Vikings in Space

Hi all

Yesterday at Star I played like… like… in Dutch one can say “like a wet newspaper”. I guess that comes close. Defensive errors all around. Missed an easy biddable slam. Argh! And if everything goes bad, then I shouldn’t have tried this:

Sitting South I opened a 14-16 NT, René raised me to the NT game immediately without introducing his . I like that, North has more than enough (soft values) for game, and those , well, if we have a fit, they work in 3NT as well. And you keep them hidden from the opponents.

The defence kicks off with a . I ponder for some time, reviewing my chances. What am I going to collect? I need a favourable position for four tricks, one and two . I need more than just the Queen onside, I just don’t get to 9 tricks (unless the Queen of drops doubleton, of course). West having Ace-Queen of seems too remote a chance.

So I devised a cunning plan.

Back to the lead, East put in the  Queen and returned the 9 for dummy. Now I played a small from table, a surprised West winning the trick with the 7. Now when he returned another I had butterflies in my stomach, it looks like the are breaking and West is desperately looking for a way to put East on lead. So I put up the King.

Curtains!

East shoots back a and I loose six tricks in the black suits. Losing an additional 3 imp for all my efforts, cause all other pairs were only set one trick.

Hi all

Here’s a game from one of Dombo’s teams matches last week. It’s a nice deal to analyze. If I could only bring up the concentration to do this during a match instead of post mortem.

South had to play 4 doubled. During the auction West interfered with some number of and East finally doubled 4. West starts with the King. Plan the play!

Let’s do this together. Trumps are very likely to be 1-4 both honours offside, a loser, are soft and the have to be tackled as well. Ducking the lead doesn’t do much harm, the continuation is for your Ace. Draw one round of trumps by running the Ten. East plays back a for the King in dummy. Tackle the now, the Queen and Jack hold but West discards the 2nd round. So trumps and are 1-4.

This gets complicated.

Cash the Ace and ruff a small with the Ace. East discards something. Cross to the Ace and ruff a with the Jack. East will overruff, but now South has only trumps left, resulting in three trump tricks in your hand, one in dummy, three tricks, two in and the Ace of .

Full deal:

Without the double South will probably play va banque, double finesse in , and nemesis will overcome him. I wouldn’t double them, maybe it will gain +100 (or an unlikely +300), but warning the opponents into a thoughtful magic plan is a very bad thing.

Hi all

Last night René had obligations elsewhere. Lucky me, Elske agreed to sit opposite me. She bid like a true Viking, dangerously high. I like that, though it costed me some time and palpitations to adapt. But no relays, we agreed to something Dutch Acolish. And then this game came across:

We had an undisturbed auction (involving Check back Stayman) to 4. But both hands fit like gloves, no wasted honours, so 6 is a very good slam. But it’s quite unbiddable in a natural system.

What about Viking Precision? Would it have gotten us to slam?

South initiates a gameforcing sequence with 1NT, North obliges with:
1. minimum, balanced or sidesuit in other Major
2. balanced
3. 3-5-3-2 distribution
4. 1 Ace
5. 2 Kings of the same rank
6. 1 Queen
7. Queen

Maybe the last couple of relays are not obvious, cause slam without trump Queen is a no go, and finding out is not without danger. But during the sequence South must feel like: “Really? Really? Really? Can it be?” And then slam is unavoidable.

Hi all

It’s good to see I’m drawing more visitors over time. It makes me write more and better stories to keep my visitors happy. I have some ideas for improvements and enhancements, maybe a forum (or opening up comments), a reworked system corner. Offer better support for Internet Explorer, about 60% of all visitors still use it. Go get yourself a decent browser!

But all in good time. On a personal level, I’m on the lookout for a new (parttime?) job. My current job as a programmer at this internet pharmacy just isn’t working out for me. And if I could combine it with finishing my studies, well, that would be a blast.

You’re here for games. Here’s one. I could barely make out the details on the slip of paper I fumbled from out of nowhere. It is from a teams match some three months ago:

I opened 2, showing 8-11 hcp and 4-5, 5-4 or 5-5 Majors. Now René bid 3. A trick, it shows an invitational hand with at least a four card suit fit somewhere. This gets doubled (probably lead directing), because of my maximum and wellplaced King I bid 4. You pick, partner! The auction ended in 4.

René got a high lead and the continuation was for East. He rummaged through his cards for some time and played back a for the Ace. René’s Jack of got covered and the hand played itself. A back to the 9, King, small to table, a ruffed with the 8 and finally a towards the King. Claim ten tricks when the Ace was onside. I like René’s 3 bid, good fitting honours in the Major suits, so 3 will never be in danger. And opposite a maximum you are willing to try game. I agree it’s a lucky 19 point game we made, but then again, points have to come from somewhere, don’t they?

It’s very hard to spot, but the defence erred (missed an opportunity) this game. If a 3rd round of is played… yes, giving away a ruff and sluff… you have no loser to discard. You will lose control because the are 4-2, there’s just too much to do.

Update February 8, 2007: Martin has pointed out the ruff and sluff complicates things a little, but game is still on. I’m not infallible, he’s right.

Hi all

I need a new head! Great fun last night and it ended with way too much beer, oceans of it. And now I’d like a new head. Once in a while overindulgence isn’t a bad thing, as long as you’re in a good mood and in good company. Without these criteria it’s a sad event. But last night was wonderful.

Yesterday:

My RHO (Hendrik) opens 1 and I overcall with 2. Nothing special so far, but Martin jumps to 5 and Dennis doubles. Now what?

I put my pass on the table too quick, I should have taken some more time to think. Partner surely doesn’t have a stack of trumps, so his double is based upon points. And the jump to 5 suggests a freaky distribution. Your hand has a lot of offensive potential, so make a bid, any bid.

And if you do pass… be sure to lead the Ace of . Else you can write down two doubled overtricks. Full:

Well done guys!

Here’s another freak:

South applied for the ugliest preempt of the evening when he opened a first hand 4 (all white). North, logically, pressed on to 6. About 30 seconds later we could write down -980. I was sitting East and I held a bare Jack. Did I mention that the King of was onside too?

Yuck!

I’m glad South is a member of my team, so his extraordinary amount of luck doesn’t work against us.

Hi all

A final one from our last, succesfull teams match. I still don’t know what’s right, if you have strong and convincing suggestions feel free to tell me about it.

Your hand:

Take a break and look at the hand. It’s nice. I guess opposite a scattered 10 count you have play for game. So this hand is worth a lot, it’s definite in the very upper ranges of a weak two. According to ZAR (or Wikipedia) it’s worth a regular opening bid (26 distribution points). But what do you do when your RHO opens a Muiderberg Two in (weak hand, 5 card and 4+ in a minor)?

I decided to overcall with 2. Because you are so short in enemy’s suit, you cannot expect partner to protect in 4th seat, he has too many for that. And game could still be on. But partner will account you for at least a King more in value, how to cope with that? You are (quoting David Bowie) "Under Pressure".

The bidding resembles a runaway train:

1. Muiderberg Two
2. Asking for partner’s minor suit (?)

From here on there are no further agreements, just interpretations. René’s 3 call is about 80% forcing, but I got scared from my own 2 call. East doubled (probably for takeout), West running to his other 5 card suit. Time to come clean, I should bid 4 now, showing my anemic overcall. René’s double is for penalties, expecting in my hand and all suits breaking badly. I ran like the wind. Still expecting full values for my first overcall he raised himself to the game. Three Aces gone, so minus 100.

At the other table things were less hectic. Martin (West) ended up in 3 (a solid 5-5 fit), without a trump lead you can crossruff to eleven tricks. Gain: 2 imp.

Hi all

Here’s another story from last wednesday, René preempted them out of their vulnerable game on an offshape hand. I passed first hand and he heard his RHO open 1.

We have tools for twosuiters, but on agreement this hand is too weak for that. With an eye on the vulnerability and lady Fortune on our shoulder he jumped to 3. It shows that with a passed partner we rise pressure at every opportunity (alerted and explained to our opponents). It paid bigtime, for this was the full deal.

East had some values but the 1 opening was nebulous (3+ card suit) so raising was not without danger. His pass was a bit timid, but I can see no clear alternatives. With this trump support I had an easy raise to game. Now West’s pass was too conservative, with a stiff and significant extras he should protect with a double. My 4 call was passed out.

René had four top losers, but East led a for West’s Ace and now something went wrong, West got wrong count on his Ace of and when he tried to cash another one, René could claim eleven tricks (pitching dummy’s on his long ).

At the other table North overcalled just 1 and now East could show his support on a comfortable level, the auction eventually ended in 5. A double game swing, 450 + 620 totals a blistering 1070 points.

I have no clue how to get to the cold slam.