5-5 Round

Round one of the Sunday Swiss was perhaps my favorite of the whole tournament. We were a bit unlucky to draw one of the top teams in the first round but did well with it.

On board 9 at favorable vulnerability, I picked up ♠ - ♥ Qxxxx ♦ AQJTxxx ♣ x. RHO opens 1♠ and I could trot out Michaels but I think the discrepancy in suit length and strength is big enough to bid diamonds first. I overcalled 2♦. LHO bid 4♠, passed back to me. I bid 4NT, ostensibly showing 2 places to play, although probably better diamonds than the second suit or I would have bid Michaels or Unusual 2NT earlier. Partner bids 5♣, I correct to 5♦, LHO competes to 5♠. I sac at 6♦, which gets passed out. I had already made up my mind to bid 7♦ over 6♠ with my defenseless hand. The defense didn’t take their club trick at trick one so it went away.

A couple of boards later, I picked up ♠ Ax ♥ QJ9xxx ♦ - ♣ AQTxx. This time Sean opens 1NT. There are so many options here and factoring in potential bidding misunderstandings, I’m not sure any of them are any better than just bidding 6♥, not even bothering to transfer. Our auction: 1NT-2♦; 2♥-3♣; 3♥-3♠; 4♣-5♦; 6♥-P. 3♥ set trumps, 3♠, 4♣ cues. 5♦ still seemed like exclusion to me. I didn’t want to exclusion over 3♥ because I wanted to let partner cue clubs. There might not be room after exclusion to check for the ♣K. 6♥ was, I guess, something like “I’m confused but I’m pretty sure this is a decent spot and I don’t want to miss slam.” We had everything but the ♥A and a few diamond honors.

On board 13, I had another 5-5 hand: ♠ ATxxx ♥ - ♦ Axx ♣ KQxxx. RHO opened 1♦ and this time I had no 2-suited bid available. With relatively equal suit quality, I overcalled 1♠. The opponents reached 4♥, down 1 at both tables for a push. Nothing exciting.

On the next board, I had yet another 5-5 hand: ♠ K9xxx ♥ x ♦ Kx ♣ KQT8x. This time, RHO opened 1♥ and I opted for a 2♣ overcall and got to play it there. This was also a push – I made 3 and our teammates, I think, were +100, maybe defending 2♥.