A Few Words About Chip Reese

Stepping away from bridge talk for a moment, I'd like to post briefly about poker champion Chip Reese. Somehow I missed the headlines that he passed away last December at the age of 56 and only learned the news today while reading Gus Hansen's new poker book, "Every Hand Revealed," for which Reese wrote the foreword. After learning of his death, I have quickly caught myself up, reading eulogies online.

Reese's career in poker spanned from his college days at Dartmouth through the poker boom which made his and those of many of his fellow professionals' household names. It is now a part of poker lore that during the summer after graduation from college, before proceeding on to business school, he travelled to Las Vegas for a weekend trip and never left. He spent the next 30-plus years playing in the biggest cash games in town, winning millions of dollars, and somehow endearing himself to the very people he was competing against. Poker, like bridge, is a fiercely competitive game...unlike bridge it is often played for large amounts of money, even more reason to bring out negative energy. It is remarkable that a common refrain among people remembering him was--"no one ever had a bad word to say about Chip." Reese was respected as one of the very best players and people around. Barry Greenstein noted that he was always there for his children--he would leave a poker game regardless of how he was doing to attend his son's little league contest.

My favorite Reese stories stem from his being often oblivious to things he cared little about or had no time for, a trait that I share with him. A Alvarez relates it in his book, "The Biggest Game in Town." 'The degree to which Reese fails to think about these things is famous around town. He is rumored to have lost, in his own house, every piece of jewelry he ever owned, and for a period to have paid without question a monthly water bill of over two thousand dollars. After some time, the water company discovered that the pipe supplying his house had broken and was flooding the area for acres around. Reese himself had not noticed.' Some may see in these words the picture of a nut with no regard for money and no understanding of the world around him. I see them as evidence that he had the singular ability to focus on what was important to him and disregard all else. He used this focus to become both a great poker player and a great family man. Good enough for me! RIP Chip.

Fourth Suit After a Reverse

One of my friends recently sent me an email with this hand:
Axxx Kxx 9x Kxxx
His partner opened 1 Diamond, he responded 1 Spade and his partner rebid 2 Hearts. What do you do with this hand? What methods do you like to play in this situation?

My favorite methods after a reverse include the Lebensohl convention where a bid of 2NT is artificial, generally leading to a sign-off in one of opener's suits at the 3-level. A rebid of responder's suit at the 2 level shows at least 5 card length, is ambiguous in strength and forces for one round. Then direct 3-level bids in opener's suits are forward-going, game forcing. A 3NT bid should show a fair hand with no fit--on the given auction, something along the lines of KQTx xxx xx KQTx. I suppose that Lebensohl followed by 3NT should show something as well...maybe a doubtful 3 No bid like KTxx Qxx xx KJxx--I don't think that I've discussed that in any of my partnerships though. Getting even more off of firm ground, what does the 4th suit mean? I guess absent any discussion it is natural--certainly possible. Give responder Qxxx Qx xx AKxxx and that meaning works pretty well. To me that hand is too infrequent--call the 4th suit a game-force not quite fitting with a textbook bid--a hand that needs more information about opener's hand. That seems to fit for the example hand--with two very useful cards for partner (contrast this hand, with the ace of spades and king of hearts, to the example hand which was worth only a direct 3NT) but no known 8 card fit, you can start with 3 Clubs. In this instance you'll get a 3 Diamond rebid from partner and know at a reasonably low level that he is 6-4 and will at least be better placed to evaluate best game/slam prospects. Partner's hand was:
Kx AQxx KQJxxx A

Slams at the Club

Kenny and I played the last couple of weekends at the bridge club on Sheridan Road. We didn't distinguish ourselves that much, but did manage to bid a good grand slam each time, which at least keeps you coming back (kind of like the one decent golf shot you hit every round). Our auctions were pretty decent, so I figured I'd post em.

AJTx
KQxxx
void
KTxx

xx
Axx
Axx
AQJxx
our auction, starting with Kenny as North, 1H-2C-3D(1)-3H-3S-4C-4D-4NT-5NT(2)-6D(3)-7C
1-splinter raise of clubs; 2-2 keycards with a void; 3-grand slam try/queen ask
As you can see, 7 clubs is a great spot-just horrible splits will beat it (incredibly, it is a much more likely make than even 6 Hearts!). Next question-which suit is trump for Keycard Blackwood? I'm open to opinions on this. Anyone? Actually I thought it was clubs and Kenny thought hearts, but fortunately the answer was the same regardless. Six diamonds is the only forcing bid left and kenny and I both agreed that regardless of which suit was trump for Blackwood, it asked about the quality of his hearts (basically I need to find out if the hearts are a source of tricks). Kenny, the good partner he is, put it all together and bid the club grand.

The second one is from today's effort:
AKJTx
KT9
Axx
Ax

x
AJxxxxx
KQT9
x
this auction was simpler and again started with Kenny, North; 2NT(1)-4D(2)-4H-4NT-5C(3)-7NT
1-20-21; 2-Texas; 3-4 keycards for hearts
As long as you have the normal agreement that Texas followed by 4NT is Blackwood (Jacoby followed by 4NT should be quantitative), this hand is pretty easy to bid. When I found out all the keycards were there I was bidding a grand and if he couldnt pick up hearts, 7H would be down as well, so I went for the higher scoring strain. At IMPS you'd have to stick to hearts because of the possible extra undertricks if hearts don't come in. By the way--hearts were 3-0 but Kenny picked them up!

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.