This is a blog about my experiences in bridge - bridge ethics, defensive problems, play problems, tournament results, junior bridge, and notes about canape, and Fantunes systems. Read about my computer ranking system for college football (Click college football under popular subjects or visit Asbury CFB Rankings and Predictions.), read Je Veux Voyager.
Monday, October 28, 2013
College Football Rankings for week 10
Friday, October 11, 2013
College Football rankings after Week 6
It's interesting to note that my computer is picking Missouri to knock off Georgia 35-33 in Athens. I checked the formulas. They're all correct - it just gave the Dawgs some major negative momentum after struggling with Tennessee last week. Other notable predictions: BYU 30, GT 26. LSU 30, Florida 23. Alabama 37, Kentucky 16.
Some hands from the Valdosta sectional
Here
are a couple of deals from the sectional in Valdosta last weekend.
Matchpoints W dealer EW vulnerable |
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East |
South |
West |
North |
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Pass |
1♦ |
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Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
1NT |
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Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
2♥ |
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Pass |
4♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
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Pass |
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North ♠ T87 ♥ K82 ♦ A432 ♣ AK9 |
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West ♠ KQ65 ♥ T96 ♦ T85 ♣ 532 |
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You
lead the fairly normal ♠K. Partner
follows with the 3 and declarer takes the A, then draws trumps in three rounds
with partner showing up with Q3 and discarding an encouraging D6 (upside down
attitude). Declarer plays a low spade from hand. Decision
time.
Let’s
take a minute to think about the situation. All we really know about the
distribution is that declarer has 5 hearts and partner likes diamonds. Where is
the SJ? We don’t know, but if partner has it, we ought to play low, just
in case he started with a doubleton. If declarer has the SJ, there is no rush
to take the Q unless declarer could get to discard it. Dummy’s clubs and
diamonds don’t look to threatening, especially since partner encouraged
in diamonds.
There
is, however, one situation in which it is crucial to take the SQ now. If
declarer started with ♠AJx and ♣Qx, our spade trick
will go away on the third round of clubs. Declarer would also need a holding
where discarding a diamond wouldn’t help, such as QJx
or Qxx (given that partner has the K, both of those
holdings have 1 loser whether you discard one on a club or not). Also, declarer
might not even try to sneak a spade through with that holding, so the signs
point toward ducking this trick. Sure enough, on this layout, partner held ♠Jx.
This
other deal isn’t actually that interesting but it’s an auction you
don’t see very often: P-3♥-P-7♥; P-P-P. I held ♠AKQ5 ♥AKQ ♦A765 ♣A5. You can count 12 tricks off the
top, and there are a few places you could get the 13th trick, so I
took a chance and bid the grand that no one else in the room bid. The preemptor
could have the ♠J, ♦K, ♣K,
3 spades and a 3-3 split, 8 hearts, all making 7NT a laydown. The only way 7♥ could pick up is if partner has
only 6 hearts and Kxx. Then you would need a club
ruff for the 13th trick. Granted, that’s pretty unlikely, but it
was the reasoning behind bidding 7♥
instead of 7NT in a field where I figure bidding and making any grand would be
90% of the matchpoints.