Sunday, April 20, 2014

Bridge Match 2 - Board 51

Board 51 - Dealer South - EW Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Intermediate

My hand: Q J 9 A J T 9 6 5 4 3 7 4

Well. I have an 8 count with an 8 card suit and a void. If partner has a good hand (especially one with spades and top clubs) we could well be looking at a slam. Or if partner has a bad hand the opponents almost certainly have a slam of their own. So I need to figure out if I want to leave lots of room to find those slams or if I want to just take away all the bidding room. I think they're more likely to have the slam than we are, and they're red while we're white. I've heard the argument that white on red you should preempt up one more level than you normally would (and red on white you should go the other way) but I'm not sure I can talk myself into opening 5 diamonds. But taking away 4 hearts seems really good. Really, really good. Ok, screw it. All in. 5 diamonds. West immediately overcalls 5 hearts which gets passed back to me. I really can't bid more, so I pass too. At least they're stuck at the 5 level, which might be one too high (if they only make 4 hearts at other tables) or one too low (if there's a slam) so I like it.

Partner leads the 2 of diamonds.
NORTH
2
EAST
K 7 5 3
J T 5 2
7
K Q 9 2
SOUTH
Q J 9

A J T 9 6 5 4 3
7 4
WestNorthEastSouth
5
5PassPass

2-7-A-K. Would partner have lead the 2 from Q-8-2? I'd hope he'd have lead the Q if he had it so returning a diamond is probably safe. But it doesn't really accomplish anything either since declarer definitely didn't drop the K from KQ8. Leading any other suit is apt to help declarer out, but maybe not a spade if partner has the A or the T. But if declarer has both any spade I choose to lead gives up a trick. I guess a club is only pretty bad? I fire out the 7 of clubs. 7-6-T-Q. Declarer draws trump, I pitch a diamond, and my play of the hand is now unlikely to matter.

Said prediction was true, as declarer is really, really up. Partner had a 4-3-3-3 2 count and they _really_ had 6 cold.
NORTH
T 8 6
9 6 3
Q 8 2
T 8 5 3
WEST
A 4 2
A K Q 8 7 4
K
A J 6
EAST
K 7 5 3
J T 5 2
7
K Q 9 2
SOUTH
Q J 9

A J T 9 6 5 4 3
7 4

Six of the tables played slam and made. In two cases they even made 7 (I guess they didn't lead a diamond) one of which they were actually _in_ 7. The last table played 4 hearts making 6. So we share the top spot with those guys and earn 13 MPs.


Jack disagrees with my opening bid. He wants me to open 4 diamonds, which is fine, but his reasoning is absurd. He thinks 5 diamonds has a conventional meaning and isn't a preempt. Somehow 5 diamonds is 'Gambling 3NT' which is weird since I'd think that convention would involve opening 3NT. I feel like my bid earned us a lot of MPs Jack, so screw you. (In fact I tried bidding 4 diamonds to see what would happen and they easily get to 6 hearts where assuming I lead my A of diamonds we still get 6 MPs.)

Ranking after board 51/60: 1/16 with 60.64%

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