The Adventures of Sam and Richard - Part 42
- From: Richard Lawson <nouma@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 Aug 2006 09:22:35 -0700
Last week, Sam and I were in a good place, where everything worked and the
opponents made lots of mistakes. We're both anxious to see if it gets repeated.
Alas, no. This week, the opponents seem to be doing everything right, and we're
not perfect. For example:
Qx
ATxxx
Jxx
QJx
In third seat, Sam opens 1H. RHO passes and I bid 2C, Drury, asking if Sam has
a full opener. LHO overcalls 2S and Sam passes, which should just about confirm
that he doesn't have a full opener. I bid 3H and there we lie. Sam has a mere
eleven points but he does have a stiff diamond, two black Kings and the KQ of
hearts. A hand that perfectly fits with mine, in other words. Making four.
We're the only pair in the room not in game. I guess every time I have
five-card support I should just bid 4H; at the very worst I'll be even par with
the rest of the field.
Ugh. I hate trying to use judgment and getting a bottom as a result. =)
Later on, I find out that sometimes I overthink things to a large degree:
JTxx
J9xx
ATx
xx
KQxxx
Qx
KJx
KJx
I make a fairly horrible decision to overcall a 1C opening by RHO with 1NT, and
play it there. A heart is lead to the King, and hearts are continued to my
Queen and LHO's Ace. LHO dithers for a bit, then shifts to a spade, clearly
afraid to give me a heart finesse or open up the clubs. RHO wins the Ace of
spades and shifts to a low club.
I rise with the King, which holds, and consider the position. I ought to be
able to strip-squeeze someone into giving me a third diamond, depending on who
has the Queen of diamonds. I cross to dummy with a spade, cash the Jack of
hearts pitching a club, and finish off the spades.
Here's the four-card ending:
-
-
ATx
x
-
-
KJx
J
RHO has looked uncomfortable discarding, throwing club after club. Her last
discard is the Queen of clubs. Seems obvious to me she's protecting Qxx of
diamonds. Assuming that she does indeed have Qxx of diamonds remaining, I cash
the King of diamonds and throw her in with the a club to make her lead away from
Qx of diamonds.
I frown almost immediately afterwards. Why did I endplay RHO? If I could read
her for the Qxx of diamonds, why didn't I, y'know, *finesse* her for it? I wish
I could say that I was protecting myself from RHO cleverly reducing herself to a
stiff club and xxx of diamonds, hoping I'd take a losing finesse.
But the truth of the matter is that a simple finesse never occurred to me. I
had "strip-squeeze-and-endplay" on the brain from the get-go and never even
considered alternatives. I wonder what that says about me as a bridge player.
What's most amusing about this board was, at the time it was entered onto the
traveller, it was a bottom. This was the third round. One E/W pair got doubled
in 2S and make an overtrick. One E/W pair doubled the opponents in 4H and
collected 1100. Our +150 looked awfully tiny compared to those boards.
The boards are, for the most part, pretty boring. We don't declare much and we
blow too many tricks on defense. Sam helps our cause by taking advantage of a
defensive slip to make a 23-point 3NT I put him in. He played it very nicely,
which helped me feel better about my bidding.
Towards the end of the night, I pick up:
Qxx
Kx
KJ7x
Kxxx
A really lousy twelve-point hand with seven losers. I'm mentally debating
whether to open in second seat when RHO opens 1C. I am quite relieved; now I
can pass happily. LHO bids 1S, Sam passes, RHO bids 2S, pass-pass to Sam. He
reopens with a double. I bid 3D, and LHO surprisingly bids 4C. I so want to
double this, but Sam bids 4D before it can get to me, which may be just as well.
This is passed out, although not before both of my opponents give it serious
consideration.
A spade is led and Sam puts down:
Kx
Axxxx
T9xxx
x
Qxx
Kx
KJ7x
Kxxx
I like Sam's re-opening double but I'm not sure I like the 4D bid in front of
me. Still, all that's in the past and I have to think about making this
contract. It's one of those with few apparent losers but not a lot of winners.
A neutral heart is led. I decide to try and build a club trick by winning
dummy's Ace of hearts and leading towards the King of clubs. To my surprise,
LHO wins the Ace of clubs and continues clubs. I ruff and decide to try and
build a spade trick next. I lead low to the Queen but this also loses to the
Ace on my left. Yet another club forces dummy again.
Well, things are not quite going to plan. Maybe a cross-ruff? I play a heart
to my King and a spade to dummy's King, then lead a third heart. RHO plays the
Queen. I think over the position: LHO seems to have five clubs and four spades
on the bidding. But RHO has shown up with just about zero points so far and
must have the AQ of diamonds at least. I decide to ruff with the Seven of
diamonds, which should only lose to the Eight. All this thinking is for naught
as LHO follows with the Jack of hearts.
I ruff a spade in dummy. This is the position:
-
xx
T9
-
-
-
KJx
x
If I'm reading everything right, RHO was 4-3-3-3 and is now down to the AQx of
diamonds and a spade. I can't just lead good hearts because LHO still has a
trump. I need to sneak one diamond past RHO.
So I lead the Ten of diamonds and hope. RHO plays small, as do I and LHO.
Good. Now I can lead a good heart. RHO is helpless; ruffing with the Ace lets
me pitch a club, ruffing with the Queen lets me overruff and ruff my club loser
in dummy. In practice, she pitches her spade and I pitch my club and anxiously
await LHO's card. If LHO was 4-3-2-4 I'm going to be annoyed at myself.
But all is well; LHO discards. I claim. As you can imagine, results are all
over the place on this board, but +130 is average-plus.
I certainly made things difficult on myself. The heart lead convinced me hearts
were breaking badly, but if I had simply drawn trumps and played to set up
hearts, I would have made this easily. Still, low to the King of clubs seemed
like a sure thing. Afterwards I reconstructed RHO's hand - JTxx Qxx AQx QJx. A
much worse twelve-count than the one I was debating opening. At least it had an
easy rebid.
Sam and I finish at 52%, far below our last game. So much for Heat 1; it was
fun while it lasted. =)
.
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