Yet Another Bridge Blog

Takeout Doubles are (Nearly) Forcing

2010-04-29T10:43:00.002-04:00

At our table, I passed for 100% of the matchpoints. The only other table that duplicated the auction to this point passed also. East tried to save in diamonds, but was doubled for 87.5% of the matchpoints.

One other table played in diamonds, undoubled, for 50% of the matchpoints.

North/Souths who declared did not, in general, fare well. 3C-1 by south was a common result.

Normally, partner's double would have forced me to bid. With 7 strong clubs, I was happy to make a rare exception.

Simplicity

2010-04-29T10:28:00.002-04:00

Board 10 from Monday's Matchpoints game. Almost everyone is in 4 hearts. A low spade is led to east's queen:

I won with the ace, and the ace of hearts showed that trumps are no worse than 3-1.

At this point, I think, there's a pretty trivial play to try for an overtrick. At the table, most found it, and 4H+2 scored 75% of the matchpoints, while 4H+1 only scored 18.75%.

I drew 2 rounds of trump ending with the king, and cashed the king of spades, discarding a club. One player discarded a diamond, which is wrong. I then played the Ace and King of clubs, and ruffed a club, everyone following. Now I played a diamond to the ace (one player had cashed the ace of diamonds earlier, leaving no entry to dummy). Now, I played the thirteenth club, and discarded a diamond (one player got this far then ruffed a spade).

Granted, clubs being 3-3 is only something like a 36% chance of happening, but there was no harm in trying. Would you have found this at the table? In a 12 board ACBL game, finding this play adds over 4.6% to your final matchpoint score.

Sorry, But....

2010-04-05T14:51:00.002-04:00

Playing in the Sunday IMPs league, I had this awkward bidding situation:

Maybe you agree with my pass, maybe not. Certainly, playing with a new partner, I felt that any other bid was going to be a lie, and I trusted partner to reopen. Ok, so partner reopened, now what?

It's really easy to foresee losing the first 5 tricks in 3NT. I have some spade length, but even IF partner has 2 spades Notrump isn't going to go well. If not notrump, then what?

Well, hearts might be right, but 3 card support with a 4333 is not great news for partner. In fact, it's not impossible that partner has only 3 hearts himself.

On the other hand, partner probably has passable clubs. He opened clubs instead of diamonds, and is shortish on spades, so clubs is probably a real suit.

I opted for 3 clubs, which got passed out. Partner held:

30 HCPs, and no game to be had. At first, I felt like apologizing to partner, but as it turned out stopping short of game was going to be worth IMPs, 6 as it turned out.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, this bidding was easy, I think, right or wrong. It was a good reminder, though, that there's more to life than high card points.

Learning, or Lack Thereof

2010-03-29T08:28:00.004-04:00

Saturday night, before I went to bed, I checked the BBO Beginner/Intermediate forum, and came across this problem. It took me until the next morning to figure it out.

6 hours later, I played this hand, and completely forgot the lesson I'd learned.

Sad part it, it's the same bloody problem. I was just in too much of a hurry to think it through.

*sigh*

We had our third narrow loss in the Sunday morning teams match. This time, the key hand was my mistake, and it was a rookie one. Really awful play by me, as I saw the risk, miscounted, and talked myself into making the mistake. Sad part is, there's probably no upside to the way I played it anyways (or at least very VERY little).

Still, despite being only 1-3, we're third in an 8 team league, only 9 VPs out of first. Of course, we're only 4 VPs out of 7th. :)

The Science of Selling Yourself Short

2010-03-22T14:49:00.003-04:00

If I have one regret over the past 2 years, bridge wise, it's this - a while back, I was in the same tournament as a player who I consider to be at least high expert, possibly world classed. We talked a bit after the tournament, and the expert said "we should play a few hands together sometime". I never followed up on that offer.

It's not that I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of playing with a far better player. It's just that I lacked, and still lack, confidence in general. I'm no expert, but I'm not really a rank beginner anymore. I'm especially pleased with my improvement over the last 12-15 months - I'm not exactly pulling off complex squeezes yet, but my awareness and even my judgement (gasp) have vastly improved over that timeframe. If I continue to improve at this rate, goodness only knows what I'll be capable of by next year.

That said, I still get intimidated by situations and people all the time. I'm a bundle of nerves at the club games, and figure the better club players could clean my clock (probably true, but untested). In situations where a partner or better player compliments me, I tend to shrug it off.

The real problem arises when I reach a difficult spot in the bidding or play of a hand. Rather than trusting my judgment, or my ability to work out a difficult problem at the table, I shy away, and make some snap decision based on fear or uncertainty. The post-mortem often shows that the solution was easier than I'd thought, or that I'd made the same mistake before and should have known better.

I'm not sure what it's going to take for me to start playing and approaching bridge in general with confidence, but I really look forward to that day.

Beyond High Card Points

2010-03-17T14:23:00.002-04:00

Playing 2/1 this week, I had to decide how to respond to 1 spade with:

I took a moment to consider, but decided that I was worth a game forcing 2 hearts raise. I solicited a few opinions on this decision, and have met with nothing but approval.

It does take a bit to break away from the high card point mindset, but I'm getting there.

Not Drawing Trump

2010-01-25T09:25:00.006-05:00

Normally Sunday night social games are the opportunity for me to turn my brain off and play some lousy bridge. Last night, perhaps buoyed by a big win in our teams match Sunday morning, I was fairly alert.

The following hand stood out, not because I made a brilliant play (I can't tell, but it might not even matter in the end), but because of what I was looking for....

At trick 2, the automatic thing to do, I guess, would be to lead trump. My losers in trump and hearts are completely inevitable, however, spades look at least interesting. If I'd had AQ instead of AJ, the possibility of an endplay looks far clearer, but I decided to take a shot, anyways. I decided there was very little risk.

So I claimed my 3 diamond tricks, throwing a heart. I then led trump, won on my left. The queen of hearts held, and I smiled. LHO wound up leading spades twice, and my JS ended up being the overtrick.

Granted, the JS probably sets up anyways, so it probably made no difference on this hand. Still, I was pleased that I'd struck on the idea of playing this way. If I'd held the queen of spades instead of the jack, or if I'd lacked sufficient entries to finesse spades twice, this approach might have helped me win an extra trick.

Right Play, Wrong Hand

2010-01-12T12:41:00.003-05:00

Last night, I got to declare a fairly mundane 4 hearts contract.

At trick 4, knowing the hearts were 3-2, I took a misstep, and led the queen of clubs. LHO won and returned a spade, and right away I could see why I hadn't needed to worry - I could have taken the final trump straight away.

However, if dummy had stared with 3 or more spades, my play would have been correct.

The issue is whether opponents can run you out of trumps to promote a spade winner before the clubs are promoted. In this case, you draw the oustanding trump, lose one club, ruff a spade in hand, lose another club, ruff the next spade on the board, and even though you're now out of trump, you're good.

Note that there's no reason to ever take the diamond finesse.

This was a classic case of seeing something, but not thinking quite deeply enough.

1 Step Forward...

2010-01-11T09:20:00.004-05:00

This weekend I played quite a few hands, and learned 2 things:

- I don't overcall or balance enough.
- When playing for fun, I let my brain shut off, and make very poor decisions.

The only thing that makes me feel good about my play this past weekend was this hand:

Not sure if this was the best line, but I started on clubs. A low club yielded the King from LHO, so I won. I then returned to hand, and ran another low club. Both times, I was prepared to duck if LHO did. This time he did, and I did, too. RHO won the with the ten, which meant that I was safe.

He was even nice enough to return a diamond for an overtrick.

This line fails to 4-1 clubs, and KJT on my left, but if the JT are split, I can make on any 3-2. The key is not to let LHO lead a diamond, especially if they wind up being 5-3.

I Should Know Better

2009-10-26T08:59:00.002-04:00

My biggest frustration lately is making mistakes that I feel that I shouldn't be making.

Playing in a very close team match, the last hand looks like this:

Get it right, you win. Get it wrong, you lose.

At the table, my mind went "if partner doubles, I have to pull - I have less controls than I've shown, and double will just be showing extras". So I pulled.

This is of course completely wrong. That thinking is the old me, back before I started reading, asking questions, and thinking. What's really going on? Opponents are likely no better than 4-4 in hearts. With my short hearts, partner rates to have some hearts. Also, my 4 diamond bid didn't show anything more than what I have really, even vulnerable. And while I had never played with this partner before, 11 previous hands had shown him (her?) to be completely competent.

All I have to do is trust partner, not rescue him/her, and we win.

The team captain was very gracious after the match, but our opponent, my Monday partner, had some sage advice. Just play more often.

There are a thousand good reasons why I can't play 100 hand a week, or devour a bridge book a month to further my game. All that is fine, but maybe, just maybe, I know enough now that in order to jump to the next level I need to play a few hundred (thousand?) hands. I feel like I'm becoming more aware, and that my head has much more good bridge knowledge in it than it did a year or two ago. Maybe if I just start playing, and playing with confidence rather than fear, the patterns that I should already know will influence my thinking at the table, for the better.

No Chance

2009-10-26T08:38:00.004-04:00

My bidding judgment is being refined as time goes on. There's a time where I would never have accepted a game invite after opening 1NT with 4333 and 15 HCP.

I never said my bidding judgment was getting BETTER....

The jack of diamonds was led. Not bad - we're light point wise, but the extra trump means that if hearts are 2/2 I'm making.

LHO showed out on the second heart.

Ok, so there's no chance. I look it over. No chance. No chance.

Well, some chance.

I eliminate diamonds, and lose my first club. LHO wins and fires back a spade to partner's jack, and my ace. That spade return was a huge help.

Now, I know that RHO has the last trump. If he's got the queen of spades, maybe, just maybe, I can get endplay him into leading spades for me.

On the second club, LHO played the king, and RHO overtook with the ace. (Yay!) RHO played his jack of hearts, then exited a low spade.

Well, it was only ever a faint hope. I duck, and win with the ten.

Yay me.

Well, sort of. Turns out RHO still had the ten of clubs. If he exits with the club, I'm down 1, which maybe I deserve to be. Still, I made a plan, watched the spots carefully, and gave myself an extra chance to make.

It's something.

Cookie

2009-09-14T21:35:00.002-04:00

What would you do?

My partner, given this problem, passed, and earned himself a cookie (and 100% of the matchpoints).

Blind Spots

2009-09-11T08:12:00.002-04:00

Thanks to some excellent comments on an earlier post, as well as a simple defense problem posted on the BBF Beginner/Intermediate forum, it's becoming clear to me that I've got a blind spot - namely, overtaking on defense.

I've put aside Kelsey's Killing Defense, as I felt like it was a little over my head. Maybe it just required more effort than I was able to put into a read just now.

I'm going to have to find a way to address this problem.

Knowledge is Power

2009-09-08T11:51:00.002-04:00

Even though I still have a lot to learn, every so often a hand comes along that I just seem to know what's going on around the table. I'm finding that these types of hands are a lot of fun.

Opening lead: Ten of diamonds

So why didn't west lead a spade? Well, if east has 7, that leaves none for west!

Ok, so west has AKxxxxx in spades. Any chances he has either of the minor suit kings? Unlikely, as he might have opened 1S with 10 HCP and a 7 card suit.

I decide (rightly or wrongly) to try for a 3-3 diamond split with the king on my left, so I won in hand and led a diamond towards the 8. It held, but RHO showed out.

I continued with the jack, LHO winning. A diamond was returned to the board. I lost a spade and the ten of hearts from my hand.

Ok cashing the ace of diamonds would be catastrophic, as I'd squeeze myself. I'm still guaranteed a club entry to dummy, though, so I'm still ok. Expecting that the finesse would fail, and knowing that a holdup could cause me problems, I led a club to the ace, then a low club back, which was covered by west. When the ten of clubs fell out of east's hand, I was guaranteed 3NT+2, for 100% of the matchpoints.

Gutted

2009-09-08T11:30:00.001-04:00

You win the third round of hearts, and immediately attack clubs.

I'm completely gutted that I did not duck the first club trick. This is a play that I would expect to make.

After his hand, I (somewhat melodramatically) messaged the following to my mentor: "Apparently I have no idea how to play bridge."

VuGraph Tricks

2009-09-07T07:51:00.005-04:00

I seldom watch VuGraph, but yesterday decided to try to watch a few hands from the Bermuda Bowl. Thanks to one of the commentators, I learned a new trick yesterday.

I happened to observe the open room between Germany and Bulgaria. West (the dealer), Andreas Kirmse, played in 3 spades, after a competetive auction in which all four players bid. If I had to guess, I would say that east opened and south overcalled along the way.

The opening lead was the 5 of hearts. While I don't recall exactly how things went, south presumably took the ace. For the sake of illustration, we'll say that south, Bulgaria's Diyan Danailov, returned the 9 of clubs. North cashed his two club winners, and returned a third club, which south ruffed.

At this point, my feeling was that it didn't matter, much, what south returned. His ace of diamonds should always be cashing (the Germans don't appear to have a running side suit for discards).

Danailov cashed his ace of diamonds before exiting. One of the commentators pointed out that he was pretty much marked with the king of spades from the bidding (his partner has already shown all 6 of his points). Cashing the ace of diamonds can be seen as an attempt to show all his points, to give declarer more of a guess as to the location of the king of spades.

Alas, declarer Kirmse wasn't to be fooled. He won, and led a low spade to dummy. After a moment's consideration, he correctly rose with the ace, dropping the king.

A Deeper Example

2009-08-08T16:46:00.014-04:00

Partner opens 1 diamond. RHO overcalls 1 heart, which LHO raises to 2.

A diamond lead seems obvious, and I see this:

Declarer wins the 9, cashes the ace of hearts, then runs the ten of spades around to partner's jack. Partner cashes the king of clubs and ace of diamonds, then leads the 5 of diamonds to us for a ruff.

I was taking my time, and had a decent idea what was going on. Partner had both the queen of clubs and king of spades, and was likely out of hearts. I felt like there was a chance that declarer could rise with the ace of spades and run out, so I underled my ace of clubs. Partner rose with the queen, and returned the two of diamonds. Declarer discarded a spade, and I ruffed for down 1.

...earning roughly 45% of the masterpoints. I was crushed, after all the analysis I'd done.

Turns out some people put 2 hearts down 2. Reviewing their play, the key play was to return a spade, NOT a club. It turns out that declarer was 3433. The club trick was never going away, but the spade could. I had feared that declarer was 2533 and would simply rise with the ace if I returned a spade, and never lose the king. As it turned out, if declarer did rise with the ace, he would wind up stuck on the board, and would be forced to either lose an extra club, or the trump trick that I wound up with anyways.

I'm pleased when I take the time to analyze hands like this. I just need to keep thinking, and not stop when the process gets a bit deeper, a bit more complicated.

Trickery

2009-08-08T16:20:00.005-04:00

Ok, so this isn't exactly a story of brilliance, but sometimes you can't get lucky unless you give yourself a chance.

In a strictly-for-fun total points game, parnter opens 1NT, and you raise to 6 clubs. Opponents lead a small spade:

Obviously not the best slam I've ever bid. It looks like I need to guess diamonds right, AND pick up hearts for no losers. At first blush, it would seem that if east has the king of hearts, I have no chance. That's now QUITE true, though.

The key play, I think, is trick one. I won the spade lead with the ace on the board. When trumps split 2/2, I led the jack of hearts. East won with the king (a holdup would have been bad for me).

At this point, if I'd won trick 1 with the king, the ace sitting out on the board would have made a diamond switch crystal clear. Since I'd won with the visible ace, east had to chose between the diamonds (with KJx visible) and spades, with no honours visible. Note that west's opening lead was spades.

Back came a spade, and now all I needed was for the ten of hearts to fall on the AQ. When it did, my slam was home.

Again, I was mostly lucky, but sometimes by hiding the situation from the defenders, a bit of luck can come your way.

Thinking Deeper

2009-08-07T09:10:00.003-04:00

I'm currently reading through Kelsey's Killing Defense at Bridge. Some of the bidding is strange, but even though I've only gotten through one chapter I'm already appreciating the book.

By and large, each problem, I seem to see part of the problem, but I don't quite think deeply enough. Maybe I'll analyze the suit distribution, but I'll miss a key point about the high card locations. Or maybe I'll figure out the general layout, and figure out the correct suit to lead/continue, but I'll overlook that the specific card I play matters.

It's like there's a big well of laziness in us. We push against it, gain some information, and then stop. None of the logic in this book is overly complicated. The trick seems to be to keep thinking even when you think you've already got the answer.

This is going to take some practice, but it's also going to take some discipline.

Change of Plans

2009-08-06T21:41:00.002-04:00

Playing in a dicey 3NT, I needed to bring clubs home with no losers. Dummy held:

T965

I had:

AKJ74

I had lots of entries, so I ran the ten towards my ace. LHO hesitated noticeably. When I later ran another club towards hand, LHO hesitated again.

8 ever, 9 never, but time to change plans? I did so, and was rewarded with 70% of the matchpoints when the jack held the trick.

Ok, so I felt a bit cheap for winning this way, but it's a good reminder for me - always plan out your play ahead of time, and play in tempo!

Moments of Clarity

2009-07-28T07:47:00.009-04:00

In my eternal quest for improved counting, my partner and I played a few hands against the robots on BBO last night. The goal was to take our time.

The most interesting hand of the night was this one:

At this point, I knew the location of every single high card. Yay me! Unfortunately, I couldn't see a way forward.

From the bidding, partner has precisely 6 or 7 HCP. The king of diamonds on trick 2 was 3, so that leaves 3-4.

Trick 1 showed me that partner had no spade higher than the 7. When partner later played the 4, that left declarer with AJT9 of spades.

The heart play on trick 5 was bizarre. Clearly, partner had something in hearts, but what? With the ace, declarer would have KQJ..., which wasn't consistent with his play. If partner had the king, the finesse seemed obvious. The only holding that seemed to make sense for partner was KJ. With me having the ten 9, declarer held either AQx or AQxx, and thus had an unavoidable heart loser.

This accounted for all 7 of partner's possible points, so declarer had Axx or Axxx in diamonds. (Admittedly, I didn't have the exact distributional count until the end of the hand.)

Clubs was also a big clue in my deductions. I knew declarer had at least 2 clubs, and I now knew that declarer had the AJ. With AJx, declarer would have attacked clubs long ago, seeking to establish the suit. Thus, declarer had to be AJ bare.

This was just about the limit of my vision. I felt like I couldn't lead back clubs, because that would establish the suit for declarer. I wanted to entice him to misguess the suit, leading towards the king, then back towards his AJ, finessing the Queen rather than playing for the drop. This is of course impossible, but I couldn't quite visualize the play well enough.

I also didn't want to finesse partner's heart holding. Yes, it I had the T9, and yes declarer could cross to dummy and finesse hearts himself, but I didn't want to do it for him.

Knowing declarer had both hearts and spades stopped, I just returned a spade.

It turns out there was nothing I could do.

On the second round of spades, partner discarded a club, and declarer ran clubs to make an overtrick.

Partner lamented his club discard, but it turns out that, at this point, partner is squeezed. Partner holds the stops in clubs, hearts AND diamonds, and declarer can run his two spade tricks, making him discard twice. Partner will be obligated to either discard a club, promoting the clubs, a diamond, promoting the two of diamonds, or a heart, promoting the queen of hearts.

If there's a way to stop the overtrick, it must come up before trick 5. I certainly didn't see it.

All that said, if I saw every hand with the clarity that I saw this hand, I'd be improving by leaps and bounds.

Progression

2009-07-14T15:49:00.002-04:00

I'm coming to one of those moments in my progression where I question whether I'm really moving forwards at all.

I'm largely over the triathlon timeout I had in the spring. I'm back, more or less, to where I was in the early winter. Maybe what's getting to me is that there's still so far to go.

I'm counting, but not as often as I'd like. The hands were I count deep into the hand are always rewarding - I know what's going on in the last few tricks, and can see how it's all going to play out. Alas, this doesn't seem to happen as often as I'd like, and sometimes, I stare blankly as trick after trick rolls by. Maybe it'll come with more time and more work.

Most of the mistakes I'm making lately are on "easy" subjects, at best. Some of them are completely idiotic - miscounting trump, not ruffing a loser in dummy before drawing trump, stuff like that. Stuff I wouldn't bat an eyelash at it if were a bridge problem, away from the table. Ok, yesterday I drew a complete blank on a basic 2/1 auction (I couldn't recall if 1H/2D/2H promised 5 or 6), but even that kind of thing will come with repetition.

Granted, I probably won't be able to play 100 hands a week for a good long time (BBO says I've logged 67 in the last 7 days, which is high for me). My reading has slowed to a crawl. Really, I have no real reason to think that my game should be growing by leaps and bounds.

I'm still hungry, though. I (rightly or wrongly) believe that I have the ability to be world class at this game, someday. Someday. My ambition (hubris?) makes me want to get on to the difficult lessons, rather than screwing up the easy stuff over and over again, like I am now.

I'm not getting very many results right now, but that's not the source of my frustration. Results have come in the past, and will continue to come. Today more than most days, it seems like the road ahead is very long, and I'm not exactly sure what the next step is.

Morale/Concentration

2009-07-14T15:45:00.003-04:00

I played 4 spades in a 4/2 fit last night.

I should have made it, too. I conceded an early spade to maintain control. They ruffed at one point, but I got back in, drew trump, and, when I saw that trump were splitting 5/2, I kind of gave up.

Of course, I'd forgotten that they'd ruffed in. Trumps were 4/3, and with long running diamonds outside, we were home free. Instead, I tossed diamonds, and kept my losing hearts, hoping to promote a heart honour after they ruffed in and switched to hearts. Imagine my surprise.

One of my big problems seems to be keeping my morale up. I was very defeatist on this contract. My concentration lapsed for a second, and I compounded my error by tossing winners, in a very dejected mentality.

Obviously, the bigger problem is that I need to bid a bit better. Still, disasters do happen, and will continue to happen no matter how good I get at this game. It would be nice to be sharp and focused when they do. I think 4 spades would have been a top instead of a bottom.

Almost

2009-07-12T21:32:00.005-04:00

I had flawless count, both point-wise and distribution-wise. I knew that RHO could have either red king.

Somehow, I convinced myself to play for hearts being 3-3. /facepalm

I even played the last two tricks to try to "get count". Gah!

Card Combination

2009-07-11T13:24:00.002-04:00

There is only one (immediate) outside entry to dummy, and I start in my hand.

What's the best way to tackle this? Obviously, the balancing double may be a clue - I expect west to have longer hearts, but was unsure whether to expect east to have the better hand or not.

I crossed to dummy, and led the queen. When the ten appeared from RHO, I ducked. When the king won, I could clear the suit with the ace, 8 covered by the J9.

If RHO can be expected to hold the balance of power, then this seems ok. If, in a balancing situation, the points may be evenly distributed, but I expect short hearts on my right, maybe low to the Q is right?

Two Declarer Problems

2009-07-11T12:45:00.003-04:00

Two from today. One, I think I played correctly, but got a defense error to help. The other, I misplanned.

(Sorry, I haven't the energy to rotate these and whatnot.)

1.

Potentially 5 losers, though the spade finesse should work. The key will be to only lose 1 trump trick.

Not sure what's right, but I led low to the jack, planning on cashing the ace next, and putting anyone with a doubleton honour in a bit of trouble. North rose with the queen before the jack, making 4 hearts straightforward.

Is there a better line?

2.

Ace of diamonds was a hugely helpful lead. I decided to try for 2/2 trumps, and to toss spades on the promoted diamonds. If they're 2/2, I think I can ruff hearts twice, and make on a 3/3 or 4/2 heart break. When trumps were not 2/2, I found that I needed hearts to be 3/3, which they weren't.

I guess I might have had extra chances if the short hearts had also been short on trump, but that seems unlikely.

This feels like a really good puzzle hand, but I'm not sure that I see a winning line here.

Easy Squeeze?

2009-07-06T11:27:00.005-04:00

One of the things that may motivate me to count more consistently is the idea of pulling off a few squeezes.

Red vs white, MPs, we bid to an unopposed 3NT via 4sf.

A spade lead drew the jack from RHO, and the king from my hand.

I saw no harm in trying the club finesse. All the suits are stopped, and the contract is already secure, even on a 5-0 diamond split. Plus, if the finesse loses, RHO might decide that I'm trying to set up some winning clubs, and switch suits. This could give me a trick.

Alas, the finesse failed, and RHO returned the jack of clubs. Interesting.

Seeing no reason to duck, I won, and led a low diamond towards dummy, trying to maximize my chances of picking up a 5-0 diamond split. Both followed, but when I continued the queen, LHO discarded a small spade.

With 8 tricks remaining, I have 6 winners. This shouldn't be squeeze territory, but it turns out the Jack of spades on trick 1 was from a QJ doubleton. Ergo, my ten of spades is the 7th trick, but I don't know that yet.

What I do know is that RHO has the ten of clubs, which is boss. I also know that hearts are going to be interesting, so I make a point of watching LHO's discards carefully.

LHO throws 2 hearts as I run the diamonds. I throw one myself off the board. RHO throws the queen of spades on my final diamond. Yay!

Sadly, I didn't give it too much more thought at the table, but I probably should have. RHO held, before discarding:

At first glance I would have said that that 4 of clubs is the clearly correct discard, but on reflection, I can see why that would be bad. If east discards the small club, I can cash a spade then endplay him in clubs, making him lose his heart trick. (Assuming, of course, that I know what's going on.)

With the queen of spade tabled, I take my 2 spades. RHO discarded the a small heart on the ace, and the ten of clubs under the ten of spades (which I completely overlooked - oops!). Even if it had been the 4, the end result would still have been the same, as LHO was down to a small spade and 2 small hearts. A small heart to the ace, then back to the king will clear the heart suit, dropping the queen and promoting the jack, for the 12th trick.

I wish I could say that I counted it out just like that, but I didn't. I did know, though, that there was still a club out against me, and I knew that RHO was out of spades and diamonds. Once west had followed under both the ace and king of hearts, the finesse was never going to be right.

In the post-mortem, the squeeze was extremely easy to read. Hopefully, as time goes on, that understanding will creep into the pre-mortem.

Simplicity

2009-07-06T11:19:00.003-04:00

Ok, I know this seems simple, but I actually took the time to think this through yesterday:

Unless I'm completely misreading this, there's a clear best way to play for 3 tricks. (And yes, I've gotten this wrong in the past, and so have others that I've seen.)

The thing that can be difficult in bridge is that the correct play often goes unrewarded. Last night, though, RHO showed up with Kx in clubs, and I was rewarded for my effort.

Hunting for a Squeeze

2009-06-28T08:47:00.005-04:00

Spade led, won in hand. A diamond towards dummy drew the ace from LHO. A club came back, won with the jack.

I cashed the KQ of diamonds, LHO discarding a heart on the queen. A club to the queen drew the ace from LHO. Finally, a spade came back, to the queen.

I have 5 of the remaining 6 tricks. There's a heart finesse there, but I stopped and tried to puzzle out a possible squeeze. (What didn't occur to me is that, if there's a squeeze on, that would mean that the finesse is on, too. Alas.) I'm still not good at puzzling out squeezes, mostly because my counting isn't all that great. I knew what suits RHO had played, so I counted out RHO's distribution as I cashed the club and spade winners, ending by cashing the ace of hearts. When the jack of diamonds didn't fall, I ran a heart to the king.

Turns out west had 5 hearts to the queen, so there was nothing there. I guess the point here is that I at least thought about things, and had count. I'm still missing some of the basics, though.

Blame?

2009-06-28T08:35:00.004-04:00

Maybe there's no blame here, but 4 hearts made.

For my money, I think north is worth a stronger move than 3 spades. If you trust south to count pearson points, then the denial of 3 card spade support would tend to indicate that south has a better than minimum hand.

Agree? Or should south make a stronger move over the 3 heart interference bid.

Taking Care

2009-06-27T11:29:00.007-04:00

After the 5th trick, I stopped to consider. Assuming the clubs split, I have the remaining tricks. However, what if the clubs don't split?

RHO has a 5 card spade suit, and had longer diamonds than LHO. Certainly, having clubs be 4-1 seems possible. Ergo, I led the ten of clubs to the ace, then low back to the queen. Sure enough, RHO showed out.

This left me with an easy finesse on the jack of clubs.

Of course, having taken the finesse, I beleatedly realized that I needed to cash my winners in hand, as I no longer had an entry back to them. Oh well. Bye bye hard earned overtrick.

Back at the club.

2009-06-26T16:58:00.002-04:00

Played a 55% game. Not bad. Too bad 55.63% was in the money.

Got dealt: xx AKQJxx xx xxx. I guess this is why weak 2s go as high as 10 points. :)

I did get to play an interesting spades distribution

A83
KTx

The ace was the only entry to the board. I had finessing positions in both hearts (xxx vs AQx in hand) and diamonds (forget exactly what I had there). The nice thing is that LHO (who had bid, while RHO had not) led the 9 of spades.

While I would otherwise have claimed the ace, the lead of the 9 gave me extra chances. I ducked, and RHO put in the jack. I led away from diamonds, rather than finessing. (Think I had T98xx on board, AQxx in hand). When LHO won the singleton king (I underled the ace, but clearly it does not cost if the king is singleton), LHO returned a heart (yay!).

Later, when I led the ten towards the Ace in spades, LHO covered, promoting my 8. Nice to collect 3 tricks from that spade holding.

I Think I Made a Mistake

2009-06-21T10:11:00.002-04:00

Bidding still in progress.

It belatedly occurs to me that I should have bid 3 hearts on the way to 3NT, to show 3 card heart support. I'm betting partner is 3514, and that we've now bypassed our best contract(s).

Deciphering the Bidding

2009-06-21T09:43:00.006-04:00

Just played a hand against GiB, and was faced with the task of trying to picture the opponents' hands.

Obviously, partner has the ace of diamonds. Beyond that, though, what's going on?

4 diamonds was a splinter for spades. GiB alerts 4 hearts as a help suit slam try, but that seems ridiculous. It should be a control showing cue bid. Does it show extras, though, or is it just a courtesy, to show heart control below game?

My first instinct was that 4 spades showed the lack of a first or second round club control. If not that, why not just bid 4 notrump?

East passed. Partner led the 6 of clubs, and dummy came down.

Ok, that's NOT what I was expecting. Maybe, then, 4 hearts was a courtesy, and neither opponent has much more than an opening hand? Granted, if partner has the ace of diamond we already have 11 hcp, but with 9 of those tied up in diamonds, which they've splintered, I don't see the problem, yet.

I'll play out the hand now, and see what it all looked like. From my perspective, though, it sure looks like 6 spades should be making.

...

And the final analysis? Thanks to a void in diamonds and a long running club suit in west, 7 spades is always there.

Interestingly, 5Dx is only down 2, and a good save at all white against 4S+3. Maybe I should have thought of that.

Matchpoints

2009-06-16T07:47:00.009-04:00

By nature, I'm more of an IMPs player than a MPs player. Maybe it's my misspent youth playing rubber bridge. (Wait, how is that misspent?) Whatever the reason, I tend to have the "just make the contract" mentality.

I'm getting better at being trick hungry on defense. I'm always looking out for the extra undertrick, or at least to gobble up the overtricks. When I'm declaring, though, I seem to have a mental lull.

Last night, I had a hand where, after 4 tricks, I had the 3 remaining trump in hand, and a running 6 card diamond suit on the board. So why did I concede the club ace? By the cold light of morning, I have no idea.

A better (?) hand from me:

I got a diamond lead. I inserted the ten, which held.

The question is whether or not to try for more than 1 spade trick. The contract is safe - I can survive losing a spade finesse followed by a heart switch (barely).

The next question is how to play the spades. At the table, I played low to the Ten. West held the KJxx in spades, so nothing was ever going to work. Still, I think low to the Queen is the better play if I'm going to try for the extra trick. If I just cash out, I have 11 tricks. If I lose the spade finesse and they take 2 heart tricks, I'm down to 10 tricks. If spades work out for me I have 12 winners, but only if they don't cash out first. It would be small compensation to see the king played on the Ten, only to have the defense claim 2 heart tricks.

(Of course, defense returned a club. Sometimes, I think I'm that the weak/inconsistent opposition in the ACBL games isn't helping me at all....)

Ok, so I still got it wrong - assuming that the field is always taking 11 tricks (which I think they are, but you never know). Still, I can take solace that I was at least THINKING along the right lines.

Test post - handviewer

2009-06-14T12:59:00.008-04:00

Oh wow. Handviewer is amazing.

I wondered if my second bid should be a double in retrospect, but I certainly felt comfortable NOT letting them play 3H. I also felt it was right to pass 4 diamonds, as partner could be awfully weak for the bidding, and in fact rates to be quite light.

Mental Stretching

2009-06-10T09:22:00.002-04:00

If you're curious what drew me away from this amazing game, my triathlon report can be found on my other blog.

Last night I only played 5 hands, but it was enough to show how out of practice I really am. Take this hand, for example.

(I'm really going to have to figure out how to embed these.)

I counted points off the top. Dummy had 10, I had 11. I figured partner for about 8, so maybe as much as 11 for declarer.

I won the ace of hearts, and returned a heart, partner showing that she started with 2 hearts. Partner discarded a club on the second round of trumps.

Ok, so partner started with 1 spade and 2 hearts, my mind creaked. That means 10 minors. Since she bid clubs, I'll assume 6 clubs, 4 diamonds.

Now, I knew, I should stop and figure out declarer's opening distribution. Alas, I hadn't even thought to count out dummy's opening distribution. SIGH. My mind just wanted to shut down, and it was surprisingly difficult to make it reason it out. (I was just mentally waving "declarer has lots of majors" and getting bored.)

FINE. Declarer has to have 6 spades. So 6322.

Later, when declarer showed out on the second round of clubs, I just couldn't overcome my inertia. It was only after the hand that I thought "huh, so partner was 7321".

I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Stay Tuned!

2009-06-09T09:17:00.001-04:00

Ok, my triathlon is now done. I'm dying to play bridge more consistently again, so stay tuned for more mistakes, gaffes, and lessons learned!

Subway Stations

2009-05-05T11:36:00.003-04:00

I once heard someone say that, as you start to improve in bridge, you feel like you're moving backwards. Whereas innocence bring ignorance, when you start down the road to enlightenment, you start to see all the mistakes you're making. While your play is no worse that before, it appears to be worse, because now you're starting to understand when you make a mistake.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to come out of that. Oh, sure, I'm still making my share of dumb mistakes, but the frustration level seems to be dropping.

(Case in point for dumb mistakes - hand 1 in last night's ACBL against 4 spades, I lead my singleton heart, which holds. Trying to get to partner's hand for a ruff, I chose a diamond rather than lead to dummy's AKQJxx in clubs. Sounds reasonable, except that I also had 6 clubs....)

Granted, it might just be that I'm playing a bit less than before, and my overall card sense is slipping. Triathlon training is starting to suck a lot of my time and energy, and spring allergies are taking most of the rest. Still, my game feels ok.

My biggest problem by far seems to be that I'm too eager to shut my brain down. Having a partner or two who signal all the time is fantastic when you haven't always had it, but signalling is not a silver bullet. Sometimes, partner is going to have to drop the 8 of clubs or the 2 of clubs regardless of what they really want. If bridge logic dictates a certain action regardless of the discard, then blind adherence to signalling is wrong. All too often I shut my mind down when I shouldn't.

I need to really focus on counting and reasoning all the way through the hand.

The rest of the stuff, like forgetting what a certain bid means in a competetive auction, a rare application of Gerber, and not being afraid of the red card, and proper card combination play (for example) will all come with time and repetition.

EDIT: One more thing - I think I'm starting to rely a little too much on poor defensive play by my opponents. For example with Kxx opposite Qxx, I can almost always squeeze 2 tricks out of this if I can find the ace, because holder will never duck if I lead small towards the honour. In general, relying on poor defense is making it tougher to think about what the right line should be.

One for the Rubber Players

2009-04-06T11:30:00.001-04:00

Playing rubber bridge with my family this past weekend, the following hand came up:

AKQJ
AKQJ7
K6
AK

If you're curious, 6 hearts made. The ace of diamond was led. I had the Txx of hearts, and the QJxx of clubs (not that THAT mattered).

For those who have run out of toes, that's a 30HCP count. I *think* that's the highest I've ever seen.

Catching Up

2009-04-06T10:40:00.002-04:00

I've been remiss is blogging my lessons learned of late, so here are a few that stand out:

1. On the lead of the Jack of Clubs, I pondered how to avoid counting the ten of clubs as a loser in a spades contract, holding the following:
Dummy: AQx
Hand: Tx

I had to have several people tell me it was a trivial problem before I spotted that it was, in fact, a trivial problem. Lesson: Pay attention to the lead!

2. I forget the hand, but with a really nice 12 or 13 point hand partner opened and RHO doubled. I didn't have immediate support, and wondered how to force. For some reason, redouble never occurred to me.

3. On the subject of not even occurring to me, 2 people have pointed out that a HSGT goes great with this hand:

J765
AT986
v
K842

after

1D P 1H 1S
2H P ?

Partner had AQJ of clubs. Two cards were well placed, and after I bid a meek 3H we made 3H+3. I couldn't figure out how to find 4, but 3 clubs makes total sense.

4. Another "2 people pointed out". Holding

K963
KJT74
4
AK4

P P 2D ?

I doubled, but 2H is probably clearly better.

5. Here's one of those "passive" hands I was talking about.

AKJT96
J2
AJ8
J6

P P 1C 1S
X P 2H ?

I passed, and it got passed out. Sheesh!

6. Last but not least. I apologize for being vague, but I don't have the hand in front of me. I played a contract where LHO had overcalled at the 2 level. Late in the hand, I needed to find one of two missing queens. LHO had shown up wtih 9 points so far, so I figured I had pretty good odds playing LHO for the queen in question. It turned out that RHO had all the remaining points, and LHO had overcalled at the 2 level with only 9.

Whether or not my judgement was correct (and there may have been other errors on the hand), I think that having that good a count late in the play and making decisions based on the count is a very positive sign.

It's been a while since I was over 50% in an ACBL game, but that all changes today!!!

Inaction Brings Passivity

2009-03-27T10:38:00.002-04:00

Two games this week, two awful results. Both below 40%.

Honestly, we weren't that bad. Quite. In 24 hands, there were at least 3 very solid opportunities to acquire a partnership understanding. I welcome these, especially in games where we're not scoring well.

The biggest thing that not playing (hardly) for 2 or 3 weeks brought me is a return of the overly cautious, passive bidding style. I passed myself some (near) zeroes, in cases where I should clearly know better.

On the upside, my counting isn't horrible. I really thought that would go quickly. I also nailed a forum problem in seconds flat the other day, which could have come right out of Lawrence's How to Read Your Opponent's Cards. My respect for that book grows.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not complaining. I have an excellent partner, whom I enjoy playing with, and who is probably slightly better than me, both at the table and in the post game analysis. We have excellent dialogue. I think we're already in the upper half of the ACBL slowball games we play in. We're ironing out our agreements.

I still totally believe that I have the potential and ability to succeed in bridge. That my life doesn't allow this to happen THIS WEEK is nothing to be concerned about. I will get there.

54 Hands

2009-03-10T11:47:00.004-04:00

Whatever momentum "How to Read Your Opponents Cards" gave me in counting is long gone. It's hard to hold on to when you're playing infrequently.

That said, I did play 54 hands this weekend - 18 in the Friday morning 299er club game, 24 in the competetive afternoon club match, and 12 in Saturday night's IAC teams match. The results were, perhaps predictably, a 53%, under 40%, and a narrow loss.

Friday was interesting in that, out of the 42 hands I played, I only declared 3. Make of that what you will. My play was not great, and mistakes were made.

In the morning session, I was unable to puzzle something out.

I overcalled 2 spades, which partner raised to 3 before the opponents settled into 4 hearts. I was on lead, and chose a diamond from Qxx rather than a spade from AJTxxx. Dummy came down with KQxx in spades, so I was glad that I did not chose a spade lead. Partner won the diamond lead and returned the nine of spades.

I thought and thought, but could not come to the correct conclusion. For whatever reason, it seemed impossible that partner wanted me to continue diamonds, the higher offsuit. I also figured partner had to have the doubleton spade, but this, it turns out, was incorrect. It should have been clear given that partner was establishing winners in dummy, but I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that partner had raised with a singleton.

Good problem.

Saturday night's match featured the worst back-to-back trick plays I have made in months, maybe years. A reasonable excuse might be that I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, but honestly, this was really really bad. As it turned out, RHO gave me the contract right back on the next trick. The ironic part was that I now had sufficient count to know which way to take the 2-way finesse in spades. Maybe counting to 40 is just easier than counting to 13.

A kind expert who happened to be kibitzing offered that I seem to do better at forum problems than at the table, possibly due to nerves. This is likely true, though maybe concentration is a better probable cause. That said, I probably average only part marks on forum puzzles, so it's still not a raving endorsement of my game.

The outlook isn't really all that positive in the short term, either. As the snow melts, I'm going to have to focus more time and energy on my other ambition, triathlon training. So, for the next few months anyways, I don't really see any more time for me to play regularly, and sort out these issues. Rather than via brute force, I'm going to have to use quality time to focus on improving my game.

Maybe I'll play some more with GiB, where I can focus on my counting, and take my time on the tougher reasoning problems. I'm probably not alone in playing a little too quickly when I'm in a competetive match.

Friday at the Club

2009-02-22T08:08:00.001-05:00

1. Always ask what the opponents discards are.
2. When there's only one way to make the contract, do NOT let opponents discards change your plan.

That is all.

How to Read Your Opponent's Cards

2009-02-08T19:18:00.002-05:00

I simply can't say enough good things about this book.

One of my big falling down points as declarer was marginal hands - hands with lots of high cards out against me, and few controls.

This book gave me a methodology and approach, both to part score contracts and thin games, as declarer. It certainly won't apply to every hand out there, but the good habits picked up while working through the book can only help me going forward.

Now, I just need to play a bunch of hands, to reinforce good habits.

Next to be read, I think, is Thurston's 2/1 book. Time to stop "winging it".

Three From Saturday

2009-02-08T08:33:00.013-05:00

I was back playing in the Saturday night IAC teams match. I was with a new partner who joined the team in January. We managed to eek out a 3 point win in a high scoring affair, 39-36, over 12 boards. Overall, I was generally pleased with our pair's play.

Hand 1:

♠	A3
♥
♦	QJ986
♣	AKT765

West	North	East	South
	p	p	1♣
1♠	p	p	2♦
2♥	3♦	3♥	5♦
p	p	p

The bidding caused partner some alarm, as she felt that she was competing, and not encouraging me. I could have let it hang at 1 heart, but felt that I might still have game on the cards. It turns out that 4 hearts had no play, off the AK of clubs, A of spades and with a 5-0 trump split. 5D had no play either, but only because diamonds were 4-1, if they'd been 3-2 I was cold.

This was a flat hand, as at the other table opponents wound up in 4 clubs down 1. (Good on our teammates for not bidding 4 hearts).

Hand 2:

♠	AT652
♥	K532
♦	82
♣	65

♠	Q
♥	AQ4
♦	AT53
♣	AJT97

Thanks to a partnership misunderstanding (as I said, partner was new, and we'd only played a few hands together before), I wound up declaring the exciting contract of 2 Diamonds.

The lead was the 9 of spades, and I was already under the gun. While the 9 doesn't look like an underlead of the king, there is an opportunity to pick up a valuable trick here. However, I rose with the ace, which turned out to be right.

In my head, almost right away, was that I needed hearts to be 3-3. I didn't have a firm trick count, but that seemed right.

I ruffed a spade, cashed the ace of clubs, returned to the board via the king of hearts, and ruffed another spade. Now, I exited a club.

By now, defense was on to me, and a diamond was returned, as expected. Thank goodness I had the ace! Unfortunately, a club to dummy was overruffed, and trump was drained. But I had my 6, and now I had to hope that the remaining hearts were 2-2. They were, and 2!D making unexpectedly brought home 4 IMPs.

Hand 3:

♠	63
♥	JT2
♦	Q763
♣	Q976

♠	J4
♥	KQ852
♦	92
♣	AT52

East opened 1NT, and played it. I led the 5 of hearts.

While I haven't been able to touch Lawrence's book in a day or two, this hand showed that I'm at least occasionally able to count out a hand. Let's see...

For starters, declarer had 15-17. I had 10, dummy 5, so partner was 8-10.

The ten of hearts won on the board, partner dropping the 3. Ergo, declarer started with Ax of hearts. The 6 of clubs came off the board, J, K, A. The King of hearts drew the Ace from declarer, as expected. The 4 of clubs went to the queen, partner discarding the 5 of spades, which looked like it might not be partner's lowest. I made a mental note to watch for the 2 of spades. I also noted that clubs were 4441 around the table.

The 3 of spades from dummy drew the queen from declarer, partner playing the 2. Aha. So partner had something. Maybe her king had just been finessed?

Declarer slapped down the ace of diamonds, and now declarer's hand was becoming clear. QS, AH, AD and KC had been played, for 13 points. If declarer had the AS, that was 17 points, and she was done.

However, declarer played the Jack of diamonds, which held. Clearly, declarer did not have the ace of spades! Had partner ducked from AK of spades?

All would be clear soon, as a club was led. I took my ten, and played 3 rounds of hearts. The spade jack was overtaken by partner's ace, and the King of diamonds in partner's hand was the setting trick.

Down 1 gained us another 4 IMPs. It also raised some fist pumping. It felt really good to know pretty much everything that was happening on this hand. If counting that carefully is that much fun, I may have to start doing it on every hand.

Book in Progress: How to Read Your Opponents' Cards

2009-02-03T11:11:00.001-05:00

I'm about halfway through this book now, and I simply can't say enough good things about it. I've always read that Lawrence is one of the best bridge authors around, and now I know why. His presentation is simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. There's absolutely no question, though, that if I can adopt the habits he's preaching in this book, I will become a significantly better player.

Reading books on play is about a million times more fun than reading books on bidding!

Bad Habit

2009-01-26T08:08:00.002-05:00

I need to stop leading short suits when I have one or more natural trump tricks. Yesterday, this bad habit cost our partnership tempo, which in turn allowed the opponents to make a hopeless part score.

Another Book Down

2009-01-24T18:26:00.002-05:00

Two books down now.

I bought this book because, while I'm I'm fairly familiar with the ACBL SAYC document, I wanted to make sure I had a full and complete understanding of modern SAYC. There are a lot of "extras" to the system that are nearly universal, and some truisms (such as that a 2/1 promises another bid) that are, well, less than explicit in the ACBL document.

Plus, SAYC really is the base for 2/1, so I wanted to take this one last step to make sure my foundation was firm before starting in on all the 2/1 books I've ordered.

System books, well, they're dense. This one contained, a bit surprisingly, some things that I wasn't familiar with (Jordan 2NT for example). Still, the book portrays itself as trying to describe the modern SAYC in use online, and I think it does an admirable job of doing so. I certainly did not absorb all of it in one read, but it will be a good reference, and if I'm still playing SAYC in a year or two, it maybe a good reread.

For my next read, I have chosen something a bit more...fun. Lawrence's How To Read The Opponents Cards. I can't wait.

Friday at the Club

2009-01-23T14:59:00.000-05:00

I'm still really struggling with my stamina in long sessions at the club, which is disheartening given that I've run 3 marathons in my time. The longer a session goes, the more badly I fade out.

I played with a very good partner, but could only manage a 47%, breaking my streak of finishing in the points. It was a fair result, I think, as I certainly made my share of poor decisions.

Hand 1:

♠	AKxx
♥	Kxx
♦	Axxx
♣	Ax

West	North	East	South
			1♣
X	1♠	2♥	3♥
p	3♠	p	p
p

My partner called me a chicken. Probably correct. As it turned out, he only made 3, but he assured me that he would find the right line if I pushed to 4.

Hand 2:

♠	QTxxxx
♥	9
♦	Ax
♣	AKQx

West	North	East	South
	1NT	p	2♥
p	2♠	p	4♥
p	5♦	p	6♠
p	p	p

Partner had Ax in spades, and spades were 4-1. Even the singleton king left no play. Partner liked the bidding this time, as he figured the slam was 50%.

Of course, in a weak field, this was a clear bottom.

Hand 3:

♠	JT9x
♥	Qxxx
♦	Txx
♣	AK

West	North	East	South
	p	p	p
1♥	X	1♠	X
1	2♣	2NT	X
p	p	p

Unmitigated disaster, as they made 4NT. Dummy had 2 hearts - just enough to finesse my queen twice.

Hand 4:

♠	xxxxx
♥	AJxx
♦	x
♣	Qxx

♠
♥
♦
♣

♠
♥
♦
♣

♠	A
♥	KQxx
♦	AKJxxx
♣	xx

West	North	East	South
			1♦
p	1♠	p	2♥
p	4♥	p	p
p

I managed to go down on this one, when partner was afraid we were missing slam.

LHO cashed the AK of clubs. I ruffed the second round, went up to the Ace of hearts, LHO discarding the ten. When I came back to the King of hearts, LHO was out, and even a long think at the table, nor the diamonds being Qx on my left, could save me.

Maybe, if I think about this hand a little more, I'll see how everyone else made it comfortably.

Now, With Actual Cards

2009-01-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

If I don't start including hands in this blog, it's going to quickly turn into an ego blog, not a bridge blog. Nobody wants that.

1. At the club yesterday, east bids 1 spade, west raises to 2. It's passed around to me.

♠	xx
♥	Jxx
♦	Kxx
♣	QJxxx

I bid 3 clubs, on the principle that I once heard an expert say that you should almost always balance. Somehow, this propelled opponents into an unmakeable 4 spade contract. Not sure my bid was smart or right, but it did work I guess.

2. Partner bids aggressively, and you end up in a 24 point 3NT. Dummy has AKQ64 in spades, with no outside entries after the opening lead. You have the doubleton 53 in hand.

I felt pretty smart in immediately ducking a spade. I probably only needed 4 tricks from spades, and only 3 was going to need a lot of luck/bad defense to bring it home. As it turned out, LHO refused to promote my king of diamonds in hand, so I needed exactly 4 spade tricks.

Alas, spades were 5-1, so I went down 1. Still, I was reasonably happy with my play.

3. An amusing story from the club, at my own expense I guess.

Holding 0445 and 11 HCP, I opted to open 1 club in first seat. LHO overcalled a spade. Partner bid 2 spades, which I took to be limit raise. 3 clubs got me 4 spades from partner.

LHO is a very good young player. I wondered if he was psyching. I decided that if he was, he had me. 4 spades makes most sense as 7 or 8 strong spades, but I didn't think partner would bid 2 spades with that.

Spades were 6700 around the table. My 5 club bid was doubled, and good for a bottom. (I *think* we can make 3 spades, despite the 6-0 split).

(Note - it's possible that 2 spades was undiscussed. Partner was an expert, but knew I was rookie-ish.)

I wish I could remember more of the hands I played yesterday (24 at the club, maybe 15 or so later, online). I know I had lots of questions and uncertainties, but one of the problems with club play is that I'm forgetting what happened by the time I get to the end.

Maybe I need to start carrying around a score card, and writing questions on it.

Swimming With Sharks

2009-01-18T21:39:00.000-05:00

I've been playing a bit less and reading a bit more this week. Last night, one of my IAC teammates pointed me to an excellent 2/1 tutorial online. While it included Bergen raises, which I glossed over, it also taught me a thing or two about FSF (Fourth Suit Forcing) that I hadn't been aware of.

Of course, cramming knowledge into your head does not make for instant and flawless execution - just ask any college student.

Nonetheless, this Sunday was a special brunch and game at the club, celebrating the Rookie/Master win. My Master level partner, Jean, had even offered to play with me again for the game.

Until now, all I'd played at the club were the rookie/master and 199er games. Now, I was playing against some of the top club players around. There were going to be far less gifts than usual.

I was nervous early, and it showed. I missed making a reasonable 1NT answer after RHO overcalled. I found myself in more tough bidding spots, and didn't always get them right. We pulled in a few zeroes, including a table of 3 boards of 0, 0, 0.5.

That said, my expert partner pulled out some great competitive bids that seemed to score well. I was declarer a fair bit (more than I was comfortable with, maybe), and at least some of those ended well. The only strong feelings that I had were that the field was much tougher, and that my partner was quite good.

The last table was one of our better ones of the day, and as we were finishing the director dropped by to tell us that going into the last round, we were first east/west by a smidge. I was a bit surprised, but our last table made us clear top east/west, and second overall, for 2.5 masterpoints (a very big haul for the likes of me!)

I'm on a run of consecutive finishes in the money, and the masterpoints are fairly well rolling in right now. My confidence is rising, especially with Sunday's game, but I think I need a bit of perspective. My bidding is going a bit wonky, due to all this reading/thinking I'm doing , and my counting is getting a bit weaker, due to the lack of practice.

Maybe the best thing I can take from all of this is that I'm not totally out of place in the typical club game anymore. It'll be some time, though, before I'm truly at the level of the better club players.

Book Report: Improve Your Bidding Judgement (Kimelman)

2009-01-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

When I woke up yesterday, my first thought was "I'll spend the day reading. I have all these bridge books I want to read!"

By dinner time, I had advanced by a whole chapter - maybe 6 pages. (Such is life. I traded reading time for family time.)

Nonetheless, in the evening I was able to largely finish the first of my bridge book order - Neil Kimelman's Improve Your Bidding Judgement. This book came recommended to me, as I was looking for a book that would help with judgement. The advice I was given was "Neil Kimelman's book is pretty advanced, but certainly would repay study".

I think I agree on both counts. The book generally focuses on bidding decisions in competition, which is exactly what I was looking for. Some of the auctions were a little over my head, and I wasn't exactly sure how to interpret the preceding auction. That will come with time, and rereading this book down the road will undoubtably open my eyes.

There were definitely a few points that were faitly accessible, including:
- takeout double vs overcall (one of these came up last night, and I think based on the book I made the wrong decision)
- opening NT vs opening 1M. (Not sure I agree, but I think his point is well made, and worth thinking about)

The high level double/pass/bid is something I certainly plan on revisiting as time goes on.

The problems/solutions at the back were useful, and I think illustrated that I have some ways to go before I fully grok the book.

This was the book I was most looking forward to reading. Hopefully I've learned something from it, and hopefully future rereadings will help even more.

I'm still waiting for Lawrence's 2/1 book, and I'm seriously debating picking up Thurston's. For now, I think that next up will either be Downey/Pomer's SAYC book (I think this is the book I have the best chance of breezing through), or Hardy's 2/1 book.

I'm hoping that working through some of the drudgery of bidding theory will help me when I get into the good stuff - the card play - later on.

ACBL

2009-01-11T19:33:00.001-05:00

I've managed to play 3 ACBL games this week. I played online Monday and Thursday, online, and both times my partner and I managed to scrape into the points.

On Friday, I managed to get to the local club for the Friday morning 299er game. It was a bit of a strange set of cards, with partner declaring most of the first 12 boards, then very little after that. We were set very often in our contracts, but often wound up with a good score anyways.

Despite never having a very good feeling for how we were doing, we managed to top the session with a 61% game.

So three games, and I got points three times. I'm now probably a club master (whee!) None of which is to say, though, that I wasn't making mistakes. Both online games features discussion with my partner via email afterwards. I think I'm the type of player that really thrives on the post-mortem analysis. I certainly don't mind being told that I did something wrong, especially when it didn't feel right at the table.

There was less analysis in the Friday game, but I still caught myself making mistakes at the table. The most notable was forgetting which contract I was defending (they were in 2 hearts, I was trying to promote my long suit).

The other mistake was while defending 4 hearts. Dummy, on my left, held Kx in diamonds. I held AQxx. We took the first three tricks. Out of clubs, I thoughtlessly returned a spade to dummy, hoping to get 2 diamond tricks later. As soon as I led, I realized I had made a howler. Dummy's spades were KQJTx. Declarer ducked, and dummy won.

Fortunately for me, spades were now blocked, and declarer misplayed it badly. If she hadn't, declarer was going to throw all her diamonds on dummy's spades, and make an unmakeable contract.

I saw it all, but 2 seconds too late.

Meandering

2009-01-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

I've been slowly expanding the circle of bridge blogs that I follow. One of the best, DoubleSqueeze, has led me to a few more, which have led me to a few more, including a local one, which is always nice to know about.

Part of this meandering led me to a couple of conversations between expert and world class players. I felt a bit like a kid in a candy shop, or maybe like a kid getting to see Babe Ruth or The Rocket in person. It rekindled in me the desire to become an expert at this game.

Of course, by the time I reach that level, I do sometimes wonder how many players will be left. There's a decent chance that all the ones younger than me will STILL be better than me, but what can I do? :)

My book orders have been slowly coming in. I'm now sitting surrounded by Kelsey, Lawrence, Hardy, Reese, and others. It may take some time, and more than one reading, but there's a lot I can learn here. I'm excited for what tomorrow will bring.

A True Barometer

2008-12-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

I was playing a BBO Hornets tournament with a new partner yesterday. One hand struck out in my mind.

I was east, and dealer, white vs red:

West	North	East	South
		1♣	1♦
X	p	2♣	p
2♠	p	2NT	p
3NT	p	p	X
p	p	p

The king of diamonds was led, and I saw this:

♠	842
♥	JT94
♦	86
♣	QJT6

♠	A53
♥	63
♦	KQT32
♣	A85

Once I lose the ace of spades, I have 8 tricks - 4 spades, 3 hearts and a diamond. I can pick up a 9th if hearts are 3-3, if south breaks clubs for me, or if dummy's diamond spots can be promoted. (One thing I didn't really look at at the table was promoting a club, but the defense is likely to get a spade, a diamond, and at least 3 clubs - maybe more if they don't break well).

I played a low diamond from the board, and north discarded the 8. One of the best things that can happen, I think, is if north has the T or Tx of diamonds. Well, scratch the singleton ten, but the lead is where I want it, so I duck the opening round.

Now, a continuation in either minor (assuming south has the Queen of diamond) gives me the contract. South wisely switched to the heart 6, which I won in hand, to preserve entries to the spades.

First thing I needed to do was deal with spades. South ducked the king but played the ace over the 9, saving me a decision as to whether or not to overtake. Back came another heart, north following.

Time to think.

Both opponents have shown up with 2 hearts and 2 spades. I've given them a chance to give me the 9th trick, and it hasn't happened yet. South seems to have the ace of clubs, based on his continued resistance to leading dummy's void in notrump.

It all seems to be coming down to the heart split, but I can't see how it could hurt to run out spades first. Maybe defense will make a discarding error.

Both opponents follow on the first spade (NOT the suit I needed to be 3-3). North threw the Queen of clubs on the second, South discarding a low diamond. (Poor North must be really dying for a club lead by now.) The last spade takes my 3rd club discard, along with 2 more diamonds. Alas, north did NOT throw the 10 (it was the 6).

No help there.

In hindsight, I think the contract was now cold (assuming I played it properly). At the table, I wasn't certain, but I definitely saw a rough outline of an extra chance.

The key play came next, as I unblocked diamonds by cashing the Ace. South threw the 10 - I hadn't stopped to count, but I did now and it seemed right. Now, I led the 5 of hearts.

Alas, south played the 5 of clubs. No heart split.

I took the queen of hearts, and exited a diamond to south's queen. South was left with the A8 of clubs, and had to give me the king of clubs for my 9th trick.

Looking it over, south had to discard a club on one of my spades. In this way, he could have kept a threat against my J9 of diamonds. (GiB double dummy analysis agrees.)

The two things that I really enjoyed about this hand were how well I kept count, and how I kept giving myself chances to make.

Of course, having gotten this far, I should point out that I played the whole hand wrong, right from the start. Given the indicated lie of the cards, the hand was stone cold, and I blew it.

The correct play is to take the first trick with the ace of diamonds, and immediately play a low diamond towards the jack. So long as south has the queen (and 5 diamonds, I guess), this will always take 9 tricks.

Here's the full deal:

Dealer	E
Vul	N/S
Scoring	MP
Lead	♦K

♠	842
♥	JT94
♦	86
♣	QJT6

♠	QJT76
♥	J974
♦	AQ87
♣

♠	K9
♥	K52
♦	A5
♣	K87432

♠	A53
♥	63
♦	KQT32
♣	A85

So there you have it - some decent counting and card awareness, missed with blissful ignorance. THAT is where my bridge game is right now.

Bitter

2008-12-28T12:13:00.000-05:00

Playing in 3NT, opponents silent.

♠	QJT86
♥	KJT
♦	A852
♣	A

♠	73
♥	A74
♦	Q6
♣	KQT872

Of the 6 tables playing 3NT by south, 4 had a heart lead. At all tables, the heart was ducked to east's queen. I am the only one who ducked the queen.

Where is the justice in the world? The most straightforward way to make is if clubs are 3-3, which in this case they are, but how exactly are the souths who rise with the ace of hearts on trick 1 expecting to return to their hands?

Every south except me got overtricks. Me, I decided to test spades first, seeing that I can also make if spades are 3-3, but clubs are not. Every other south lucked into a diamond entry to hand and 3-3 clubs. Sure, I got 3-3 clubs, too, but out of the 11 hands plyaing 3NT, I was the only one without overs.

But I'm not bitter, really....

Hand of the Year candidate?

2008-12-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

For all of us who occasionally play total points or rubber bridge....

I was kibitzing my mentor on Christmas day, when his partner was dealt this:

S AKQJT9862
H
D
C KQ92

Over a third seat 2 diamond bid, the holder bid 6 spades. Partner has the AJxx of clubs, and an outside ace, which was of course entirely wasted. :)

Nice hand to get in a 4-hard total points tourney. Santa delivers to bridge players, too, I guess.

Sane or Insane?

2008-12-26T15:35:00.000-05:00

Maybe someday I'll look back and answer my own question.

The bidding goes:

West	North	East	South
		p	1♥
p	1♠	2♣	2♥
2♠	p	3♥	p
3♠	p	3NT	p
p	p

I held:
A4
AQ8543
Q97
85

What to lead?

Well, here was my reasoning. First of all, there are a lot of points around the table. Partner rates to be a bare minimum, with possibly as few as 4 spades, and 0-1 heart. Opponents seem to have a nice club fit, and thus a decent source of tricks.

As for the defense, well, it's hard to imagine partner having a useful 5-7 card holding. If his strength is in the minors, then maybe there's not much I can do to help him.

Certainly, a heart lead can't help. Declarer (east) rates to have the king. It's also very hard to tell if leading partner's spades will bear fruit.

What I chose was to play partner for KQxx in spades, and to lead the ace. Alas, dummy came down with QJxx in spades, so that dream was dead, and with it likely our chances of defeating the contract.

(In reality, maybe an immediate diamond or a diamond switch after the first trick would have worked. Partner was 4171, with 4HCP, including the king of spades and JT of diamonds.)

I'm not sure if my reasoning was sound or overly optimistic, but I think I was asking the right sort of questions, at least, on this problem.

Best of Times/Worst of Times

2008-12-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

Hand earlier today. I end up with the boss trump (spades), boss diamond. Dummy has running clubs, and declarer knows I'm out of hearts. Declarer can only lose one more trick when he leads a low heart to the board.

I duck, and watch as my diamond loser goes away. I was honestly yelling, "I am an idiot!"

Later,

West	North	East	South
		1♦	p
1♥	p	1♠	p
2♣	p	2♥	p
3♦	p	3♥	p
5♦	p	6♦	p
p	p

♠	6
♥	AKJ5
♦	J9854
♣	AK6

♠	AT84
♥	Q7642
♦
♣	Q954

Ace of hearts won on the board. Declarer runs a diamond to his hand, winning with the 7. Back comes the king of spades.

Only 3 of the 8 diamond slams that were bid made. While I'm no expert on fsf auctions, this time I knew partner was out of hearts. Win 9.3 IMPs, and a tiny bit of redemption.

Honestly, though, I have SO FAR to go.

BBF Indy

2008-12-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

I played in the BBF Indy today. I hoped to finish above dead last, but fell just short in my quest.

As usual, it's not the scores that bother me, it's my dumb mistakes. Here are my notes:

1. I wans't sure if this was a good sac or not. Turns out that the result was an average hand. (50%)
2. Once the opponents reach 3NT, they're always going to make 430 I think. (20%), but only because more people weren't in 3NT.
3. I *think* the key reason I went down where others made is the opening lead. Most souths led low from QJ53 of hearts, but at my table kenberg (who won the whole thing) led the Q, which held me to 2 heart tricks instead of 3 when I held AK8 opposite dummy's T94. (33%)
4. One table held N/S to only 8 spade tricks. Defenses who break hearts for declarer, not unsensible, will allow 9. Unfortunately, our opponents were one of the 3 pairs to stop below game, rather than one of the two who bid game. (17%)
5. I was just an observer on this one. E/W make 13 tricks in either black suit. (50%)
6. Opponents bid an unmakeable game. An extra 10% was available if I played carefully and discarded properly. Chalk this one up to lack of counting. (80%).
7. This hand was cold for a top at one point, but partner misread the heart spots. Sometimes it's an easy game when you're dummy. Then again, nobody else was making game, so maybe we shouldn't have even been there.
Is this auction forcing? I thought it might be, but in retrospect, 3C is available as a forcing bid.

West	North	East	South
			p
p	1♠	p	1NT
2♣	3♥	p	?

(0%)
8. Another "what was I thinking?" moment. That said, I think I can pass 2 hearts here, which would still be losing:

West	North	East	South
p	1♠	2♦	p
p	2♥	p	?

(25%)
9. Not sure why we didn't come in here, but we let opps steal one (0%)
10. Supporting with AQx of spades seems to be a winner on this hand. A support double might have helped over the overcall, if I played them.
That said, my opening lead/followup was absolutely horrible. I led A, then Q from AQx, when declarer falsecarded holding the King. /sigh (17%)
11. We got gifted an overtrick here. Still, spades play better, and I think I need to play partner for 5 and bid 4 spades rather than 5 clubs. I did have a question, though.

West	North	East	South
			p
p	1♣	p	1♦
p	1♠	p	1NT
p	2♠	p	3♣

I wonder whether I've shown anything more than a minimum yet. I guess maybe by not passing 1 spades I showed something more than minimum? (50%)
12. We miss a 9 card heart fit here. Partner was the only north who didn't bid, but maybe I need to be balancing here?

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

I held T542 A8654 A9 Q5.
13.

West	North	East	South
	1♦	p	5♦
?

T63
AQJ532
v
KJT8
Double, right or wrong, netted me a passout, and +800 for 83%.
14. I blew 50% on one trick, not taking my good king. I think I thought I was playing notrump or something. I can blame it on stamina, maybe, but I seriously need to slow down and think before each play. This was not hard, and I could have had 83% instead of 33%.
15. By now I was playing way too fast. We wound up in a hopeless 26 point 3NT, but rather than just flip cards as the losers went by, I should have watched discards closely. I turned down 1 into down 2, and ~50% into 8%.
16. A defensive disaster. We took fully 3 less tricks against 1NT than anyone else. I think partner leading low from AJTxx in clubs may be partially to blame, though I may have missed an upside down signal in spades, holding AQJ98. (0%)

Rust

2008-12-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

Well, we've moved - and I promptly got sick.

During my convalescence, I snuck in a few hands. This one stuck out.

♠	AQ8
♥	QT875
♦	AKQT
♣	K

♠	K9752
♥	K9
♦	J3
♣	AT83

West	North	East	South
p	1♥	p	1♠
p	3♦	p	3NT
p	4♠	p	4NT
p	5♠	p	6♠
p	p	p

I was ok with the auction. Looking it over, slam should make on a 3-2 trump split. If trumps are 4-1 and the Jack or Ten falls, I can probably make the right inference and make.

So I won the 4 of diamonds, and cashed the Ace of spades - 6, 2, 3. The queen of spades drew a discard from west. Down 1.

Well, I would have been, except that in my vacant-headed exuberance, I "remembered" to unblock clubs before my brilliant plan of running diamonds and throwing my hearts on the diamonds. Only the plan was not so brilliant, as RHO had discarded 2 diamonds on trump by that point, so the chances of east going 4 rounds of diamonds were basically nil.

The first lesson was to pay attention to the discards!

I think there were 2 better lines (obviously excluding the club play - as I'm always going to have entry to my hand). Both rely on the ace of hearts being with west.

The first is to run a low heart to the queen. If it holds, I only need to discard one heart on a diamond, and I can do that on the 3rd round - meaning I only need diamonds to be 5-2 or better. The problem is that I'm not so sure many defenders will duck the first round against a slam contract - especially at IMPs.

Maybe the better line is simply to concede the 4th round of spades. If east does not have the ace of hearts, she has to guess the right suit to return. Maybe I'll get a club return, and I'll be free to run diamonds, discarding my hearts.

Interesting hand.

Moved!

2008-12-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

My bridge play has been curtailed over the last weeks, due to the impending move. We're in the new house, now, though, and once the unpacking gets underway I foresee a lot of bridge in my future.

Plus, there are 11 days to go until bridge book day. :)

I'm starting to get some feedback on my posts, and I have to say I really appreciate it. I don't mind making an idiot of myself in bridge or in blogging (how else will I improve?), and it's nice to have my errors pointed out to me.

Beyond Point Count

2008-12-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

A hand I kibitzed yesterday, in a team match:

♠	K84
♥	8
♦	QT4
♣	AKQJ92

♠	T3
♥	KQJT3
♦	9852
♣	73

♠	765
♥	962
♦	K63
♣	T864

♠	AQJ92
♥	A754
♦	AJ7
♣	5

This hand has excellent play for 7 Spades. Both 5-0 spade splits can be picked up, and 13 tricks can be had if clubs are 4-2 or better, OR if the king of diamonds is with East.

The harder part is bidding the grand. If you're a slave to point counts, the 31 points will probably suggest to you that you would do well to make a small slam.

In the teams match, at one table, south bid 4NT, and finding all the key cards present, bid 6 spades. At the other table, north bid 4NT, and finding all key cards present, jumped to 7 spades. Win 11.

The key, I think, is north has a huge source of extra tricks in clubs. While I'm not sure that I would have found the right bid at the table, this hand is a clear lesson, I think, in looking beyond point count.

Interregnum

2008-12-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

The next few weeks promise to be busy, as we'll be packing up and moving. Hopefully, on the far side of this, I'll be rewarded with some extra time to read and play.

My play this week has been solid but not outstanding. My counting/concentration has not been very deep at all, and I look forward to rectifying that.

In the meantime, I've been planning out the books I'd like to read next. Here's my shorlist:

Bidding Systems
Standard Bidding with SAYC book (Downey and Pomer)
Two over One Game Force (Max Hardy)
Workbook On The Two-Over-One System (Mike Lawrence)

Bidding Judgement
Improve Your Bidding Judgment (Neil Kimelman)

Declarer Play
Off-road Declarer Play. (David Bird)

Defense Play
Killing Defense at Bridge (Hugh Kelsey)
Eddie Kantar Teaches Modern Bridge Defense (Eddie Kantar)
Eddie Kantar Teaches Advanced Bridge Defense (Eddie Kantar)

General Play
Countdown to Winning Bridge (Bourke/Smith)
Master Play in Contract Bride (aka The Expert Game) (Terence Reese)
Bridge Odds for Practical Players (Kelsey & Glauert)
How to Read your Opponents Cards (Mike Lawrence)

Even one or two of these books would probably help my game. Plus, they're bound to be more exciting than Watson, which I still haven't finished. :(

Losing My Mind

2008-11-24T17:01:00.000-05:00

I played in a teams match this weekend. 11 of the 12 boards were decent - maybe I made some fundamental error I'm overlooking, but by and large, I think I did ok. My cardplay, in particular, was good (I think).

Nonetheless, I'm quite down on myself over the whole thing.

On one hand, a competetive auction, I massively overbid, giving up 10 IMPs single-handedly.

This seems to be a recurring theme. While my card play is slowly (slowly!) improving, my bidding seems to be fundamentally unchanged from the rubber bridge "one-upmanship" battles of my youth.

What it may come down to, fundamentally, is that I lose my head. Something happens, I get flustered, and my judgement runs away from me. I either stop thinking, or get an idea fixated in my head and I can't be fully rational about it.

If I'm well on the road to "card sense", then when I get there the next road I'll take will be to "sound judgement".

In the meantime, it would be nice if I would stop embarrassing myself.

Focusing

2008-11-21T08:56:00.000-05:00

My play this week hasn't been very good. I'm noticing that I'm counting less and less, and playing on cruise control more and more.

I played 3 hands before work this morning, with the intent purpose of focusing on counting. (Naturally, I was dummy on the first hand. Bleh!) While I made 2 mistakes (missed a club discard on one, forgot that declarer opened 1NT, not 1 spade), it felt very good to take the time to reason everything out. It's not really all that much harder, and in the long run it's a lot more fun to play when you "know" what everyone has.

One thing I am curious about. When I'm on defense, I'll often assume that declarer has a minimum, for the purposes of estimating what partner might have. I wonder if this is how other players commonly approach the problem, or if instead they just set a range and adjust as the hand plays out.

First in Canada - Erin Berry Rookie Master Game

2008-11-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

It's official - my partner and I managed to finish first in Canada in the rookie master game, out of 589 pairs.

Results here: http://www.cbf.ca/Rookie/08EBresults-1.htm

Stoppers

2008-11-16T21:31:00.001-05:00

West	North	East	South
	p	1♣	1♠
?

♠	QT4
♥	52
♦	AKT8
♣	AT94

I wimped out, but the AKJ of spades were all on my right. I think, in retrospect, it was worth bidding 3NT.

It's a Trap!

2008-11-13T16:25:00.000-05:00

♠	AK842
♥	9865
♦	432
♣	J

♠	J
♥	AK743
♦	KT98
♣	K54

West	North	East	South
		p	1♥
p	1♠	p	2♦
p	3♥	p	4♥
p	p	p

Opening lead: Queen of spades.

Interesting lead. Glad I paid attention to it. The full deal:

Dealer	E
Vul	N/S
Scoring	Imp
Lead

♠	AK842
♥	9865
♦	432
♣	J

♠	Q
♥	Q2
♦	AQ765
♣	T9862

♠	T97653
♥	JT
♦	J
♣	AQ73

♠	J
♥	AK743
♦	KT98
♣	K54

At least one table played a spade on the second round. Sure, it's unlikely, but the lead is a clear warning sign.

Quite Possibly the Coolest Thing Ever

2008-11-10T12:50:00.000-05:00

While I have ambitions to be a very good duplicate player someday, bridge for me will always be about sitting around a table with friends and family having fun.

So, once a week I get together online and play with some good friends who have moved out west. We either play rubber or IMPs, but it's always laid back and fun, with craziness and laughs. I'm the only player who could be called even remotely serious, and I always, always have fun.

During last week's game, though, something very cool happened.

♠	AQJ52
♥	KJ8
♦	987
♣	53

♠	9
♥	AT5
♦	KJ2
♣	KQJ982

West	North	East	South
p	1♠	p	2♣
p	2♥	p	3NT
p	p	p

The 7 of spades was led. I suppose a rule of 11 would have told me I could with with the 9, but I put in the jack anyways, which won.

A club to the jack held, and the queen drew the ace from LHO, both following. A low diamond was won by RHO's ace. She returned the 3 of diamonds, and I decided that the king was clearly right.

By now, I already have 10 tricks, so the contract is assured (2 spades, 2 hearts, diamond and 5 clubs). Nonetheless, my mind was fully engaged, and I was pretty sure I had count for what had happened so far.

On the first club, LHO followed, while RHO discarded a heart. The next round brought 2 hearts, then the round after 2 spades. (I threw the 2 and 5 of spades off the board).

In my mind, I very clearly thought, "Once LHO discards on the 2 of clubs, I'll stop and try to reason this out." What I had in mind, of course, was a possible squeeze for the 11th trick.

This was the layout, with 5 tricks left.

♠	AQ
♥	KJ8
♦
♣

♠	KT
♥	Q6
♦	Q
♣

♠	6
♥	97
♦	54
♣

♠
♥	AT5
♦	J
♣	2

On the 2 of clubs, LHO discarded the queen of diamonds, and I claimed (jack of diamonds, ace/king of hearts, ace of spades.

While the discard made the right play easy to spot, I truly believe I would have reasoned out the right line regardless of what LHO discarded. I knew from the opening lead that she had 2 spades left before the discard. I was also very aware there were only 4 hearts left, and there was a good chance my jack might be promoted if more hearts were discarded.

So, while I can't fully take credit for pulling off a squeeze (I don't think), I can be awfully proud of the position I put myself in - I remembered the opening lead and what it implied, I had count, I didn't blindly guess the 2-way finesse, and I kept thinking "there may be a squeeze here".

Seeing the layout after the hand, and seeing that the squeeze had, in fact, been on, was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced in bridge.

Team Match Results

2008-11-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

We lost 44-14. I managed to pull off a hattrick - costly declarer error, costly defense error, costly bidding error.

I don't feel like I played hideously, but at least 2 of the mistakes are ones that I feel I should not be making.

I won't complain too much though. Partner is gracious and constructive, and losing at bridge is still more fun and "productive" than a lot of other things I could be doing.

Success/Failure

2008-11-07T22:44:00.000-05:00

2 hands from my pracice session tonight.

1. Partner dealt
1S 2D
3C 3NT
Opening lead was the 2 of spades.

♠	Q753
♥	Q5
♦	86
♣	KJT8

♠	K
♥	T742
♦	AQJ54
♣	A75

I think I played this right, though maybe I overlooked something. I read spades as being 4/3 based on the lead. Win the king, run the club finesse which wins. Yay! Run the spades, discarding 3 diamonds (over my partner's instence to immediately finesse diamonds). Concede a spade.

I now lose 3 hearts, but my 10 is promoted (LHO shows out on the third round). A diamond is returned. No question, I go up with the ace. Cashing the ace of clubs, RHO is now out. Forgetting the ten of hearts is good (because it doesn't matter), club to the jack, King of clubs, 5 of spades. Making.

Partner was very gracious and congratulatory. I think this line is clearly superior to immediately finessing diamonds.

Hand 2:

The bidding was:

West	North	East	South
p	p	1♥	1♠
2♥	p	p	2♠
p	p	3♦	p
3♥	p	p	p

I chose the Ace of clubs to lead.

♠	AJ42
♥	865
♦	54
♣	J875

♠	KT9876
♥	AJ9
♦	QJ
♣	A9

Partner threw the 3 of clubs, declarer the 2. So much for that idea.

With ten spades in sight, I tried the ten of clubs. Ace, 5, 3. A diamond came around to my queen. I tried a spade back, but partner had the queen. Ruff, ace of diamonds, 2 of diamonds from declarer.

Now what?

From the bidding, I thought declarer might be 5/5 in the reds. Having shown out on the second round of spades, that meant 2 clubs - and I knew he had the king.

I saw diamond ruffs coming on the board, and I also wondered if partner could really stop diamonds from running. Of course, maybe declarer was 5/4 in reds with a third club....

I think I was at my limit in terms of picturing hands, which is a shame. This is the actual layout.

♠
♥	43
♦	K7
♣	QT64

♠	J2
♥	865
♦
♣	J87

♠
♥	KQT7
♦	T92
♣	K

♠	K876
♥	AJ9
♦
♣	9

I ruffed with the 9, cashed the ace, and exited with the jack of hearts. It was no use - declarer won in hand, ruffed the last diamond, and claimed.

I think I'm better to throw the club, something I definitely considered. The main advantage is that declarer is put on the board, and he may err from there. If I concentrate just a little harder, I should see that I can't stop diamonds from being established. (GiB double dummy analysis seems to indicate that the 2 of diamonds lead allows the contract to make.)

My vision needs to be just a little bit better.

First 2 Hands, Erin Berry Rookie-Master Game

2008-10-31T15:58:00.000-04:00

Board 7: Partner and I come to 4 hearts, opponents silent.

♠	A97
♥	Q87
♦	Q7
♣	AQJ42

♠	JT862
♥	KT54
♦	T82
♣	8

♠	Q53
♥	J
♦	KJ9653
♣	K73

♠	K4
♥	A9632
♦	A4
♣	T965

I rose with the Ace of clubs. I used a spade to get to my hand, then led low towards the board. LHO rose with the king, and RHO played the jack. I think I got a diamond return, Q, K and A. Now, a low heart to the 8 held my losers to 1 club, 1 diamond and 1 heart for +620, and tie for top board in the section.

Board 8: I opened 1 spade, and partner answered 4 spades.

♠	AQT85
♥	4
♦	7532
♣	Q97

♠	K9742
♥	K6
♦	94
♣	AK62

A small heart was led. I had visions of trying to squeeze an overtrick out of clubs, but RHO won the Ace, then played the AK of diamonds. Then RHO exited with a small diamond.

My brain went a bit fuzzy, but I recognized that the only danger was if LHO had no more diamonds, and the jack of spades. I put up the King, and sure enough LHO discarded a red card. When both followed to the ace of spades, the only thing left was to see who had the jack. When RHO discarded on the queen of spades, I shook my head a bit, and one of the masters chuckled.

+420 was predicted to be an average by the hand record (N/S have a good save in 5H), and so it was for us.

Mistakes

2008-10-31T15:38:00.001-04:00

I was able to make the 299er game at the club today. Lucked out with a very good partner, but was dogged, by some stupid mistakes. Often, an extra half-second thought would have improved my result.

Of course, there were the requisite bidding and judgement errors that come with my level of experience and skill, especially with a new partner. This kind of thing I can live with at this point.

Two hands stood out.

On the first, I ended up leading a diamond from Kxxx against a 3NT contract (only unbid suit). Dummy came down with long clubs, and AKxxx spades. I held QJxx in spades. When the clubs were running, I was given the lead. Partner had signaled disinterest in diamonds, but my heart holding did not seem right to lead from, so I returned a diamond anyways. Declarer had the AQ, so I essentially gave up a trick.

The killing lead was spades, and it's maybe not too hard to see. Declarer was single, and if I burn his entry, he has to run clubs and spades, and give me 2 spades, or partner some red tricks.

I'm not angry that I didn't see this, but it certainly wasn't impossible to guess. Hopefully I've learned a lesson on this hand.

The other hand that stood out was inexcusable. Dummy held AQJxxx, with me having T9 in hand. I needed to play this suit for 3 winners, needing a discard, and having no extra entries to dummy. When the ten held, I continued the 9, and for some reason felt I HAD to play the ace. For some reason I had it in my head that I had to overtake (correct), but that only the ace would do.

Clearly, I'm capable of making the right play here. Not rushing would have helped a lot.

In the end, we were 52%, and in the points. Decent, but I'd like to think that with a quality partner I should do better.

Erin Berry Rookie-Master

2008-10-28T12:06:00.000-04:00

So for the first time in over 6 years, I ventured out to a local bridge club. What finally dragged me out was the Erin Berry Rookie-Master game. I competed in a rookie-master game maybe 7 years ago, and remembered it being a lot of fun. Rookie-Master games are a great opportunity, they're not overly competetive, everyone is extremely friendly, and it's a great opportunity to play with a very good player.

All of which meant that, unlike a lot of my earlier club experiences, I wasn't very nervous at all.

My expectations for the game were pretty meagre. I really just wanted to get out and have fun. I was far more concerned about how it would FEEL to play in a club, especially given my long absence, than with how I would perform. Naturally, I wanted to play well. Actually, playing well was far more important to me than actually scoring well.

I'll try to post on some of the hands later (I'm hoping they'll release the hand analysis online - I forgot to grab one). The very first two hands that I played were barnstormers, and they set the stage for a very good evening. We defended a lot, and I was pleased to be told "good defense" on more than one occasion.

One thing that I did find is that even 21 hands was a lot for me. Playing online like I do, I will often only play 4 or 5 hands before logging off. I was definitely tiring towards the end of the session.

Beyond that, what really stood out for me was my awareness. My partner was unbelievable - she always seemed to know what I held (or needed to hold) on the last few tricks, and could analyze what contracts should and should not make after the hand, based on her recollection of the play. While I wasn't up to that impressive level, I found myself to be far more aware, especially on defense, than I can ever remember being in that environment. There were definitely hands where I knew what cards I needed to keep at the end, and what suits were too dangerous to lead away from, based on discards and play. It wasn't perfect, but it probably kept me from making a few rookie mistakes along the way. All in all, this made me very happy.

Afterwards, my partner complimented me on my card sense. This really made me happy, because I've often heard the concept of "card sense" be praised in developing players, and I had never really visualized the label being applied to me before. That compliment alone made the evening completely worthwhile.

When the scores were posted, the 73% game didn't hurt either!

For me, though, the legacy of this event will likely be about a great deal more than one good score. By returning to an environment that I hadn't visited in years, I was able to perceive just how much my game has evolved since then. While the evidence across the table tells me that I have a long way to go before I arrive, even at the club level, I am so happy about the confidence and sense of progress that I felt last night.

While I've always dreamed of being a really good player, last night was maybe the first time that I've really seen the path to get myself there.

Counting Progress

2008-10-23T06:17:00.000-04:00

I played a dozen hands on BBO last night. I'm happy to report that there is some progress in my quest to improve my counting. Unfortunately, I still have a ways to go.

The urgency of counting seems to present itself more on defense. On one hand last night, I was able to determine declarer started with a 5521 distribution before the last card fell. I was also able to determine that I had no defense to the contract. On another hand, I was able to place partner with a 4441, only to be surprised on the last trick when it turned out declarer had overcalled on a 4 card major. On yet another hand, I was trying to determine what HCP partner held to bid a new suit over an overcall by LHO. Turns out he only had the king of clubs.

This kind of awareness is fantastic, and I hope that it continues to improve the more I play.

Unfortunately, I still go to sleep sometimes as declarer, including this rather hideous example from last night.

♠	Q8743
♥	KT76
♦	7
♣	K52

♠	K5
♥	A854
♦	K64
♣	AJ96

The 2 of spades was led, ducked to east's ace.

Two things were on my mind, the finesses that jumped out, and the hockey game on TV. The key point on this hand is that I played the King of spades, then crossed to the board in clubs to cash the queen BEFORE DRAWING TRUMPS. With trumps being 3-2, I was actually home, but hadn't been counting spades.

The 8 and 7 of spades were good. They were in fact, far better than the losing finesse I took.

Getting Away With It

2008-10-20T10:10:00.001-04:00

I was playing rubber bridge with my wife last night, and made a mistake. Unfortunately, with this kind of mistake, I often get away with it. Last night, I realized my mistake as soon as I'd made it, and it likely cost us a trick.

Opening lead on defense, I underlead my king (Kxx or Kxxx I think). Partner put in the Jack, and declarer won the ace. From this, I deduce the position of the queen.

Later, when I got in, I thoughtlessly slammed down my king, then immediately winced. Sure enough, partner had the queen, but had to play it under my king (having started with the QJ doubleton), promoting declarer's ten.

Playing low to partner's queen really shouldn't cost.

Hard is Easy

2008-10-17T10:19:00.001-04:00

Often, when I play on Bridgebase Online, I play with the bridge robots, GiB. GiB isn't necessarily the most rational of partners, but he plays at my speed (and sometimes, since I'm learning, I like to slow it down.)

Ini] 4th position after 3 passes, playing with GiB, I held:

S AJT5
H 6432
D K4
C AK2

I bid a very normal 15-17 1NT. The bidding continued
1NT 2C
2H 3NT
4S

A nice normal bidding sequence, right? On the lead of the 4 of clubs, dummy came down:

S K87
H Q9
D A62
C J9873

A nice 10 point hand. I'm happy to be in game. However, I'm desperately searching for the 4-card major partner promised with 2 clubs.

Now, I won't say that I entered super-genius mode. In fact, there may be a better line than the one I took. Still, when you're THIS much up against it, the play actually becomes a bit easier. Since I need a lot of things to fall JUST SO, might as well play as though it's going to happen.

GiB leads 3rd/5th best. So I'm playing west for 3 clubs. I put up the Jack of clubs, but the queen covers, so I play the ace. Low to the king of trump, then I play the 9 of clubs (I really think I need clubs to be 3-2 here). The ten falls on my 9, so I win.

Now, back to the board in diamonds for the spade finesse. It holds. Realizing I can't repeat the finesse, I plop down the ace - 6, 7, Queen!!

I collect 4 spades, 2 diamonds, and 5 clubs, for an improbable 4 spades +1 - a completely boring average plus, as (almost) everyone else was in 3NT+1.

Addendum: I guess I can't really complain too much about GiB, though. The other day, I bid a reasonable (?) 5 clubs bid. LHO led the AKQ of clubs in order to defeat me. Fine, but why didn't it double me????

Cautionary Tale

2008-10-14T21:03:00.000-04:00

S QJ83
H A8542
D T5
C A7

Passing earned me -4.6 IMPs.

Pay Attention!

2008-10-09T07:15:00.000-04:00

My morning set of hands featured me repeatedly missing some very easy plays.

Playing 4 spades, I was presented with a choice of finesses after the opening lead:

♠	Q6
♥	T42
♦	KQ96
♣	AQ92

♠	KR97532
♥	6
♦	5432
♣	8

The opening lead of the ten of diamonds was covered by the queen from dummy, and the ace from RHO.

Later on I had a choice as to whether to finesse the king of clubs or the jack of diamonds from LHO. Of course, if I'd thought of the opening lead (ten of diamonds), I would have realized that the diamond finesse was hopeless. The club finesse, of course, was making. Down 1.

Several hands later, I was defending 6 spades. Dummy and I each had 5 diamonds, and I carelessly discarded one of my diamonds early, allowing declarer to establish the 13th diamond. As it turned out, declarer had a cross ruff working for the trick anyways, but a little forethought might have worked better on another hand.

Rolling the Dice

2008-10-06T11:34:00.001-04:00

If there's one thing that I learned from running, it's that no matter how much willpower I have, plans can go awry. When my plans find themselves at odds with the bigger picture, I can either try to fit it all in, or I can be flexible. In general, I've found that adapting to the situation has made for a less stressful existence.

Life got very, very busy in September, and my play time suffered. C'est la vie.

The storm seems to be passing now. He's a hand from this weekend.

♠	K5
♥	AQ8
♦	KQT64
♣	K52

After 3 passes, I chose to open 1NT. LHO overcalled 2C (Capp). Partner intervened with 2S, and I had a decision to make. This was the second hand I'd played with a pickup partner, and I wasn't operating with a lot of confidence as to what he might have. In the end, possibly erroneously, I opted for 2NT, which was passed out.

The club 6 was lead, and I dummy came down.

♠	AT743
♥	6
♦	J5
♣	JT987

♠	K5
♥	AQ8
♦	KQT64
♣	K52

RHO won the club ace, and returned a heart, which I ducked to LHO's 9. A diamond switch found RHO's ace, and a low heart pulled my queen, and LHO's king. The heart jack drew my ace.

At this point, my trick count was: 2 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds and a club. All I needed was for diamonds to be 4-2 or better to collect an 8th trick in diamonds, but when I played the king, LHO discarded a heart.

♠	AT7
♥
♦
♣	JT98

♠	K5
♥
♦	QT6
♣	K5

The clubs look so good, but my problem now, as always* is that I only have one entry to the board, so I can't run the club finesse. I guess there really is only one play.

Of course, this is notwithstanding any mistakes I've made up to this point, or any mistakes I'm making in my analysis of this crossroads. Maybe in 2 years I'll roll my eyes at this post.

The reason I'm sharing this hand is that, 3 or 4 hands later, I couldn't remember how I'd played it. I knew I'd gone down grasping at straws, but all I could thing was "I should have played for the drop in clubs."

As it turned out, I did exactly that. There are 3 clubs outstanding, and it's not impossible that the Queen is single.

It wasn't.

I cashed out my diamonds and spades, and exited a club, but there was always either a diamond (RHO) or a heart (LHO) coming back for the setting trick.

I'm glad, at least, that I took a shot at making the contract.

*Against weak defense, I suppose I could have ducked the first diamond on the board, hoping to drop the ace for free and promote the jack to an entry. I considered and rejected this approach.

Restricted Choice

2008-09-18T09:13:00.000-04:00

While I wasn't completely certain at the time, it turns out that I have correctly identified a restricted choice problem for the first time.

Dummy's trumps:
AT4

K76532
My trumps.

I led a low trump towards the king, and RHO dropped the queen.

Restricted choice says that it's better to finesse LHO for the jack. I correctly identified this, made the finesse, and lost.

No worries. Statistics is a long-term game. Hopefully I'll start to identify these situations consistently, now that I've seen it once, and I'll reap the benefits of the percentage play.

Lessons Learned

2008-09-09T13:24:00.000-04:00

I have reviewed the hands from my lovely 21% game. Two hands jumped out.

On the first, I was invited to game in spades. Holding 14 points (and 4 spades), I declined the invite. On the second, I decided not to compete to 5 spades over 5 in a red holding 5215 distribution.

Both times I opted to pass. Both decisions were in the minority, and both were losing decisions.

I have always known that I'm on the conservative side of things. I know that I'm getting better, and approaching "normal". This means that I need to push myself to be a little bit more agressive.

On Sunday, I played in the Intermediate/Advanced club weekly tournament. One of my former teammates, from this spring's I/A teams tournament, asked me to play. Thanks to some excellent bidding and defense on her part, we managed to win the tournament by several IMPs.

I did catch myself making one very noticeable mistake, though fortunately it did not cost us a trick. I bid 1NT on the way to opponents bidding game in a major. I was very careless on defense, which is unfortunate as my play mattered far more than my partners.

Before the hand was even done I was kicking myself. Hopefully I'll sit a bit straighter next time that happens.

Overall, I can't let the highs (2 first places) or lows (one dead last place) from last week get to me. I need to take the long view, and work on improving my overall game. Bridge is a game where the best and the worst will both have highs and lows. If I play each individual hand well and work on improving, my results will be good in the long haul.

Indy 4

2008-09-06T14:18:00.000-04:00

Karma sucks. 21%, 40th of 40.

I'll do my best to review the hands later. I know at least one mental lapse resulted in a zero, but chances are it was only a 10% anyways.

Right now, I don't feel like I played awfully, but every hand wound up a disaster.

Indy 3

2008-09-04T21:31:00.000-04:00

Another indy. Kind of a weird format.

Anyways, finished 1st of 44. I'm very pumped. Of course, A) It will probably never happen again, and B) my opponents helped out a lot.

Really, I'm not sure I can take full credit for this.

On to the interesting hands.

Board 3:

♠	32
♥	AQ75
♦	85
♣	K6532

♠	AKJ74
♥	J63
♦	J43
♣	Q7

♠	QT865
♥	982
♦	Q96
♣	T9

♠	9
♥	KT4
♦	AKT72
♣	AJ84

West	North	East	South
1♠	p	4♠	X
p	p	p

Kudos to partner for leaving the double in, as this scored +1100, for a cool 90%.

Next hand:

Board 4

Dealer	N
Vul	All
Scoring	Imp
Lead	♦T

♠	Q98
♥	Q
♦	T965
♣	QJ963

♠	AJ4
♥	A876532
♦	3
♣	74

♠	7632
♥	K94
♦	Q842
♣	85

♠	KT5
♥	JT
♦	AKJ7
♣	AKT2

West	North	East	South
	p	p	1♦
1♥	p	2♥	X
p	3♦	p	p
4♥	p	p	p

Partner asked after the hand if I considered doubling. I did, and maybe it's right. I was concerned, though, that opponent was bidding based on a diamond void, in which case my hand was suddenly devalued. Turns out it was a singleton, and we collected 90% anyways.

Board 10

Dealer	W
Vul	All
Scoring	Imp
Lead	♣2

♠	J8
♥	74
♦	AKT9432
♣	AQ

♠	AKQT
♥	986
♦	86
♣	K975

♠	7642
♥	KJT53
♦	5
♣	T32

♠	952
♥	AQ2
♦	QJ7
♣	J864

West	North	East	South
1♣	1♦	1♥	1NT
2♥	3♦	p	p
p

This one was tough to bid. I'm not really sure I did it right, and was really unsure when we made +3. Fortunately, we took 75% anyways.

Board 12

Dealer	N
Vul	E/W
Scoring	MP
Lead	♥A

♠	K76
♥	AQJ876
♦	J6
♣	KT

♠	AQ8
♥	T532
♦	T4
♣	QJ87

♠
♥	K9
♦	Q9532
♣	A96542

♠	JT95432
♥	4
♦	AK87
♣	3

West	North	East	South
	1♥	2NT	3♠
4♣	4♥	5♣	p
p	p

As soon as I bid 3 spades, it occurred to me that 4 spades was much better. We only scored 40% here - we needed to either bid 4 spades and play there, or double 5 clubs.

I think I should be the one to double 5 clubs, so I take all the blame here.

Second Indy

2008-09-01T21:40:00.000-04:00

I started off with some huge boards, then tapered off.

Finished up again over 50% - 52.43%, tied for 17th of 52. Not bad.

Board 2.
partner:
J6
AT8
KJ7
KT542

me:
832
KJ752
32
AJ3

The bidding (partner dealt):
1C P 1H X
P 1NT P 2D
all pass

This was a bad board for us - 2 hearts, 3 clubs, even 2NT seemed to score better. At the time, I wondered if we were wimps for selling out too easily.

In retrospect, though, I'm not sure who should be moving.

Board 10: partner opens 1 spade. I held:
832
J54
AQ543
K7

Should I bid 2 spades? 3 spades? Something else? I opted for 2 spades, which was a losing choice when 4 spades made.

Board 12.
The bidding, with me sitting in 4th position:
1S P 2H 3C
4S all pass

Dummy comes down:
J8
AJT965
K875
7

I held:
6
Q7
AQJ432
AQ53

I won partner's 9 of clubs lead with the jack, declarer playing the ten. I exited a spade, but I think cashing the ace of diamonds is required. Dummy looks to have very runnable hearts, and I know declarer has a massive spade suit. If I don't get my winners now, I may never do so.

ACBL Indy

2008-09-01T19:52:00.001-04:00

It's been a long, long time since I played in an ACBL tournament. Today, after reactivating my membership, I played in an INDY on BBO.

I ended up with a 53% - a healthy mix of my mistakes, partner's mistakes, and opponent's mistakes. Here are some of my bigger ones:

Board 4, 50%: 2H by LHO
Dummy, RHO:
KQJ8
QJ82
v
KQ754

I held:

AT64
5
J432
AJT9

It came down to a decision as to whether or not to hold onto clubs or spades. I chose clubs, which was a mistake, allowing the 8 of spades to take a trick. In retrospect, opponent is going to try to cash the KQJ pretty much no matter what, so I think the choice was clear.

Board 7:
playing 4H, on the lead of the ten of spades:
dummy:
Q752
KJ82
K985
5

me:
A
A764
AQJT6
KT6

LHO had overcalled, so I oped to finesse him for the queen of hearts. This failed, and RHO alertly returned a heart.

I should have ruffed two spades before drawing trump. I make this mistake a lot, I think.

Board 10:
I open a weak 2 in hearts. Bidding goes double, 4 hearts, 4 spades, all pass.
Dummy comes down:
AKT
J6
JT32
A852

I hold:
42
AKT532
93
K75

I cash the AK of hearts (should have done King then Ace, but oh well). I underlead my king of clubs - partner wins with the ace, and returns a club to my king.

At this point, I need to exit with a diamond. I force through a club, which allows declarer to discard a diamond on the established club honour on the board (declarer started with 2 clubs). Not sure if I should see this or not.

What Did I Just Do?

2008-08-29T18:57:00.000-04:00

When I look back in years to come, I may see many mistakes here. In the end, I surprised myself by making the contract. Maybe what just happened will stick in my mind, and I'll know what I'm looking for next time.

Holding:
AQ986
A8
A2
AK97

Unsure of whether to upgrade or not, I settled for 1 spade. Partner raised to 2, and bidding game was easy.

Here was the hand:

♠	T52
♥	J42
♦	KQJ4
♣	642

♠	AQ986
♥	A8
♦	A2
♣	AK97

The 8 of clubs did not look like good news, as GiB leads 3/5. I need the 2 of diamonds to throw round suit losers, so no trump ruff.

I decide to play ace and low to the board, hoping to catch a doubleton honour. In retrospect, low to the board then ace is probably better, but again, I'm not sure and need to think about it. The second round loses to the jack, with the king still outstanding.

Back comes the 5 of clubs from lefty, and the club split dream is no more. No point in drawing trump, so I play ace of diamonds, diamond to the jack. The next round of diamonds is trumped by RHO with the king, onto which my heart loser disappears. I win the heart return, and for some reason think I still need the club split, so I concede a club trick.

Upon winning the heart return, I finally notice that there's still a trump on the board, taking care of my club loser in hand. Making 4.

I think that, with the exception of the spade honours, I played this hand reasonably well. (If there's a clearly better line, it doesn't jump out at me.) I just wish I'd seen how it was going to fall down before it actually happened.

Reasoning

2008-08-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

Playing 2/1, partner opens 1 club. Opponents are silent, and you hold:
S KJ
H QJT753
D AK5
C J8

The bidding goes:
1C 1H
1S 3H
4D ?

What does partner hold?

It took a moment, but I rationalized that partner's distibution was 4045. Ergo, I opted for 5 clubs.

As it turned out, both 4 hearts and 5 clubs were making, though 3NT making was the most common contract.

Interestingly, GiB at other tables bid clubs, then diamonds, then spades. This made it easier to get to 3NT. I do wonder, though, if both ways of bidding show 4045. If so, what is the implied difference between the two methods?

Distribution = Strength

2008-08-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

Lest this blog become simply a collection of my failings (and believe me, I'm making a lot more mistakes than are showing up here), here's a hand from yesterday's Beginner/Intermediate Lounge Indy Tourney.

2nd hand, I held:
void
KQJ654
3
K87643

I simply could not let myself be held out of the auction. I chose hearts, and decided to bid clubs next round, even if things got high.

P 1H 2S 3D
4S 5C P 6C
X P P P

As it turned out, 3D was a misclick, and the slam was colder than penguins. On the King of Spades lead, partner laid down:

2
AT8
KJ84
AJT92

Win 12.5 IMPs, on my way to 3rd place out of 20.

Free Clue With Every Defense

2008-07-31T08:54:00.000-04:00

I was playing in a teaching session last night. I did ok, for the most part, though being dummy twice in mundane 3NT auctions helps.

I did make one noteworthy oversight.

Opponents bid 1D-1S-2D-all pass. After my opening lead (ten of clubs), I see dummy holding:
Qxxxxx
x
QT
xxxx

From what I remember, I held something like:
xxxx
AKJx
643
T9

Declarer overtook partner's queen, then led the king of spades, which partner won with the ace. Partner cashed the queen of clubs, then led a club for me to ruff.

I'm embarrassed to say that I cashed my ace of hearts, and I think exited with a spade.

What a great opportunity to think. First of all, 11 clubs have been played, so I'm not getting another club ruff. Second of all, and even more importantly, declarer isn't drawing trumps. Why?

With long spades and short hearts on the board, it really looks like a cross ruff, doesn't it? Even better, I know that if declarer has hearts, they're bad. So declarer very likely wants to ruff hearts on the board.

Having ruffed the third club, I should have exited a diamond. As it turned out, this would have defeated the contract.

Dummy was a huge clue to the proper defense, but alas I wasn't listening.

The Little Details

2008-07-27T17:16:00.000-04:00

Having been urged to bid slowly with a big hand, I faced the following:
P 1H P ?
holding:
AJ432
6
AK7
KQ92

Ergo, I opted for 1S. The bidding came out as follows:
P 1H P 1S
X 2S P 4S
P P P

After the bidding, it occurred to me that partner had at most 4 minor suit cards. Maybe slam was decent, despite partner's concentration of values.

Dummy came down:

KQ97
AKJT2
T
864

The diamond 6 was led, taken in hand. I dropped the ace of trump, and LHO showed out.

Ok, now I'm glad I'm not in slam.

I opted for the ruffing finesse in hearts. 7 of diamonds ruffed, ace king of hearts, throwing a club. Then I ran the jack of hearts, overtaken by LHO, who returned the ace of clubs. Making 4S+1, for +2.1 IMPs.

5 hands bid 6S, and 1 bide 6NT. Only 2 slams made. Curious, I looked at the 6S=.

Rather than taking the ruffing finesse, declarer ruffed out two rounds of hearts, setting up the 13th heart on which to throw a second club. The way it turned out, declarer only lost the ace of clubs, and did not lose a trump trick at all. (Hearts were 4-3, and whatever RHO does on the 4th round of hearts, 12 come home, I think)

While pondering the two different lines of play, I noticed one small clue that pointed to the second line as being superior - LHO's double. I had completely forgotten it while playing the hand, but it does tend to hint that the high cards are on declarer's left.

Little details like an overcall or double along the way can be important. I need to be alert for them.

Should Have Known Better

2008-07-24T09:21:00.000-04:00

It's always frustrating when you see the trap as you're just stepping into it. Sadly, I was thinking to myself "does it matter how I play this?" right before the answer occurred to me.

Holding:

KQ864

T

K43

K875

The bidding goes:

W N E S

================

1C P 1H 1S

2C 3S 5C P

P P

--------

Aside: I was very close on the 1 spade overcall. What convinced me was the thought of west bidding 4 hearts on his next bid. Clearly, this was a happier result.

Partner led the jack of spades. Dummy shows:

953

AKQ7

AQ86

J6

I ducked (what does the 4 mean here?) to the ace. Declarer crossed to the ace of hearts, and played two clubs through me, partner showing out on the second round. Declarer cashed the ace of clubs, then played a heart to the king.

What do do?

The king of clubs is good now or later, and I can always exit a spade, right?

Ok, so I threw the 6 of spades on the heart king, and the 8 of spades on the heart queen.

Declarer also threw a spade on the queen of hearts. Oops.

Spade back to my king, ruffed by declarer. Declarer now exited with a club. I cashed my queen of spades, to which declarer threw a diamond. The position is now:

Dummy:

-

7

AQ

-

Me:

-

-

K43

-

...and my diamond trick is now gone. I have been endplayed.

Much better is to ruff the heart, cash my king of spades, and exit a spade. Now, I can't be endplayed in diamonds.

I was asking myself the right question, and I was even thinking to myself that I needed to hold a spade to avoid getting endplayed. Alas, I didn't think it through well enough, and got burned. 5C making, lose 9 IMPs.

Unblock

2008-07-13T20:49:00.000-04:00

Playing in a beginner/intermediate tournament, my pickup partner wanted to play odd/even discards.

LHO open a strong 2S in 3rd position, and raises 2NT to 3NT.

I hold
S QJ82
H QT4
D 865
C KJ5

From the bidding, I liked a heart lead, but decided leading from KJx was safer than from QTx. Declarer won the ten, ran the queen (covered) to the ace, and returned a club to my jack, partner discarding the 7 of hearts. From odd/even discards, I knew partner liked hearts.

With Ax hearts on the board, I led a low heart to partner's king. Partner returned a heart...and I dropped the ball.

Fortunately, partner had 2 entries in diamonds, and we were able to set the contract anyways. Still, I saw that I might need to unblock (discarding the queen of hearts under dummy's ace), and I just couldn't decide whether or not it was the right play.

It's encouraging, I guess, that I saw the play, but I need to start sharpening up my analysis, and actually making these plays.

Control Bids are Tricky

2008-07-09T08:45:00.000-04:00

Playing with GiB (BBO) last night, I held this hand:

S AK9
H K2
D 42
C AKQJ74

I opened 1 club. Partner bid 1 diamond. I opted for 3 clubs, which partner raised to 4.

Rightly or wrongly, I decided to make a slam try. I bid 4 spades, and partner bid 5C.

Partner came down with:

S 75
H J854
D AK943
C T2

Slam is 50% on the finesse of the ace of hearts. Granted, partner only having 2 spades helps immensely, but I can't help but feel that this is a slam I want to be in.

I started to wonder if I shouldn't have control bid hearts, but based on some feedback I don't think that this is correct. My 4 spade bid says that:
- I'm interested in slam
- I have spades stopped.

With partner's AK of diamonds, he should know that my diamonds were wide open. However, logically, can my hearts also be wide open? If I was really xx in both reds, would I even be considering slam?

In the end, I don't know if my 4 spade bid was right or wrong. I don't even know if GiB's 5 club bid was right or wrong. The lesson to be learned, I think, is that north should be able to infer at least a partial heart stop in south's hand based on his diamond holding.

I can only hope that I take the time to think this deeply when my partners control bid. Clearly, there's some reasoning and thought involved in the process.

Post One

2008-07-09T08:28:00.000-04:00

I started playing bridge at the age of 6, watching my parents and godparents play at the dining room table. I cut my teeth on Goren and Scheinwold - 4 card majors, rubber bridge, and relaxed, social games.

It wasn't until my late 20s that I tried duplicate. I played weekly for about a year and a half before life got busy, and I had to drop out. The highlight, for sure, was the flight C pairs at NABCs.

Now, I'm in my 30s, and I still love nothing more than to sit down and play some rubber bridge. There's a part of me, though, that wants to improve at this game. Someday, I'd like to be very good at this game.

Hopefully, this blog will record some of my follies and lessons learned.