An Unusual Push

[ArtK78]

We played our first Solomon Match last night for the new season. The Solomons are the round-robin team event for the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA) unit of the ACBL. The event is named for Charles Solomon, a truly great player of the 50s and 60s.

 

Each night's "match" in the round-robin phase of the event consists of two 12-board matches. Each 12 board match is converted to VPs on a 20 point scale. The top 4 teams after the conclusion of the round-robin play a KO to determine the victor. Last night, we won by 5 (12 VPs) and by 61 (20 VPs). A good start.

 

The most interesting result (not necessarily the most interesting hand) of the night was a push. Both sides scored +600 EW in a vulnerable 3NT. The interesting point was that my partner, South, DECLARED 3NT down 6 at our table.

 

Here is the hand, as best as I can reconstruct it:

 

[hv=pc=n&s=s6h5daj8532ckt852&w=saj72ht43dkq6cq96&n=sqt943hqj962d94c3&e=sk85hak87dt7caj74&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1np2d3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

This is the auction at our table. 1NT was KS - 11-14. 2♦ was game forcing (they were playing a peculiar version of KS, so it would not be right to say this was game forcing Stayman, but opener does show his distribution as his next step).

 

My partner thinks vulnerability is for children. That partially explains his 3NT call. However, since 2NT would show the minors here, I would think that 3NT would be reserved for hands where the bidder thinks he has 8 or 9 tricks in hand.

 

Opener passed, for lack of anything better to do. I thought partner had a solid minor with a chance to take 9 tricks, so I had nothing to add. Quite frankly, I don't know what I should do over 3NT if I knew it was for the minors. The funny thing is that East passed. Sure, he knew he was going plus, but I think he should know that he has a pretty good number here. In any event, 3NT became the final contract.

 

The opening lead was the ♦K. My partner won this and, if he could have divined to lead the ♦J back, he might have made some tricks. But he did not. Eventually, he scored the ♦A, the ♣K and a heart for down 6.

 

Our teammates were playing against a far less imaginitive pair, and our teammates wound up in 3NT and came home with 9 tricks.

 

Just another push.

[billw55]

I can only imagine the look of relief on your partner's face when he heard "plus 600" during the comparison.

[kenrexford]

I can only imagine the look of relief on your partner's face when he heard "plus 600" during the comparison.

 

"At matchpoints, I would have expected a wall of 3NT-6 results."