Sunday 29 December 2013

Peebles Part II: Swiss Teams Session 1

Friday evening was the first session of the Swiss Teams. I was playing with Jun Nakamura Pinder, a regular in the Scottish Junior team, and currently studying at the University of Edinburgh. At the other table we had Jake Corry and Alex Wilkinson. Here's a couple of boards where we might have done better. On the first, still not entirely sure if we want to be in the slam:
♠ 6
♥ K T 9 2
♦ A Q 7 5 2
♣ A 9 6
♠ 7 5 4 3 2
♥ Q 8 7 3
♦ K 6
♣ Q 2
*
**
*
♠ 9 
♥ A J 6 5 4
♦  J T 3 
♣ J T 7 5
♠ A K Q J T 8
♥ -
♦ 9 8 4
♣ K 8 4 3

JunMe
WNES

1♦1♥1♠
 - 
2♦
 -
4♠
--
I'm not entirely sure that this auction is right, but I know that there was a heart overcall, and that I leapt to 4♠ while being slightly concerned that I was missing something. On the other hand, I do have 7 potential losers in the minors, and three small in Jun's suit (which I actually know is at least 5 cards from the start - we open almost all weak NT hands with 1♣, and play a 5 card diamond suit) really isn't a nice holding for a slam.

The slam essentially seems to rely on being able to play that diamond suit for 1 loser, which SuitPlay informs is a 54% chance. There's also some chance I can set up a heart trick.

If the ♥K was the ♥A, I wouldn't need anything much more than diamonds 3-2. Not sure if I could have bid any differently, a 4♥ auto-splinter seems a bit much with all the losers in the other suits, and as I said, it's not entirely clear we want to be in anyway. Unlike the next one:

♠♥♦♣
♠ K 7
♥ 3
♦ A K J 
♣ A K Q J 8 7 4
♠ Q T 8 5 3
♥ Q J 9 6
♦ 8 4
♣ 6 2
*
**
*
♠ 6 4 2 
♥ A K T 7 5
♦  Q 9 6 3
♣ 5
♠ A J 9
♥ 8 4 2
♦ T 7 5 2
♣ T 9 3

JunMe
WNES



-
 - 
2♣-
2♦
-3♣4♣
-4♦4♠
-6♣AP
Jun's hand is huge, and really doesn't need much from me for slam to be a pretty solid prospect. Once I give a non-minimum response pretty much all he needs to know is that I don't have some horrible wasted values like ♥KQJ, and the slam is going to be no worse than 50%. Looking at the North South cards, it's more like 60% (50% for the spade finesse plus about 10% for the ♦Q dropping when the spade finesse is wrong). I guess there are also some potential squeeze chances when both queens are with West, but that would involve some pretty good card reading. However, this could easily have been much better. From Jun's point of view, there's no reason I couldn't have had the ♦Q, or even a doubleton diamond, to go with my spade control, which would have made the slam cold.

We had a pretty successful session, ending up about 15th out of the 70 or so teams competing and, more importantly, placing higher than the other team of people who were staying in our house. After just a drink or two in the bar, we headed back to Peebles for some much needed sleep, so we could be up bright an early for another day's bridge - Saturday being the Swiss Pairs, where I was playing with Alex Wilkinson.  

Thursday 26 December 2013

Peebles Session 1: Friday Teams

I played the Friday afternoon team at Peebles with Ian Angus. We had Jake Corry and Troy Van de L'isle at the other table. It's split into several sections, and then scored on total IMPs, which means you have to take full advantage when playing against the weaker teams, and that which section you're drawn in can have a big impact on your result. We had a good start, making 1NTX + 2 on the second board, and then spent most of the rest of the session doing vaguely sensible things, which were enough to win most of our matches comfortably, and get us joint second place overall. 

Here's one where both of us felt we might have done more:


Ian overcalled 3S, and I bid a normal 4D with my hand. It's possible that Ian should try something else now. It's not entirely clear he can though - would 4H just be some sort of general slam try? 

At  the time, Ian tried to blame himself, but looking at the hand again, I think it's clearer for me to bid again. It's pretty hard to imagine a hand Ian can have for his bidding where we don't have five level safety, so I can roll out keycard, and when he shows 3, I can count at least 5 spades, 2 aces and 6 diamonds (even assuming I have to ruff one), for 13 tricks, and I think I should bid the grand (this isn't completely clear, we could be missing the spade jack, and he might not have a 6th spade). We will at least find our way to slam this way. 

Here's another one, which I think might pose potential ethical issues:


At Paul Gipson's table, he chose to open a strong NT. This caused a problem for Jake, who wasn't sure whether he was playing a penalty double of a strong NT, and chose to show a hand with both majors. Before the auction was over, however, they realised they were sat at the wrong table, so it's not clear whether they would still have found their way to the spade game anyway. Paul wasn't willing to replicate this auction against the pair who arrived next ("there are some players I pysche against, and some I don't"), so the board had to be scrapped. Jun chose to open the North hand 1S, and Ian picked a weak 2D (we didn't realise we weren't supposed to be playing it until after declarer had wrapped up 10 tricks in NT).

Does it cause any ethical issues that North chose to open at all three tables where I know the auction? I know this is a "standard" psyche situation, but isn't that part of the problem? Should I alert all of my partners' 3rd seat openers at favourable as "possible psyche"?

Anyway, that was a successful first session, and my first M&S vouchers of the weekend with the first of three partners. We went off to the house, unpacked our bags, and started preparations for the first session of the congress teams.

Saturday 21 December 2013

A week of much bridge, Part 1. Phoenix Away

As I'm sure about 90% of the readership of this blog knows, I played in Peebles last weekend. Martin Stephens arranged for a group of approximately 8 of us (there was much argument over the exact number, as there was some chopping and changing over the course of the weekend, and we picked up an extra one on Saturday night) to make up a couple of teams for the main teams competition and partner off for the pairs. We all stayed in a house in Peebles, and it was one of the most enjoyable weekends of bridge I've had in a long time (probably ever). It didn't hurt that I also had a very successful weekend - 2nd in the pre-Congress teams, and then 5th and 7th in the Congress Pairs and Teams respectively. I intend to post something about each of the 6 sessions that were played over the weekend, but I'll probably spread them out over the next couple weeks, as I'm not going to be playing much over the holidays, so a. I have nothing much better to do than write bridge blogs and b. I won't have anything else to write about if I use up all of that material.

I'm going to start with a hand from the match which I played on Wednesday night, before I went to Peebles (and then I'll finish the series with one I played on the Tuesday night - that's 5 days bridge in 7 days. Luckily I have a very tolerant girlfriend!)

This is mostly a hand where the defence did really badly, but it's also a hand where I'm quite happy with my declarer play, as it's the first time I've ever successfully achieved a trump endplay (at least, deliberately):


Dealer: N
Vul: NS
North
♠ QJT84

♦ A82
♣ KT954
West
♠ 9653
♥ A
♦ KQ96
♣ AJ62
East
♠ A
♥ KJ98743
♦ T75
♣ 73
South
♠ K74
♥ QT652
♦ J43
♣ Q8

Bidding:
W  N  E  S
   - 3♥  - 
4♥ -  -  X 
- -   -
HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator

South led the club Queen, and I decided that I'd better see exactly how bad the bad news was in trumps. I led the ♥A, and North showed out. At this point, things are pretty hopeless. North is going to get in, and he's going to play another round of clubs, and then a third round of clubs, and South's going to ruff that, and South will still have a trump trick left. When all is lost however, you still have the option of relying on the defence to help you out. Unfortunately dummy doesn't yet have any cards I can ruff, so I can't start shortening my trumps yet. However, I played a ♠ to the A, and then a diamond to the K. North now came to my rescue with, I think, the only play to let the contract through. He won the ♦K, and switched to a spade. He later said he was worried that I was the one with a singleton club, this would mean his partner chose to lead the Q from ♣Q83, which I guess is not impossible, but not exactly textbook. I'm now home free. I ruff the spade, finesse the ♦9 (there's no way I can make this if I have another diamond to lose), and ruff another spade. Now a diamond to the K, and we're left with this: 



Dealer: N
Vul: NS
North
♠ QJ


♣ KT9
West
♠ 9

♦ 6
♣ J62
East

♥ KJ98

♣ 7
South

♥ QT65

♣ 8

Bidding:
W  N  E  S
   - 3♥  - 
4♥ -  -  X 
- -   -
HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator

When I play the last ♦, pitching my ♣, south has two choices. He can let it win, in which case I can just play my trumps from the top, as I'm never going to lose more than 2 trump tricks, or he can ruff. If he chooses the latter, he still only manages two trump tricks (even with his QTx over my KJ98), as whatever he plays back, he'll be thrown in with the next round, to lead away from the Q.

4HX bid and made. We still got soundly thrashed in the match, and our team is hovering somewhere around the bottom of the league (Phoenix were firmly at the bottom before this match). We've still not played GUU, St. Mungo or Gilmorehill in the league, who I think are the big three teams, so I imagine things are going to be pretty close come the end of the season.

PS - just found this website which generated the hands in this post. Seems much easier than what I've been doing in the past - anyone else have any alternative solutions? 
♠♥♦♣

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Winter Pairs Round 4

4th of 7 rounds of the Winter Pairs tonight, and I think we've firmly established ourselves as not candidates to win it - our average score so far is just above average, and we'll need some spectacular showings in the new year to get our top 4 scores anywhere near 60%. Danny and Anna meanwhile, already have two scores in excess of 65% and one 55+ to their name, and they've only played in three rounds. If I were a betting man, I'd have money on them for the title... 

Not a great deal to report. We did a few silly things, were unlucky on a few. The first board was a defensive problem - not sure I should have got it right, but I'm glad I at least thought about the winning line.


I lead the ♦A from the South hand against 4♥, and had to decide which black suit to switch to. Partner's card should probably be suit preference in this situation - Norman played the ♦6, and I eventually decided to switch to a small club. I considered the idea of switching to a small spade and giving Norman a ruff when in with the ♥K (declarer clearly has entries to take the finesse, so I expect to get in with it), but decided that it was more likely we needed to set up a club trick. Wrong this time, but as I say, I'm not sure I could have gotten it right (East opened a weak 2♥ and West bid 4♥).

♠♥♦♣


There were some more fun boards... the auction on this one went 2♥ 5NT - 6♦ AP, which is an excellent contract, although 6NT makes double dummy (in practice, I think you have to choose between playing West for Kx or KTx in clubs, which are pretty much equally likely, I think, although maybe they're more likely to cover with one or other of the two combinations? (probably Kx)). 6♦ is a much better spot, although still not great- it needs the ♣ finesse and either minor to split. and I don't mind the auction too much. As Norman said afterwards, when else is he going to get the chance to jump to 5NT?
♠♥♦♣
Our first board against Danny and Anna raised an ethical question for Danny. I'm pretty sure I should have called the director, but didn't. I should probably start doing that... 


I opened a strong NT. Anna thought for a good while before passing, and Danny came back in with 2♣ showing majors, and they bid the cold 2♠. Without the hesitation, I think I'm always coming in, but I'm not sure I'd feel I was allowed to with the UI. Anyway, as I said, we didn't call the director, so if 1NT is any better (and I think I should make at least 6 tricks), it's my own fault we got a bad result on this one - although it's possible Anna had already won the board by deciding not to bid 3♦.

No more bridge scheduled until a match next Wednesday, and then a whole weekend in Peebles (I'm probably playing the Friday afternoon as well, so that's 6 sessions over the course of the weekend). Finishing the year with a bridge-related bang.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Who needs 3NT anyway?

Played in a club pairs game with Neil Wylie (whose name I think I mispelled last time I mentioned him). Neil is a very fun guy to hang out with - don't know exactly how old he is, but I'd say comfortably over 60. He quite often goes on 100 mile bike rides, and has great stories of playing bridge at the big rubber clubs in London a few decades ago. Last time we played a teams match we ended up in a lock-in in a nearby pub discussing Independence and Scottish real estate until about 2 in the morning...

Our score was disappointing. We were probably a good 3 tops above average at halfway, and managed to slip to slightly below (possibly related to the pint of beer at half time...), but it was fun as always, and these two (consecutive) boards were the highlight:



Neil
John
WNES

1♥-1♠
     -
2♣
 -
 2♦
  -
 3NT
-
6♣

My bidding might seem a little crude, but I don't think there's too much wrong with it. I was pretty confident I wanted to be in a slam when Neil rebid 2♣, and could have just jumped to 6♣ then and there, but decided to give him a chance to show some delayed spade support. There's no point fishing around for slam after Neil's bid 3NT, as playing in 5 of a minor is always going to be a disaster when we have this many points, so I just bid it. I'm quite glad I did, because that meant it was even more fun when I did essentially the same thing on this board:





Neil

John
W
N
E
S


-
1
     X
1
 -
2
  -
 3NT
-
6♣
I was planning to reverse with the South hand, which might not be textbook, but I think gets across the playing strength more accurately than anything else. When West doubled, and Neil bid spades, I was worried we might be in some sort of misfit, and settled for a simple 2♣ response. However, all that changed when Neil showed some genuine values by jumping to 3NT. Not only did this show values, it also pretty much promised that some of them were in hearts (West has promised hearts, I've done nothing to suggest that I might have a heart stop). Assuming Neil had at least 1 club for this bid, and probably 2, I really couldn't picture a hand where 6♣ didn't have any play, and decided once again that there was no point fishing around, and just bid it. With the heart finesse giving you plenty of entries to dummy, you have time to ruff out the spades, draw trumps and pitch the 4th heart on the 5th spade, which means you don't even need to worry about the position of the 9 of hearts. Another reasonably good slam, bid and made.

♠♥♦♣

A few rounds later, we had this auction: 




Neil
John
WNES


--
     -
1
-
1
  -
3NT
-
6
I wasn't really sure what to bid on the first round. Having already passed, I guess a splinter in ♦s is probably the right move on the South hand, but I decided I would bid 1♠ and rebid 4♥. When Neil leapt to 3NT over 1♠, showing something like 18+, I again couldn't really visualise a hand where 6♥ didn't have play, and just bid it (this time it's my own fault we don't have room to explore - having not supported hearts on the first round, I don't think there's any way I can agree them now, and have time to settle in 4♥, or even 5♥ if it turns out that things aren't looking good for the slam). Three leaps to slam, three comfortably making contracts... who needs 3NT?

Sunday 1 December 2013

One loser


Here's another hand I meant to include, from Wednesday's National Pairs qualifier - playing in 4S with the West cards, on a heart lead, what is the best chance of playing the spade suit for 2 losers? Does it depend o the quality of the opposition? I ran the Jack, hoping for a cover from Qxx. Is there anything better?

National Pairs Qualifier

The SBU apparently has some sort of initiative to make the National Pairs more inclusive, and is encouraging clubs to make their heat an ordinary club night, with the top 40% of the field qualifying for the next round (a semi-final, apparently). This seems likely to lead to much larger participation than the usual set up (in which the clubs hold a heat alongside their usual club night). It also seems likely to mean that a lot of people who don't usually qualify in national competitions sneak through to the next round - finishing in the top 40% on an ordinary club night is certainly within the powers of the majority of pairs. Anyway, Norman and I managed to sneak in (4th out of 11, so we actually had a place to spare), despite having what we initially thought was too many disasters. I think some of our early bad boards must have gotten better, like the one below...

Here's one where I just bid ridiculously, but somehow ended up with an above average result:



I counted my tricks on the enormous East hand, and somehow came to 8, and decided it was only worth a strong 2 in diamonds (Norman likes to play a multi with 5 strong options...), which led to this auction:

John

Norman

W
N
E
S



-
 2♦
-
 3
-
  3NT
      -
  -
-

After Norman showed a hand that wanted to play in 3 of my major if I was weak, I was afraid to go past 3NT (I still hadn't correctly counted my tricks). I'm not really sure how I came to 8, as 7 + 2 is clearly 9, but I was so convinced that I even argued with someone afterwards who made the clearly correct opening bid of 2♣ (Mike, if for some reason you end up reading this, I'm sorry, I was being an idiot - you were right). Amazingly, as you can see, 3NT + 4 was enough for an above average score on this board, which makes my bid even more terrible. With 14 top tricks, we really should reach the grand slam, but as it turns out, 6NT would have been good enough for all the matchpoints.

♠♥♦♣

Here's one that I misplayed, leading to a terrible matchpoints score (this was in the first round, which I think is partly why we thought we hadn't had a good score - the first and last rounds always loom extra large:


We bid to the normal contract of 3NT, and North lead the ♠7. South's 8 told me this was from a four card suit, but I didn't think it mattered - I could see a pretty clear line to making the contract. If you play both rounded suits to avoid South getting the lead, you have 4♠s, 2♥s and 3♣s. I did just this - win in dummy and play a ♥ to the J, ace of clubs, club to the K, and back to hand with a spade to play a third ♣. This line gets 9 tricks unless there is Qxxx of clubs with South, in which case you still have the chance of ♦A onside, or of the opponents not being able to cash diamond tricks (although this is pretty slim). It should still be good enough for 10 tricks - I can afford to cash the 4th spade and the ♥A before I exit in clubs, but I didn't do that, so I deservedly got a terrible matchpoints socre. Admittedly, lookinag at the traveller, everyone else got a diamond lead, which presumably made things much easier for them (they're forced to take the club finesse now, so should end up with 11 tricks) but that's no excuse. 

Playing twice next week - the next round of the Winter Pairs, in which we'll need to register our first actually big score if we're to be in with a chance in the competition (there are only 4 rounds left), and just a friendly club game with Neil Wiley tomorrow, which should be good fun.