Round 4, hands 7 and 8

[inquiry]

[hv=pc=n&s=s8732hk8764d5ckq7&n=saha9dakqj4cat854]133|200|BOARD 7. Delarer South, Vul E-W

 

E-W do not bid.

Two pairs in 6♣ by north, two pairs in 7♣ by north[/hv]

 

 

[hv=pc=n&s=s42ha98dkt4ckqt52&n=sakj853hkj7djca97]133|200|Board 8, Dealer WEST, vul none

 

E-W do not bid.

One pair in 3NT

One pair in 6NT

Two pairs in 7♣

[/hv]

[han]

On the firsrt one 7C is quite good. On a 3-2 club split you ruff a diamond, on a 4-1 club split onside you pull trumps and hope that either diamonds split or you have a heart-diamond squeeze.

 

My rough guess is that the grand is about 80%. That means that those is 6C get 0.9 matchpoints and those in 7C get 2.1 matchpoints. We get:

 

6C = 3.6

7C = 8.4

 

Rounding 6C up and 7C down seems unfair, the difference should be 5. To keep all contestants happy I suggest 6C = 4 and 7C = 9.

 

On the next one clearly 6NT and 7C are both quite bad. Assuming that 6NT is from the south I'd score:

 

7C = 3

6NT = 7

3NT = 11

 

If 6NT is from the north, perhaps it should score only 6.

[inquiry]

On board 7, my scores were similar to Han;s

 

7♣ = 10

6N = 7

6♣ = 4

3N = 2

5♣ = 1

 

TyerR/Bidemup move back into first place

 

On Board 8

Well, 7♣ is close to a zero, If spades run you have a lot of tricks, if not, you are in trouble. My scores differ considerably from Han's so this one may need discussing.

 

6C = 10

6NT = 7

3NT = 5

6S = 4

7C = 1

 

TylerE expands his lead at the half-way point.

 

 

[kayin801]

Isn't 3NT better than 6NT on board 8 since you have to bring in spades for no losers and avoid a club loser, which will happen on logical play every once in a while?

[bid_em_up]

I'm not quite sure how we gained on board 7. I'm fairly certain we stopped in 6C (but don't have access to hand records @ the moment.) If Tyler sees this, maybe he can verify.

 

Edit: I have verified that we were only in 6C on board 7. So, I'm not sure how we gained here.

 

On board 7, my scores were similar to Han;s

 

7♣ = 10

6N = 7

6♣ = 4

3N = 2

5♣ = 1

 

TyerR/Bidemup move back into first place

 

[bid_em_up]

On Board 8

Well, 7♣ is close to a zero, If spades run you have a lot of tricks, if not, you are in trouble.

 

Not to mention the opponents have to forget to cash the diamond Ace at trick one.

[han]

My scores differ considerably from Han's so this one may need discussing.

 

I computed my scores by estimating the chances that each of the three scores would beat each other score. 3NT would pretty much always beat 7C and more than half the time beat 6NT. 6NT usually beats 7C but not always, 6NT can go down more when the spade finesse is off.

 

My scores are based on the field with these four attained scores. Giving 6NT more points than 3NT is incomprehensible to me. Surely 6NT is not better than a finesse, and the fact that 3NT always beats 7C and 6NT not makes 3NT clearly the better matchpoint spot in this field.