Thursday, December 15, 2011

Jennbridge: Hands from Seattle

I had a nice time playing with Farid Assemi in the inaugural Senior Mixed Pairs in Seattle--won by my friends Polly and Patrick Dunn.

Here are a pair of 3NT contracts from the first final session which resulted in good scores.  For good measure I'm also including a hand from the same session where I used losing trick count principles--a subject I'm currently writing about in the Bridge Bulletin.


Board 20
South Deals
Both Vul
♠ K 10 9
Q 10 7 3
J 5 2
♣ 4 3 2
♠ A 6
J 9 8 6 5
10 9 8 4
♣ 6 5
N
WE
S
♠ Q J 8 5 4
4
Q 7 6
♣ A Q 9 8
♠ 7 3 2
A K 2
A K 3
♣ K J 10 7
WestNorthEastSouth
JennFarid
1 ♣
Pass1 Pass2 NT
Pass3 NTAll pass


On this board (rotated) Farid found himself in a pushy 3NT contract with the 10 lead.  Questioning revealed that the 10 lead was from "0 or 2 higher", so he didn't yield to the temptation of playing the J and won in his hand.  How to get 9 tricks?

He started on hearts and East showed out on the 2nd heart.  After Farid took his 4 hearts he made a key play of leading a ♣  from the board and guessing correctly to play the 10 when East played low.  (He told me later that he detected a slight pause in the bidding by his RHO after my 1bid, so had decided to play his RHO for length and/or strength in the black suits.)  He later put East in with a spade who, having unattractive options, played on clubs again.

Farid himself will take up the narrative:  It is a good hand, but probably more of a lucky hand since RHO's heart shortness and guards in the other 3 suits made success almost automatic. It would probably make a good hand for help with counting tricks and various assumptions needed to succeed. However, I think the crucial lesson is that the lead convention (the ten lead promises 0 or 2 higher) is a double-edged sword; on that hand it cut our opponents.

Plus 600 was worth 39 out of 47 matchpoints.

2.  Next is a 3NT contract which I played (hands rotated):


Board 6
South Deals
N-S Vul
♠ J 10 7
A K J 10 6 3
2
♣ K 10 6
♠ A K 9 8 3
8 4
A 10 8
♣ Q 5 3
N
WE
S
♠ 5
Q 9 7 5 2
Q 9 6
♣ 8 7 4 2
♠ Q 6 4 2

K J 7 5 4 3
♣ A J 9
WestNorthEastSouth
FaridJenn
Pass
1 ♠2 Pass2 NT
Pass3 NTAll pass


We were probably lucky to get to game after my intial pass.  Farid made a good decision to bid 3NT rather than 4which would have had no chance.

The opponents started with 3 rounds of spades and I won on the board.  I next played the ace-king and the J lost to the queen.  After a long pause East shifted to a diamond and my jack forced the ace.  A spade return and a club guess (not really a guess as West needed to have the queen to have an opening bid) and I had my 9 tricks.  (2 spades, 3 hearts, 1 diamond and 3 clubs.)

Plus 600 was worth 40 out of 47 matchpoints.

3.  Farid dealt and opened 1♠ and I held: (board 24, hands rotated)

     ♠KJ
     ♥1098653
     ♦ 9763
     ♣9

RHO passed and so did I.  LHO bid 2D and partner rebid 2♠.  RHO now bid 3♣ and it was my call.

Not much of a hand, but when I counted my losers, there were only 8--which signified to me that the hand had some value.  Plus, two honors in the trump suit and a singleton couldn't be all bad, so I ventured a 3♠ call.  Partner bid 4♠ and I hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed with my hand.  The  ace was led.



Board 24
South Deals
None Vul
♠ K J
10 9 8 6 5 3
9 7 6 3
♣ 9
♠ 6 5 4
A K Q
J 4
♣ J 10 7 6 2
N
WE
S
♠ Q 8
7 4 2
A Q 10 8 2
♣ 8 5 3
♠ A 10 9 7 3 2
J
K 5
♣ A K Q 4
WestNorthEastSouth
JennFarid
1 ♠
PassPass2 2 ♠
3 ♣3 ♠Pass4 ♠
All pass

With the ♠ queen falling doubleton and the ace onside, it was a routine matter to ruff a club and make 5. Plus 450 was worth 41 of 47 matchpoints.

This was a good session and a fun event.  Unfortunately we couldn't carry the momentum into the evening session.

See you at the table!

1 comment:

Memphis MOJO said...

Kate and I had the opposite problem. We had our only bad session of the tournament in the first final, leaving us nowhere to go. We had a decent game at night, but started too far back.