Trials diary day1

[luis]

Hi all,

I'm going to share a diary of the trials I'm playing to see my friend's ideas on some decisions or deals.

You will be playing IMPs on a supossed-to-be strong field your pd is an expert junior that loves to use some "original" ideas. You are playing Fantoni-Nunes system, 1 level openings are 14+ and forcing, 2 level openings are 9-13 and 1NT is always 12-14.

 

Problem 1: You are vuln they are not.

A87654, -, AJT62, Ax

They open 1h on your right your options are "2h michaels, 4h spades + minor (big hand), or a normal overcall" What do you bid? What is your plan for this hand?

 

Problem 2: All Vul you are in first seat with

-, 7642, A9765, AK32

Do you open 2d (9-13 5+ diamonds unbalanced) or pass? (1d would be 14+)

 

Problem 3: You are vul and they are not

x, J9754, AKx,QJxx

Lefty opens 1 spade, pd doubles and righty bids 3 spades.

What do you bid and why? How do you feel?

 

Problem 4: Nobody is vulnerable

xxxx, T9xx, Axx, Ax

RHO opens 1 spade, you pass, LHO bids 1NT, pd bids 2 spades (hearts+minor)

you bid 3h and pd bids 4h, what do you think about 3h? What now ?

 

Problem 6: Nobody vulnerable

K962, 9742, A32, 42

RHO opens 1NT (15-17) all pass. Your lead?

[scoob]

1) overcall

2) pass

3) 4♥; feeling like i wish partner was declaring :)

4) impartial; pass

6) ♠2 (but i'm a notriously poor leader)

[mike777]

Thanks for Diary, fun!

 

1) 4H, Plan to pass game

2) 2D, This is the system, yes?

3) 4H, Great!

4) 5H, now I wish I bid 4h first as I assume 3h shows nothing.

5) Do not see problem 5

6) 2 of S

[Guest Jlall]

1) 1S. see whathappens. wrong hand for michaels

2) I hate it but it seems my system bid is 2D. I follow my system.

3) 4H...i have a decent hand, how do i feel? umm like this is obvious.

4) strongly STRONGLY STRONGLYYYYYYYy disagree with 3H. Hand is wayyyyyy too good i woulda just bid game. I must pass now but i hate and and we could easily have slam.

5)Spade.

[HeartA]

1. 4♥.

2. I open 1♦ with the system I play.

3. 4♥.

4. 4♥.

6. ♠2.

[helium]

hi:)

 

1. 4 ♥(this bid should discribe the hand good after the system)

 

2.pass (dont like to open 2 !D here whit 0-4 in the majors)

 

3.4♥ what else?

 

4.i relly dont like 4♥eather, now i have to pass.

 

6.♠6

[Fluffy]

1) 4♥, a bit too much dedfensive values, but I can show them doubling later.

2) 2♦ don't system say so?, or 6 cards are nearly certain?

3) 4♥, to make it forcing pass for us, hiding the fit a round so they may not defend is your sgestion?.

4) 5♥, asking if ♠ contrtol, expect parter to have ♠x♥AKJxxx ♦♣ KQxxx/x.

 

6) ♠2 without a doubt.

[pbleighton]

1) 4H

2) 2D

3) 4H

4) If pd's 2S was either weak or very strong, I cue bid 5C. If not, I pass. I should have bid 4H the first time.

5) Spade.

[whereagles]

1. 4H. Anything else and you might as well stop playing that 4H convention :)

 

2. 2D. Obviously this got axed otherwise it wouldn't be a problem.. LOL.

 

3. 4H. Followed by 5C if they bid 4S.

 

4. Pass. Better be a good dummy for 4H than a so-so dummy for 5H down 1.. lol :)

 

6. Heart 7. Spade needs too many intermediates in pard.

[pclayton]

1. 1♠; try to catch up later.

 

2. 2♦; systemically necessary I suppose.

 

3. 4♥; could be a magic 6, but my trumps aren't all that great.

 

4. Pass. Probably making 6 (else why post this), but pard has an easy 3♠ cue over 3♥ with the hoped-for void. They didn't bid 3 over 3, so I'm placing pard with a stiff. I'll pay off to: x, AKQxx, KQxxx, xx.

 

5. no #5?

 

6. ♥7, no need to attack here.

[han]

1) 1S, I don't like to bid michaels with longer major.

 

2) Not familiar with the system, but opening seems right.

 

3) 4H, I hope that they don't bid 4S.

 

4) Wow, my hand is suddenly teriffic. I would bid 5C.

 

5) spade, I end up looking dumb any time I try to look smart.

[Fluffy]

1) 1S, I don't like to bid michaels with longer major.

The only pair I found playing this convention promised at least 6 cards in ♠, maybe luis can enlighten it.

[luis]

Ok here's what happened at the table.

 

In hand #1 I bid 4♥ a bid shared by the forum but not by the panel at the tourney. In my table pd bid 4♠ on the Qxx of spades and out and made it for +620. Two other tables didn't reach 4♠ and at one table EW played 5♥ doubled down 1.

I think overcalling is wrong because over 4♥ pass pass you will be tempted to bid 4♠ but now your opponents had more time to communicate. At my table west didn't bid 5♥ because he was afraid of a possible slam for our side.

 

In hand #2 I decided NOT to open 2♦ because it didn't feel right but maybe I was wrong... They opened 1♠ on my left, pass, 1NT and now I overcalled 2♦, LHO jumped to 4♠ and pd bid 5♦ doubled on my right and I choose to redouble making 11 tricks for +1000. What would have happened had I opened 2♦? Probably 4♠ on my left, 5♦ by pd and who knows what would RHO have done?

Pd held xxxx,AQx, QJTxx, x

 

I'm surprised nobody showed signs of stress in hand #3, you have 11HCP and a 5 card heart suit and your pd just doubled 1♠, it's very very easy to construct some moderate doubles that will likely produce 12 tricks, many of them with the aid of a club finesse that you know is going to be succesful. Imagine hands that double 1♠ and try to see how many tricks you lose....

After 2 minutes I bid 4♥ feeling really really bad but I was lucky to find pd with:

Kxx of hearts and the rest. There was no way to avoid 2 heart losers so a lucky +450. In average I think that 5♥ is the best bid and 6♥ is second, 4♥ is really bad and deserved a bad result but I was lucky...

 

In hand #4 3♥ as many have said is pessimistic but now would you go on over 4♥ by pd? I think that doesn't make a lot of sense. I think the right view is that 3♥ is wrong but now if you bid 3♥ you have to pass game. At the table this was an easy slam that only a few pairs bid so no big loss but had you jumped to 4♥ pd molecules would be set in motion and you should have reached 6 in a breeze.

 

In hand #6 (there was no #5) the spade lead gave 7 easy tricks to declarer. I have the theory of not underleading a weak 4 card suit headed by one honor against 1NT so I lead my second best heart (2nd and 4th). This happened to be the only lead that didn't give declarer an easy path to 7 tricks, a combination of declarer poor play and a good read by pd about what was going on lead my side to the only plus result in our column in the whole field.

 

It's interesting to see how the right thing in average and the right thing at the table many times are different, can we argue with success? I don't know.

After the first session you are in 2nd place. And day 2 is coming very very soon...

 

Luis

[Chamaco]

 

Problem 1: You are vuln they are not.

A87654, -, AJT62, Ax

They open 1h on your right your options are "2h michaels, 4h spades + minor (big hand), or a normal overcall" What do you bid? What is your plan for this hand?

 

It depends on what is the definition of "big hand": does it imply defense or not ?

The hand is 4 losers, so it is ondeed a big hand but only in offense.

I wish I could bid 4H if pard does not expect a powerhouse in terms of high cards but only distribution, but the risk is that they bid 5H and pard doubles expecting, say, a 17+ count.

 

So the answer is the following: if the 4H bid (spades + minor) guarantees a hcp powerhouse, I cannot bid it. In this case I have to bid Michaels and rebid later.

If instead the 4H shows only a huge playing strength, but not necessarily many high cards, I bid it.

 

Problem 2: All Vul you are in first seat with

-, 7642, A9765, AK32

Do you open 2d (9-13 5+ diamonds unbalanced)  or pass? (1d would be 14+)

 

2D. Upgrade this 11 count to a great 13, opening at 1 level considering it a 14 would not be wrong. Anyway, for partneship issues, better open at the 2 level.

 

The 2D bid is not meant to be destructive, so the hand is not over: pard will pass with a featureless 11 count, and bid something invitational if he has a minimum opening strength. We might miss marginal games sometimes, no system is perfect.

 

Problem 3: You are vul and they are not

x, J9754, AKx,QJxx

Lefty opens 1 spade, pd doubles and righty bids 3 spades.

What do you bid and why? How do you feel?

 

I bid 5H if it asks for trump honors. If it asks for a spade control, then 5H is not available and I am stuck: in that case I'll bid 4NT, ace ask (or RKCB?)

 

Problem 4: Nobody is vulnerable

xxxx, T9xx, Axx, Ax

RHO opens 1 spade, you pass, LHO bids 1NT, pd bids 2 spades (hearts+minor)

you bid 3h and pd bids 4h, what do you think about 3h? What now ?

 

Pass. Slam migh be on (pard might have a spades voidand the singleton in the other minor) , but it may not.

Pard could have instead 2 spades and then start with A of spades and a ruff, or have a trick in trumps and/or in pard's long minor.

 

Is 1NT forcing ? in that case it may be very light, to steal.

If not, it guarantees something.

All in all I'd say that missing an uncertain slam should be not too costly opposite most fields, whilst looking for the slam would mean putting all eggs in one basket.

 

Better was bidding 4H right away, or show a hcp forcing raise of hearts if you have one in this system: pard then could have been in a better position to evaluate slam potential.

I do not think this hand has the info necessary to investigate slam.

 

Problem 6: Nobody vulnerable

K962, 9742, A32, 42

RHO opens 1NT (15-17) all pass. Your lead?

 

4 of clubs.

[Gerben42]

Problem 1: You are vuln they are not.

A87654, -, AJT62, Ax

They open 1h on your right your options are "2h michaels, 4h spades + minor (big hand), or a normal overcall" What do you bid? What is your plan for this hand?

 

2♥, hand is nice but not big.

 

Problem 2: All Vul you are in first seat with

-, 7642, A9765, AK32

Do you open 2d (9-13 5+ diamonds unbalanced) or pass? (1d would be 14+)

 

Yes, 2♦. I would bid so with my league partner too, and I know Fantunes bid this way as well. If it was wrong this time, I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Problem 3: You are vul and they are not

x, J9754, AKx,QJxx

Lefty opens 1 spade, pd doubles and righty bids 3 spades.

What do you bid and why? How do you feel?

 

4♥, feel like I will have a problem after 4♠.

 

Problem 4: Nobody is vulnerable

xxxx, T9xx, Axx, Ax

RHO opens 1 spade, you pass, LHO bids 1NT, pd bids 2 spades (hearts+minor)

you bid 3h and pd bids 4h, what do you think about 3h? What now ?

 

Now nothing. I would have bid 2NT before to invite.

 

Problem 5: Nobody vulnerable

K962, 9742, A32, 42

RHO opens 1NT (15-17) all pass. Your lead?

 

♠

[mike777]

Ok here's what happened at the table.

 

In hand #2 I decided NOT to open 2♦ because it didn't feel right but maybe I was wrong... They opened 1♠ on my left, pass, 1NT and now I overcalled 2♦, LHO jumped to 4♠ and pd bid 5♦ doubled on my right and I choose to redouble making 11 tricks for +1000. What would have happened had I opened 2♦? Probably 4♠ on my left, 5♦ by pd and who knows what would RHO have done?

Pd held xxxx,AQx, QJTxx, x

 

I'm surprised nobody showed signs of stress in hand #3,

 

In hand #6 (there was no #5) the spade lead gave 7 easy tricks to declarer. I have the theory of not underleading a weak 4 card suit headed by one honor against 1NT so I lead my second best heart (2nd and 4th). This happened to be the only lead that didn't give declarer an easy path to 7 tricks, a combination of declarer poor play and a good read by pd about what was going on lead my side to the only plus result in our column in the whole field.

 

It's interesting to see how the right thing in average and the right thing at the table many times are different, can we argue with success? I don't know.

After the first session you are in 2nd place. And day 2 is coming very very soon...

 

Luis

2) A few notes on hand 2. Tough to give up on system bid just based on a feeling. Why bother to play system? Note how easy the bidding is for you and p if you get first bid in by following your system. Also disagree with P raising to 5D if you open 2D, maybe he bids 5D on actual hand since he thinks you have some very weak 6D hand since you did not follow your own system?

 

3) Following Bergen's tip to give up thinking of slam on any close hand when opp open the bidding at one level has lowered my stress levels and improved my results.

 

6) Note H lead did not improve result, the poor declarer play did.

 

Good advice for me to follow based on these hands: Doing the average "normal", follow the system, follow the book lead improved my results and lowered my stress to help on other hands.

 

Thanks again for sharing.

[luis]

About #6 I think you are wrong, if you don't lead a heart there's no way for declarer to missplay the hand, if you do lead a heart at the table declarer will missplay and go down 1. So the winning lead was a heart. I don't know if the lead is better or not in average that's why I posted the hand what you can't say is that it wasn't a factor.

[mike777]

About #6 I think you are wrong, if you don't lead a heart there's no way for declarer to missplay the hand, if you do lead a heart at the table declarer will missplay and go down 1. So the winning lead was a heart. I don't know if the lead is better or not in average that's why I posted the hand what you can't say is that it wasn't a factor.

Strongly agree on hand 6 it was a factor. Agree it gave declarer a chance to go wrong. My point was it was not decisive factor, poor declarer play was if I understand your post. My only point was not making the average lead of a spade raised my stress level and used up some of my limited energy level that perhaps I could use to better use on other hands. Perhaps this is not an important issue or point for many on forum but I find I lose too many points on later hands with poor concentration on easy decision hands.

 

Thanks again for sharing.