The disaster round

It was the crucial match against Forza, first match of the day. Let's look at some of the hands (this time not from me, but from my partner) and see how well you will fare.

Board 1:

You are holding
93
A5
A104
AKQ632

Your LHO opens 2D (Multi), meaning weak 2 in major or strong/balanced. Your p overcalls 2S and RHO passes. What will you bid?

Given that your partner insists on spades in the second round of auction, will you support spades or insist on your strong club suits?

This is what goes on at the table. Zehan bids 3C (new suit force) and I bid 3S, to show 6 good carder spades. A 4NT RK revealed two keycards without queen and a 6S comes.

Nothing wrong on the surface... but when the cards are shown, I'm astounded to see 6 good clubs sitting in front of me. 7C is cold. Indeed, it is with this adventurous spirit that saw the auction went to the cold 7C contract by our opps (though the bidding isn't scientific at all)

N E S W
2H 2S P 3H(1)
P 4S P 4NT (2)
P 5H P 7C!

(1) Strong, Cue Suit
(2) RK in spades

This meant a 10-imp swing to the opps, right at the first board.

On further thinking, I realised our bidding system is so scientific as compared to our dear opps. This is what I will suggest (If my dear p is imaginative and a little more daring enough, since we surely have game values)

N E S W
2H 2S P 3C (f1)
P 3S P 4C (insist)
P 4NT P 5D (1/4 kc)
P 5H P 5NT (queen with nothing else)
P 7C!

since East has

AKJ1086
KQx
x
JTx

and the 4NT asking revealed 4 keycards (aka the three aces and trump king) and 1 trump queen. This surely needs no invitation to the 7 level even if West's hand has 5 or 6 clubs.

Another board in question will be board 10.

You are holding

K10
AQJx
xxxx
xxx

Your p opens 1D, you bid 1H and your LHO bids 2S. Partner bids 4H and after a long thought, RHO bids 4S. Should you bid 5H, double or pass?

The answered will be revealed at my next post.

Updates about ASEAN Open Pairs

Date: Third day in Manila.

Event: Mixed Pairs (which zehan and i happily did not need to take part)

Let me update about the ASEAN Open Pairs that took place yesterday, which compromised of the afternoon and evening sessions. Overall, it was riddled with little mistakes which could have been avoided, but these are points where we know we can learn from. (Since we are in the process of learning and re-learning about our play and defence)

The first session ended well... Though some mistakes could have been avoided (1st session with zehan)... but did badly in a board where the opps psyche and i failed to cover the 10 in dummy, resulting in 5D= for the opps where it shld be cold down 2 by the normal lead of A, K spade and a small spade for ruff? This in fact acted as a wake-up call for us as we moved to the next board.

East-west = us (non-vul against vul)

Sitting east and as the dealer, I'm dealt these hand:-

AK984

A76432

Q

8

Oh! What a hand! A 5-loser hand, with a beautiful 6-5 shape and 11 of 13 pts in the main suits, it may appeal to some as a 'reverse' strong hand. However, looking at this hand, I decided that I shall call 1S first in the event where there might be a mis-fit and thus I will show my 'second' suit at a cheap level. This might cost though, if my partner had 3 hearts and 2 spades. But, this will come at an advantage when opps interfere and my heart suit can be afforded to be announced (given that opps interference is most likely in the minor suits)

And this move paid off. South passes, and my p bids 2S. North comes in with 3C and here comes the bid 3H. In the event when West had both heart and spade support, 3S will be an awkward bid esp given my p's strength is 6-8 pts. Next comes 5C and my partner, seeing a double fit in hearts and spades passes, allowing me to decide. My hand with so much offensive values, will certainly not tolerate that. A 5H bid here shows 6 spades and 5 hearts, and without any doubt, my partner raises me to 6S on a maximum of 8 pts! Of course, with so little high-card values, South doubles.

And South is supposed to lead from this hand:-

652

10

AK82

J6542

An A dime lead sees the dummy as follows:-

Q109x

KJxx

xxx

xx

... and the Queen dime fell. North of course played a low card, showing a discouraging signal. South is supposed to lead again. the question is:- a dime continuation or a club? East could easily be a 6-5-2-0 hand a the club lead may give away a ruff, while queen dime play here from doubleton by East is common to dissuade North from cashing his winning trick. With this mentality, East continued with a dime and 6S doubled makes! A nice yet hard-earned top board!

With this board, our confidence swung up and it was to no surprise that we were in fact leading our section at the break...

Boards to be discussed for the second half:-

My Mistakes:-

Board 1: 2NT+1 by opps

Board 4: 2Hx-4 by me (corresponds to my p's blog name ya?)

Nice boards played:-

Board 18: 6S=

Board 24: 6C+1 (how come not top?)

At Philippines

Hello everyone!

Long time no blog!

Haha... at the advice of our great pros Jack and Kelvin, I shall resume blogging over here!

First up, I will just bring you a hand randomly shuffled by me.

I was holding this hand (assuming no interference)

AKQJ109
AKJ875
void
6

Partner opens 1D. You called 2S, as a strong jumpshift, promising 16+ and 5+ spades. Parnter calls 3C. What do you respond?

1. 3H, part of 4th suit forcing?
2. 3S, insist on your own suit.
3. Give up! 3NT!
4. Quantitative raise to 4NT. Or asking for keycard, depending the way u play it?

If one bids 3H, a 4C/4D bid will come next and 4NT may come to find aces/kings. As for a 3S bid, your partner would be unlikely to give up and bid 4C/4D, propelling one to a final 4NT ask, or perhaps a stop in 4S? (Heart suit surprisingly not shown at all!) 3NT? Unless you are so pro and know that a disaster might be coming? I would prefer 4NT directly though! (it makes little difference here... haha)

And after all the keycard asking, your partner bids his 2 aces and 1 king. And you decided that maybe due to communication problems, 6NT will be a sensible spot. However partner may decide he has much more values than promised as he is holding:

x
void
AKQxxxx
AJxxx

Well it seems a 7 that could not be avoided and doomed, where 6NT is the best possible contract with 12 top tricks... what a interesting hand! (Of course it is because my deck was new and little shuffling has been done... :-) )

More updates soon after the Open Pairs (if my p lets me blog more!) Maybe pictures! And anyway the Filipinos are very friendly in their reception! We even got some 'garlands'... haha... Great thanks to them!