Foxx Posted August 16, 2010 Report Share Posted August 16, 2010 The San Diego Sectional concluded yesterday. Our team played in the knockouts, which featured twelve teams of varying skill levels. Each round was 12 hands. We cruised in our first match, then squeaked through a round robin to advance to the top-four quad in the afternoon. These three hands are from the afternoon matches. Get these right and.... you might win the whole thing and end up becoming immortalized in the District 22 Contract Bridge Forum. On the other hand, you might also just win a cookie. (1) South dealer, N/S Vul ♠QJ6532♥x♦AJ9x♣8x [space]W [space] [space] N [space] [space] E [space] [space] S [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] 2S [space]P [space] [space] P [space] [space] X [space] [space] P [space]P [space] . . . What would end up happening to me on this hand? (2) South dealer, Both Vul [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sqxxxhk8xdxxca9xx&s=sakjxxh9xxdak10xcx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] [space]W [space] [space] N [space] [space] E [space] [space] S [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] 1S [space]P [space] [space]3S [space] [space] P [space] [space]4S [space]P [space] [space] P [space] [space] P How do you play after winning the opening lead of the ♦Q? Trumps break 3-1, East holding ♠10xx. (3) South dealer, E/W Vul ♠---♥KJ98xx♦AJxx♣AKx [space]W [space] [space] N [space] [space] E [space] [space] S [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] 1H [space]P [space] [space] P [space] [space]2S* [space] [space]? *intermediate; shows an opening hand with a good suit What do you do now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted August 16, 2010 Report Share Posted August 16, 2010 I don't think you gave us the right hand for 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pooltuna Posted August 16, 2010 Report Share Posted August 16, 2010 I don't think you gave us the right hand for 1 I assume it (hand 1) is a bidding problem for N and with a 12 card fit I am inclined to pass rather than XX so the opps don't escape :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhm Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 (2) South dealer, Both Vul Dealer: South Vul: Both Scoring: IMP ♠ Qxxx ♥ K8x ♦ xx ♣ A9xx ♠ AKJxx ♥ 9xx ♦ AK10x ♣ x [space]W [space] [space] N [space] [space] E [space] [space] S [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] 1S [space]P [space] [space]3S [space] [space] P [space] [space]4S [space]P [space] [space] P [space] [space] P How do you play after winning the opening lead of the ♦Q? Trumps break 3-1, East holding ♠10xx. On 2) I suggest the following line: win ♦ ace, ace of ♣, ♣ ruff, ace of ♠, queen of ♠, ♣ ruff, king of ♦, ♦ ruff, ♣ ruff, ♦ ruff If the ♦ gets over-ruffed, hope that East is end-played. If East over-ruffs the third ♦ and tries to get out with a ♣, discard a heart if he plays the highest outstanding ♣ Rainer Herrmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 hand one is a guess problem and I just don't know, maybe opps bid and made slam in spades? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx Posted August 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2010 Okay. (1) Maybe they bid and made a slam in spades? That might have happened in one of Richard Pavlicek's "Twilight Zone" articles, but here: [space]W [space] [space] N [space] [space] E [space] [space] S [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] 2S [space]P [space] [space] P [space] [space] X [space] [space] P [space]P [space] [space]3C [space] [space]3H [space] [space] P 4H [space] [space] P [space] [space] P [space] [space] P I led the ♣8 and East would go on to make six for 480. What was extraordinary about this hand was what hit the table when LHO put down her dummy. Her hand would feature, among other things, ♠AK10984. I was in shock for a good two or three minutes over my narrow escape from total annihilation. Many of you would consider a weak-two-bid on my cards at this vulnerability an act of deranged lunacy, but I consider myself a lunatic, so there you go. Partner had Q-J-eighth of clubs, so we were in no danger there, but it came as a darting surprise to see my wild, devil-may-care style outed and exposed so forcefully. Even the ♠7 was shown to be lacking in my suit during the early play (partner had it). (2) I believe Rainer Herrmann's line would work, if he followed it up properly (which I'm sure he would). At the table, after the ♦A and ♠AK, I crossed to the ♣A (RHO dropped ♣Q), ruffed a club, and tried the ♦K, which RHO ruffed. Yes, diamonds were 6-1. RHO got out with the ♣J, which I ruffed as LHO dropped the king. Next came a diamond ruff in dummy, RHO pitching a club, then the ♣9 off the table. RHO covered with the ♣10 and I pitched a heart. Seeing RHO turn up with the ♥A was gratifying. Our teammates defeated this at the other table, but it would not be quite enough to win the match, as a collection of minor miscues on other boards led to our team losing by 7 IMPs and being dropped into the 3rd/4th place match in the next round. (3) This was the last board of the 3/4 match. Our opponents, who were the overall favorite in our bracket, had been upset in the other semifinal to land here. During the course of the match it became clear that we were up against a superior; they seemed to grow stronger as the match wore on, while it felt like we might be fading. On this hand I came back in with 3♦, which I admit was probably a mistake (I should have doubled). LHO was all over it like a dog on a bone. She promptly doubled, I ran to 3♥ and she doubled again. This ended the bidding, LHO led the ♠A and it was clear that I'd slipped into the stew when dummy hit with ♠1098xxx ♥x ♦Q9 ♣xxxx. LHO would turn up with ♥Q107x and five diamonds to the king and I was down two for minus 300. They would set our teammates 500 at the other table (no doubt when they got too deep in spades) to put the finishing touches on a 40-IMP blowout. At any form of scoring, bridge is a murky mixture of luck, skill, judgment, and more luck. It will probably be some more time before I know the size of the role played by each. We were satisfied with our 4th place finish but we could easily have been playing in the final by being a little sharper at either table. I never did find out who won the 1st/2nd place match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbr Posted August 26, 2010 Report Share Posted August 26, 2010 Your Unit can include a knockout at the sectional? Awesome. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtK78 Posted August 26, 2010 Report Share Posted August 26, 2010 Your Unit can include a knockout at the sectional? Awesome. ;) Maybe this is not as common as I thought it was. Our unit (Philadelphia PA) holds a handicapped KO every Saturday at our Sectionals. We run 3 sessions on Saturday - 10 AM, 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM. The KO is a 3 session event, divided into brackets. Typically there are 5-8 teams in the top bracket and 5-10 other teams, divided into one or two more brackets as warranted. There is another interesting event opposite the KO. In the afternoon and evening sessions on Saturday is a two session regionally rated open pairs (no gold points), qualifying and final with the final using barometer scoring. This is a lot more interesting than the usual procession of single session Flighted Open Pairs, single session Stratfied Open Pairs and more single session Open Pairs that had become the standard for some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted August 26, 2010 Report Share Posted August 26, 2010 I can't remember the last sectional I went to that didn't have a KO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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