 C J82 S 65
H 4 H T8732
D AJ7543 yanthis D KQT2
C 543 S QJT43 C T7
H KQ5
D
C AKQ96

4/1/2005 12:36:57 PM

West North East South
Pass Pass 3C
Pass 3D Pass 3S
Pass 4D Pass 5S
Pass 6S

3S = 4/3 losers, black
4D = denies diamond control, slam interest
5S = two losers things working.. .see note
6S = two covers, great.

Over 4D,
--> 4S is diamonds danger
--> 5C need heart, have both Queens
--> 4H = ask for heart ace
--> 4NT shows missing C queen
--> 5D shows missing SQ
--> 5NT shows both missing, without DA
--> 6C shows both missing +D A

This leaves 5S. This shows an exceptional 3 loser hand with both Queens

Another bucketful of imps, 4.67, 96.48

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6SX S DA yanthis 13 1310 9.73
2 6SX S H4 kormanyos13 1310 9.73
3 6S S DA puck2 13 1010 4.67
4 6S S H4 hanson 13 1010 4.67
5 6S S H4 dellazoll13 1010 4.67
6 6S S DA edo2000 13 1010 4.67
7 6S S H4 hikarinok13 1010 4.67
8 6S S H4 mamen 13 1010 4.67
9 6S S H4 demircan 12 980 3.80
10 4S S H4 berot 13 510 -5.33
11 4S S H4 Fish7 13 510 -5.33
12 4S S DA lvzohar 13 510 -5.33
13 5S S DA eager_7 13 510 -5.33
14 4S S H4 barriguit11 450 -6.20
15 3C S DA benraphae13 190 -10.07
16 4H N DK rabbit63 7 -150 -13.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M20.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 terencjusz Dlr: North
Board 60854 S 3 Vul: N-S
H 86543
drcat D J5 ergunk
S KQ542 C QT852 S JT
H K7 H QJT2
D T7 ok16 D 9632
C K743 S A9876 C J96
H A9
D AKQ84
C A

4/1/2005 12:50:23 PM
First 2:49:52 PM, Last 2:58:14 PM

North East South West
Pass Pass 3D Pass
3H Pass 4D Pass
Pass Pass

Fall of spade stops ensures making 4D,
Amazing, this disaster hand picks up
1.93 imps, 98.41
=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 3N W C3 bewa 7 -100 -4.67
2 4D W C4 ok16 9 -50 -3.20
3 3N W S4 niledar 8 -50 -3.20
4 3N W C3 lance arms8 -50 -3.20
5 4D W S4 bperson 9 -50 -3.20
6 3N W SQ pablo45 8 -50 -3.20
7 2S W DT axd 8 110 0.87
8 1S W DT thedoudou 8 110 0.87
9 1S W C3 ruki 8 110 0.87
10 1S W DT max_49 8 110 0.87
11 2D W S4 HALF HALT 9 110 0.87
12 1S W C3 pmisbach 8 110 0.87
13 2D W C3 barona 1 10 130 1.93
14 1S W DT seadog1 9 140 1.93
15 2D W SK francis_l12 170 3.00
16 3N E D2 Schoko 10 430 8.60
=======================================

2.5 hours on April 1, 2005, MisIry examples, Part II

2005-07-20T14:26:00.000-04:00

Click here to read delails of MisIry

========================================
C:\BRBR\M11.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 stefvar Dlr: South
Board 60373 S AJ65 Vul: E-W
H QJT42
Televinken D 86 nairda
S K9743 C T3 S QT82
H 863 H K75
D J72 Pavell D K43
C J6 S C Q72
H A9
D AQT95
C AK9854

4/1/2005 10:19:48 AM
First 0:14:46 AM, Last 0:24:33 AM
NEW MISIRY

West North East South
3D
Pass 3H Pass 4C
Pass 5C Pass 6C
Pass

Six clubs might not be bid at imps
But south with finessable diamonds
And when partner picks clubs, it is
Just too enticing with no quick losers
I admit, some might stop in 5C, if you
Are one of them, this is only 2 imp
Pick up instead of 10.67.
Running, 62.54

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6C S H6 mito88 12 920 10.67
2 6C S S4 Pavell 12 920 10.67
3 6C S C6 Alix13 12 920 10.67
4 3N N S2 222 12 490 3.53
5 4H N D3 Ewita 11 450 3.07
6 5C S SK Bridget6412 420 2.00
7 5C S S4 lyncarra 11 400 1.60
8 3N N C2 JR83 9 400 1.60
9 5C S CJ emilio_0111 400 1.60
10 3C S S3 milleran 12 170 -3.13
11 4C S S3 hanyfk 10 130 -3.93
12 4H N S2 artattack 9 -50 -7.67
13 5C S C6 bcandas 10 -50 -7.67
14 3N N S2 geo_pro 8 -50 -7.67
15 6H N H5 OVIDIUS3411 -50 -7.67
16 4H N H7 axel 84 9 -50 -7.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M12.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-14 xls Dlr: West
Board 6531 S Q9742 Vul: Both
H A
imece D mnbmnb
S J C AKQ6542 S K8
H J8543 H QT76
D AT965 kalmar ago D K7432
C J9 S AT653 C 87
H K92
D QJ8
C T3

4/4/2005 11:33:48 AM
West North East South
Pass 3C Pass 3D
Pass 4S Pass 4NT
Pass 5C Pass 5H
Pass 6C Pass 6S
All Pass

4S = club/spade two suiter, 2 losers
Q9xxx is minimum suit, see notes
4NT = heart king,
5C = heart king no good
5H distributional Queen?
5S = no need for one. At least in
spades
6S = dang it if opener had Kxxxx
instead of Qxxxx grand bid.

Routine, +3.27 imps, running 65.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 7SX E C8 nelligan 12 -200 -16.27
2 5S E C8 bricacel 12 680 -8.93
3 5S W CJ Kasten 12 680 -8.93
4 4S W DA kalmar ag12 680 -8.93
5 3N W SJ DH 13 720 -8.07
6 6C E DK petter_6312 1370 1.87
7 6S W DA a_beauty 12 1430 3.27
8 6S E D2 baron51 12 1430 3.27
9 6S W DA alert2 12 1430 3.27
10 6S W DA sbas 12 1430 3.27
11 6S E H6 aligurhan12 1430 3.27
12 6S W D5 tryit 12 1430 3.27
13 6S E H6 ue2003 12 1430 3.27
14 6S W SJ a_kuba 13 1460 4.00
15 6SX W DA jc chang 13 1860 11.20
16 6SX W DA gofeval2 13 1860 11.20
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\m13.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 clotilde2 Dlr: West
Board 60563 S Q84 Vul: Both
H QJ
megan37 D AQ93 Ourethi
S AT9 C 8764 S KJ6532
H 876 H 54
D T872 novembree D KJ54
C JT3 S 7 C 9
H AKT932
D 6
C AKQ52

4/1/2005 11:17:18 AM

North East South West
3C
Pass 3D 3S 4C
4S 6C Pass Pass
Pass

4C = Opener with spades and clubs doubles.
(since spades were not raised)
So all bids show club/hearts here
3NT = 4 loser, 4C = 3 loser, 4D =
2 loser, need diamond, 4H = 2 Loser no
need for diamond, 4S = 1 loser, need DK
4NT = 1 loser, need diamond ace, 5C = 1
loser no need for diamond.
6C = I have two winners, you have
3 losers.
Wins +5.8. Six hearts is better.
Net +71.76

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 5C W D8 mweasel 12 620 -7.87
2 5C W C3 mohan_hal13 640 -7.13
3 4H W S9 ann06130 12 680 -6.60
4 5H W D8 Burt000 12 680 -6.60
5 4H W CJ EFI G E 12 680 -6.60
6 4H W SA novembree12 680 -6.60
7 4H W C3 eliza19 12 680 -6.60
8 5N E DJ cappellin13 720 -5.73
9 6C W SA kjarval 12 1370 5.80
10 6C W SA mf3423 12 1370 5.80
11 6C W SA wojur 12 1370 5.80
12 6H W SA grzechuu412 1430 7.27
13 6H W SA SallyK35112 1430 7.27
14 6H W CJ tilde39 12 1430 7.27
15 6H W S9 xenfab 12 1430 7.27
16 6H W SA boulouka 12 1430 7.27
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M14.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 bandera Dlr: North
Board 60566 S QJ984 Vul: None
H Q92
Sfra D KT93 italo3
S KT65 C 4 S A732
H J H 764
D J75 lacrima D AQ842
C K9862 S C T
H AKT853
D 6
C AQJ753

4/1/2005 11:18:26 AM
NEW MISIRY
West North East South
3C
Pass 3D Pass 3NT
Pass 4S Pass 4NT
Pass 5H All Pass

3NT = C/H two suiter, 3 loser
4S = denial cue-bid, no S promise D
4NT = do you have D ACE
5H = no, this is enough

Broken record, win 4.53, running, 76.14

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 5HXX N D5 RIOLO937 11 1000 12.80
2 4H N HJ carol193811 450 4.53
3 4H N D5 mirk 11 450 4.53
4 4H N D7 xandy 11 450 4.53
5 5H N SK jafran 11 450 4.53
6 5H N C2 Myszka_M 11 450 4.53
7 5H N C2 Gkati 1 11 450 4.53
8 4H N D5 manazas 10 420 3.80
9 4H N S6 olddentis10 420 3.80
10 3H N S5 THE 25 9 140 -1.73
11 4N S D4 sammeng 9 -50 -5.80
12 6H N C2 lancelot 10 -100 -6.73
13 4H N D5 lacrima 8 -100 -6.73
14 6HX N C2 kosebose811 -100 -6.73
15 6HX N D5 googggle 10 -300 -9.93
16 6HX N DJ majo0519 10 -300 -9.93
=======================================

========================================
C:\BRBR\M15.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 scledum Dlr: South
Board 60586 S T6542 Vul: None
H 64
Nikipiki1 D 73 ssally
S Q8 C 9842 S KJ73
H K3 H T752
D J8 GiannaRM D 654
C AKJT765 S A9 C Q3
H AQJ98
D AKQT92
C

4/1/2005 11:31:36 AM

East South West North
2NT Pass 3C
Pass 5D Pass Pass
Pass Pass

Playing MisIry you get warm feeling when
You pick up hands like this. On this one,
The warm feeling turns to puke when you
Over bid.

4NT = no club honor needed. Both 4H and
5D two loser, no need for club. CAN make,
but we Will assume down one.

NOTE: one option is to show need for
club ace with 5C as parking place for
low spade, but entry may be problem.
This is risky move but possible
miserable trick.
Dang, the first minus Of the day,
-1.93 imps. Running 74.21

But if WEST overcalls 4C (after 3H), now you
Stop if 4H and with the overcall, you will
Make. You lose room for all the fancy stuff,
So you simply bid 4H over 4C.

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 4H N CA patpar 10 420 8.93
2 4H N CA J a s e 10 420 8.93
3 3D N CA demonjim 11 150 2.87
4 4D N CK varenne2 11 150 2.87
5 3H N CA larrieu 9 140 2.80
6 4CX E D7 starss_ 9 100 1.60
7 6D N CA juanyboed11 -50 -1.93
8 5D N CK fthy 10 -50 -1.93
9 5D N CA hippolyte10 -50 -1.93
10 5D N SQ f_oso 10 -50 -1.93
11 5D N CK GiannaRM 10 -50 -1.93
12 6D N SQ grod1 10 -100 -3.67
13 6D N CA thanasic 10 -100 -3.67
14 6D N CA gie41 10 -100 -3.67
15 5D N CK agresja 9 -100 -3.67
16 3S S CQ rahels 7 -100 -3.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M16.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 roberto13 Dlr: East
Board 60663 S K984 Vul: None
H 2
Ozku D K754 sigbac
S QJ76 C QT72 S T532
H Q95 H J743
D 2 zimzam D T6
C AJ843 S A C K96
H AKT86
D AQJ983
C 5

4/1/2005 11:49:53 AM
NEW MISIRY
South West North East
Pass
2NT Pass 3C Pass
4C Pass 4NT Pass
5C

4C = 3 loser, need club cover
4NT = Spade king, may or maynot have C
5C = shows need for distributional queen
6D = maybe D-2-2 if you need that one,
if you need heart one, we are home.

+8.87, rolling again, +83.08

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6H E CA ernesto2 10 -100 -11.40
2 2D E CA pfft2001 12 170 -7.27
3 2D E SQ PietNijs 13 190 -6.93
4 4H E CA zimzam 10 420 -2.13
5 5D E CA bennur 12 420 -2.13
6 5D E CA belphagor12 420 -2.13
7 5D E SQ vaughngs 13 440 -1.60
8 3N W CK Gerard08611 460 -1.07
9 3N W C6 roffe47 11 460 -1.07
10 3N W CK servi1 11 460 -1.07
11 3N W C6 dieego 11 460 -1.07
12 5DX E CA redcandy 12 650 3.20
13 6D E CA YN1 12 920 8.47
14 6D E CA Zabeau 12 920 8.47
15 6D E D2 Idefix2 13 940 8.87
16 6D E D2 skids 10 13 940 8.87
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M17.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 drums_c Dlr: East
Board 60744 S QT4 Vul: E-W
H QT76
falcone_tr D AT62 prunus
S J53 C 65 S 98
H J98 H A53
D QJ94 Maurinho D K8753
C J42 S AK762 C T83
H K42
D
C AKQ97

4/1/2005 12:22:28 PM

South West North East
3C
Pass 3D Pass 4C
Pass 4H Pass 4NT
Pass 6S All pass

4C 3S = 3 losers, black 2 suiter
4H = denial, promise D value
4NT = diamond ACE?
6S = diamond ace, so slam is working

+7.73, running, +90.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 7SX E DQ fitzh11 12 -200 -14.20
2 7S E DQ maltunbas12 -100 -13.60
3 4C E DQ Maurinho 12 170 -10.60
4 4S E DQ iosi1 12 680 -4.40
5 4S E D4 ranaq8 12 680 -4.40
6 4S E DQ suitable 12 680 -4.40
7 4S E D4 kemsat63 12 680 -4.40
8 4S E DQ chummy 12 680 -4.40
9 6C W D7 OrShoham 12 1370 6.27
10 6S E DQ ICBM 12 1430 7.73
11 6S E DQ mos6 12 1430 7.73
12 6S E DQ bjkerhan 12 1430 7.73
13 6S E DQ docmurat 12 1430 7.73
14 6S E DQ Aslak A 12 1430 7.73
15 6S E DQ funandgam12 1430 7.73
16 6S W S9 renargent12 1430 7.73
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M18.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 benic Dlr: West
Board 60797 S J752 Vul: E-W
H 62
churri3 D 6532 menal
S KT94 C QJ4 S 863
H 95 H J874
D A7 spotpio D QJT984
C A6532 S AQ C
H AKQT3
D K
C KT987

4/1/2005 12:39:03 PM

North East South West
Pass 3C Pass
3D Pass 3H Pass
4C All pass

Not all hands lead to game. Here quiet
Four clubs. Just making. Win one modest
Imp due to poor play at other tables.
+1, running, 91.81

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 4HX W CA resko45 8 -500 -10.93
2 3N W C3 mario2005 5 -400 -9.33
3 3N W CA mweasel 7 -200 -6.20
4 4H W DA hanrey 9 -100 -3.93
5 4H W DA jancke 9 -100 -3.93
6 3H W CA tietu18 8 -100 -3.93
7 3S N H6 slav6411 7 100 0.53
8 1H W DA Claudiolo 9 140 1.47
9 1H W DA bo1 9 140 1.47
10 1H W DA lauga 10 170 2.20
11 3H W DA flerl 10 170 2.20
12 2H W DA spotpio 10 170 2.20
13 2H W DA musti16 10 170 2.20
14 3SX N H2 pinokiss 7 300 5.07
15 4H W ST tutaja 10 620 10.47
16 4H W H9 luna55 10 620 10.47
=======================================

========================================
C:\BRBR\M19.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 aalef Dlr: East
Board 6 S A92 Vul: None
H AJ96
karasu D 986 azepulsar
S K87 C J82 S 65
H 4 H T8732
D AJ7543 yanthis D KQT2
C 543 S QJT43 C T7
H KQ5
D
C AKQ96

4/1/2005 12:36:57 PM
NEW MISIRY
West North East South
Pass Pass 3C
Pass 3D Pass 4C
Pass 4D Pass 5C
Pass 6S

4C = 3 losers, black 2 suiter
4D = denies diamond control, slam interest
5C = i have both queens, need heart cover
6S = two covers, great.

Over 4D,
--> 4H is heart control ace?
--> 4S is diamonds danger
--> 5C need heart, have both Queens
--> 4H = ask for heart ace
--> 4NT shows missing C queen
--> 5D shows missing SQ
--> 5NT shows both missing, without DA
--> 6C shows both missing +D A

This leaves 5S. Since spades shows 3 or 4
Losers, this shows a 3 loser hand with both
Queens

Another bucketful of imps, 4.67, 96.48

=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 6SX S DA yanthis 13 1310 9.73
2 6SX S H4 kormanyos13 1310 9.73
3 6S S DA puck2 13 1010 4.67
4 6S S H4 hanson 13 1010 4.67
5 6S S H4 dellazoll13 1010 4.67
6 6S S DA edo2000 13 1010 4.67
7 6S S H4 hikarinok13 1010 4.67
8 6S S H4 mamen 13 1010 4.67
9 6S S H4 demircan 12 980 3.80
10 4S S H4 berot 13 510 -5.33
11 4S S H4 Fish7 13 510 -5.33
12 4S S DA lvzohar 13 510 -5.33
13 5S S DA eager_7 13 510 -5.33
14 4S S H4 barriguit11 450 -6.20
15 3C S DA benraphae13 190 -10.07
16 4H N DK rabbit63 7 -150 -13.67
=======================================
========================================
C:\BRBR\M20.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 7/20/2005
========================================
IMP-13 terencjusz Dlr: North
Board 60854 S 3 Vul: N-S
H 86543
drcat D J5 ergunk
S KQ542 C QT852 S JT
H K7 H QJT2
D T7 ok16 D 9632
C K743 S A9876 C J96
H A9
D AKQ84
C A

4/1/2005 12:50:23 PM
First 2:49:52 PM, Last 2:58:14 PM

North East South West
Pass Pass 3D Pass
3H Pass 4D Pass
Pass Pass

Fall of spade stops ensures making 4D,
Amazing, this disaster hand picks up
1.93 imps, 98.41
=======================================
# Contr Ld Decl Tr Score Pts
=======================================
1 3N W C3 bewa 7 -100 -4.67
2 4D W C4 ok16 9 -50 -3.20
3 3N W S4 niledar 8 -50 -3.20
4 3N W C3 lance arms8 -50 -3.20
5 4D W S4 bperson 9 -50 -3.20
6 3N W SQ pablo45 8 -50 -3.20
7 2S W DT axd 8 110 0.87
8 1S W DT thedoudou 8 110 0.87
9 1S W C3 ruki 8 110 0.87
10 1S W DT max_49 8 110 0.87
11 2D W S4 HALF HALT 9 110 0.87
12 1S W C3 pmisbach 8 110 0.87
13 2D W C3 barona 1 10 130 1.93
14 1S W DT seadog1 9 140 1.93
15 2D W SK francis_l12 170 3.00
16 3N E D2 Schoko 10 430 8.60
=======================================

Wish I was playing MisIry

2005-07-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

=======================================
C:\BRBR\1.txt
Produced by BRidgeBRowser on 19-Jul-05
========================================
IMP-23      inquiry     Dlr: North
Board 49352 S K9        Vul: None
            H 84    
lynne22     D T953      Adriaanes
S Q652      C KT732     S JT874
H JT97                  H 32
D Q84       hannie      D AKJ76
C J9        S A3        C 5
            H AKQ65
            D 2  
            C AQ864

08-Jun-05  4:17:14 PM

West     North    East     South
lynne22  inquiry  Adriaaneshannie
         Pass     Pass     1H
Pass     1NT*     2D       Dbl
Pass     2H       2S       4H
Pass     Pass     5D       Dbl
Pass     Pass     Pass 
 1. semi-force by passed hand

Opening lead: HK    Result: Down 3
Score: 500      

 1  South  HK,  7,  4,  2
 2  South  HA,  9,  8,  3
 3  South  SA,  2,  9,  4
 4  South  S3,  5,  K,  7
 5  North  CT,  5,  Q,  9
 6  South  CA,  J,  7, D6
 7  East   D7,  2,  Q,  3
 8  West   D4,  5,  A, H5
 9  East   DK, C4, D8, D9
10  East   DJ, C6, HT, DT
11  East   S8, C8, SQ, C2
12  West   S6, C3, ST, H6
13  East   SJ, HQ, HJ, CK

 =======================================
  # Contr   Ld  Decl     Tr  Score   Pts
 =======================================
  1 6CX   S CJ  cumino   12  1090  12.47
  2 5CXX  S D4  dave_T   12  1000  11.53
  3 5DX   E HK  Adriaanes 8   500   3.87
  4 5C    S CJ  035 selo 13   440   2.80
  5 5C    S S2  marghe ce12   420   2.27
  6 5C    S DQ  fanou    12   420   2.27
  7 5C    S DQ  Dweck    12   420   2.27
  8 5C    S D4  marta21ro12   420   2.27
  9 1H    S CJ  ammiragli11   200  -2.80
 10 3H    S S2  tab dt   11   200  -2.80
 11 3C    S D4  alph     12   170  -3.47
 12 4C    S S2  1912mArDu12   170  -3.47
 13 4C    S S2  CHPGOLD  12   170  -3.47
 14 4SX   E HA  hus_cet   9   100  -5.13
 15 3SX   E HK  guruguru  8   100  -5.13
 16 3SX   E D2  cdhsnt_lia9  -530 -13.47
 =======================================

As you can see, we left a lot of imps on the table on this one,
as 6 clubs is laydown. How would misIry go? South opens 3C and
north bids 3D. Realistically EW will probably stay out of the auction
now. The best EAST can do is double and hope to pay 3Diamonds doubled or his partner will bid spades. Over 3D, South bids 4C, heart-club two suiter, 3 losers. North bids 4D (denial cue-bid) and six clubs is bid on automatic pilot when south bids 4S (second anchor, showing both queens, but slam interest, so control in diamonds). North with two covers bid slam.

Something new.... Henri and the bots

2005-07-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

Had a fun time on BBO today. First, I played 24 hands with Henri Schwetzer "ritong" on BBO, who is the inventor of Riton 2♣ that I have happily added to my bidding system. In 24 hands, not one Riton 2C hand came up however. Still, some great bridge. We ended up ahead by over 30 imps.

Then I found that Fred had made version 4.3.3 beta available for BBO. This version brings in bots.. specifically, GIB. It is not clear how much using GIB as a partner or an opponent in the future will cost (hopefully not much), but for now playing with bots are free. Bots filling in for a board or two and in tourneys will be a big help. I downloaded the software and played five hands to see what how the bots played (three bots and me). Here is my test.


d: 1
Dlr: North 
Vul: None
       North
       S K8732         
       H J62           
       D K64           
       C 98            

West              East
S 94              S AQJ6          
H K1085           H AQ4           
D AQ75            D 2             
C 542             C AQJ76         

       South
       S 105           
       H 973           
       D J10983        
       C K103          

West North East South
R1134 R2023 R2093 inquiry
                          
        Pass     2C     Pass    
 2NT    Pass     3C     Pass    
 5C     Pass     6C     Pass    
Pass    Pass    

One of two finesses and slam should 
make. Assume spade hook wins, 
3S, 1S ruff, 4C, 3H, 1D = 12. 

Unlukcy for bots, and I pick 
up nearly 10 imps

Trick 1:   DJ DA D4 D2 
Trick 2:   C2 C9 CQ CK 
Trick 3:   DT DQ DK C7 
Trick 4:   CA C3 C4 C8 
Trick 5:   HA H3 H5 H2 
Trick 6:   HQ H9 HK H6 
Trick 7:   S4 S2 SQ S5 
Trick 8:   SA ST S9 S8 
Trick 9:   S6 CT D5 S7 
Trick 10:   D9 D7 D6 CJ 
Trick 11:   SJ H7 C5 SK 
Trick 12:   HT HJ H4 D3 
Trick 13:   S3 C6 D8 H8 

10 Tricks Claimed -100.

Bd: 2
Dlr: East 
Vul: NS
       North
       S A7            
       H Q73           
       D K52           
       C KQ743         

West    East
S Q86             S 105432        
H AJ54            H 92            
D Q1084           D 9763          
C 85              C A10           

       South
       S KJ9           
       H K1086         
       D AJ            
       C J962          

West North East South
R1134 R2023 R2093 inquiry                                
                Pass     1H     
Pass     2C     Pass     2NT    
Pass     3H     Pass     3NT    
Pass     4H     Pass    Pass    
Pass    

This hand shows the bots clearly 
play five card major as the bot 
wouldn't let me out of hearts 
once I opened hi 1H. Playing 
heart NENE. The bots seem to do 
this a lot as I kibitzed some 
at Walddk's table. 

Trick 1:   C8 C4 CT CJ 
Trick 2:   H6 H5 HQ H9 
Trick 3:   H3 H2 H8 HJ 
Trick 4:   D4 D2 D9 DJ 
Trick 5:   HK HA H7 S2 
Trick 6:   DQ D5 D6 DA 
Trick 7:   HT H4 C3 S5 
Trick 8:   C6 C5 CQ CA 
Trick 9:   D7 C2 DT DK 
Trick 10:   CK ST C9 S6 
Trick 11:   C7 S3 S9 D8 
Trick 12:   SA S4 SJ SQ 
Trick 13:   S7 D3 SK S8 

10 Tricks Claimed +620.

Bd: 3
Dlr: South 
Vul: EW
       North
       S J7652         
       H J107          
       D A92           
       C 54            

West              East
S AQ3             S 109           
H A92             H K3            
D 103             D QJ8654        
C KJ872           C 963           

       South
       S K84           
       H Q8654         
       D K7            
       C AQ10          
West North East South
R1134 R2023 R2093 inquiry                                
                        1H     
 2C      2H     Pass    Pass    
 3C     Pass    Pass    Pass    

A nice competitive auction by the bots. 

Trick 1:   S5 ST SK SA 
Trick 2:   D3 DA D8 D7 
Trick 3:   H7 H3 HQ HA 
Trick 4:   DT D9 D4 DK 
Trick 5:   S4 SQ S7 S9 
Trick 6:   S3 S6 C3 S8 
Trick 7:   C6 CA C2 C4 
Trick 8:   H5 H2 HT HK 
Trick 9:   DQ H6 H9 D2 
Trick 10:   C9 CT CJ C5 
Trick 11:   CK SJ DJ CQ 
Trick 12:   C8 S2 D5 H4 
Trick 13:   C7 HJ D6 H8 

10 Tricks Claimed +130.

Bd: 4
Dlr: West 
Vul: Both
       North
       S 743           
       H K64           
       D QJ1085        
       C 87            

West              East
S QJ10            S 9862          
H Q72             H AJ1095        
D 76              D A3            
C AQJ63           C K2            

       South
       S AK5           
       H 83            
       D K942          
       C 10954         

West North East South
R1134 R2023 R2093 inquiry                                
 1C     Pass     1H     Pass    
 1NT    Pass     2D     Pass    
 2H     Pass     4H     Pass    
Pass    Pass    

Interesting club unblock. 
Trick 1:   SK ST S3 S8 
Trick 2:   CT CA C7 CK 
Trick 3:   H7 H4 HJ H3 
Trick 4:   C2 C5 CQ C8 
Trick 5:   CJ H6 HT C4 
Trick 6:   S2 SA SJ S7 
Trick 7:   H8 HQ HK HA 
Trick 8:   DA D2 D6 D5 
Trick 9:   S9 S5 SQ S4 
Trick 10:   C6 D8 H9 C9 
Trick 11:   S6 D4 D7 DQ 
Trick 12:   D3 D9 H2 DT 
Trick 13:   C3 DJ H5 DK 

11 Tricks Claimed +650.

Bd: 5
Dlr: North 
Vul: NS
       North
       S J764          
       H AJ7           
       D Q1084         
       C 98            

West              East
S 82              S AQ105         
H K943            H 652           
D AJ5             D K2            
C A1075           C K643          

       South
       S K93           
       H Q108          
       D 9763          
       C QJ2           


West North East South
R1134 R2023 R2093 inquiry
                          
        Pass     1C     Pass    
 1H     Pass     1S     Pass    
 2D     Pass     2NT    Pass    
 3NT    Pass    Pass    Pass    

Need to be able to stop bidding 
at some point.

Trick 1:   HQ H3 H7 H6 
Trick 2:   HT H4 HJ H5 
Trick 3:   S7 SQ SK S8 
Trick 4:   H8 HK HA H2 
Trick 5:   S6 ST S3 S2 
Trick 6:   DK D3 D5 D8 
Trick 7:   SA S9 C7 S4 
Trick 8:   C4 CQ CA C8 
Trick 9:   H9 D4 D2 D7 
Trick 10:   DA DT C3 D6 
Trick 11:   C5 C9 CK C2 
Trick 12:   S5 D9 CT SJ 
Trick 13:   DQ C6 CJ DJ 

7 Tricks Claimed -100.

Snaching victory from jaws of defeat

2005-07-13T09:03:00.000-04:00

Played in a two tourneys yesterday. Got 1st place in one (see title), and dead last in the other. There were reasons for both. Before we look at how victory was stolen from defeat, an update. I added most of chapter three to the squeeze book yesterday (none of the 15 quiz hands however). But towards the end of the chapter, the "ending" have not been put in yet (there is one ending, each place where an ending belongs, but it is just a place holder...working with tables is still a pain for me). I will try to put the remainding ending in tonight.

Now the joys of victory (rather than the agony of defeat). Playing with Hannie, we got off to a very rough start for normal good bridge.

Bd: 1
Dlr: North

Vul: None
North
S KJ102
H AK8753
D A3
C A

West East
S Q9863 S A5
H 962 H
D K92 D QJ1054
C J9 C Q87532

South
S 74
H QJ104
D 876
C K1064

Open Room:

West North East South
hannie eellkka inquiry eart
1H 2NT Pass
3D 3H Pass 4H
Pass Pass Pass

Trick 1: DQ D6 D2 DA
Trick 2: HA C7 H4 H2
Trick 3: HK C2 HT H6
Trick 4: CA C3 C4 C9
Trick 5: H3 D4 HJ H9
Trick 6: CK CJ D3 C5
Trick 7: S7 S8 ST S5
Trick 8: S2 SA S4 S3
Trick 9: DJ D7 D9

12 Tricks Claimed +480., win 0.5 imps
We could have won one more if I had
simply won spade ace.
Still a plus 0.5 imps, running +0.5

Bd: 2
Dlr: East
Vul: NS
North
S AJ103
H 1075
D K103
C A87

West East
S 962 S 8
H J82 H KQ94
D Q9752 D A64
C J2 C KQ1095

South
S KQ754
H A63
D J8
C 643

West North East South
hannie cwant inquiry eart
1C 1S
Pass 3S Dbl Pass
4D Dbl Pass 4S
Pass Pass Pass

Trick 1: CJ C7 CQ C3
Trick 2: CK C4 C2 CA
Trick 3: SJ S8 S4 S2
Trick 4: S3 C5 SQ S6
Trick 5: S5 S9 SA CT
Trick 6: C8 C9 C6 D2
Trick 7: HQ H3 H2 H5
Trick 8: H4 HA H8 H7
Trick 9: H6 HJ HT H9
Trick 10: DQ DK DA D8
Trick 11: D4 DJ D5

8 Tricks Claimed -200.
My double of 3S was a little frisky, but it worked out
well for us. 4S down two was worth 3.2 imps, and I
thought after they missed slam on first board (take
spade hook while maintaining hearts in dummy always
make six), I thought we might be way up at this point.
As it was, in swiss event, we were dead in the middle.
Running score +3.7 imps

Bd: 3
Dlr: South
Vul: EW
North
S Q3
H QJ109
D AK10832
C 4

West East
S J65 S AK10987
H A764 H 85
D 4 D J95
C J10962 C AK

South
S 42
H K32
D Q76
C Q8753

West North East South
eart inquiry cwant hannie
Pass
Pass 1D 1S 2D
2S 3D 4S Pass
Pass 5D Dbl Pass
Pass Pass

Trick 1: SK S2 S6 S3
Trick 2: SA S4 S5 SQ
Trick 3: H8 H3 HA HQ
Trick 4: CJ C4 CK C7
Trick 5: CA C3 C2 D2
Trick 6: DK D5 D6 D4
Trick 7: D3 D9 DQ SJ
Trick 8: D7 H4 DA DJ
Trick 9: H9 H5 HK H6
Trick 10: H2 H7

9 Tricks Claimed -300.

Being swiss, we get to play the same pair again.
Here, we found the great sacrafice against a cold
4S, problem is, the 2D raise helped EW find the
quality of their spade fit. If we didn't rush them
along, they might not have found it. The -300 versus
a makable vul game (-620) should have won a boat
load of imps. Instead, it lost 3.2. Sigh
Running total, 0.5 imps

Bd: 4
Dlr: West
Vul: Both
North
S 2
H KQ83
D J8653
C 863

West East
S J74 S AQ1085
H J6 H A102
D AQ10 D K92
C KQ752 C AJ

South
S K963
H 9754
D 74
C 1094

Open Room:

West North East South
eart inquiry cwant hannie
1C Pass 1S Pass
1NT Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass

Trick 1: H3 H2 H9 HJ
Trick 2: SJ S2 S5 SK

12 Tricks Claimed +690.
Low heart gave an extra trick. Sadly slam doesn't
make, and we lost another "ship" load (bigger than
a boat) of imps. The -6.8 imps we lost sent us negative
to average -6.3 and to the next to lowest table (And
EW at that table to boot) for the next round. Only
two pairs were worse off than us. :-(

Bd: 5
Dlr: North
Vul: NS
North
S A9
H Q9532
D KJ854
C 7

West East
S Q82 S K76
H KJ10876 H A
D Q D A107
C K83 C AJ10642

South
S J10543
H 4
D 9632
C Q95

Open Room:
West North East South
hannie wojela inquiry ab_PL
2D 3C Pass
3H Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass

Trick 1: D6 DQ DK D7
Trick 2: D5 DT D3 H6
Trick 3: HA H4 H7 H5
Trick 4: CT C5 C3 C7
Trick 5: SK S4 S2 SA
Trick 6: D4 DA D2 H8
Trick 7: C2 C9 CK H2
Trick 8: HK H3 S6 S3
Trick 9: C8 H9 CA CQ

11 Tricks Claimed +460.
Nice 3NT making overtricks. The 2D bid helped
with the play, as I found the club Queen. This surely
will win us some imps,, but a check of the score
showed that we lost 1.8 imps. Now the running
total was -8.1 imps

Bd: 6
Dlr: East
Vul: EW
North
S 2
H Q105
D J97
C A87654

West East
S J9874 S 65
H 864 H AJ9732
D K1062 D 5
C 3 C J1092

South
S AKQ103
H K
D AQ843
C KQ

Open Room:
West North East South
hannie wojela inquiry ab_PL
2H Dbl
3H Pass Pass Dbl
Pass 4C Pass 4S
Pass 5C Pass Pass
Pass

Trick 1: HA HK H4 H5
Trick 2: H3 D3 H8 HT
Trick 3: C4 C2 CQ C3
Trick 4: CK H6 C5 C9
Trick 5: SA S4 S2 S5
Trick 6: SK S7 D7 S6
Trick 7: SQ S8 D9 CT
Trick 8: D5 DA D2 DJ
Trick 9: D4 DT C6 CJ
Trick 10: HJ S3 S9 HQ
Trick 11: CA H7

10 Tricks Claimed -50.
After my heart continuation at trick two, they
should have made this. Down one rates to be
average of slighlty above average. But we dodged
huge penalty for my "careless" defense (I was angling
for one heart ruff in dummy). But +50 ended up
being -1.8 imps again, running score, -9.9. And the event
is half over. We didn't sink to the bottom table, but
we stayed right were we where.

Bd: 7
Dlr: South
Vul: Both
North
S KQ42
H
D 76432
C J873

West East
S AJ95 S 1063
H AKQJ63 H 7542
D J9 D AQ85
C 2 C A9

South
S 87
H 1098
D K10
C KQ10654

West North East South
hannie roman01 inquiry 83
Pass
1H Pass 2NT Pass
3C Pass 3H Pass
3S Dbl Pass Pass
4C Pass 4D Pass
4NT Pass 5H Pass
6H Pass Pass Pass

1-limit raise or better,
2-no game interest or slam try
3- sign off, limit raise
4-slam try despite limit raise stregnth
5-confused over agreement
6-cuebid
7-LTTC, willing to continue if opener is
8-RKCB
9-2 keys, no heart Queen

Trick 1: D6 D5 DK D9
Trick 2: S7 SA S2 S3
Trick 3: HA D7 H2 H8
Trick 4: HK S4 H4 H9
Trick 5: HQ SQ H5 HT
Trick 6: DJ D2 D8 DT
Trick 7: C2 C3 CA C4
Trick 8: DA C5 S9 D3
Trick 9: DQ C6 SJ D4
Trick 10: H7 CT HJ SK

12 Tricks Claimed +1430.
Needing a miracle, Hannie manufactured one. A
quick note. Over 3Sx, a pass by me should show
either 2nd round spade control (rdbl shows first),
or Principle of Fast arrival mild slam try (not both)
I prefer 2nd round spade control, but here I went
pass for the second option. The defense should win
a diamond and a spade, but they Hans pulled off
an unlikley psuedo squeeze. The gift 14.5 imps
put is in the plus imp range again, and built our
confidence. Running, +4.6

Bd: 8
Dlr: West
Vul: None
North
S 4
H 762
D AJ982
C Q753

West East
S 932 S A10865
H KQJ H A953
D K4 D 76
C KJ962 C A10

South
S KQJ7
H 1084
D Q1053
C 84

West North East South
hannie roman01 inquiry 83
1C Pass 1S Pass
1NT Pass 2D Pass
2S Pass 4S Pass
Pass Pass

2D = checkback
2S = three card support,
4S = take shot.
Trick 1: C4 C2 CQ CA
Trick 2: SA S7 S2 S4
Trick 3: S6 SJ S3 H6
Trick 4: H4 HK H2 H5
Trick 5: CK C3 CT C8
Trick 6: CJ C5 D7 SQ
Trick 7: SK S9 H7 S5
Trick 8: D3 DK DA D6
9 Tricks Claimed -50
Four spades really has no play. But I had hopes that
down one would win some imps. It did!!, we picked
up 2.0 imps and moved to the middle of the pack
with plus 6.6 imps

Bd: 9
Dlr: North
Vul: EW
North
S Q875
H A94
D 654
C 752

West East
S 432 S AKJ6
H KQ6 H J108
D AK73 D 982
C KQ10 C A96

South
S 109
H 7532
D QJ10
C J843
West North East South
hannie maxio4 inquiry ania50
Pass 1C Pass
1D Pass 1NT Pass
3NT Pass Pass Pass

Trick 1: ST S3 S5 SJ
Trick 2: D2 DJ DK D6
Trick 3: D3 D4 D9 DT
Trick 4: S9 S4 SQ SK
Trick 5: H8 H2 HK H4
Trick 6: CT C7 CA C3
Trick 7: HT H3 HQ HA
Trick 8: C5 C6 C4 CK
Trick 9: CQ C2 C9 C8
Trick 10: H6 H9 HJ H5
Trick 11: SA H7 S2 S8
Trick 12: D8 DQ DA D5
Trick 13: D7 S7 S6 CJ

11 Tricks Claimed +660.
After spade lead, contract always cold. Question could i muster
any additonal tricks. I did. We won 4 more imps. I felt good
about this hand. Normal 3NT making, usually wins imps in
these contest. Glad I was declaring and not defending. IS this
fair? no. But this thing cuts both ways. Running, +10.6

Bd: 10
Dlr: East
Vul: Both
North
S
H QJ105
D Q109874
C QJ6

West East
S AKQ5 S 109876432
H A932 H 7
D KJ D 6
C K109 C A87

South
S J
H K864
D A532
C 5432

West North East South
hannie maxio4 inquiry ania50
Pass Pass
2NT Pass 3H Pass
4S Pass 4NT Pass
5D Pass 6S Pass
Pass Pass

Trick 1: HQ H7 H4 HA
Trick 2: SA D4 S2 SJ
Trick 3: SK D7 S3 C2
Trick 4: H2 H5 S4 H6
Trick 5: D6 DA DJ D8
Trick 6: C5
12 Tricks Claimed +1430.
Eight spades and I pass. I wonder how many of my
fellow EAST's choose this bid? But vul, I see no
choice. Over 3H jacoby, partner leaps to 4S. Magic
I need imps, and here is one, I use blackwood and
discover we are missing a key card. I don't care
about spade queen (they only have one spade). I
think about the possibility we are missing the SK
and grand can make. But there is only 1 in 4 chance
the spade king is the missing ACE. IF we were
still negative at this point, I might shoot 7S (25% or
less chance). But here, I decide to settle on 6S.
The defense can make it hell by ducking the diamond.
What good is an overtrick here. When they grab the ace
the hand is over. I wish I was defending this hand, but
six spades brings in a bucket full, +9.5 imps. We are
now zooming in the correct direction. Running score,
+20.1 imps.

This round was enough to push us up to table one. We
are clearly in contention. At this table is "expert" triad
who tells his partner,
"tiad: inquiry comes...hehe"
followed by,
"tiad: do you remember what I told you at round 1 p?
tiad: I want to beat inquiry"

My reply was, "hey... stop that... :-) "

Bd: 11
Dlr: South
Vul: None
North
S J
H A9532
D 1065
C K1053

West East
S A764 S 98532
H QJ4 H 106
D Q984 D 732
C J6 C Q74

South
S KQ10
H K87
D AKJ
C A982

West North East South
hannie tiad inquiry vitold
2NT
Pass 3D Pass 3H
Pass 3NT Pass Pass
Pass

Trick 1: S4 SJ S5 SQ
Trick 2: HK H4 H2 H6
Trick 3: H7 HJ H3 HT
Trick 4: S6 C3 S2 SK
Trick 5: H8 HQ HA S3
Trick 6: H9 D3 C2 D4
Trick 7: H5 D2 DJ C6
Trick 8: D5 D7 DA D8
Trick 9: DK D9 D6 C4
Trick 10: CA CJ C5 C7
Trick 11: C8 S7 CK CQ
Trick 12: CT S8 C9 SA
Trick 13: DT S9 ST DQ

11 Tricks Claimed +460.
My late club pitch was silly and unnecessary. It cost us
an imp against someone telling his partner he wants to
take us out. The actual score was "0", but should have
been plus one. We stay at +20.1. To win, we will have
to at least beat this pair, as they are 1NS and we are 1EW.
And, we have to watch for someone jumping over us from
table 2 or 3.

Bd: 12
Dlr: West
Vul: NS
North
S 982
H 1082
D AQ2
C 10862

West East
S KQ1053 S AJ6
H J763 H 95
D 654 D 873
C 3 C AKJ95

South
S 74
H AKQ4
D KJ109
C Q74

Open Room:
West North East South
hannie tiad inquiry vitold
2S - (1) Pass 3S - (2) Dbl
Pass 4C Pass -(3) Pass
Pass

1-2S, han realize we need action and takes a stab at creating it
2-3S, I have enough defense but I want to make life rough for them
3- 4C, well, I hope they play clubs, they are vul,

An unusual forcing game, I go for pulling trumps!!
Trick 1: CK C4 C3 C2
Trick 2: CA C7 S3 C6
Trick 3: C5 CQ D6 C8
Trick 4: HK H3 H2 H5
Trick 5: HA H6 H8 H9
Trick 6: HQ H7 HT C9
Trick 7: CJ S4 D4 CT
Trick 8: SA S7 S5 S2
Trick 9: SJ D9 SQ S8
Trick 10: HJ DQ S6 H4
Trick 11: SK S9 D3 DT
Trick 12: ST DA D7 DJ
Trick 13: D5 D2 D8 DK

4 Tricks Claimed -600.

Down six, vul. That will be a nice pick up for us of 10.5 imps .
We say bye-bye to Triad and partner who fall way down the list,
and that 10 imps pushes us to +30.6 and clear first place win
(also won $2.00).

Problem 1.4 added to chapter one of Squeeze book

2005-07-12T08:12:00.000-04:00

Slow day today. I added problems 1.4 and 1.5 (fouth and fifth problem, chapter one) to the squeeze blog. I will try to add chapter 3 main text later today, time permitting. Is anyone reading the squeeze blog? If not, I can take my time updating it.

Ben

MisIry for a Critic

2005-07-11T16:01:00.000-04:00

New concept, "if critics played MisIry". This deals with hands that quailify for MisIry opening held by a vocal critic. Write in for more details, but PLEASE no names of the players.

This fellow or his partner opened in tournment play 347 hands in the current BRBR database online (through june 2005). On this, the preempted to the three level, a total of 13 times. Most of their preempts, admittedly were much to strong for me.. hands like AKQJTxx in hearts but ok. They had in this bunch, three hands that would qualify for "MisIry". Here are the hands, and their results. they did well on one with a questimate of sorts.


IMP-137     North       Dlr: North 
Board 1     S 86543     Vul: None
            H T542      
West        D J6        East        
S AQ72      C 94        S KJT9   
H 86                    H 93      
D AT987     South       D KQ43 
C K8        S           C 753   
            H AKQJ7
            D 52
            C AQJT62
                
West     North    East     South
         Pass     Pass     1C    
1D       Pass     1S       2H  
2S       Pass     Pass     3H 
Pass     Pass     Pass     
Opening lead: DA    Result: Made 4
Score: 170          

Here 4H is on ice, bidding to 3H is not impressive. 
MisIry?  3C - (Pass) - 3D - (Pass)
         4C - (Pass) - 4H
Where 3C = D weak or 2 suiter with clubs strong
Over 3D. 4C shows 3 losers, C/H two suiter

 1. W DA/6/3/2
 2. W D10/J/Q/5
 3. E SJ/HA/S2/S3
 4. S HK/6/2/3
 5. S HQ/8/4/9
 6. S H7/SQ/HT/S9
 7. N C9/3/2/K

IMP-279     North       Dlr: East   
Board 2     S K9        Vul: N-S
            H AKQJ8     
West        D AT953     East           
S 8652      C A         S A4           
H 9765                  H T432         
D           South       D J64          
C KJ863     S QJT73     C QT74      
            H                          
            D KQ872                    
            C 952                      
                                       
West     North    East     South             
                  Pass     2D!      
Pass     2NT!     Pass     3S!      
Pass     6D       Pass     Pass     
Pass     

 1. Preemptive.  4+ !D and 4+ cards in eithe
 2. relay for range/shape
 3. 5+ Spades and a amximm hand
Opening lead: C6    Result: Made 7
Score: 1390   

Ok, they did well here. 
How about misiry?

Pass    3H
4S      5D
6D      Pass, 

where
3H = heart/Diamond 2 suiter or spade preempt
4S = support, plus ability to play in red
5D = three loser (4NT with four)
6D = if one loser is in hearts, I may       
have underbid. But 4S preempted us  
 1. W C6/A/4/2
 2. N D3/6/K/C3
 3. S DQ/H5/D5/D4
 4. S D2/H6/DA/DJ
 5. N HA/2/S3/H7
 6. N HK/3/S7/H9
 7. N HQ/4/ST/C8
 8. N HJ/T/SJ/S2
 9. N H8/C7/SQ/S5


IMP-87      East        Dlr: South      
Board 3     S AKQ642    Vul: E-W
            H AJ832      
North       D AT        South             
S 7         C           S J853      
H T654                  H Q9          
D 86543     West        D QJ97      
C Q97       S T9        C J65          
            H K7                   
            D K2                    
            C AKT8432                           
                                      
North    East     South    West      
                  Pass     2C!       
Pass     2D!      Pass     3C!        
Pass     3D!      Pass     3H!      
Pass     3S!      Pass     4S!      
Pass     7NT      Pass     Pass     
Pass     

 1. 9 slam points
 2. relay
 3. 7222 or 6322
 4. relay, GF
 5. 2=2=2=7 shape
 6. relay
 7. 9 slam points

7NT down four, ugly.
MisIry has to do better,  how about....

3C   3D     4H = 3 loser, no need for C
4H   4NT    4NT = DK  
5D   5NT    5D = missing a queen, DK useful
6S   Pass   5NT = pick a slam 6S

Despite 4-1 trump split, 6S rolss  home, 
That is +1430 versus -400 (lucky no dbl of 7NT).

Opening lead: DQ    Result: Down 4
Score: -400         
 1. S DQ/2/3/A
 2. E SA/3/9/7
 3. E SK/5/T/D4
 4. E H2/9/K/4
 5. W H7/5/J/Q
 6. S D7/K/5/T
 7. W CA/7/S2/C5
 8. W CK/9/S4/C6
 9. W C10/Q/S6/CJ
10. N D6/H3/DJ/C2
11. S D9/C3/D8/H8
12. S S8/C4/H6

Bidding Disaster

2005-07-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

Here was a disaster from today. However you bid this, make sure with EAST hand you are going to make great slam try. Figure it as a ZAR point quiz. 2NT shows at least 33 zar points, and EAST has (with known spade fit) has at least 30 ZAR points.

	♠ K J 7 ♥ K J T 5 ♦ A K T ♣ A 7 6	♠ A Q T 8 6 4 2 ♥ A 7 ♦ J 7 6 ♣ 9
	Our Auction 1 ♣ 2NT Pass	1 ♠ 4 ♠
	Inquiry 1 ♣ 2 ♥ 3 ♠ 4 ♦ 5 ♣ 6 ♣ 6 NT	2/1 Auction 1 ♠ 3 ♥ 4 ♣ 4 NT 5 ♥ 6 ? Pass/7♠/7NT

2H is a reverse, promises four hearts, may be 4333 with 17-19.
3H is transfer to 3S, game force
3S accepts spades can
4C is cue-bid
4D is cue-bid
4NT is Kantar Roman Keycard
5C is 3 keycards (after opener reverse, 0-3, 1-4 and with reverse has to be 3)
5H is specific suit ask,
6C shows Heart Kxx(x)
6D is ask, expecting 7S if opener has singelton or 7D with AKQ
6NT shows Kx(x) of diamonds (plus ace already promised)
7S

In the inquiry auction, WE DONT REBID 2NT with balanced hands. The reverse shows a hand with four hearts. Responders next bids over the revers are:

2S = waiting, can be four card suit.
2NT = transfer to clubs, signoff or game try in different suit
3C = transfer to diamonds, GF (new suit)
3D = transfer to 3H (raise, any stregnth, can pass 3H by opener)
3H = transfer to 3S, GF
3S = five spades, balanced hand, no diamond stopper
3NT - minimum game values with diamond stopper
4C = club fit, RKCB
4D = splinter, heart fit
4H = minimum game going values heart fit
4S = lots of spades, little else (compare to 2S then 4S, 3H then 4S)

See inquiry 2/1 GF for more on this.

More work on Squeeze Blog Book

2005-07-09T21:10:00.000-04:00

I have updated the squeeze blog book by adding solutions to the first three problems in chapter one, and I have dropped part of the text for chapter two into place. The problem is the hand format issues. Chapter two example hands have to be made into html tables (time consuming), before it is understandable. I will add tables with the hands as fast as I can.

Let me know if you think the hyperlink solutions to problems is working.

Question about problem format. Ideas?

2005-07-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

I am putting my squeeze book on line in a blog format. If you havene't seen it yet, a link is to the right. The Question I have is how best to insert quiz hands. I had thought in a book format, it would be question one page, turn the page, read the answer. This isn't possible here. A couple of idas.

1. Hyperlink to the answer on another page. Advantage, you have to actively go seek the answer. Disadvantages, when you jump back, you are at a different location in the text, requiring scrolling, Second, it makes printing the entire book out (looks nice if you have a color printer) a pain, as answers are not in line.

2. Hid text. This is what I wanted to do, but the problem here is you can hide only one block of text (from the hide command to the end of file). Also, not sure what this does for printing.

3. Put all the quiz answers at the end of the chapter (the way I am leaning right now). This way, as you read quiz 1, you can't easily see answer to quiz one as it is followed by quiz two, etc. Disadvantage, if you think you solved quiz one, you have to jump down to end of the quizes to find the solution to quiz one then go back up to quiz two.

4. Have a series of quizes, each hyperlinked, with quiz shown and answer hidden. Disadvantage, you would have to print out each quiz hand seperately, advantage, you can skip right to the quizes, and new quizes can be added rather painlessly with a link.

Any ideas what would be best? I am at the point of entiring the 15 quiz hands for chapter one right now. The first two or three are in, without solutions yet, as I am not sure how I want to do this.

Ben

One for the defense

2005-07-04T22:25:00.000-04:00


Brd 12   Q3
South    AK985
EW       Q53
         864
 


         A986
         J
         AT984
         T97

 W   N   E   S
================
     1H  P   1S
 P   1NT P   2D  
 All Pass

The 1H bid is too light for my "inquiry 2/1GF". Actually, I was WEST on this hand. But here is how the bidding would go if south opener it inquiry 2/1. 1S shows 4 or less spades, 2D was a weak opener, obsetensively with diamonds and hearts.

Opening lead club ACE follwed by club to Queen then king. Then East leads low trump, you play small, West wins the King, and continues the diamond jack in this position. Plan your play.

Matchpoint Strategy

2005-06-30T13:17:00.000-04:00

This is just meant an an introduction to the topic as it relates to the difference between matchpoints (MP) and IMPs, and how these difference can effect both the bidding and play.

At imps, the strategy can be summarized pretty simply as stretch to bid any vulnerable game that has almost any chance to make, and (almost) always play to make your contract, taking the safest line of play available (at imps doubled, you might decide to play safely for down one rahter than risk down four or five, but that is an exception).

This "stretch" to bid vulnerable games means you will bid games with less than 50% to make. How much less? Roughly 1 in 3. This is related to the scoring table at imps. A vul game (lets say 4S) is worth 620, while if you bid a part-score you get 170. The difference, 450, is worth 10 imps. But if you bid the partscore and the game goes down one, the result would be -100 versus 140, or a 240 imp difference, which is 6 imps. So you win 10 imps when right and lose 6 imps when wrong. So if the game has ~37.5% chance of making, you break even (in the long run) by bidding it.

Unlike IMPs where the size of the score is important (which is why you bid close games), at MP you win a single matchpoint for each pair you beat, and 1/2 a point for each pair you tie. NOTE: At imps the size of the difference between you and the opponent is important, but at MP, you win or lose 1 point depending on whether you scored more or less than your opponent, the SIZE of the difference at MP is irrelevant (who said size matters)?

At MP, this results in an oddity: beating someone by 2300 points or 10 points on a hand is worth exactly the same (1 MP). This wining by 10 points, the diffence between 1N making one and 1S making one, or 7S making or 7NT making, is worth the same MP if you are on the plus side as if 7Sxx went down 13 while you made 7NT. This oddity, that size of the differences doesn't matter which makes Matchpoint strategy very different from imp strategy. For example, people play in NT more ofter at matchpoint than imps (NT scores more), people seldom play 5C or 5D at matchpoint, prefering riskier 3NT or 4M on 4-3 fit, as they score more (if they make).

Timely Squeeze

2005-06-30T06:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I was playing with Matt (Echognome on BBO) as I was trying to get the links and first "chapter" (the introduction) into my Identifying Squeezes Blog book. This was the first hand.

Bd: 1
Dlr: North
Vul: None
        North
        S A 6      
       H A K 8 7    
       D K Q 6 3    
       C A K 3     

 West      East
 S Q 7 2          S J 8 5 3    
 H Q J T 5 2      H 9 6 4     
 D J 9 8          D A 4      
 C T 4            C Q J 8 7    

       South
       S K T 9 4   
       H 3       
       D T 7 5 2   
       C 9 6 5 2    


Open Room:

West North East South
 inquiry  echogno                       
         2C     Pass     2D  
Pass     2NT    Pass     3C  
Pass     3D     Pass     3H  
Pass     3NT    Pass    Pass 
Pass

Not much to comment on about the auction. 3NT can be beaten a number of ways, but it is not clear how to find the various lines.

Trick 1: C7 C5 C4 CK
Trick 2: DK DA D2 D8
Trick 3: CQ C2 CT C3

When the club TEN appears, the winning line is to grab the ACE and return a club towards the nine. But the defender here is more than capable of false carding from J84 here, but still this has to be the winning line. So while later, the defender misses a fairly easy defense, I missed the easiest winning line.

As an aside, the best defense, hard to fine here, is a heart at thrick two.

Trick 4: C8 C9 H5 CA
Trick 5: DQ D4 D5 D9
Trick 6: D3 H4 D7 DJ

As declarer, after the diamond jack doesn't fall dobleton, I have 2H, 2S, 2C and 2D. That is 8 tricks. No one would want to rely on QJ doubleton of spades, so one thinks of squeeze. East has the club guard and the club threat is in the upper hand. A double squeeze might happen if WEST has five hearts by ducking a heart. But the transportation is muddled if they return a spade.

Trick 7: HQ H8 H6 H3

Here was a chance to set me. A spade back now, and a spade back when i duck a heart (or let East win the heart) and I am down. But now the squeeze rolls home. Should WEST see the squeeze coming? I have shown up with 4D, 3C. If I had three spades, I might have gone after spades with KT9x in dummy rather than using diamonds. Also, my auction promised 22-23 hcp. I had 7 in clubs, 5 in diamonds. East has already shown up with QJ of clubs, and diamond ACE. So the most he could have is the jack of spades. With 2-4-4-3 distibution, the double squeeze should be obvious to west, and an entry destoying play is called for. The heart queen allowed me to "correct the count" by ducking to the safe opponent.

Trick 8: HJ HA H9 DT
Trick 9: D6 S3 S4 S2
Trick 10: HK S5 C6 H2
Trick 11: SA S8 S9 S7
Trick 12: S6 SJ SK SQ
Trick 13: ST HT H7 CJ

9 Tricks Claimed +400.
Win 7.9 imps

So here is another reason to study squeezes, so you can break them up when your opponent is trying to shape the hand up for the squeeze.

Be sure to visit the my electronic book on squeezes. After all, afer seeing how the very experienced West missed this play, can YOU really afford not to look at my free squeeze book?

Hopefully it will not take me too long to convert the text of the very long book to electonic format.

Identifying Squeeze Blog

2005-06-29T18:30:00.000-04:00

I have started a book-based blog on squeezes. The book is written, it just needs to be converted into blog speak.

You will find the blog at http://squeeze-analysis.blogspot.com/

Wnat is XYZ?

2005-06-29T18:22:00.000-04:00

BBO Advanced, and Inquiry 2/1 GF systems (and many others), use a convention called XYZ or two way checkback.

So what is xyz? No doubt you have heard of "new minor forcing"? Well, xzy is just an extension of this principle. After opener makes his rebid, a rebid of either 2♣ or 2♦ are both forcing. 2♣ is a transfer to 2♦ which responder either passes (if he wants to signoff in diamonds), or he bids again to invite to game. While 2♦ by responder is game force.

The name, "XYZ" comes from this..
1x-(P)-1y-(P)
1z-(P)-BID

Where x, y, z can be any bids, as long as responder has a choice to bid 2♣ or 2♦. In fact, the way I play it, as long as responders second bid can be two of either minor, then xzy is still on. This includes hands where opponents have bid (responder must have made a bid or double at his first opportunity or XYZ is off). So 1C-(1H)-DBL-(1S)-P-(P)- xyz is still on. 1C-(1H)-Pass.... after this pass, XZY is off forever.

Most people don't play XZY after 1C-1D-1any, however, I do. Some people don't play xzy after 1H-1S-1NT, but again, I do.

Playing XYZ, not all game force hands start with 2♦. A jump shift shows a 5-5 hand and game forcing values. This means of course that jumps always show a real second suit with good distribution as does jump rebids, rather than some artificial force thing.

One issue in XZY is if game invites begin with 2♣, so to invite to 3NT, the auction would be
1x-1y
1z-2♣
2♦-2NT

Since that is the case, what is 1m-1M-1N-2N for instance? And if 2♣ is game invite how does one signoff in partners (or your own) club suit. In xyz as played by some people, a 2♣ followed by 3♣ bid is signoff. I DONT PLAY that way, if I use the 2♣ bid and then bid again, it is invitational, not signoff.

The solution is simple. A direct rebid of 2NT by RESPONDER is lebehnshol, and meant to be either:

A signoff in clubs (pass forced 3♣ )
A game try with good distribution for any suit other than clubs, but less hcp than an XYZ 2♣ followed by the 3 level bid
Can also be used as slam tries with rebids of 3NT/4 level suits

Item number 3 above is interesting, and shows that when playing XYZ, you have GREATLY increased your accurately describe your hands types. The seperation of different game invites via 2NT versus 2♣'s is also expanded to different game forcing hands as well using 2♦, direct jumps to three/four level, 2NT -followed by 4 level rebid, and 2♣'s followed by four level bids. Here are the rules for "game forcing" auctions by responder.

Direct Jumps to GAME by advancer on second turn is descriptive. If opener's rebid had been 1NT, these jumps are direct signoff. If opener had rebid 1♥ or 1♠ , responders leap to 4 of openers major shows four card support to two top honors, and five cards responders suit headed by AKJ or AKQ, no side suit singleton, no other significant values.
A direct jump rebid to GAME in responders major (1D-1H-1S -4H, or 1C-1H-1S-4H) shows a broken seven card suit, no control in the unbid minor, and an A or K in openers major, and minimum game going values. Typical hand might be: Ax AQJxxxx xx xx (*** I use 1m-4C and 1m-4D to show seven card solid major C=H, D=S, with no side suit A or K***).
Delayed jumps to 4M after using 2♣ (1m-1M-1y-2♣-2♦-4M) shows the same kind of hand as under #2, except the side control is in opener's minor
Delayed jumps to 4M after using 2 (1m-1M-1y-2NT-3C-4M) shows the same kind of hand as under #2 , except the side control is in the 4th suit
Delayed jumps to four of opener's major, show the same hand types, as in number 1 above, except it conveys info about controls in one or the other suits. As before, 2♣ followed by jump to four of partners major shows additional side control openers major. On 1m-1H-1S-2♣-2♦ -4S, the 4S bid shows 4-5-2-2 with two top spades, two of top three in hearts, and A or K of opener's minor. Delayed jumps via 2NT shows the same kind of hand, but with A or K of the "unbid" suit.
Jumps to 4♣ and 4♦ are splinter jumps (yes, even after 1m by opener), showing four card support for opener major (or self-splinter but ONLY if opener had rebid 1NT). This shows any great going hand with no control in the fourth suit. Once again, it also shows minimum values for game going hands if in support of openers major.
Delayed direct jumps to 4♦ and 4♣ likewise show splinters. Again, the splinter is in support of opener's major (if he rebid one), or self-splinter. We apply PFA to these splinters, the lower the first rebid, the better the splinter. But in EACH CASE, the splinter denies a control in the fourth suit. So 1m-1x-1M-2NT-3♣-4m shows a stronger hand than the immediate (non-delayed) 4♣ rebid, while 1x-1M-2♣-2♦-4m shows a better hand (it started lower with 2C). You might think same logic would apply to using game forcing 2D then rebidding 4m, but no, since over 2D you have no control over openers rebid. He might jump 3NT or 3M for instance, taking the ability to use 4m as a splinter. The 2NT then 4m rebid promises a control in responders first suit (unless splinter is in that suit, in which case a control is held in the fourth suit after all), but maybe only one top card in the agreed major, while the auction through 2♣ shows control in openers first minor (unless splinter is in openers first suit, in which case it shows ACE in the fourth suit, plus one surpise extra card).
Direct jumps to 3M (1m-1M-1NT-3M or 1m-1x-1M-3M) shows better hands than any in the group above, but with great distribution (unsuited for the jump). With more balanced hands, unsuited for any of the above bids, simply bid game forcing 2♦-then raise the major. PFA (principle of fast arrival) applies after 2♦ then raise.

Even without discussing it, 1m-1M-1N-3N is weaker than 1m-1M-1N-2C-2D-3NT, 1m-1M-1N-2D-2x-3NT, 1m-1M-1N-2N-3C-3N. The first auction is game signoff, the auction with 2D was using checkback, finding no fit is signoff, the two auction using 2NT and 2C are slam invites. Both slam invites are based upon fit for openers minor using PFA principles so that the one starting 2C is the strong of the two slam invites. Below are some examples of expaned xyz auctions using these principles.

RESPONDER HAS SPADE SUPPORT FOR OPENER

1C-1H-1S-2S = 3/4 card support, not encouraging (1)
1C-1S-1N-2S = five six card suit, very mildly encouraging (2)
1C-1D-1S-2S = three card support, not encouraging (1)
1C-1D-1S-2♣-2D-2S strong game invite, but 3 card support (else Walsh 1S first)
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-2S mild game invite, generally four card support
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-3S strong game invite, based more on hcp than distribution
1C-1H-1S-2N-3C-3S, strong invite, based but with more distribution (includes singleton)
1C-1H-1S-3S game force with good distribution (five+ in first suit), at least four in spades

1C-1H-1S-4S = picture jump, five hearts, four spades, 2-2 other suits. values in majors
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-4S Picture jump 4522, A/K in C, good good quality H &S, no D control
1C-1H-1S-2NT-3C-4S Picture jump, 4522 with A/K in Diamonds, good quality majors, no club control
1C-1H-1S-4C/4D = picture jump, splinter, 4531 or 4621 or minor, no control in 3 card suit, min game values
1C-1H-1S-2♦-2H-2S game force, possible 3 card support
1C-1H-1S-2♦-2x-3S strong slam try, sets trumps, more balanced than direct 3S
1C-1H-1S-2♦-2x/3x-4S - minimum GF hand unsuit for any non-2D auction

RESPONDER HAS HEARTS

1C-1H-1S-2H not even mildly invitational
1C-1S-1N-2H mildly encouraging (if you play reverse flannery by responder)
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-2H mild to normal game try in hearts
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-4H Picture jump, 7H missing an honor, plus A or K Spade
1C-1H-1S-2NT-3C-3H strong game try with good distribution
1C-1H-1S-3H Game force, good hearts, strongest rebid by responder in hearts
1C-1H-1S-2♣-2D-3H strong game try in hearts, based upon HCP

1C-1H-1S-4H Picture jump, 7H missing an honor, plus A or K Spade
1C-1H-1S-2N-3C-4H Picture jump, 7H missing honor, plus Aor K of 4th suit
1C-1H-1S-2C-2D-4H Picture bid, 7 card suit missing honor, plus A or K of parnters minor
1C-1H-1N-4H - I want to play 4H, all other ways to force to 4H after 1NT rebid seek more info from 1NT bidder However, self-splinters also in effect if opener rebids 1NT. If the splinter hits openers weak suit, slam is almost surely forced.

Blog "books"

2005-06-29T07:17:00.000-04:00

Apparently you can make Blog books, with chapters and hyperlinks. Not sure how to do it yet, but looking at the instructions it didn't look that difficult. So I am considering pasting in my book on bridge squeezes into a "book" format. I have posted large sections of this book on BBF, but the format there is a bit harder, and furhtermore, it gets lost with all the replies, and then trying to find the other threads. I wonder if there would be any interest in the squeeze book in blog form. I might rearrange the inquiry 2over 1 blog in book format too, as it is silly having the parts of it in upside down format that exist in a blog.

Tuesday night friends tournament

2005-06-29T01:34:00.000-04:00

This are the hands from an eight board Friends only tournament. I am greatful the players included me in that list of friends. I point out some intersting aspects of the hands as we go along as it relates to my understanding of bidding. And since this tourney was just among friends, I have removed all the names from the hands. This is just about bridge.

Bd: 1
Dlr: North
Vul: None
    North
          S AJ1065    
          H 53        
          D K4        
          C AK42      

  West              East
  S K932            S 87        
  H A9864           H KJ107     
  D A8              D J10973    
  C 63              C 98        

          South
          S Q4        
          H Q2        
          D Q652      
          C QJ1075
  
West North East South
                          
         1S     Pass     1NT
Pass     2C     Pass     2D 
Pass     3C     Pass     3D 
Pass     3H     Pass     3NT
Pass    Pass    Pass

The auction here was impressive up to the last bid. 2C was gadzilla (or whatever) similar to riton 2C that I have recently adopted and 2D showed 8+ hcp. Three clubs showed at least 15hcp with 5S and 4C. 3D natural and 3H looking for heart stopper. Not finding one, south should retreat to 4C which makes.

Against 3NT the defense wrapped up five hearts and a diamond before giving up the lead. I would have bid the auction the same way, up until the 3NT rebid.

7 Tricks Claimed -100.


Result Points Score
3NN+2 460 8.67
3CN+3 170 0.33
4CN= 130 -1.00
3NS-2 -100 -8.00

---------------
Bd: 2
Dlr: East
Vul: NS
    North
          S A9754     
          H 72        
          D 10764     
          C AK        

  West              East
  S 102             S QJ83      
  H KQ865           H J         
  D K8              D A5        
  C J632            C Q109875   


          South
          S K6        
          H A10943    
          D QJ932     
          C 4         

West North East South
                 1C      2NT
 Dbl     3D     Pass    Pass
Pass

Good contract, but I am not sure i like the auction. This is IMPS, we are vul and they are not. So here I would start just 1H as south. Why? Preempts are not a good thing as a rule under these conditions (NS are vul at imps against NV opponents). With the north hand if my partner had bid 2NT, I would insist on game under these conditions, and maybe slam in diamonds. However West double turned NS off to bidding more.

Also note EAST hand. 11 hcp, 2 controls, 15 distributional points, minus one point for singleton jack = 27 Zar points. Thus the opening bid. Remember this hand when we get to board 8.

Trick 1: HJ HA H5 H2
Trick 2: DQ D8 D4 DA
Trick 3: D5 DJ DK D6

10 Tricks Claimed +130.

The real funny thing that happened on this hand was the five club contract doubled and redoubled. That auction was:

West North East South
                Pass    Pass
Pass     2S     3C    DBL
Pass     3D     4C      4D
5C       DBL    RDBL    All pass

There is Soooooo much wrong with this auction. East was schizophrenic on this hand. The hand was too good to preempt and not good enough to open, and then after passing and letting her opponents describe their values and fit, she not only bid clubs once at the three level, she rebid them at the four level, and when 5C was doubled, redoubled, despite both her and her partner being passed hands. You saw my solution on this hand, I opened it 1C. That may or may not be the best bid, but clearly getting in and out of the auction quickly is better than the appoach taken her. as shown by the following table of imp values.

Here is a rule to consider, avoid taking sacrafices against part-scores at imps.

5CxxE-3 1000 10.67
3DxS+1 870 7.33
3DN+1 130 -5.67
3NN-2 -200 -12.33


Bd: 3
Dlr: South
Vul: EW
         North
         S           
         H 107643    
         D AKJ9      
         C AK83      

  West              East
  S J652            S AK10974   
  H AKJ9            H 5         
  D 1065            D 72        
  C 65              C QJ104     

         South
         S Q83       
         H Q82       
         D Q843      
         C 972       

West North East South     
                        Pass
Pass     1H      1S      1NT
 2S     Pass    Pass    Pass

This hand shows that it is very important to have firm agreements in competitive auction. Here, over 1NT by south, west bid 2S. In theory (at least my theory) this 2S bid is weak, and not forward going. On this hand, we are vul versus not vul, which might explain the slightly higher than expected values in partner's hand. However, I was not encouraged to bid any higher.

Dummy was a delight. We are off two clubs, and two diamonds on the go. And the 1NT bid behind me surely means south has Q83 of diamonds. We did very well to stop in 2Spades.

What do i do about the heart two opening lead. If an honest card, I can play the jack, and cash two top hearts for two diamond discards and make four. I actually hope it is not honest, as I wan t there to be no way to make four spades. So I win the ACE.

Trick 1: H2 HA H3 H5

Now making three looks assured. Cash the second heart, discard a diamond, and lose just one spade, two clubs, and a diamond. But this is imps, so I don't go for that line. It is almost a virtual lock that the heart 2 was not a singleton (bid 1NT and north did not bid over 2S with what would have been 7H. But I could imagine if it was a singleton, the king would be ruffed, they could then cash two clubs, and a diamond, then lead a third heart for a trump promotion. So as stupid as it surely must be. I play the saftey play of spade AK, assuring 8 tricks against any distribution.(5S, 1H, 1C, 1C ruff = 8 tricks, 100% safe)

Trick 2: S2 H4 SA S3
Trick 3: SK S8 S5 C3
Trick 4: S9 SQ S6 D9
Trick 5: C7 C5 CK C4
Trick 6: CA CJ C9 C6
Trick 7: DA D2 D4 D5
Trick 8: DK D7 D3 D6
Trick 9: DJ

8 Tricks Claimed +110.

Ok, surely it is wrong here to take the safety play. At matchpoints I insert the heart jack and win ten tricks. Here I should just take 9 by winning two top hearts, but I decided I would be happy with just 8.. my bid.

4SxE-2 500 7.00
4SxE-2 500 7.00
3SE-1 100 -4.33
2SE= -110 -9.67

BTW, this hand was not a victory for gadget bids. At one table WEST opened 2C to show weak hand and both majors, at another, west started 2D to show the same hand. East jumped to 4S and was promptly doubled down two. These are the four-four presumed fit kind of two level preempts i talked about in the muilderberg post below. The often produce swings, here i benefited from the swings they generated. I think I can do alright without playing Russian roulette on every weak hand with 44 in the majors.

Bd: 4
Dlr: West
Vul: Both
         North
         S 73        
         H Q765      
         D AK2       
         C AK43      

  West              East
  S AK1096          S Q852      
  H 2               H A98       
  D J106            D Q95       
  C QJ105           C 762       

         South
         S J4        
         H KJ1043    
         D 8743      
         C 98        
West North East South
 1S      Dbl     2S      2NT
 3S      Dbl    Pass     4H 
Pass    Pass    Pass

Another competitive jewel. Over 1Sx, raises should be up to 7 hcp. I have 8 with four card support, but I also have 4333 distribution. So I closed my eyes, and pretended I had only 7 hcp. Vul, I am not "preempting" 3S on 4333, so 2S it is. With a better spade raise, I would bid 2H (transfer advance).

2NT here is cute and was identified as "lebehnshol". I think responsive double followed by 3H would be the way most would try to get to 3H. But here, south hasn't gotten his fine five card heart suit of his chest. Matter of fact, his 2NT lebenshol might have clubs or diamonds, so he has to worry about missing a fine 5-4 heart fit.

Another agreement, here 3S is competitive, not inviting 4S. I have more than i promised, but I am not going to bid 4S. When they bid 4H passed back to me, however, I have a problem. If they can make 4H I should bid 4S, that will be down one, two at the most on this auction. I am not thinking of bidding 4S, but I am wondering if I should double 4H. If they are going down I should double. I take a long time to pass. I hear the clock ticking in my brain as the round clock soars downward. Finally i pass, double can't be right even if it is going down.

Trick 1: SA S3 S2 S4
Trick 2: SK S7 SQ SJ SQ ask for D
Trick 3: DJ DA D5 D3 nice partner
Trick 4: H5 H9 HK H2
Trick 5: HT S6 H6 HA
Trick 6: H8

They can beat 3S with AK, AK, club ruff.

9 Tricks Claimed -100.

3SxW-1 200 7.33
4HS-1 -100 -2.00
2SW= -110 -2.00
3SE= -140 -3.33


Bd: 5
Dlr: North
Vul: NS
         North
         S J         
         H J105      
         D 1097632   
         C AK2       

  West              East
  S A9              S 10874     
  H K92             H Q8764     
  D QJ84            D 5         
  C 10975           C J84       

         South
         S KQ6532    
         H A3        
         D AK        
         C Q63

Trick 1: H2 HJ HQ HA
Trick 2: S2 S9 SJ S4
Trick 3: C2 C4 CQ C5
Trick 4: SQ SA D2 S7
Trick 5: C7 CK C8 C3
Trick 6: D3 D5 DK D4
Trick 7: SK C9 D6 S8

Getting to 4S is good. Getting to 3NT is bad. The wacky 2H overcall made it easy for us to play 4S, but South is bidding 3S over 1N anyway, and when he does, the correct call with my hand is 3NT.

10 Tricks Claimed +620.

4SS= 620 8.67
4SS= 620 8.67
3NN-2 -200 -8.67
3NN-2 -200 -8.67


Bd: 6
Dlr: East
Vul: EW
         North
         S AJ1043    
         H Q985      
         D 43        
         C J4        

  West              East
  S 865             S K972      
  H 76              H K102      
  D 5               D AKQJ6     
  C AK98765         C 3         

         South
         S Q         
         H AJ43      
         D 109872    
         C Q102      


Open Room:

West North East South
                 1D     Pass
 1NT    Pass     2D     Pass
 3C     Pass     3NT    Pass
Pass    Pass

Trick 1: SJ SK SQ S5

8 Tricks Claimed -100.

Only 8 tricks. Should only win 7 actually, the defense slipped a tiny bit. But still won nearly 7 imps. I think East should pass 3C.

3NE-1 100 6.67
3NW-1 100 6.67
2NW= -120 0.00
4SxN-4 -800 -13.33


Bd: 7
Dlr: South
Vul: Both
         North
         S Q9543     
         H Q103      
         D 42        
         C 1098      

  West              East
  S AJ862           S 107       
  H 975             H KJ84      
  D K87             D QJ63      
  C 73              C Q54       

         South
         S K         
         H A62       
         D A1095     
         C AKJ62     

West North East South
                       1C 
 1S     Pass    Pass     2S 
Pass     2NT     Dbl    Pass
Pass    Pass

Trick 1: ST SK SA S5

New partner I was playing with here, our only agreement was SAYC. So I can't say if we would be in 3NT or not, but with his hand, I would bid it. Doubling 2NT was a late event shot to try to win some imps I guess.

9 Tricks Claimed +890.

2NxN+1 890 9.00
3NS= 600 1.00
3NN= 600 1.00
1CS+3 130 -11.00


Bd: 8
Dlr: West
Vul: None
         North
         S KJ10842   
         H           
         D J765      
         C 876       

  West              East
  S 6               S A5        
  H K54             H AQJ9762   
  D A98             D Q432      
  C QJ10954         C           

         South
         S Q973      
         H 1083      
         D K10       
         C AK32     
West North East South
Pass     2S      3H      4S 
 Dbl    Pass    Pass    Pass

I asked you to remember board 2 where I opened a hand similar to WEST's but the hand was worse. This hand had 10 hcp, 3 controls, 14 distributional points. That comes to 27 ZAR points. A clear opener. The pass let us get our auction in, and produced a double- doubled game swing.

Trick 1: HA H3 H5 S2
Trick 2: ST S5 S3 S6

11 Tricks Claimed +690.

690 16.33
-450 1.67
-750 -4.33
-1200 -13.67

Zar Petkov and his amazing Zar Points

2005-06-29T00:35:00.000-04:00

I have added a link on both this blog and on my bidding system blog to the home page of Zar Petkov. If you play bridge, or want to play bridge, you owe it to yourself to read the theories of Zar Petkov. Take your time doing so, some will scoff, some will be skeptical, but for some, his ideas will be an eye opener.

And after reading ZAR's theories and learning all about Zar points, look over hand played on the vugraphs on the BBO. Especially for hands that the "experts opened" that you would never consider opening... you know the weak ones. And then calculate the Zar points. Then come back here and comment on what you found. If you started out skeptical, maybe then you will return at least curious to find out more.

South African Texas after 1m

2005-06-28T12:13:00.000-04:00

Your parner opens 1C and you hold,

♠ A K Q J T x x
♥ x x
♦ x
♣ x x

What do you bid?

Same auction, but you hold,
♠ x x
♥ x x
♦ K Q T 9 5 4 3 2
♣ x

What do you bid?

I hate preempting to the four level in a minor, especially when partner has an opening hand of unknown quality. Maybe 3NT is the best spot, and a 4♦ bid on the second hand just missed it. And what about the first hand? How do you convey this beautiful suit and nothing else of value. Do you bid 1♠ followed by 4♠?

The solution to this is, if you agree preempting to four of a minor over partners opening bid is not a good idea is to use both 4♣ and 4♦ to show the first hand type, clubs shows hearts and diamonds show spades.

The requirement here are.

A solid major (AKQJ) of seven cards
No side ACE or KING

Over the jump, partner can signoff in the major, bid slam if appropriate, bid any suit side suit above 4M to ask for number of cards in that suit (4NT ask for the suit between responders jump and the major), or bid the inbetween suit to ask if opener holds any singleton or void. Responder bids the suit swith the shortness in that case.

Over the new suit ask by opener, first step 3 (or more), 2nd step doubleton, 3rd step singleton, 4th step, void.

To simplify, you can lose the new suit ask, and just play the asking bid the "inbetween" suit. Or if you like to force to 4M with a suit like AQJTxxx or KQJxxxx plus a side ACE (and now inbetween suit ask for side ace). I am torn between which way is the best way. .

Ben

Muiderberg versus Major + 4 clubs

2005-06-28T11:17:00.000-04:00

A dutchman I use to play with a lot on MSN Zone introduced me over a decade ago to Muiderberg, also know as "dutch twos". If you are not familar with this convention, it is an opening bid of 2H/2S to show the bid major and either minor.

This convention shows (by rule) exactly a 5 card major, and is commonly combined with the Multi 2D. The concept being that partner can accurately judge how high to preempt in the major if he has a fit. Since I started playing this convention, I have had very nice success with it. But as I became more and more a fan of ZAR points and using ZAR points as a guideline for opening light, I found that I was using Muiderberg less and less, and when I used it I was getting to high.

Muilderberg, as originally envisioned, is based on "preempting" 2H/2S with less than an opening hand. HCP ranges I have seen vary wildly. The range I was taught was 8-11 hcp, in third seat can be up to bad 13 hcp. The standard range seems to be 6-10 (chris Ryall's weak two archieve), some move this up a notch 7-11 (many precision players). If you ahve the computer game "JACK", it moves the range up and down, using 5 to 11 hcp. Some have even "bastardized" the hcp range to be 11-15 HCP (as quoted by BBO poster Gerben42).

I was happily playing 8-11. We found a lot of very light games, and useful sacrafices against opponents. My happyness has decreased since I have convinced most of my partners to open hands based on ZAR points. Zar point are well worth the read if are new to it. Here is a link to Zar Points Aggressive Bidding. Basically, you count your longest suit, multiply by two, add the difference between you second longest and shortest suit, add your hcp, and then add your controls (aces = 2, kings = 1). If this totals 26 points (25 if you have a 4+ spade suit), you have an opening hand. As it turned out, time after time, hands I would normally open with a Muiderberg two bid, had sufficient ZAR points for a normal opening bid. The reason is simple, a 5-5 hand is either 14 or 15 ZAR points, when you add the average of just 10 hcp to that, you are at 24/25 zar points. So even one ACE among the ten high card points, and you have a ZAR opener. If you have spades ( so only need 25 ZARs), a 5530 hand with just an AK (total of 7 hcp) is enough. Make the hand 5440 and add a jack, still an opener.

Not all hands were "ZAR openers" but many where, and if you add the fact that vul, you are opening a lot of the weaker hands with Muilderberg anyway, and I quickly found that what once was a bid I used a lot, I wasn't using much since I opened them 1M!

Some address this problem by having an opening bid of 2M promise five card suit, and say nothing about the minors. Well, sure with 5332 hands, even 11 hcp might easily not reach the required ZAR points. But I am not fond of such a preempt as if partner lacks your suit, you have no "fit" to run too (of course he can have his own long suit).

So with fewer and fewer chances to use my 2H/2S opening bid, I started exploring for other alternatives. Then I discovered the method of Henri Schweitzer (ritong on BBO). Henri uses an opening bid of 2H or 2S to show Five (or more) in the bid suit, plus four (or more) clubs and a minimum opening hand. In fact, playing ZAR point rules, many of the VERY SAME hands that use to be opened 2H/2S can still be opened 2H/2S (but now the minor is known). Further, some of the weaker hands that everyone will open 1H/1S can be opened 2H/2S giving a perfect description to your partner

A couple big benifits showed up immediately. First, when you open 2M, with weak hands, you partner can look at his clubs and decide what to do. With strong hands, he can bid 2NT and get precise distributional info to go along with you know two suited minimum, and it frees us a 2C rebid by opener as Riton 2C.

The point count I use for the 2H/2S opening bid is close to that used by Henri's but much more wide ranging. He plays 2H/2S to be 12/15 hcp. Let's translate these into ZAR points. His minimum, 12 hcp plus and average 5431 would be 25 before he adds controls. With 12 hcp he will have at least one control. Add three more points to that minimum (for his 15) and he is up to 29 Zar points. Of course with 15 hcp you can have from one to seven controls. So with 5431, 15 hcp can be from 26 to 32 ZAR points. But this 2H/2S bid can have five, six, seven in the major and 4/5/6 in the minor. So the ZAR points can really begin to soar. A theoretical working minimum for my opening 2H/2S is 7 hcp (with 5-5, and AK). I would think that 30 ZAR points would be a top for this bid, so a maximum hcp would be on hands with 5431 and fewest possible controls. This works out to be the same 15 hcp Henri uses. But with five controls and this distribution, 12 hcp would be around the limit.

Of course, I am not a strick follower of ZAR points, so some 13/14 point hands with five controls might not be strong enough to treat as "extra values". But I have an advantage over Henri's method. My extra values are never that much extra. And my two suiters (open 1S then jump to 3C) are never THAT strong (I play MisIry transfer opening bids to show all truely strong two suiters). So 1M-1x-3C would is not forcing the way I play, but does show "extra values".

So the working range for "Henri's Two's" is the exceptional 7hcp to a bad 15 hcp (2 controls or less generally).

The responding schedule to these two bids are

Pass - to play (with long suit, pass and run when doubled)
3Clubs - to play
2NT - game force
New suit - encouraging, but not forcing
Game bids, signoff

Over 2NT, opener

Bids 3Clubs with five (means less hcp of course)
Bids new suit to show three (5431)
Three of major to show 5422 poor hand
Three notrump to show 5422 good hand
Above 3NT shows longer major than five.

So call this Clubberg plus, call it club-limited-strong Muilderberg, or call it Henri's Twos, I have adopted it. The big side effect, is that opener can rebid 2C with good hands (Riton 2C) and no clear direction to seek more info.

Dishonesty no rewards?

2005-06-27T20:54:00.000-04:00

Since last post was on honesty, this one will be dishonesty. This seems appropriate given the breaking news of allegations of cheating in the European Championships this weekend.

Here is a hand from on-line bridge. One hand, out of context. Now, you make the call.

Is this cheating or not?

Dealer: East
Vul: EW
Scoring: IMP
..............♠ K Q 9 6
..............♥ 7 3
..............♦ J 7 5 2
..............♣ K Q J
♠ 8 4 3 ..........................♠ J T 7
♥ J T 5 2 ........................♥ Q 9 8 4
♦ 6 4 3 ..........................♦ 9 8
♣ 9 7 2 ..........................♣ T 8 5 3
..............♠ A 5 2
..............♥ A K 6
..............♦ A K Q T
..............♣ A 6 4

West North East South
..- ... -.... Pass 2NT (20-22)
Pass 3♣ Pass 4NT (ace ask)
Pass 5♣ Pass 7NT
Pass Pass Pass

Honesty must be it on reward

2005-06-27T02:21:00.000-04:00

Last night, playing with Hannie in a matchpoint game, this disaster came along.


          4
East      KQT97
NS        Q654
          QT6
AQ53                7
42                  A653
AK732               JT98
83                  K974
         KJT9862
         J8
         ---
         AJ52

 W   N   E   S
================
         P   1♠
 2♦  X   P   2♠
 P   P   3♦  3♠
 X   P   3NT P
 P   P    
--------

SK ♠A ♠4 ♠7
DA ♦6 ♦8 ♠2
DK ♦4 ♦9 ♠6
D2 ♦Q ♦T ♠8
CT ♣4 ♣2 ♣3
CQ ♣K ♣A ♣8
SJ ♠Q ♥7 ♥3
D3 ♦5 ♦J ♣5
C7 ♣J ♦7 ♣6
ST ♠3 ♥9 ♥5
S9

We did not do well on the bidding. My double was negative, and partners 2♠ rebid made me really hate my hand. I hated it even more when partner bid 3&Spades; and was promply doubled. I was in the hating the hand mode so much, that when they bid 3NT, I didn't double. If they had made a mistake, and it went down, I thought we would be ok, because they surely were going to eat us alive in 3♠ Doubled. Sadly, I didn't realize my partner was walking his dog on this one.

3NT seems to alway have seven tricks for down two. So without the double, we will get a nothing score, since we are a cold stone lock for at least 9 tricks in spades, and 10 can happen without precise defense.

Against 3NT, parnter started spade king, ace winning. And declarer fell from grace. He played diamond AK, cutting himself off from the long diamonds due to the blockage. He is now going to go down three, at least we do better than those in 3&Spades; making three. Declearer now abandons his spade trick and exits a diamond. Partner continues to throwing aways all his spades. When I exit Ten then Queen of clulbs, partner allows declarer back to dummy. A comedy of errors. We should have doubled this, and we should have beaten it four when declarer left the spade queen in dummy and at least three. We now let him score his long diamond, both his spades, for back to down two.

Here is where honest came in. 3NT down two is not going to be a good result for us. Yet, we called the director and insisted he correct the score. You see declarer went into a trance after he blcoked his own diamond suit and we didn't finish. Both sides got Average minus (40%). After three rounds, of hounding, the director correct to 3NT -2. Our score went from 40% at 34%. We came in second with an 82.6% score, first place was 83.01. We would have won if we hadn't insisted on what was fair for this board. But I feel better about getting it right.

Defensive hand from Last night

2005-06-26T11:40:00.000-04:00


Brd 3    JT52
East     97
NS       Q654
         AQ9
      --------  Q643
      |      |  KQ532
      |      |  87
      --------  73
      
IMPs
 W   N   E   S
================
         P   1♣
 P   1♠  P   2♦
 P   3♣  P   3NT
 P   P   P

Partner starts with the ♥ jack which holds, and he continues with ♥ Ten. Plan your defense. The solution is not hard to find.

Partner is not leading from AJT here, so South has the heart ACE. If declarer has doubleton ace, you can do about anything you want. But if he has three hearts, you are entitled to only two hearts if he holds up again. Overtake the heart Ten and if South plays small, you must turn your attention to another suit. With two hearts in the bag, you need to find partner with Kxx, Axx, Kxx or Kxxx of spades. So when you win the second heart, return a low spade. That will do fine, as the full hand was...


Brd 3    JT52
East     97
NS       Q654
         AQ9
K987              Q643
JT8               KQ532
KJT               87
T65               73
         A
         A64
         A932
         KJ842

Botched triple squeeze played as simple

2005-06-25T09:59:00.000-04:00


--------

Brd 7    KQ74
North    A862
All      JT2
         53

.
         A63
         K75
         853
         AKQ2

 W   N   E   S
================
     P   P   1NT
 P   2♣  P   2♦
 X   3NT P   P
 P    
--------
DK ♦2 ♦9 ♦5
S8 ♠4 ♠T ♠A
D3 ♦Q ♦T ♦6
S2 ♠K ♠5 ♠3
SQ ♥4 ♠6 ♠9
S7 ♣9 ♦8 ♠J
CJ ♣3 ♣4 ♣A
H7 ♥3 ♥2 ♥T
DA ♣2 ♦4 ♦J
HQ

This was not a happy moment for me, as I was South, and West started the diamond King. If west has five diamonds to AKQ I am toast, but after the King holds, west switches to a small spade.

I have eight tricks (3♠ 3♣ 2♥), if ♠ are 3-3, I will always make as Di must be blocked. If not, I really would like them to take their four diamonds to correc the count for a squeeze. I have three threat suits so the squeeze should be fairly automatic. So a won the ♠ and returned a Di. A technical note, I should win first ♠ in dummy and lead a Di from dummy to make it easy for them to take their Di but I held out hope this west would jump up with the DiQ and crash his partner's ACE. The though is the Di9 played at trick one might convince west I held A8xx in Di. West in fact popped up with the DiQueen but East followed low.

West continued with a &spades. Life would be so easy if they had taken their Di but now they have given me a chance to not only make, but to make a top. I cashed the ♠A and WEST showed out, discarding a ♥. So I exited the last ♠ and west discarded a ♣.


Brd 7    4
North    A862
All      J
         53
J               --
93              QJT
74              A
JT6             9874
         A63
         K75
         --
         AKQ2

The last ♠ had saueezed WEST in three suits. Here was the hand when the ♠ was lost. As you can see, East was squeezed in three suits, a heart discard would give me two extra heart tricks. The &diamond Ace would set up the @diams;Ace and a club discard an extra club.

When West exited the ♣Jack, he allows me to punish EAST. I could win four rounds of clubs, throwing two hearts from dummy to squeeze EAST again in the red suits. He can not keep 3♥ and the Di-Ace. Making four would be a top.

I had a blind spot and managed to go down, even though I already have nine established tricks. Sigh.

But at least the hand is interesting in playing back on Di at trick three, which is clearly the correct line.

New Bidding System Blog

2005-06-25T04:55:00.000-04:00

I have moved all the highly specific bidding agreements I prefer to a new blog, http://inquiry2over1.blogspot.com/ so that this blog can be about playing bridge, and observations. Anyone interested in bidding ideas that I prefer, can check the above link.

I played tonight again with Cherdano. There were some interesting hands. Including a three suit squeeze I blew, that depressed me a lot, since I excuted the play and then took a 100% fatal line when I knew the squeeze had worked. I will show that one later.

Difference between winning and losing

2005-06-24T16:37:00.000-04:00

Chardano and I played again. This time in an event with a cash prize. $4.00 for first, $2.00 for second. This hand is the difference between first by a mile, or second by a smiggen.

Brd     97
North    Q863
NS       K65
         AKQ9
AQT84            K6
5                J974
AJ97             Q32
T82              7654
         J532
         AKT2                   C8 C9 C4 C3
         T84                    H3 H7 HA H5
         J3                     H2 S8 HQ H4
                                CA C5 CJ C2       
 W   N   E   S                  S7 SK S2 S4 
================                S6 S3 ST S9
     1C  P   1H                 CT CK C6 D4   
 1S  2H  2S  3H                 CQ C7 D8 D7   
 3S  4H  P   P                  H6 H9 HT D9 
 P                              S5 SQ H8 HJ                
--------                        D2 DT DA D6
                                SA D5 D3 SJ

Down two on poorish play by me.

We got too high on this one. Oh sure, 4H looks like it has some play, 4C tricks, 4H tricks, a spade ruff and the diamond King. For ten tricks, but you can never enjoy your spade ruff because EAST has only two spades despite his good raise. So maybe the bidding didn't go so wrong here. But let's see what happened.

I was thinking partner had one spade, maybe none. And yet vul he didn't try harder for game than 2H. But his hearts must be poor so his minor suit honors are probably sitting over the overcaller (sandwich overcall should be fair hand). I had a surprize trump split so I would be willing to take a shot at 3@Spades; should they bid it. The hope was they would take the push. Playing support doubles, here a 3♥ bid is, or should be, simply competitive. Partner has defined his hand with his 2♥ raise.. four hearts, limited values for an opening bid.
Partner agreed with this logic, but looking at the top of his 2♥ raise, he took the "push" to game. On most days, his push would have been correct. Today it wasn't. We were unusually punished for this 4&Hearts; bid. First the 4-1 trump split did us in, Second, I was goig to double 3@S, and that contract loses control and goes down a lot. Declearer ruffs fourth round of clubs, and then when his trumps split 4-2, he enjoys only 5 trumps and diamond ACE, for down three. So we had a chance to go +500. I bungled the play and managed two down (9 tricks are there), but you would think -200 versus the 140 we could make would not be bad? Oh no, someone doubled 3H and it made, and someone took the push to 4S and they were doubled. So we lost 11 imps. If no numbers showed up on the other tables (it was only 6 table event), we would STILL win as we would not lose soo many imps here. And this pair is the pair that beat us.

2H in Bridgebase Advanced (the raise) shows four card support.

New Links added

2005-06-24T11:03:00.000-04:00

The BBO provides two standard bidding systems useful for pickup partners on BBO. One is BBO basic, and the other is BBO Advanced. If you want to play on BBO with me, please review BBO Advanced. I play that as my default system with all but regular partners.

BBO Advanced allows some nice bidding by new partnerships. See the auction with Cherdano to six hearts in the previous post. This blog will include other things I like to play. So I have provided a link to Chris Ryall's most excellent pages. From Chris I have stolen the 2C and 2D (mulderberg) opening bids. and I use paradox bidding (he describes nicely) on other auctions.

From ETM Victory, I have stolen a lot of ideas, too numerous to list. Those guys are so creative in their bidding theory, just reading their pages will give anyone a dozen or more new ideas to adapt to their own system. This is exactly what I did.

I also added a link to the BBO and BIL discussion forum. The BBO discussion forum is hot right now. For this month, it has surpass 5000 total post and may hit 6000 before the month is over. The most post ever for BBO forum in one month was 4771 and 4740 in March and May 2005 (over 4000 post 7 times, including 5 of last six months). This is remarkable, when you consider that rec.games.bridge had only broken 4000 post in a month once, and that was 4429 post in 2004.

I also provide a link to the BIL forum. (BIL stands for Beginner Intermediate Lounge). The BIL is a wonderful service provided by Maureen Hall. This forum is new to the web, so postings are low right now, but it is perfect place for novices, beginners, and intermediate bridge players to communicate with each other. I am very fond of BIL, and while I am not an active teacher in this club, I did serve some small role in its foundation... I wanted to start a private club for beginners on BBO so that they could play in tournments without facing "experts". When I found out from Fred Gitelman that private clubs would have to support play in the private club it seemed like too much work for me. So I passed the idea/concept over to Maureen and she has done so much more with it than anyone could have imagined. The BIL is the best free service for beginning players on the web.

I also added a link to the home page of BridgeBrowser. It is hard to describe, you will just have to go and read about it. BridgeBrowser is not FREE, so if you are looking for free bridge programs and utilities, this isn't the place for you.

Card Play - Slam best line

2005-06-24T08:23:00.000-04:00

History Hand From BBO Myhands
IMPs

DLR W	S A 7 6 4 2 H A 9 D A Q 10 5 4 C 4
S J 10 3 H 7 D J 8 2 C A 8 7 6 5 2		S Q H 6 5 2 D K 9 7 3 C Q J 10 9 3
Both Vul	S K 9 8 5 H K Q J 10 8 4 3 D 6 C K

sbdlim
West
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

inquiry
North
1 S
3 D
3 NT1
5 D3
5 S5
Pass

tapan
East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
South
2 H
3 S
4 NT2
5 H4
6 H6

1 - 3NT was serious 3NT suggestion slam interest.
2 - 4NT was RKCB cutting through the red-tape
3 - 5D was 0 or 3 key cards (BBO Advanced uses 14, 03 responses)
4 - 5H was asking for spade queen
5 - 5S denied spade queen
6 - 6H, we managed to get out of spades and into hearts. Wow, no one else did.

So on club lead, 6H and 6S have equal chances, needing 2-2 spades. But on any lead but a club, 6H has better chances. We got a small spade opening lead, dummy played low and WEST the SPADE QUEEN. After you win the Spade King in hand, what is the best line for six hearts?

Winning with Cherdano

2005-06-24T00:11:00.000-04:00

Bridge Base Online
#57 Pairs
IMPs

1.	S A J 7 H 10 5 D 5 4 3 C A Q 9 8 2
S 6 H A Q J 9 8 7 6 3 D 9 6 C K J		S 9 8 5 4 3 H K 4 D K 10 C 10 6 4 3
None Vul	S K Q 10 2 H 2 D A Q J 8 7 2 C 7 5

inquiry
West

4 H
Pass

Arnal212
North
Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
East
Pass
Pass
Pass

jobart
South
1 D
4 S

4 S by South

Four hearts was the limit of my hand. This is an interesting hand to play in four spades. A ruffing finesse of the club TEN will give you 10 tricks. Luckily for our chances to win, declarer played for cherdano to have three diamonds, not three clubs. We win 4.7 imps

Trick
1. W
2. W
3. S
4. S
5. S
6. N
7. S
8. N
9. S
10. E
11. N
12. E
13. E

Lead
H A
H 7
S K
S Q
C 5
D 3
C 7
D 4
D Q
S 8
C 9
S 9
C 6

2nd
5
10
6
H 9
K
10
J
K
H 8
10
10
D 7
D 8

3rd
4
K
7
J
A
J
Q
A
5
H J
D 2
H 3
H Q

4th
2
S 2
3
5
3
6
4
9
S 4
A
H 6
C 2
8

Down 1 — EW +50

2.	S 10 6 3 2 H A 8 5 4 2 D Q 6 C 8 4
S 9 4 H J 7 D 9 5 4 C A J 10 7 5 2		S Q 8 7 5 H K 9 3 D K J 10 3 C Q 3
N-S Vul	S A K J H Q 10 6 D A 8 7 2 C K 9 6

inquiry
West

Dbl!
Pass
Pass

Arnal212
North

2 C
2 H
Pass

cherdano
East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

jobart
South
1 NT
2 D
3 NT

3 NT by South

1 - Dbl showed a major two suiter or a minor one suiter.

NS had trouble dealing with this very simple interference. A lead a "creative" low club, but the more normal TEN would have worked as well. 3NT was just too high and we quickly set it two for another 3.5 imps, and a running score of plus +8.3 imps.

Trick
1. W
2. S
3. E
4. W
5. W
6. W
7. W
8. W
9. S
10. N

Lead
C 2
H Q
C 3
C A
C J
C 7
C 5
D 5
H 10
H 8

2nd
4
7
6
S 2
S 3
S 6
D 6
Q
J
D 10

3rd
Q
2
10
S 8
D 3
H 3
S 5
K
A
6

4th
K
K
8
9
D 2
D 7
D 8
A
9
S 9

Down 2 — EW +200

3.	S Q 9 H K J 5 2 D 6 4 C K Q 8 4 3
S 8 7 H Q 10 9 7 4 3 D K 9 8 3 C J		S A K J 3 2 H 6 D Q 10 7 5 C 9 6 5
E-W Vul	S 10 6 5 4 H A 8 D A J 2 C A 10 7 2

inquiry
West

Pass
Pass
Pass

korkut45
North

1 H
Dbl

cherdano
East

1 S
Pass

DIKO65
South
1 C
Pass
Pass

1 S x by East

We were EXTREMELY fortunate for third hand in a row. Here Cherdano made a frisky 1 SPADE overcall vul versus not at imps. Luckily we can always manage 7 tricks. Note, i did not make a jump 2H overcall out of respect for the vulnerability conditions and that this was imps. 1Sx making won us 7.8 and a net 16.1 imps.

Trick
1. S
2. S
3. E
4. N
5. E
6. W
7. N
8. E
9. S
10. E
11. W
12. S
13. E

Lead
H A
H 8
C 5
S 9
C 6
H 10
C K
D 5
C A
D 7
H Q
S 6
D Q

2nd
3
9
2
A
7
K
S 3
A
D 8
J
2
D 9
S 10

3rd
5
J
J
4
S 8
C 9
10
3
4
K
D 10
Q
H 7

4th
6
S 2
Q
7
3
D 2
H 4
4
S J
6
S 5
K
C 8

Made 1 — EW +160

4.	S Q 3 2 H 8 3 D 10 8 5 4 C 9 7 4 2
S K J 10 9 5 H A Q 10 7 D K Q C Q 3		S 4 H J 9 4 2 D 9 7 C A K J 10 8 5
Both Vul	S A 8 7 6 H K 6 5 D A J 6 3 2 C 6

inquiry
West
1 S
2 H
4 H

korkut45
North
Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
East
1 NT
3 H
Pass

DIKO65
South
Pass
Pass
Pass

4 H by West

Board four, partner and I both had a little in reserve. Our auction sounded like we strectch to get to game, so North started a trump. That didn't work well, as I quickly took 12 tricks. Note the discard of diamond KQ on clubs, because if I keep a diamond, the most I can make is 11 tricks. With diamond discards, I have a chance to win 12, which I did. +1.7 for +17.8.. feeling pretty good so far.

Trick
1. N
2. E
3. E
4. W
5. W
6. E
7. E
8. E
9. E
10. E
11. S
12. W
13. W

Lead
H 8
H J
H 2
C Q
C 3
C K
C J
C 10
C 8
S 4
D A
S K
S 9

2nd
9
6
K
2
4
D 3
S 6
D 6
S 7
A
H Q
Q
D 10

3rd
5
10
A
5
A
S 5
S J
D Q
D K
10
8
D 9
H 4

4th
7
3
S 2
6
D 2
7
9
D 4
D 5
3
7
8
D J

Made 6 — EW +680

5.	S 2 H K 10 8 4 D A K J 4 2 C Q 6 4
S 10 8 3 H Q J 9 2 D 9 7 6 3 C A J		S A Q 7 6 H 6 D Q 10 8 C 10 8 7 3 2
N-S Vul	S K J 9 5 4 H A 7 5 3 D 5 C K 9 5

mittlep
West

Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
North
1 D
1 NT
2 H
Pass

undouble
East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

inquiry
South
1 S
2 D!
4 H

4 H by North

1 - 2D was game force, 2H showed four hearts, and 4H was Principle of fast arrival showing game is enough.

The good feelings left very quickly on this one. While this one can be made, all but two players went down and many, many, many tables bid game. We were down one, losing 0.4 imps, but we could have won nearly 11. Net score now +17.4 imps.

To see how to make, one line is to follow my parnter play. But at the trick highlighted in green below, instead of playing a club, ruff a good diamond in dummy. Now cash spade king for club discard and then lead the club king. This is a 100% line, since EAST has a diamond left. If East ruffs the spade king, overruff and play diamond. If he follows to the spade king, discard club, and then lead the club king. It is nice to have two black kings as trump substitutes on this hand.

Trick
1. E
2. N
3. E
4. W
5. N
6. N
7. S
8. S
9. N
10. W

Lead
C 7
S 2
C 3
D 7
D K
D 2
H A
H 5
C 6
H Q

2nd
5
A
9
A
10
Q
2
J
2
8

3rd
J
4
A
8
S 5
H 3
4
K
K
C 10

4th
Q
3
4
5
3
6
6
C 8
H 9
7

Down 1 — EW +100

6.	S 10 9 5 2 H A K 6 5 D 8 6 2 C 4 2
S K Q J 7 4 H Q 3 2 D 10 C Q J 7 5		S A 8 H J 9 7 D A 9 5 4 3 C K 10 6
E-W Vul	S 6 3 H 10 8 4 D K Q J 7 C A 9 8 3

mittlep
West

1 S
2 C
2 NT

cherdano
North

Pass
Pass
Pass

undouble
East
1 D
1 NT
2 D
Pass

inquiry
South
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

2 NT by East

No lead looked good to me against 2NT. Leading a diamond into a rebid suit didn't seem right. I hoped partner had five spades and started with a spade. Big mistake, any red card would have worked out for down one. I became depressed because of my very passive choice. But turn out we won 1.3 imps on this as some made 3NT. Net plus 18.7 imps.

Trick
1. S
2. E
3. E
4. S
5. E
6. W
7. W
8. W

Lead
S 6
C K
C 10
D K
S 8
S Q
S J
C J

2nd
4
3
A
10
3
5
10
H 5

3rd
9
5
7
8
K
C 6
D 3
D 4

4th
A
4
2
A
2
C 8
C 9
H 10

Made 3 — EW +150

7.	S J 8 6 5 3 H 6 2 D A K J 10 C K J
S Q 7 H 4 D Q 9 7 5 3 C 9 6 5 3 2		S A 10 9 4 H K Q J 8 5 3 D 8 C Q 10
Both Vul	S K 2 H A 10 9 7 D 6 4 2 C A 8 7 4

rimjhim
West

Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
North

1 S
Dbl

oreostarx1
East

2 H
Pass

inquiry
South
1 C
Pass
Pass

2 H x by East

I left in the balancing double with some worries. Cherdano goes for the clever defense of throwing the club king under the club ace. To beat it, now i have to return a low club, but I returned the CLUB 9 as suit preference. Fortunately, the declarer overlooked the blocked spade position and didn't unblock the queen late in the play. Win 4.2 imps, net plus 22.9.

Trick
1. S
2. S
3. E
4. E
5. S
6. N
7. E
8. E
9. S
10. E
11. S
12. E
13. N

Lead
C A
C 8
H Q
H J
D 6
D K
H K
H 5
D 2
S 4
S 2
S 10
D A

2nd
2
3
7
A
5
H 3
9
10
9
K
Q
C 4
S 9

3rd
K
J
4
D 3
10
4
C 5
C 6
J
7
6
C 9
C 7

4th
10
Q
2
6
8
7
S 8
S 3
H 8
5
A
J
Q

Down 2 — NS +500

8.	S A 9 H Q 8 3 D Q 6 2 C K J 9 3 2
S K 5 4 H 9 7 6 4 D A 8 7 5 C A 8		S Q J 8 7 6 H K 10 5 2 D 4 C Q 10 5
None Vul	S 10 3 2 H A J D K J 10 9 3 C 7 6 4

rimjhim
West
Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass
Dbl

cherdano
North
1 C
Pass
Pass
3 D
Pass

oreostarx1
East
Pass
2 C
2 S
Pass
Pass

inquiry
South
1 NT
2 D
Pass
Pass
Pass

3 D x by South

I feel like the sun is shining again, after partners mistake of throwing the club king, and my leading club 9 to show my entry. That could have been a lot of imps the other way. On this hand, they double me in 3, a contract with a lot of play. I find a line that works and make, winning 9.6 imps, for plus 32.5.

Trick
1. W
2. N
3. W
4. S
5. E
6. E
7. N
8. W
9. S
10. S
11. S

Lead
S 4
D 2
D 5
C 6
S Q
S J
C 3
H 7
D K
D J
H A

2nd
A
4
6
8
10
2
10
3
7
8
4

3rd
8
10
S 6
J
5
K
4
10
H 8
H Q

4th
3
A
9
Q
9
D Q
A
J
C 5
H 2

Made 3 — NS +470

9.	S A K J 6 5 3 H 10 D A 3 2 C K 6 3
S 8 2 H K 9 D K J 10 7 6 C Q J 9 5		S 10 9 4 H J 7 6 4 2 D 9 C A 10 8 4
E-W Vul	S Q 7 H A Q 8 5 3 D Q 8 5 4 C 7 2

inquiry
West

Pass
Pass
Pass

cildo1
North
1 S
2 S
4 H
Pass

cherdano
East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

joalba
South
1 NT
3 S
4 S

4 S by North

Trick
1. E
2. E
3. S
4. E
5. N
6. W
7. S
8. N
9. N
10. N
11. N
12. N

Lead
D 9
H 7
C 2
S 9
C 3
S 8
H 3
S A
D A
S K
S 6
C 6

2nd
4
A
5
7
4
3
K
10
H 4
C 8
H 6
10

3rd
6
9
K
2
7
4
S 5
D 5
8
D Q
H 5

4th
2
10
A
J
9
Q
2
D J
10
C J
D 7

Down 2 — EW +100

Here is a hand declarer will have to play out of his own hand. I leave partner on lead (well i thought norht would win the trick), so we can get heart shift. Down two was inevitable. More imps, 3.6,, and we are up to 36.1 with three boards to go.

10.	S J 10 8 7 4 2 H — D Q 7 2 C J 10 9 2
S Q 5 3 H A 9 8 4 D 6 4 C A Q 6 3		S A K H 10 7 6 5 D J 9 8 3 C K 8 7
Both Vul	S 9 6 H K Q J 3 2 D A K 10 5 C 5 4

inquiry
West

Dbl
1 NT

cildo1
North

1 S
Pass

cherdano
East
1 D
Pass
Pass

joalba
South
1 H
Pass
Pass

1 NT by West

I picked a rare negative double with four cards in their suit, planning on bidding some number of notrump later. I actually like this double to DENY four spades, so it is not that odd for me. When 1S got passed back to, the number became one. One notrump was not in any danger, and i made two overtricks, win 2.6 imps, net +38.6

Trick
1. N
2. S
3. S
4. E
5. S
6. E
7. E
8. W
9. W
10. E
11. W
12. W
13. W

Lead
D 2
H K
S 6
H 5
S 9
H 10
H 7
S Q
C 3
C 7
C Q
C 6
D 4

2nd
8
4
5
J
3
2
3
J
9
4
J
D 7
Q

3rd
10
S 2
4
9
7
8
A
C 8
K
A
D 3
D 9
J

4th
6
6
K
C 2
A
S 8
S 10
D 5
5
10
D K
H Q
A

Made 3 — EW +150

11.	S A 8 6 4 H 7 5 3 D A J 3 C A K 9
S Q J 10 H A 9 2 D 8 7 6 5 C 8 4 2		S K H J 6 D K Q 9 4 2 C J 10 6 5 3
None Vul	S 9 7 5 3 2 H K Q 10 8 4 D 10 C Q 7

KOZAM8
West

Pass
Pass
Pass

cherdano
North

1 NT
2 S
Pass

vevazlata
East

Pass
Pass
Pass

inquiry
South
Pass
2 C
4 S

4 S by North

Board 11, routine. Stayman, find fit, bid game. It made. Another 1.7 imps for a net 40.4 imps

Trick
1. E
2. N
3. N
4. W
5. W
6. N
7. S
8. N
9. W

Lead
D K
S A
S 4
S 10
C 2
H 3
C Q
H 5
C 8

2nd
10
K
D 2
6
K
6
4
J

3rd
5
2
3
C 3
5
Q
A
K

4th
A
Q
J
5
7
2
6
A

Made 4 — NS +420

12.	S K J 10 8 2 H K J 7 D A Q 2 C 9 5
S Q 7 5 H Q 10 4 3 D 7 5 3 C A 6 4		S 4 3 H A 9 6 2 D K 10 9 6 4 C 8 7
N-S Vul	S A 9 6 H 8 5 D J 8 C K Q J 10 3 2

KOZAM8
West
Pass
Pass

cherdano
North
1 NT
Pass

vevazlata
East
Pass
Pass

inquiry
South
3 NT

3 NT by North

Trick
1. E
2. S
3. N
4. W
5. E
6. N
7. S
8. S
9. S
10. S
11. S
12. N

Lead
D 9
C 2
C 5
D 5
D 4
S 2
C Q
C J
C 10
C 3
S 6
S 10

2nd
J
4
8
Q
H 5
4
6
H 10
H 4
H 3
7
D 10

3rd
3
9
K
K
7
A
H 7
S 8
H J
H K
K

4th
2
7
A
8
A
5
H 2
H 6
H 9
S 3
D 6

Made 3 — NS +600

Last hand, up 40 imps. A rountine 3NT hand, win 2.9 imps and and a net 43.3 imps. I was worried a little bit that this might not be enough. I was worried about the lost 10 imps on board 5. I didn't need to worry.

First BBO Tourney's with Cherdano

2005-06-23T11:19:00.000-04:00

Last night I had an opportunity to play in a number of online tourneyment with BBO member cherdano. Cherdano is a frequent poster on the Bridge Base Online site, and has done very well in that site's "master solver" bidding contest. The BBO bidding contest uses BBO-Advanced in the contest, so Cherdano and I agreed to play BBO-Advanced. You can find notes on BBO-Advanced at the following link:
http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=7822

We played in four online tourneys. The first one was a tourney using IMP scoring with only four tables.On board two, being vul versus non-vul, I faced this intersting problem:

West	North	East	South
			Pass
Pass	1	Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	bid?

The question became do I show minimum values with heart support by bidding 2NT bid (Ingberman over reverses) followed by 3, or do I show game going values with a direct raise to 3. I chose the direct raise, we got into 4 on minimum values as partner reverse with a four card heart suit with the two red AK's and the JTx. When the spade king was on-side and trumps were 3-3, game made.

As soon as I can figure out a better way to automate taking lin files or pbn files to HTML, I will post even more interesting hands from last night. Including some we got wrong.

BBO inquiry Blog

2005-06-21T10:55:00.000-04:00

I am a bridge player. Well, student of bridge might be more accurate. I enjoy the game but I study it more than I play as there seems so little time to go out and actually engage in the game.

This site will document personal aspects of the game: conventions I like, partners I play with, hands I found intersting or challenging, and information for students unlucky enough to have me as a mentor. My other thoughts about bridge can be found on the BRIDGE BASE ONLINE discussion forum, where I am one of the forum moderators, and one of that sites most prolific poster. I will try to post different kinds of content here than I post on BBO discussion forum.

If you found this Blog but never have seen the BBO discussion forum it can be found at http://forums.bridgebase.com/ if you are interested in the game of bridge, you really should visit that site.