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 scroll down and read 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, here, and here to see if we placed in anything.




    Tuesday Afternoon in San Antonio) I already know that you would not bid with the hand below given the auction that had already occurred to that point but suppose the pair you are playing had already given you two bottom boards to start the day. If I forced you to bid something other than pass with this hand then what would you choose?


















    What Happened) Have you heard the rule that 4H is a transfer to 4S? Well this hand is the most extreme application of that rule that I have ever tried. The best part of the hand was overhearing the N/S results merchants at the next table as they pulled out the traveller and attempted to justify to each other why neither of them had taken the "successful" 4S sacrifice.

         

          1) not an easy penalty double in this auction
         
         
         


         

    Tuesday Result) As you can see, 4H does go down if N/S can take their 4 winners off the top. So, even though our opponents misdefended 4S and set me by 1 trick for +100, we only scored 4 of the 7 matchpoints.


If you need a partner for a BCA club game, email Sandy Potts at sandy.potts5@yahoo.com.

    Wednesday Evening in Austin) We arrived in Austin on the Wednesday evening before the tournament started and for some reason I decided to head down to the local club for a game of pickup bridge. I was set up with a very interesting and talented gentleman named Bob Bockemuehl and we proceeded to have the most enjoyable round of bridge that I had on the entire trip.




Most of the enjoyment I got came from the fact that the field was probably the strongest I have ever seen in a club game. Additionally some of these strong players were using unusual bidding systems and I had the impression that they were more open minded then club players usually are. I also enjoyed the pleasing coincidences that happened that evening. One of which was running into a friendly gentleman named Fred Moore who happened to share the same name as Pam's older brother. To top off the evening, Bob and I had a huge game and ran away with the win. I wasn't at all surprised to see that the Bridge Center of Austin posted those results on an innovative (see below) web site. (1) and (2).







   


    Thursday Evening #1 in Austin) This time I suspect that you would be bidding 2H with the hand I had below. I know that I usually bid 2H and I have been known to bid 3H depending on the circumstances. On this occasion though, I went with a mysterious pass and the auction got strange after that.


















    What happened) West's 1D opener and subsequent pass were both normal actions but East must have made a major misbid with 3D or else E/W had an unusual agreement on 3D that West forgot. Regardless, the interesting part of the hand occurs when Declarer wins Pam's opening 2 of Club lead with his 10. Now, despite Dummy's 14 HCP, West can't get there to take the much needed diamond finesse. 

      

          1) very unusual for me

   

    Thursday Result) West ended up making 10 tricks for +130 which left us with "only" 10 of the 11 matchpoints.



    Thursday Evening #2 in Austin) On rare occasions at bridge my brain turns out for 30 seconds and then I wake up and look down to discover that I have just made a very stupid bid or play. I have also noticed that I don't get bottom boards when I do this. The bottoms that I get tend to be on plays that I think about carefully before hand. Anyway, the deal below is remarkable because Pam and I both had our brains turning on and off during the auction below.

    

    1) 9-14 HCP, 4+ hearts, any suit could be longer
        (Pam's systemic opening bid is 1NT)
    2) 12+ HCP, denies a 4 card major, game forcing
    3) 4 hearts and 5+ spades
    4) 3 spades, asks for more information
    5) 9-11 HCP, no singletons/voids, max 2 keycards
    6) asking for keycards in spades
    7) 0 keycards
    8) Do you have the King of diamonds?
        (By not signing off in 4S I confirmed my brain was off)
    9) No I do not have the King of diamonds at this time.
    10) Wait. I just found it.


    What happened) East lead the 10 of diamonds. West won the Ace and then returned the Queen. Pam took the making line of play and ended up "having" to trump her winners. Obviously this was a top board but it was also example of an occasion where three wrongs made a right.



    Saturday Morning in Austin) The last time I psyched a suit that I was void in I ended up having to bid up to the 6 level in my real suit until Pam was able to work it out and finally pass. Although I have learned a lot about proper psyching technique since that time, I have not had the courage to psych with a void again until today. Take a look and see what you would do when the auction swings back around to you.





1) 7-15 HCP, at least 4 hearts, any suit could be longer




















    What Happened) As you saw on Tuesday in San Antonio, I am willing to act on my belief that 4H is a transfer to spades. As I considered this auction, I decided that something similar "should" be happening here so I bid 4S because I was afraid that I would take a bottom if I did not.

      

     1) 7-15 HCP, 4+ hearts, any suit could be longer
     2) spades are longer than hearts


     

    Saturday Result) As you can see, E/W have only 27 HCP but they can take 13 tricks in both hearts and No Trump if they take the heart finesse. I didn't record how it happened but West only made 12 tricks on this hand for +690 which left us with 15 of 17 matchpoints. I did record that West was really upset about my 1H call and he made it his mission to get me back. In the afternoon, West found himself holding



when he decided to overcall a natural 2NT while vulnerable. We started doubling and he went down -800 in 3S. In the evening session he decided to bid 3C after we had an auction that went:



1) 14-18 HCP, balanced hand   2) 8-9 HCP, no 4 card major   3) penalty

I don't know if he asked what our bids meant and I don't know how many matchpoints we got but I do remember being satisfied with our +300 result. Don't misunderstand the tone of this section though. I much prefer East's response to my psych compared to the usual indignant calls of "Director!" that I normally get. This is just one of the many things that made me really like Austin.



    Sunday Afternoon in Austin) I have wanted to win a large field BCD Swiss for a long time but I seem to be cursed as I keep finding  myself playing the last match of the day needing a win to have a shot at first overall. I don't know my exact record in this spot but it is something on the order of 5 attempts and 5 losses. Today is attempt number 6. This time we are playing with a last minute partnership desk fill in pair consisting of a gentleman with 0 Silver points and a more experienced woman who just flew in from Florida the night before. They have been playing steady though and our team has yet to lose a match and we have just taken the overall lead after winning match 5 of 6. The hand you see below is from board 6 of an 8 board match that feels pretty close. Is it time to make a vulnerable pre-empt or should I try something even more exotic?


















    What Happened) Perhaps I was trying to change my luck but I went with the uncharacteristically bland Pass in first seat. When I saw all of the hands I was really glad that I didn't make my normal 3C call.

       


        1) 7-15 HCP, 0-3 hearts, 4+ spades

      

    Sunday Result) Our opponents were in 1NT making 3 for +150 while our partners made 4 for +180 so we managed to win an Imp on this hand on our way to a final round final score of 20 - 5 and my first overall win in this type of event!




Here we are just after winning. Thanks to our partners Gilda Reynolds and Thomas Byrne.







    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 Austin as well as the designated winner (a / denotes a tie) for each line. In 18 games so far neither one of us has got a blackout bingo.

San Antonio and Austin



This is the first time that I have ever been shut out in this game that I invented, created and totally control.
Congratulations Pam you had this one coming.