I just got back from a quick weekend at nationals. I had high hopes for a good showing in the swiss teams, but they were dashed by a non-qualifying first day effort. These two hands from our second round match were kind of typical of the day--
Jxx
AJx
Axx
ATxx
Axx
KQTxx
x
KQxx
My partner and I had a nice auction to 6 Clubs--uncontested it was 1H-2C-3D*-3H-3S-4D-4H-5NT**-6C *=splinter **=choice of slams
After the spade lead my partner cashed the king queen of clubs finding jack-fourth offside and eventually conceded down two. At the other table our opponents bid only game in hearts.
Then this two hands later:
AKx
9xxx
xxx
JTx
QJx
AQT
void
KQxxxxx
I shifted the directions on this one so we were sitting East-West. My partner opened 1 Diamond, South overcalled 2 Clubs, I bid 2 Diamonds. North and East passed and South doubled. North responded 3 Diamonds, South bid 4 Clubs and North bid (gag) 6 Clubs. I'll add that North is a top-ranking expert player...his luck was certainly in this time as both the king and jack of hearts were with the opening bidder...gin. So we got blitzed in that match and never made it back to average. There's always Washington, DC.
Captions only
4 years ago
4 comments:
Nice bidding on the first one.
I don't understand the second one. He had a normal 3C bid the first time, then drove to slam, wow!
I'll keep the pro unnamed on that one--suffice it to say he's a fantastic player with multiple national titles...this board was nuts though! Effectively his auction gave his partner the choice between defending 2 diamonds and playing 6 clubs.
Wow, wouldn't south have bid the same way with 3-3-1-6? That's pretty crazy.
I don't think it's that nuts. My guess is that this was a pro playing with a client, so for one thing he was unsure how any advances would be taken. Secondly, I think South's bidding was the crazy one. In response to Jonathan, I do not think south would or should double with 3-3-1-6 unless he has a much bigger hand - like another ace. Partner could not bid over 2d, so in the unlikely event that he has a 5 card major, he's probably got short clubs and defending may be just as or more profitable than bidding. Might depend on the colors, but red on red I would definitely pass out most 3-3-1-6 hands. It's a similar argument I have against south's X here. I think it's an awful bid. One problem is that partner will likely pass with 3-3-5-2, and you'll have created a pretty sizeable swing when 3d and 3c both make. South has a clear 3C bid in my view. This X followed by 4C should show a MUCH bigger hand.
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