Welcome to the Hand of the Day. There are two ways to navigate this section. You can either right click here to save this file and play the hands (if you have a program that allows you to load and play .PBN files) without seeing any of my commentary or you can scroll down and see what I had to say about the hands. It is probably more interesting to play these hands but I always like to offer my partner a choice. If you are curious to see how Pam and I made out, then you can click here to see the tournament schedule and the games we played or here to see if we placed in anything.
Monday) It is the evening
knockout and you are playing in the second bracket with a
pair you just met 30 minutes earlier. Everyone is
vulnerable and your partner Jason opens 1H with the North
hand. If the opponents are silent, what contract will
you get to?
Monday Result) I don't know if Pam was trying to send a message or trying to live up to her new reputation as the Slam Queen but based on the limited information at her disposal, she decided to bid the nearly miraculous 6H contract. Obviously, we won 13 IMPs on that hand but we somehow managed to lose the match.
1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts,
could have a longer suit
2) Forcing
heart raise that asks for more information
3) Singelton or
void in spades
4) Asks for
keycards in hearts
5) 0 or 3
keycards
Tuesday) Today's question is really quite
simple and it applies whether you are playing standard or Chilli.
First I will give it to you in standard. You are
playing in a 2 session swiss and you open up a vulnerable
first seat 1NT (15-17). Is your hand good enough for a
super accept?
Tuesday) In Chilli, the problem is
similar but has a different flavour because the opponents
get to stick in a bid. I chose the conservative 2S
call (2NT is a super accept in Chilli) because of my 3 small
clubs and because I didn't like my doubleton AQ of diamonds.
1) 15-17 HCP balanced or 11-15 HCP with both minors
2) 0-20 HCP, at
least 4 spades, denies 4 hearts
3) 15-17 HCP balanced, exactly
4 spades
Tuesday Result) All my thought
didn't help us much as Pam ended up making 2S on this hand
for a loss of 1 IMP. I would guess that West did not
find the doubleton club lead at the other table.
Wednesday) This is a problem that can only
occur in Chilli and it will probably
only be a problem for someone (like me) who likes to play the
meta game at bridge. Still, you might find it
interesting from a psychological point of view.
There are three boards to go in the second half of the second round of the evening knockout and your running score indicates you are up by 20 IMPs. Your partner makes an unusual Chilli 3H call and you have to decide what to do. Thankfully, she has made her bid in tempo so your range of options is larger than it might otherwise be.
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 hearts, could have a longer
suit. 2) at least 12 points, at least
5 clubs, artificial
Bear in mind that your partner may well be making a weak heart raise because she has gotten the system wrong a handful of times before in auctions exactly like this. If you believe her bid and offer her club support (by bidding 3S), then the Chilli auction becomes very artificial and you could end up doubled in 5C or 4S on a 3-2 fit. Did I mention that your teammate Dianne Birrer will finally become a life master if you win this match?
What happened) I
alerted 3H as a forcing club raise and then passed because I
didn't think we could lose the match if I was wrong but I did
think we could lose the match if Pam was lying and Chilli
"forced" us into a bad 5C doubled. Of course, Pam chose
this time to have a perfect bid.
1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer
suit.
2) at least 12
points, at least 5 clubs, artificial
Wednesday Result)
The opponents got to the making 5C contract so my crazy pass
lost 13 IMPs on the hand. My assessment of the meta game
was exactly correct though as we ended up winning the knockout
by 7 IMPs. Pam was not upset by my crazy pass but I had
to promise that I would always believe her bid in future
auctions like this.
(1)
Thursday) For reasons completely unrelated to Wednesday's hand, you find yourself playing in the evening side game with a pickup partner. You do the usual, minimalist, pregame system check and a few hands in this deal comes up. What is your bid in this instance?
1) 22+ HCP forcing 2) 0-3 HCP no Ace or King
What happened) I chose to bid because I liked my hand. I didn't like it enough to play 3NT but I decided to shut up after my partner corrected to 4NT.
1) 22+ HCP
forcing
2) 0-3 HCP no Ace or King
Thursday Result)
My partner surprised us both by making the contract for what
must surely have been an above average matchpoint score.
There is a whole other story that starts with this match and
concludes in Missoula
but I don't have an internet appropriate version to tell you.
Friday) Today's matchpoint problem involves a choice of lead. Take a listen to the exciting auction that I heard then tell me what card you would pick.
1) 11-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, could have a longer suit
What
Happened) If you managed to lead the Ace of Spades then
I applaud you as this is the only way to set the
contract. I chose the seemingly normal King of hearts
but this was not anywhere close to a normal hand. This
one should really be titled, "Adventures in Chilli" as the
auction would not have been nearly this exciting if Pam had
opened with a standard 1D bid.
Friday Result) The opponents made 5 and surprisingly it was not a complete bottom. We got 1 matchpoint out of 8.
Saturday) This matchpoint hand features interesting calls in all seats. We managed to steal the auction but you can have a bit of fun by bidding all the hands and seeing what you get to. North (Jason) bids first and he is non vulnerable versus vulnerable opponents.
What Happened) I
could have opened 2NT to show a weak hand with both minors but
I chose an auction jamming 3D instead. Pam made a great
raise to 5D and poor West was left with an almost impossible
position. Could you have found a bid in that spot?
Should East balance with 5S or a double?
Saturday Result) I did not record our result here but when you look at the par score, it is hard to imagine a much better result for us.
Why) At week long
bridge tournaments, Pam and I have been playing this game I
invented called Bridge Bingo. Essentially, I created a
list of 75 different things (ranging from likely to very
unlikely) that can happen during a week of bridge. Then
I randomly take different sets of 25 things to create unique
Bingo cards for me and Pam. Generally speaking, the
items in the top line are the easiest to get while the items
in the bottom row are the toughest. The first person to
complete a line (or complete the majority of the line by the
end of Sunday) wins the dollar amount designated for that
line. It is just another way to make bridge a bit more
exciting.
Below you can see my Bridge Bingo card from
Spokane as well as the designated winner (a / denotes a tie)
for each line. In 2 games so far neither one of us has got a
blackout bingo.
