Recap of 4/29/2013 IMP individual

The hands for this Monday seemed to have lots of swings from small differences.  Open, or not.  Overcall, or not.  Invite, or not.  Boarder line actions that changed the result substantially.  I guess that is usually the case, but not always.  Anyway, here we go.

Board 3 – little to the play…except get it right.

I, South, opened 1♣, Dan (West) came in with 1♥ (but the other table passed with West’s hand).  Soon we were in 4♠ with nothing to do but find a doubleton ♣A.  At the other table, declarer misguessed and went -1, 10 IMPs for us.  Perhaps declarer at the other table needed to play more red cards to see what they could learn about possible short clubs, but clearly, in this case, the 1♥ overcall made it much easier for Bruce to land the contract, finding 5 presumed hearts as well as at least 3 diamonds and 2 spades with West.  It was not possible for East to hold ♣Ax.

Board 6 – a Drury variation

Over my Drury, Jack simply bounced to game.  Over Dan’s Drury, Bruce bid 2♦, Dan, with almost an opener, bounced to  game.  Bruce tried RKCB and when trump broke 2-2 with short diamonds in dummy, 6♠ was no problem.  Lose 11 IMPs.

 

Board 8 – a common, but certainly not an easy problem (pass or bid in the passout seat).  I would be very interested in knowing statistics about winning actions, but both Dan (3NT) and I (2NT) balanced with NT and played it there.  Pass was a winner, but we couldn’t find it with the hand we held.  With a heart lead, Dan was down 4 (in 3NT), with a spade lead I was down 1 (in 2NT), win 4 IMPs.  This seems like a fairly normal 1st seat all white 3♠ bid, I’m not sure why Manfred chose 2♠?

Board 11 – both tables led their singleton club, but we were in 4, they were in 5.

Jack Scott was in 5 and didn’t bother to draw trump!?  He pitched a heart on the ♣A and pitched another heart on the ♣K.  So, when the second club was ruffed, the result was down 2, (but it seems like a diamond discard and a diamond up towards the king should have held the loses to down 1, since 1 diamond can go on the last good club and just lose the ruff and 2 diamonds).  My partner (Jack Beers) played 2 trumps before continuing clubs and was able to pitch both hearts and a diamond, losing just 2 diamond tricks.  Pushing them to 5♠ was a definite advantage for the defense.  The bidding was certainly awkward.  I had the club hand with a lot of tricks but fast heart losers, so slam seemed like quite a stretch.  It was hard to pass 4♠, but I did.  The other table had a 5♥ bid to contend with.  Win 11 IMPs.

Board 16 – an ‘opening bid’ made it impossible for declarer.

At the other table, Dan (East) opened ‘standard’ 3rd seat light with 1♠, and when the opponents got to 3♥, the top spades, a ruff, the trump A and the ♣K resulted in -1 in 3♥.  My partner (Ed, South, in 4th seat) opened 1NT (15-17) including a point for the 5th heart.  As long time readers will know, I heartily approve of Dan’s opening bid, as well as Ed counting a point for the 5th heart and upgrading to a 15-17 HCP 1NT.  After Stayman, I invited in hearts, Ed accepted.  The ♦Q won trick 1 and Ed needed to get to hand to lead hearts up.  The club finesse lost, but Mike, seeing the club count and having the trump A, decided to go for the setting trick by continuing clubs, then winning the ♥A and continuing clubs for ‘the ruff’.  Didn’t happen.  Pard was already out of trump and as a result, failed to score both the ♠AK since one spade went on the good ♣Q after drawing trump.  I think a club ruff is a reasonable attempt by the defense, but the defense for 5 defensive tricks became automatic after Dan opened 1♠.  Win 10 IMPs.

Board 22 – bidding and competitive decisions made the difference here.  

Ed (North) had more values than one might expect for a preemptive 3♣ bid, one less club than one might expect, plus a four card heart suit on the side.  Pretty amazing 3♣ bid!  But, very effective.  I (East) competed with 3♠, but Manfred (South) found it easy to compete further to 4♣, and bought it.  The diamond situation made 10 tricks easy, just as the heart situation made 10 tricks easy in spades.  Our opponents bought the hand for 3♠ at the other table and made 4♠ when the ♥J came down for 2 diamond discards, losing just AKA in the reds.  I thought my 3♠ bid was pretty easy, but I never considered bidding 4♠, nor opening 2♠ in 1st seat vul.  -170 and -130 lost 7 IMPs.

Board 27 – Dan (and Ed) perpetrated a swindle.

 

I am close to 99%+ with holding a 6 card suit when I open 1st/2nd seat weak 2 bids.  So, as West I passed and later bought it for 3♠, just making +140.  Ed opened 2♠ and Dan decided 3NT could work (I’m not sure what the 3♥ bid was in response to Ogust!?).  3NT did work when Dan played the ♥J at trick 1, convincing Jack Beers to continue hearts (rather than the fatal club shift) even though partner led the ♥9 at trick 1.  With diamonds behaving, the rest was easy.  Lose 8 IMPs.