We promptly went on to lose the first three matches. We felt the way our opponents yesterday must have felt. Take this hand which provided the entire margin of victory in the first match:
| Dealer: W Vul: EW |
North ♠ AKxxx ♥ xx ♦ Jxxx ♣ Qx |
|
| Me ♠ QJ10 ♥ xx ♦ xxx ♣Axxxx |
Partner ♠ ♥AKQJxx ♦AKQ10x ♣ xx |
|
| South ♠ 9xxxx ♥ xxx ♦ x ♣ Kxxx |
||
| Bidding: | OUR TABLE: P-1C*-2C-2H-2S-3D-3H-4D-4H-6H TEAMMATES: P-2NT(!)-3NT | HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator |
At our table, I passed and when partner opened a strong club (16+ points), I felt that my hand was good enough to show the 5-card club suit. Partner insisted on one of his two suits and when I chose hearts (perhaps I should choose diamonds to show my 3-carder), he drove to the heart slam. 6H looks like a decent contract. Except that South led a ... club! Partner took the ace and now had to pull trumps (it would have been silly to finesse the 10 of diamonds at that point, wouldn't it?) The diamonds didn't break ... down one.
At the other table, West opened 2NT! Isn't that what you open in Standard American with 19-20 points? They now played peacefully in 3NT. South led her fourth highest spade and north ducked to preserve communications (the lead could have been from a doubleton, with South trying to catch her partner with length). Imagine where his jaw was as declarer now threw a club and simply rattled off his tricks.
In the second match, this vulnerable game provided the entire margin of victory:
| Dealer: S Vul: NS |
North ♠ Ax ♥ K10xxxx ♦ QJ10 ♣ xx |
|
| Me ♠ xxx ♥ QJxx ♦ Kxx ♣ Axx |
Partner ♠ Jxxx ♥ x ♦ xxx ♣Qxxxx |
|
| South ♠ KQ10x ♥ Ax ♦ Axxx ♣ KJx |
||
| Bidding: | OUR TABLE: 1NT-2D*-2H-2NT(!)-3NT TEAMMATES: 1NT-2D*-2H-4H | HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator |
With 12 points and 6 hearts, North bid 2NT after the transfer, saying as she put down the dummy ("since I have only 5 hearts, I need to bid 2NT, right?"). I led a spade and now declarer played a heart to the king and finessed the queen of diamonds losing to my king. Now, no matter what I did, he had his 9 tricks -- 4 spades, 2 hearts and 3 diamonds. Our teammates, though, were in 4H which is somewhat more precarious; they went down 1.
Fortunately, we came back and blitzed the last three matches to end up fourth overall.
Hi, Lak,
ReplyDeleteMay I be so bold as to post a suggestion? Why don't you forgo the Flight B events and just play with the big boys (easier to accept if the non BCD event is an AX event and you get two bites at the masterpoint apple, including the bite for placing in X)?
You will avoid some of the fixes (alas, some of the gifts, too) and learn more about what it takes to win against the better players. I, for one, am comfortable that you have the skills and the intellectual interest to improve by playing in a better game. Your blog evidences that.
Btw, in the second hand, most would play the sequence of 2D transfer followed by 4H raise as slam invitational ... using a direct Texas transfer of 4D for hands interested in game but not in slam. (Of course, one could make an argument for either evaluation with the in-between hand held by North.)
Small correction: In the first hand, my clubs were Qx (so I was never going to stop below 6D/H after your 2C response, and 7 didn't seem impossible), but I had no spots in diamonds (J, 10, 9 all missing). (The 2NT opener had counted her 21 points correctly.)
ReplyDeleteGiving AX games a try sounds good to me...