After a Jump Shift...

My partner and I bid these cards today at rubber bridge:
AKJ9x
A
ATxx
QTx

Tx
Jxxx
x
AKJxxx

Uncontested the auction went:
1S-1NT*-3D-3S-4S-P
*=forcing
how should we bid to this excellent slam? What is 4C over 3D, and should South bid that? And what about 4C over the 3S preference? Is that a cuebid or a fragment?

Jim Linhart

I was sad to hear about Jim Linhart's passing on the ACBL site last week. Unfortunately I didn't know him personally until this last nationals in Boston. On one of the (many) days that I was out of the national events I played with Helen Raleigh and we picked up Jim and Romanian junior Marius Agica as teammates for the knockout. We were decided underdogs in the first round to Carolyn Lynch's powerful squad that would later win the Open Swiss Teams.

Both of our pairings were first-time partnerships with Jim and Marius being quite an odd one...Jim had 53 years on the kid. While Helen and I had some first-time troubles at our table, it seemd that Jim and Marius were rocks. After a dismal set, Helen and I figured that we trailed by 20 IMPs at the half...we were up by 2. Actually my favorite line from Jim came during the first half comparisons--as often happens with me, it took a few re-addings to arrive at the correct margin. After one of my errors "cost" us 3 IMPs, Jim deadpanned, "Stop checking." Sadly, order was restored in the second half, though again we had our chances...we lost the match by 6. Jim, though clearly a fierce competitor, was far from discouraged by the result--rather, he asked what was on schedule for the evening's bridge events--we'd keep our team together and hopefully do better in a side game! This guy, at 72, seemed to have the same enthusiasm for the game that I had in my early 20s when a trip to nationals for me was akin to a kid visiting a candy store. It was great getting to meet this giant of the game (figuratively and literally--he stood about six and a half feet tall) even if it was just for a day.

Bidding After a Negative Double

This was a hand I kibitzed from the Reisinger final in Boston:
Both vul:
Kx
KJxx
AT
Txxxx
Partner opens the bidding with 1 Spade and RHO overcalls 2 Clubs. You make a negative double (right?), LHO passes and partner bids 2 Hearts, passed to you. Pretty simple situation--what do you do?

Your Lead

Jason and I defended a hand in Boston that was interesting from the perspective of both defenders. Sadly, it was in one of the regional knockouts and not the Blue Ribbon final. Maybe next year. After polling several people, I decided it is most interesting as a lead problem. Take my cards as West here:
N/S game
KJxxx
xx
Qx
Axxx
South, the dealer, opens 3 Hearts and is raised to 4 by his partner. What is your lead and why?

Hopefully I'll get a few more posts from the tournament up in the coming days and weeks.

Pass or Pull Revisited

In what has become a recurring theme, here's another controversial hand!

2nd seat none vul you hold
Jx
xxxxx
KTxx
Ax
After two passes, the action starts. LHO opens 1 Club, partner overcalls 4 Spades and RHO bids 5 Clubs. This is passed back to your partner who reopens with a double. What range of hands does he have? More importantly, what do you call now?

Is There a Middle Ground?

I held this hand, vul vs not as dealer at rubber bridge tonight:
void
763
AJxxx
QT9xx
After 2 passes my partner opened 1 Heart, RHO overcalled 3 Spades and I didn't think too long before bidding 4 Hearts. My partner played it well and made and we continued playing but for some reason the hand struck me as interesting. Say you held this hand and partner opened 1 Heart, passed to you. What's your approach? What about if RHO overcalls only 1 Spade? What if you make one of your minor suit spot cards another small trump--how does that change things?

Another 6-Level (Mis) Adventure

I just finished playing a full weekend of bridge--so much for one of our last beautiful weekends of summer weather here in Chicago! Here's my favorite hand from today's Swiss, once again more for the humorous side of it than the result (as you will see).
I held 2nd seat favorable:
AJTxx
Ax
AKxxx
9
I opened 1 Spade of course and our unobstructed 2/1 auction continued:
2C-2D-2NT-3D-3S-3NT-4NT-?
I could hardly have a better hand so I was for sure driving to slam...I still didn't know where to play though. How good were partner's spades? And could diamonds still be in the picture? I bid 5NT, accepting the slam push and asking partner to choose. He bid 6 Clubs, which i wasn't expecting... Now, though, I started to envision him with something like AKQJx of clubs and Kxx of hearts...if the opponents didn't lead trump, maybe the heart ruff could be a vital extra trick! Sick, I know, but I passed. Alas we went down because of a 6-1 trump break. And 6 Spades or 6NT would have made. At least it's a story--it isn't often that you voluntarily play a 6 card fit at the slam level. Partner's hand:
Kx
KQxx
xx
AKQxx