We have a new leader! While Teams HelenT and Moogal were
slugging it out to a 31-28 IMP cliffhanger Team Toddy sneaked
into the lead with a huge win over the beleagured Team Marlyse.
Team Elvee stayed within range of the leaders with a convincing
win over Team Fredw3. Note that our 30 VP scale is meant for
7-8 board Swiss matches. Since we play 16 boards we divide the
IMP difference by 2 (discarding any remainder) before consulting
the VP scale. The scores from this week were:
Moogal's Marauders 31 IMPs 11 VPs
HelenT's Horde 28 IMPs 9 VPs
Toddy's Troops 63 IMPs 19 VPs
Marlyse's Minions 13 IMPs 1 VP
Elvee's Elves 61 IMPs 16 VPs
Fredw3's Foursome 32 IMPs 4 VPs
With only one regular "season" game left, this leaves
the current standings at:
Toddy's Troops +106 IMPs 60 VPs
Moogal's Marauders + 88 IMPs 57 VPs
HelenT's Horde + 96 IMPs 54 VPs
Elvee's Elves + 25 IMPs 44 VPs
Fredw3's Foursome - 81 IMPs 23 VPs
Marlyse's Minions -234 IMPs 2 VPs
Looks like we'll have an exciting finish this coming
Tuesday night, with four teams still in contention for
first place! If the season were to have ended here we'd
have seen Toddy's Troops, augmented by Elvee's Elvees
and Marlyse's Minions, take on Moogal's Marauders aided
by HelenT's Horde and Fredw3's Foursome, with a 3 IMP
(i.e. the difference in their VP totals) carryover for
Team Toddy. So everyone has a vested interest in what
transpires this coming week. Should be fun! :)
================ Moogal versus HelenT ====================
IMPs north Board 12
Dlr: West Merrygal
Vul: N-S S KJT7543 west north east south
H 9 Strider merrygal Bliss HelenT
D 95
C Q85 1H 3S 4H 4S
west east X pass 5H (all pass)
Strider Bliss
S A2 S Opening Lead: S4
H AQJT3 H 8652 Result: +7
D AJ82 D KQT7 Score: -510
C T3 C AKJ76 IMPs: 11.00
south
HelenT
S Q986 1 2 3 4 5
H K74 W 2 T-C3 3 A
D 643 N S4 9 5 S3 S5
C 942 E H2-H5 A-H8-H6
S 6 4 2 7 K
North's brave 3S pre-empt at both tables set the stage
for some fireworks. Bliss is confronted with a choice
between an underbid of 4H and a perhaps slight overbid of
4S, suggesting slam. What Principle do we use when we need
to know how many tricks we can make on any given hand? Why,
the Four Point Principle, of course! We take the number of
HCPs that Partner has promised, divide by 4, and mentally
place that many "dream cards" of our choice into Partner's
hand. Bliss should "give" Strider H-AKxxx and D-Ace here.
With those three "goodies" 6H will be an excellent contract,
failing only if Hearts are 3-1 (50%) or 4-0 (10%) AND the
Clubs don't get established (at worst a 50% finesse). Hence,
6H should have no worse than a (50 + 10 divided by 2) 30%
chance of failing. This 70% or greater chance of success is
MORE than enough for a 6H contract to make.
The fly in the ointment is that one or more of West's
goodies might be wasted opposite East's Spade void. Still,
East should INVITE slam, at least, with 4S here. Having
bid only 4H, East should take advantage of the opportunity
that 4S presents and invite slam with a cuebid of 5C. This
MIGHT get Stryder, with his 16 HCPs and two doubletons, to
bid 6H. As South, with few if any defensive prospects, we
might pass 4H here, concealing our fit. 4S had the effect
of revealing East's Spade shortness to Stryder.
-------------------------------------------
west north east south
Patricia moogal Rcoop etsand
1H 3S 4S pass
5H pass 6H (all pass)
RCoop's 4S cuebid is my choice, but once Patricia
turns down this general slam try I would have passed
5H as East. Invite issued and declined. Case closed.
With 16 HCPs, nice trumps, pure values in Spades (Ace)
and two doubletons, I would have cuebid 5D as West,
accepting the invitation, and insisted on a 6H slam.
West has PLENTY of extras here.
================ Toddy versus Marlyse ====================
IMPs north IMP Board 6
Dlr: East toddy
Vul: E-W S 2 west north east south
H Q974 obraven toddy paul_2 judydee
D J8764
C 876 1C 1NT
west east 2S pass pass X
obraven paul_2 pass 3H pass pass
S AQJ954 S KT 3S pass pass X
H T63 H AJ85 (all pass)
D QT5 D K3
C 4 C J9532 Opening Lead: H4
south Result: -1
judydee Score: 200
S 8763 IMPs: 8.00
H K2
D A92 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
C AKQT W 3 4 S4-S5 J-HT-H6 A-D5 S9-DQ-SQ-DT
N H4 6 7 2 D4 7 9 HQ 6 8 7 D8 J
E 5 2 3 K-ST 8 J HA K 5 3 C9 CJ
S K-CA-CK 3 6 2 S7-S8 A-CQ 2 CT 9
It seems the wrong side is doubling here. As West,
we might take the opportunity to double off 1NT for
penalty, looking at 5-6 Spade tricks and a likely Diamond
trick. 2S should show a weaker hand; it is a rare case
where a free bid by an unpassed Responder is NOT forcing
(4-7 points, typically). Having told my story with 1NT,
I would pass both 2S and 3S as South. In response to the
double of 2S, I might prefer 3D to 3H as North: my longer
suit rather than the 4-card major (at IMPs, at least).
Doubling 3S was a "hearing aid" call (i.e. in case Partner
missed South's 1NT overcall). :)
After the Heart lead and two Clubs West should wrap
up 9 or 10 tricks. Before drawing trumps we should play
a Diamond, driving out the Ace, before ruffing our third
Diamond. Later, we can draw trumps and finesse a Heart
(if we dare) for an overtrick.
================= Elvee versus Fredw3 ====================
IMPs north IMP Board 4
Dlr: West andre55
Vul: Both S J82 west north east south
H 3 jkh andre55 jbot DeniseB
D Q632
C 97654 pass pass 1C! 2C
west east pass 2S 2NT 3S
jkh jbot 4D pass pass 4S
S 93 S AKT pass pass X (all pass)
H QT5 H K876
D JT875 D K9 Opening Lead: SA
C T83 C KQJ2 Result: -4
south Score: -1100
DeniseB IMPs: -14.00
S Q7654
H AJ942 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
D A4 W 3 9 D8 5 7 3 5 T-DJ Q-DT C8 T
C A N 2 8 J-D2 Q 4 3 C5 3 D6 C6 C7 9
E SA-SK-ST 9 K-C2 6 7 CK 8 CQ K CJ
S 4 5 6 A-D4 A-HA-H2 S7-H4 SQ-H9 HJ
South has a 6 "born" loser hand. Game will require
3 cover cards from Partner. With such a hand, we would
expect that North might at least invite game with 3S
rather than a mere 2S. Having escaped serious harm in
3S, South pressed her luck one time too many with another
"hearing aid" call: 4S. Given that only the opponents
have shown any strength so far we might say that South
"went through a stop sign" with predictable results:
minus 1100 ("sticks and wheels").
To make matters even worse, JBot found the killing
trump lead, prevent any Heart ruffs by Declarer. This
is the Principle of Reluctant Choice in action: "When
one opponent makes a tepid choice between their partner's
two or three suits, lead trumps to prevent ruffs."
=============================================================
See you all next week!
Colin
P.S. Check out our SAYC test at:
http://www.firesides.net/sayctest.htm
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OKBridge Web Site
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Pictures from the 1999 Boston Fall
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Fall Nationals in Boston. |
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The Fifth Chair Mentoring
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Colin Ward's Bridge Page This
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Reports From Vancouver
Colin's reports from the 1999 Spring Nationals in
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Links to Other
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Sid and Abby's Bridge
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Space Cadets' Home
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SAYC Simplified by Waynef and
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