Conference turris::bridge

1945.0. "Rte 128 league loss, you be the judge (from Alan Frantz)" by MOIRA::FAIMAN (Wandrer, du M�der, du bist zu Haus) Fri Mar 07 1997 08:55

Neil,
	I thought I'd sent this yesterday, but I was getting some weird behavior
On Tuesday night, the DEC-A team lost to one of the only other reasonable
teams in the league by 1 IMP.  We won the first half 28-14 IMPs, but lost the
second by 10-25.  This translates to 14 out of 30 VP, and we remain in first
place.  Our next opponent is the DEC B team.  Our opponents stayed out of two
slams that didn't make and Kotok and I committed one thoroughly incompetent
defense.  I'll enter the full details of that hand, and let our expert panel
assess who owns how much of the blame:

Board 22                 North  S- K
Dlr: E                          H- KJT4
Vul: E-W                        D- AQ95
         West  S- AT65          C- 8764      East  S- 98732
               H- 8762                             H- A9
               D- J                                D- T862
               C- AQJ5   South  S- QJ4             C- T2
                                H- Q53
                                D- K743
                                C- K93

The auction: P-P-1S-X-3S-3N-AP  where E-W are playing Precision, and the only
case we open the better 4-card major is explicitly this 4414 shape. But since
this occurs infrequently, the defense starts out with the handicap that East
thinks West has five spades, and based on the 3S raise, West thinks East has
only four.  This muddles both defenders thinking and leads to this gruesome
set of blunders:
The play: OL=H8, ducked to HQ, H to HA, S9 to SA, CA, C5 to CK, now scoring
up 2S,3H,3D, and 1C for nine tricks.  There are plenty of sins to choose from
on this hand, perhaps even beginning with the bidding.  But in the butchered
defense, which of several egregious plays deserves what share of the blame.
 Please assign % to East and West.

The other large swing against us occurred during the first half, when we bid
6NT on these cards and our opponents stopped short.  -660 and -100, but
astute play might make +1440.  See if you can win 13 IMPs on this board
instead of losing 13. . .
  
Board 4, W deals, Both Vul:

East(dummy)   S- KQ6    H- 872   D- Q654   C- K98
              S- AJ43   H- AQ6   D- AKT    C- AJ7

Opening lead: S9, you win SK, on SQ RHO pitches a small diamond, plan the
play beginning at trick 3.

This was not the only large hand that failed to make 6NT.  In the second
half, board 13 offers this opportunity.

North (dlr)   S- J985  H- J754   D- A4     C- JT7
South         S- AKQ   H- AQ9    D- QJ873  C- AQ

At our table, our opponents bid P-2C-2H(2 controls)-3N-P, and we won one IMP
when our pards scored 660 to the 630 we gave up.  Our opponents (the same
pair who had stopped short on the 33 HCP hand in the first half) now claimed
they had just passed up another 33 HCP chance on 26 opposite 7, but it turns
out they cannot count either, it's only 24 opp 7.  Bad minor splits doom this
one.  LHO=Txxx-Txx-9-Kxxxx and led a spade to hold this to 630 while a club
lead lets them make 660.

						-- Alan

  Ah, a YBTJ.  Good change of pace.  West, 95%.

  You can gripe about the lead, or the spade back, but that club ace
 play just isn't bridge.

  bb

=========
The auction: P-P-1S-X-3S-3N-AP

The play: OL=H8, ducked to HQ, H to HA, S9 to SA, CA, C5 to CK, now scoring
up 2S,3H,3D, and 1C for nine tricks.  


Board 22                 North  S- K
Dlr: E                          H- KJT4
Vul: E-W                        D- AQ95
         West  S- AT65          C- 8764      East  S- 98732
               H- 8762                             H- A9
               D- J                                D- T862
               C- AQJ5   South  S- QJ4             C- T2
                                H- Q53
                                D- K743
                                C- K93
===========
Alan,

Not only is the club play unconscionable but consider West's reasoning
to make him want to lead a heart. East has shown a weak hand with
Spades. North has doubled Spades showing shortness in the suit and
length in Hearts. So is West trying to find a better than 8 card
fit between him and partner after the stated auction?

I'd get off to a low spade lead and patiently preserve a low
spade, so partner can lead a club through. Who knows, if declarer
makes an error and tries to sneak a club to his king before
cashing 8 tricks in the other suits, we might even get this
down a million ...

Not leading a spade could be classified as: "Losing count" trick.