A Confederacy of Dunces

[daveharty]

This was the wildest hand from the GNT qualifier held earlier today. And before anyone makes the obvious joke, no, it was not the NLM flight.

 

[hv=pc=n&s=s4h3dkqj9863cj752&w=shkt842dt42cakq43&n=sakqt76h5da75ct86&e=sj98532haqj976dc9]399|300[/hv]

 

North was the dealer, nobody vulnerable. I sat South.

 

At our table:

 

[hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp1n(forcing)2h2s4h(hmmm.)pp4s(just%20in%20case%20you%20didn%27t%20hear%20me%20before)dppp]133|100[/hv]

 

My partner, not realizing the opponents were playing their frosty grand slam in game, decided to take the solo dive in 4S, and went -800. This was disappointing but didn't look like a huge disaster; if our teammates could find the slam, it would be a 3 imp or 12 imp pickup, or even more if doubled, and even if our teammates bid like our opponents and settled in 4H, it would only be a 7 imp loss. Alas...not so. At the other table:

 

[hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1s2hp4s(Exclusion)d4n(ostensibly%2C%202%20keys%20w/o%20the%20Q)5dp(%3F)pp(%3F)]133|100[/hv]

 

Our teammates had an Exclusion/ROPI accident and set 5D three tricks undoubled. Lose 12.

 

In our defense, it was the last of eight matches, and everybody was tired. Whatever the reason, I think at least six of the eight people involved did something silly, possibly more. I leave it to you to decide who the worst offender was.

[Free]

The auction at the other table is very strange although I agree with the 2♥ overcall. After exclusion, East doesn't show his ♥Q and pass by West is imo obviously forcing. I also wonder why East didn't show an even number of keycards with an unknown void (5♦). If South would Dbl that, you can even find out which void it is at 5-level and bid the grand slam! :)

[rhm]

Is it worth discussing this nonsense?

I understand that misunderstandings happen and I consider myself as conservative when it comes to sequences where Pass should be considered forcing, but East final Pass is not from this world.

I wonder what it tells that this is happening in a so called LM event.

 

Rainer Herrmann

[ggwhiz]

Is it worth discussing this nonsense?

 

One of my fondest memories is from a North American Swiss. Last match before the break pard and I had an alert that wasn't (according to me?) and marched into the valley of death going for -800 into our own cold slam. The rest of the match got worse.

 

When we got back to our table our pards picked their heads of the table and said "I sure hope you guys didn't have a good round". We signed a blank score card and the dinner discussion on, so you think YOU were an idiot, I trump that was classic. And we won the other 7.

 

Worth discussing?

[daveharty]

Is it worth discussing this nonsense?

I don't know if it's "worth discussing" but I did think it was an "interesting bridge hand." I thought it was funny to consider the large variety of swing possibilities, and then to realize that no matter how many you've covered, your teammates and opponents are always capable of coming up with new ones. Plus, I was looking at a list of interesting collective nouns and was surprised that "confederacy of dunces" wasn't one of them; it's always been one of my favorites.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

"confederacy of dunces"

That's reserved for Congress .

[daveharty]

That's reserved for Congress .

A Feculence of Federalists?

A Smut of Statesmen?

A Grime of Governors?

A Smudge of Parliamentarians?

A Sleaze of Senators?

A Blunder of Politicians?

A Harangue of Lawmakers?