During a fun week at the Orlando Regional Tournament, I encountered many ridiculous hands as well as ridiculous people.
We had done well most of the week and started a new knockout.
Thirsty for more blood and gold, we found ourselves in a tight match.
While I won't blame the entire outcome on one hand, this was definitely one of the most sinful swings of the match.
Any time I pick up 11 points at a team game my partner is in game. I'm exaggerating, but I find myself being especially aggressive. I won't get into all the scoring details now, but in the long run bidding close games and slams is the key to winning, even if you go down opposite a part score of 140 or 150.
Here she is:
Wow. Purty.
I wish I saw these more often...
Vulnerable vs not, 3rd. Pass Pass to me.
I'm playing standard for a change and this looks like 8.5 tricks to me. I happily opened this 2C.
On my left, Superman comes to life with 5C. My partner finds a 5H bid, passed back to me.
Interference over 2C is sort of a gray area. It's easier over 2 level bids. A double is supposed to be weak, pass = waiting, a bid = good hand.
I don't expect my partner to have a mountain, but she's not an idiot.
I bid 6D. Eat that Superman. You're silly pre-empt isn't going to stop me. If anything, my decision is now easier. Gutsy for sure, but we came to play and if 5C is anywhere near legit I should have a shot at this.
There is an eternal pause by lefty. Uh Oh. What sort of trouble did I get into this time?
Pass.
Ace of hearts comes down and partner delivers. What have I done to deserve this?
I ruff the King of hearts continue from lefty. I have to be careful with this hand. I don't think expect anything pitches on the hearts, but I don't feel great about getting two club ruffs in either.
I have no choice. I ruff a club in dummy. I'm not taking any chances with a spade void, so I ruff a heart with the Jack. I ruff the second club with the 9, righty follows.
A diamond to my hand, I discover the 3-0 trump split and claim. Phew! +1370! I expect that to be a good swing and play disciplined (lolz) the rest of the way.
All 4:
At the other table the bidding was oh so very different.
The first two bids were the same. 1D - 4C - pass - 5C - 5D - 6C! - pass - pass - 6D! - DOUBLE!
The double was ill advised. How many clubs can we expect to take? From this auction it's tempting to want to double... but don't.
Reasons not to double
1. The bonus for making far exceeds the penalty for going down. Usually going down is good enough. Trust the other table.
2. Clubs
3. Distribution
4. General principle
5. Is South really bidding to 6D all by himself with some pile of crap with no shape and off all these Aces and Kings?
6. Rant over.
That's all fine and wonderful and we can all see now why the double is the wrong decision.
Ok, but let's back up.
There are a few views you can take on this hand.
My opponent said he should have just jumped to 6. That's hind-sighting and honestly it's not stopping me, it's encouraging me. 5C encouraged me, but I was still a little shaky.
You can see that 7C would be an excellent sacrifice, but that's hind-sighting too. With the West hand I'm not confident enough to double, but I'm not positive they can make 6D either. Sac when you are sure.
I like 5C even though the suit stinks.
Even 2C is reasonable over 1D.
But once you decide to pre-empt, you're done. You can see just how bad it hurts here. East respects the 4C bid and raises it. South stops in 5D. East is not dead and can make an intelligent decision if needed.
There's a great sacrifice over 5D, but not if you're going to push them to 6. What damage is done by letting the opponents play 5D? -600. You have teammates at the other table who are off being brilliant. This type of distributional hand would scare me a little.
So instead of a gain of 13 IMPS, we lost 5.
Pre-empts. One and done. Trust your partner.
Describing the bidding at the other table, you say, "[T]he first two bids were the same." But they weren't: your counterpart opened 1d. Your 2c opening was so much better on this layout. It was valid to begin with, but more importantly it enabled your partner to bid over the preempt. I think her bid was the key bid, because the opponents see you opening the magic two clubs, then her bidding a suit of her own. That's intimidating in an appropriate way.
ReplyDeleteIf only your teammate at the other table had kept his fingers away from the red card. I guess there are times when one should or must double at IMPs. But how often do you read about a major team event that was won because of extra IMPs from a double?
"First 2 bids" being pass-pass - my b for not articulating that more clearly but yes I agree absolutely. Over 2c-interference my partner has much more flexibility.
ReplyDeleteover 2c my lho has to make a decision with probably very little information from partner.
There are many ways this auction could have gone and we could debate about what leads the opponents to less likely find a sac, double me in 6d, etc- but the bottom line is that i think 2c describes my hand best and at the end of the day I'm not out to trick my partner, I'm out to include partner and I think our sequence accomplished that.