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 Larry 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.



    Friday) Welcome to the big time.  Your name is Jason and you have entered the Nail Life Master Pairs (your first "real" event).  After a 52% in the first session, you are going to need a similar score if you want to make it to the second day.  After 20 of 26 boards you haven't done anything stupid but you have no real experience to base that opinion on so your score is hard to judge.  In the hand below, everyone is vulnerable and you are in first seat.  Is it time to make a little magic happen?










    What Happened) This is an easy and automatic 4S opening bid for me.  In my experience, you rarely miss a slam but you often create problems for the opponents.  Take a look at the East and West hands.  Is there any way that either of them can make a reasonable bid over 4S that will get them to the cold 5D contract?  Assuming your answer is no then look at the West hand and decide what to lead.


         










         

    Friday Result) At my table, West made an unfortunate club lead and I was on my way to 4S making 5 for a cold top of 25 out of 25 matchpoints.  This result helped us to a 54% and into a nicely placed 77th out of 130 qualifying spot.  Given my history of trying to qualify for two day events I was completely satisfied just making it this far.  I wonder how we will do tomorrow?


   
    Saturday) It's the second day of the Nail Life Master Pairs and I am playing like I have nothing to lose.  This hand came up in the middle of the first session and not surprisingly, we were playing against a pair of pros with 3 North American Championships between them.  After upgrading my 17 count to a 20, I landed in 3NT and got to test my declarer skills.




1) artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced.
2) at least 4 points, denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades 
3) artificial, Game Forcing (I should have 20 points for this bid)











    What Happened) This is the hand of the day because of what I learned about myself.  However, If you like interesting declarer play problems then you should stop here and play the hand until you are able to make 5NT.  I believe the technical term for what you will see is triple squeeze.(1) Anyway, during the play of the hand I reached this end position via the diagram at the right. At this point, West paused for a long time and (from my perspective) started squirming like a little kid in need of a bathroom break.  Eventually, he discarded a heart and I decided to drop his now doubleton Queen to make 4NT.  After I did that, his partner asked why he made that mistake on defense.  However, as you can see, discarding any card in West's hand gives me 10 tricks while discarding a spade or a diamond will give me eleven tricks.

             



    








    What I learned) Later on in the tournament, I heard a first hand account of how Levin and Weinstein (possibly the best matchpoint pair in North America) played the hand in 3NT and went down 3.  From this hand in particular and from our consistent solid results in the Nail in general, I came to understand that I am not out of place in that field.  In fact, I am capable of holding my own and generating tops when the opportunity arises.  In this case, we ended up with 50 out of 64 matchpoints on our way to a 53%.


    

          1) artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced
          2) at least 4 points, denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades
          3) artificial, Game Forcing


   


    Saturday Result) We played another solid set in the final session and ended up just placing in the overalls.  In my opinion, this is the best ever result that I have had as a bridge player.




   



    Sunday) This is board 26 from the first session of the Sunday Open pairs and I am including it for two reasons.  Firstly, it demonstrates nicely the power of the Chilli bidding system that we were playing at the time.  Secondly, it gives you a chance to compare your bridge judgement to mine.  In this case, I am trying to generate a top board to improve our score.  Take a look at all the information below and choose a final contract.



1) 15-17 HCP, balanced.          2) at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
3) exactly 4 hearts                    4) strong raise in hearts                                
5) I have lots of keycards          6) How many do you have?                         
7) I have 3 keycards                  8) Do you have the Q of hearts?                  
9) Yes and the King of clubs   10) Do you have the King of diamonds?        
11) No.                                                                                                             














    What happened) I have a rule that says "when you are trying to pick between 6 of a major and 6NT then choose 6NT if you are missing a keycard and choose 6 of a major if you have all the keycards."  I broke that rule here and chose 6NT because I thought I might be able to turn it into a top and make 7NT if I had to.  As you can see below, this was a bad choice.

      

          1) 15-17 HCP, balanced.
          2) ... see above

   

    Sunday Result) I was in 6NT making 6 for a paltry 6 out of 23 matchpoints.  Once again my rule was right though as 6H is a superior contract.  If you picked 6H then you would have scored 12 out of 23.  If you tried 7H then you got 20 out of 23. If you went with 7NT then you got 1/2 out of 23.



    Sunday) It's now the Sunday Evening Session of the pairs and you get a chance to try out the new "how to pick your slam" rule that you just learned above.  Take a look at the information at your disposal and pick your slam.



1) artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced
2) denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades, at least 4 points
3) at least 18 points, at least 4 spades
4) How many keycards do you have in spades?  5) I have 2.

??) Although I didn't need to ask, you have the tools to find out that your partner has the King of hearts but not the King of clubs.















    What happened) This time I followed the rule and bid 6NT.  As it turned out, Larry had bid his hand aggressively and had to play the contract.  After getting the Ace of Diamond lead and a low diamond continuation, how would you play the hand?


    

    1) artificial, 14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced    
    2) denies 4 hearts, at least 4 spades, at least 4 points
    3) at least 18 points, at least 4 spades
    4) How many keycards do you have in spades?
    5) I have 2.



    Sunday Result) Larry took a normal line of play and when hearts didn't break, he ended up taking the club finesse for down 1.  This gave us 4 out of 23 matchpoints.  As it turns out, 6NT is cold but only if you play for the squeeze.



    Monday) Although I was supposed to be resting up for tomorrow's Mini Blue Ribbon Pairs, I decided to play some easy bridge with a pickup team in the BCD Swiss teams event.  Of course, things didn't quite turn out that way.  Take a look at the hand below and decide on a bid.

























    What Happened)  I went with a seemingly normal 4H call and then ended up in an unmakeable contract as my partner's hand was completely useless to me.  After thinking about this hand for a bit, I decided that 3S was probably a better choice then 4H.

      


 
    




     

    Monday Result) I was in 4H -1 for -50 and a loss of 10 IMPs. This turned out to be especially painful as we ended up losing the match by a final score of 19 - 21.




    Tuesday) I am not sure if this hand is a lesson in the dangers of playing when upset or if it is a lesson in the perils of "knowing" when to psych.  This is the 19th board of our round from the second session of the Mini Blue Ribbon pairs.  We had our normal 52% in the first session but the second is going really bad and it looks like we are about to not qualify for the second day of a three day event that I had planned on winning.  I am especially upset by this point because 10 boards earlier Larry had opened 2S with a void in spades and it was his first ever major psych. Those were the thoughts in my head when I decided to psych 1S with the hand you see below.  I thought I would "show" Larry how a master psych bidder operates.



1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit



















    What Happened) Larry raised to 2S and I got to play in the 4-1 spade fit with 16 total HCP between us.  I managed to hold it to down 4 for -400.

       



        1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit





      


    Tuesday Result) If you look at the Par score then this result should have been a top board for us but instead we got 4 out of 38 matchpoints because very few people managed to both bid and make the "cold" game.  When I put the hand into my computer program Jack, he managed to bid and make the game without trouble after I went with 3H instead of 1S.  I guess I was lucky that my psych worked and unlucky that it did not get us a better score. 

    Anyway, I was correct in my estimates of our score as we ended up with a 42% finish and by far our worst score of the Seattle tournament.





Chris and Tammy Moll in Penticton in 2009 (1)

    I first met Chris Moll at a morning side game during the Houston NABC in 2009 and I have talked with him at a few tournaments since then.  After I bombed out of the Mini Blue Ribbon Pairs, l bumped into Chris the next morning and mentioned what had happened.  He ended up giving me a pep talk that was both uplifting and full of useful information. At the moment, I am practicing his tip of taking calculated risks when playing matchpoints in weaker fields and it seems to be generating a higher win percentage for me.  I have saved his other tips about table manner into my interesting ideas folder and I intend to practice them at a later date.

Thanks Chris.


    Wednesday) Today your name is Larry.  After getting beaten up by the Swedish Junior team in the afternoon knockouts you have decided to enter the single Session Board-A-Match teams in the evening.  To make things more interesting, you have decided to continue your experiments in the dark arts of the psych bid.  Fortunately, your partner's name is Jason and the rumors have it that he has quite a bit of experience in this field.


1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit


















    What Happened) Larry went with a bold 2S call and the auction got exciting. When it came back around to him the bidding was at the 5 level.  What would you do now?

1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
2) 0-10 HCP, at least 5 spades, 0-3 hearts
3) pre-emptive, spades may be longer than hearts         














    Wednesday result) Larry decided to take the "save" in 5H.  This got doubled and I went down 2 for -300.  In the BAM scoring system this gave us a 0 out of 1.  This was an especially unfortunate choice as our partners had managed to generate a great score of +230 so all Larry needed to do was pass here and we would have won the board. It turned out not to matter much as we ended up winning the B section and another point would not have changed our final placing at all.


         

          1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
          2) 0-10 HCP, at least 5 spades, probably short in hearts
          3) pre-emptive, spades may be longer than hearts



         

    Jason's analysis) I probably would have tried a 1S psych initially and I must admit that I would not have considered Larry's choice of 2S.  Looking back now, I think it has merit against stronger players who might be able to handle the "standard" psych of 1S.  Perhaps I will work up the courage to try it in the future.  Regardless, Larry's bid of 5H broke an important rule of psych bidding.  "Do not make a second bid unless you are sure that passing will generate a 0."



    Thursday) I have just reread the first seven hands in this section and I realized that I haven't given enough credit to Larry.  From a skill standpoint, he is the best partner I have played with.  It is not a coincidence that I am on my way to a record setting (for me) 38 point tournament that includes 9 platinum points and my best ever finish at bridge.  Larry plays with a fearlessness that served us very well against the top level pros that populated the Nail Life Master pairs.  Why don't you step into the shoes of our opponents in this evenings 6 board Swiss match and see how you fare against him.  In the hand below everyone is vulnerable.  Is your hand worth an opening bid in the system that you play?



















    What happened) South decided that his hand was too strong for a weak 2 but not quite strong enough for an opening bid.  After listening to a couple of strange Chilli bids, would you decide (or even be allowed to) make a bid at this point?



1) 15-17 HCP Balanced or 11-15 HCP with at least 5-4 in the minors
2) 0+ HCP, 0-3 hearts, at least 4 spades, could have a longer minor















    What Happened) South went with pass again and got to hear two more Chilli bids plus one from his partner.  Take one last look at your hand.  Are you going to pass for the fourth time or are you ready to jump into the auction?



1) 15-17 HCP Balanced or 11-15 HCP with at least 5-4 in the minors
2) 0+ HCP, 0-3 hearts, at least 4 spades, could have a longer minor 
3) 11-13 HCP with at least 5-4 in the minors, 0-2 spades                   
4) not discussed but probably bid your best minor                             











    What Happened) South passed for the last time and I got to play 3C undoubled.  Thanks to some soft defense, I was able to hold it to down 1 for -100 and a win of 11 imps. (Our South teammate at the other table decided to open his hand 1S and getting to game became inevitable after that.) These 11 IMPs proved to be important as we won that match by a final score of 25-13.


         

          1) 15-17 HCP Balanced or
              11-15 HCP with at least 5-4 in the minors
          2) 0-3 hearts, at least 4 spades, could have a longer minor
          3) 11-13 HCP with at least 5-4 in the minors, 0-2 spades
          4) not discussed but probably bid your best minor

         
    Thursday Analysis) Now that you can see all of the hands, take a look at the bidding from Larry's East perspective.  Given that I could be 5-4 in the minors, I think his double of 2H is a wonderfully creative way to get me to bid my best minor.  (Remember that his 1S bid denied four hearts so his double of 2H can't be for penalty.) Our lack of accidents in unusual auctions like this is one of the reasons that we get such good consistent results.

    Thanks Larry.


    Friday) Pam and I have noticed a rather interesting pattern when it comes to our bridge.  When I make a stupid mistake, I rarely end up with a dead bottom board.  When she makes a stupid mistake, it is almost always a cold zero.  Let's see if that rule applies to me when I am playing with Larry and attempting to bid a hand that I would be lucky to see once a decade.





1) Artificial, at least 16 HCP   2) Artificial, 10+ HCP, Game Forcing
3) At least 6 spades headed by AKQ, sets spades as trump
4) I have at least 2 keycards if spades are trumps
5) How many Keycards do you have not counting the Ace of hearts?
6) I have two keycards not counting the Ace.  7) Do you have the King of Diamonds
8) No I don't.   9) I was going to bid 7S if he had it.






    What Happened) Wasn't that a wonderful auction. We managed to use our fancy system to bid a great 6S contract on 21 total HCP.  Neither one of us would have even cared that the contract is down 1 when the outstanding spades break 3-0.  The beauty to us lies in being able to confidently bid it to the right spot. 

    At least, that is the paragraph that I would have written if I had remembered the system and bid the hand properly.  Now you can see the big mistake I made and the auction that actually occurred.


1) Artificial, at least 16 HCP   2) Artificial, 10+ HCP, Game Forcing
3) At least 6 spades headed by AKQ, sets spades as trump
4) I have at least 2 keycards if spades are trumps
5) How many Keycards do you have not counting the Ace of hearts?
6) I have zero keycards not counting the Ace.  7) Larry must have erred, I better pass.
(Actually my interpretation would be correct if West had passed 4H instead of doubling it.)








    What Happened) We were in 4S making 5 for + 450 and 8 matchpoints out of 25.  Of the 52 Ax Pairs that bid this hand, only 7 got to the unmakeable 6S contract and of those, only 2 got a favourable lead that allowed them to make it.  On this hand, the number of matchpoints you received depended on what the West hand chose to lead. In case you forgot, in our section, without my mistake, we would have been in 6S -1 for -50 for a cold 0.  I guess I am just a lucky guy.


         

          1) Artificial, at least 16 HCP
          2) Artificial, 10+ HCP, Game Forcing
          3) ... see above for continuation

         










What is there to say about this discovery other than, "I looked down and there it was."







    Sunday) Larry has gone home a day early but I decided to stay and play in the Sunday Swiss thanks to a series of coincidences that landed me on a team with a decent chance of winning the entire 88 team BCD Swiss.  This hand came up in the fourth match after we had started the event with three big wins.  Take a look at this hand (you are vulnerable and they are not) and determine if it is worth an opening bid in your system.



















    What Happened) Given my analysis on Thursday, you won't be surprised to know that I consider this an opening hand in any system I am playing.  The bidding is not what makes this the hand of the day though.  During the play of this hand, I got to try out the kind of defensive IMPs play that you normally only see in a newspaper column.  After leading my single club, the declarer made an error and tried the club finesse.  This failed and I roughed the club return.  As I was playing with a new partner, I didn't know whether we were playing suit preference so I decided to under lead my Ace and King of hearts in the hopes that my partner had the Queen.  She did!  Thankfully, she gave me another club rough and I cashed the Ace of hearts for down 1 and +50.


         








         
    Sunday Result) 3D - 1 for +50 was worth a very important 4 IMPs as we managed to win that match by a final score of 11-9.  After match 4 of 7 we were leading the field but we could not hold onto that lead and we ended up finishing 8th.  Oh well, I guess my quest to win a big Swiss like this will have to continue.