2022 June MSC

[bAbsG]

SOLVER: Babs Giesbrecht
     
Your Solutions for the June 2022 Contest 
-------------------
PROBLEM A: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts
PROBLEM D: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM E: 2 Clubs
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM H: Club 3

[blubayou]

SOLUTIONS FOR: Jock McQuade, 3 Bag End, Hobbiton OR 97030 U.S.A
.PROBLEM A: Pass
PROBLEM B: Double -- On further study,  forcing us to game looks unwarranted [!]
PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts-- Maybe pard will break discipline with a perfecto ( 2 aces and a doubleton etc ?)
PROBLEM D: Double
PROBLEM E: Pass -- Never thought of trying stayman..hmm. Are you guys scrambling  or initiating a NT invite??
PROBLEM F: 2 Spades -- Thanks, Oliver
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds -- Footnote CLEARLY shows that the forces end with responder's rebid --refreshing sanity
PROBLEM H: Diamond 7 -- stubborn to the end, sigh
A copy of these solutions will be e-mailed to you for your records.

[ccr3]

PROBLEM A: Pass
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts
PROBLEM D: Double
PROBLEM E: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM H: Club 3

[Masse24]

SOLUTIONS FOR:
Todd Holes

PROBLEM A: 1 Heart
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 3 Diamonds
PROBLEM D: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM E: Pass
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 2 Spades
PROBLEM H: Club 3


Arrrgghh! I just noticed my answer on "E" was different than my intended 2 . It was hard just to muster the energy to post. Oh well, gotta live with it. I'll leave my explanation for my intended  answer below.
The brain ain't working this month. I've been in and out of hospital all week and am on nine new drugs. So the brain fog (my usual state) is impenetrable.

PROBLEM A: 1 . Less flawed than the alternatives.
PROBLEM B: Double. A guess. Partner is a passed hand, are we high enough? Pass now may be right.
PROBLEM C: 3 . A tactical approach to the 3 “1-2-3 Stop” bid.
PROBLEM D: 2NT. Natural. The reason for my initial double. Not changing horses in mid-stream. If I do not follow-through now, then I should not have doubled in the first place.
PROBLEM E: 2 . Intending to stop a level lower than those transferring to diamonds.
PROBLEM F: Double. The panel generally prefers six card suits to overcall. Me too. This one is close.
PROBLEM G: 2 . My “woop-woop,” out there bid. This saves space, allowing partner to better describe his hand. I can always jump to 4 later. I will probably get hammered for this.
PROBLEM H: Club 3. Garozzo. How wrong can it be?

[yleexotee]

I think I missed the deadline!? dang it  Q#$%#$%

PROBLEM A: 1 Heart
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 3 Clubs
PROBLEM D: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM E: Pass
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM H: Club 3

[jcreech]

I had no changes from my initial thoughts.  My submission did not generate an email, so I tried again this morning.  Perhaps I was caught late last night - it was about midnight ET.  But I do have a confirmation in my spam folder for this morning.  So all that is missing is Todd's thoughts about his selections.  Plus anyone else that would like to share before the big reveal.

SOLUTIONS FOR:
James Creech
Fredericksburg VA 22407
U.S.A.

PROBLEM A: Pass
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts
PROBLEM D: Double
PROBLEM E: Pass
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM H: Club 3

[ccr3]

Well Todd,
First:      Sorry you are so sick. Wish you the best and recover soon.
Second: I was impressed with your answer to G. I didn't think of the impossible spade.
             It might be a winner.

[jcreech]

Well Todd,
First:      Sorry you are so sick. Wish you the best and recover soon.  ditto from me
Second: I was impressed with your answer to G. I didn't think of the impossible spade.
             It might be a winner.

This is not your usual impossible spade.  Typically, the impossible spade follows a forcing NT and a major-suit opening and supports the opener's minor rebid.  The 2 should be a one-round force, and since you denied a four-card major and limited your points on the first round, it must be a maximum raise of the opening suit, but not appropriate for a weak-jump raise, so probably balanced.  Nice picture bid Todd.  You deserve a great score for that bid; whether you get one will depend on the moderator's scoring decisions based on the Panel's responses, of course.  But applause is definitely deserved within IAC.

Peuco also made the same bid very early in the month, but without explanation.  It took a little bit of discussion for me to realize what I was missing.  Even Pat's identification of the impossible spade went by without my notice on first reading; but then I thought, this is a mis-identification of the bid, followed by, this has a similar intent, with a more nuanced interpretation.  If any of the Panel does make the bid, I hope the moderator shows proper respect.

[kenberg]

Best wishes to you Todd.
I'm having some medical issues myself, I know the fog you are speaking of. It can get frustrating.

Best wishes to us all on this nice day of the first of May.  Well, a bit of rain. But nice rain.

[ccr3]

Todd: you scored 100% on problem G. Contratulations! 2S was correct.

[jcreech]

June Results

YleeXotee won this month with 720 and making the honor roll.  VeredK also made the honor roll with 700 (690 was the cutoff).

NAME	BW-SCORE	RANK	MPs
YleeXotee	720	1	30
VeredK	700	2	15
CCR3	670	3	10
Masse24	670	3	10
Also participating this month were:  BabsG, BluBayou, Hoki, JCreech, KenBerg, MsPhola, Peuco, WackoJack. Congratulations to all!

[kenberg]

SOLVER: Ken Berg
       
Your Solutions for the June 2022 Contest
-------------------
PROBLEM A: Pass                              70
PROBLEM B: 3 Spades                       30
PROBLEM C: Pass                            100
PROBLEM D: Double                          40
PROBLEM E: 2 Notrump                   100
PROBLEM F: 2 Spades                       70           
PROBLEM G: 5 Diamonds                    0
PROBLEM H: Heart 10                       40


                                                     450

Win some lose some. I will now pass the above congratulations on to others.

[Masse24]

Must say I was disappointed on Problem C.

I get the winning Pass, by far the most conservative choice. But since 3 was a stop bid, showing no interest in continuing, why does 3 NOT outscore the game-try 3 ? The 3 that I chose ostensibly acts the same as 3 but it has the added benefit of messing with the opps understanding of who has what.

Surely 3 (a game-try that will never elicit anything but a 3 rebid) is as conservative as 3 , while 3 could result in a fame bid? Yes?

[jcreech]

The Panel must have gotten hung up on the notion that 3 is game try.  Apparently, they are not as deep as you are; a fake-out game try.  But then, they may have had partners that will ignore the specifics of the game try, and will just go opposite any noise that sounds like a game try.  (If you can't take a joke, don't set them up for the punchline - lol.)

[blubayou]

regarding prob. C:   A couple weeks ago,   Steve Conrad informed his big gallery  that the     "one,two,three=down one" convention is dropping out of favor  in serious play!   (but it's still listed on BWS 2017).  We see that the panel  has  moved in this direction by 12-5 ratio,  although some of the 12 prolly thought that blocking opps who have passed 4 times was unnecessary?  What I don't understand  is the chats in the threads just above.    In my house, a hoding of, say  Qx  in partner's help-suit  is an excellent START to liking my raise for acceptance.   With AKx  as the help-suit,  this valuable dummy item seems redundant but if the defense does not rip off 3 rounds of clubs , or cannot....it blossoms, allowing us to ditch a club from dummy when its shape is ?-?-2-3. 
   Anyway , i don't get the thinking that 3D is a fake game try that will always be rejected.


I really  checked in, though..to express  shock and awe that 16 panelists packed it in on deal D!   Did ANY ONE of us IAC even look at giving up and hopefully collection +100  instead of going onward to a minus somewhere/anywhere??   I get it i suppose, but...