Tuesday, June 4th, 2002, saw the second installment in
our ongoing Fireside IMPs League. Again we had two 20-0
and an 18-2 VP slaughter, this one unmitigated by a scoring
error. Gee, hasn't this group ever heard of taking prisoners? :)
When the smoke finally cleared and the bodies were carted off
we saw the carnage:
Team Name IMPs VPs Team Name
Moogal's Marauders 68-11 20-0 Marlyse's Minions
Helen's Horde 44-23 18-2 Fredw3's Foursome
Toddy's Troops 62-11 20-0 Elvee's Elves
This leaves the standings at:
Team Name VPs IMPs
Moogal's Marauders 38 + 78
Helen's Horde 31 + 26
Toddy's Troops 27 + 46
Elvee's Elves 20 + 3
Fredw3's Foursome 4 - 42
Marlyse's Minions 0 -111
So far, it's shaping up to be a 4-horse race but both
of the stragglers have added some punch to their line-up
and will be pushing for the wire as we head into the back
stretch. Lots of play left!
============================================================
"Say, what? 5S made FIVE at one table while 3S was
DOWN ONE at the other?"
Yup. Check out this decisive hand from the
HelenT-Fredw3 match:
IMPs north IMP Board 3
Dlr: South merrygal
Vul: E-W S 983 west north east south
H AQ94 Docvera Merrygal DeniseB Nottop
D Q
C KT742 pass
west east 3D pass 3S (all pass)
docvera DeniseB
S Q5 S AJT72 Opening Lead: D9
H T2 H J Result: -1
D KJT876432 D A5 Score: 100, IMPs: 13.00
C C AJ853 Playing time: 7:26
south
nottop
S K64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
H K87653 W 2 H2 S5-SQ HT D3 D4 D6 D7 D8 DT DJ K
D 9 N Q 2 4 3 7 A-CK-CT 9 8 9 H4 HQ
C Q96 E A-CA-C3 2 5 J 8 J S7-SA-SJ-ST-D5
S D9 6 9 K-CQ-H6 H3 S4-HK 6 H5 H7 H8
3S is forcing here: a new suit by an unpassed hand.
West should raise to 4S or, perhaps, rebid 4D, leading
to game in one of the two pointed suits.
Seeing solid Diamonds, East should now keep her
outside suit controls (e.g. C-Ace) and DRAW TRUMPS in
order to enjoy her long Diamonds. And how do we play
ANY suit? Why, small towards big, of course! And if
we have big ones in both hands? Why, LONG towards
SHORT first. Wanna see how it's done? Sure:
IMPs north IMP Board 3
Dlr: South Pama
Vul: E-W S 983 west north east south
H AQ94 Patricia PamA RCoop DavidRG
D Q
C KT742 2H
west east 3D 4H 4S pass
Patricia RCoop pass 5H 5S (all pass)
S Q5 S AJT72
H T2 H J Opening Lead: D9
D KJT876432 D A5 Result: +5
C C AJ853 Score: -650, IMPs: -13.00
south
DavidRG
S K64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
H K87653 W 2 Q-S5 2 T D3 D4
D 9 N Q 8 3 A-H4 9 C2
C Q96 E A-S2 T J S7-SA-SJ-D5
S D9 4 K-H8 3 6 H5 H6
Diamond Ace, Spade deuce IMMEDIATELY. No messing
around for this RCoop! Lose the two major suit tricks
that the bridge gods intended you to lose and move on! :)
=========================================================
Recently I read an interesting point. In matches
where two great teams are playing, the pairs tend to
find the same games and slams. The play of the cards
tends to work out about equal, too. If this is the
case, how can either team make any headway? Well,
the only place left is part scores. But aren't we
told not to sweat the small stuff at IMPs? Aren't we
always told not to push too hard contesting part scores
at IMPs, lest we spit up -800? Yes...but...if the games
and slams are all rather easy to bid, they'll be pushes.
Between two great evenly matched teams, then, the
distinction between IMPs and Matchpoints is blurred.
Here we see an interesting example. At his table
Toddy made a "Matchpointish" CAPP 2D balancing bid (to
show the majors) against 1NT. This audacity was aptly
rewarded with +110 while his teammates made +120 in 1NT
at the other table. Nicely done, JudyDee & Toddy!
IMPs north Board 2
Dlr: East toddy
Vul: N-S S AQ632 west north east south
H 87652 jkh toddy jbot judydee
D K8
C 8 1NT pass
west east pass 2D! pass 2H
jkh jbot (all pass)
S T74 S J8
H AJ H QT4 Opening Lead: D-10
D T953 D AQJ2 Result: +2
C J976 C KQ52 Score: 110, IMPs: 6.00
south
judydee
S K95 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
H K93 W DT-D3 7 6 J-ST A-S4 S7 9
D 764 N 8 K 8 H2-H5 A-H6 2 7 H8-SQ
C AT43 E 2 A-CK 2 4 8 T J Q-CQ
S 4 6 A-C3 3 5 K K-H9 4
=========================================================
IMPs north Board 9
Dlr: North believer
Vul: E-W S 97 W N E S
H A marlyse believer Neophyte luc
D KQJ765
C QT64 1D pass 1S
west east X 2D 2H 2S
marlyse Neophyte pass pass 3H 4D
S T53 S J4 (all pass)
H KT73 H J96542
D 84 D A Opening Lead: C9
C KJ73 C 9852 Result: +6
south Score: 170, IMPs: 0.00
luc
S AKQ862
H Q8 1 2 3 4
D T932 W 3 4 K 8
C A N 4 K A-DQ
E C9 A-H5 H2
S A-D2 8 3
Hey, what is a flat board doing here? Well, this
hand SHOULD be flat: game at both tables! Instead,
this double debacle from the Moogal-Marlyse match saw
much this same auction. 2S was a huge unbid with
15 HCPs and good spades. Opposite even a minimum
opening bid we want to be in game. The problem is
that even THREE Spades wouldn't force! Over 2H, then,
we should cuebid 3H. Later, when we bid 4S as South,
North will wonder: "Cuebid THEN 4S? Why not just
4S over 2H? Ah...Partner (South) must be interested
in SLAM and/or have Diamond support!" This cuebid
of 3H may or may not get N-S to 6D or 6S but it will
certainly get them to game.
General rule: When the opponents have come into
the auction with a suit bid FAILURE to cuebid their
suit tends to make any free bid non-forcing--even a
jump to 4D (which would be game forcing in an
UNcontested sequence such as 1D:1S:2D:4D).
=========================================================
We'll see you all next week! Same time, same
places!
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