[inquiry]

Jlall-han lead after 10 boards, 50 to 43

Board 11
Drl South
Vul None
North Han, South Jlall

---

Scores:
7N = 10
7C = 8
7D = 7
6N = 6
6C = 4
6D =3
others 0

---

60 Jlall-han
47 Goodwins

-------------------------------------

Board 12
Dlr West
Vul N-S

West open's 5♣ North Han, South Jlall

---

North MrGoodwin, South TimG

Scores:
7N = 11
H7H = 9
6N = 7
6H = 5
5Cx = 3

6H = 10
7H = 4
5Cx,Games = 3
5C = 2
6N = 2
7N = 1
Games = 0

---

64 Jlall-han
50 Goodwins

This post has been edited by inquiry: 2010-November-26, 15:27
Reason for edit: to reflect runnning score changes for score edits on earlier hands and to change scoring on board 12 as well

[PhantomSac]

Hand 11: Our auction was kind of a complete mess. After 2C then 3C over 3H I could just bid 3N, but I was worried about no diamond stopper/needing to play a 5-2 heart fit or NT from partners side/whatever.

I chose to bid 3S. Does this always show 4 spades or can it be a punt?

Partner then bid 4D. What is that? I thought it might be coming in spades with 4 spades and a good hand. But what would he do with a good hand with no clear direction, or even with a strong 5-5 in the reds, etc.

I was not really sure, I felt it should probably be coming in spades in which case I should sign off in 4S, but I bid 4H just in case. This is obviously a terrible overbid if it's last train...

Then partner bid 4N. Keycard in spades? Maybe keycard in hearts if we weren't on the same wavelength? If it was the first I was hoping he would realize I might nto have 4 spades to bid 3S, in which case a jump to 6C would get my message across...really strong clubs wanting to play there. I was hoping it would not be taken as some void showing response!

Then partner bid 6D.. I still didn't know what was going on but partner is presumably trying for grand.

Since I have a nice hand for grand I just bid 7C to emphasize the point. Now 7N was easy.

Han said my auction made it easy for him but when it was going on I felt like I was making basically the worst bid at every point, and never had any idea what was going on, so I gotta say I think it was a bad auction even though it worked out.

Hand 12: I do not understand your scoring. 7 on a spade finesse through the long clubs doesn't seem that great to me, and I don't think 7 should be the top spot. I'm not sure how 5C X should be scored, it might get only 500 and lose to GAME, but depending on how aggressive w/r 5C can be it might get 800 more often. Still it is dominated by 6H, and sometimes lose to 5H, so it's not very good either. I'll let others figure out appropriate scores but I think both 7H and 5C X are pretty bad.

As far as our auction, I guess it goes to your agreements, to me 5C X is not a pure penalty double so bidding with a 7 card suit and a club void is pretty clear. I think hans 7H is fine, he makes opposite some zero counts liek xx xxxxxxx xxxx ---, and I won't last train over 6C often enough with hands like that or just the SK and out or w/e.

I know 655321 and some others like to play a double of 5m as very penalty oriented in which case it's a normal pass I suppose.

[awm]

On board 12, I don't really see how 7NT will be made. You have seven hearts, two diamonds, a club, and a spade. That's only 11 tricks. I guess if the long club hand also holds singleton or doubleton spade king you will make, and maybe if it's king-third there are some squeeze chances. But in all, it seems like a terrible grand.

Even 7♥ requires the spade hook, probably less than 50% on the auction (you get an extra trick by ruffing the third diamond).

I'd score:

6♥=10; a cold slam
7♥=6; likely close to a "top-and-bottom" game in a good field, and makes less than half the time
7NT=5; it's a top when it makes, but will often go down extras when spade finesse is off, and less likely to make than 7♥
6NT=4; when it makes, so do 7♥ and usually 7NT..
5♥, 5NT=3; will beat the grands and 6NT more than half the time, but doesn't have the upside of ever beating 6♥
5♣X = 3; I'd say it's about even odds whether you get 500 or 800 here

[MrGoodwin]

In a sense, we were ahead of you on 11 after opener's 3C. Both openers had shown a strong hand with strong clubs (our 3C, like yours, was game-forcing), but we had in addition shown a positive response with a heart suit. Our responder could bid 3D. I thought Tim fell from grace by bidding 3H here, not 3S. We don't play a lot of preference bids on two-card support, so I assumed he had three hearts -- and not AKx, with which he would have bid a "picture" 4H. That made me think we would have to use the hearts for any slam, and that we wouldn't be able to bring them in without loss.

I could certainly accept that I was over-thinking all of this, and that the agreements weren't as clear as I have made them sound.

[han]

With my regular partner I play that 3C denies a 4-card major, that would have made your rebid more comfortable.

I bid 4D thinking it was a cue for spades but really I was just hoping to hear more about your hand. 4H was welcome and when you bid 6C over 4NT I was pretty sure you had very good clubs and didn't have 4 spades. I bid 6D to hear some more and when you bid 7C I knew your clubs were solid and 7NT was clear. I can imagine it was a frustrating auction for you but I had a 15-count opposite your 2C opening which I obviously could never show. I was just hearing more about your hand until I could place the contract.

The next hand is a complete gamble. There is no way partner will bid anything positive with no keycards, so I should either bid it or not bid it. I bid it. I'm not sure that that was right, I certainly would bid 5H on his hand.

[cherdano]

About the decision over 5H on board 10: It seems to me that partner's decision (whether to bid 5H or to pass 5CX) is based on shape, and high cards in side suits are almost irrelevant. So the odds of partner having the ♠K are below 50% (maybe 12.5/29 if we assume he has 0.5 clubs on average?).

When partner has the ♠K, we haven't made 7H yet (4630 ?) but the odds are certainly very good. When he doesn't have the ♠K, it could be down (3730 or 2731 with no ♠Q), it could be cold (2740), or it could be on a finesse. Overall, it seems 7H is above 50%. On the other hand, partner has a bad suit, and whenever he had a close decision over 5CX then 6H+1 will still be a good score.

So it seems clear to me that the decisions isn't clear. But I think the last point would sway me towards bidding 6H.

[TimG]

MrGoodwin, on 2010-November-26, 01:46, said:

In a sense, we were ahead of you on 11 after opener's 3C. Both openers had shown a strong hand with strong clubs (our 3C, like yours, was game-forcing), but we had in addition shown a positive response with a heart suit. Our responder could bid 3D. I thought Tim fell from grace by bidding 3H here, not 3S. We don't play a lot of preference bids on two-card support, so I assumed he had three hearts -- and not AKx, with which he would have bid a "picture" 4H. That made me think we would have to use the hearts for any slam, and that we wouldn't be able to bring them in without loss.

I could certainly accept that I was over-thinking all of this, and that the agreements weren't as clear as I have made them sound.

I think you gave up too early; if opener holds ♠KQ ♥A82 ♦J4 ♣AKQJT9 there are still 14 tricks. I also gave up too early and should have converted to 6N at the end.