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 play these hands 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 the tournament schedule and the games we played or here to see if we placed in anything.
Monday) I am long time critic
of the popular convention known as forcing 1NT. Let's
assume that you are playing 2/1 with a forcing 1NT in
tonight's bracketed knockout. Everyone is vulnerable
and your partner has just opened 1S. What would you do
here?
What Happened) My limited understanding of the convention says that you should bid 1NT with the South hand. Your partner responds 2D, which in your system could show as few as 3 diamonds. Now what would you do?
1) 5-12 HCP, artificial,
forcing for one round 2) at least 3 diamonds
Monday Result) South chose to pass and North got to declare a very interesting contract. I then decided to make the unusual lead of the 9 of spades (suit preference for hearts on the off chance that Pam were to rough it.) In my notes I said that the play was interesting. I didn't record any more detail than that but you can see the unusual spade break for yourself.
1) 5-12 HCP, artificial, forcing for one
round
2) at least 3 diamonds
Monday Result) We set 2D by 2 for +200 and a win of 3 IMPs. As you can see, there is no good contract for N/S to get to although 1NT can make. In Chilli, Pam and I would probably end up in 2S (hopefully undoubled). Looking back now, I can't see why I chose this as the hand of the day, perhaps I just needed to publically state my dislike of the forcing 1NT convention. I will try not to let it happen again in the future.
(1)
Tuesday) Things are going
well. It is the third round of the first knockout and
your teammate has just become a Life Master by virtue of
making it through the second round. This is board 20
of 24 in a well played match against the best team in the
bracket. The opponents have just missed bidding a cold
slam and my running score indicates the match is now
tied. Take a look at Pam's hand and see what you would
do with everyone vulnerable.
What Happened) Pam chose to go
for the money and pass but in my view, she should not have
had to make the choice that she did. Now take a look
at my hand and see what you would have done with it.
What Happened) I really wanted to bid 4C
and hopefully show the majors. I wasn't sure how Pam
would take that though so I went with the "safe"
double. This turned out not to be safe at all as we
set 3C by 3 for +800 and a loss of 12 IMPs. At the
other table, N/S were able to bid and make a slam. The
key question is this. Do you and your partner have the
tools/card sense/judgment to get to 6H or 6NT (but not 6S)
after the 3C opener? Do you even want to be in the
vulnerable 6H/NT contract when it involves the guess the
Queen game?
Tuesday Result) We lost 12
IMPs on this hand and went on to lose the match by 10
IMPs. This wasn't such a bad thing though as Iris took
us all out to a great Japanese restaurant to celebrate her
achievement.
Wednesday) It's the fourth board of the
second session of the microscopic four
table A-x pairs game that you are in no danger of winning. Pam
and I are playing an unusual canape/Precision system called Chilli and we are
about to embark on an epic ten alert auction that ends with us
in the best contract. Take a look below and see what
contract you and your partner would get to assuming North
opens the bidding and the opponents stay silent.
Wednesday Result) We were in
5S making 5 for a dead average score of 1.5 out of 3 match
points. There was some joking going on at the table
though as everyone knew from our alert explanations that E/W
should just cash their winning AK of hearts.
1) artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if
balanced.
2) at least 4
hearts, at least 4 points, could have a longer suit.
4) canape with 4 hearts and at least 5 spades
5) agrees spades as trump, asks for more information
6) singleton or void in diamonds
7) asks for keycards in spades
8) 1 or 4 keycards
9) asks for the king of hearts
10) I don't have the king of hearts.
Thursday) About once a tournament I like to head to the partnership desk and play with someone new in a morning side game. For some reason, I keep finding interesting and or worthwhile experiences when I do that. Today I am playing with Kenn Pendleton and we have decided to play a pretty standard version of 2/1. It is the second board of the match and this very unusual auction comes up. Take a look.
1) Jacoby 2NT (I
know I should have 4 hearts but I am not bidding 1S)
2) 2NT was not alerted and I
don't know what 4NT is. I think for a bit and decide
that it must be ...
What happened) ... asking for Keycards so I bid 5C showing 1 or 4 and then I hear my partner sign off in 6H. Would you take another call with my hand?
1) at least 4
hearts, game forcing 2) asking for keycards in
hearts 3) 1 or 4
What happened) It took a lot of discipline not to bid 7H but I didn't think pass could be right so I bid 6NT.
1) at least 4 hearts, game forcing
2) asking for keycards
in hearts
3) 1 or 4
Thursday Result)
Well, 6NT was the top contract and it earned us 3 out of the 4
matchpoints. After the hand, I took Jacoby 2NT off the
card and Kenn and I went on to have one of the most enjoyable
rounds (from the bridge as art perspective) I have played in a
while. We only finished 4th with 55% but some of the
defence that we played was beautiful to behold.
Friday) Your name is Pam and it's the 18th of 24 boards in the second session of the 2 session A-X pairs and today is your day. You and Jason were in 1st place after the first session but the second session is going badly and you are having one of your famous "throwing it" games. To add to the pressure, Jason will probably become a Life Master should you be able to turn things around and finish strong. On this hand, no one is vulnerable when you make an accidental psych bid and everyone starts bidding like crazy. Take a look at your hand below and see what you would do with it.
1) artificial,
14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced (oops)
2) artificial, denies 4 hearts, 7-8 HCP 3) penalty
What
Happened) Not unreasonably, Pam chose to pass and the
opponents made for 4 for -510 and 1 of the 11 matchpoints for
us. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part but
perhaps a 4D call by Pam here is the sort of crazy bid that
has a chance of working but more importantly has a chance of
turning the momentum around in this match. You might
also want to think about my North hand a bit. Should I
have been able to sniff out Pam's psych and stop doubling?
1)
artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced (oops)
2) artificial, denies 4
hearts, 7-8 HCP
3) penalty
Friday Result) The momentum did not turn around in this match
and we ended up with a score of 47% in the session and a 9th
place overall finish out of 27 pairs. As it turns out,
we would have needed a 66% game to make me a life master but a
second place finish was certainly possible for us at the point
this hand came up. Oh well, what fun would it be if
becoming a Life Master was easy.
What Happened) As you have noticed by now, I always
include a cartoon at the top of every Hand of the Day
section. You wouldn't know that I have a file of 50
cartoons and I attempt to pick one that has some connection,
however tenuous, with the week of bridge that we played.
In this case, the connection is obvious.
Tim LeVan (the man in the picture above) seemed to be about
one foot taller than everyone else in the room. At some
point in the middle of the week he became a Life Master and
got his picture in the Friday bulletin. Of course,
everyone at the tournament was congratulating him because he
was a likeable local player but in my mind it was because he
was so easy to recognize. I was joking with Pam that I
was going to ask him if he ever got asked to be a horse jockey
growing up as a spoof on the question that I'm sure he has
been asked all his life, "Did you ever play basketball as a
kid?" Anyway, it was a memorable moment at the tournament and
I think the cartoon looks quite a bit like him.
Saturday) Everyone has their weaknesses at bridge and this hand is a perfect illustration of mine. I have a tendency to become rattled when something unusual occurs at the table. Once that happens, my brain turns off and I play like an idiot for about 5 minutes. First, take a look at the hand and auction below and see what got me rattled.
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit 2) both
minors 3) possibly pre-emptive
What Happened)
These are the sorts of doubles that happen about once a month
when you are playing our unusual Canape system. Every
so often, the opponents insist on playing in my longer unbid
suit and I get the pleasure of doubling for penalty?
When Pam pulled it and I got doubled, West lead the Ace of
Spades and continued a spade. Take a look at all the
hands below and see if you can guess how many tricks I managed
to go down.
1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
2) both minors
3) possibly pre-emptive
Saturday Result)
Looking back from a much calmer place, I have trouble
believing that I went down 3 for -500 and 0 out of 8
matchpoints.
What Happened) It seems like this is the proper place
for embarrassing stories about Jason. During the first
session of the Saturday Open Pairs, I got to talking with
Richard Popper. To my eye, he and his partner Alex
Perlin looked and certainly defended like the strongest N/S
pair we played that morning. Pam and I chatted with
Richard for 5 minutes and told him a bit about our trip.
As it turned out, he was also going to Louisville
and he was planning to play in the North America Pairs (NAP)
in the A section while Pam and I were planning to play in the
B section.
When
we arrived in Louisville at the start of the tournament, we
saw Richard during the first session of the NAP and asked how
he was doing. I don't remember what he said but Pam and
I decided to start making our little $2 fun bets on how
Richard would do in that event as well as the upcoming
Platinum Pairs game. I ended up betting that Richard
would qualify for the second session of the NAP (he didn't)
and then betting that he wouldn't qualify for the second
session of the three session Platinum Pairs (he
did). Pam then wanted to make a bet on whether
Richard would qualify for the third session (he did) but I
decided I had lost enough money so I didn't bet.
Anyway, after the third session of the pairs, I ran into
"Richard Popper" at a small store in the hotel and
congratulated him on how well he did in the Platinum pairs
game. "Richard" looked confused by this and the
conversation ended awkwardly. Pam, who happened to be
standing nearby, saw the conversation and told me she didn't
think I had been talking to Richard Popper. Even later
on in the week, Pam and I were playing in the mixed pairs game
when I saw the fake Richard Popper for the second time.
I felt compelled to go over and apologize. As it turns
out, "Richard's" real name was Robert Heitzman. Robert
knows Richard quite well and Robert was actually in the
Platinum Pairs game as well as in Wilkes-Barre at the same
tournament that Pam and I were at. Take a look at both
pictures again and see if you might have made my mistake.
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 90 different things (ranging from likely to very
unlikely) that can happen during a week of bridge. Then
I randomly take different sets of 30 things to create unique
Bingo 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
Wilkes-Barre as well as the designated winner (a / denotes a
tie) for each line. In 7 games so far neither one of us has
got a blackout bingo.
