How to lose a match 0-20

In the final day of Keohane Swiss everything is still looking good, lying at second place just behind the leading Dutch team. Six rounds and 42 boards left, now this is not the time to make wrong decisions! On the third round we meet the team captained by Patricia Cayne. I’d like to report some positive boards from our side, but the lack of material hinders me…

Already the first board is disaster for us. All vul Vesa passes and Dano de Falco opens one spade on my right. I have 6, A J 8 5 3, 7, K J 10 7 5 3. A proper distribution for Michaels Cue, but partner is a passed hand and two spades leads us to three level. I don’t want to see partner playing three hearts doubled for minus 1100, so I settle for more peaceful two clubs, lead directing, if Patricia Cayne would end up playing three no trumps. How wrong I was! Patricia passes and when the tray comes back to our side of the table, I notice that Vesa was bidding three no trumps. Why on earth I didn’t bid two spades?! Well, it’s too late to regret that. I can’t imagine any hand from partner that he can make nine tricks in no trumps. He might have three cards in hearts, though, so the game in hearts might be our best spot. The problem with bidding four hearts is that it should promise surely much better hand than I have. Four clubs might be the best bid, it must be a negative move, not believing in nine tricks facing a passed partner. But I don’t want to end up in four clubs if we have a 5-3 fit in hearts so I decide to bid four hearts anyway. Too bad, partner is not passing, but bidding four spades! That is of course slam inviting with clubs as trumps and I try to slow down with five clubs, in vain, because the tray comes back with six clubs. Hoping for a small miracle, if partner has two Aces, four clubs and singleton heart, I might still survive. Patricia leads the Ace of diamonds and I see that I don’t have any chance.

I completely agree with Vesa’s six clubs. If I would have slightly better cards, the Queen of hearts instead of the Jack, the small slam is a good try. Our Dutch opponents stopped in five clubs at the other table so we start the match by losing 12 IMPs.

Couple of bad boards later:

De Falcos three no-trumps is a very good bid. In a spade contract there is very often a heart ruff for the defence to take. Cayne´s four spade bid looks very conservative to my mind. Maybe slam invitation with four hearts is the best bid. Four no-trumps was not Ace asking, but a general positive move and Patricia was more than happy to accept this invitation. I led my heart, but after six rounds of spades and three rounds of hearts I had to surrender. I had to keep three clubs so I had to discard the Queen of diamonds. De Falco continued the King of diamonds, so no club finesse was needed. Adam and Melih stayed in four spades, so we lost again 12 IMPs. We lost this terrible match with IMPs 40-0, which meant zero victory points for us. After this match we were able to say goodbye for any chance of winning this tournament.  

a defensive problem

From the fifth round of the last day of Keohane Swiss Teams.  Sitting East, would you make a take-out double after North´s opening bid of one spade. Facing a passed partner, a close decision to my mind. South´s two diamond showed raise with 7-9 points.

What would you lead from my cards? Anything could be right, but I chose "clever" Jack of spades, and was very happy with my choice when seeing the dummy. Declarer wins the first trick with the Ace, partner playing the four, and plays a heart which you take with the Ace West following with the seven. What next? Your carding is upside down, both count and attitude.

A minor suit switch might cost a trick if declarer has the Ace in this suit. A low spade would work out well, if partner has the ten, but this switch is of course too risky. Partner´s heart spot is surely a suit preference signal, but the seven looks like a neutral card denying a minor suit Ace, so I decide to play a low heart to the third trick. Declarer ruffs in dummy, partner following with the three, and plays a low club to the six and the Queen. Your turn.

Looks like partner has five hearts, so it should be safe to continue with a heart after the King of clubs. But before playing anything, let´s think what is the club position. You don't see the Ace, the seven and the three. Declarer has surely the Ace, but is it possible that he has AQ-doubleton? No, with 763 partner plays the seven and not the six. So it looks strongly that declarer has AQ3 and partner 76-doubleton. So the correct move is to duck the club. Declarer continues with a heart ruff, spade to his King and endplays me with a trumps. Next I just cash the King of clubs and exit with my last heart. My King of diamonds is the setting trick. Declarer´s hand: AK972, J82, A6, AQ3. We win six IMPs, when our teammates settles for a partscore.

  

Kuudenneksi Keohane Swiss -kisassa

Loppusijaan kuusi kovatasoisessa turnauksessa voi olla erittäin tyytyväinen. Ihan voittoon asti ei tällä kertaa ollut rahkeita, muutamat virheet ja vastuksen onnekkaat/hyvät slammit viimeisenä päivänä takasivat sen, ettemme taistelleet voitosta. Ehkä ensi kerralla sitten 😃

Seuraavat kisat NABC kisat ovat sitten Philadelphiassa ensii maaliskuussa. Niitä odotellassa.

Linkki tuloksiin.

A lucky lead

It´s the day two in the Keohane Swiss Teams. In the fourth round we meet a team of average standard. At the other table Adam overcalled two clubs after one spade opening. After two passes East didn´t reopen with a double, a strange decision, so Adam was left playing peacefully the club partscore, making one overtrick for +110.
At our table North raised aggressively to three clubs, South asked for spade stopper and North became declarer in three no-trumps. If I lead a low spade, declarer should play the ten from dummy. When it holds, he unblocks the Ace of diamonds and ducks a club. He takes the diamond continuation with the King and plays a heart towards the King and makes nine tricks. Luckily for us I chose to lead a small heart. Now if declarer puts up the King and concedes a club, he makes eight tricks for one down. However, he decided to play the nine, Vesa won with the Queen and played back a spade and I let the declarer to win the trick with the King. He played next three rounds of clubs (I discarded a heart and a diamond), Vesa continued spades and I could cash four tricks in that suit. What declarer should discard from the dummy? It didn´t really matter. If he discards one club and the Ace of diamonds, I continue with the Jack of diamonds and the defense will score one diamond trick. Actually declarer chose to discard two clubs from the dummy, but now I could endplay the dummy with a diamond and wait for two more heart tricks to come. Four down, 11 IMPs for the good guys and winning the match by 19 IMPs. 

Loistavat asemat NA Swiss:ssä - sijalta kaksi finaalipäivään!

Kaksi päivää on takana Keohane North American Swiss turnausta ja pelit ovat sujuneet mainiosti. Olemme toisina vain alle 2p kärkeä perässä. Tulokset.

We found a great 7♠ in today's 2nd match. Vesa had ♠Kxxx ♥AJxx ♦Kxx ♣Qx and Kauko had: ♠AQxxx ♥- ♦AQJTx ♣Axx. The bidding was as Vesa opened: 1♦-1♠; 2♠-2NT; 3♠-5♥; 5NT-6♦; 7♠. 2NT was Gf asking bid and 3♠ showed 4♠, maximum without a shortness. 5♥ was exclusion, 5NT showed 1 keycard. 6♦ showed all key cards and asked for extras and 6♥ showed something good in the minors. Finally, easy 7♠ was reached.

Huomenna pelataan vielä 8 kierrosta 7 jaon otteluita. Mahdollisuksia on vaikka mihin, jos pelit kulkevat hyvin. 😃

Toinen voitettu kisa tältä reissulta

Eilen oli hyvä, voittoisa päivä, kun voitimme sekä semi-finaalin että finaalin. Mielenkiintoinen yksityiskohta oli, että finaalissa kohtasimme jo kolmatta kertaa tämän viikon aikana saman vastuksen. Aikaisemmat kohtaamiset olimme niukasti hävinneet, mutta päässeet silti jatkoon. Tämä sen takia, että kyseessä oli niin sanottu "three-way" ottelu. Ottelussa kolmesta joukkueesta karsittiin kaksi jatkajaa.

Finaalissa kuitenkin onnistuimme voittamaan vastustajat selvästi. Linkki tuloksiin.

One interesting bidding problem was faced by our teammate Adam Mesbur:

Noone vul a left hand opponent deals and openes 4♥ and it's passed to you. You have: ♠ - ♥Kx ♦AQJxxx ♣AQxxx. What's your bid?

The decision is close between 4NT (both minors) or 5♦. Adam made a nice decision by bidding 5♦, protecting his ♥K. Bidding was rewarden when LHO lead ♥ A trying to give his partner a ruff. Unfortunately, RHO was void in ♦ so 5♦ was made. Played by partner's hand, 5♦ is doomed to go down.

Eilen päiväsession jälkeen oli upea ilta-aurinko, josta päätettiin ottaa taas kuva. 😃

Vesa fiilistelemässä auringonlaskua

Tänään alkaa viikon kohokohta: Keohane North American Swiss, kolmena päivänä pelattava suuri joukkueturnaus. Ensimmäinen tavoite on selvitä toiselle päivälle, noin puolet joukkueista pääsee jatkoon. Ollenkaan tavatonta ei ole huomata jonkun nimekkään pelaajan pudonneen jo ensimmäisenä päivänä - kilpailu on siis todella hyvä tasoinen. Viime vuonna ensimmäinen päivän jälkeen. Linkki viime vuoden ekaan päivään. Toivotaan yhtä hyvää peliä taas.

with a little help from our friends...

With KQ75, K9752, AK10, Q none vul I here my left hand opponent open with two clubs, 10-15 any three-suiter. Partner passes and North on my right bids two hearts, pass or correct. I double, South as well and my partner bids three clubs. We play Lebensohl in this sequence, so partner is promising some values. Now three no-trumps looks like an obvious choice. But partner is surely very short in hearts, so he might have easily four cards in spades. And even with a 4-3 fit four spades might be a better contract than three no-trumps so I choose to bid three spades. Partner continues with four hearts, slam inviting with spade support. I try to slow down with four spades, but partner makes one more try with five spades, which also becomes the final contract. South starts with the Ace of spades.

 The lead is very helpful. Because I know that South has a three-suiter, he has either singleton spade or AJ96. Nobody leads an Ace from this kind of four card suit, so the Ace is singleton. South cashes next the Ace of hearts, very helpful indeed, and continues next with a diamond to the Jack and the Ace. I ruff a heart in dummy and play next the ten of spades, the Jack and the King. South is still co-operating with me with a club discard. The rest is easy. I unblock the Queen of clubs, ruff a heart to dummy and cash the two high clubs discarding one diamond and one heart. Next I continue with dummy´s high clubs and North is helpless. If he refuses to ruff, I discard my two red Kings and take the two last tricks with my Q7 of spades. At the other table declarer went down in three no-trumps, so we gain 11 IMPs, but maybe not so well deserved...