2007
You are browsing the archive for 2007.
Smack my bitch up
Hi all
"Change my pitch up, smack… " With this Prodigy-song in my head I sit down against one of my alltime favorite opponents. A walking pile of gold and too much make-up, wrapped in tight clothes she’s about 20 years too old for.
South
J9754
QT
Q7
AQ62
LHO opens 2
, either some strong hand or weak with both Majors. My goldplated RHO bids a preference 2
(no surprise with my
holding). Everybody is silent after that and I throw trump Queen on the table.
West
AQ862
KJ98
82
T5
South
J9754
QT
Q7
AQ62
Declarer takes it with her Ace and finesses in
for Hoek’s King. Another trump is for the Jack in dummy and declarer tries the Ace of
.
Ruffed.
By.
Hoek.
And again a trump.
Declarer now tries a
from dummy and finesses into my Queen. I take one high
looking for a signal, Hoek throws something discouraging in
.
West
86
K
8
T5
South
97
-
7
AQ6
I exit in
for Hoek’s Ace and a smart Jack of
hits the table. We play two more rounds of the lucky black suit and dummy ruffs the last one. But now dummy is thrown in and has to play a
into my 9-7 fork. The result is brutal, down four. She just made her four trump tricks, that’s all. By the way, did you notice the
position? EW got exactly zero tricks from that suit.
West Dealer
NS Vul
North
K
7542
A963
KJ93
West
AQ862
KJ98
82
T5
East
T3
A63
KJT54
874
South
J9754
QT
Q7
AQ62
Why didn’t we double? Why weren’t they vulnerable? Or both? I let out a small sigh and hope for better times.
Dropping odds
Hi all
This teams season didn’t start that well for us, some bad play and equivalent results. During clubnights Hoek and I are quite in sync already, but in serious teams matches there seems to be a bit of stress and tension around. It’s difficult to score when the fragile and precious trust you’ve built up is under heavy fire. Here’s a problem Hoek had to face from a recent teams match, against the top dog from our pool. Let’s bark. Let’s play.
South
JT4
AKQ5
QT973
5
West
North
East
South
1
2
pass
4
1
pass
4
4
4
2
double
6
3
a.p.
1. Fitshowing jump
2. Cue
3. Bark!
Vulnerable against not it wouldn’t be my choice to follow on such a meager suit, then again you do have full opening values and a strong sidesuit. Too bad we don’t play ELC or Raptor.
North
6
74
AJ52
AKQT73
South
JT4
AKQ5
QT643
5
So plenty of tricks to take, but there’s this little voice coming from the speaker saying:"Houston, we’ve got a problem!" We’re missing a King. Unfortunately we don’t have time to put out a warrant or contact Homeland Security for his whereabouts. You’ve gotta find him, and find him now.
Hoek looked at the bidding sequence and divided the 14 missing points between both opponents. Without the King of
East doesn’t come close to an opening bid, so the only chance is that he’s sitting naked in East’s hand. First Hoek tried to get some information by advancing the
Queen, but when West smoothly played small, Hoek took a deep breath and went for the drop.
East Dealer
NS Vul
North
6
74
AJ52
AKQT73
West
853
J98632
K7
92
East
AKQ972
T
98
J864
South
JT4
AKQ5
QT643
5
Too bad. I have to agree the drop looks very appealing, but Kees worked out the odds are about 3 to 1 against the drop. Roughly there are 28,000 distributions with a bare
King against 81,000 distributions with him onside (forget about nasty 4-0 splits and/or voids). Maybe it’s more a slam for me to play, I am a simple bridgeplayer, I take a finesse when I see one.
The rest of the match was solid and we had some small gains here and there, so the loss was only 14-16. But it easily could have been a (large) victory for us.
Åland Pancake
Hi all
My parents travelled through Finland this summer and they brougt home some delicacies and knowledge about delicacies. Here’s a recipe for Åland Pancake.
1 l milk
1 dl of pudding rice (or 1.5 dl of semolina)
1 dl white flour
3 eggs
½ – 1 dl sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cardamom
50 g butter
Boil milk and rice (or semolina) to a smooth porridge and allow to cool off. Beat together the eggs and sugar and stir into the porridge. Add flour, salt and cardamom. If the batter is too thick you can add more milk. Grease an ovenproof dish or pan and pour in the batter. Add a few knobs of butter. Bake in the oven at 200°C for 30-50 minutes (until the sides are golden brown and the center is no longer gelatinous). Serve with stewed prunes or jam and whipped cream.

Big fish
Hi all
Your RHO (North) opens 1
. Yawn…
East
AJT
AQ8
J863
953
West
North
East
South
1

pass
1

pass
2

pass
pass
double1
pass
2
2
23

pass
pass
…pass3
1. All blacks takeout
2. What else?
3. I’m fairly certain this is too high, but I don’t dare…
Partner starts with the
Ace and switches to a
.
North
K72
KJ93
QT74
K2
East
AJT
AQ8
J863
953
Surprising developments. And things get better when declarer tries the King of
. I take the trick with the Ace and return the Jack of
as Lavinthal. Hoek ruffs and returns a
for my Ten. Partner surely doesn’t have five
(he would have bid them) so I cash the
Jack too and give Hoek another
ruff, with a heartwarming Ten of
(!). Hoek puts the cherry on the cake by throwing the
Queen (number thirteen) into the arena, promoting my trump possession to three tricks. Down five.
North Dealer
- Vul
North
K72
KJ93
QT74
K2
West
Q853
T2
A
JT8764
East
AJT
AQ8
J863
953
South
964
7654
K952
AQ
Evidently there’s no question whether I should have doubled. Could I have known the fish was this big? Declarer scampered away with -250, wiping away his sweaty relief for not getting doubled.
Thumbscrews
Hi all
I was playing some online BBO-tournament last week and this deal came up.
South
72
86
J8742
QJ94
West
North
East
South
1
1
2
2
pass
2
pass
2
pass
3NT
a.p.
1. Unbalanced or a preparing for a strong NT
2. Weak (?)
Partner kicks off with a small
and things look bad, for it has a free run to declarer’s Jack.
East
AQT3
7
QT9653
75
South
72
86
J8742
QJ94
Declarer immediately finesses again in
and next come four rounds of
partner winning the last one with his Jack. He ponders for a while and cashes both his top
(declarer discarding two
) before exiting in
. Declarer repeats the finesse leading to this position.
East
A
-
QT
7
South
-
-
J8
QJ
On the Ace of
I’m in big trouble. I have to keep my
guard else declarer is home already, but that means my
holding doesn’t pull any weight anymore. Declarer plays a
towards his hand and within mere seconds the next deal is on the table already. We had a substantial lead, but ten imp just evaporated from our scorecard.
North Dealer
NS Vul
North
K986
JT54
AK
A63
West
J54
AKQ932
-
KT82
East
AQT3
7
QT9653
75
South
72
86
J8742
QJ94
Partner’s
lead was unlucky, as far as I can see any other lead leaves declarer with grim perspective. At the table it felt like partner handed over medieval torture equipment to the enemy with clear instructions how to apply them to me. I was wondering if this particular squeeze is the one Terence Reese calls "The Vice".
Heritage
Hi all
Some pairs night Hoek and I sit down against two charming ladies.
South
7652
AJ75
K
KQ95
West
North
East
South
1
1
1
double
2
pass
pass
double
pass
3
3
???
1. 15-19 balanced or unbal 4+
I felt my Viking heritage emerge. Envisioning both
and
Ace and some
honour I can see 6
is to claim, or at finesse at most. The opponents have already made clear my partner is ultrashort in
. It’s the brutal optimism of the Viking nature, when I bid 6
I could swear I heard hungry wolves cry. I notice my partner’s face turns ashy grey.
North
4
T4
AJ94
AJT743
South
7652
AJ75
K
KQ95
Hoek erred during the play. But he’s hard to blame when partner blasts to slam on such marginal values without any scientific enquiries. I guess it’s hard to deal with a Viking partner when you’re not yet familiar with his habits.
Here’s what could have happened. East started with the
King and continued with the Queen. There’s is a very faint beep on the heart monitor, but the patient is still alive. Ruff the
continuation. Cross to the King of
and isolate the
menace by ruffing another one. Ruff a
high in dummy, cross in trumps, ruff another
high in dummy, and cross again to hand with the last trump. Now when you play the remaining trumps and Ace of
, you squeeze East out of her
spade guard or her
honours.
North Dealer
EW Vul
North
4
T4
AJ94
AJT743
West
A93
962
T863
862
East
KQJT8
KQ83
Q752
-
South
7652
AJ75
K
KQ95
Safety
Hi all
I won’t waste any time, here’s a 3NT from Star.
South started with 1
(preparing for a strong NT), West interfered with 1
and the auction ended in 3NT. West kicked off with a small
and a rich dummy comes down.
North
K95
JT74
AK
KJ82
South
AQ32
A3
J92
A965
That’s an awful lot of points together, so nine tricks should be easy, not? Count first, there are three
, a
, two
and two
available. You just need to conjure one little, cute extra trick. There are several chances,
could be 3-3, a working
finesse, and there are even distant throw in and/or squeeze possibilities.
I’m still surprised and a bit disturbed that the majority of declarers (including my partner *sorry Hoek*), overlooked the safetyplay in
.
South Dealer
- Vul
North
K95
JT74
AK
KJ82
West
74
KQ92
Q87543
3
East
JT86
865
T6
QT74
South
AQ32
A3
J92
A965
Start with the King of
and then play a small
towards your hand and cover everything East inserts. You win with every 3-2 split, and you can cope with every 4-1 or even 5-0 split.
I think Hoek got punished badly for overlooking the safety play, but on the other hand with these kinds of games you can make or break your own luck.
It’s funny, I was completing this story about safety and nine solid tricks in 3NT, when I found out Marcel Winkel (very likeable and famous Dutch ‘Meesterklasse’ contender) had written too about the same deal.
Mumbles something about great minds…
Hunting for a Queen
Hi all
My pen must have gained some extra superdimensional mass, I haven’t been able to pick it up lately. But this weekend teams season starts, so hopefully I can dig up some stories (or my muse) then. Here’s a nice play by Hoek.
South
74
AJ5
A6
KQJ952
West
North
East
South
1
2
2
3
4
5
a.p.
Dummy hits the table and you’re surprised, 5
is near cold.
North
3
KT6
8752
AT873
South
74
AJ5
A6
KQJ952
There are ten tricks and all you have to do is find the Queen of
for +400. Go get your looking glass and trenchcoat and play the detective. You know, snoop around a little, acquire your intel from smelly people in dark alleys and smoke a lollipop. Do you feel like Columbo already? West starts with a small
for East’s Ace and three seconds later the
Queen greets you with a faint smile.
Okay, let’s take an analytical stroll together. The points are divided evenly, so you can assume East’s jump to game is based upon distribution instead of sheer point power. If West has raised on a three card
East holds seven of them. Distributional power? Put check mark here.
One round of trumps extracts all enemy trumps, you proceed with a
ruff and exit in
for East’s Ten. The
Jack also tries to claim a trick but you ruff it. Take the
finesse now? There’s no rush, you can postpone it. Let’s see what happens if you drop your trumps on the table, here’s the layout on the penultimate one:
North
-
KT6
8
-
South
-
AJ5
-
2
Is there more information about distribution? Both opponents have a stiff
. East is holding seven
. And the way he played the
suit… I would bet East to hold a 7-2-3-1. That leaves a 3-5-4-1 for West. Estimated hands and point count do comply with the bidding. Another check mark.
The answer is easy: West gets squeezed out of his third
on the final trump, for he has to guard the
8 in dummy. And East is known for holding two
at most. So there’s no need to finesse. You can just play Ace-King and kiss the
Queen hello. "Darling! I’m thrilled to see you show up after all!"
East Dealer
- Vul
North
3
KT6
8752
AT873
West
QT6
97432
K943
6
East
AKJ9852
Q8
QJT
4
South
74
AJ5
A6
KQJ952
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