| Jul. 22nd, 2008 @ 02:00 pm GNT-A Round of 8... |
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Day 4 in Vegas – Day 3 of the GNT-A
Welcome to Friday morning. I am feeling GREAT today. Lori and I hung out at the pool, worked on some crossword puzzles, etc. I got to blog a bit this morning, even though you haven’t read about it yet. I am bummed because I know the end of her vacation is near – and we really have not spent that much time together. She says she understands about my anchoring the team – and I believe her – but that does not mean it doesn’t suck for her. Her poker face is SOLID – which to me means it’s not actually a poker face, but legitimate feelings of ‘it is okay.’ I hope that is true.
So I arrive at the playing site in plenty of time to see that we drew the defending champions – well, 2/3 of the team is the same as last year. No big deal. I know two of the players on the team – and while they are solid, they have an abundance of chinks in the armor – as most teams do no matter what level. Pizza takes me aside to ask me an interesting question…”Do you not like playing with me,” he says. Apparently I gave off too much of an ‘I don’t give a shit’ vibe last night. As anyone I play with can attest to, I don’t care with whom I play, Nor do I really care very much who my teammates are. I want to win as much as anyone else, but my point is, unless I play perfectly, I just don’t care about the others on my team from a bridge standpoint. I am far more concerned with their emotional health. If you have played with my long enough you know this is true. Pizza and I do not have a long history together (fewer than 50 boards together) and he does not have a feel for my demeanor at the table. He interprets ‘lack of frivolity’ to indicate lack of happiness. Not so. I just don’t care about anything other than bridge while we’re at the table. And maybe I don’t like getting lessons in between sessions, or any other time, for that matter.
Remember that discussion about certain members of our team and the East Jahunga team? I would be uptight if that safety wanted to give lessons to the rest of the team. It’s just puffing your chest when you don’t need to. I know my value to the team, and I know everyone else’s value to the team – relative both to who’s good and who isn’t, who’s hot and who isn’t, etc. I don’t need anyone to treat anyone else like shit because they want to prove something about their resume´. If this is arrogant, then give me the scarlet letter right now – Sorry if you don’t think I am a good enough judge of bridge ability, character, and integrity.
So I sit with Jam (positions not revealed until you answer the following question), and at the other table, Spiral partners Pizza while Shooter gets some rest (or wins another thousand at the ‘21’ tables…) First, take a look at this entire hand and tell me where the problem is:
…………………….AKJ86
…………………….J7652
…………………….-------
…………………….J62
Q974……………………………………52
KQ10…………………………………..A8
A4……………………………………….Q10975
K875……………………………………..AQ109
…………………….103
…………………….943
…………………….KJ8632
…………………….43
East is the dealer with none vul: opps are silent:
WEST…..EAST
-------………1D
..1S………….2C
..3NT….(all pass)
North leads a fourth-best heart. Declarer wins the queen at T1. At trick 2, declarer plays the Diamond Ace and gets the bad news as North plays the S8 – N/S play odd-even first discards. He continues a diamond. South wins as cheaply as necessary and plays back the H4 to the ace – west playing the 10 and North the 2. Declarer plays the D10 from dummy and south wins the Jack as north produces the 6 of spades….
Can you see the problem? South now has to play a spade to beat the contract, but has potentially conflicting information. Is it possible for west to have the QJ10 of hearts as the original holding? If that is the case, the third heart is required. Is it possible for north’s hearts to suck and a spade play be required? If you did not have the advantage of seeing all four hands, you would have a much harder time coming to a conclusion – So, using the information of the BIDDING and PLAY only – what do you do when you’re in with the DJ?
South, in the example played back another heart. That was not a resounding success. I have my theory as to what was right and why – but do you? As is common with bridge-world type problems, assign the blame – All North? All South? 50-50 or some other percentage? Or is TGD just being himself?
Then, Jam played a hand really nicely for an 11 imp pickup – and it seemed clear to me two things: A) it was definitely the right play, and B) his counterpart was not likely to find it. Just a feeling – and it was right. You are west playing 3NT. What do you do?
AQ1065……….2
AQJ……………..943
K53…………….A642
52……………….AQ964
The opening lead was a spade to the Jack and the queen. Now what? At one point in the hand, Jam played a club to the 9. If I did not have the 9, ducking from both hands would be correct with the intention of finessing the queen the 2nd time around – King third onside will fetch. As it was, the 9 fetched the King! They were 3-3, and he quickly chalked up 11 tricks with HK in the pocket. Nice play, Jam.
The rest of the hands were fairly dull with those two exceptions, but when Jam asks ‘how do you think it is?’ I reply that It’s not great, but that I would rather have our card than theirs…
And the numbers bear that out – at the ¼ mark, we are ahead 27-24. It feels like I thought it would – close, but we’re ahead.
On to the second quarter. I order deep dish with all the toppings for this set of 14 while Jam takes a breather. On the first board, I blow a meaningless overtrick IMP. On the second board, some creative bidding by an opponent who was sitting out the first half, and doesn’t know about my Kung-Fu style…(yeah, right). My hand was:
A106
QJ8752
43
K7
Pizza held:
7
A96
AK52
QJ9762
Pizza dealt and opened 1C. My RHO bid 1S. I bid 2H (yes, thanks, I know it’s a little light). LHO bid 2S, and Pizza bid 3S. This got cracked. We don’t have many agreements, but it seems to me if he wants to know about NT, he’ll tell me if I pass. So I do that. Pizza’s 4H should end the bidding, but we’re red, and they’re white. So, my RHO decides to play Jesus and bids 4S. Bad idea. Soon it is 8 spades (4 spades doubled) and we collect everything – including 2 trump tricks (I got a promotion), 2 hearts when the King was onside doubleton. 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs. We tapped out declarer before he could establish his diamonds. A cool 1100. More importantly, and early message not to try his club game tactics in a national…but I could be wrong. That was win 9 IMPs - that represented our biggest pickup of the half.
At the half, the opponent who went for his nuts was quick to point out that 6H was icecold and ‘why didn’t his team bid it’ etc. WTF are you talking about? We’re off 2 key cards, and hearts need to cooperate. Even if you KNEW the HK was onside, it is still a less than even percentage because of the 3-1 splits….
There was not much to do this quarter – we lose some ground, but nothing to write home about….We lost that segment 29-23, so we’re now down 3 IMPs for the day. Big deal…we can do that easily. But giving up IMPs doesn’t feel good – we should just be rocking this team.
TD and Shooter got a little excited on a hand in that quarter and went off 1 in slam for lose 11. I wont mention names, but the free-safety decided revoking was a good idea….and blew 5 imps in the process…whatever, it’s aggravating, but again, when I play perfectly is the day I will start saying anything to my teammates. To that end, Spiral and I have had some AWESOME discussions about methodology and approaches. Further, we were recently approached by the BIG-DoG (from now on, referred to as BD) to try to put a team together for future GNTs – that sounds intriguing if not realistic….time will tell….but I think Spiral and I will give it a go in the VERY near future…Neither of us have time for anything – enter BBO. Thanks, Fred G.
Off to dinner – it was delicious – WOW – it was AMAZING. It was the Hofbrau Haus in Las Vegas. Lori really wanted to enjoy a nice meal while we together – so I told her to figure out a place she wanted to go eat, and when the session ended, we would go there. Well let me tell you – she picked an ENORMOUS winner. It was amazing – the atmosphere, the people, the service was exemplary – and the food? It was like I imagined my dad’s parents (off the boat from what used to be East Germany) ate every day. It was just like I remember the Hofbrau Haus in Munchen when I was there 20 years ago!
Lori had the Sauerbraten and I had some of the best Marjoram-veal brats I have ever had. We started with Kartoffel Puffer (potato pancakes). Washed that down with a liter of fine German Ale – and then the main dishes – they were great.
Geschmäcke sehr gut!
So moving into the evening session, Spiral is gonna sitout – and Pizza will sit out the fourth quarter. I had asked the team that if it was a blowout in either direction if I could have the 4th Q off so that I could enjoy some Lori time – but thru the half, there was no blowout – in fact, down 3 is still a great match. So off we go. It was interesting – just before this half began, I complained slightly to Spiral that we were bucking fate by continuing to play Pizza-Me as a partnership – that there were no accidents yet, but one was bound to occur due to our lack of discussions of methodology, etc – we have never really discussed our card believe it or not. Third board out of the box, a little bit of lightning struck…I held:
8
QJ1082
542
A876
The auction started with 1D on my right. 1S on my left. Pizza throws 1NT on the table. RHO asks…and my response is “I could tell you but I would just be guessing” Is this takeout? Is it strong? I have 5-4 in the roundeds, so that would tend to indicate a strong NT. There was no spade raise on my right – is it a strong NT? I have 7 HCP so perhaps it is a weaker takeout. I don’t know. Let’s suppose it is a strong NT – are transfers on here? And if so, would a transfer to spades make sense? If it is a light takeout, I want to play 2/3/4H. if it is a strong NT, I most likely want to play 2/3/4H. But I don’t know our methods. So I decide that a spade transfer seems stupid – so I bid 2H. TRANSFER! He says. And life sucks. Now – when he bids 2S – and there is a TON of UI available… but does that mean I must bid again? I ‘know’ because of the announcement which I am not allowed to hear, that he now has a 1NT opener. If he had a light t/o, 2S would be an impossible bid – ergo he cannot have a light takeout…. So if that is the case, and I wanted to play 2H – 2Spades must be a cuebid for hearts, right? So I must bid 4H, right? A max, a fit, blah blah blah….
I don’t know what the right answer is. I think in front of a committee I am forced to bid 4H and go down like a man – the result would have been the same as the table result -200. But guess what? When dummy hits, I have to deal with the huffing and hawing and a “this is insane” comment.
(expletives deleted from original post)
A couple of hands later, we bid a slam. It required a non-club lead to make it – but since clubs was doubled at my table, they got their lead, and their 17 IMPs. At the other table, they just blasted into a slam without such trivialities as controls and got rewarded. It happens….
Do you invite with this collection?
K642
AJ
82
AK752
You bid, with silent opponents:
1C – 1H;
1S – 1NT
Is it right to invite? Does the vulnerability matter to you? If you’re concerned about IMP-odds, I’ll tell you that you’re vulnerable and they are not….does that influence your decision sufficiently?
Then – an SOS redouble – uhoh. So, I decide to open a real gem:
AJ432
J5
K10
Q1073
You don’t think I know it’s a rag? Of course I know that. So I open anyway. Pizza bids 1NT, and RHO doubles. Pass pass to a redouble. I bid 2C, pass pass to a double…all float…dummy was a sight for…well…for something…
Void
T876
J9652
KJ42
A diamond to the ace and then club ace and a club left this position:
Void
T876
J965
K4
AJ432
J5
K
Q10
I cash the DK, SA, and ruff a club. I run the DJ and it gets covered – and I am soon home….
1 spade, 2 diamonds, 1 club, and four cross ruffs. Then…a play for the ages…you get to four spades on this auction as south:
W…..N…..E…..S
---…..---……---…..P
P…..2D…..X……3D
4S – all pass
Single dummy is coming…double dummy is easy enough…
K72
KJ72
6
AQ1086
AJ1085
654
AQ3
94
Do you agree with the bidding? You’re at equal white, obviously playing IMPs. General plan on a small diamond lead to the ten?
This was an 8 IMP pickup when our teammates were down one in some number of diamonds…
So we compare the third quarter, and guess what? We pick up - although very little. It is 39-37 in our favor – yes, that’s 76 IMPs in fourteen boards – and there was a push. So how did you do in that last 4S contract? I bet it was not what you thought…but when west shows out of trumps, the hand becomes a bit clearer….
The East-West Cards from 4S earlier….:
Void……….Q9643
Q83…………A109
KJ987……..10542
KJ532………7
If you are keeping track of this match, we are presently stuck 1 IMP with 14 boards to play. It is presently anyone’s match. With a bit of flair and arrogance, I have to say – I cannot friggin believe we are losing this match – and I mean that – WE are losing – we’re not being beaten. We’re just pissing away IMPs…so lets hope that doesn’t happen with 14 to play…0ff we go. I have missed a total of 14 boards in three days – you better believe I am not missing this next set of 14…not a rat’s chance in hell…
And we’re off…..
First board – push
Second board – lose one overtrick IMP when I get aggressive in trying to beat their game.
Third board – There is an opportunity for them to pick up here as they do NOT play 1NT forcing. It is the last making spot – and my opponents make 2 when we slip slightly in the defense…it is a moot point, IMPs wise, and we lose 8
So we’re now down 10 with 11 to go…
Fourth board – push
Fifth board – push
Sixth board….this was tremendous fun to defend. Jam ends up missing a chance to endplay dummy for down 2 and we collect 100 – these IMPs would turn out to cost us in the big picture…but, we still collect 4 IMPs as our teammates went plus also. So far so good…
Seventh board – This sucks. I open 1NT, Jam transfer to 2H and we’re done. My trump suit is: 98762 opposite Q5. I need as many tricks as I can. I play a trump to the queen and it goes king. Later on when I play a trump, the hand who won the King shows out. Yugh. 4 natural trump losers. Life sucks. I try to recover and go down an extra trick in the process…-200 instead of -100 which could have been +110 if things went my way (double hook in a side suit). Anyway, on that hand, same contract at the other table, their declarer only had 3 natural trump losers. Person ‘A’, whose name shall not be used to protect the innocent flew Ace the first time trumps were played squashing their partner’s stiff King…damn. That is -110 for them, and lose 7 IMPs for us…it was always five IMPs – but if I play for down 1 instead, we’d be in better shape.
Halfway through this quarter, and we are currently down 13 IMPs. 7 to go. The next three boards seem routine, and so it proves – one push, lose 1 imp, gain 1 imp on silly overtricks…4 to play, and still stuck 13. Then, what looks like the nail in the coffin…you declare five diamonds on the following hand as west…
AJ….…………10984
J5….………….Q
AKQ9852…J107
Q9……………A8742
You opened 1D as west, North bid 4H and you bid out to 5 diamonds on the way back which was passed out. Can you make it? They led the HA, and switched to a trump. Jam won the Ace in his hand….and did what? That seems like an odd play to me – you need to pitch a club from your hand to make this puppy – or you need to setup clubs for a spade discard. It looks to me like spades will provide your best opportunity for another trick. So if you win the trump in dummy and lead a spade – you put yourself in a good position to catch either both spades onside, a spade honor onside-third, or a simple ruffing finesse later. Well, SA followed by SJ – and north follows low smoothly as south win the spade king and backs a small club. Jam puts up the queen, and darnit all, it goes king. He wins the ace and …..plays the 10 of spades – small from south….and he ruffed it. This has to be anti percentage both a priori and otherwise…
Good news? It’s a push. Bad news? It’s an 11-imp loss for our side, essentially, since his counterpart went down as well…so we have 3 boards to play, and we’re stuck 13.
Board 11 – we bully the opponents to a no-play game and collect 100 – I think Spiral and Shooter will bid accurately to the cold 3NT - …I had a great opportunity to trick the declarer holding JT8 of trumps…The combined holding in trumps was:
AQ94 opposite K76. Declarer played the queen, and I played the 8. On Small to the King, I played the jack. Declarer hooked on the way back. I would have also – I preempted during the bidding and didn’t lead my ‘shortness’ – so I probably have short trumps…BZZZZZZT….
So we’re stuck 2 imps with 2 boards to play. (note now that going down 1 in 2H would be essential at this point…or perhaps beating 1NT two tricks for win 6 instead of win 4….if Jam and I are perfect – that is to say neither of these two things happen AND we make 5D, we are ahead with two to play…)
On the 2nd to last board, the opponents make a slam try, and come up short at the 5 level. Six is laydown cold, and from what I can see in the dummy, it’s infinitely biddable – in fact – it is easier with fewer methods – enter Spiral and Shooter – remember Shooter doesn’t play a lot of crap – but uses judgment instead. Well, alas, judgement failed to get us there too…so that was a push…
One to play! We’re stuck 2 IMPs….2 friggin IMPs. The opponents have 31 HCP and fail to even make an effort to bid a slam. The boys bid the slam – and it comes down to a key suit – trumps…you have: AJT7 opposite Q982. You need the King in the hole – and it….IT….IT…..is offside…lose 11.
Final result – lose by 13 IMPs. Now – check it out. If Jam and I are picture perfect, we pick up 11 IMPs in 5D, and 2 IMPs each defending 1NT and declaring 2H. we win by 2. So I cannot comfortably say that “we did our best.” We simply didn’t. Our best was easily good enough to beat this team…
What is sad, and I can tell you this now, is on paper, I didn’t think we had a great team. We had some good individuals, but I really did not care for our chemistry. We actually got further than I thought we would – I told Lori there was a chance we would not make day 2 of the KO phase…we did. In that regard, my ‘team’ proved me wrong…In other regards, my team proved me dead on accurate….chemistry, as I had mentioned from Meadville, was a problem. I can say this for sure, and it is with some sadness – I wont play for a national championship on this specific team again.
Jam was a totally different character this time around - way more supportive and responsive than in meadville to the needs of the team. I do NOT care how badly we lose ever – and I do NOT care how much we crush our opponents…I care about people being treated equitably…especially me.
This is not a knock on Jam, but rather on Pizza - I don’t need a steel girder for support from my partner, but I do need something resembling a wet noodle to support the decisions across the table. To Jam: Thanks bro – your approach to the game in Las Vegas was WAY better than your approach to Meadville. Your discipline was much appreciated – not once did he open 1NT with a stiff! In fact, at one point, we both had a good laugh about that during one of the hands on Friday. Your competitive spirit and willingness to want to kick one particular opponent’s ass (think red shirt) was refreshing going into the last quarter….you played admirably. Pizza – bro – gotta lighten up on your partner and your teammates…It’s just slightly, EVERY SO SLIGHTLY possible that:
a) your CHO knows when he/she f**cked up, and
b) your teammates know the same….
c) your teammates want to win as much as you do
d) your partner/teammates can outplay you…
Shooter, Spiral – thanks for the fun and the camaraderie. Thanks for covering entry fees, Bubba – made my financial life a lot easier. Spiral, thanks for giving me every single problem for review after each round – it made the hands a lot clearer, not only for the blog, but for the sake of our future partnership….
Day 4 in Vegas is over, and so is our GNT foray. Lori is flying home tomorrow at 4pm. The team wants to play Sat-Sun KOs – I do too, but I need to sitout the first half. We will get into those gory details later.
AMF! |
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