Help
Vuln. None
S JT
H QT
D AKJ9853
C 53
S Q943 S AK652
H K75 H 9842
D 4 D QT76
C KQJ87 C - void
S 87
H AJ63
D 2
C AT9642 The first question is if north hand is worth a 1D opening bid or a preempt to 2D or 3D. The large majority of North's did open 3D. So this passes the final decision to WEST, should he reopen with a double with his good distribution, or should he pass. I have to admit I would reopen with a double since I am short in diamonds. When West reopens with a double, EAST has to decide between pass and a leap to 4S. At imps, maybe the sure plus of pass would be best. The defense to 3D requires accurate play. It will start with spade KING (or ACE depending upon lead agreement), and West will play an encouraging attitude card (standard signals: S9; UDCA, S3; or roman S3). Best defense if now for East to underlead the second spade honor to allow WEST to lead a club. West will win the Spade Queen and switch to the club King. East should not ruff the club king, as that will cost him a natural trump trick anyway (the QTxx is scoring two tricks and if you ruff in, you still get two tricks. South wins the club ACE, but must lose 1Club, 2S, 2D, and 1H holding EW to 7 tricks (down two). This is a hard defense for even intermediate players to find and in fact, all the NS pairs in diamonds managed 8 tricks.
Equally challenging is the defense if EW climb to 4S. After north bids some number of diamonds, a diamond lead by south is natural. When North wins the diamond, he must defend accurately to set 4S. The club suit appears to provide a lot of tricks for EAST who, if they bid 4S will have to be played for five spades. North can see 1D for his side, and with all those club honors, at most one club. So he knows he needs either two hearts or a heart and a trump, to go along with the hoped for club ACE. So a heart switch is called for at trick two. Leading a heart at trick two will set 4S. A few defenders failed to find the switch, and a club lead by north is fatal.
Results were:
4SE-1 50 6
4SE-1 50 6
3DN-1 -50 3.44
3DN-1 -50 3.44
3SE= -140 0.78
3SE= -140 0.78
3SE+1 -170 0.11
4SE= -420 -6.11
4SE+1 -450 -6.67
5DNx-3 -500 -7.78
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Board 2. Dealer East
Vuln. NS
S KT4
H AKT87
D QJ43
C 7
S 76 S Q852
H Q32 H J9
D 98752 D A
C Q86 C AKT532
S AJ93
H 654
D KT6
C J94 East has an easy 1CLUB opening bid and the bidding should then be passed to north. Some players will reopen with a double with the north hand (after all it is short in clubs), and others will bid 1 Heart. In balancing seat, a jump to 2HEARTS is not weak, but rather intermediate showing good values and a good suit. In my opinion, this hand is not worth a jump to 2 hearts. I would bid 1H, although I appreciate that many, maybe a majority of players would reopen with a double on this north hand. Over either DBL or 1H, EAST will rebid 2 clubs. If north doubled, south should bid 2S and if North bid 1H, south should bid 2H. North might consider making a game try if he had bid only 1H, since his hand is very close to a balancing jump to 2H. If he does, a help suit game try in diamonds might be just enough to get him to game. At imps, you want to bid close games vulnerable. There are 10 tricks available in hearts. Note the reward for bidding this vulnerable game is very rich indeed +10 imps), as the biggest "score" for staying out of game was only 1.9 imps. Also note how bad it was to allow EW to steal the hand for 2Clubs.
1HN+3 170 1.89
2SS+2 170 1.89
2HN+2 170 1.89
2HN+2 170 1.89
3HN= 140 0.78
3HN= 140 0.78
3HN= 140 0.78
4CE-2 100 -0.33
A-- 0 0
2CE+1 -110 -6
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Board 3. Dealer South
Vuln. EW
S AQ
H 874
D KQ654
C T87
S 872 S J943
H J32 H Q
D A72 D JT93
C AKJ2 C 9643
S KT65
H AKT965
D 8
C Q5 South's hand is just barely worth an opening 1H bid. West, with a flat, featureless hand should pass despite its 13 hcp. Over 1H, north has adequate support and enough values to invite game. A sayc player might bid 2D then raise to 3H. A 2/1 player can not bid it this way, as that auction is game force. The 2/1 player will have to invite game in hearts via what ever his agreement is for a limit raise. It maybe a direct jump to 3H. It maybe 1NT (forcing) followed by a jump to 3H to show 3 card support and this hand. The question is should south, who just barely could scrape together an opening bid carry on to game if invited? At imps, it is very important to bid all close game when vul, but not stretch to them when not vulnerable. So I would pass the game invite if I opened this hand. 4H really has no play, as it should lose 2C, 1D, and 1S.
4HS+1 450 9.67
2HS+2 170 3.22
3HS+1 170 3.22
2HS+2 170 3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
4HS-1 -50 -3.22
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Board 4. Dealer West
Vuln. All
S T52
H J986
D 76
C T985
S KJ64 S A8
H T532 H K7
D AQ8 D K92
C 62 C AKQJ74
S Q973
H AQ4
D JT543
C 3 West and north pass and EAST has a big decision, that depends a lot on how he evaluates his hand. He has 20 hcp and balanced, so that fits well within the confines of an opening 2NT bid. Some will not open 2NT because either they don't like to do so with a six card suit, or because they think this hand is too strong for a 2NT opening bid. I fall into the later case. The excellent six card club suit makes this hand worth much more than a balanced 20 hcp hand. In fact, the playing strength is clearly worth at least 23 hcp if you treat this hand as balanced. So for those who refuse to open this 2NT, they have two choices, they can open 1C, planning on a dramatic leap to 3NT if given the opportunity, or they can open 2C and then rebid 2NT (showing a better balanced hand than opening 2NT directly).
If East opens 2NT, West will use stayman, and finding no 4 card fit, will signoff in 3NT, (math is easy, EAST is "limited" to 21 hcp for his 2NT opening bid, and West has 10. 31 hcp and no fit is not enough for small slam, especially with no fit). If East opens 2C and then rebids 2NT over a 2D waiting bid. West will know that the minimum hcp total is 32 and could easily be more. So on that auction, a slam might well be bid. Likewise if EAST opens 1C and hears his partner bid 1H, he will leap to 3NT. West will envision a hand similar to EAST's actual hand (long, running clubs), and might invite slam, and if he does, the slam will be bid. Only two pairs bid the slam and one "wong sided" it by playing 6NT from WEST where a heart lead would set the contract. EW end up making all the tricks if NS do not cash their ace at trick one, as south is squeezed in hearts and spades. To effect the squeeze, simply cash all diamonds and all clubs before attacking spades. South can't keep four spades and the heart ACE in the four card ending where dummy has four spades left and EAST the Kx of hearts and two spades.
3NW= -600 5
3NW+2 -660 3.56
3NE+2 -660 3.56
3NE+3 -690 2.67
3NE+4 -720 1.78
3NE+4 -720 1.78
3NE+4 -720 1.78
3NW+4 -720 1.78
6CE= -1370 -10.56
6NW= -1440 -11.33
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Board 5. Dealer North
Vuln. NS
S 743
H 983
D T42
C Q984
S J8 S AT92
H AK52 H J6
D 973 D KQ865
C A652 C J7
S KQ65
H QT74
D AJ
C KT3
Both north and east should pass, and south will start with a 1NT bid. Some EAST may open 1D, but this hand with two doubleton jacks is not worth an opening bid. 1NT is likely to be passed back around to EAST, who will now feel comfortable balancing back in with 2D. Since EAST is a passed hand, WEST will not feel the urge to bid anymore and 2D should be the final contact. As you can see, letting NS play 1NT was worth an average of about 3.5 imps for NS, while if EW entered the bidding, they generally went plus, with 2D being worth nearly 2 imps for them ( a net gain of 5 imps). This is very typical and is why people often stretch to get their opponents out of 1NT, and which is why all these conventions have been created for dealing with opponents 1NT opening bids (DON'T, ASPRO, LANDY, CAPELLETTI, WOOLSEY, and many, many more).
1NS+1 120 4.56
3NE-2 100 3.78
1NS= 90 3.56
1NS= 90 3.56
3NW-1 50 2.44
1NW= -90 -1.33
2SE= -110 -1.78
2DE+1 -110 -1.78
1HSx-1 -200 -4.33
3NE= -400 -8.67
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Board 6 Dealer East
Vuln. EW
S KQ
H J
D J7653
C AQJT6
S JT853 S - void
H AKQ2 H 86543
D A D KQT94
C 542 C K98
S A97642
H T97
D 82
C 73 East will pass, and some souths will open a weak two spades. I don't advise this opening bid for a host of reasons. One very important one is that in second seat, your partner is just as likely to have a good hand as your opponent (in first seat if you are weak, the odds are 2-1 that it is the opponents hand, but after one pass to you, either your partner or the one opponent left may be strong). Because of this, second seat preempts should be very disciplined. . West will open 1S and if North overcalls 2C, East has an easy time of it with a negative double, and when his partner shows hearts, he should bid game (EW vul, you want to bid close games, so you would not invite with this hand). If north overcalls with an unusual 2NT, East has several options. Among them, dbl as his hand looks like a fair one on defense against either minor and pass planning on bidding later. The heart suit is not good enough to bid 3H directly over 2NT. Over 2NT-Pass south will bid 3C. West will pass as will north, and EAST will reenter with a double. Since he didn't double 2NT, this double has to be optional kind of thing. West with a stiff diamond and three clubs will probably decide this dbl is takeout and bid 3H which EAST should again carry to game. If East dbls, south and WEST will pass, and north will bid 3C. East will pass and now the contract will be three CLUBS x or 4H depending upon if WEST doubles 3C or bids 3H's.
The play in 4H after a diamond lead highlights the difference between imps and matchpoints. AT imps, win the diamond lead, play three trumps, ruff a spade, and play KQT of diamonds, throwing away 3 clubs. South wins 5H, 1 club ruff, and 4 diamonds (the diamond 9 is promoted when north wins the diamond JACK). In matchpoints, you will play the 2C or 2NT bidder to have the club ACE. Here you pull three round of trumps, ruff a spade, cash one diamond, and ruff a diamond. Now a club towards the king. The club king becomes your 10 th trick, and you eventually have an endplay on north with a second club to force a diamond lead from the Jx into dummies KT to make 11. Of course, you can go down one if South turns up with the club ace unexpectedly on this line of play. But at matchpoints, the gain is well worth the risk. Also note, if you use unusual NT with north hand, don't "raise" your partners suit to the five level as a sacrifice. The real losers in the imp battle on this hand were those who bid 5Cs. Such sacrifices are often ill advised at imps.
A-- 0 0
A-- 0 0
2HW+2 -170 3.33
3HW+1 -170 3.33
3HW+1 -170 3.33
3HE+2 -200 2.78
2NN-5 -250 1.56
4SSx-3 -500 -3.67
5CNx-5 -1100 -11.56
5CNx-6 -1400 -14.22
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Board 7. Dealer South
Vuln. All
S KJT963
H K54
D Q
C AJ3
S 7 S AQ85
H T8732 H AQ9
D T74 D J3
C T852 C Q964
S 42
H J6
D AK98652
C K7 Do you start off with south's hand with a pass, 1D, 2D or 3D? Vulnerable preempts are usually very good suit, and within two of the contract. It is fair to assume South might take 6 diamond tricks. The club king might be a 7th trick. So while I would not open this first seat vul with a 3D bid, that bid works wonders on this hand. North will simply bid 3NT with a filling in Diamond Queen. If south opens 1D, north will bid 1S and south will rebid 2D. north will make a forcing call, depending upon style, it might be 3C as new minor forcing, or a jump to 3S (if that is forcing). The 3C bid will get a 3D bid by south and the final contract will be 3NT, while a jump to 3S (if forcing) is likely to land NS into a fair 4S contract which should go down as the cards are divided.
Since the defenders didn't defeat 4S, let me mention how this is done. Assume club out, jack wins. Cash Diamond QUEEN, club to KING, diamond ACE for heart discard. Now he must still lose 2h and 2s. The tricky line is at this point, low spade to the jack queen. East simply returns a club. Eventually he will score both his AQ combinations.
4SNx+1 990 9.33
3NN+2 660 2.33
3NN+1 630 1.44
3NN+1 630 1.44
3NN+1 630 1.44
3NS+1 630 1.44
3NN+1 630 1.44
4SN= 620 1.33
3SN+1 170 -8.44
3DS-1 -100 -11.78
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Board 8 Dealer West
Vuln. None
S Q93
H A932
D 742
C A92
S J7 S KT8
H Q8654 H KJ7
D 863 D KQJ
C JT3 C Q865
S A6542
H T
D AT95
C K74
East has to choose between 1NT (he does have 15 hcp) and 1 club opening bid. This hand rates as one yucky 15 count, so some East will treat it as 14 hcp and open 1C. Over 1C, south will bid 1S and north will make an encouraging raise. With his hand, I like a cue-bid of 2C to show a fair raise. South will not be too excited opposite a passed hand and will stop the bidding at 2S. Two spades is the top spot for EW. Now if EAST opens 1NT, south has two options. If he is playing capelletti or dont or similar convention he can enter the bidding. Looking at the yucky spade spots. I would not use capelletti, but if playing DON'T, I might try 2D. Over 2D north will bid 2H and south will correct to 2S which might end the auction. If south decides to pass 1NT, west will bid 2D (jacoby) and east will bid 2H's. South now, with the other three suits will make a take out double of 2H. Norht has a difficult bid, but with his hand, I would bid my 3 card spade suit to arrive safely back in 2Spades.
2SS= 110 2.11
2SS= 110 2.11
3HE-2 100 2.11
4HE-2 100 2.11
1NE-1 50 0.33
2HE-1 50 0.33
A-- 0 0
3SS-1 -50 -2.67
3SS-1 -50 -2.67
4SS-1 -50 -2.67
--- ---- - -------
Deal 9. Dealer North
Vuln. EW
S AJ853
H K85
D 74
C KJ9
S KT62 S 74
H 7 H AJ963
D KJT32 D AQ6
C 732 C A84
S Q9
H QT42
D 985
C QT65
North's hand is just worth a 1S bid and EAST has a problem He can dbl, bid 2H or pass. All three have problems. His suit is not good enough for a 2H call, dbl hides the fact he has a five card suit, and he has an awful lot for a trap pass. The trap pass might work best, South will bid 1NT and if this is passed back around to him, he can double. If his partner passes, EW can get rich, and if not, 2D is not a bad contract. If 1NT is forcing and north bids 2C, EAST can now double, and WEST again puts the contract into diamonds. I just want to point out the most commonly, EW got too high or in the wrong contract on this hand.
2HE-3 300 6.22
2HE-2 200 3.78
2HE-1 100 0.89
2HE-1 100 0.89
3DW-1 100 0.89
3NW-1 100 0.89
2NE-1 100 0.89
3DW= -110 -4.44
3DW= -110 -4.44
1NS-3 -150 -5.56
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Board 10 Dealer East
Vuln. All
S J985
H J84
D KT62
C 93
S AK S 432
H T653 H AK
D A7 D J95
C Q6542 C AKJ87
S QT76
H Q972
D Q843
C T
EW can make 6 Clubs. Bidding it is not so easy. Some east opened 1NT (as I would). Over 1NT, west will try stayman first, then rebid a forcing 3C. Hearing his partner bid clubs in a forcing context might make EAST consider pressing towards slam. This is a magic fit, and bidding 3NT is not too shabby a result.
6NE-1 100 11.44
4CE+1 -150 8
3CE+3 -170 7.44
5CE+1 -620 -1.89
3NE+1 -630 -2
3NW+1 -630 -2
3NW+1 -630 -2
3NE+2 -660 -2.89
3NE+2 -660 -2.89
6CW= -1370 -13.22
-------------------
Board 11. Dealer South
Vuln. None
S T532
H AT32
D K65
C K7
S AQ984 S J6
H Q876 H KJ9
D A D Q87
C Q94 C AJ532
S K7
H 54
D JT9432
C T86
West will open 1S. the 2/1 players will probably think EAST hand is not quite good enough for 2C while SAYC players will happily bid 2C. West rebids 2H and EAST west will then have to decide rather to play 4S, 2NT, 3NT, 4C or 5C. All the games can make, even 4Hs. I think a reasonable sayc auction is 1S-2C; 2H-2N; 3C-3S; 3N-? with EAST now passing with diamond Queen, or bidding 5C or 4S.
3NE-1 50 7.22
4SW-1 50 7.22
4HW-1 50 7.22
3CE+1 -130 3
3DSx-2 -300 -1
3NE+1 -430 -4.33
3NE+1 -430 -4.33
3NE+1 -430 -4.33
4HW+1 -450 -5.33
3NE+2 -460 -5.33
------------------------
Board 12 Dealer West
Vuln. NS
S QT8
H JT
D KJT973
C 62
S KJ9 S A64
H 6 H KQ985
D 852 D A4
C AKQ984 C T53
S 7532
H A7432
D Q6
C J7
West will open 1C and north may, or maynot venture a preempt in diamonds (he is vulnerable after all). East will make a forcing call in hearts. EW can make 5C or 3NT, and they should have no trouble bidding game after WEST opens the bidding. But if NS bid too many diamonds (say 3D or more), EW might stop off to double them and do better than bidding their game.
A-- 0 0
A-- 0 0
4CW+1 -150 4.33
3NE= -400 -2.11
5CW= -400 -2.11
5CW+1 -420 -3
5CW+1 -420 -3
5CW+1 -420 -3
5CW+1 -420 -3
3NE+1 -430 -3.22
Using up bidding space.
I really enjoyed this presentation and discussion, also the coments by Hrothgar and Luis. Hope we are going to see these regularly. I have a Mac, so can't use the BB software, but enjoy the forum . Thanks for your efforts.