#124 7 5 W N E S
D-W A J 9 6 3 2 P 2H@ P 4H#
V-N/S Q T 7 3 P P P
6
J 9 6 3 Q 8
Q K T 8 @ Even at unfavorable vulnerability
A K 6 2 J 9 8 4 this hand SHOULD open 2h - the
9 8 5 2 K T 7 4 offensive prospects are too good
A K T 4 2 while the defensive hopes are
7 5 4 forlorn. PREEMPT here in order
5 to deprive them of bidding space.
A Q J 3
# Support with support, the oldest commandment in the book.
North misplayed this hand at trick eleven (he had drawn no trump) when he led a small heart from A J 9 … losing to the stiff Queen, and then losing one more trick en passant.
This hand may qualify as the instigator for seducing BBO players into coming up with the most improbable lines of play ever.. Suffice it to say that a count of either LOSERS with North as the master hand, or WINNERS, ought to see one through. In practice, 11 out of 12 heart declarers failed to take as many as ten tricks. The one declarer who DID take ten tricks, OF COURSE, was declaring five hearts, thinking that ROFLMFAO! He thought his hand was good enough to ask for aces opposite a vulnerable weak two opener. WRONG!
BECAUSE of the all around crappy declarer play exhibited all over the room, you got a below average result. You were DAMNED lucky that BOZO North didn't slap down the ace of farts on the table at trick eleven.
(The Lord loves us bi-polars with family histories of alcoholism and growing up in Blue Island, IL).
Counting Losers with North as the Master Hand (typically the long trump hand)
Spades: zero losers
Hearts: unknown for now – at least one, assume two (3-1 split) initially
Diamonds: four (up to three can be ruffed away – unless they lead trump)
Clubs: zero
With six losers, declarer must eliminate three of them
(a) Ruff three diamonds in dummy
(b) Win the club ace and lead the Queen, pitching a loser if West does not
cover the king … OR … finesse the club queen (if it loses you have
two pitches on the club A-J, and then need to ruff only one diamond
Counting Winners: With four sure winners, North must come to six extra
winners by ruffing – clubs in the South hand and
ruffing diamonds in the North hand
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#125 K 9 8 W N E S
D-N K Q - 2C 2H@ 2S
V-ALL K Q 6 2 P 4S# P 4N%
A K Q 7 P 5D P 6S
J 5 Q 3 P P P
A 4 J 9 8 7 6 5 3 2
J 7 3 9 5 @ Utterly pusillanimous – East
J T 9 6 5 2 3 ought to bid four hearts without
A T 7 6 4 2 pausing to catch her breath. With 3 HCP,
T the expectation is that the unseen hands
A T 8 4 will have about 15 HCP between them (the
8 4 2C opener usually having around 22) and you
expect your partner will have about half of those – 7½ – giving
your side 10½ HCP and their side 29½. You KNOW they have
a fit IN SOME SUIT, but you don't know what suit it is, and if you gum up the works with a four heart preempt, THEY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO UNCOVER THEIR FIT, ESPECIALLY if their fit is in a minor suit.
# Unless the partnership has some prior agreement where the JUMP to game in support of responder's suit after you have opened a strong two clubs is WEAKER than a simple raise, North is better of simply raising to three spades. This gives SOUTH a chance to show slam interest and keeps the bidding low in so doing.
% So often these 4NT bids are wrong, but here, South has TWO ACES OPPOSITE A STRONG TWO CLUB OPENING BID WITH A FIT! The rule is (via the Sharples Brothers – considered by many to be the best partnership bidding pair in the world), with two aces opposite a 2C opener, you belong in slam.
NOTE, gentle reader, that slam is not a guarantee (viewing only the NS cards). With the heart ace a loser, South needs to bring home the spade suit with no losers, which will happen whenter spades split 2-2, OR, with a 3-1 split with a stiff Honor when declarer can “guess” which opponent started with the singleton honor.
In the example hand above, if South were to take an a priori (before the fact)
guess as to which opponent would be the more likely to have started with a
singleton spade honor, the BEST GUESS would have been that East is the more
likely to have started with either the stiff Queen or stiff Jack.
WHY? Because East trots in vulnerable with two hearts over a two club opener
missing (only) the A-K-Q-T of hearts. Ergo, East has the heart length and is
more likely to be short in spades, SO, the proper way to start playing trump is
to play the ACE first, and if East drops an honor, to continue with a small spade
towards dummy's K-9 planning to finesse the nine.
IMP RESULT (9.27)
You were screwed by bad field bidding. Your composite N-S teammates are NOT
holding up their ends (for the second board in a row).
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#126 Q 9 6 5 3 W N E S
D-E - - - - P 1N@
V-N/S 8 6 4 2 2C# 2S$ P 3H^
A 8 5 4 P 3S& P 4N*
8 A J 7 4 P 5D( P 5S)
K J 4 3 T 7 6 5 P P X+ P
K Q 3 T 9 7 5 P P
Q 9 7 6 3 T
K T 2
A Q 9 8 2
A J
K J 2
@ This is far too much strength for a one no trump opener (unless you like to be declarer and your partnership plays transfers – ROFLMFAO)
# YES! Too much offensive potential for a pass. It is especially nice if you play 2C as promising TWO suits (double your chances of finding a suit fit) and opponents have sometimes been known to have nuclear meltdowns when you butt in over their strong 1NT opener.
$ Quite correct, ALSO a SIGN-OFF bid (as in, my bad partner, simply do not want to sell out to two clubs – HOWEVER, better to play SYSTEMS ON over a 2C overcall, and therefore TRANSFERS are on (2D-->2H; 2H-->2S) and X of two clubs = stayman (the only stolen bid double that ever made any sense)
^ No respect for a sign off; NOW is not the time to go introducing a new suit at the 3-level
& Yep – you simply cannot stand hearts which is at best on a 5-0 fit
“*” Gag me with a spoon – partner made a sign off bid (5-8 HCP) and now you want to go SLAMMIN because you opened a jack heavy? CRETIN; MORON; (I once bid like you).
( Damn lucky to have any aces on this auction
) Too bad you didn't have two aces partner (which you can't for your 2S sign off)
+ GREAT double – trump stack double with the long spades in front of your A J x x (a call that, sadly, I would probably not have found at the table. Must devlope more of a killer instinct when their blood is in the water.)
IMP RESULTS You got a very good one, taking advantage of opponents who did not
really know what to do in the face of competition over their 1NT
opening bid (much better to open the South hand 1H and jump rebid
two no trump – far more descriptive).
Kudos to you, Reggie for the two club overcall
Kisses to your partner for whacking them in five spades
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