This note is a further try at encouraging participation in various opportunities presented by the IAC. I will focus on one hand from Dave's session last Tuesday. He took some hands that were played in the Cavendish and presented them for discussion.
Think about this: First, the hands are interesting. Also, not only can we see the discussion at Dave's session, we can see what happened at the table at the Cav, and we can see what the Cav commentators had to say. Conventions, judgment, skill all get into the act.
I invite you to click on
https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&linurl=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/vugraph_linfetch.php?id=61323 Then click on board 1 in the open room. That is: The left hand side refers to open room, go down to the level of hand 1, and click. The hand should come up. There is a navigate window where you can get to other boards, or you can get to the closed room, but for now let's stay with board 1 in the open room.
As you can see, there are 9 top tricks in no trump, but the EW pair played in 3C, as did we. [Note: None of this should be understood as any sort of bragging or complaining, rather it is simply a discussion]. There are 10 tricks in clubs, I made 11 tricks by setting up the long diamond for a spade pitch before the opponents cashed the
AK. Presumably they would have taken their spades had we been in 5
.
The Cav auction begins: 1
- 1NT - P - 2
- X - while ours began 1
- 1NT - P - 2
- P -
Let's just take our auction. We suppose that 2
shows clubs, and could be anywhere from a sign-off to a slam try. What happens next? I'm holding the NT hand, my clubs are AT. Do I want to show enthusiasm for clubs and if so, how do I do it?
I usually play that 2NT over 2
shows enthusiasm, 3
over 2
shows lack of enthusiasm. Dave plays it the other way around, if I understood him correctly.
Which still leaves the question of whether I am or am not enthusiastic.
Let's now look at an observation from the BBO vugraph commentator, warrens, he says
warrens: This looks like a pretty straightforward 3N, but I think W will show his Singleton ♥
I thought the same, but this requires agreements as well. Let's look, for simplicity, at an uncontested auction: 1NT - 2
- 3
- 3
. What is 3
? As I play four suit transfers, the 3
shows a stiff (or void) and is at least game forcing. Just because opener started with NT it does not follow that he stops hearts, so maybe the hand belongs in 5
. And maybe it belongs in 6
. Being able to show the stiff can help find the slam or the correct game.
Of course sometimes we are dealt long clubs, four hearts and a good hand. If 1NT - 2
- 3
- 3
is a stiff heart, what do we do when we have, say, five clubs, four hearts and a good hand? 1NT - 2
- 2
- 3
can be played as forcing to game. The Bridge Encylcopedia notes that traditionally this auction was played as weak, but that it is better to play it as forcing when playing four suit transfers. So 1NT - 2
- 3
- 3
is a stiff heart, 1NT - 2
- 2
- 3
is forcing and, presumably, with four hearts since you started with Stayman.
Now back to my bid after 2
. I think 2NT is right, but I bid 3
and played it there. Had I bid 2NT, no doubt partner would have raised to 3NT. Incidentally, Steve Robinson advises that part of being enthusiastic about clubs should include having the other three suits stopped since the 2
bidder often won't have much in the other suits. My hand qualifies, so 2NT it should have been, (Assuming 2N shows enthusiasm which at least is how I play it.)
All of this from one lesson hand, and we are not yet done! This idea of pulling the hands from the Cav, or some similar high level game, is a very good one.
Finally let's look at the other table. The opening bid there was 1NT rather than 1
, in accordance with their 14-16 range. What then? Probably EW use the same methods over 1 14-16 NT that they use over a 15-17 NT. At any rate, E doubled, alerted as showing a minor-major. W bid 2
, not alerted on the vugraph but presumably asking E to pass or correct to
. So they ended in their 4-3 !d fit, still making 9 tricks for a flat board.
I repeat that my point is not to praise or criticize any player or any system. I think a lot can be learned from these hands, and i find them interesting.
I am hoping that we can keep things like Dave's lessons, and many other lessons, going. If few are interested, presumably the lessons will eventually die out.
