Author Topic: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB  (Read 14814 times)

Masse24

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #30 on: March 09, 2020, 02:33:56 AM »
I'm waiting for some brave soul to Pass on "F" with !D AQ9.
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MarilynLi

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #31 on: March 09, 2020, 09:42:08 AM »
A. 1NT. 3H by responder should shows 6 cards with AKQ or 2 of top 3 honors with a side thing. 1S-1NT, 2m-3H should show this type of hand. I'm surprised to learn it doesn't, according to the system. But I'll go with 1NT anyway.

B. Pass.

C. Pass.

D. 5S. Preempt to the most.

E. 1NT. With 8 hcp, there should be rebid. Can't rebid 2H with that suit.

F. 3NT. 2/3 of my hcp are in opponent's suit. Partner's double could be as little as 13 hcp with shape, so I'm not risking more for now.

G. 2H. Just show my hand. Non forcing.

H. ST. I'm afraid a Heart lead would give away the 9th trick to declarer.

DickHy

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #32 on: March 09, 2020, 12:00:40 PM »
A.  2H.  I’m with Todd here when deciding whether or not to make a GF response; “would I open this?”  My partner, hoping (usually forlornly) for some consistency from me, might suggest that choosing 2H for Problem A implies 1D for Problem B (and the corollary 1N and pass, respectively).  How to decide when (bad) choices are close?  The weather’s grim, a virus is on the rampage and the cat has pulled down a curtain – nothing else can go wrong.

B. 1D

C.  Pass.  One has to have some standards.

D.  4S.  East’s x denies a “long suit” which suggests something like 1444 or 0(544)*  They could well be heading for a bad trump break, so let’s not get too cute. 

E.  1N.  Is it more important to show long H or a D stop?  2H shows only a 5c suit, so has pretty much the same effect as 2D (4SF) following which N with 3c H will support and with fewer hearts will bid otherwise.  I suppose after 2D – 2N/3C I could bid 3H which must now show 6.  OK, so I prefer 2D (4SF) to 2H to explore a H fit.  However, we could pretty quickly get to 3H, with my 8 HCP opposite a partner who could be 12-14 with 4135.  Then what? A doomed 3N and a lecture on misplaced optimism in the post-mortem.   After 2D (4SF) N with 5xx6 can bid 2S, but he can do that over 1N too.  1N conveys two things; my strength and the D stop; both are probably more important now than long H.   

F.   4S.  3N is tempting but 4S is what partner will prefer when he notices my 5 spades.  But, do I pass, hoping to collect 500 for 3D-2?  With the hands Ken discusses would we win 6 tricks?  Yes, if W is 2272 (2S, 2H, 1D and 1C).  If W is 1273 we can still make 6 tricks – a C ruff replacing the 2nd S.  But with other holdings we take just 5 tricks for +200.  I could dither over this one for yonks.

G.   2H.  If East’s pass is pukka, we might have 24 HCP between us, with my stronger partner over the opening opponent, so 3N is not outlandish.  Partner could hold something like 5x4x, so couldn’t x or overcall 1N.  If that’s right I’d better start showing stops in other suits, so 2H seems fine.  If our situation is not so favourable, I can pass partner’s 2S. 

H.   ST.  East looks a good bet to hold the CK.  If I lead a low H partner may decide to return one when in (with KD?), whereas I would prefer a C.  My partner is the sensible one, so will have no problem at all reading the ST.

SOLUTIONS FOR:
Dick Harvey
Southampton
U.K.

PROBLEM A: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM B: 1 Diamond
PROBLEM C: Pass
PROBLEM D: 4 Spades
PROBLEM E: 1 Notrump
PROBLEM F: 4 Spades
PROBLEM G: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM H: Spade 10


kenberg

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #33 on: March 09, 2020, 04:03:42 PM »
I am still struggling with A major attraction of the msc, for me, is the opportunity to see just what BWS bids mean. The following is a frustrating diary of my thinking, read it only if you have nothing better to do with your time!


 Looking at "After our major suit openings" and then "later actions" we find
"(e) After one spade — one notrump — two clubs — ?, a two-diamond rebid is Bart, artificially temporarily suggesting five hearts and converting natural rebids by responder to showing stronger hands than if the same action had been taken directly."

OK, so BWS plats Bart. Now on the BrdgeWinners for BART(modified), see
https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/bart-modified/
In particular,
"If you do choose to play BART, your partnership should bid 2 !C on a doubleton instead of a 3 card !D suit.  This allows you to take fuller advantage of your gadget and responder also knows that opener’s 2 !D bid promises 4."


So, after 1 !S - 1NT - 2 !D, if it goes that way, partner has five spades and at least four diamonds. I have only two clubs and I am assuming the opponents have not come into the auction. Seems like partner has some clubs.

In which case, maybe the hand actually belongs in diamonds, not hearts.

But usually I will hear 2 !C from pard rather than 2 !D:

Playing BART after 1NT, partner will bid 2 !C  if he holds three diamonds and two clubs, after which my 2 !D is artificial and forcing.  Over 2 !D then, according to BridgeWinners, partner bids 2 !H with "All minimum hands. Opener only breaks with a hand good enough to bid over a natural !H sign off"

Now this is, perhaps, a bit weird. It means that after 1 !S - 1NT - 2 !C - 2 !D - 2 !H, nobody has really shown much of anything in the way of shape.  Still, opener presumably does not have four diamonds since he bid 2 !C and so we can forget about playing in diamonds.

Ah but: Now I would like a bid of 3 !H by me to show the hand that I have. Unfortunately Bridge winners says that bidding 3 !H would be 2-6 in the majors rather than 1-6.

So BART could be useful if I were 2-6, but no, I am 1-6.

Ok, I guess I just bid 2 !H over 1 !S.

I did warn you of the frustration!
« Last Edit: March 09, 2020, 04:09:05 PM by kenberg »
Ken

msphola

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #34 on: March 09, 2020, 09:14:28 PM »
April 2020
A. 2H
B. 1D
C. 1NT
D. 4S
E. 2S
F. 3S
G. 2H
H. 10S

drac

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2020, 09:28:37 PM »
Wladislaus Dragwlya
Castrum Sex
Romania

PROBLEM A: 1 Notrump
PROBLEM B: Pass
PROBLEM C: Pass
PROBLEM D: 4 Spades
PROBLEM E: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM F: 5 Diamonds
PROBLEM G: Pass
PROBLEM H: Spade 10

blubayou

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #36 on: March 10, 2020, 12:25:06 AM »
I wish to make use of our moderators' fine idea  that we mayhave 'do-overs'  even though we have sent our "final guesses" to the Bridge World:   So , for  IAC scoring  change the mad scientist  "4 hearts"  to  our WonderWoman--Marilyn's   great blast to  FIVE spades, please.    Also,  late votes for spade ten lead tempt me to change BACK  to that choice,  but i will stand by  the 4th best heart i sent to "Edgar".   
     And by the way,  Ken  don't worry about the BART problem so much  (problem A)---  after all you DO have a max supporting hand for diamonds  if 1NT  gets a 2diam rebid! -- right?   i ran 80 generated deals of  problem A,  letting the 1S opening range from 11 to 19 pts,  and IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH FIRST RESPONSE WE GIVE--on average!!   go figgure THAT!!
« Last Edit: March 10, 2020, 12:27:08 AM by blubayou »
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kenberg

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #37 on: March 10, 2020, 01:29:13 AM »
SOLUTIONS FOR:
Kenneth Berg
Sykesville MD
U.S.A.

PROBLEM A: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM B: Pass
PROBLEM C: Pass
PROBLEM D: 4 Spades
PROBLEM E: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM F: 3 Notrump
PROBLEM G: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM H: Spade 10
Ken

wackojack

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #38 on: March 10, 2020, 09:23:51 AM »
SOLUTIONS FOR:
Jack Goody
Guildford
U.K.

PROBLEM A: 3 Hearts
PROBLEM B: 1 Diamond
PROBLEM C: Pass
PROBLEM D: 4 Spades
PROBLEM E: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM F: 3 Notrump
PROBLEM G: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM H: Spade 10

kenberg

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #39 on: March 10, 2020, 11:20:54 AM »
I wish to make use of our moderators' fine idea  that we mayhave 'do-overs'  even though we have sent our "final guesses" to the Bridge World:   So , for  IAC scoring  change the mad scientist  "4 hearts"  to  our WonderWoman--Marilyn's   great blast to  FIVE spades, please.    Also,  late votes for spade ten lead tempt me to change BACK  to that choice,  but i will stand by  the 4th best heart i sent to "Edgar".   
     And by the way,  Ken  don't worry about the BART problem so much  (problem A)---  after all you DO have a max supporting hand for diamonds  if 1NT  gets a 2diam rebid! -- right?   i ran 80 generated deals of  problem A,  letting the 1S opening range from 11 to 19 pts,  and IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH FIRST RESPONSE WE GIVE--on average!!   go figgure THAT!!

I would expect some auctions, after 1 !S - 1NT, to end in a part score..Not the case after 1 !S - 2 !H. So I am pretty sure that it matters. There are other issues as well but part score versus game force seems like a major one.

I expect 1 !S - 3 !H will definitely get some votes. I think of that auction as saying "Pard, if we were playing SAYC I would have bid 2 !H and then, assuming a minimum rebid from you, I would then bid a passable 3 !H".  Now with A, if I were playing SAYC, I would bid 2 !H over 1 !S but then, over a minimum rebid, I would bid 3 !D rather than 3 !H.  That 3 !D call is forcing in SAYC but not game forcing. Although admonitory it's a little tough to see just how we get out short of game after 3 !D. Momentum might put is in game anyway.

I look at this as a hand that would be easier to bid in SAYC, but offers not such great options in 2/1.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2020, 09:41:45 PM by kenberg »
Ken

Masse24

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #40 on: March 11, 2020, 04:09:58 PM »
PROBLEM E: Pass
Both 2 !H and 1NT will be common. Both of them right on values. But it is quite possibly a misfit, in which case I want to “get out fast.” I can’t get out any faster than the one-level—so I pass.

Yes, it’s an underbid of sorts; I’m a queen too strong for this. But I overbid on “A,” so I’m compensating now. 😊 (Hey, I had to justify my decision with a reason and this is the best BS I could come up with!)

This one is definitely my “out there” decision this set.


If only there had been an option that showed six hearts and a weak hand . . .

Like I wrote, this one is "out there."

I've never received a "0" for any of my choices before. Today may be the day.  :-[
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jcreech

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #41 on: March 11, 2020, 04:53:27 PM »

If only there had been an option that showed six hearts and a weak hand . . .

Like I wrote, this one is "out there."

I've never received a "0" for any of my choices before. Today may be the day.  :-[

I expected to know yesterday - not so much that you got your first 0 (lol), but all the scores.  I guess the BW staff did not transition well with an extra day in February and the time change this weekend.  Perhaps there were also several hands involving winning the last trick with the beer card as well.

As for describing this sort of hand, they had the bidding sequence (and I was prepared to use it), then they redefined it to something that comes up far less often and is generally less useful.  Cest la BW!  Sometimes the problems are ones created by eliminating older options.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2020, 04:55:42 PM by jcreech »
A stairway to nowhere is better than no stairway at all.  -Kehlog Albran

wackojack

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #42 on: March 11, 2020, 06:43:16 PM »
BART?  Gazzilli?   

You cannot play both.  So which is more useful.  Anyone care to explain?   And what about the Meckstroth adjunct?   

kenberg

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #43 on: March 11, 2020, 06:58:48 PM »
I have never played any of them so I have no opinion.

I figure they are all still hashing out he answers.
Ken

jcreech

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Re: 2020 April - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB
« Reply #44 on: March 11, 2020, 10:46:33 PM »
Scores are out.  Ken led the way, with Masse24 close behind and EddyHaskell third; Ken and Todd made the Honor Roll, so congrats!! 

NAMEBW-SCORERANKMPs
KenBerg     740   1   30
Masse24     730   2   25
EddyHaskell     700   3   10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Also participating and receiving 1 Monster Point are (alphabetically): BabsG, Blubayou, DickHy, DrAculea, Hoki, Jcreech, MarilynLi, Msphola, WackoJack and one anonymous participant.

We had a nice turnout! Hopefully we can continue to build on this in the coming months!

Commentary is still welcome for this set.  :) There were some interesting problems, solutions, and choices by our members.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2020, 11:08:04 PM by jcreech »
A stairway to nowhere is better than no stairway at all.  -Kehlog Albran