Upgrades by Foxymoron

BA seems to be giving away upgrades to Business Class at the moment, and Stefanie and I have decided to spend a month in the Orkneys, Covid restrictions permitting. I think we paid £1 each plus 10,000 miles for our flights. The last time I flew, oddly, I saw the film Upgrade, on BA in flight entertainment, about a technophobe who had an implanted chip which allowed him to control his body. A cyperpunk horror film, but not bad. 8 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes. 

On this hand we would have done well to upgrade as well. Perhaps we might have done differently on the second round too.

Chantal, North, could have opened 2C in our system, showing either a game force or a balanced 20-22 and that would have been my choice here. We might have bid 2C*-2D*-2H*-2S*-2NT showing the balanced hand. None of this pussyfooting about for the winners tonight, David Burn and Frances Loughridge. David opened 2NT (20-22 or thereabouts) which has the virtue of getting there in one bid rather than the five which might use up valuable drinking time between rounds. Frances transferred to spades, offered a choice with 3NT and David picked spades as either red suit could be a potential weakness. 11 tricks and 95% was the reward.

At our table, after 1C-1S-2NT, showing 18-19, I decided to pass on the South hand. It is matchpoints, and if partner doesn't have three spades I wouldn't expect to make 3NT or 4S. I wasn't even sure if we were playing a Wolff sign off, so I signed off by passing. Chantal made 10 tricks but that was only 35%,

It is interesting to plug the North hand into the Kaplan-Rubens (K-R) hand evaluator which spits out 20.7 for this hand. You might like to play around with it and enter hands you were unsure of. It can be found at:

http://www.jeff-goldsmith.org/cgi-bin/knr.cgi

So well done on your upgrade, David, and congrats on your win with Frances. I am pleased to see that everyone passed 2NT on this hand at love all:

That vile collection scrapes in at 1.4 in the K-R evaluation and anybody raising 2NT to game is far too optimistic!

 

Reredoses by Foxymoron

Crossword enthusiasts will be familiar with "reredoses" which is the plural of reredos, a screen in a church, usually behind the altar. One of the most spectacular I have seen is in the St John's Lane Church in Thomas Street, Dublin. I went there when being rested in the Camrose, the last time it was in the Republic. My captain suggested I would have plenty of time to kill. If you are ever there I suggest you pay it a visit. It is only about 5 minutes from the Guinness Storehouse which you will want to go to first of course.

Postcript: After writing this, there was a Trip Advisor comment from someone:
St John's Lane is a unbelievable church. It has stained glass windows that are breathtaking beyond belief. This is a definite must see church." — joycep883

The Reredos at St John's Lane Church, Thomas St, Dublin

What has this got to with bridge, you might ask? Well, your correspondent has also played in the Senior Camrose, in Wales, which featured an unusual occurrence when one of the players re-redoubled. It arose after Stayman was doubled, and the 1NT bidder passed, denying a club stop. This might have been the hand, from tonight, but it wasn't:

AuntieAnne, whose moniker alludes to her two nephews who are among the very best under 18s at bridge in the UK, did well to double Stayman. Now I play that Pass by North denies a club stop, and South will then redouble to repeat Stayman. So North should Pass and South will redouble. When I tried that in the Senior Camrose, West now re-redoubled, sent through the screen (but not the reredos) by a dozy South (me, of course). Sarah Amos, the superb director, arrived quickly. "Another senior moment", she said, wistfully.

She correctly cancelled the inadmissible re-redouble and West substituted Pass which was not a "comparable call" to the re-redouble. East was silenced. North bid 2S and there the matter rested as East was not allowed to compete to 3C, as he was forced to pass whenever it was his turn to call. She decided that North was allowed to prohibit one suit not "specified in the legal auction", which was about as useful as a chocolate teapot, and in the end North banned a diamond lead. East led a club and the defence cashed four tricks, as happened with David and AuntieAnne. A 60% board for EW. It was one IMP to EW when it occurred in Wales.

At our table West was asleep at the wheel and did not double Stayman and East fished out a trump lead against 2S, so Stefanie made 10 tricks for a 75% score. You should also agree with your partner how you play a double of Stayman by an unpassed hand. I think it should either be clubs or a hand that wanted to double 1NT and the latter will bid again.

Leopards can't change their spots by Foxymoron

This expression basically means that things cannot change their innate nature and the first reference to it that I could find is in the Geneva Bible, 1560:

"Can the blacke More change his skin? or the leopard his spottes"

However, researchers at Bristol University have shown that leopards do change their spots depending on their surroundings, and will tend to blend in to their habitat. Black leopards are not found in open savannah.

In bridge the expression is often used about a second double being just as much takeout as the first double. But there has to come a point when it changes to a penalty double and this interesting hand from tonight's duplicate was such a position.

East opened a multi at this table, and South had to start with a double. West's 4D asked partner to bid her major, which turned out to be spades, surprisingly. South doubled again, which is not penalties but more takeout and I might bid 4NT as North now, two or more places to play. One North passed and he was soon writing down -790. 5D worked ok, however, although now West will get a club ruff but that would still make. West went on to 5S, of course, and now the final double by South has changed its spots and is more penalty-orientated. South led the king of hearts, a good choice, as that asked for count, and North played the eight of hearts, showing an even number. Now there is no hurry to cash a second heart - it is clearly not going anywhere, and South should cash the ace of diamonds, on which North will play the jack if playing normal attitude or the five if not. Then a second diamond defeats the contract. As making 4S for EW was an average (even though South can make 6D) any plus score for NS is very good. Poor Vampyr (Stefanie Rohan), and her partner Ken Rolfe, had to judge very well to sacrifice in 6Sx-2 for 5% of the matchpoints. Sometimes the field is just not on your side.

Too many options by Gerry Weston

In our lockdown league match on Monday this hand came up; which has led to quite a discussion afterwards:

 

Ken and I ended up in a reasonable slam (Paul reckoned a bit more than 50%); 3S is a splinter and 3N a forward going move without any specific cue bid. It is easier played by West (which it was in the other room but only in game, making 12 tricks). 

On the diamond jack lead, Ken had an option of taking the A,  finessing a spade to throw a diamond. Understandably though, Ken let it run (people sometimes lead from kings - happened to me 2 weeks ago), won the second diamond and drew three rounds of trumps.  Paul reckoned that double dummy one can finesse the queen of spades and cash the queen of diamonds catching South in a criss-cross trump squeeze, (forcing him to let go a club or spade). But that assumes both K of spades and clubs are right so the clear line is instead to play for clubs 3-2. However the 4:1 break defeated it and we ended with a rather unlucky loss overall (we still would have won if I hadn’t made a defensive error on board 7).

I wondered later, if, instead one might take only two rounds of trumps, then finesse the club, play off the Ace (which will hold if clubs are actually 3:2) and hope that if it is 4:1 that North doesn’t have the last trump. With the actual layout this fails. Even if it works one needs a bit more luck; there aren’t the entries to ruff clubs twice and get back to dummy to cash them. Instead one has to finesse the QS, cash QD then cross ruff home.