Hanging In

Jason and I had been going through a rough 2nd half of our quarterfinal match when this deal arrived. We had already played a cold grand slam in game, bid to a 30 point no play 6NT and doubled our opponents off in 3 Clubs--just made. Fortunately we weren't rattled into forgetting our carding methods on this hand.
E-W game, W dealer
------KQxx
------xxx
------x
------Axxxx
xx----------xxx
ATxx-------KQxx
AJx---------KTxxxx
Txxx--------void
------AJxx
------Jx
------Qxx
------KQJx
The Bidding was:
P-P-P-1C(1)-P-1D(2)-2D-2S-3D-4S-all Pass
(1)-could be any balanced hand outside the strong NT range
(2)-simply denies a 5 card major
I led the ace of diamonds--on opening lead we have the agreement that a low card asks specifically for a shift to the suit that looks obvious from dummy--often 3 to an honor but here, hearts. A higher spot would suggest a continuation or trump shift and an unusual honor asks for the other suit. Jason duly played the king of diamonds and we got two ruffs to go with the 3 top tricks after my ten of clubs shift. The defense wasn't that hard and of course any pair who has discussed the situation ought to get it right, but it definitely felt good leading the club and knowing the ruff was going to happen. You may have already noticed that our result was not so hot on this hand. In fact, at the other table our opponents made 5 Hearts doubled! Fortunately this hand was the only blemish on our teammates' card for the round and we managed to advance (albeit on kind of a technicality--since there were only two brackets in play our bracket was handicapped and we were getting 11.25 IMPs from our unfortunate opponents who beat us by 11. sorry guys!) . If we'd let our guard down, certainly possible the way things were going for us, we may have let 4 Spades make and wouldn't have moved on.

High Level Disaster

I just got home from 4 days playing with jason at the regional in Lake Geneva. In the final of the Friday Saturday knockout we got the chance to test our skills against one of the world's best pairs, Cezary Balicki and Adam Zmudzimski of Poland. On this swing hand, the last one of the first set, we were playing against their sponsor and Garey Hayden.
EW Game:
--------Axxx
--------x
--------Jxx
--------Axxxx
xx--------------KJx
AQJxxxxxx----Kxx
x---------------Axx
x---------------Jxx
--------QTx
--------void
--------KQTxxx
--------KQxx
I opened the south hand 1 diamond, which was limited and could have been any balanced 13-16 hand. Hayden overcalled 4 Hearts, Jason doubled (cards), the sponsor passed and I removed to 4NT. Jason bid 5 Clubs and the sponsor took 5 Hearts. Now what? At the table I passed (forcing?) and Jason whacked it. Hayden eventually played to the king of spades for +850. Only Ace of diamonds, diamond ruff beats 6 Clubs...the contract at the other table was 5 Clubs making 6 on the same auction minus the 5 Heart bid.

I have talked to a number of players and have heard differing opinions on who should have done what. Was I to blame for not bidding over 5 Hearts with my void? Or ought North to bid again? Or was it all just bad luck?

Anyway, we lost the match but Jason and I gained some good experience playing against the Poles in the second half. We were hoping to get one more shot at them in the Swiss today but things never came together for us and we wallowed below average (they won it going away). There were some other interesting deals--I'll get a few more up in the next couple of days. On the bright side we only bid 1 slam missing 2 cashing aces this tournament. Improvement!

Another Precision 2 Club Auction

I had this auction today with Jason Rosenfeld--
Axxx
Ax
x
Axxxxx

KTx
KQxxx
Axx
xx
Our auction, starting with Jason's (North's) hand was:
2C (1)-2D(2)-2S(3)-2NT(4)-3C-P
(1) Precision
(2) Relay
(3) 4 Spades, could have only 5 good Clubs
(4) Non-forcing. I could (should?) have bid 3 Hearts, game-forcing

It turned out that there wasn't much to the play--hearts makes with overtricks, 5 clubs makes and even 3nt makes because hearts were 3-3. I think that with my good spades and reasonable club fit that my last pass was a mistake, but I also didn't figure I would be facing 3 aces. I know that some people play that the precision 2 club opening promises 6 of them--that could maybe have made this auction easier. After partner bids 2 Spades I know he is 6-4 and may feel more comfortable forcing game with my partial fits. On the actual auction I did find out that he was 6-4 but also got the message that he had minimal high-cards, which influenced me staying low. Moral I guess is that if you can make a descriptive bid that may cause you to overreach, go ahead and do it in the interest of having a good constructive auction. Next time I'll go ahead and force with 3 hearts with this hand--i'll want partner declaring notrump anyway if his diamonds are something like Qx.

Appreciating Your Values

My dad and I had this (almost) good auction to 5 Clubs today. The only problem was that I forgot to bid 5 Clubs at the end of it.
Kxxx
void
Axx
KQxxxx

AQx
T9xx
Q9
Jxxx
2 C(1)-2D(2)-2S(3)-3C(4)-3D-3S-4C-P
1-precision
2-relay
3-4 spades, could have only 5 clubs (albeit a good suit)
4-non-forcing

By the end of the auction I should know that my values are all working and that 5 Clubs will have a good play. Partner's 4 Club bid was conservative but it gave me a chance to get out with heart wastage. I guess I need to make mistakes like this one every now and then to keep myself on my toes for the future.