June 12th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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128 boards to decide Canada’s team champion. Who will win? This is a tough call – both teams are laden with experience and talent, and are not afraid of winning. On the one hand, Team Carruthers has more experience, and seem to know their agreements well, and are quite comfortable in a long grinding match.
Joey and JC have both won this event multiple times, and have shined on the International stage for many years. Nader and Jim Green are a tough pair who always bring their A game to the CNTC, and Roy Hughes and David Turner are also gifted players. David in particular thrives on adversity and complexity, and the tougher the hand, the brighter he shines.
Team L’Ecuyer though has Kamel and Nick – who always seem to be around at the end – and Nick of course won a Nationally rated pairs game this year at the Spring Nationals in essentially a new partnership; Darren and Jurek, past winners with a great pedigree and two better guys you could not ask for as teammates, and the “kids” Daniel Korbel and David Grainger.
I may be wrong, but I think only David and Daniel have not yet won this event of all twelve players in the final. They may be the hungriest pair at the table today, and are playing with great confidence.
I know all the players well, some for more than thirty years – so it is risky to go out on a limb and pre-select a winner.
For all the skill and experience that everyone brings to the match, intangibles come into play during a long match. First there is momentum. Can a pair get on a roll and feel invincible ? – that can wear the opponents down over a long match.
Does another pair suffer a couple of adverse results at a key point in the match, and in spite of their better judgment, this gets in their heads and stops them performing up to their true capabilities. Will the hands favor a certain type of bidding style – eg pinpoint part score bidding in a grind-out type match, or scientific slam bidding in a potentially high scoring match?
They all know how to take their tricks both on play and defense.
Having said all that, I pick L’Ecuyer to win, but I would not be surprised if I am wrong – this is a tough call.
Korbel is on a personal mission to add this event to an already impressive resume, and losing is simply not an option at this time for he and Grainger.
Unless they get irritated by the much slower pace of play than they are used to, they should be fine.
Having said that, whichever teams wins, Canada will be well represented first in Mexico in July, and then in Brazil in the Bermuda Bowl in early Fall. Sit back and enjoy the match on BBO folks – you will see Canadian bridge is very much alive and well.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 12th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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The semi finals have just finshed. Carruthers were down by nine imps to Rayner at the half, then pulled up to plus 40 imps with one quarter to play. Rayner’s team mounted a spirited comeback and got back all but 6 imps – losing by such a small margin. Carruthers were actually down by 5 imps with two boards to play, but won 11 imps on the penultimate board to seal the win.
In the other semi final, L’Ecuyer beat Marcinski by 31 imps, in a match they never trailed in – but at the same time, a match they could never really pull away from their opponents. These two heavyweights played pretty much even up over the final three quarters – in fact, Marcinski was ahead over the final three quarters by 23 imps – but the first quarter made all the difference in the match, when L’Ecuyer outscored the other team by 53 imps.
The final will be a very long 128 boards over the next two days.
The Women’s final was won by Nisbet team’s over Demme, and the CNTC B was won by Shatilla over Pan.
Tomorrow Keith and I enter the COPC – a two day pairs event with some pretty good competition – most of the CNTC players except those involved in the finals will be entered.
As always, results can be seen on the CBF website at:
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_results.html
Goodnight
June 11th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
2 Comments
I fell asleep with thoughts of 3NT down 1 in my head and as I went for a long walk this morning, the hand still ate me up. Had I just quietly passed Keith’s 3 club bid, we would have played there making, and not given the hand much thought, and lost the match by six imps, and everyone else on the team (and me of course) would be looking to something they did that could have won the match.
But last hand goat has special status – lol.
I also realize I should give credit to Ken Scholes for his excellent shift to the diamond queen from AQ107 at trick 2.
North
J43
A76
J9
Q10432
AK2
9843
K54
AJ8
To review, I had ducked the H queen lead to East who won the stiff king and shifted to the diamond queen. Ken held 98765 K AQ107 K65.
In talking to other people, a surprising number of Easts in the same situation simply returned the nine of spades at trick 2.
Had that happened at my table, there is an excellent chance I would have made the hand.
And almost everyone else was in 2NT, not 3NT – I have not found another pair in 3NT in fact.
what happens is you play safe for 8 tricks in 2NT, and the ninth trick falls into your lap.
I guess I don’t have much more to say about the hand now. If I were a true reporter, I would probably kibitz the semi finals and rush to the PC at the breaks to breathtakngly give you all a blow by blow of the matches.
But I always intended this to be a personal diary, not a true CNTC report, so personally I must say I need a day away from bridge, and then Keith and I will turn our attention to the COPC – which of course is a matchpoint event – with totally different skillsets required, and where the luck factor can be much larger than in a team game.
Hope you all are enjoying the blog, and comments would be welcomed on any of the entries. If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
TTYL
Ross
June 11th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
2 Comments
Well the quarter final matches have just ended, and alas we are not one of the advancing teams. Arguably, form prevailed in all four matches, with the winning teams being Carruthers, L’Ecuyer, Marcinski, and Rayner.
We lost a close one to Rayner by twelve imps. It turns out it came down to the last hand – I was in a borderline 3NT contract, vulnerable, in the following layout:
North
J43
A76
J9
Q10432
AK2
9843
K54
AJ8
I had opened 1 club, playing a weak NT system. Keith responded 3 clubs; showing a club raise (5-6 clubs) and a hand that would want to invite game opposite a strong NT. I only had 15 HCP, but the honours in my hand were seductive, and I did have three good clubs when I might only have two clubs for my opening bid, and we were on a roll, so I bid 3NT.
It turns out we were trailing by only six imps with this hand still to play at our table. The opponents had bid and made 2NT with these cards – so the way to win the match was to make 3NT – then we would win 10 imps and win the match by 4 imps. If I went down, we would lose the match by 12 imps.
The opening lead was the Queen of hearts, and I played low in dummy and RHO (Ken Scholes) won the king. He quickly shifted to the queen of diamonds. That looked very much like a holding headed by AQ10 to me.
I could afford to duck this, and I did, with Peter Herold playing the six. Next Ken cashed the Ace of diamonds, as Peter completed his echo, and another diamond – which I won in hand and pitched a heart from dummy. Now I have to make the contract, starting with five top tricks.
It looked like RHO had four diamonds (maybe 5, but I felt 4), and a singleton heart. That left LHO with five hearts and four diamonds and only four black suit cards.
I had one diamond, one heart, two spades and whatever I could muster in clubs. How could I take five club tricks? With length on my right, even with the king favorably placed, he could duck the club queen (or cover if he had four) and I would be limited to at most three club tricks.
A club to the jack would not help me – as (a) how could I get back to dummy if it won, and how would I score five clubs tricks? and (b) if it lost I was pretty sure LHO had another diamond in his hand.
Leading the queen of clubs would not help either – If he didn’t cover, which he should do with three clubs, I’d be limited to three club tricks.
Now what if clubs are 4-1? This won’t help – unless the club king is singleton offside – what’s that old expression? – “Le Roi de Trefles est toujours seulement” – The king of clubs is always singleton.
I reviewed this remote chance in my head a couple of times – was there not a better way? No, that’s what I decided to play for – I played the Ace of clubs, and only the nine fell from Peter’s hand. Then the Jack of clubs from hand, and Ken won the king on my right, and cashed his fourth diamond for down 1. King third of clubs had indeed been on my right, and the suit would have been blocked for me.
But wait – the hand could have been made ! Given I had reduced my chances to a “Hail Mary” play of the club Ace – why not cash the Ace and King of spades first? Suppose the queen falls doubleton – presumably on my left. Then I have an extra entry in the dummy with the Jack of spades – and can finesse through Ken’s hand and as long as he has no more than three clubs I would still make the contract.
The bridge gods were smirking at me there – because I failed to find this play and of course, this was the exact layout. lord help me !
West had
Q10
QJ1052
8632
97
East had
98765
K
AQ107
K65
To be sure, the odds are very much against the spade queen dropping ,but if it does not, I am “only” risking a few extra undertricks by trying this first. (They might then be able to cash 2-3 spades after winning the club king) Mind you, I would not have wanted to bring back -200, -300, or even -400 if it had not worked.
I had been keeping a running imp estimate on my scorecard throughout the last 1/4 – so that I would always have a rough idea of where we stood in the match.(To whatever extent that process is valid!)
I figured, before this last hand, that there was a chance we had picked up anywhere from 30 to 40 imps going into the final hand. A large minus score on this last hand, coupled with -120 or so at the other table, might also convert victory into defeat. What do you think?
So I could have won the match – and been playing in the semi finals tomorrow – but maybe I took my eye off the ball for a nano second, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Like all good bridge players, I feel mostly bad for my team mates – that I let them down in our hour of need. As for me and myself, I am numb. The fact that when Keith and I came back from lunch to find we were down 67 imps with 32 boards to play does not matter at all. We don’t think about what our team mates could have done to win the match – we always look at what we (or more precisely, first person singular) could have done.
We had scratched back 36 imps in the third quarter to be only down by 31 with 16 boards to play. Then, on the next 15 boards, we had gained back a further 25 imps and were only down by 6 imps when the final board hit the table. All those great hands that accumulated to a 61 imp comeback were for naught – good but not good enough – on the last damn hand !!!
I imagine the Janicki team feels the same way – they were down by 69 imps after the first half in their match against Carruthers. They then played tough the rest of the way, and by the end they only lost the match by 13 lousy imps.
Anyway, that’s how our day ended – now for a few hands from earlier in the match.
The first board of the match was sweet – we needed to give declarer a ruff sluff to beat a game that made with an overtrick at the other table.
North
J65
AQ73
AJ984
Q
South
72
K642
75
AKJ104
Doug Baxter declared four hearts, after I had jump overcalled 2 spades on Doug’s right in the sandwich seat. Keith led the queen of spades; which held; then the ten of spades, which I won on Doug’s right and played the remaining high spade honour.
This was not a happy event, as Doug knew Keith was out of spades, and an uppercut was looming – unless Keith was the guy with three hearts – which was a good chance on the auction.
Doug made the technically correct play of pitching his losing diamond on the third spade as Keith pitched a club.
However, the coup de grace was the fourth spade from my hand, and Doug had no answer. He pitched from his hand, and Keith ruffed with the Jack – forcing dummy’s queen. As East, I had 1098 of hearts – so there was no denying the setting trick in my hand for a ten imp gain.
Added June 10 – two keen eyed readers, Jim Priebe and Michel Lorber, have both noted the above analysis is not accurate, and that Doug could and should have made 4H in spite of our defence. I quote Jim first :
” Hi Ross
We are enjoying your blog. Too bad about your 3NT. It gets a little hairy when your options are plus 600 or minus 400!
On the 4H played by Baxter you mention “Doug made the technically correct play of pitching a diamond”.
Pitching is an outright error. Ruffing small works against all 3-2 breaks and the case where lefty has 4.
Ruff low, assume overruff, win diamond return, cash AQ of trump, club Q, draw trump ending in hand and claim.
If lefty has 4 trumps and refuses to over ruff, you abandon trumps momentarily after AQ, overtake club Q and run the clubs until lefty ruffs, then win the diamond, draw the last trump and claim. If trumps are 4-1 you need 4-3 clubs.
Jim Priebe “
And now a comment from Michel Lorber
“Too bad about end result…looks like you played well… Mr. Baxter should ruff the 3rd spade with H6…he will go down if hearts 32/23 only if you have a minor void, or if you have 4 hearts (except maybe J1098), or if anyone has 5 hearts. If you have J1098 or Keith doesn’t overruff with 4 hearts, he needs clubs to work.
Regards,
ML”
We played pretty well for the rest of this quarter – until the sixteenth and final hand when Keith and I played in the wrong minor suit at the five level and went down 1 for –100 into our own +600. So that cost our team 12 imps needlessly, and there we were down by 24 imps after one quarter.
Team Rayner had a strong second quarter, gaining 43 imps, but rather lucky on one hand where they played in six diamonds with a trump suit of KQx opposite A10xx and also missing a side Ace. Doug guessed to play the hand under the A10xx of diamonds for J9xx and he was right – gaining ten imps instead of losing ten imps – well done !
So we sat down to play the third quarter down 67 imps and started to play really solid bridge – we did not swing per se; we just played near flawlessly.
We gained back 36 imps in this quarter – notwithstanding two adverse swings against us. Michael Roche and John Rayner did well to bid to 6 hearts against us which was missed at the other table (on a different auction of course)
Michael held AJx KQ10x AK10542 void
He opened 1 diamond, Keith overcalled two clubs. Michael’s side was vulnerable. John passed, and I raised to three clubs. Michael made a takeout double. Keith passed, and John leapt to four hearts. This convinced Michael that slam must be a good bet, and he in turn leapt to six hearts.
I led a spade, which was best for us, but really the defense had no chance here – in fact; if you are in seven hearts you will make it as the cards lie reasonably well.
North
AJ3
KQ104
AK10542
Void
South
10962
AJ976
8
763
Diamonds split 3-3 and hearts were 2-2 so thirteen tricks were cold. We lost 13 imps on that board. Note that if I had raised Keith’s 2 club overcall to 4 clubs preemptive, holding 854 85 QJ3 A9854, there would have been no room for John to jump to game and Michael could not have bid on with as much certainty.
In my defense, it wasn’t clear we were in danger of the opponents being cold for a slam (actually they were cold for seven !) at that point – but it is always a good thing to apply maximimum pressure to your opponents when you have a large fit.
We began the fourth quarter down by 31 imps and began to grind out some imps on our side of the ledger. Soon Keith found himself in 2 spades doubled; with 11HCP opposite two jacks !! And a 4-3 fit with AKJ9 of spades facing 642 – and he was vulnerable and they were not.
His RHO had opened a strong NT, and LHO had bid 2D – a transfer to hearts. Keith had AKJ9 void K1043 107632 – he bid double – which is a bid I endorse 100%.
However, LHO said redouble, and the chase was on. I had nothing to say (as you will clearly see) and Keith bid 2 spades when the XX came back to him. His LHO passed, and I passed, but Peter Herold was out for blood, and he doubled, holding Q1053 of spades and a full 17 count. Ugh!
North
642
J976
J985
85
South
AKJ9
Void
K1043
107632
Ken Scholes led the 8 of spades to the queen and Keith’s Ace. How do you like them apples? Would you be happy to get out for down 1 and only -200 ?? We were quietly ecstatic.
Miraculously that’s what he did – he only went down 1 for –200 – but it was still a loss of 7 imps as no game could make the opponents way – with 27 HCP between them and a nine card heart fit! How he pulled that off had the kibitzers shaking their heads in wonder.
Shortly after that we bid 3NT with 13 opposite 10 HCP and a 5-3 spade fit, and there was no way to beat it. 4 spades has no play and that won us 6 imps.
We vigorously interfered with their auction enroute to a slam in spades, and they played in five spades making 7 for an eleven imp pickup.
We played a not so hot vulnerable 3NT with 14 opposite 10 HCP and that came home on a favorable lie of the cards.
They stepped into our part score auction (we can make 2 spades) and we doubled and took +300 defending three clubs doubled – in fact at a crucial point in the hand I led the King of diamonds from K10xx looking at the J754 in dummy on my left. I needed to create an entry to Keith’s hand to effect an uppercut. He did have the queen of diamonds, but Ken Scholes skillfully ducked from ace nine doubleton; severing the link between our hands, and he avoided – 500.
And then came that last hand – the miracle 3NT that yours truly did not make – and now we are on the sidelines of the biggest, most prestigious event on the Canadian Bridge Calendar. It smarts – for all of us – we were ready to play our hearts out tomorrow and fight for a spot in the final on Friday.
I asked a question of myself at the beginning of the blog this week – if you look at one of the first entries, I asked – “You can never go back?”
I think to my surprise, I was wrong to think that. Over the past year, I have played and practiced quite a bit – mostly practice – I would have liked more tournament play against tough opposition. There was more than one occasion when I thought I had lost the skill-set forever – too many years had passed.
Keith was always tremendously patient – he predicted right from the beginning it would take a year for me to feel truly comfortable at the table again – and that is exactly what happened. The past few days, pretty much everything finally fell into place and the feeling at the table was much the same as it had been all those years ago.
I can’t wait to strap it on again with Keith for next year’s CNTC and other major championships in the years ahead !
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
As always, a table of the match results is available at the CBF website:
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTAqf.html
I plan to take a day off from bridge tomorrow, Thursday, and resume play in the COPC on the weekend. Hope you have enjoyed these updates from the Penticton CNTC site.
June 10th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
2 Comments
Our second last match was against Rayner’s team – who had been at or near the top of the leaderboard the entire four days. Two hands of interest. Keith held 73 QJ972 KJ94 93. His LHO opened 1 club; his RHO said 1 heart. Keith passed, and his LHO bid 1 spade, and now RHO bid 2 Diamonds – fourth suit forcing. LHO said 2NT (I think) and RHO jumped to 4 spades.
I led the five of diamonds, and dummy was
Q965
A1085
A8
Q74
Again, Keith held 73 QJ972 KJ94 94
Declarer played low from dummy and Keith won the Ace. At the other table, the defender holding Keith’s cards woodenly returned a diamond – and the game was made easily.
Keith shifted to the nine of clubs – and this actually gave declarer fits. There is a line to make now, but it requires winning (or ducking – it turns out not to matter) the club Ace, and playing Ace and another spade.
As leader, I had K108 K43 10752 K108.
Declarer in fact rose with the club Ace; he next crossed to the dummy to lead a spade to the jack – I was able to win the King, and play King and another club for Keith to ruff and down 1. Win 10 imps.
Peter Herold got his partnership’s revenge shortly after by playing the wheels off 4 hearts on the following layout.
North
74
8763
AK73
QJ8
South
QJ6
AJ42
J6
AK107
With no intervention, a routine Stayman auction led to 4 hearts. Keith led the ten of diamonds; Peter played dummy’s king and I dropped the queen.
Peter next played a heart to the jack – which held ! Now he correctly left trumps alone and played four rounds of clubs – pitching a spade from dummy as I followed suit helplessly.
Next Peter exited the spade Queen. This came around to me and I won the Ace and played back the King of hearts to get the kiddies off the dummy’s street.
But next came the Jack of diamonds from Peter’s hand and I really had no answer – ten tricks quickly followed. All that work to lose 1 imp – as Jeff and Paul bid and made 3 NT + 1 at the other table.
This low scoring match ended with Rayner’s team winning by 5 against us. So we headed to the last match against Ray Jotcham, Lew Richardson; Steve Mackay, and Alan Lee – not a team you want to see when you need a big win.
Fortunately, we were strong in this last match – we picked up imps on five part score hands, and stole a game swing when we bid and made 3NT at our table while Jeff and Paul were quietly going down 1 undoubled in 4 hearts the other way.
On one hand I had to make 3 clubs on this layout :
North
974
107
AJ9
A7542
South
62
KQJ98
84
KJ98
I had opened 1 heart in first chair; white versus red. Keith responded 1NT forcing, and Ray overcalled 2 spades. This was passed around to Keith who reopened with double and was charmed to hear me respond 3 clubs – which everyone passed.
Lew led the five of spades, Ray won and played three rounds of spades in total. I had two spade losers; and the Ace of hearts and a diamond loser, and now my trump position was being threatened. Best I could do here was pitch my losing diamond from my hand as Lew discarded a diamond.
Ray then played a diabolical fourth spade – and now I had no room to wiggle – I had to get this right.
I pitched a heart from hand, and Lew ruffed ahead of dummy with the ten of clubs. I over ruffed and figured my best chance to make now was a first round finesse against the club queen in Ray’s hand.
This worked, whew, and I played a diamond over to dummy’s Ace for another hook – and chalked up +110.
I think defenders sometimes don’t look enough for opportunities to attack declarer with the ruff sluff as an effective defense – it paid dividends on the first hand of our quarter final match on Wednesday too – which I will show you in my next blog entry.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 10th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
7 Comments
I played almost all the matches yesterday, so there really was not time to write up any hands. This morning I was looking over the hand records, and found a few that should be memorialized.
Equal red, in second chair, I picked up J2 KJ109873 6 J95. Apparently, while waiting for us to come out to compare, there was debate going on amongst our teammates as to whether Ross would open this hand 3 hearts or not. Two hearts is not an option for us – it is written in stone that we always have exactly a six card suit for that bid.
Well, I guess I surprised a couple of people and did open 3 hearts. Ten seconds later I was playing at the six level !
North
AQ103
Q
AK853
AK8
South
J2
KJ109873
6
J95
The lead was a spade, and went up with the Ace; cashed two high diamonds, pitching a spade; ruffed a diamond with the 7 (an unwittingly mean play). Both followed to 3 rounds of diamonds, so I was now cold. I realized I owed Keith a high five, so I led the congratulatory king of hearts from my hand – pinning dummy’s own queen in the process.
All you caring partners out there would have ruffed the third diamond with the Jack of hearts – a true congratulatory Jack ! + 1430; win 13 imps.
Next I picked up Q A54 AK109764 43. They were red, we were white. LHO opened 1 heart; and Keith said double for takeout. RHO said pass. What a hand I held, but I knew I should give Keith lots of wiggle room for his favorable vulnerability double.
First I said 2 hearts, showing strength. LHO passed, and Keith replied 3 clubs. Now I bid 3 diamonds forcing, and Keith bid 3 hearts. That was not reason to get excited – since he was forced, and likely was temporizing with his bid, and seeing if I could bid 3NT. I could have bid 3NT but I still had more to say. I cue bid 4 hearts.
Keith now bid 5 diamonds, and I was disappointed to hear that. His failure to cue bid meant slam was not assured, so I bid a quick, but reluctant pass.
North
K53
82
Q52
AK872
South
Q
A54
AK109764
43
I see Keith needed just a pip more to cue bid – either the Ace of spades (rather than the king) or a singleton heart would have been enough. As it is, six diamonds has chances.
The lead was the Jack of diamonds: I played low from dummy and RHO followed with the 8, meaning LHO began with J3. Just to stay sharp I asked myself how I would play slam if in it.
Actually with that lead it would be pretty easy. I would hope clubs were no worse than 4-2; and play 3 rounds of clubs ruffing high in hand; trump over to the queen for another club ruff; then the carefully preserved 4 of diamonds to dummy’s 5 to enjoy the last club. It would work.
Being in game only, I ignored that line in the interests of safety and chalked up +400. If I had been in slam on another lead – say a heart, the only winning play that I can see is to establish the clubs by ruffing high both times in hand and then taking a first round finesse against the doubleton Jack of diamonds – since LHO had QJ of clubs alone. I don’t know if anyone in the field was in slam, or made it for that matter. Our opponents played in 3NT, making 4.
Shortly after this hand I picked up another wild hand. 10 QJ7632 Void AQ10876
Keith opened a weak NT and my RHO said 2 spades natural. We were red versus white. I bid 3 forcing hearts; LHO said 3 Spades, and Keith said 4 hearts. I could pass and take my sure plus – but slam is definitely possible if the cards mesh. So I pressed on with five clubs.
LHO, bless him, said double (never a wise move when you are going to be on lead). Keith cue bid 5 diamonds (which would have had me excited had LHO not slowed me down)
RHO doubled 5 diamonds, but I did not care – I knew 5 hearts was the right contract now so that is what I bid. The play was pretty simple.
North
J762
AK4
A1086
43
South
10
QJ7632
Void
AQ10876
LHO cashed the Ace of spades and shifted to a diamond. I played a club to my Ace; played a heart to dummy’s Ace (both followed) and led another club towards my hand. RHO followed with the 9, which I covered with the ten. LHO won the Jack and played the club king, but I ruffed high and claimed.
For sure I should have played Ace and another club at trick 3 – in case clubs were 4-1, but all worked out for the best. Our opponents also stayed out of slam.
This hand was a huge swing hand in several matches – Dave Colbert and Danny Miles bid 6 hearts on this hand – with the club king offside they lost 13 imps versus gaining 13 imps had the slam come home.
Unbelievably, a fourth slam decision came up for us in this same match. I held K7 A543 K108753 6.
I was in second chair, red versus white. I did not come two thousand miles to pass, so I opened the bidding 1 diamond. Keith responded 1 heart, and my RHO preempted 2 spades. Although I was still blessed with the same ten count I began the hand with, I of course had to bid 3 hearts now.
That seemed to cheer Keith up for his next bid was 4NT – Key Card Blackwood. I replied 5 diamonds, showing one Key Card, and now Keith bid 5 spades. This doesn’t come up too often, but I knew he was asking me for the trump queen. It also meant I could relax about my meagre hand since we must have all the Aces or he would have simply bid 6 hearts.
I responded 5NT, and Keith settled down with 6 Hearts; all passed.
North
A103
K10982
AJ
A32
South
K7
A543
K108753
6
Keith won the spade lead and played the King of hearts from hand; dropping the Queen in West’s hand. He eschewed the theory of Restricted Choice (did not need it as you will see), and played a heart to the Ace, with his RHO showing out. So one trump loser.
Next Keith played the Ace of diamonds and his LHO ruffed with the heart Jack.(Diamonds had broken 5-0) But that’s all she wrote. Even though West had Q9xxx of diamonds, my spots were sufficient for Keith to power hook the diamonds twice through West and chalk up + 1430 for another healthy gain when our opponents did not bid this slam.
These hands were all from match 18, which we won by 16 imps. Keith and I sat out the next match; but it looks like the hands from that set were as wild as the ones we had just played. Maybe a breather was just the thing.
After lunch, we sat down for match 20 – currently in 7th place. We won this match by nine imps – mostly from getting the part scores right – they can add up – it’s not always about wild distributional hands and slam decisions. On one hand, equal red, I picked up Q KQ9532 A2 AJ53. RHO passed, and I opened 1 heart. LHO and Keith passed, and my RHO said double.
I said pass (who knew – maybe my leftie was planning to pass the double so this is no time to bid on)
LHO said 1NT, Keith and RHO passed back to me. This is a nothing problem – but you have to get them right. I saw no point in bidding further. (A) Keith is a very aggressive bidder and had passed with two opportunities to speak. (B) there are signs of potential danger – RHO may have shortness in hearts and LHO did bid NT. RHO rates to have clubs, and I rate to buy trouble if I compete for the part score. (C) If the heart layout is somehow favorable for us, well that should be just fine for defending 1NT at +100 for every downtrick.
Keith led the Jack of hearts and dummy tracked with KJ43 6 J1084 K984 – about what you would expect. We finished the hand +200 – as Keith was kind enough to have the ten of hearts also, as well as a stray queen of diamonds – he took two tricks on the hand. We won 7 imps on that board.
The highlight reel hand of match 21 versus Steve Brown’s team was when West held J103 Void AQJ1085 A1082. At our table, East opened the bidding 4 clubs not vul – showing a strong 4 heart preempt. Keith overcalled 4 vulnerable spades and West had to make a bid. What would you do?
After a bit of agony, my opponent said double. As it happens, had he doubled smoothly, his partner could and would have bid 5 hearts – as he had Void AKQJ9752 32 976; but he ethically passed, as he felt he was barred from bidding further. So everyone passed, and West led the Jack of spades.
North
9742
86
K9764
Q3
AKQ865
1043
Void
KJ54
There is no way to beat 4 spades as East and West are cut off from each other completely throughout the hand. Declarer wins the lead; draws three rounds of trumps, and knocks out the club ace.
Best West can do is return a club. Declarer cashes his remaining club winner(s), and plays his final club – refusing to ruff it in dummy. He simply pitches a diamond or a heart, and West is left on play to either send the Ace of diamonds to a watery grave or underlead it and give dummy’s king the game going trick.
+790 was a push in our match ! I heard of one West player who guessed to bid 5 hearts (with his void !) over 4 spades. All passed and there was only one way to beat this contract that I can see. North has to duck the king of diamonds on the first play of the suit; then East ducks a club to rectify the count.
Best defense now is to continue clubs breaking up communications between declarer and dummy. The defenders can now hang on to their winners, and declarer will go down 1. If they don’t play back a club; declarer catches South in an easy black suit squeeze (it’s actually a double squeeze since North must guard the king of diamonds; and South must guard the Spade Ace, and neither can protect the clubs anymore.)
I heard this enterprising guy who bid 5 hearts made +450, which meshed well with his teammates +790 and a win of 16 imps on the board.
Personally, I think pass is the right call with West’s hand – but that is easier said than done.
After we settled down from that hand, Keith opened 4 diamonds in first chair, white versus red; catching me with a fistful of high cards :- AK106 AQ107 KJ5 J6. No reason to get too excited though – look at the vulnerability and look who bid 4 diamonds! I simply bid a hopeful 5 diamonds, and all passed.
North
Void
42
A1098642
Q1094
South
AK106
AQ107
KJ5
J6
The opening lead was the 8 of hearts. Keith correctly rose with the Ace; cashed two spades, and then studied the hand for a few minutes. Clearly the only problem was how to play trumps. Note I said Keith studied the hand. That’s how experts play. Many players would simply bang down the trump Ace or King, and get onto the next hand – maybe 90% of the time they make without breathing hard.
However, Keith understood the only way he would go down is if trumps broke 3-0 and if he misguessed which diamond honour to play first. He really did not have much to go on – and he finally played the Jack of diamonds from dummy; overtaking with the Ace when David Kent smoothly played low. Steve Brown pitched however, and Keith annoyed with himself, quickly claimed down 1.
I still feel he had nothing really to go on, and he would agree – but we hate to get these plays wrong – even guesses. At the other table, the Bowman brothers also bid up to 5 diamonds and did play the diamonds in the right order – so we lost ten imps on that board.
There were still two matches left to play – and at least 13 teams had a legitimate hope of making the playoffs – so tight was the field.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 10th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Well the 8th place team is involved in an appeal so the rumour goes, and as they only qualified by 1 VP, we are not certain who the final 8 are. The good news is Team Thurston made it in – tied for 6/7 !
There are actually a few committees going on as I write; so we really don’t know the 8th place team yet – It is presently Marcinski, but it could ultimately be Gamble or Grace.
In the low scoring match after dinner, we lost by 4 imps, still scoring a respectable 14 VP’s. Somehow we were still hanging in at 8th place – ahead of 9th by a scant 1 VP – with still several teams lurking and lots of drama and suspense in the air.
I was really bummed going into the last match to realize the whole event might be over for us in an hour and half – way too soon. For the past 2 days, it seemed like the rust had finally been shaken, and I truly felt I did belong at this level of bridge once again.
The old confidence came back – but it is a team game and the opponents are trying just as hard to eliminate us – I am not trying to sound cocky – far from it – just happy to be here again.
Anyway, we won our final match by 30 imps – resulting in us “cruising” into 6th place – a lofty spot we had not smelt since Day 2.
So at 10.05 pm Tuesday night, the tentative standings are :
Carruthers 395
Rayner 391
Bart 389
Todd 387
L’Ecuyer 384
Thurston 375
Janicki 375
Marcinski 363
Gamble 363
================
Next places are:
Grace 362
Ballantyne 356
Nowlan 352
Brown 352
The above scores have been updated since the original posting to reflect the final final standings. Gamble and Marcinski were in a dead heat tie. The conditions of contest were such that the team with the most victories would win a tie-breaker – resulting in Marcinski in and Gamble out.
A severe bummer for the guys on the Gamble team, especially as they had actually blitzed the Marcinski team during the round robin.
So there you go – this has certainly been a toughening up process – since every match over the last two days has been a must win – or if you can’t win – don’t lose by much !
Kudos to John Carruthers’ team which came on strong over the last couple of days – climbing to the top spot after the penultimate match – and solidifying that place over the final match.
It’s hard to write hands right now – team members and spouses are in the room beside me having a Kool Aid or two, and waiting for the final results and the assignments for tomorrow.
Ciao for now ! If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
Results, when final, will be posted at the CBF website at :
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_results.html
June 9th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Well this is turning out to be a real nail biter for many teams. I don’t recall seeing the field so bunched up so late in the event. We are sitting 8th with 2 matches to play. There are at least five teams nipping at our heels who want a piece of that 8th place.
On the other hand; we are only 5 out of 7th; 10 out of 6th; and 21 VP out of first !
The list is as follows : (no team names here – you can see that at the cbf website.
First 358
Second 357
Third 356
Fourth 354
Fifth 350
Sixth 347
Seventh 342
Eighth 337 (That is Team Thurston)
Ninth 333
Tenth 332
Eleventh 329
Twelvth 328
Turns out we moved up to 8th after match 18 when we won by 16 imps; we lost by a small margin of 4 imps in match 19 when Keith and I were at lunch; we were back to 7th after winning match 19 by nine imps; ; and lost match 21 by only 2 imps to stake a tenuous claim on 8th place.
I do have many interesting hands to report but now is not the time. The complete results are available at the CBF website :
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTCArr4.html
The
June 9th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
1 Comment
Match 18 was a tough set of boards with lots of decisions with our cards. Fortunately, we made all the right decisions. We stayed out of two slams that could not quite make; and bid and made two others. We also beat a 3NT played from an unfavorable side (for us) on tight defense. Our counterparts at the other table were no slouches however, so the win was by 16 imps – still, that’s 20 VP’s for us.
I checked the standings after this match and we were now in a three way tie for 7th. the two leading teams had 313; next was 311 in third. Two teams were tied for fourth at 296; another team at 293, and there we were at 292. Still very tightly bunched above and below us.
Keith and I sauntered off for a light lunch and came back for the comparison of match 19. There were several slam decisions in this set of boards too. We lost the match by a narrow 4 imps; picking up 14 VP’s for a present total of 306 VP. I did not stick around for the leaderboard – we could be anywhere from 8th to 10th would be my guess.
We resume play again in 45 minutes – I’d rather rest than blog, so hands from these matches will have to come later. The leaderboard can be viewed at :
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTCArr3.html
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 9th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
2 Comments
Things have improved somewhat over the last five matches. We are now back in 8th place – and looking forward to day four of the round robin.
Keith and I sat out the match before dinner and the boys brought home a plus 20 imp victory. That was worth 21 VP’s. I believe by dinner time we had now climbed to 10th on the leader board – which was a marked improvement over the 16th place we occupied this morning !
One hand I liked was when North (Jeff Smith in our match) held Q2 K95 AJ Q85432, red versus white.
His LHO opened 1S, and this was passed around to Jeff who bid 2 clubs. Paul, his partner cue bid 2 spades, and Jeff bid the immediate 3NT – correctly diagnosing that Paul had spade length and hoping between them their holdings constituted a spade stopper. This was exactly the case when Paul tabled 10863 A763 43 AK10. There was no way to beat 3NT which was doubly sweet when John and Herve stole the contract at 2spades in the other direction.
John had AKJ954 QJ4 876 J and opened 1 spade and rebid 2 spades over Herve’s 1NT response.
This sparked a heated discussion over dinner over whether Jeff’s hand should in fact enter the live auction of (1S) – (1NT) with his moth eaten suit. The majority opinion was that you just have to swallow hard and bid 2 clubs – the game bonus is to good to pass up.
After dinner, Keith and I played with Paul and Jeff at the other table. We had a dream set, where everything we did was right. Teammates came to the comparison after the match looking crestfallen. They had gone down 3 in a freely bid reasonable slam (I think – I only know they were -300 and I didn’t ask); and watched the opponents bid and make an inferior 7H grand slam on a black suit squeeze; and also watched their opponents avoid a 4-4 heart fit and play 3NT making, when hearts split 5-0 against them.
We actually won the match by 36 imps for a blitz – scoring the maximum 25 VP’s. We had also beaten the slam two tricks; we had bid and made the better grand slam in diamonds; we HAD avoided the 4-4 heart fit and made 3NT; we made 2 of a major doubled twice during the match and a couple of other good things to boot ! It was quite a rush that set of boards.
Two highlights. My RHO opened 1 spade; we were white they were red. I held QJ53 AJ432 K43 A. I overcalled 2 hearts. This was passed around to my RHO who made a takeout double – but everyone passed !
The lead was a low club, and dummy was a sweet sight – Keith held 986 K7 A8752 and Q73.
North
986
K7
A8752
Q73
South
QJ53
AJ432
K43
A
So I won the club lead; and cashed king then ace of diamonds. They lived – no enemy ruff. Now I ruffed a club to my hand; played a heart to the king; and ruffed another club in my hand. Then I exited the queen of spades and eventually I had to make the AJ of hearts to score five hearts; two diamonds; and a club for +470 – winning 13 imps on the trump end play.
The hand of the tournament for us (well so far anyway) was the grand slam in diamonds. It was all about figuring out what was best – 6H, 6NT, 7D, 7H, or even 7NT.
I held A108 A109 KQJ4 1098. We play weak NT but this looked much more like a strong NT to me – notwithstanding the 4333 shape – so I upgraded and opened the bidding 1 diamond.
Keith jump responded 2H which we play is a game forcing hand – either hearts and diamonds – or a strong one suiter in hearts. My RHO now overcalled 2 spades. I could bid 2NT I suppose or even bid 3 hearts, but I saw no rush – let’s hear what partner has to say. So I passed and Keith now bid 3 spades.
Great – this confirmed he had hearts and diamonds and in fact a stiff spade in our methods. So all of a sudden my upgraded weak NT could bid Blackwood. Keith responded 5 hearts – showing two key cards for diamonds (not hearts – I had never confirmed that fit)
He was unlimited and we had all the key cards, so I now bid 5NT to sniff around for a grand slam. Keith bid 6 clubs now – showing the king. That was nice but I needed more than that to bid a grand – so I signed off in 6 diamonds.
But Keith continued with 6 spades ! Was this torture? I knew he could not have the KQJxx of hearts – since he would have jumped to 7 clubs at this point – we had a hole somewhere. On the other hand; he was confident we could make 6NT – or he would not have bid 6 spades. Maybe he had the stiff king of spades?
Anyway, I was 4333 with no extra high cards and no fifth diamond so I bid 6NT and Keith now bid 7 diamonds ! So I had invited a grand and he had not bid the grand, but rather made two 6 level bids and then bid a grand anyway after I signed off twice. This could only mean he always intended to bid a grand but was really not sure in what strain.
Well I was sure that only diamonds made sense so I passed, and there we played. Dummy was a thing of beauty.
North
Q
KQ543
A652
AK6
South
A108
A109
KQJ4
1098
1D (P) 2H (2S)
P (P) 3S (P)
4NT (P) 5H (P)
5NT (P) 6C (P)
6D (P) 6S (P)
6NT (P) 7D (P)
P (P)
This was the best grand slam by far to be in. Trumps were 4-1 on my left, but with hearts 3-2 I wrapped up thirteen tricks ……and lost 2 imps !!
The opponents had bid to an inferior 7 hearts – which required hearts to break and still only had twelve top tricks.
However, East, the poor fellow (Paul), had KJ9654 J62 10 QJ2 and got caught in a black suit squeeze, and declarer deliriously rode that pony for thirteen tricks and +2210.
As a defender, it doesn’t get much more sickening than that – the bridge equivalent of a baaaad beat in poker.
Don’t write in to tell me Paul could have broken up the squeeze if only he had led the King of spades at trick one ! Yes that is true but that would be the play of the decade, if not the play of the century !!
Anyway, our team decided Keith and I should play the last match of the day too, as we seemed to be hot. John and Herve played at the other table. We played the wily veterans from Edmonton – Kai Chang and Bob Crosby. Kai complained before the match he was tired and didn’t want to play; but when Bob and his subsitute partner could not produce a convention card between them, I vetoed that idea and Kai was “forced” to play.
Funny, but at the time I said this might haunt us – he’ll probably play like Garozzo. And he pretty much did – his personal highlight reel being an improbable 4 hearts with the layour as follows:
North
K865
A532
K9
AK9
South
AJ9
Q84
10872
Q106
Kai was white versus a red weak 2 diamond opener by me on his left. Bob said double, and Kai responded 2 hearts. Others might respond 2NT – but there you have it. Bob raised to 3 hearts, and Kai bid a confident (!) 4 hearts. All passed – no double – maybe no trouble.
I led a club, and he won in dummy, and played Ace of hearts and a heart to the queen which held, as I followed with the 10 and Jack. He now led a diamond up and I rose with the Ace to play another club.
Kai won in dummy and played the king of diamonds which Keith ruffed with the 9 of hearts. Keith cashed the HK and got out a club. Three rounds of spades, with a finesse against the onside queen, and with the suit splitting 3-3, Kai had his ten tricks and plus 420.
Just a push of course, as John and Herve bid and made the saner 3NT making 4.
Keith and I actually had nine plus scores of the ten boards we played – we were pretty precise in the part score zone. However, our methods failed us this match on a potential slam hand. Like the grand earlier, the key here was to play 6 diamonds on a 4-4 fit, and NOT play in the 5-3 spade fit – where there are only 11 tricks on a club lead.
We stayed in 4 spades making 5, but our opponents bid and made 6 diamonds (well done) and they won a deserved 11 imps on the board. The hands were as follows:
North
Q93
KQ9
KQ64
J53
South
AKJ86
83
AJ52
A9
Keith opened a weak NT and I bid 2D – Forcing Stayman. Keith replied 2NT – no 4 card major. I bid 3 spades and unfortunately Keith had support and a minimum type hand and was forced to raise to 4 spades – thus ending our chances of locating a 4-4 diamond fit.
I knew from his failure to cue bid that we could not make slam in spades, so I confidently passed – which at the time felt ok as this looked like a problem hand for us.
Other pairs play an old convention called Baron Corollary in these types of auctions – a 3 club bid over Keith’s 2NT would ask for his shape, and then we would be off to the races – but we do not have that bid available.
Needless to say we have now modified our methods to cope better with this hand type. Anyway, when the smoke cleared we lost the match by 10 imps. Our boys had 4 plus scores of their own to go with our nine, but the results didn’t mesh that well – and the opponents at John and Herve’s table did even better than us on the slam hand and on another hand where they bid and made a game we elected not to bid.
But things could be much worse – hell they were earlier today. We have now moved back into the elusive top 8 – 8th to be precise. 27 VP out of first, and only 1 VP ahead of two strong teams tied for 9th. This field is really bunched up – and anything can happen tomorrow and probably will. Stay tuned.
The results so far can be found on the CBF website at
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTCArr3.html
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
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