8 Ever, 9 Never - LM Pairs Semi-Final

If I blindly followed the 8 ever 9 never rule, I would have never gone down 7, and would have almost certainly made the third day of the LM pairs, and wouldn't have this cool story about how my play from dummy at trick 3 was a 7 trick swing. If you pay attention to me on Facebook, you've probably already seen this.

At favorable vulnerability against Hampson and Greco, I picked up
ATx, AJxxx, QJxx, Kx.
It went P-3S to me. Pass I think is the correct call here (and I even thought so at the time) but I bid 3NT anyway. In dummy I found
xx, KTxx, Axxx, Jx.

We have a heart fit but 4H is still almost sure to go down while 3NT can make. If I pick up hearts for no losers and diamonds split with the K onside there are 9 easy tricks and even if LHO has 4 diamonds, it will become a fairly easy endplay with Hampson having to give me a club at the end. So after the S9 lead, I pondered at trick 1 for a minute or so before playing both major suit aces and then a heart to the ten. Greco took his Q and 6 spades and Hampson then ran his clubs for down 7 and -350.

Since I'm going to need the DK onside anyway to make, it is probably better to work on that suit first. I would find that the preemptor had a singleton diamond and then I would be much better positioned to get hearts right. -350 was worth 1.5 matchpoints while +400 would have been 86 on a 90 top.

Against the other top seed we played on Saturday (Bob Hamman and Justin Lall), they bid aggressively and went down a couple in a bad 4H contract and then I picked off their spade fit by overcalling with a 12 count and 4 decent spades instead of passing or doubling. That got us -430 instead of -450 and another good score but not enough to overcome all of the less than stellar things we did.

Philadelphia is a very nice city and I would like to have stayed longer but I have used enough vacation this summer and I don't think I could handle the 10 and 3 start times much longer.

DC regional

I am on the way back home from the Washington DC regional where Sean and I won 43 points or so in 14 sessions: placed overall in every event except the KO we entered with Mike Cappelletti and Loretta (lost by 2 in 2nd round).

Having the dog on the long trip was a delight, the house we rented 1 mile from the tournament was great (and cheap), the bridge was interesting, but the drive is too long.

Here is the most hilarious deal I've seen in awhile. I was west in 1st seat all vul. Our auction: P-2D-P-3NT-all pass. I hold A, KQTx, Jxxxx, xxx so I lead HK, dummy (north) has xxxx, Jxx, KQxxxx, void. Declarer cashes 7 clubs and on about the 5th one I realize I need to ditch the ace so I don't get endplayed easily. Shortly thereafter, p realizes this but has already pitched his low diamond, which would have been the diamond threat card in the dummy squeeze. Declarer's hand: QTxxx, A, void, AKQxxxx. Wows.

At Mikey's table, west opens a precision 1D, Mike finds a 1S overcall and Loretta with a 2 loser hand and Q fifth in partner's suit manages to bid 5S, which gets doubled. Trumps come in due 2 losers and we win 6. Crazy.

Sent from my iPhone

Finding the safe exit card

A couple of nights ago I found myself in a predicament on this defensive hand. Partner led the ♣2 (playing 4^th best) and NS were playing standard American so 1NT was not forcing.
 

West ♠ Qxx ♥ Qx ♦ KTxx ♣ JTxx
	South ♠ AKxxx ♥ Kxx ♦ AJ9 ♣ Kx

East	South	West	North
Pass	1♠	Pass	1NT
Pass	2NT	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

Declarer took the ♣K on the board and played a club to her Q before passing the ♥J to my ♥Q. Without really thinking I played 3^rd highest and then 4^th highest in clubs. In retrospect, I probably should have unblocked but was a bit concerned that partner led from 3 small and I wouldn’t want to be in a position to not get any club trick.

Anyway, I was in with the ♥Q at trick 3 and now I could see a potential endplay and having to break a pointed suit so I played the ♣T, hoping to deceive partner into thinking declarer has the ♣J and therefore not lead the 4^th round of clubs when she gets in with her presumed ♥A. No such luck. Declarer won the ♣A, won the ♥K, and played a heart to partner’s ace. Back came a club to me. Dummy has shed a diamond and a spade and declarer a diamond.

The bidding marks declarer with 8 or 9 hcp, possibly 10 and possibly only 7, and I know of 7 of those points already with 3 more hcp outstanding (♠J and ♦Q). The bidding also marks declarer with less than 3 spades and there’s a good chance she had a singleton spade. Dummy is left with ♠AKxx  ♥ -  ♦AJ  ♣- and I have ♠Qxx  ♥-  ♦KTx  ♣-. If only partner were on lead to play a diamond, all would be easy. I could score the ♦K and the ♠Q to set this contract.

Regardless of the spade situation, a diamond gives up one trick whenever declarer has the ♦Q (I’ll get only my ♠Q for our 4^th defensive trick) but is the winning play whenever partner has the Q, holding declarer to probably only 3 of the last 6 tricks and giving us 6 total tricks.

A spade gives up all of the last 6 tricks when declarer has ♠Jx (she gets the ♠J and that gives her an entry to cash the ♥T). When declarer has ♠xx or ♠Tx, any spade lead spade safely preserves at least 1 trick for the defense, plus a 2^nd one if partner has the ♦Q. When declarer has a singleton spade, partner may be able to score 2 spade tricks and I’ll still get my ♦K. We don’t want to lead a spade and get thrown back in with the ♠Q, only to have to lead away from the ♦K at trick 11, so maybe it’s better to play the ♠Q. Yes, if you decide to lead a spade, the ♠Q is the one to lead. It has the added bonus of winning when declarer has singleton ♠J, it doesn’t matter when declarer has ♠Jx (a low spade makes all 4 of them good) or a small stiff, and it wins when declarer has ♠xx (you can’t get endplayed again).

Both suits offer a chance to set the contract by 2 tricks while only a spade lead gives declarer a chance to make an overtrick. Does that make a diamond lead right? I don’t think so. It’s equally likely for declarer to have 8 or 9 hcp but there are a couple of things that tip the scales slightly toward leading a spade: 1) Partner chose to lead from 4 small. Would she lead that over ♦Qx or ♦Qxx? Absolutely. Would she lead that over xx, xxx, or xxxx? Probably but not necessarily. 2) Declarer did not try to establish the spade suit earlier so her spades are probably weak and therefore Jx is an unlikely spade holding.

Unfortunately, on this night declarer had ♠Jx and no ♦Q and made 4 for a tie for 6.5 out of 8 matchpoints.

Duplicating Boards

In case anyone has been wondering what the fastest way to duplicate boards by hand is, I've done an extensive study, I've done an extensive study and have determined that it is fastest to sort cards into suits, then distribute them accordingly. Here are my findings, with times being for one person doing the work from a completely unsorted deck with cards still in boards to having all 4 hands arranged and placed back in the board.

Method 1: separate cards by suit, do not sort by rank, distribute according to hand record: 109 seconds
Method 2: separate cards by suit, sort each suit by rank, then distribute face down one by one: 118 seconds
Method 3: distribute cards according to hand record in whatever order the cards happen to come up, then sort and check each hand: 127 seconds (Only 94 seconds if you don't sort and check at the end, but that tends to lead to too many errors)

In other, more interesting news, the first Warner Robins youth bridge camp will be underway with 7 students next week. Not a great response but at least it's happening. Hopefully the t-shirts will get here before the end of next week.

Monday to Friday tournaments

I’m afraid that the Atlanta July sectional is going to see an attendance increase this summer with the ridiculous Monday to Friday schedule. However, I hope it drops from its normal attendance of around 1000 tables so they won’t be tempted to try this again. In case you hadn’t noticed, this summer is the first time that Atlanta has had a tournament with no weekend games and it pisses me off. Seriously. Yeah, I get that bridge players are mostly retired people but making the tournament go from 10am Monday until 5pm Friday is REALLY terrible for those of us who have to work.  I generally love the Atlanta July 4^th super sectional because it is in a great location, has a strong field, has lots of free beer and ice cream, and I can normally play 7 sessions and sleep in without using any vacation time but with only the middle day of the tournament available to me without being on vacation, I won’t be able to enjoy the tournament nearly as much as normal.

 I’m sure every person who has an office job feels this way about having weekend games and you would think the retired folks wouldn’t care much whether the tournament is Wed-Sun or Mon-Fri. However, this is clearly not the case as almost every tournament drops off in attendance toward the end – maybe it’s because people don’t like playing on the weekend but maybe it’s just that the masses prefer going at the start of tournaments regardless of what day of the week it falls on or get irritated with their partner and go home early. I bet that if someone made a tournament be Saturday through Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday would be the biggest days. For people who don’t want to play the whole tournament and have flexibility, I think going at the beginning rather than the end is what most people would prefer.

In 2011, the tournament organizers did something that only slightly pissed me off. The tournament ended on Sunday, but the federal holiday was Monday, so out of the 3 day weekend, there was only bridge on 2 of those days.

I really want to boycott this tournament in protest of this schedule that is so anti-anybody who isn’t retired or on summer break. The problem is that most people I would play with are in or near Atlanta and going elsewhere would likely mean a trip to DC for the regional there. Financially, that’s not a smart thing to do but I may do it anyway. Not playing any bridge that week would be fine too, if I had something else going on, which I don't.

Simple Squeeze With the Count

Here is another of my favorite deals from the Birmingham regional, also in the Sunday Swiss. I was declarer in 6NT with a spade lead. How would you bring this one home? 

Dealer: S Vul: None	North ♠ xx ♥ xxx ♦ Axxx ♣ AJTx
	South ♠ AQx ♥ AKQ9 ♦ Kx ♣ KQxx

The free finesse (which is a wining finesse) gives you the 11^th trick. East had preempted in spades so you kind of knew the spade position anyway. Where is the 12^th trick coming from? If hearts are 3-3, the H9 will be a winner, but is there another place the 12^th trick could come from? Diamonds? Spades?

We already know east has the remaining spades so if he has 4 hearts, he can be squeezed in the majors, but that is very unlikely. If either opponent has 4 hearts and 4 diamonds, that person can be squeezed in the red suits.

First, you have to duck a trick to reduce yourself to 1 outstanding loser. In this case, duck a diamond (or play K and another diamond). Now, only the person who started with 4 diamonds can guard that suit and keep dummy’s small one from becoming good. The position you want to get to is to have A9 left in hand and Hx and Dx in dummy with the lead in dummy. The defenders would still have to hold a diamond honor and 2 hearts with an honor. Given that east started with 7 spades, odds are good that west started with 4 hearts and 4 diamonds.

Dealer: S Vul: None	North ♠ ♥ x ♦ x ♣ A
West ♠ ♥ JT ♦ Q ♣		East ♠ KJx ♥ ♦ ♣
	South ♠ ♥ A9 ♦ ♣ x

Upon cashing the CA at trick 11, east’s hand is immaterial and west cannot guard both diamonds and hearts. For declarer, it is easy: If the diamond is good, cash it at trick 12. If it’s not the boss, play a heart to the A and hope that the 9 is good.

To Rabbi or Not to Rabbi

I guess this would be considered a successful regional for the 2.5 days I attended. Joel, Jimmy, my dad, and I won a bracket 2 KO without breaking a sweat. It’s still amazing how huge a difference there is between the top bracket and everyone else. We are one of the few teams that falls solidly in between the true top flight and the low flight A and that seems to be how most of the teams I play on are. Sunday, we placed 2^nd in A/X – typical. Here’s one hand where I kind of snookered Tom Carmichael. I’m glad it was an expert declaring because he would count out the hand and reach what I think is the correct decision, albeit a decision that didn’t work out well in this case. Here it is (hands rotated, because I would never sit east): 

Dealer: E Vul: Both	North ♠ A9x ♥ Qxxx ♦ AQJx ♣ Jx
	South ♠ KJxxxx ♥ Ax ♦ xx ♣ Qxx

West	North	East	South
		1♥	1♠
X	2♥	3♣	3♠
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Pass

Put yourself in Tom's shoes. West leads the HK. Yay! Tom wins the ace, plays a spade to the A and a spade back. No yay as east shows out, discarding an encouraging club. To buy some time for making the critical guess, he gives west his spade trick (east discarding a heart). West then leads a middle club, east plays AK and another. After winning the CQ, most declarers would probably just take the diamond finesse and be done with it. Instead, Tom realizes that east has opened the bidding and is known to have only 8 hcp outside of diamonds. Meanwhile, west has made a negative double and is known to have only 5 hcp outside diamonds and the DK is the critical card.

Tom cashes 2 trumps to see if that gains any helpful discards. East discards another club and then a heart and west discards some diamonds. So east started with 5 clubs and west only 3 – interesting. Now we know that east’s distribution is either 1-5-2-5 or 1-6-1-5 and west is either 3-2-5-3 or 3-1-6-3. The odds certainly favor them having the most distributional hands (1-6-1-5 with east and 3-1-6-3 with west) since they were so active in the auction with so few values. If east started with Kx, the contract is doomed. He pitches after dummy so no red suit squeeze is possible. Now Tom has to guess whether east started with stiff K or small stiff. Is x, JTxxxx, x, AKTxx enough to open the bidding (first seat, all vulnerable)? Is Qxx, K, Txxxxx, xxx enough to make a negative double of 1S? It basically comes down to deciding which of those are more likely. If it matters, I was the opener and my dad (certainly the more aggressive bidder of the two of us) was the responder. I’m pretty sure I would have tried to Rabbi (drop a singleton K offside), as Tom did. Even if you think that me opening with a 6-5 8-count and my dad negative doubling with a 6331 5-count are equally likely, successfully Rabbi-ing is a cooler play and therefore the one I would go for. Despite this big swing for us, Tom and company (Capp Jr, Onstott, and Casen) won the match by 11, won the event, and were the top masterpoint winners for the whole tournament by a big margin.

Dealer: W Vul: Both	North ♠ A9x ♥ Qxxx ♦ AQJx ♣ Jx
West ♠ Qxx ♥ K ♦ KTxxxx ♣ xxx		East ♠ x ♥ JT9xxx ♦ x ♣ AKTxx
	South ♠ KJxxxx ♥ Ax ♦ xx ♣ Qxx