mgoetze Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Board 16, favourable, three passes to me. I open 1NT (15-17) on ♠J95 ♥AJ3 ♦AK54 ♣A52. Partner staymans, which RHO doubles for lead direction. I bid 2♦, which I think shows a club stopper and no four-card major. So if you don't have a club stopper you keep the option of playing 2♣ doubled or redoubled open, but if you do have a club stopper you don't want that possibility? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted March 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Not sure I follow. Could you elaborate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BunnyGo Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Not sure I follow. Could you elaborate? Well, if I lead a low diamond, that could signal that I want you to return a diamond (say you have the A but not the K). This is why a led a high diamond, to say I don't want the suit returned. However, that is not an issue, as I almost surely don't have a diamond honor (from your POV) and you almost surely have both (from my POV) and so I should lead low as count. This will make it easier for you to not be tempted to give me a ruff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted March 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 That was to mgoetze, I don't understand the comment about playing 2C redoubled or whatnot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgoetze Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Let me try again. The auction begins 1NT-2♣-(X). You are the 1NT opener and do not have a 4 card major. Your options at this point are redouble, pass and 2♦. It makes sense for at least one of these options to show a club stopper and at least one of these options to deny a club stopper. According to the laws of bridge, it is possible for this auction to end with your partner declaring 2♣x or 2♣xx. This may be a desirable option if you have a club stopper. It is much less likely to be a desirable option if you do not have a club stopper. Therefore, when deciding which of redouble, pass and 2♦ should show a club stopper, it does not make sense for 2♦ to be the option showing a club stopper, because that precludes a possible final contract of 2♣x/2♣xx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted March 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Ah, interesting. I was taught exactly the opposite approach, that pass denies a stopper and any other bid shows a stopper (with XX showing RHO is an idiot, basically). I'll be sure to ask why it won't make more sense the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted April 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Not a blunder, but I think I totally pulled off my first intentional squeeze:http://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?sn=Antrax&s=SK9874H2DAKT5CA73&wn=cucciola14&w=SQT5HKQ876D93C965&nn=hefihefi&n=SAJ3H943D642CKQJ2&en=luka76&e=S62HAJT5DQJ87CT84&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=PP1SP3SP4SPPP&p=HKH3H5H2HQH4HAS4SKS5S3S2S8STSJS6SAHTS7SQC2C4CAC6S9H6D2D7C7C5CKC8CQCTC3C9CJD8D5H7D4DJDAD3DKD9D6DQDTH8H9HJhttp://tinyurl.com/7z97q2l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Ugh. Apr. 20, new partner. I blast 4♥ after partner's simple raise and get a low diamond lead. The trump suit is ♥xxx opposite my ♥AJTxx and he has ♣xx to go with my ♣Kx. However, right now I'm considering the diamonds, and he has kindly provided ♦KTxx opposite my ♦A8. I call for a low one, and RHO produces the ♦9. I win the ace, and since I know RHO is weak, I'm sure she has the ♦J, or she'd never dare play the 9. Of course, it could also be she has 9-high, but I'd expect LHO to lead the Q from the supposed ♦QJxx she has, in this case. Congratulating myself on my fine deduction, I play a diamond to the T. RHO wins the J I knew she had, I never get to dummy to discard any losers on the ♦K, so even though I manage to clash the heart honors (and by "manage" I mean I cash ace and then play the J), I end up down 1. Bleh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 July 4. After a long hiatus (from F2F Bridge in general), I'm psyched and ready to go down in a cold slam. As dealer I open 1♥ on ♠AJ ♥Q9432 ♦A8653 ♣5, and partner drives to slam after a relatively intelligent 2/1 auction, with no interference. The lead is a club, and partner tables ♠5 ♥AJT ♦KJ92 ♣AKQT9Take a moment to plan a play where you can go down. Since it seemed I make 13 tricks if everything is friendly and 12 if trumps misbehave, maybe 11 if everything is wrong (♣J doesn't drop, can't find ♦Q, etc). So, after winning in dummy, I play a spade to my ace and finesse in trumps with low to the T, since that's how champs do it. The finesse holds, and it seems I'm again in 12 or 13 territory, when the blunder sets in. I decide I have a useful safety play - after all, I created a spade loser in my hand. If I return to hand and finesse again, RHO might win the K she ducked, and then stick me in dummy with a trump, and then I can't ruff my ♠J!. Elated that I discovered this defensive ruse, I cash the ♥A and discover a 4-1 break with the K onside. Well, no worries. I still have the ♥Q9. So I cross to my ♦A, noting the Q dropping on my left, and ruff my ♠J. Loser eliminated!Of course, it now occurs to me that LHO still has ♥Kx and very likely can ruff a diamond and maybe a club at some point. So I make the only logical play - I ruff a club back to hand, and play a trump. LHO wins his K and should've forced me for down a million, but instead he's nice and plays a club, which again gets me to dummy with no way to return to hand to draw trumps. I concede one down for a deserved 0% when everyone else finds the better safety play of pitching that spade on one of the high clubs.I wish I could say I don't know what I was thinking, but I do know what I was thinking - it was just idiotic :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted February 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 46%! And I can't even blame miscounting keycards twice because they cancelled each other out :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggwhiz Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 As a rookie, I got my first game with a local expert who saw some promise. I capped off our 35% game by bidding kc on hearts and getting a 5♠ reply showing we were off 2 bullets since I had the ♥K. Nowhere to run but what a pard. He shook his head and said, "You are better than this, tommorrow 7 p.m. be there." If I had noticed this thread earlier I would have it up to a couple of hundred pages by now. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Actually not that bad a session, especially considering I haven't really played in over 6 months.However, one obvious defensive blunder comes to mind:Favourable, partner deals himself a 2♦ opening (weak). RHO overcalls 2♥. Looking at ♠Axxx ♥xxx ♦AT ♣xxxx I'm fine with passing, and LHO bumps to 4♥. I lead the ♦A and dummy hits with ♠QJxx ♥KT872 ♦xx ♣ATPartner discourages and I try to decide which black suit to shift to, when a brilliant idea hits me - I can just ask. So I follow with the ♠A, partner discourages again, and the club shift finally releases an encouraging spot from his clutches. Too bad declarer then draws trumps, unblocks the ♠K and pitches his clubs on the good spades in dummy. Somehow I'd only thought about whether declarer could pitch dummy's ♣T, without giving any consideration to pitching losers from his own hand :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 I like the Antrax blunder hand and I hope it is ok to comment. This was matchpoints? If the discouraging diamond at trick 1 denies the diamond king then it seems, after the diamond ace has been cashed, we only have a spade, a club and a diamond on any defense. But if partner has the diamond king I congratulate him on the discouraging card. The second diamond trick can wait, establishing the club cannot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Yeah, partner had the ♦K but recognized we have to develop a club trick, and holding the ♣K but not Q, wanted me to lead the clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Yeah, partner had the ♦K but recognized we have to develop a club trick, and holding the ♣K but not Q, wanted me to lead the clubs. Too bad it didn't work out as it might have, but I always am pleased when partner and I can go over such things productively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Oh, we had a great session. Like I told him after: we may have made stupid decisions, but we made them together. Zero misunderstandings and one misbid by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 I think my favourite blunder was one of those hands where you have a nice trump fit, a singleton spade and can basically count 12 top tricks, with all keycards held ... "and a spade ruff in my hand makes 13" thinks I so I bid the no play grand forgetting partner has already shown me 543 in the other suits in the auction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antrax Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 Yesterday I probably gave the worst performance since I learned how to play. I was seriously sleep deprived and at some point even the auto pilot went to sleep. Here's an example.[hv=pc=n&s=sajhkt632daqt6caq&n=s9762hj984dkck865&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p2np3c(Puppet)p3hp4hppp]266|200[/hv]The lead is a ♦. See if you can blunder your way into limiting yourself to only 10 tricks (Matchpoints, so it matters). To the untrained eye, it seems you will score three clubs, three diamonds, a diamond ruff, a spade and between three and four heart tricks. However, that eye is not asleep. Here's how I played it: win in dummy. Decide to finesse in hearts "twice". Run the 9 to ensure E isn't tempted to cover. W wins Q, and switches to a club. Play the K from dummy, because God knows you're short of entries, and also it makes perfect sense to finesse again, and drop the Q under it. Now finesse again. Hearts were 2-2. E switches to a spade, and now you start thinking, try dropping the ♦J, try a psuedo-squeeze, and finally surrender another spade. I think my favourite part was when I looked at the scoresheet and said "I have no idea how you can make 12 tricks. Probably friendly defense" with total conviction - the idea of cashing winners never even crossed my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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