Welcome to the Hand of the Day. There are two ways to navigate this section. You can either right click here to save this file and play the hands (if you have a program that allows you to load and play .PBN files) without seeing any of my commentary or you can scroll down and see what I had to say about the hands. It is probably more interesting to scroll but I always like to offer my partner a choice. If you are curious to see how Pam and I made out, then you can click here to see what events we played or here and here to see if we placed in those events.
Monday) You (West) are playing the
Evening Pairs game and it is the last board of the
night. North is the dealer and your side is Vulnerable
and crazy Jason is not. You pick up your hand and
listen to the following unusual auction. What do you
bid?
1) 11-15 HCP, denies
4 hearts, at least 4 spades, could have a longer minor
2) 15-17 HCP,
balanced
3) 10-12 HCP, at
least 3 clubs, could have longer hearts and or diamonds,
forcing
What happened) At our table, I
was the crazy person sitting North. West chose to Pass
and the hand got passed out. How would you play the
hand if you were Pam (South) and you saw this dummy come
down? How many tricks should you play to make?
1)
11-15 HCP, denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades,
could have a
longer minor
2)
15-17 HCP balanced
3)
10-12 HCP, at least 3 clubs could have longer hearts
and or
diamonds, Forcing.
Monday's Result) Pam
ended up going down 3 tricks for -150 and a matchpoints
score of 4/8. This
is not bad considering I had just made a big first seat
psych bid. Don't worry though, you will get to see
some Jason accidents as well.
Tuesday) This one is just an interesting
bidding problem. Pam and I are sitting N/S and we play
a precision/canape system called Chilli.
Take a look at the hands below and see what you would get to
in your system assuming that South is the Dealer, no one is
Vulnerable and E/W remain silent.
Tuesday Result) We ended up getting to
the cold 6D contract for 11 of the 12 matchpoints. It
was just one of those hands that suited our system.
Don't worry, you will get to see some Chilli accidents as
well.
1) 15-17 HCP balanced or 11-15 HCP with both
minors
2) Many people will
bid 2S here
3) 10+ HCP, denies a 4 card
major, game forcing
4) 15-17 HCP balanced, denies a 5 card
major
5) At least 5
diamonds, implies unbalanced hand
6) Agrees diamonds, says most
of points are in Keycards
7) Asking for keycards in diamonds (4NT would be to
play)
8) 3 keycards
Wednesday) Okay,
you are playing the second half of a 24 board Knock Out.
You were down 12 at the half, nothing much exciting has
happened, this is board 19 of 24, you are vulnerable and you
hear three passes. Do you enter the auction with the
following hand:
What happened) Our
South teammate decided to pass so the result at the other
table was passed out. Pam and I were sitting E/W and for
some reason, Pam decided to bid her hand like she was holding
17 points instead of 10. At our table the auction went
as follows:
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit.
2) 10-12 HCP, at
least 3 clubs, could have longer diamonds.
3) natural
4) Wow! Spades
are at least as long as hearts, game forcing
Wednesday Result)
For some reason, North went a bit crazy on this hand and ended
up renegging twice in a row. Pam needed both of them to
make the contract. This board was the difference in a
tight and otherwise well played match.
Thursday) This is the third board of the
second half of a 24 board Knock Out in which N/S are behind by
25 imps. No one is vulnerable and a very interesting
hand comes up that features tough calls in every seat.
Take a look at the hands and see how you would have bid them.
1) Well, you need
to generate imps somehow.
2) Do you try 2S
or 3D?
3) On a heart
lead I only need Partner to have one trick.
4) When and what
do you bid with this hand?
Thursday Result)
We ended up setting this contract by 4 for +800 and +12
IMPs. The opponents were discouraged and the knock out
was effectively over at this point.
Friday) This one
could really be titled, "Adventures in Chilli." It is a
perfect illustration of the unusual bidding that can result
because our system is designed to explore for a major suit fit
before bidding the minors. It ended up being the hand of
the day because of the question one of the opponents asked
before leading.
1) 11-15
HCP, denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades,
could have a longer minor.
2) 12+ HCP, Game
Forcing, artificial
3) exactly 3
hearts
4) less than 3
spades, less than 5 hearts, at least 5 diamonds,
does not want to play in NT.
5) South
says, "So Pam, what do you think Jason's (West's)
longest suit is?" I was laughing hard on the
inside.
Friday Result) I
think Pam made the contract but we ended up with a 0/1 (it was
B-A-M) because they played 3NT making 5 at the other table.
Saturday) Okay,
this one is probably only interesting to bidders of our Chilli system but I
will give you the problem anyway. It is board 18 in the
second session of the NAP B qualifying game. I was
sitting North and we are vulnerable but they are not.
You hear the following auction:
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit.
My rational options
in our system are:
a) 2H:
(at least 4 hearts with 6-10 HCP) and hope my partner has 5
hearts or
b) double:
(not negative but an artificial bid showing 10-12 HCP and any
shape) or
c) 3H:
(shows 4 hearts and 11-12 HCP) or
d) Pass:
(I rarely consider pass a rational option.)
I went with 2H and then Pam made a game try. Do you accept and bid 4H or consider the previously unthinkable Pass?
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit.
2) 6-10 HCP, at least 4
hearts
3) 14-15 HCP,
invitational to 4H, forcing
Saturday Result) I
signed off in hearts and Pam made 4 here for +170.
(Congratuations to those of you that doubled after the 2C bid
as it pays off in spectacular fashion.) I have to assume our
score was good because of the par score, because we were on a
4-3 fit and because we were on our way to a 63% night and a
qualification to play in the NAP B final in
Louisville, Kentucky:
1)
11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
2) 6-10 HCP, at
least 4 hearts
3) 14-15 HCP,
invitational to 4H, forcing
4) I will only
bid 4H in a team game.
Sunday) It is the BCD swiss and
you are playing the 7th board of an 8 board match that you
are certain
you are trailing in. You are the dealer on board 27 in
which no one is vulnerable. Do you make a move with
this hand? If so, which one?
What Happened) I chose to open 3D here
(although I now think that 1H (11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts,
could have a longer suit) is the better crazy call) and I
had to suffer in silence through the following crazy
(especially if you look at their hands) auction:
1)
Hey, at least I had a 4 card suit on the side.
2) Pam and I
have this rule that says, "If you balance the
opponents into game then you
have to keep bidding
or double for penalty.
3) At least I
knew it was coming.
4) Don't ask me
what West was waiting for to enter the auction
Sunday Result) Well, I went down 3 for -500 and a
loss of 7 Imps. It turned out not to matter as we got
blitzed in the match.
Why) At week long bridge
tournaments, Pam and I have been playing this game I
invented called Bridge Bingo. Essentially, I created a
list of 75 different things (ranging from likely to very
unlikely) that can happen during a week of bridge.
Then I randomly take different sets of 25 things to create
unique bridge cards for me and Pam. Generally
speaking, the items in the top line are the easiest to get
while the items in the bottom row are the toughest.
The first person to complete a line (or complete the
majority of the line by the end of Sunday) wins the dollar
amount designated for that line. It is just another
way to make bridge a bit more exciting.
Below you can see my Bridge
Bingo card from Missoula as well as the designated winner
for each line. In 4 games so far neither one of us has got a
blackout bingo.
You can see the other 3 cards from
2010 here, here and here. 
