Our pre-empts are not stereotyped

Sam and I played in the Stirling Pairs again, but we missed a few chances and failed to beat last year's 10th place with our 55%.

We play a fairly loose style and this is typified by our pre-emptive style. This was the first (Scottish readers who also played should note that I rotate hands for convenience):

♠ 2 ♥ AKQ ♦ AJ97 ♣ KQ852

♠ K987654 ♥ ♦ T82 ♣ A64

West	North	East	South
Paul		Sam
	p	3♠	p
4♠	p	p	p

Bidding 4♠ was the normal action although 3NT is the real winner. Sam lost the expected three trump tricks. [Update: Iain tells me that although Deep Finesse makes 10 tricks in 3NT, mere mortals only make 9 so 4♠ was fine]

Then I got abuse for my weak 2-bid, from Sam and the opponents!

♠ x ♥ JT7xxx ♦ xx ♣ xxxx

♠ Kxx ♥ AKQx ♦ xx ♣ AQJT

West	North	East	South
Paul		Sam
2♥	p	2NT1	p
3♣2	p	4♥	p
p	p

¹ Relay
² Minimum suit, minimum points

Sam's 2NT is more an expression of joy than a useful bid. With no slam interest a straightforward 4♥ bid would give the opponents less information. The contract went one down when the club finesse failed, but scored very well as the opponents were generally making game in spades.

Not to be outdone, on the second board Sam opened 3♣ at Love All on the following:

♠ xxx ♥ x ♦ xxx ♣ JT9xxx

This time it did not prevent the opposition bidding their cold slam.

We missed a slam on the final example, but I'm still happy with the bidding:

♠ AQT9876 ♥ x ♦ xx ♣ Qxx

♠ ♥ Axxx ♦ Axx ♣ AKTxxx

West	North	East	South
Paul		Sam
	p	1♣	X
4♠	p	p	p

Things were not quite so simple at the table as the auction may suggest. When I bid 4♠ I knew that there was a chance that Sam would think that this was a void-showing jump, but I hoped that West's double and my spade length together meant that she would be too short in the suit to believe this. My fears were realised as she went into the tank, but eventually got the decision right! On a heart lead I played the spades correctly (ace then queen) to record 12 tricks. Slam is always there in clubs but too tough to bid after the takeout double.

We've now (sensibly) agreed that a jump to a four of a major is natural after a minor suit opening, whatever the interference.

Have you discussed this?

Back at the club for the next round of the pairs. We did not play well, probably only just above average, but three hands came up that our small set of agreements did not cover.

♠ Kxx ♥ AKxxx ♦ AQ ♣ KT9

♠ Axxx ♥ Qxx ♦ Jx ♣ AQxx

West	North	East	South
Paul		Reg
2NT	p	3♣	p
3♥	p	4NT	p
p	p

Reg used Puppet Stayman and then bid a Keycard 4NT. However to me this sounded like a quantative 4NT suggesting spades. Either of us could be right, you just need to have an agreement. My normal methods would cue bid before bidding Blackwood, thus saving the 4NT in this auction to be quantative.

This time we were lucky, as hearts were 4-1 and the diamond finesse failed.

♠ xx ♥ Ax ♦ AKJTx ♣ Kxxx

♠ KJxx ♥ ♦ xxx ♣ AJ8xxx

West	North	East	South
Paul		Reg
1♦	p	1♠	p
2♣	p	3♥?

There are two potential meanings for Reg's 3♥ bid. With most of my partners it shows club support and shortage in hearts, but I know many people also use this to show a game forcing 5-5 major hand. I'm not sure whether we've discussed this but it seemed unlikely that the opponents had not bid with 10+ hearts so I presumed Reg had the 5-5 shape. This meant that we missed another slam, although it is less than 50% it did make this time.

♠ Kxx ♥ Qxx ♦ AKxx ♣ QTx

♠ AJT ♥ AKTx ♦ QJx ♣ KJx

West	North	East	South
Paul		Reg
		1♥	p
2♦	p	2NT	p
3NT	p	p	p

The 2NT rebid is Acol is 15+ and game forcing. We play a 3NT rebid as 15-16 with no concerns, so 2NT should be 17+ balanced or 15-16 with doubt over the best contract. I should just rebid 4NT and let Reg bid the slam. Mea culpa!

There is a green card in the box

In these times of light opening bids, aggressive overcalls and fierce competition, it is easy to forget that the green Pass card is meant to be used occasionally. A couple of hands illustrated this in our third round Scottish Cup match.

♠ Ax ♥ KQxxx ♦ KQxxx ♣ A

West	North	East	South
Paul		David
	p	p	1♥
?

I passed in tempo, a little surprised by the choice of opening bid, and then saw two further passes. Leading a top diamond was clear and dummy put down a 6 count with 5-5 minors and 3 spades. Careful defence meant that we took the contract one down, partner holding 5-5 in the blacks with two jacks, but I was concerned that we would lose IMPs here. Alex would definitely not pass with dummy's hand and they could get doubled in 2♥.

My fears were realised, in that the bidding did go 1♥-(Pass)-1NT-(Pass)-2♥-(Dbl) ... but luckily this was misinterpreted as takeout and the weak hand started bidding ... and Roy and Alex started doubling ... and the final result was +15 IMPs to the good guys.

In the second half I faced a difficult decision in the balancing seat:

♠ AJT9 ♥ Ax ♦ Kx ♣ KJ9xx

West	North	East	South
Paul		David
	1♠	p	p
?

In the balancing seat I am too strong for 1NT (which would show 11-14 points). Double is unattractive with these red suits and, again, I am really too strong for a balancing 2♣ and the suit is poor. North-South were playing 4-card majors but would generally open a 4-card minor with two 4-card suits, so I expected North to hold a 5-card spade suit or a balanced hand with 15+ points. Hence, if he was weak, partner may well have doubled with points so I took the low road and passed. Once again David held two points and we defended soundly to hold the contract to seven tricks, gaining an IMP.

Overall we play very soundly and won the 32-board match by 110-35 IMPs. The quarter final, against the Outreds (#3 seeds), will be next month.

Quiet night

I'd missed the first couple of rounds of the club's teams championship, but I was back in place last night playing with Malcolm.  He had only just arrived back from spending the vacation at Penguin World, also known as Antartica - I can recount his entire experience now as he was forced to tell the story at every table.

It was a frustrating evening with a really quiet set of hands - loads of boring games, no biddable slams and few competitive auctions.

In the end we finished in the middle of the field. We were undone by bidding a couple of games that did not make, and a couple of actions from Malcolm that did not work out. This was one hand where aggression did not pay:

♠ AJ9xxxx ♥ xx ♦ AQTx ♣

♠ T ♥ QTx ♦ KJ9x ♣ Qxxxx

West	North	East	South
Paul	Diana	Malcolm	Margaret
	p	p	p
1♠	2♥	X	3♥
4♠	p	p	p

I was surprised to see three green pass cards on the table when I held a distributional eleven count, but was happy to make the first bid. Then everyone got involved and I closed the auction hoping that Malcolm had working values.

The second surprise was Diana's lead of the ♦4. Although this was probably a singleton it does not affect the play. With two heart losers I needed to play the trumps for a single loser. This really requires a 3-2 break with Margaret (South) holding ♠Hx, and Diana to misguess the entry to Margaret's hand if there is a ruff available.

The singleton lead increases the chances of a favourable spade lie, so I won the lead in dummy and led the ♠10. This ran to Diana's ♠K and she switched smoothly to a small heart to Margaret's king. I expected Margaret to give a diamond ruff, but holding only a doubleton herself there was clearly not one available, so sensibly she tried to cash the ♣A. My hope for the contract rose but was shortlived as the ♠Q did not fall under the ace and I went one down.

At the other table Ros made 9 tricks in 3♠ to win them 6 IMPs. Presumably she just safety played the hand, playing spades from the top, to prevent any potential diamond ruff.

Chink in the armour?

Back at the Berwick club and I have a poor session with Reg, giving some hope to those chasing us in the club pairs championship.

It wasn't all our fault, though we did make our fair share of errors, as our opponents did some good things too:

♠ KQxxxx ♥ ♦ Ax ♣ KJxxx

♠ ATx ♥ Jx ♦ KTxx ♣ AQxx

West	North	East	South
Paul	Christine	Reg	Morven
	3♥	p	4♥
4♠	p	p	p

After Reg decided not to double, Morven's 4♥ bid took valuable space away and I think it is too difficult to bid the grand slam now.

We missed another slam later on. It was not a great contract but our auction gave us no hint that we were close to one.

♠ AKTxx ♥ QTxxx ♦ Qxx ♣

♠ Jxx ♥ Ax ♦ AT9 ♣ AKTxx

West	North	East	South
Paul	Val	Reg	Marjorie
1♠	p	2♣	p
2♥	p	4♠	p
p	p

In typical Acol, Reg's sequence shows a delayed game raise (DGR): a 12 or 13 count would be normal, not a control-rich 16 points. Better would be to use fourth-suit forcing and then raise spades to show a hand that was too good for the direct auction chosen. Soft values in the red suits, and a void in partner's suit, mean that I'd still not be interested but, with better hearts or spades, I would be able to move towards a good slam.

We'll be back for the next round in a couple of weeks time.

(Apparently less of a chink than I imagined as we won with 61%)

First game of the year

I partnered Patrick for the first game of the year, playing against Dundas in the league.

Our first board should have been flat in the match, but things could have been very different.

♠ Ax ♥ Kxx ♦ AKJ ♣ AQxxx

♠ x ♥ Qxx ♦ T9xxxx ♣ KJx

West	North	East	South
Paul	Tony	Patrick	Archice
Les		Dave
		p	3♠
3NT	p	p	p

West	North	East	South
	Kenny		Sam
	Iain		John
		p	3♠
X	4♠	5♦	p
6♦	p	p	p

With diamonds splitting 4-0 offside all contracts went down (actually a couple of internationalists let Les make, but no-one would explain how!). Les and I are still pretty happy with our 3NT bids, and I guess the Dundas players happy with their doubles!

A few boards later we did not cope well with a multi-2♦ opening:

♠ JT ♥ Kx ♦ KQJx ♣ AKQxx

♠ A98xxx ♥ Jx ♦ xx ♣ xxx

West	North	East	South
Paul	Tony	Patrick	Archie
	p	p	2♦1
p	2♥2	p	p
X	p	3♠	p
3NT	p	p	p

¹ Weak 2-bid in a major or strong
² Pass or correct

4♠ is a much better contract as it has a good chance of making, unlike 3NT. I was concerned that Patrick may only have 5 spades, and may have a slow heart stop. Patrick thought 3♠ showed his hand well. The inferences from the auction are delicate and we are not a regular partnership and, as Les commented at half-time, these inferences are always a lot clearer to the person making them!

Only three contracts made in the first half so we had a small lead, 1210-1010. Les and Dave were about 1000 points better than us. Overall the 49ers led by about 1000 points.

The second half featured a lot more scoring with no partscores. Tony and Archie had a eccentric auction to the right contract on board 14.

♠ xxx ♥ AKJ ♦ AJTxx ♣ Qx

♠ AQTx ♥ xx ♦ KQxx ♣ AKT

West	North	East	South
Archie	Paul	Tony	Patrick
		1♦	p
1♠	p	3♠	p
6♦	p	p	p

At the end the 49ers eked out a narrow win, so remain unbeaten at the top of the league. Our final score was about the same as Les and Dave, their opponents playing a lot better in the second half.

New Year Partnership Quiz

There are no correct answers to the following problems. In fact I am not interested in your answers so there is no need to respond, unless you'd like a debate. All that matters is what you think your partner would do on these hands, so discuss them with them and see if you are on the same wavelength.

You are always West, the problems are for IMPs/Aggregate but the vulnerability will change.


Hand 1; IMPs; NS Vul

♠ KQT93 ♥ J9 ♦ 6543 ♣ 108

West	North	East	South
			1♣
?

Hand 2; IMPs; Game All

♠ AT84 ♥ Q6 ♦ KJ73 ♣ KT9

West	North	East	South
1NT	2♥	X	p
?

Hand 3; IMPs; EW Vul

♠ KQT932 ♥ J9 ♦ Q54 ♣ T8

West	North	East	South
2♠	X	2NT	p
?

Hand 4; IMPs; Love All

♠ AT84 ♥ Q6 ♦ K873 ♣ KT9

West	North	East	South
1NT	p	2♣	p
2♠	p	4NT	p
?

Hand 5; IMPs; NS Game

♠ 4 ♥ KQJ654 ♦ 8752 ♣ 32

West	North	East	South
?

Hand 6; IMPs; EW Game

♠ 4 ♥ KQJ654 ♦ 8752 ♣ 32

West	North	East	South
			p
?

Hand 7; IMPs; Game All

♠ AT98 ♥ QJ8 ♦ KJ92 ♣ 32

West	North	East	South
		p	1♣
?

Hand 8; IMPs; Love All

♠ AQ7 ♥ K4 ♦ AK873 ♣ AT2

♠ 4 ♥ 87 ♦ KQT64 ♣ AQT76

♠ KQT ♥ KQ4 ♦ AQ ♣ AQJ42

West	North	East	South
	1♠	p	p
2NT

Which hand matches the 2NT bid? How would you bid the other two hands?



Hand 9; IMPs; Game All

♠ 82 ♥ QT872 ♦ J763 ♣ 32

West	North	East	South
	1♥	p	1♠
p	4♣1	p	4♠
p	p	p

¹ splinter

You decide to lead a trump. Which spade do you lead?