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) Well, this hand is only
interesting because it is so unusual. Take a look at
the North/South hands and see what contract you would get to
in your bidding system assuming that North opens, you are
playing IMPs and the opponents are silent.
What Happened) Ah, the pressure that results from not really knowing your system. Pam opened a forcing 1C and I responded 1D showing 0-3 HCP. A 1H bid by South would be forcing but Pam wasn't sure I knew this so she bid 2D which is always game forcing in our system. I could have bid 3D but I wanted to show a balanced "maximum" hand with "stoppers" in the majors so I bid 2NT and got to play the hand. Pam then layed down one of the biggest dummies in bridge history.
1) artificial, 14+ HCP if
unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced
2) artificial,
0-3 HCP
3) 24+ HCP,
game forcing, denies a 4 card major, artificial
Monday Result) I got to declare in 3NT, got a spade lead and somehow managed to make 6. Although we won 3 IMPS on this hand, we went on to lose the first half of the knockout 11 - 37 and lose the overall knockout by a score of 34-57.
Tuesday) Okay, it's the third
board in the first session of the open pairs and things are
starting out weird. Everyone is vulnerable and the
third seat opponent has just opened up 3C. What would
you do with my hand?
What Happened) Even though I wanted to
double for takeout, I was afraid that Pam might jump in
hearts so I went with the 3D bid intending to bid 3S should
Pam say 3H. I didn't get that chance though.
Take a look and see what you would do now.
What Happened) I asked West
what was going on but West had not idea. I decided to
double for penalty and after that got passed out East
muttered something about how he wanted to get doubled. Take
a look at the East hand, it is one of the best "pre-empts"
you will ever see.
Tuesday Result) We did not
defend perfectly but we did set it one trick for +200 and 10
out of 12 matchpoints. Could you have gotten to the
top contract of 4S after the 3C opener? If so, then
well done.
Wednesday) You are playing in the last
round of the two session Ax Swiss and you are going to place
somewhere in the overalls. This is board 7 of 8 but my
running score indicates that we are down by 20. Take a
look at the N/S hands and see what contract you would get to
assuming the opponents are silent.
What happened) We
got to the unmakeable 6S contract and I failed to guess the
spade suit so I went down 2 for -100. Afterwards, it ocurred
to me that this is a much better slam to be in if my partner
has 1 or even 0 keycards. Knowing she has 2 and didn't
open the bidding means she can't have the King of diamonds or
the King of hearts and might not have the Queen of hearts or
the Queen of spades. Even given the state of the match,
I now think that I should just sign off in 5S here.
1) artificial,
14+ HCP if unbalanced, 18+ HCP if balanced
2) artificial,
game forcing, denies 4 spades
4) asks for keycards in spades
5) 2 keycards, says nothing about the Queen of trump
Wednesday Result)
We lost 11 IMPs on the hand but it didn't matter much as my
running score was correct and we lost the 8 board match by a
score of 0 - 35.
Thursday) It is the 6th board of the second session of the 5 table Ax pairs. You are in the middle of the field but in no danger of winning. No one is vulnerable and you get a somewhat shapely 10 count in first seat. Would you ever open this hand?
What happened)
Well, I am playing a system called Chilli that allows
me to accurately bid hands such as these. Now, I
normally would like to have 11 points or have the Ace of
Spades instead of the Ace of Clubs but that didn't stop me
from opening my hand 1S. Let's see if I get into
trouble.
What happened) We
ended up in a normal 3D contract but I got a very nice club
lead. Despite my failure to take the diamond finesse, I
was able to make 5 for +150 and a cold top board of 4 out 4
matchpoints.
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 4 spades, denies 4 hearts,
could
have a longer minor suit
2) 10-12 HCP, at least 3 clubs, could have
longer
diamonds
and/or longer hearts
3) 11-13 HCP, diamonds are at least as long
as spades
Friday) It's the
2nd board in the first session of the open pairs and although
you don't know it yet, you are about to embark on a tour of
the craziest set of boards you have seen in a long time.
You are also playing with "crazy" Jason. Would that
inspire you to take a bid with the following hand?
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 6 clubs, denies 4 hearts, denies 4 spades
What
Happened) Pam chose to bid 3S which is a Game forcing
bid in our system. I asked what the 2NT bid meant and
was told that it promised the minors. I was looking at
10 cards in the minors so I decided that it must be a strong
NT overcall and I passed. I was right about passing but
3S was not a good contract because there were no E/W pairs who
bid and made 3NT.
1) 11-15 HCP, at
least 6 clubs, denies 4 hearts, denies 4 spades
2) Is any bid ever 100% forcing?
Friday Result) Pam went down 3 for -300 and 1 out of 8
matchpoints. Despite that, we ended up finishing 3rd in
our section with a 54.70% game. If you are interested,
you can click here to see some of the
other crazy hands that we had to play.
Saturday) Even though I played 3 sessions on Saturday, I did
not choose a hand of the day. Instead I am going to show
you one of the most amazing Swiss teams comparisons you will
ever see. I was playing the fourth match of a morning
Swiss teams and I was very satisfied with our results even
before we compared with our teammates. Of couse, I
didn't imagine that we would do this well.
| Board |
Jason and Dan's result |
Board |
Our teammates results |
IMPS |
||
| 25 |
4C by W making 4 for +130 |
25 |
2S by N making 2 for +110 |
Win 6 | ||
| 26 |
4S by W making 4 for +620 | 26 |
3NT by E down 2 for +200 |
Win 13 | ||
| 27 |
3S by N down 2 for +100 |
27 |
2S by N making 2 for +110 |
Win 5 | ||
| 28 |
3H by W making 4 for +170 |
28 |
4H by W down 1 for +50 |
Win 6 | ||
| 29 |
5H by S down 1 for +100 |
29 |
4H by S making 5 for +650 |
Win 13 | ||
| 30 |
1NT by W making 1 for +90 |
30 |
4S* by E down 3 for +800 |
Win 13 | ||
| Total |
56 - 0 |
Saturday Result)
Our big win only propelled us into second spot but it was the
first time I can recall both us and our teammates having all
plus scores. In addition, the other team did not
play that bad. It was just one of those lucky/unlucky
rounds.
Sunday) It is the
third round of the Ax Swiss and you suddenly find yourself
playing an eight board match against a pair of pros. Not
wanting to change your "crazy" style just because the
opponents are good, you open a vulnerable 3C bid in second
seat. What bid would you have made when your partner's
3NT comes doubled back to you?
1) willing to
play 3NT assuming you have your bid.
What Happened)
Despite my intentions of not changing to suit the pros, I
cracked under the pressure and bid 4C. I decided to be a
"man" and not let Pam get punished because I opened 3C on a
bad suit.
1) willing to
play 3NT assuming you have your bid.
Sunday Result) I held 4C to down 1 for -200 and a loss of 2
IMPs. It turned out not to matter as we lost the match
by a score of 6 - 32. Of course, you can see for
yourself that 3NT has a chance to make while 4C is always
going down.
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 90 different things (ranging from likely to
very unlikely) that can happen during a week of bridge.
Then I randomly take different sets of 30 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
Houston/Biloxi as well as the designated winner (a T denotes a
tie) for each line. In 5 games so far neither one of us has
got a blackout bingo.
