A view that is a cross between philosophy and empirical observation: Cutting down on errors is far more important than getting the best system. This is the I/A club and so I am speaking of I/A games. Of course world class players make far fewer errors and so system takes a bigger role. Playing at the club yesterday we came in 4th with 148 matchpoints. First place was 160 mps. We could have beaten that. And we also could have been held to less.
Here is a hand:
Matchpointys, everyone vul, two passes to me.
42
A2
A9754
AK83
Ok, I have a 15 count but this is a suit oriented hand so I start with 1
2
on my left, Michaels.
X by partner (undiscussed)
Pass on my right.
I have no objection to defending 2
X, but I don't expect to be doing so. Anyway, I pass.
2
on my left.
Partner now bids 3
, pass on my right.
How wrong can it be to bid 4
so I do, and partner bids 5
, the final contract.
The opening lead is the
Q.
AQT5
82
QJT86
J2
42
A2
A9754
AK83
T1:
: Q24A
And now I made my error. Surely that Q is a stiff. Why lead a stiff unless you are seeking a ruff. A reasonable bet, on the auction and the lead, is that LHO was dealt 5=5=2=1. In which case I can, assuming that the
K is on my left, make 6 by laying down the
A. LHO has the Kx in
and the
K. If I lay down the
A and lead a small
she gets her
K when she wants it, nothing else since the losing heart in dummy goes away on the clubs.
Making 5 is ok, especially since 3NT would be own on a heart lead, but at matchpoints making 6 is a lot better.
The whole auction was a little odd if you think about it. After the hand RHO, who held 82 in
and QT54 in
, is asking his partner why she bid 2
instead of 2
at her second turn. ?!?? Maybe she could ask him why he passed over the double of 2 !d when he had a clear preference for hearts. Further, bidding 2
would have gotten a heart lead, dooming 3NT and holding 5
to 11 tricks.
I'll have to check with partner as to what he had in mind with his double When he doubled 2
and then bid 3
over 2
I figured he probably had a decent hand with hearts, planning to double 2
for penalty but not interested in playing 2
X. So we were not on the same page but never mind, we have ten diamonds between us and we are playing in diamonds. Sounds right. I missed the opportunity for an overtrick. Just a couple of matchpoints as it turned out, but a few here and a few there and the we are in first instead of fourth.
Back to philosophy. I recommend thinking more about play than about bidding. Our auction was not elegant but we arrived at the right contract. Laying down the
A gets us some extra matchpoints. Willie Sutton robbed banks because that's where the money is. I think the play of the hand is where the matchpoints are.
Yes, it is true that on a
lead I can still make 6. Wiin the
, lead a
to the T, back to my hand with the
A, lead a
to the Q, lay down the
A throwing a
. Maybe I would do that, maybe I wouldn't, but probably I wouldn't.
