Justin Lall

NAOP Report January 16, 2006

The North American Open Pairs (NAOP) is a unique event. You begin by qualifying at the club then go on to unit, district, and finally nationals. I really love the district finals because there are no weak pairs in the second day and few in the first. District 16 is notoriously tough so the scores are usually very close and the quality of bridge is high. The top 3 pairs get to go to the nationals and the top 2 pairs get their hotel and airfare paid. Usually the money is very nice but ironically the next nationals are in my hometown of Dallas so there will be no airfare or hotel fees.

The district finals were held over the weekend in San Antonio. For the first time I got my dad to go to the club and qualify and was excited about playing with him. One of my dreams is to win a national with my father, it would make it that much sweeter.

The first session of the first day started out miserably. In our first 2 boards we missed two saves and after about 5 rounds it felt like we were having a 20 % game. It’s important in these situations to remember that there is a lot of boards left and just to play normally. Towards the middle of the session things finally started going our way and we were getting hot. We ended up with a 55 % game, not horrible but not great either. Considering our start, though, I would have been happy with average.

The second session was uneventful; we just made too many costly mistakes. We had opportunities and let them pass us by. We ended up with an average game. This meant we qualified in 8th position out of 14. The two pairs that were leading had big carryovers, and everyone else would have very little. There was a 2 board max carryover and we got 1/3rd of a board. This put us at a disadvantage but the main thing was we made it to day two.

In day two it is time to take a few more risks. Instead of trying to be in the top half, you’re trying to be in the top 3 out of 14 in a good field. Without much carryover you need two good sessions to achieve this. Our first session started out amazingly well. We were getting gifts left and right. Towards the middle bad things started happening, and we didn’t seem to be playing as well as we could. We were getting zeroes and they were killing our score. On the last round we had a misunderstanding and bid a grand on a finesse which was….on…whew. Rather be lucky than good. We ended with a 55 % game but a 70 % was literally in reach. I looked at our scores and noticed we had 5 zeroes in 26 boards. That is just way too many. There was good news and bad news with the rest of the people’s scores. Jim Griffin/Ken Schutze and Georgianna Gates/Gus Plate both had huge games. They were about even and 2 boards ahead of the rest of the field. Both pairs are very good and very experienced so I didn’t expect to be able to catch them. After that there were about 4 pairs very close in score fighting it out for third with everyone else being outside contenders. We were one of those 4 pairs, so if we had a good night session we would probably make it.

The mentality in the final session was just to play tough and not give anything up. Our style is very active so we’re used to more bottoms than most but we knew we had been playing softly and doing things we shouldn’t have. In the fourth session we finally brought our A games. Our luck was not as good as before but we had some cards and made the best of them. We ended up having a 57 % game which was surprising, it felt much better. In a good field sometimes good games are less good than they feel and bad games also less bad than they feel because there is less variance in skill and actions taken. I wasn’t sure if 57 % was going to cut it, but unbelievably both of the pairs that were leading had games in the low 40′s. I actually thought we might have won. We ended up second, losing by 1.4 matchpoints to Shawn and Joe Quinn.

There were a few interesting hands. One hand I had J9x AJ9 Q98xx Ax.

RHO opened 1, I passed, LHO bid 1N forcing and partner bid 3. RHO Xed for business and LHO pulled to 4. First, what do you lead? Dummy obviously has a stiff or void in clubs, likely the latter, and we have the red suits locked up. LHO will only have 3 trumps since she started with a forcing NT. I think a trump lead stands out to cut down on the club ruffs. I led one and dummy hit with:

Axx QT8xxx JTxx —. We were right about the short clubs and 3 card spade support, but we were wrong about having the red suits locked up! Those hearts looked scary. Declarer played small from dummy, partner put in the queen and declarer won the king. Now he tried the king of hearts. At this point I stopped to consider the hand. Declarer is likely 5224, 5134 or 5125. It’s possible declarer has 3 hearts as well but he might have played it differently. If declarer has stiff king of hearts it’s probably not right to duck, and with Kx he may not hook later so I won immediately, partner showing even count. I now led the ace of clubs to tap the dummy. It’s crucial to do this in order to avoid declarer running hearts and having an entry to dummy. Declarer now cashed the spade ace and ran the jack of diamonds to my queen. I now got out the 9 of hearts to kill the final link to dummy. Declarer correctly hooked and had the king of clubs so he was down just 1.

Another hand my partner made a good bid. He held AKQT KJxxx Axx x

I opened 1 (11-15 5+ hearts) and he bid 3 showing a game forcing heart raise. I now jumped to 4 showing 5-5 and decent suits. He tried keycard and I showed 2 with the queen. He then tried 5N and I jumped to 7. What is my hand? What do you bid?

You should know my exact high cards. I must have the AQ of hearts, A of clubs (2 with) and the KQ of diamonds (7). I’m 5-5 so there are 13 top tricks in hearts. In NT there are only 12 tricks. However if diamonds don’t behave you can always fall back on the spade hook. If I don’t have the ten of diamonds picking up diamonds will be 68 % and the spade hook is 50 % so 7N will be 84%. If I do have the diamond ten it’s over 90%. This was from the first day and the goal is just to qualify. He correctly gave credit to the field and bid 7N which made (diamonds didn’t break but the spade jack was on). We got about 80 % of the matchpoints and bidding 7 would have been slightly below average. I think the risk was worth it.

There was a very interesting 3N hand against Griffin/Schutze, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post.

San Antonio: Resolution January 7, 2006

Many readers have pointed out that I left them hanging about what ended up happening in San Antonio. Not wanting to leave you guys hanging, I have decided to give some belated resolution to this regional. Keep in mind it was played in July so it will be hard for me to remember exact hands.

Morning Knockouts: After playing for three straight mornings we had made it to the finals. We faced the Kornegay team that we had already beaten in a previous round robin of this event. Greg and I played the first set and had an absolutely nightmare card. Some unfortunate leads and some bad judgment caused this, and we knew we would be stuck at half time. Sure enough, we were down about 30. I thought we should sit out the second set given our results in the first half but for some reason we played. We played well but so did they and we only picked up about 10 imps to lose by 20. Not a good way to start the day, but you can’t win them all.

Knockout 2 Session 3: In the semifinal of this knockout we faced yet another team captained by Colby Vernay. Some tournaments it seems like you play the same people every day, and we had certainly seen Colby many times already. After one set we built a small lead of about 14. In the second set my dad and I had a great card and felt like we had no chance of losing. Mentally, after the set was over I checked out and was thinking about what we would have for dinner. I was also exhausted; the 4 session days followed by staying up at night were taking their toll. When we went to compare, our teammates said we had no chance to win. We actually lost another 14 and it was a tie! Now I had to get focused again because we would have to play a 4 board playoff. The playoff started poorly when we doubled a game that made on very good play. After that we avoided a bad game that would go down, and then I made a very tricky 3 spades which I took a long time to play. The opponents could make 3 hearts so I knew making 3 spades would be a big board. After that I was mentally drained, and managed to get pseudo squeezed on the last board to let in an overtrick! Oh well….only 1 imp. When we went back to compare we had lost big on the first board but won on the next 2. With 1 board to go we were leading by an imp… and we lost one on the last board. A tie again, and I felt horrible. Now we had to play a two board playoff. The first board seemed like we might win an imp when I chose a good lead. On the second board I misguessed a 3N and it seemed like we might lose an imp. In actuality the first board was a push, but the second board was a lose 1. We had lost. I have never played a match that went into double overtime, but it is not a good feeling to lose when you do. I ended up skipping dinner and going to sleep.

One session pairs: I was not going to play the night session, but while I was wandering around at game time Norman Beck asked me to play in the pair game. I never get a chance to play with Norman and he is a good friend, so I agreed on one condition. We cannot play serious bridge, we just have to have fun. He agreed, and some insanities definitely ensued. Somehow they were all working, and we ended with a 60 % or so. We had 68 % with 2 rounds to go but fell a lot. This session was extremely fun, and I was glad I played.

Swiss teams: The next day was the Swiss teams. I was still in the hunt to win the tournament, competing with Nagy Kamel. The first session did not go well for us as we lost early to Nagy’s team and later tied with none other than Colby Vernay. I was getting tired of having ties with these guys! We then started getting a bunch of blitzes, and with one match to go we were in third. At this point my teammate Bob Hamman informed the director we were withdrawing so we could catch our flight! Not so fast, I wanted to finish the event so we played the last round very quickly and got a win. We rushed off to the airport but I learned later we ended up second in the event. Was this enough to win the tournament? No, Nagy won the Swiss and beat me out by 4 masterpoints.

I was very disappointed by the second to last day of the tournament. I felt like we could have played much better in the morning knockouts, and I could have not dropped 1 imp each on those two boards in the playoff. If we had won that match I would have won the tournament. On reflection I still had a good tournament overall. Next year I’m going to win it though so watch out Nagy

San Antonio: Part 5 July 3, 2005

Morning Knockouts: Today was the semi-finals of the morning knockouts. We met a team captained by Colby Vernay again, and were in the first half. Colby impressed me again, this time with his ethics. I opened 1N 14-16, and he overcalled 2 which his partner alerted as showing both majors. When his partner bid 2 he passed when it got doubled. They actually played 2 showed one major. They went -1100 when Colby actually held hearts and moved on to the next board. Some players may try to correct to 3, but this would be wrong. Without the alert the 2 bid would be a long suit and almost always get passed. Greg and I also doubled a 4 contract and beat it when declarer misguessed trumps. Our only bad board was my fault. I held: K42 5 Q63 AKJ872. Partner opened 1 which could be as few as 2. I responded 2 and partner bid 2N, 14-16. I tried 3 and partner bid 3. Now I should just bid 3N because we could still be worried about diamonds as 1 might be short. Instead I bid 3 and we got to an inferior 5 game that went down. I don’t like the 3 bid at all in retrospect. We were up 12 at the half and sat out, and our team picked up another 40 or so with us out. Tomorrow is the final.
Knockout 2 Session 1: Today a new knockout started. I was playing with my father and Bob and Petra Hamman. My dad is a great player and I was excited he came in. We are almost always on the same wavelength because he was my main bridge teacher. We spent an hour reviewing our system notes, and then had to play. We drew a decent team from Dallas and a team that included Derrell Childs and Alan Copeland. In the first set against the Dallas team we bid a fair slam that made, and had solid but flat results otherwise. In the second set I pushed the opponents into a slam by overcalling 3 with T987532 T8 – T942 with nobody vulnerable. The slam happened to make, but otherwise we had some solid plus positions. We went to compare, and both slam hands were swings. We were up 10 in the first match and 4 in the second match. Nothing eventful happened and we picked up another 4 in the second match and pushed in the first match. We won both matches, one by 8 and one by 10. I thought we played very well but there wasn’t much in the cards.

Knockout 2 Session 2: In the second session we had another round robin. We drew a team that included Darlene Riely, my partner in crime from the Thursday midnight game, and a fair team captained by Mike Miller. The deals were very swingy, and everything we seemed to do was right. This is what Zia calls heat 1. After 12 boards we were up 49 in one match and 38 in the other. The exceptional thing was that we didn’t give up an imp. The second set was more of the same, with an inordinate amount of slam deals. One hand was particularly brutal for my partner, but he did very well. He held: T84 AJ A74 J9862. After my strong club, his RHO interfered with a 3 bid. In our system, X is negative and GF, and pass is non forcing. This hand really shows the weakness of our system, but he still had to choose a bid. He started with X, hoping for a 3N bid. When I bid 4 I could have anywhere from 4 to 9 hearts. He might well pass here, but he made a winning bid of 5. I lifted it to 6 and made it. My hand was 2 KQ92 KT42 AKQ7. We bid a few more slams, and our final margins of victory were 60 and 71. Hopefully things go this well tomorrow, but it seems doubtful.

Midnight Knockout 2: I got on a 5 man team for the late night knockouts. I know, I’m crazy. My team was Patty, Alan Copeland, Derrell Childs, and Kathryn Locke. I sat out the first match, then played with Alan in the second. He is one of the few people I have played with that is faster than I am. He would actually claim BEFORE he saw dummy, and was right every time. I played with Patty in the semi-final match against a team that included Jeff Ford. Jeff was our teammate in Thursday’s midnight game, but now he was the enemy. The match was decided on a 32 point slam that patty and I bid and the other table didn’t. The heart suit was KQ92 opposite J53. This needed to come home for 3 winners, and there was also a squeeze possible. It’s about even money, and this time it went down. We ended up losing by about 13.

On a side note, I am in contention for winning the whole tournament. The “winner” of a tournament is the person who wins the most masterpoints. Though I don’t care about masterpoints, winning a tournament is a good achievement. I was happy with the way I played today and this is added incentive for me to keep it up. I’m going to give it all I’ve got.

San Antonio: Part 4 July 2, 2005

Morning Knockouts: Having survived the first round of the morning knockouts, our team was set to play another round robin. We drew a strong team from Dallas captained by Steve Kornegay that I was very familiar with and an inexperienced team that I didn’t know. We were spotting the inexperienced team 11 imps and getting 1 from the Kornegay team. Greg and I played the first half and easily made up the handicap. I kind of felt bad, I opened an extremely light third seat hand and the opponents missed a game. In bracket one regionals, though, I tend to do whatever I feel is right no matter who the opponents are. It is a high enough level that the opponents should be able to deal with it. We had a decent set against Kornegay; getting to a slam with a strong club auction that is very hard to manage in a standard system and beating a light game two tricks. We did miss a 50 % slam that makes and my partner chose an unfortunate opening lead against a game. He had KT93 of hearts and QJ82 of diamonds. The opponents got to 3N, and he chose a diamond lead. Only a heart lead sets the contract. When we compared we were up 4 (after handicap) to the weaker team and up 8 or so to Kornegay. Our counterparts missed both slams, but we lost a game swing on the hand where Greg led a diamond. In the second set we crushed the weak team and had a solid said against the Kornegay team. I should have beaten a game that they misplayed but didn’t, but I knew that would be a push. We also defeated a game that might have been made, and we ended up winning both matches by around 20 imps. We finally advanced from a round robin actually winning all of our matches. Hopefully that’s a good sign.

Open Pairs Session 1: For the afternoon and evening sessions I played with Derrell Childs. The event was a 2 session open pair game. I have only played with Derrell once or twice in my life and was looking forward to this event. I have can’t even remember the last time I played a regional pair game. We filled out a simple card and were ready to play. I was glad we didn’t play many conventions, I strongly believe people that never play together should keep it simple. We started out horribly, playing unlucky and poorly. I had a massive brain fart and wasn’t making winning decisions, and he misdefended a doubled contract. We finally got some momentum going with 3 rounds to go, and on the second to last round I picked up a crucial hand. I held: K KT842 AK3 Q843. Partner opened 1 and I responded 2. He splintered with 4 and I bid keycard, loving my hand. Partner bid 5 showing 2 without the queen. Now something strange happened. RHO asked me what 5 meant. I knew we were off 1 keycard and the queen of trumps, but decided to hope partner had the jack or for a 2-2 split. I didn’t think RHO had the queen after the question, so I figured I could pick up the queen for a good board. After bidding 6, LHO quickly led the ace of clubs. Dummy was:

AQT832
AJ9
J87
T

LHO now shifted to a diamond, again immediately. The tempo of her plays suggested strongly that she had the queen of trumps, but the fact that she made no effort to tap the dummy meant she did not have it. I decided to just play her to have made a bad play. I won the diamond in hand, cashed the spade king, and led a heart to the jack. When that held, I ruffed a spade and pulled trumps to make my slam. Obviously LHO should have continued clubs. We had good boards on the last round and managed a 54.5% game, not bad considering.

Open Pairs Session 2: We were not out of the hunt after our afternoon game, but needed at least a 65% to have a shot. Derrell really played great this whole session, and the opponents played terribly. Again, I felt like every decision I was making was working out poorly. I’m not sure if I was just unlucky or making poor decisions, but I was definitely dropping a lot of matchpoints. Despite Derrell playing perfectly and our enormous luck, we only managed a 63 % game. I felt badly about this result but it was good enough to come in second. Derrell really deserved to win, and I wish I had played better. He is having a great tournament, he has won a knockout, a swiss, and been second in a 2 session pair game. He did lose in the finals of the premier event, the midnight KOs, though. He was part of Alan Copeland’s team from part 3.

Overall I was unhappy with my play today. I know I could have done better, and think I was just tired. Bad decisions happen, but there were two boards today where I made costly no-win plays. These are just unacceptable. I’m glad I had partners good enough to carry me in, and am going to refocus tomorrow. No more sloppy play.

San Antonio: Part 3 July 1, 2005

Morning Knockouts: Today was the first session of the morning knockouts. This is an event that goes on for four morning sessions (beginning at 9:00) instead of being played continuously. I was playing with Greg Hinze on a team with Ira Hessel, Alex Kolesnik, Nagy Kamel, and Derrell Childs. Greg is one of my favorite partners and it was exciting to play with him. We sat out the first set since I had to give a lecture for the novice/intermediates, but came in during the second set. We were in a round robin and came in down 14 and down 1. The team we came in down 14 against was pretty weak. After beating them 500 in 1 doubled, we kept pouring it on. At one point I held: 4 J8632 T82 A652. RHO started with 1, LHO bid 2 and partner Xed. RHO bid 4 and I had to decide what to bid. As we were favorable, and the opponents seemed likely to take the push I tried 5. RHO did take the push, and got Xed by partner. The contract was cold but she went down 1. We knew we had made up the margin plus another 20 most likely. We played a strong team in the second match and had the worst of it. The boards were fairly flat but they missed a good game that went down, and we bid a close game that might have been made but didn’t. Predictably we lost the second match by about 10, and won the first match by about 30. It seems to be a trend, but we advanced with a 1-1 record.

Swiss Session 1: After the morning KOs was a one day swiss. I was playing with Patty again as well as Vinh Tran and Ed Groner. The format in Texas swiss team events is 6 matches on a VP 30 scale. I really don’t like this format as it seems to randomize things the most, but there’s not much I can do about it. We lost to a decent team from Austin in the first round by 2 imps. In the second match we got a good draw and scored a near blitz. We didn’t really have anything to do, but the opponents just played poorly. An example would be RHO transferring and passing opposite partners 1N opener. RHO had 9 points and 5 hearts and missed a cold game. This big win was not earned, it was handed to us. In the third match we lost to another good team by 8 imps. There was one swing board where our teammates bid a vul game, down 2, and our opponents stopped in 2. That was lose 9, and the match. Again, there were few decisions or swing boards, and after 3 matches we were a little over average. This was surprising given that we were 1-2.

Swiss Session 2: I was determined to do well in the second session. We started out with another set that had very few swings. We got the best of this one and won by 6 imps. In the second match we played an experienced team that I have known for a long time. There were finally some swings and we seemed to be getting the better of it. Although we had no sure hands where we won imps, we had quite a few plus positions. Plus positions are boards that can only be good or a push. If you have enough of these, some will convert into imps. One of our plus positions was actually a lose 12. We found a good save against the opponents 5 contract and managed to go down 1. At the other table the save was found but our teammates let it in. Oops. Despite this we won by 21 and were in the hunt. We were fourth with one round to go, and although first was unlikely a win would probably get us second. This was no easy task as the team we faced included one of the greatest in the world, Mark Lair. We had a flat set except for partner letting in a red game. This was partially due to fatigue and partially playing too fast in order to keep up with the tempo. Everyone else at the table was extremely fast, and I should have slowed down the tempo in order to be a good partner. I was pretty sure we lost this match, and our partners did not have a good set either so we got blitzed. There was an amusing hand where I was in 1N making one. My hand was: T9 QT62 QT86 AQ7. Partner opened 1 and I responded 1. Partner bid 1 and I chose to just bid 1N. After the best lead and a misguess I was held to 1. At the other table Mark bid 2N with my hand and made FOUR in 3N. The defense didn’t get off to the best start and Mark played perfectly thereafter, go figure. I think after getting blitzed we missed the overalls. This was a disappointing finish but you can’t win ‘em all.

Midnight KOs: I played on a six man team in the midnight KOs (which started at 10:30). My teammates were Darlene Riely, Nancy and Steve Kornegay, and Patty Lozano and Jeff Ford. We brought the Kornegays in as ringers since we were challenged by Alan Copeland to form a team that could beat his. The Kornegays are excellent players and it showed in the matches that Darlene and I were in. They were awesome. I thought we had lost both times but they always had a +50 card it seemed like. We met Alan’s team in the final and pulled off the win. The whole point was pride, so it was very nice to beat him in the final.

Sorry, not a lot of hands but I’m tired from the four session day. Four session days are really not recommended.

San Antonio: Part 2 June 30, 2005

After winning our first match of the knockouts , we arrive the next day just before the 9:00 game time. We are going to play a round robin with one inexperienced but dangerous team and another very experienced team captained by Colby Vernay.

It is decided that Patty and I will play the first half and sit out the second. We start against the Vernay team and have an uneventful set. I went for 800 against their 660 or 690, and had a few plus positions on partscore hands. Nothing eventful. The match against the weaker team was much the same. We bid a poor game that went down, and had a potential partscore swing. When we compared we were down 15 (after handicap) to the weaker team and up 4 against the stronger team. We sat out and our teammates managed to win the match that we were losing by 15 and lose the other one. For the second session we advanced with one win and one loss.

In the semi-finals Patty and I played the whole time. We were playing against a team of tough locals that were very experienced. We had a solid first set with some plus positions. One of my weaknesses is perhaps not doubling enough partscores at imps. The upside of this is that when I do make a penalty double, my partner knows they can safely sit. Patty had KQ54 8642 A973 8. She opened 1 in third seat (anything goes…) and heard it go X, 2(drury)-p to her. She retreated to 2-p-p-3-p-p-X. She had no qualms about sitting and we collected 500. My trumps were AKT94. We compared at half and were up 36 or so. In the second half the boards were pretty dull other than a pushed grand, and despite a few soft boards we picked up another 3 imps to advance.

In the finals we once again met the Vernay team. Patty and I played the first set and there were two interesting slam deals. The first one I had: KQ AKT82 AT943 3. I opened 1 and partner responded 2, GF. I bid 2 and partner bid 2. I showed my 5-5 with a 3 call and partner bid 4. I have a great hand now and an easy keycard bid. Partner replied 5 showing 1 or 4. I didn’t want to risk a disaster with 5 so I just bid 6 to offer a choice. It went all pass and a spade was led. This is what I saw:

J52
Q73
KQ2
KQJT

Oops! What happened? Partner apparently answered keycard in diamonds even though this is not our agreement. The important thing here is to keep your cool. I said “Thank you partner,” and followed suit while keeping my poker face. RHO won the ace, and assuming we knew what we were doing continued spades. When nothing bad happened in the red suits I had made six. I was also impressed with my opponents who didn’t say a word; they just pulled the cards for the next board.

The other slam hand we had was when I picked up: K632 852 AK3 972. Partner opened 1 and I had to decide what to do. Usually with three small trumps and 4333 10 counts I just bid 2. I liked the controls in this hand, though, and tried 1N planning on giving a 3-card limit raise. Pard surpised me with a jump to three clubs. I do not think a jump to 4 should just show any 3 card limit raise as you are just preempting your own auction. There are many hands that need to hear another bid from partner. Those of you who read this know what I mean. Accordingly, I bid 3 and partner bid 4. I hated my round suit holdings, and the spade king was dubious so I chose to pass. Perhaps wrong, but probably not as wrong as partners 4 bid with T AKQ32 J5 AKQ93. Slam is not cold by any means but had partner bid 4 you would bid 4 and probably get there. Both suits broke, so slam makes. We went back to compare and our teammates have had a good set. We were up 33 at the half, pushing the second board. We went on to win 39 more in the second set to win by a total of 72.

Our teammates played well throughout, and it was very satisfying to win. Next, to do it again.

San Antonio: Part 1 June 29, 2005

The San Antonio regional started today. I flew in a few hours early and my partner, Patty Lozano, picked me up. The first session of the knockout was scheduled to start at 7:00 PM. It then continues for 3 sessions on Wednesday if we keep winning our matches.

As we were on a 6-person team we didn’t know if we were going to play the first set of 12 boards or not. As I used to live in San Antonio I was eager to catch up with people. We got to the playing area an hour early and were able to mingle and scout the competition. We found our teammates and it was decided Patty and I would play the first set with Derrell Childs and Nagy Kamel.

The first match was a round robin meaning we played two 12-board matches and could advance even if we lost a match. As I pulled the cards for the first board I totally went into a different world. There is something about pulling the cards from the board and touching them that really makes me change. The opponents are no longer friends or people; they are an obstacle in my way of winning.

The first opponents were fairly inexperienced players and I was worried when they had a very strange auction to reach a reasonable vulnerable slam that made. I knew it would be very tough for our teammates to bid, and expected a 13-imp loss. Combine this with the fact that we were giving them a handicap of 8.5 imps, and we had a lot of ground to make up. The rest of the match went well, including going +110 on a hand where they had a vulnerable game, and I was expecting to be stuck a little.

The second match was against familiar opponents that I knew would be tougher than the first. There was action again on the very first board. I picked up: AJ 5 AQ532 AQT84. With nobody vulnerable my RHO opened 2. What should I bid? I saw three options; double, 3, or 4N. Each had glaring flaws.

Double could get us to a notrump contract successfully, or enable us to find spades. The downside is if LHO bids something, we haven’t described anything about our shape yet. We must bid diamonds and then clubs or things may get very confusing. If partner bids spades, it is even harder to know what to do. We may miss a club fit with this plan, or be forced into a tough guess later.

3 has safety on its side, we will probably never go for a number. We are also well placed if LHO bids 3 as we can bid 4. If partner bids spades or notrump, we will know she means it rather than having been forced to take a call because of a X. The downside is that this is a distinct underbid and may cause us to miss a game or lose the club suit.

4N will always get us to the right minor suit, but it may simply be too high. Worse, we may get doubled and go for a big number.

When all was said and done I decided on 4N, partially because I felt bad about bidding 3 after a 1-minute pause, and partially because I felt the need to get to the correct minor to be very strong. I rejected a X because the hand is just too complicated to start with a X. It could easily be the winning bid though.

Partner had 52 AJ43 J984 972. A 3 bid would get passed out for +110. 4N gets you -100 in 5. Double would get you Lebensohl, then you would bid 3 and it would be hard for partner to ever stop short of game, so call it -100 as well. -100 was a push.

We had solid results on all of the boards, and had made up the handicap (and the 13-imp loss) in the first match and were up 16 in the second. We sat out while our teammates Ellen and Ira Hessel played, and ended up advancing. They won the first match and lost the second. The second round will be another round robin, and then heads up play for the semi-finals and finals. Hopefully I will be able to wake up to play at 9:00 AM.

Midnight Tourney With Josh: Part 3 June 19, 2005

In Part 1 and Part 2 Josh and I had successfully gone eight boards in an ACBL tournament without a below average board. Our running average was at 75.37 % as we entered the home stretch. Unfortunately, in 12 board tournaments each board counts for quite a bit towards your total score so anything could still happen. After our customary 10 minute wait between rounds (we play too fast) we are ready to start.

Board 9: I pick up AK432 AJ9 6 AQ73. I open with 1 and get a raise to 2 from partner. I used to be the type to just bid 4 with this hand. I really love that auction for concealment purposes, but I found I just missed too many slams (especially if partner has a fit in my second suit). So, I bid 3 and partner retreated to 3. Now I have an easy 4 bid and am not worried about missing any slams. They lead the Q and dummy hits with J87 T6543K974 J. So much for slam, it looks like game will be difficult to make. I duck the diamond and when they continue with the jack I duck again and ruff in my hand. I have 2 heart losers, 1 spade loser, and a diamond loser off the top. That’s not to mention the clubs I have to deal with. One possibility is trying to sneak a club to the jack so I can double finesse hearts while ruffing 2 clubs. If they do win the K I will be down off the top, possibly 2. The answer on this hand is to count winners, not losers. I have 1 club and 1 heart winner. If I can take eight trump tricks I will make my contract. I will need some good splits but I like this line. I am able to ruff 3 clubs in dummy and 3 diamonds in my hand while taking the ace of hearts along the way. I then have the AK of spades as my 9th and 10th tricks. This line was remarkably simple but is relatively hard to spot for most people.

Result: 84.78 %
Running Average: 76.42 %

Board 10: I pick up this lovely collection: 98632 982 – 87642. I know, I can’t complain, I’ve been hit with the deck this whole tournament. LHO opens 1 and partner overcalls 1N. I have an easy bid of 2 which is a transfer to spades. LHO has not said his piece and is there with 3. Partner bids 3 which ends the auction. He receives a diamond lead and his hand is QJT5 KQ3 AQ32 A3. Wow, what a great hand. Perhaps in this auction a 3 bid should show a maximum with 4 trumps, and 3 should just be competitive. On a diamond lead partner plays carefully and just loses 1 club, 1 heart, and 2 spades. He never touched trumps until the very end.

Result: 84.78 %
Running Average: 77.25 %

Board 11: I pick up Q854 82 KT976 Q9. Partner opens 1 and RHO makes a takeout X. Josh and I play transfers here starting with a 1N bid. Most top players are playing this treatment lately and I highly recommend it. Anyways, I can bid 2 showing a constructive raise or 2 showing either diamonds or a diamond lead directional raise. I could also bid 3, a fit jump. A fit jump shows an invitational hand so I reject that bid. If the Q had been in diamonds I would like the fit jump. 2 looks superficially best but I am worried about never being able to show the 4th trump. If I bid 2 and then 3 later in competition partner will have no inference about my 4th trump. I choose 2 to show the constructive raise and LHO doubles. This is the downside of transfers here. If I had been able to bid 2 LHO could not double to show hearts. Partner bids 2 showing no game interest and RHO competes to 3. I bid 3 with 4 trumps and a side 5 card suit which is passed around to RHO. He surprises everyone by doubling, ending the auction. We are not vulnerable so even down 1 should be ok. Partner actually has a great hand in context; AKT93 76 A8 J874. Diamonds are 3-3 and spades are 2-2 so partner has no trouble making this, losing 2 hearts and 2 clubs.

Result: 100.00 %
Running Average: 79.32 %

Board 12: Wow, last board and we have a shot for a rare 80 % game. I am dealt T A7 872 AKT9842. I open 1 and partner responds 1. 3 could work out very well if clubs run, but I opt for a simple 2 rebid. Partner bids 2, natural and non forcing. I have exceptional clubs so I bid 3 ending the auction. A heart is led and dummy is KJ963 K864 K63 6. This is not a typical dummy for this auction, but I agree with Josh’s bidding. I win the heart lead in my hand and immediately lead a spade. When they duck, I infer from the lack of diamond lead on this auction that the opening leader had the ace of that suit. Also, he may have flown with the ace of spades if he had it. With only these two minor clues to go on, I let my ten ride and it loses to the queen. I win the heart return in dummy and lead the spade king, pitching a diamond when they play small. This loses to the ace, ouch! They cash the ace of diamonds and eventually get a club, so I am held to three. The diamond ace was onside as I had thought. Many on this hand actually bid and made 3N, and many in 3 made an overtrick.

Result: 26.09 %
Final Average: 74.88 %

So, we ended up right around 75 %. Not bad, although the last board was a disappointing way to finish. We took a lot of risks, got lucky a few times and got all the cards. These things on top of playing well can lead to huge games, as evidenced by this tournament. A lot of the decisions made in the bidding would probably have been different in a two-session event. I think in a half-session event (12 boards) the risks taken were very reasonable even if they do not always work out. We actually won by 12 % so even if something had gone wrong we would still have been able to hold on.

Midnight Tourney With Josh: Part 2 June 18, 2005

In Part 1 Josh and I got off to a good start in the midnight ACBL tournament. Our running average was 78.99% after 4 boards. Josh and I have a habit of starting well and ending well, but in the middle it is usually shaky. I always yell at him for jinxing us because at this point he has usually mentioned how well we’re doing. This time he wisely says nothing. We move for the next round and start with…

Board 5: I pick up Q8 QT84 9532 KJ6 at unfavorable vulnerability. I pass and hear my LHO open 1N and complete the 2 transfer with 2 which is passed around to me. I am a big fan of balancing, but vulnerable and with Qx of spades against what might be a misfit deal I must let sanity prevail. My partner leads the Q and dummy hits with KJ9632 53 T6 952. So I could have pushed him up a level, oh well. Declarer eventually guesses spades (he started with AT4) and has to guess the heart (he has KJ). My partner had led out the Q-K-A of diamonds, so declarer plays him to not have the ace of hearts and plays small to the king. Josh had 75 A762 AKQ8 874 and did not make a takeout X in a live auction. I guessed we got a good board for this reason, and sure enough many guessed the heart to make 4.

Result: 76.09 %
Running Average: 78.41 %

Board 6: I pick up AKT3 A5 KT743 A5 at favorable vulnerability. Ahh, that’s more like it, back to the type of hand I was getting in Part 1. I am in fourth seat and it goes P-P-1 to me. Many would X with this prime 18 and 5-4 shape. I am not saying this is wrong, but in my opinion to start with a double on an off shape hand you must be able to control the subsequent auction. My anchor suit is quite weak, and if the auction were to go something like 1-X-3-3-P I would be in a world of trouble. Notrump would not appeal with only 1 club stopper and no source of tricks. For this reason, I choose to simply overcall 1. LHO bids 1 which is passed back to me. I choose X instead of 1 as 1 would generally be based more on distribution than high cards. LHO is in there again, this time with 2, and once again this is passed back to me. I’m not going to sell out to 2, so I try another X. My pard thinks this over and eventually bids 2, ending the auction. Dummy is 6542 98742 85 J7. Diamonds are 3-3 with the ace offside and spades are 3-2 so I have to play it carefully for down 1. Perhaps partner didn’t bid 2 because he expected only 3 from your X as with 4 you could have bid 1. It is possible to make 2 spades so our only hope is that the field gets too high. I was expecting below average but…

Result: 58.70%
Running Average: 75.13%

Board 7: I pick up AJT7654 T3 A732 – with everybody vul. Partner passes and RHO opens 1. I have 3 options here. I can try 1 planning on not preempting because I have the boss suit. With this approach I will have to guess a lot later. I prefer them to guess instead of me, so this approach is really not my style. After that, it’s between 3 and 4 spades. With 7-4 I don’t need much for game or for a save to be profitable. I just blast to 4 and apply the pressure. They choose to X and it goes all pass. A trump is led and partner comments that he hates his hand. Dummy is – 9862 KT54 T8754. Boy was he ever wrong! His diamond holding is gold and the trump lead does not cause us any pain. They are 3-3 with the honors split, and diamonds are breaking so I go down 1. They are cold for 3N of course, and could get me 500 on a different lead.

Result: 76.09 %
Running Average: 75.27 %

Board 8: I had nothing to do on this hand so we will switch around to Josh’s seat. He held 6 KJ74 QT865 Q74. In fourth chair LHO and partner passed, and RHO opened 4 (hey it worked for us, why not for them?). Everyone passed and he had to lead. A black suit is obviously out, so he could opt for the aggressive heart lead, or the passive diamond lead that still might set up a trick. He went with standard operating procedure of the most aggressive possible lead on this auction and was rewarded with setting the contract. A club would also have worked. Declarer had opened 4 in third seat with AKQ8753 Q5 A3 JT. He bought KJxxx of diamonds, the ace of clubs, and a stiff trump. So on a diamond lead he can win the ace, play off 3 rounds of trumps and finesse the diamond to be able to get rid of his club loser. After a heart lead, though, we had the timing to shift to a club after cashing our hearts. Now since I could ruff the second diamond, declarer had to lose a club.

Result: 76.09 %
Running Average: 75.37 %

We managed to overcome the middle part of the tournament with some solid results. Tomorrow we’ll see how Josh and I ended up