Welcome to the Pattaya bridge club blog site. Summaries of the weekly bridge news-sheets are in the column on the right.
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This week’s bridge news sheet No. 295 has 11 articles. To start with you hold ♠KJ95 ♥9853 ♦6 ♣Q985 and the bidding goes 1♦ 3♣(weak) 4♠ to you, what do you do? Next you hold ♠A ♥K10874 ♦732 ♣KJ87; LHO opens 1♥ and partner overcalls 1♠, what do you bid? 1NT or 2NT? next we have a very interesting one. You are playing weak jump shifts and you hold ♠- ♥J1098632 ♦K7642 ♣4 and partner opens 1♣, is a weak 2♥ appropriate? Next there’s a silly double which partner took as penalties when a clear 2♠ bid was available. Then we have an article about a change of suit being non-forcing opposite a 1-level overcall - you have ♠AQ8 ♥AK8642 ♦107 ♣A10 and LHO opens 1♦ and partner overcalls 1♠, what do you bid? 2♥ is not forcing and the best bid is the Unassuming Cue Bid of 2♦. This is followed by two articles about when the bidding starts 1♣ – 1♦ – 1NT. One Standard French Player says that the 1♦ bid denies a 4-card major. Playing Walsh the 1NT rebid may or may not contain 4-card major(s). Next you hve an interesting one, you hold ♠K106 ♥KQ954 ♦- ♣AKQJ and RHO opens 1♥, what do you bid? What do you think of a 1NT overcall? Next there are the usual two Dave columns on the play of the hand. We finish with a suit play problem. With plenty of entries your trump suit is KJx opposite AJ10xx, how do you play the suit? You can test out your solution by trying it on the Suit Play Calculator on the website.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 293 has 6 articles. First of all you hold ♠Q83 ♥A103 ♦86 ♣KQJ32 and partner opens 1♣, what do you bid? Next you hold ♠Q96 ♥Q4 ♦Q764 ♣Q643, RHO opens 1♣, you pass, LHO bids 1♦ and partner doubles; RHO passes, what do you do? Next you hold ♠K108 ♥92 ♦A92 ♣KJ953 and partner opens 1♠; you bid 2♣ and partner rebids 2NT, what do you bid now? Then there’s an opening bid question, you hold ♠A ♥AK74324 ♦4 ♣AK964, what do you open? This hand contains 10 playing tricks and should open 2♣ (or your strongest bid). Next we have a deal where one pair stayed low but in the wrong strain and the other pair found the fit but bid too high. Finally there is Dave’s column on the play of the hand.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 292 has 6 articles. First of all you hold ♠J83 ♥K972 ♦AKQ73 ♣8. You open 1♦ and partner bids 1♠, what do you bid? Next you are dealer at both vulnerable; you hold ♠A2 ♥KQJ10984 ♦J3 ♣42, what do you open? Next its again both vulnerable and you hold ♠J6 ♥K852 ♦AK982 ♣72. Partner opens 1♣ and RHO overcalls 1NT, what do you do? Then we have the two usual Dave columns on the play of the hand followed by another simple safety play.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 291 has 6 articles. First of all you hold ♠AK86 ♥AK10964 ♦QJ4 ♣- and RHO opens 1♦. Do you double, overcall 1♥ or bid 2♦ – a Michaels cue bid showing both majors? Next you hold ♠5 ♥K4 ♦QJ10952 ♣AQ96; partner opens 1♠ and you bid 2♦, partner then bids 3♣, do you bid 3NT or 4♣? Next there is a hand where the opponrents freely bid to 3NT and you double for a lead (of dummy’s suit). Then we have the usual two Dave columns on the play of the hand followed by an article about restricted choice which everybody got wrong.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 290 has 4 articles. First of all there is an article about when not to go for the Moysian fit. Next you hold ♠AQ93 ♥A874 ♦J10 ♣QJ6 and open 1♣. The next hand overcalls 1NT and partner bids 2♥, what do you do? This is NOT a case for the Law of Total Tricks and you shold pass. Finally there are the two usual Dave columns about play.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 289 has just 4 articles. First of all, you hold ♠972 ♥85 ♦Q ♣K1097642 and partner opens 1♦ in first seat, what do you bid? If you play Weak Jump Shifts at the three level then 3♣ is the bid. For those of you who play Bergen Raises or Mini Splinters and only use the weak jump shift at the two level it will probably be best to bid 1NT and hope to rest in ♣’s at a sensible level. Next we have an interesting deal where no less than three of the four players bid recklessly with total disregard of the Law of Total Trumps. Finally there are the two usual Dave columns about play.
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 286 has seven articles.
It starts off with a player holding ♠Q7 ♥A ♦KQ987 ♣KQ1083; partner opened 1♥ and he incorrectly responded 2♣ instead of 2♦. Partner rebid 2♥ and then this player jumped to 4♦. Sheer lunacy of course (on both bids) but fortunately partner did not assume that it was a splinter as it should be. 3NT was the top spot and 4♥ went two down. Next we have the same player holding ♠J98 ♥AQ8 ♦K53 ♣AJ64; he chooses to open 1♣ (I would pass, this flat hand does not conform with the The Rule of 20 ). Anyway, LHO bids 1♦, partner bids 1♥ and RHO bids 1♠; what do you bid now? Then we have the two usual Dave columns on the play of the hand and a third one which is a double-dummy problem which one member claimed Deep Finesse had got wrong. Finally there are two articles on trusting partner. In the first one you hold ♠7 ♥J632 ♦K9842 ♣KJ7; RHO opens 1NT and LHO bids 2♣ Stayman, partner doubles this and RHO bids 2♥, LHO bids 2NT which is passed out; what do you lead? On the next deal you hold ♠KJ ♥95 ♦AKJ84 ♣K653 and choose to open a strong 1NT. LHO overcalls a natural 2♥ and partner doubles, what do you do?
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 276 has 7 articles.
There are two articles where people denied a 4-card major and ended up in an inferior NoTrump contract. For example, one player held ♠A654 ♥KJ7 ♦1086 ♣KQ4; he opened 1♣, got a 1♥ response and then bid 1NT. The 4-4 ♠ fit was lost and so was a decent score.
Then there are two Dave play problems about safety plays. They are from an Eddie Kantar book and I totally disagree with one of then at matchpoint scoring. You might say ‘who am I to disagree with Eddie Kantar?’. If so, look up the article.
Then there’s a misfit deal; partner opens 3♣ and you hold ♠A963 ♥KJ7 ♦AQ10942 ♣-, what do you do? To bid 3♦ is very foolish, it is a forcing bid and you will simply get too high on a mis-fit, you should pass.
There’s the usual bridge cryptogram and then an hand where LHO opens 1♣ and partner doubles; you hold ♠J1085 ♥J62 ♦3 ♣KJ652, what do you bid?
This week’s bridge news sheet No. 275 has 8 articles. There’s the usual article about the ‘automatic’ re-opening double playing Negative Doubles. Then there’s some ridiculous bidding when somebody doubled a 1♠ opening holding ♠KJ92 ♥Q1092 ♦86 ♣KQ10, the next hand held ♠4 ♥K743 ♦AK76 ♣J986 but failed to redouble (and collect 800), instead she chose to go down in 3NT. Then we have a help-suit gane try by the overcalling side followed by two Dave columns on play. Then there are two articles where an established partnership disagreed about whether the bids were forcing or not. Finally there’s an example of a 3rd seat opener that is unacceptable at our club (a 1♣ opening holding ♠952 ♥J ♦8542 ♣A9432) and then there’s the usual bridge cryptogram.
