After some initial fumbling the zoom session yesterday seemed to work.
About the fumbling: Later I thought about my zoom history. I had set up zoom sessions before but always one on one which I guess is easier. Sessions with multiple participants have always been set up by someone else. Others could hear me (even when i did not realize) but I had to fiddle some to get it so that I could here others. Well, eventually it worked. And while I expected the session to end after 40 minutes, Zoom let us stay. Great.
Since I had set it up I was able to jump in and speak, and I could allow others to do so, and Todd did. One of the things I like about the hands Jack presents is that they are often not clear cut, making discussion interesting and useful. A couple of examples:
After 1
- 1NT - 2
does Lebensohl apply? I think it should since the 1NT could be on anything from 6-12 highs and maybe a little more or a little less. Playing with the robots I had an auction 1
- 1NT - 2
- 3
where the 3
was self-alerted as 6-10 highs. So Leb off after 1m-1NT-2M. Assuming Leb is on in the actual auction then 1
- 1NT - 2
- 3
is forcing and this does present the possibility of getting to a 4
contract. There was some discussion as to whether 4
could be defeated. I am pretty sure it could be, unless declarer was up for running the
T to finesse against the J, but I don't have the exact hand in front of me.
On a different hand the auction was contested. I opened 1
, partner bid 1
, my right hand opponent overcalled 1
. I doubled, which I hoped showed four
. Partner assumed that it did and we played in
. Imo, after 1
- 1
- (1
), a double should be a support double for
since if opener has four
he can just bid 1
. But after 1
- 1
-(1
) opener, if he holds four
and modest values, can hardly bid 2
so the double is needed to show
. In short, the X shows
after the 1
but would be
support if the overcall were 1
. Not everyone plays this. And the interest went on Partner responded 2
to my X, Rho now bid 2
and I, I think optimistically, bid 3
. Eventually, after competition, we ended in 5
which could have been defeated but wasn't.
This all led to discussion that I found interesting and even useful. Useful is good, but I really like interesting.
Of course we cannot have everyone talking at once but I thought it was good to have a discussion. And, as mentioned, I thought it would have been nice to see people live. But as Todd mentioned, this would require putting on his pants so I guess we can skip that part.
Thanks for bearing with me through the iffy start-up of the session.
Ken
