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.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
1 Step Forward...
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 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.
Monday, October 26, 2009
I Should Know Better
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.
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
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.
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.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Cookie
What would you do?
My partner, given this problem, passed, and earned himself a cookie (and 100% of the matchpoints).
Friday, September 11, 2009
Blind Spots
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Knowledge is Power
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.
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.
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