11/23 BBO

Playing against robots, I tried to throw declarer in with the trump 4. He underplayed the trump 3 and I was toast. Would've been more spectacular if he had exactly one trump left and had preserved the 3, but he had two trumps left. Still.

bridge/horror story

Weinberg: It was a dark night and he could swear he was hearing screams in the forest outside, but as a kibitzer, he had no rights and could say nothing

BBO 4/3

lol I am so bad

Opponents have the auction 2H 3NT

Partner leads the D2

-----------A65
-----------JTxxxx
-----------J76
-----------K
------------------------KJx
------------------------Qxx
------------------------KTx
------------------------Axxx

D2, small from dummy, I stick in the T, declarer wins the Q.
Now plays the HA and a club to dummy.
I win the CA and return... the SK!

Even if declarer has the SQ, my lead of the SK kills the entry to dummy's heart suit. Of course, this actually leads to an overtrick...

A65
JTxxxx
J76
K

QTx
AKx
Qxx
QJTx

Declarer can now take 3 clubs, 1 diamond, 2 hearts, and 2 spades is 8. A winning spade or heart finesse will be 9. If I had just cashed out the diamonds, declarer can only ever come to 8 tricks (because the heart suit remains blocked.) In my feeble defense, I didn't know if we led 2nd or 4th from four bad holding (even though I probably did know.)

Declarer went wrong and we got it back anyway.

Yarb

In a casual game, my friend got dealt a 46 Yarborough. Nothing higher than a 6.

serious

Ian Browne:
I don't want no crubs

Chris Chung:
crubs is a suit that can't get no love from me
hanging by the spade suit's reign as the weakest strain, trying to holla at me

a very interesting ending

Spades are trump, the end position is that dummy has a trump and a master diamond (the beer) and my hand has a trump and a small diamond.

Opponents are void in both spades in diamonds. On the 12th trick, my LHO is in, and in order to score the beer, I had to ruff and ruff.

Maybe it isn't that interesting to you, but I was the one who beered.

Toronto summary

Two sentence summary:

I came to win GNT C and the micro Spingold. What I got was a comb, a pen, and some maple syrup.

Other amusing things:

It finally happened. I overcalled a suit where the opponents had game (it was ALMOST slam).

RHO opens 1D, limited and unbalanced, does not promise diamonds. I hold xxxxx AK AQxxx x. I overcall 1S, the opps subside in 3C. Their hands:

AKJ9x x KTxx xxx
QT xxxx -- AKJxxxx

Unfortunately I can start a tap in hearts and shorten the long hand if they play spades. Lame. I'll have 4 small next time.

Partner opens 2C and rebids 2N with AKJ9 AJx AKJxx K. I boost to 3N with Txxx KQx xxxxx x. (Yes, that's right, we have K opp x in clubs.) One club underlead later, we wrap up 13 tricks for +520.

Helen recalls a story where she was partnering me. I don't remember it, but she claims I psyched 1NT, and she bid garbage Stayman. Garbage NT and garbage Stayman. Good system.

Helen also walked all over me, literally. While eating a banana.

Canada's buildings do not have a 13th or 14th floor.

The girls in this city are REALLY REALLY PRETTY.

Toronto 7/24

4S (don't ask)

QT62 J5 KJ5 AJ74
AKJ54 K63 64 962

LHO starts by leading a heart to RHO's ace. The HQ is continued, I win and cash a top trump. I lead a diamond up, LHO puts in the queen! RHO wins the A and returns another diamond, LHO following.

At this point I have

QT6 -- 5 AJ74
KJ54 6 -- 962

I have to hold my club losers to one. I can either play for the CKQ onside, which is extremely unlikely given the lead. The only other way I can see to make this is to find spades 2-2, ruff out the red suits, cash CA, and endplay the opponent who started with Hx of clubs.

To make this harder on them, I started by cashing the CA immediately. I just saw LHO go in the Q from Q-nothing in the diamond suit! I don't want her to inadvertently do the right thing in clubs. Spades break 2-2, I ruff out the red suits, and exit a club, hoping, praying. LHO now cashes the CKQ.

Sigh.

the spot card coup

Well we lost today. This is the only thing that made me happy.

I have a suit combo of AQ8x opp K9x. I start the A, LHO follows small, partner reaches for a spot but I interrupt and call for the 9. RHO was about to follow, but upon seeing the 9, changes his card to the T.

Now he thinks he's on lead and tries to play a card. It becomes a penalty card. I play low to the K and finesse the 8 on the way back to pick up the original JTxx on my right.

6/25 one more

I have K97 Kxx xx AQJxx

RHO deals, the auction goes

(1H) - p - (2N)* - 3S**
(p) - p - (4D) - p
(4H) all pass

*4 card GF raise
** When 2N got around to partner, I said to him, "do something destructive."

I choose to lead the SK, in case I need to hold the lead for some reason. Yes, I don't really have a reason to hold the lead since I probably want a club through. But look! We get

--------Q
--------QTxx
--------KQJxxx
--------xx
K97
Kxx
xx
AQJxx
-------
-------closed
-------hand
-------

The first trick goes K Q J A! Declarer ruffs a spade in dummy and calls for the DK. Partner covers, declarer ruffs. Declarer ruffs another spade in dummy as I follow for the third time. He comments on how I have so many spades.

Declarer plays DQ, shedding a spade. My jaw drops, and I look at partner. At this point, I really should have asked who had the 5th spade. Sigh, it's hard to be witty in tempo. Declarer plays another top diamond, shedding a club, and I ruff. The position is

-----(v)
-----QT
-----xxx
-----xx
(v)
Kx
(v)
AQJxx

It seems like declarer is 4504. I felt like I was stuck at this point, but then I realized the solution. We have to exit a trump. By sacrificing our trump trick, we can get 3 club tricks in return for off 1. (Okay yes, declarer can win a trump, draw a trump, then if he has the KTx of clubs, he can exit the T. If he does this, hold your cards back next time, or play in a weaker game.)

BBO 6/3

They merrimac'd my partner's beer. I choked on my wine when it happened.

casual game 4/24

Well it finally happened.

Dummy has a heart suit of AJTxx with no side entries. I have Qxx in front of dummy.

Declarer leads a small heart up, I insert the Q, declarer plays the A and partner follows........ the K.

Whoops.

Robots drink beer too

My friend purchased the high quality robots for a week on BBO, so she invited me to come play with them.

One robot partner beered the other.

Thoughts on Reno

This was basically my first time at an NABC. I spent 4 days there, playing 48 boards the first day, 60 boards the next, 56 boards on day 3, and then just 24 on day 4, since we didn't qualify for day 2 of the NABC+ Swiss.

It doesn't sound like that much, but I was extremely drained by the 3rd day. I was reliving all the terrible plays and bids that I made from the first two days of the Red Ribbon pairs. I can still remember them now.

I want to say it was an enjoyable experience, but I don't think I would call it that. I was pretty stressed, eating at irregular hours thanks to play schedule, and staying up late looking at hands.

At least I'll be prepared for the 4 days of GNTC in New Orleans, if we make it that deep.

Show your work

Back in a college statistics class, I got the following problem on an exam:

You are playing a card game, and there are 5 cards in a suit remaining to be divided between the person on your left and the person on your right. What are the odds that the person on your right has 3?

I showed no work and wrote down the (correct) answer. I got no credit. Maybe I was supposed to ask for the auction.

Little old ladies

Here is a hilarious board from a side pairs game at nationals.



I am sitting South, West opens 1NT, and the auction quickly reaches 4H. To my surprise, West is encouraged by East's mild slam try and decides to ask for...something. East responds 5H, to which West confidently sets the slam contract. I double, leaving partner to figure out where my void is.

Partner decides to ask about 5H; declarer responds that it shows two aces. Thinking 4NT is asking for keycards, partner asks "Without the queen of hearts?" at which point declarer looks at her hand and confirms "Without the queen of hearts."

Partner thinks for a few seconds, and she settles on a small club. Dummy comes down thus: JT632 of hearts, AQ of spades, A73 of diamonds, and T32 of spades in a second pile. Declarer looks at dummy for a second or two and says "play." My partner then calmly informs the opponents that dummy's spades are missorted, disguising her panic at discovering that I was actually calling for a spade lead. East apologizes to partner and collects the spades into one neat stack. Now, declarer calls for a small club again, and partner again calls attention to the club void on the board. I stare blankly throughout, trying not to laugh. I collect the two top trumps, +100.

After the session, my partner and I have a conversation something like this:

Partner: "Why did declarer bid slam off two keys?"
Me: "Because they were playing Blackwood."
Partner: "Then why did 5H deny the queen of hearts?"
Me: "Because declarer had it."

We laughed for a while, certain that this score would be a top. It turns out that it was only 7 of 11 matchpoints, as six other pairs had earned +100, and somebody ended up +300. Come on, field!

BBO 11/15

This one is just silliness.

The auction goes

1C - 1S
2N - 4C
4N - 6C

Partner thought 4C was a slam try with clubs. I thought it was Gerber.

I answered aces, partner thought it was Blackwood. Partner bid slam with a void and a keycard, making.

Who needs agreements?

You know they call me the Count

I dreamt that I was playing bridge, defending some contract. I woke up this morning and was upset that I didn't count the hand.