pilowsky Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣What happened next?What should have happened?What's the best contract?Which side should play it?Does it matter?[hv=pc=n&s=sakh9876dt7542c53&w=s83hk5dj6ckqj8742&n=sqt95hajt43dak9ca&e=sj7642hq2dq83ct96&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=3c]399|300[/hv] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vampyr Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣What happened next?What should have happened?What's the best contract?Which side should play it?Does it matter?[hv=pc=n&s=sakh9876dt7542c53&w=s83hk5dj6ckqj8742&n=sqt95hajt43dak9ca&e=sj7642hq2dq83ct96&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=3c]399|300[/hv] The hand is interesting, but a little unrealistic as I don’t think that West will open 3♣ very often. Many will open 1♣ with that hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 A good start, but not really warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 It appears NS can make 11 tricks in hearts, EW can make 7 tricks in clubs so it's not worth sacrificing over 4♥, and NS +650 would be par. How the auction actually goes will depend on what N does, if he doubles and E bids 4♣ S is in a spot and not sure what he'll do, NS may end up in 4♥ or 5♦ either of which should make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige1 Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 [hv=pc=n&s=sakh9876dt7542c53&w=s83hk5dj6ckqj8742&n=sqt95hajt43dak9ca&e=sj7642hq2dq83ct96&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=3c]399|300| pilowsky: West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣. What happened next? Pilowsky might bid 3NT :) What should have happened? Agree with CyberYeti. North doubles or bids 3♥, East bids 4♣, South bids 4♦ or 4♥ or even doubles, North bids 4♥ making +1. What's the best contract? 4♥ Which side should play it? NS Does it matter? Of course. In his old age, poor GIB suffers neglect from his carers. Dementia has set in, e.g. East might misdefend, discarding a ♦, allowing NS to make a slam in ♥s or notrump.[/hv] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DozyDom Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 I hope everyone is doubling with the N hand - even at a table with 3 robots, 3NT is much too likely to go down with a major game making. As for what E does, I guess I'd be considering 4C, Pass and 3H. 4C is the textbook bid green on red with 3 card support, but you have to think it isn't going to stop much bidding from the opponents, and if you end up playing 4CX the layout is probably awful enough that it isn't a good sacrifice against anything but slam. To quote the Arctic Monkeys, pass feels like settling down, or giving up, but it don't feel much like you. Green on red, with a 5-count opposite a pre-empt, I don't want to shut up; I want to bid. And bidding 3H might not be that bad an option - if things go wrong, partner supports you and you're doubled, you just run to 5C and force them to guess whether to double you or seek their game. So I suppose I'd bid it; it just doesn't feel like there's a big enough downside to not do so, and the upside is getting them to play in S, D, or at the wrong level. After that, I suppose it depends whether S bids 4D? If not - which is what I'd expect -someone's going to double 3H and E runs to 4C. At which point one of NS will bid 4H, and E's bid won't have changed anything at all. Whether you open the W hand 1c or 3C is a question of taste imo? Just depends how weak in HCP, and how shapely, you expect your green on red pre-empts to be. I'd go for it; in the minors I like to open at the 3 level on a very wide range of hands when green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 It's a cruel world. This hand is much more interesting than that.North doubles. East bids 5♣.The tension in the room rose to a fever pitch.What did South do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 It's a cruel world. This hand is much more interesting than that.North doubles. East bids 5♣.The tension in the room rose to a fever pitch.What did South do?South either doubles or passes. If he doubles, I think North bids 5NT or maybe 6♥. If he passes, North will double again and now South probably passes although 5♦ is possible. Either way, EW will do OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 South didn't double, South didn't pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 OK, South bid 5♦, also possible I suppose. North bids 6♦ then. Or maybe 5NT or 6♣. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullve Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 I bet West is the main anti-hero of the story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 I bet West is the main anti-hero of the story. That's a terribly perspicacious point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas43 Posted November 3, 2020 Report Share Posted November 3, 2020 So far the hand only seems interesting in that South hasn't collected the routine +800 by whacking 5C. I usually enjoy your hands pilowsky, but you haven't exactly got me on the edge of my seat with this one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2020 That's a very fair comment. The same thought crossed my mind when I first looked at this hand.Oddly, the reason I came across this extremely interesting hand is because I was practising no trump contracts apropos of the election. Otherwise, I might agree with you.Why would I be doing that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2020 A long time before America became upset with China because of trade and Covid19, it was upset with the Japanese for other (but similar) reasons. Interestingly, Emperor Hirohito was a noted Anglophile and was annoyed with the Nazis because their bombing of London had set the British Museum on fire. I can understand his distress; the British Museum is a charming place. When I visited the British Museum my then 3-year old daughter put her hand on the Rosetta stone and asked me what it was. Before I could explain a polite attendant asked me if I could keep my child away from the 2000-year-old artefact. It was a fair cop. Hirohito proposed intervening as a 'neutral party' but his advisors suggested this would not be looked upon well. On the 1st of August 1941 the United States imposed an oil embargo on Japan (trade sanction). This caught Hirohito by surprise. What annoyed him a little more was a testy communication from Hull, the British foreign minister. As an Australian, and a Jew it comes as no surprise that the British are annoying, but apparently, Hirohito was taken aback by the tone of Hull's note. All of this came to a head on about election day in the USA. Finally, on November the 5th Hirohito stopped insisting on peace with the USA. Gunpowder, treason and plot (for those of you that grew up in Britain).Two days and one month later, 4 men sat down at a table and West made an ill-advised pre-emptive strike. The North man doubled down. The fool sitting East raised the stakes. The man sitting South - who was the only intelligent one - bid 5♥. This was a completely reasonable solution, albeit not the best score. West passed, North stupidly raised the stakes to 6♥ and the only intelligent man in the room immediately transferred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas43 Posted November 4, 2020 Report Share Posted November 4, 2020 I'll take your word for it that South was the smartest, but I'm not sure that 5H is such a great bid, partly for the reason set out in your post, the risk that North with a good t/o double might be tempted to bid one more. He shouldn't but... Keep posting pilowsky! p.s. I think Anthony Eden was British foreign minister in 1941? p.p.s No need to be Australian or Jewish or both to find the British annoying... [smiles] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2020 You've got me there. I'm 'smarting' from the error that was all about Eden, but I chose my words very carefully when I said 'intelligent'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vampyr Posted November 5, 2020 Report Share Posted November 5, 2020 the British Museum is a charming place. ] Yes I love these quaint little boutique museums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vampyr Posted November 5, 2020 Report Share Posted November 5, 2020 Whether you open the W hand 1c or 3C is a question of taste imo? Just depends how weak in HCP, and how shapely, you expect your green on red pre-empts to be. I'd go for it; in the minors I like to open at the 3 level on a very wide range of hands when green. My partners would never put me on 10 HCP unfavourable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2020 So do I - so Stephanie - who was sitting South? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas43 Posted November 5, 2020 Report Share Posted November 5, 2020 Ah, found out who Hull was (from Wikipedia), sorry to readers who are way ahead of me:The Hull note, officially the Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement Between the United States and Japan, was the final proposal delivered to the Empire of Japan by the United States of America before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese declaration of war. The note was delivered on November 26, 1941, and is named for Secretary of State Cordell Hull. It was the culmination of a series of events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was considered by the Japanese as an ultimatum for Japan to withdraw from China and other occupied territories, and was perceived by the Japanese Government at the time and many historians around the world as a casus belli. Curiously Eden's predecessor was Halifax. Which means that as the world headed into war the UK and US foreign ministers were Hull and Halifax. I never knew that. There is a saying going back to the 17th century "From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good Lord deliver us". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2020 Well, there you go! I'm reading Hirohito, the Emperor's Army and Pearl Harbor by Saki Dockrill (1992) Rev Int Stud 18 319-333, and a few other sources to prepare this little story.The intelligent man sitting South was... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2020 It was Oswald Jacoby who walked out as South when the siren went off to indicate that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbour. He joined Naval intelligence and made outstanding contributions to cryptography.This hand was 'posted' by Truscott in the NY Post which prints all the news that's fit to print. So as I said, the intelligent man transferred himself after the preemptive attack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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