The Weekend – Hurray!

Don’t you love summer weekends? This weekend I took my mother over to visit her great grandchildren. She bought them gingerbread men. One was a girl and the other was a dark haired boy with glasses. The boy perfectly matched 5 year old Marcus. We sat in the sun in a huge wonderful water play park and watch the kids playing and having a great time before they sat down for juice and gingerbread. It was one of those places that makes you feel that your tax dollars are working.

By the way, the tournament the HCL is held in India each year. It is open to all and with a great sponsor the prize money is excellent. Very few foreigners have been attending but it sounds wonderful to me, the Taj Mahal, a well run tournament, prize money and excellent bridge.

Colin and I agreed to play transfer advances to some extent and I am going to send him the notes I have. But meanwhile we have not been practicing at all although Colin tells me he has been busy researching systems. The Barrie tournament is only a month away.

Ray and I also visited with our friends Fred and Margaret Lerner and Bill and Leah Milgram. Over buffalo burgers and Chez Milgram raspberry wine we didn’t talk much bridge. But I did ask everyone what they thought of this deal. To be fair, I didn’t remember the hand properly see what you think.

You are not vulnerable against vulnerable in a tight match with big prize money.  This is late in the semifinal.  Partner, North, in first seat opens with one diamond and you bid one heart.  Partner bids 2NT.  What is your plan?

At our table South, Venktes, had decided, as perhaps you have, that this hand was headed for six hearts.   So he bid three spades (natural) over 2NT.   He took a guess that he didn’t want a spade lead.  When partner bid 3NT he jumped to 6♥.

Now it was up to West, Sadhu, a wily veteran.

It took him no time at all to lead his spade ace.  On the auction there is almost no chance of a spade ruff since North clearly doesn’t have four spades.  So when Sadhu led the ace he was checking in case you had two losers off the top.  I would have been right there with him.  The auction does suggest that South was always going to six hearts and the spade bid looks suspicious.  But in any case South clearly has lots of tricks and if you can’t take your tricks quickly you won’t get them.  Here is the whole hand.  The contract and result was the same at the other table but they used blackwood instead of “cuebidding”.