Last night I was watching some and Joe was encouraging opponents at his table to join IAC. A good idea I think. I will see if I can get my f2f partner to take an interest. Doubtful, but I will give it a shot.
Joe was advertising the pluses of IAC, one of which is that people tend to stick around for several hands at a table unless there are non-bridge reasons that call them away. This is really agreat plus, imo. I played a few hands at Joe's table yesterday. "Few" because we all had reasons to go. But the first two hands I played I was partnered by a runner. She had a star by her name. I'll give you the hands.
Hand 1.
http://tinyurl.com/y9obvaseAfter she pulled 3NT to 4
thought a bit and decided my had was actually pretty good support for a minor two-suiter. So rather than just bid 5
I chose 4
. We stopped in 5
. The right contract, as 6
goes down on a spade lead. Otoh, a spade might not be led. It wasn't, and then it makes 6. Also, Pard's major suit holding might have been two small hearts and no spades instead of one of each, and then it always makes 6
on a 3-2 trump split. So my 4
is maybe a tad pushy but I did not think it crazy.
Hand 2.
http://tinyurl.com/ydfo4d9hOk, my spade overcall is not a thing of beauty. On the other hand, it is at the one level. On the other other hand, we are vul.
Well, more than she could stand, I guess. I hope she finds whatever it is she is seeking.
I am more than willing to discuss with a partner, or with opponents or kibs for that matter, the wisdom of either my 4
cue bid on hand 1 or my 1
overcall on hand 2, but this style of come for two hands, get one bad result, so fly away, is not fun. I don't expect Bob Hamman to partner me. I don't think she was Bob Hamman.
Anyway, IAC has its plusses. I wish us well with it.
Added: On the second hand the psychic Gib points out that I can hold it to down 1. Of course I can. But in thinking it over, it seems that if I play it properly I would be down 3. If diamonds are 3-3, as they are, and if the Q is onside, which it isn't, I have a shot at making this. Win the club Ace, diamond to the board, diamond back to the J, hypothetically winning, cash the K throwing a club. Ruff a club, toss my last club on the heart Ace, and lead a spade from the board. They win, and they can't hurt me. With the actual lie, the
J loses to the Q, a club back to Bill's K, a shift to the spade Ten. This allows them to get my trump off the board and then take another club. Surely finessing the diamond is the most plausible line for making 4, it just doesn't work. I can't explain why I didn't do that.