A Bridge Filled Day

It seemed like I was playing bridge or something like that most of today.  I played with Marshall and it was a lot of fun.  What do you think it would be like to play with a star who has written lots of books on bidding?  What would he do in first chair all white, board 1 holding

♠ J9

♥ J753

◊ AQJ1072

♣ 8

 

We are playing 2/1 with weak 2’s and a weak notrump.  Okay Marshall explain to me why you picked 3◊.  Was it to let me know that you were going to be out there?  This had the effect of propelling the opponents into a somewhat ambitious 4♠.  It wasn’t a bad contract but it went down on the lie of the cards.  Next up we had rather a nice auction (I got to cuebid a very useful queen) to get to a good spade slam.  This was a good start to the day.  I also was starting to feel a lot more confident. 

In the latter half of our session against new opponents we had a poor score although we couldn’t do much about a lot of the deals.  Here is one for Marshall’s panel.  What do you think?

♠ void

♥ KQ987

◊ AQ98754

♣ K

 

Marshall	East	Linda	West
pass	1♠	2◊	2♠
pass	pass	?

 

Maybe I should have started with Michaels.  It just seemed like I would be really guessing what to do later.  I think in retrospect I should have bid 4♥  not 3♥  which is the bid I made at the table.  That is where we played it.  Marshall had

♠ QJ1064

♥ 654

◊ K3

♣ 1094

 

He had some good card in a way but I can see that it is not enough to raise hearts.  I am certainly 6-5 but it seems that if I had a hand good enough for game I should have bid 4♥.

I hope we can play together again soon.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Colin and I are back with forcing club.  It does seem easier the second time around.  We have decided to keep it fairly simple in the first pass but trust me, simple with Colin is most other people’s way too much system.

For example we are working on the sequence 1♣-2◊ showing 8-12 balanced (no 5 card suit).  We have relays to ask about range and shape etc.  I admit this sequence needs to be thought through in detail because it comes up a lot.  I am sure Colin will start blogging the system again so you can see some of his ideas (I get to make a contribution too).

I have decided any day playing bridge most of the time is a happy day (except when you lose an important event!)