Year: 2008

Hi all

Something went wrong when I updated my WordPress to version 2.7 Coltrane. I need to update my theme, clean up some old code and prepare for a switch of host. In the end all will be nice and fun. Currently I’m trying out the Hybrid theme by Justin Tadlock. It’s a tad sober but stylish, and it functions pretty robust. Though there are still a couple of css-thingies I have to hammer out.

Martin visited Berkeley a couple of weeks ago. We had planned to participate in the Sacramento sectional, but it got canceled due to a family emergency in our second pair. So we decided to visit a Sunday game in Oakland.

I still have nightmares about this deal. Waking up some unholy hour, I’m soaking in my own sweat.

I agree my jump to 3NT isn’t very scientific, but with my stack and point surplus I thought 3NT would be easier. West kicked off with a small (and encouraging) East winning the trick with the Ace. West won the second rounds of with his Queen and I took the third round with my King.

Here’s my train of thought:
– The suit splits 5-3.
– The opponents have the Ace of as a sure entry.
– West has bid his without the Ace, so he’s my candidate for holding the other pointed Ace.
– Ergo I cannot get off lead else I will be set one trick.
– What other options do I have…? Maybe the suit is worth five tricks, together with three tricks and my King makes nine.

So that’s what I did, I cashed three rounds of finding out Mr. West is holding four of them. Nasty!

I have one final option, and that’s if East holds the Ace of . When I played my small  towards dummy West follows suit with a small one. Sure sure, stop teasing me! But to my surprise East gains the trick with the Ace. Huh? And now heaven came crashing down on me. Darkness absolute! East had another , overtaken by West who sets my 3NT with a diabolical Jack of . Am I going insane?

 
So I dug my own grave by cashing three rounds of . West was really out to get me, bidding his meager four card suit accompanied by a whole Jack in one of the opponent’s suits. But it worked, I was the lone soul that went down in this cold contract.

Happy holidays, y’all!

Hi all

Last Thursday I enjoyed my first Thanksgiving ever. Discard soberness, the task at hand was to indulge in enormous amounts of food. I’m not exaggerating here, there was not just one 16-pound-turkey prepared for us (some twenty people), no, there were two of those beasts waiting for us. 

I have some nice memories from the day before as well. I was a mercenary for Leerdam in the ICL. This game I had a trick up my sleeve, and when the opponent didn’t pay attention for a moment, I got away with murder.

1. Weak, 4+

I thought I had an easy save against their vulnerable game, but look what happened:

West started with a trump for the Ace in dummy. I finessed in directly and West fired back his Queen of trumps for my King. When I played the Ace of I noticed East had dropped two pretty valuable cards. So far I’ve only lost one trick, but there are still a and two to lose. If only I could dispose of three  in dummy.

Ingredients: an evil and greedy mind + sleepy West

I innocently played the 6 of from hand and West followed with the 5. Bingo! Next I was able to discard two more  from dummy and claim +590.

Hi all

Thursday, November 20th. Browsing around on the internet looking for events and nice places in the neighbourhood I found out there’s a Belgian beer bar in Oakland. Some twenty minutes later Sanne and I arrived at The Trappist where they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Chimay in the US. Too bad all the Chimay was gone already, but I think I have found my sanctuary. The Brother Thelonious I had brought a very bright smile to my face and spread familiar warmth throughout my body.

A game. I was watching Leerdam (old colleagues from Transfer Solutions) in the Intercity League and what I saw wasn’t very good. After eight boards they had to close a 50 imp gap. But in the second half of the match they blitzed their opponents ending the match 71-56 in their favour. Not bad for only sixteen boards *cough*.

West led the Jack of and now Geert-Jan (ggoulash on BBO) could shine, for this was the deal:

He ruffed the lead, drew one round of trumps noticing the 0-3 split. Ace of and another one and the opponents tested him with more love. Next he negotiated two ruffs in dummy with the Queen and Jack. The play was virtually over, Geert-Jan had a complete count on East. This is the five card ending:

When Geert-Jan played a small from dummy East could have made life a bit more difficult by ducking, but when he rose with the King of , Geert-Jan simply drew the last trump and finessed against West’s Queen of  for 11 tricks. Nice!

Hi all

Here’s a fine hand from Dombo a couple of weeks ago. Hoek opened 1 and I couldn’t be restrained until I had parked myself in a pairs 6NT. West led a small .

 
As you can see 6 is laydown, and even 7 has good play (combined chances of ruffing out the Queen or a finesse). But how to scramble together twelve tricks in NT? And the communication to and fro isn’t really a walk in the park as well.

The 8 is covered with the 9 (by Dennis) for my Ace. I unblock my Ace and King and cross to dummy in . On the run of I have to choose wich suit to keep, either or . The latter I decide.

It comes down to the finesse. If that would fail, then I still can hope for the appearance of the Ten of . I would estimate these odds to be around 70%, the opponents have had some difficult discards as well on the run of , and I believe they have all their guards still intact.

My Jack proves to be a trick. I’m home.

But wait, things get better when I cash my King. West gets a little sweaty and throws a . Let’s take a look at East when I put some pressure on him with my Ace of .

I have to admit, I didn’t expect a double squeeze with the as pivot suit to materialize. But it did.

Hi all

This is my second week living in the US. I feel pretty comfortable here already, but I don’t know what has happened to my muse. Here’s me squeezing out an article.

This deal is from a couple of weeks ago where I partnered BoB in Waddinxveen. We were by far (I guess some 25 years) the youngest pair in the 200+ pairs field.

We had an unopposed auction:

1. Fourth suit forcing
2. Showing 4-4-1-4 (or worse)
3. From here on the auction gets foggy

When dummy hit the table I was wondering if we had missed a grand, you just need a friendly and trump split. But at the same time I was happy we avoided 3NT, there are only eight tricks available if the opponents pay a little attention.

On the King of lead I analyzed that I would need to establish the suit to get to eleven tricks. And I saw that I needed as many entries to dummy as possible, so I ruffed the lead with the 3. I ruffed a , crossed in trumps, ruffed another , and crossed again in trumps (noticing the 1-3 trumps split). This is the position right now (East still holding a trump):

This is where I truly suffered a blind spot. I really thought it was necessary now that the had to split 3-3 so I cashed the Ace. Ruffed. By. East.

I had nowhere to go. Suddenly my beautiful contract crumbled in my fingers with ten tricks maximum.

And the solution is so easy… Instead of trying to cash the Ace of I should have ducked a . East would gain nothing by ruffing in the air. I’m still holding both Major suit Aces, and my Jack is the lifelink to dummy.

I agree you would give up an easy overtrick if had split 3-3, but making your contract here (with an overtrick actually) is so much more important.

Hi all

I’m counting down to October 3. Two more weeks and I’ll be living in Berkeley, together with Sanne. I’m both excited and anxious. But I can put a checkmark where I had my biggest fears: getting my visa at the US embassy. It took less than an hour, 90 Euros and my fingerprints, but I got it. Jannes happy.

Now it’s just me and my stuff, I have to decide what I want to put in storage, what to bring along and what to dispose of.

But you’re here for bridge. How are your card-reading skills?

1. Weak

West starts with the Jack of and East takes his Ace and King before exiting in . Trumps split and you see there are nine tricks already, you just have to prevent losing two .

How to tackle them?

Cash the suit ending in dummy and you have a near complete count on East. Presumably a six card suit, so far he has shown two and three so that leaves room for just two . The rest is easy if you follow the technical correct play (split honours): a small towards your Jack. If East inserts a honour you can finesse the other one thru West, else you’re able to drop East’s honour-doubleton.

Piece of cake, eh?