Opponents convention card: Dutch Doubleton
Opponents playing strength: Good
My hand: ♠ 8 7 ♥ Q 3 ♦ A J 7 4 3 ♣ A 9 7 2
Partner opens 1 spade and East passes. My hand is good enough for a bid at the two level so I bust out 2 diamonds. Partner jumps to 4 clubs. I think this has to be a splinter setting diamonds as the trump suit. Ideally I should cuebid my cheapest control. I guess having Axxx of clubs is actually pretty good opposite partner's singleton, and passing the other suits should let partner know I can't help in those. So I bid 5 clubs. Partner retreats to 5 diamonds and I have no reason to go against his judgment.
West leads the T of hearts.
| NORTH ♠ A K 9 4 3 ♥ K J 5 4 ♦ K Q T 2 ♣ | ||
| WEST ♥ T | ||
| SOUTH ♠ 8 7 ♥ Q 3 ♦ A J 7 4 3 ♣ A 9 7 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♦ | |
| Pass | 4♣1 | Pass | 5♣2 |
| Pass | 5♦ | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | |||
| 1Splinter | |||
| 2Control in clubs for diamonds | |||
Well, 6 sure is cold as ice. I feel like partner was probably too timid. I'm almost guaranteed to have the A of diamonds on this auction (I don't have the A of hearts and I have 10+ points. I guess I could have AKQ of clubs and the J of spades which sure would suck.
Anyway, they play 2 rounds of hearts and no one ruffs so I am up. Making 6.
| NORTH ♠ A K 9 4 3 ♥ K J 5 4 ♦ K Q T 2 ♣ | ||
| WEST ♠ T 6 5 ♥ T 8 ♦ 9 5 ♣ K Q T 5 4 3 | EAST ♠ Q J 2 ♥ A 9 7 6 2 ♦ 8 6 ♣ J 8 6 | |
| SOUTH ♠ 8 7 ♥ Q 3 ♦ A J 7 4 3 ♣ A 9 7 2 |
Jack doesn't like my 5 clubs bid. He wants me to bid 4 diamonds. He then doesn't like my pass of 5 diamonds and wants me to go to 6. You can't have it both ways, Jack. You think my hand is so bad I have to retreat to diamonds but good enough to push for slam after partner has screamed that we have 2 losers in the majors? I don't think so. Even if I had bid 4 diamonds he'd show a spade control, I'd show a club control, and then he signs off in 5 diamonds anyway. We're off 2 heart tricks on that auction! We should be in a 33 point hand where we can't make slam. That's why we cuebid!
There's a concept I've read that talks about how you should picture partner as having a 'perfect minimum' hand and see where that leads you. If Jack had done that he'd have imagined something like Axxx of diamonds, Axx of clubs, and the Q of hearts. 6 is cold with that hand! And you also have to keep in mind the fact that I thought my hand was good enough to cuebid so I really can't have a terrible minimum. 4 small diamonds with 9 points in clubs is not worth a slam going bid opposite a club splinter.
I thought maybe Jack plays 'fast arrival is bad' and therefore 4 diamonds would have been a slam try with extras in diamonds (while 5 diamonds would be signoff) but no. If I jump to 5 diamonds partner raises to 6. Yes, that's right... If I make a slam going bid Jack will sign off. If I show a minimum with no interest i slam he'll bid slam. (Looking at what he thinks the bids mean, 5 diamonds is 10-11 points, 4 diamonds is 10-13 points, and 5 clubs is 10+. So he does know that 5 diamonds should be bad and 5 clubs should be good. He just didn't put that information into action.
On some of the more recent hands we've got bad scores because I've made mistakes or have made 'interesting' bids. But this hand I really like what I did and we still get a terrible result because Jack is bad. Which is a little frustrating. Jack would be getting an earful from me on the bus ride home from the club!
Ranking after board 45/60: 12/16 with 47.46%
No comments:
Post a Comment