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.

7/6 Home Game

You are in third seat with T87632 K64 52 AJ9

The auction goes

p - p - p - 2D
p - 3N

You lead S6

-------------5
-------------QTx
-------------AKQxxx
-------------Qxx
T87632
K64
52
AJ9
-------------(closed
------------- hand)

First trick goes 6 5 J Q.
DJ 2 Q x
HQ x x K (partner signaling odd)

Now what?

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?

Santa Clara 9/3 - play 2S

3rd seat

AQT8xx Ax -- 98xxx

p (p) 1S (2C)
2H (p) 2S

Kx JTxxx QJTxx x
AQT8xx Ax --- 98xxx

CK lead, trump shift. If you play small from dummy, RHO plays the 9.

Don't be careless. I was.

Santa Clara 9/3 - play 4H

To recap, I played in the two day pairs, where day 1 was the qual. I played terribly, and we didn't make the cut.

Then we played in a bracketed KO where we asked to be moved up and promptly lost.

So now we are in the final round of the loser loser swiss.

Here's the one thing I did well all weekend.

Kx AQJT7 x JTxxx

1H (3D) 3H (p)
4H (p) p (x)

DQ lead, we see

xxxx 865 Kxx AK9
Kx AQJT7 x JTxxx

I duck the opening lead, and the ace appears on my right. RHO now plays ace and a spade.

I cross to dummy's CA and casually float the H8. LHO shows out. Repeat the finesse.

At this point, I play a club to dummy's K, dropping LHO's Qx! Now, I play the DK to try to induce the ruff, and RHO obliges. Cross back to dummy's C9, pick up trumps, 4Hx+1.

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?

5/15 Stanford

1.  AKQJT9x xxx x Kx, second seat

(3C) 3S (5C) passed out

We lead SK, we see

-----------xxx

-----------Kxx

-----------KQJx

-----------AT9

AKQJT9x

xxx

x

Kx

------------closed

------------hand

Both declarer and partner contribute the smallest spade spots. Sorry I don't have the exact pips.

Now what?

2. They bid 1H 1S 1N, partner leads S9

KT87

x

AQxx

Txxx

------------QJ432

------------Ax

------------JT98

------------Jx

closed

 hand

1. S9 T J A

2. spade to the K

3. S8, holding (partner and declarer pitch hearts)

4. DA

5. DK

6. DQ, partner pitching a club

7. club to the Q and A

At this point the position is

8

x

x

Txx

----------Jx

----------Ax

----------T

----------J

Partner played a heart to my A. As I idly cashed both spades, I realized declarer might be squeezed! Let's fill in declarer's hand:

--

QJxx

--

Kx

He follows to the first heart. Pitches a heart and a club on two spades. And on the DT, he's toast!

I cash the DT. Declarer painlessly discards a small heart. He started with the HK. LAME. THAT'S A 2533 15 COUNT AND OPENS 1NT, COME ON.

Oh I guess the actual hand is also a 15 count 2533 WHATEVER OKAY

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 - I suck

I did something absolutely awful here

Partner deals, r/r

1C - (2H) - p - (3H)

all pass

Your lead from 9642 76 J975 AQ6?

I waffled between a trump and a spade. I ended up leading a trump.

-----------QT53

-----------Q32

-----------Q2

-----------KT42

9642

76

J975

AQ6

-----------

-----------

-----------(closed

----------- hand)

First trick goes 6 Q K A. Great, it's not clear he has a fast entry to dummy for the heart finesse.

Declarer plays D3, 5 Q A. Partner cashes SA then SK. I followed the 9 and then the... 6!

Now we lost our spade ruff because my spade should be suit preference, showing partner where my entry is. I allowed 3H to make 4.

Blergh.

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 - defend 4S

Matchpoints, w/w RHO deals and opens 1S

We have 8 94 J76543 K974. Do you act?

At the table, opponents bid uncontested 1S - 2S - 4S

I led D6 (3rd/low)

-----------J532

-----------KT82

-----------8

-----------QJ86

8

94

J76543

K974

----------

----------

----------(closed

---------- hand)

First trick goes 6 8 Q A.

Declarer cashes SA, SK, and plays a third spade. Partner started with QT7. We pitch D3 D4.

Partner now leads the CT - 2 - K - 6.

The position is:

---------J

---------KT82

---------

---------QJ8

--

94

J75

974

---------

---------

---------

---------

Now what? To recap, you have won the SQ and the CK.

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.