Vikings in Space

Sponge

By Jannes on February 5, 2010

Hi all

I’m counting down on my days of freedom & slacking. On Monday I’ll start my QA job at Newfield Wireless, a service provider for large telecom companies. A bonus for me is that it’s really, really just around the corner. I’m happy. And I can confess that again bridge has proven to be the vital key in me finding a job. Seriously, one day scientists will discover bridge cures diseases too, I’m positive.

Here’s a small deal from a Piedmont Monday night game.

North

J962

8653

Q765

South

Q73

Q75

AK94

KT9

All vulnerable l opened the South hand with a 12-14 NT and got to play there. Of course the opponents found a

lead and damage control was priority one, as I could only count two solid tricks. My RHO won the King of

and returned a small one. I had nothing to think about and threw my Queen which won the trick to my surprise.

Processing the information at the table. RHO has both

honors,

honors are probably split, so West is the favourite candidate for holding the

Ace. I proceeded accordingly and played my

Ten to the Queen. She survived, and when I finessed against the

Jack on the way back West won it with the Ace. So far so good, I can count five tricks now: two

, two

and a

. The opponents take their

and I discard to this position:

North

J96

South

Q73

West now annoyingly switched to a

. I don’t want to chuck up the sponge for -200. So after I’ve cashed the King of

I go after the

. I play my small

to dummy’s 9 and East wins with the King. I take the

continuation and sacrifice my Queen of

to West who grinds his teeth and surrenders his

Ten to dummy’s Jack. Well, who would have thought that anemic dummy was actually going to take two tricks?

North

J962

8653

Q765

West

AT8

JT864

A42

East

K54

AK92

JT2

J83

South

Q73

Q75

AK94

KT9

The defense was correct up to the point where I played my small

towards dummy. If West had risen with the Ace to continue setting up a

winner, then his partner would still have the

King as an entry. I was happy with -100, as a lot of pairs made eight or nine tricks in

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Plunge

By Jannes on January 27, 2010

Hi all

Back in the US of A. My trip to The Netherlands was great but exhausting. Sleeping in different beds several nights in a row, cram visits to friends, family and old colleagues into small windows of time, oh, and did I mention “De Zaak” had Pauwel Kwak on draught. I fear that I’ve gained some difficult to lose weight.

Here’s a deal from a clubnight in Rotterdam. Rekindling my partnership with René (North) for a couple of hours. He didn’t let me down, for there was enough spectacle.

North

KQJ94

AJ62

KT72

West

J976532

K953

East

AKT84

752

Q54

South

A63

T74

AJ9863

West

North

East

South

pass

… 6

DBL

a.p.

1. Natural 4+

, or 15-19 balanced
2. Explained as invitational with trump support
3. Blast!

West sure took a timid approach valueing his hand, just 3

with seven trumps and a void? After René heard the explanation of 3

he announced a skip bid that felt well-acquainted. I have a couple of fond memories of René ruthlessly blasting to slam without enquiries. West took a few deep breaths before taking the plunge, he sacrificed in 6

. We extracted a +500 penalty from that.

The score sheet was … colourful. Pairs making 7

, down in 7

, 6

doubled with an overtrick or just making, down in 6

, 6

doubled down two and one happy-go-lucky EW pair that got to declare 4

doubled.

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Whirlwind

By Jannes on January 7, 2010

Hi all

May the gods you are loyal to grant you the success you deserve for 2010.

It has been a whirlwind of attention, questions, Dutch treats and jet lag. Man, if I weren’t enjoying myself so much I would need a holiday after this. This deal is from a pairs night at Star. I was sitting West and heard the following auction.

West

K98432

9762

West

North

East

South

pass

2NT

pass

3NT

a.p.

1. Inverted
2. Stopper

I led my 5th

and dummy revealed a promising stiff

North

KJ92

KJ763

KQJ

West

K98432

9762

Partner Erik S. wins the Ace of

and returns the

Jack via the Queen for my …

2. I decided to duck to keep communications intact. Basically the analysis comes down to whether South holds

Queen – doubleton, or Queen – third. The latter seemed more likely in my opinion.

Declarer wrapped up ten tricks easily.

North

KJ92

KJ763

KQJ

West

K98432

9762

East

AJT7

AT54

T52

South

876

AQ94

AT83

For West it’s impossible to see from what holding East has returned the

Jack. Maybe you can toy around with “change in tempo”-tactics, unfortunately I’m a too ethical player to adapt to such practices. In a teams match East can offer a helping hand in the defense. Seeing the danger that West might duck the

Jack return, East can cash the Ace of

first before firing back the

Jack, that should stir West’s cup of coffee in the right direction.

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Priceless

By Jannes on December 21, 2009

Hi all

Here’s a britishism that cracked me up: What is a Sleeping Police Officer?
Answer at the end of the article.

Last Saturday Elenalani and I played an afternoon game in Fremont. The playsite was hidden deep in a gigantic home for the elderly. In the deal below the opponents had a short auction: 1

– 5NT – 6NT. It’s not very scientific, but it got them to the right spot.

North

J962

KT92

J63

West

AKQ3

Q75

QT842

East

AK3

AJ83

AK95

South

QT854

JT974

Sitting South I started a

from my sequence and saw declarer scramble together twelve tricks via a

finesse. Declarer looked at the score sheet with $ signs in his eyes. Seconds later he had come down from his pink cloud when he found out about half the field had made thirteen tricks, some of them had even bid a grand. Looking for an excuse he asked us what he did wrong.

I rolled up my sleeves, cleaned my glasses and teacher Jannes arrived at the table. I could have commented on the defensive skills of the majority present, or have said something incomprehensible like: Thirteen are cold on a non-simultaneous double squeeze with

as pivot suit. But I chose to be a little more helpful.

I explained that after the

lead he could hook the

immediately. Then after cashing the

Ace run all the

and pitch a

from hand. Leading to this position:

North

J96

West

AK3

East

AK3

South

T97

As you can see South got squeezed out of the

suit two tricks earlier than North, who’s in trouble when both top

hit the table. Eventually

AK3 is good for three tricks. The look in his eyes was priceless when he understood the squeeze.

A Sleeping Police Officer is what they call a speed bump in the UK.

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Revelations

By Jannes on December 15, 2009

Hi all

I’m excited, only a couple of days left and I will see family and friends again. I’m spending most of my time in Oakland now finishing up my courses and certifications. Satisfied with successfully completing all my Oracle stuff (I’m an OCP now!), but I couldn’t keep my momentum to finish up Java too. Oh well, I’ll add it to my 2010 resolutions list.

Here’s a deal where the opponents were pretty helpful.

South

AJ62

QJT4

743

West

North

East

South

pass

… 4

a.p.

1. Taking it easy
2. Enough to compete
3. Boing!

West came alive after her partner overcalled 2

. And when she decided to compete to the four-level she had drawn a very clear picture of her hand, and my partner’s! When the opponents revealed their double fit in the round suits it was very easy to put together Elenalani’s hand:

with

shortness. It was like looking into a glass orb with a degree in Prophecy & Revelations.

North

KQ974

952

K876

West

AKQ63

532

T862

East

T53

JT4

KQJ95

South

AJ62

QJT4

743

Elenalani had an easy roll to ten tricks and the full load in matchpoints.

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Lemon

By Jannes on December 8, 2009

Hi all

This deal is from the Oakland sectional a couple weeks ago. I’ve consulted with friends, experts and expert friends about getting to the right spot. Sour times, nobody has been able to provide a sensible path to 6

North

K42

AKQJ974

West

T872

AT54

J976

East

KQ964

972

T85

South

AJ5

KQ83

A853

Only the Jack of

is a wasted card, all other cards pull their full weight to make 6

laydown. This was our auction:

West

North

East

South

DBL

3NT

a.p.

Maybe there are good-bad tricks (that I’m never really able to understand) available that can convey North’s playing strength. Maybe North can take a slightly aggressive approach by bidding 3

instead of 3

, which should show a very good suit/solid with extras. Maybe I should have bid more than 3NT. The road to the best contract is paved with good intentions, or something like that…

East suffered from temporary ataraxia, I guess. He pulled that vulnerable 3

bid from another dimension, looking at those ultra minimum values in a flat hand. On the other hand I think that West’s 2

was a bit timid, in my opinion West holds enough distribution and trumps for a jump to 3

.

I got a

lead for East’s Queen and I ducked smoothly. East threw me a strange look for I had bid 3NT with confidence. He returned another

in my Ace-Jack and I pitched both

from dummy. On the run of dummy’s

West got squeezed out of his red suits like a ripe lemon. Twelve juicy tricks and my play won the imp that saved us a victory point.

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Submerged

By Jannes on December 2, 2009

Hi all

Sanne and I have rescheduled our trip to The Netherlands. Starting Christmas we’ll be spending about three weeks visiting friends and family, and hopefully I can squeeze in some bridge as well. Even after what happened in the story below.

Playing pairs in Piedmont November 30th.

North

987432

J94

AT5

South

AQJ5

843

AT72

West

North

East

South

1NT

pass

a.p.

1. Super accept, minimum values

My first problem was assessing the value of the South hand after my partner suprised me with his transfer. I was holding lots of nice Aces and a likely valuable doubleton, but the Queen-Jack of

seemed like overkill, so I sold it as a minimum. Geoff raised me to game.

When dummy came down I saw that the contract was healthy and sane, so I assumed most players would find this game. Ten tricks are easy on the King of

lead. Take the Ace, unblock the

King, cross to the

Ace and discard a

on the

Ace. Losing just a trump, a

and one

.

So I was looking for an overtrick. There is one available in hooking the

King, but on the

lead I don’t want to endanger the contract. So I won the lead with the Ace, unblocked the

King, crossed to the Ace of

and played two rounds of

pitching all

from dummy. East is on lead now and cashes the Queen of

. “Sure buddy, I’m going to finesse against your King of

”, I smile to myself.

North

987432

South

AQJ5

East surprises me with an unexpected fourth round of

. I play my Ten and West submerges for nearly two minutes before firing his Ten of

torpedo. Yikes! I didn’t anticipate that.

I ruff the

return in dummy and now I’m facing the music. Take the trump finesse or go for the drop? Suddenly I wish I had taken the solid plan for ten tricks. Finally I decide to go for the drop, taking West’s long, long pause into account. Defeat.

North

987432

J94

AT5

West

K752

KQJ72

984

East

QT83

QJ653

South

AQJ5

843

AT72

I still don’t know what West was thinking about. When I found out that my minus 50 was an utter and complete cold bottom I shuddered. Nobody, absolutely nobody was in 4

. Only +140’s and +170’s on the travelling score sheet. Sometimes I really hate playing pairs.

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Morton’s utensil

By Jannes on November 25, 2009

Hi all

Here’s another deal from Oakland. This time my partner Geoff H. was at the helm of a slam.

South

AKQ4

K83

JT74

West

North

East

South

pass

2NT

pass

a.p.

1. Unscientific

I’m the first one to agree my jump to slam was unnecessary and unscientific. At least I can say I was accurate. I saw problems arise when I would start with 4

(allowing partner to cooperate, or sign off in 4NT or 5

), because I would bypass the

cuebid. After a minute and a half of deep thought I just caved and jumped to 6

seeing no solution to my bidding problems. This is what Geoff could see:

North

JT6

AKQ92

AQ4

South

AKQ4

K83

JT74

When East led a

into Geoff’s Ace – Queen all troubles were gone. He drew trumps, led a

to his Queen and when that won the trick was able to pitch his

loser on dummy’s high

for a nice +1390.

North

JT6

AKQ92

AQ4

West

972

AJ92

J987

East

853

T764

KT63

South

AKQ4

K83

JT74

Had East led something passive (like a

or a trump), Geoff would still have come home though. After drawing trumps he would lead a

towards his Queen, if West ducks than the

loser goes away on dummy’s long

. If West rises then the

King and the 13th

provide a parking spot for both losing

. And if the Ace of

proves to be offside, you have the

finesse as ultimate resort.

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Vikings In Space

Sponge

Plunge

Whirlwind

Priceless

Revelations

Lemon

Submerged

Morton’s utensil

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