Stanford 7/29

RHO opens 2H

(2H) p (p) x
(p) 3C

heart spot lead

Jxx JTx ATx AKQx
KQx Kx J8x T98xx

RHO wins the heart ace, leads another heart. Your king holds.

Trumps are 2-2, everyone follows to 3 rounds of spades.

from Ed

You're in 3N on a forgettable auction

A432 AQJ2 T972 4
7 543 AKQ8 AJ762

SJ led

I ducked two spades, won the third. DT to the A, heart finesse losing. They cash the 4th spade (4-4), then the CT shift.

Win, DK underplaying 9, etc etc.

Stanford 10/7

1H 1S; 2H 4H

4H, smallest diamond led (4th best)

Txxx Ax Axxx KQx
AKx QJxxxx Kxx x

I'm not sure how many times I'm going to miss this until I get it right.

BBO 6/5

3rd r/r, KQT632 J97 Q85 6

p - 1H - 1S - 2H
3H - p - 3S - p
4S

LHO leads H8, we see

9854 63 AT AQ732
KQT632 J97 Q85 6

RHO wins the Q then K, then shifts to a small trump. You put in the K, LHO following the J.

Now what?

2/19 Woodland Hills

Drove down to Woodland Hills for the regional with Steve.

Here's a standard play problem

Matchpoints, you declare 3S after the auction 2S 3S

QJ7 JTx KJ8x AJ9
KT9852 xx Ax Kxx

They lead HK, HQ, heart to east's ace, which I ruffed with the 8.
A spade to the J and east's ace, and she returns a spade. Spades are 1-3, east having 3.

You've lost two hearts and a spade.
-- -- KJxx AJ9
KT -- Ax Kxx

Now what?

7/25 Palo Alto

QTx Kxx QJxx xxx

Partner deals and open 1D, you bid 1N and buy it

H9 (0 or 2 higher) led

Kxxx Jxx AKxx xx
QTx Kxx QJxx xxx

it goes to the A and the 7 comes back.

In a bout of retardedness I held up, then cashed diamonds, then played a spade toward my Q. RHO thought about it, flew ace, and they cashed out

should've just won HK at T2, diamond up, and spade toward my Q, hoping to take 6 tricks

San Jose 6/12

Played poorly, but I got this one right

I have the hand record, but I'm too lazy to look it up. I'm not sure what the diamond position is, but the point was that I didn't care.

5/17 casual

1. Whee


At the table, RHO thought for a while and put in the HJ. NO ESCAPE.

2. Another interesting thing, declarer has Txx of trumps in dummy, we are second hand with K97. Declarer played a small one and I just sort of randomly put in the 9.

Txx
-------K97
AJ8xx

Declarer put in the J, losing to the Q. At the time, I wondered if i had grosvenored. If I had just played small, I would have a tenace over the T. Declarer did in fact next cash SA, playing me for K9.

He told me afterwards that he was going to finesse the 8, which makes a lot of sense. So I inadvertently found a falsecard?

BBO 4/7 - I tried

Third seat, we reach 3C on the auction

p - p - 1N - 2H

2N - p - 3C

SA led

JT7

852

K7

KJ965

Q32

K64

A654

AQ3

1. West cashes SA

2. West cashes SK

3. West plays S8, all following

Been a while since I've seen this theme.

3/27 - missed a few squeezes

2H p 2N x

3D p 3H

D4 led

AJ9 AQx A987x J9

xx KJxxxx JTx xx

1. diamond won by E's Q

2. CK cashed

3. CA won by west

4. small spade, won by dummy's ace

J9 AQx A987 --

x KJxxxx Jx --

On the second hand, I was declaring 3N. Defense took two tricks, then I claimed the balance. A recount of my top tricks showed that I only had 10. Then I asked, "Red suit squeeze?" The squeeze was on. How many tricks am I entitled to?

3/18 casual: play 3N

1N 2H

2S 3D

3N

DQ led

KJxxx Q Axxx xxx

Ax KJxx xx AQJxx

You duck the diamond, overtaken by RHO's K. RHO continues another high diamond. It looks like they are 5-2.

You win the 2nd round in dummy, then take a winning club finesse. Now what?

1/5 from a friend - declare 6N

You reach 6N

AK92 76 K43 T952
75 AKQT A86 AKQ8

LHO leads the DJ

Monterey 1/5 - declare 4S

Matchpoints, you bid uncontested 1S - 1N - 3S - 4S

D4 led

Q2

QJ876

93

KQT7

AKT7653

K

AQ6

92

First trick goes 4 3 T Q.

Monterey 1/5 - Take all your chan... oops

Matchpoints, r/r partner deals, we hold AQ863 9876 92 64

1C - (p) - 1S - (2D)

4D - (p) - 4S

DA led

KT92

AQ4

T

AKQT3

AQ863

9876

92

64

The first trick goes A T 7 9.

LHO shifts to the H3.

from a friend

You reach 4H.

SJ led, RHO follows 3

2 Q7 AKJT2 AT652

AK7 KT6432 53 82

home game 12/13

We have JTxx AK8 K98x T9. Partner deals and opens 1C

1C - (1H) - x - (1S)

2C - (p) - 2N - (p)

3N

H4 led

Q9 JT9 Qxx AKQxx

JTxx AK8 K98x T9

RHO plays a low one.

home game 12/13

Partner deals, your side bids uncontested

1D 1S

2S 4S

HQ led

AQx K QJ87x QT87

J87xx Axx K9x Ax

Stanford 12/6

r/w, I deal and hold x 932 KQ65 AKJxx.

1D - 1S - x - 4S

p - p - 5D - all pass

K AKJ4 A9872 xxx

x 932 KQ65 AKJxx

3rd/low H7 led.

BBO 9/10

Here's a hand I really really butchered
 
We are w/r in 4th, holding x Jx T87x AKQ8xx

(1H) - p - (1S) - 3C
(3S) - 5C - (x)

The lead is the HK, we see

A987
xx
Kxx
JT9x

x
Jx
T87x
AKQ8xx

The HK holds, then LHO shifts to the SK. We win the spade, ruff a spade big, cross to dummy in trumps, ruff a spade big, cross to dummy in trumps, ruff a spade big. LHO showed up with 3 spades and 2 clubs.

---
x
Kxx
9x

---
J
T87x
8

I exited the HJ at this point. LHO wins and tables the DQ.

If LHO is 3532, we have to guess the suit properly. If he led from QJ, we have to duck this trick and freeze the suit. If he led from Q9x, then we have to cover and put in the T on the way back. These were my thoughts anyway... what honors has he shown up with...?  Wait a minute, this is stupid!

The opponents have 9 hearts... there's no way hearts are 5-4. Hearts must be 6-3 for this auction to make any sense. Therefore, LHO must be 3622, and now we just cover the DQ. When RHO wins the A and tables another diamond, we put in the T, not caring at all if it loses. LHO will be endplayed and be forced to give us a ruff sluff. What's more, finding the DQ lead from a non honor sequence is difficult. I would not and should not give someone this much credit.

I ended up losing 3 diamonds and 2 hearts for -500... a good save against 620, but not as good as 300 (Duh).

I hate that I don't pay any attention on BBO, butcher a hand, and then get upset about it. I should strive to play my best, always.  What a poor excuse.

Santa Clara Regional 9/5

Played in the Open Swiss today.

We got STEAMROLLED by Balicki and Zmudzinski in round 2. I didn't play against them... I sat in Balicki's seat. That is some frightening stuff. I came back to the table and felt like I got my entry fee's worth when I asked my teammates how he declared.

Balicki declares this contract in 4S... I don't know the auction, but RHO has overcalled diamonds probably at the 2 level and LHO raised.

Axx AQx Jxx xxxx
KQTxx JT9x --- KJ9x

1. diamond led, ruffed
2. heart to the Q and K
3. diamond led, ruffed
4. small club out of hand, dropping the stiff ace (!!!)
5. diamond led, ruffed
Now dummy is reversed and Balicki can play 2 top spades, cross to the HA, draw the final trump (pitching a club), and cash 10 tricks. Godlike.

Here's a defensive problem I had. Opponents bid 1N 3N, we're on lead. I have Qxx Axx xxx JTxx. I elect to lead a 4th best club.

-------Axx
-------xxx
-------AQx
-------9xxx
Qxx
Axx
xxx
JTxx
-------
-------
-------(closed
------- hand)

First trick goes x x K A. Declarer now plays SA and a spade to the J, losing to our Q. Partner played lo-hi in spades (upside down count). What now?

It looks like declarer started with KJxxx of spades, so 4 spade tricks. He's marked with CAQ, so he's up to 6 tricks. DA is 7. I decided to play declarer to have the CAQ tight and to have to set up two heart tricks, so I led a second low club, dropping declarer's CQ to my delight! Declarer then showed up with the DK and had 9 tricks already.

Can I get this right? If I'm truly playing declarer to have a doubleton club, then partner will always have a third club to reach me. Can I afford to cash the HA to get partner's signal? But if I'm playing for the hand above, cashing the HA loses the tempo to beat this hand. What's more, partner will encourage with any holding with the K... but it's not enough. He has to have KQxx if declarer has the DK. That's what actually happened on this hand. We have 4 heart cashers we never got.

Update: I spoke with a friend... a small heart is interesting. If declarer has nothing in hearts, it will beat it outright. If declarer has HHx in hearts, when partner wins his presumed DK, he can push a heart through. Declarer will go down unless he reads the heart position and blocks it. Or declarer could have even two hearts! Then a heart is an easy beat.

I'm not liking my defense now, but at least it wasn't a zero defense. If declarer is KJTxx HHT/HH9 Jxx AQ my defense is necessary, just wildly antipercentage. Oh well.

We actually did pretty well, enough to win 2nd in X, 4th/6th overall.

I also Lightner doubled again. Got my ruff, then declarer wrapped it up. 0/3 so far. It only cost one imp (teammates did not reach it.) Oh well, it's a price I'm willing to continue paying.

Edit: I gave the 3N defense hand to Steph. She led a heart at T1. Easy game.