The Adventures of Sam and Richard - Part 29
- From: "Richard Lawson" <nouma@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 13:39:33 -0600
Well, sometimes things go well for you. You're in Zia's Heat Four, where
every card is magical, every play is perfect, the opponents make mistakes
that make you look brilliant. It's a wonderful, wonderful feeling.
Er, not that I'm anywhere near Heat Four. Sam and I have had an awful
streak lately, where we can't seem to do even some of the most basic things
right.
Hopefully tonight will be different. It's a GNT qualifier at the Bridge
Center. Sam and I are playing with Eric and Julie. Hopefully thing will
turn out better.
In the first round, Sam and I hold the following cards:
Qxx
AQxx
xx
AQJx
AKxxx
xxx
Ax
Kx
I open the South hand 1S, Sam temporizes with 2H, I raise to 3H, then Sam
trots out Blackwood and puts us in six spades. I get an opening club lead
and nod approvingly. When trumps break 3-2, I spread my hand, stating that
I'll pitch a diamond and a heart on the clubs, then take the heart finesse
for the overtrick. The KJT of hearts is offside, so I only make six.
+1430.
Eric and Julie return and we compare. The opponents stopped in game and
somehow managed to hold themselves to eleven tricks, so we win thirteen imps
and the match.
Or do we? The other team is wondering how I could have possibly made slam.
I'm wondering how they could have possibly only made five in their game. I
describe my line of play, and they counter that I only have one pitch coming
on the clubs.
They show me the hand, and indeed, I have three clubs, not two. I have no
idea why I didn't see the third club. It must have gotten stuck behind
another card.
The director is called, and the Laws are consulted. While this is going on,
a member of the opposing team chides me for getting the director involved -
if I was "ethical" I'd simply accept down one. This irks me quite a bit.
She also goes on to say that she will never accept a claim from me again and
force me to play out each hand - never mind that this is the first bad claim
I've made in many years. Now my dander is up and I tell her that what she's
suggesting is against the Laws - when I make a claim, play stops. Even one
of her teammates gently backs my position.
She's irked and I'm irked, so I go back to my table and discuss it with my
teammates. They're split between just conceding down one or taking the
score our table opponents agreed to. We talk about it for a bit. I'm
leaning towards conceding down one, but man... I'm petty enough to want to
take the score becaue of that "ethical" comment.
During all this the directors have been flipping back and forth between
pages of the Laws. It turns out that the opponents can withdraw their
acquiesence. Now, if I can find any normal line of play that makes slam, I
can state it, otherwise I'm down one. I can adopt near-double-dummy lines
of play at this point - I remember the Pittsburgh 2005 Appeals, where
declarer was able to state that she could make the hand on a squeeze after
making a bad claim the opponents agreed to but later withdrew. Once the
opponents accept a claim but later try to withdraw it, the burden of proof
shifts to them; they have to show that the slam is unmakeable on any line of
play. We're well into the next round and we need to make matchups, so I
don't want to spend any more time on this as tempers are high all around.
We agree to accept down one and simply lose this match.
Later on, when I'm dummy on another hand, I make a diagram of the hand and
study it. There was, indeed, a way to make the hand - but only if I draw
exactly two rounds of trump. I'd already drawn three rounds when I claimed,
so it was too late. If only I'd noticed that I was missing a card and found
the third club; I might have found that line. I could also have run clubs
to pitch a diamond, cash the Ace of Diamonds and all my trumps, then try to
read the position. RHO would have to come down KJ of hearts and a diamond,
rather than throwing all her diamonds and keeping KJT of hearts. If she did
the latter and I'd read it right, I could then duck a heart to endplay her.
I'm not certain I would have found either of those plays; it's quite likely
I would have just taken the straightforward heart finesse. It's all moot of
course; I simply misread my hand and paid the price.
In the next round I have an interesting competitive decision:
xx
AKQTxx
Kx
JTx
Sam passes, RHO bids 1NT, 15-17. Hmm. Given that bid and Sam's initial
pass, game seems unlikely. So, the question is, should I compete in hearts,
or pass 1NT and see if I can cash a bunch of hearts? What sways me towards
bidding is the thought that LHO may transfer to spades, and I don't have
much defense against that. Sam and I get to play 2H, and Sam puts down a
decent dummy:
Jxxxx
xx
xx
A9x
Seems to fit well with my hand. Alas, the KQ of clubs are both offside, as
is the Ace of diamonds. I end up down one. 1NT is down one, of course.
We lose that match, too. We lose the next match, too, when our teammates
make a reasonable but unfortunate opening lead that allows a vulnerable game
to make. Sam and I keep pushing to marginal games, and every single one of
them goes down. After three matches, we've managed a grand total of 10
Victory points out of 60.
Last match, Sam and I hold:
AJxxxx
K
xxx
xxx
-
Qxxxx
AKx
AJTxx
I open the South hand with 1H. Sam responds 1S, I bid 2C, Sam bids 2S.
Great, another misfit. I consider passing, but decide to make another stab
at it with 3C. Sam raises me to 4C.
Now, I should pass this. There's no way a hand that made a very limiting 2S
bid can produce the tricks I need for an eleven-trick game, especially given
how bad my hearts are - I have four deuces to go along with the Queen. It's
indicative of the kind of mental state I'm in that I proceed on to 5C
anyway.
The opening lead is a diamond. I consider my lines of play. First and
foremost, I must hope that RHO has honor-doubleton in clubs or that LHO has
specifically KQ doubleton of clubs. That'll be the only way I can pick up
the clubs for one loser given that I'll need to ruff twice in dummy. So,
what should I do with the diamond loser? I can either pitch dummy's diamond
on my Queen of hearts and ruff a diamond, or I can pitch my diamond on the
Ace of spades and just attempt to set up hearts. As I consider the
positions, it occurs to me that trying to ruff a diamond in dummy requires
that both hearts and diamonds break 4-3, while trying to set up hearts only
requires 4-3 hearts and 5-2 diamonds.
Thus decided, I win the first diamond and lead a heart. LHO wins the Ace
and leads another diamond. I win, ruff a heart, cash the Ace of spades to
pitch a diamond, ruff a spade, ruff a heart - all following, very good
news - and now lead a club to the Ten and LHO's Queen. Only now does it
occur to me to hope that LHO has no more hearts, otherwise he'll be able to
give his partner a heart ruff. Fortunately a diamond comes back which I
ruff. Moment of truth now; I plop down the Ace of clubs - and RHO drops the
King. I sigh in relief and claim, drawing the last trump.
Funny how the night has gone. Sam and I have bid several 50% games that
have gone down, but this 10% game rolls home.
Making that vulnerable game and various other swings finally allows us to
win a match. We are in no mood to celebrate, of course. Just an awful game
all around.
Ah well. We've been mired in Heat One for while, but the holidays are
coming up. A new year is around the bend. Time for a fresh start. =)
-Richard
.
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