TGIF June 2023: Scores
| 1. IMPs. Both vul.
|
K 3
A 4
Q 8 7 4 2
J 7 4 3
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
|
|
1NT
(1)
|
Pass
| |
|
2
(2)
|
3
|
Pass
| ? |
| (1) 15-17.
| | (2) Hearts.
|
Your call?
| Bid | Votes | Award
|
|
3
| 6
| 100
|
|
3NT
| 5
| 90
|
|
Pass
| 3
| 50
|
|
4
| 0
| 40
|
|
3
| 0
| 20
|
|
Moderator: Partner has dipped their oar in vulnerable against a strong notrump and we have tons of support. Should we go for game? Or are we high enough?
Mel Colchamiro: 3. Could we have game? Could be. I'll aim towards 5 instead of 3NT. Tough choices among 3, 4, 3NT and pass. Each has its merits.
Josh Donn: 3NT. I feel like I need to give 3NT a shot. I am not usually one for example hands because they can be used to demonstrate almost anything, but is at least the A and six clubs to the A-K too much to hope for?
August Boehm: Pass. Seems I must allow for a lead director on A K Q x x x (x) and out. Could miss 3NT, but it's hard to see how a cuebid of 3 would help and 3 may be our last makeable contract. Even opposite as much as six running clubs and a high diamond, 3NT likely won't fetch on a heart lead. A x x, allowing a hold-up, would make a big difference.
Nicholas Adamski: 3NT. I'm feeling lucky.
Robert Sauve: Pass. Will compete to 4.
David Waterman: Pass. This looks very conservative, but partner will strain to make a lead directing bid here. I am not going to hang him. The trouble with 3 is that pard will not know how to evaluate his hand, and 4 could easily be 1 down.
Christopher Diamond: 3. He should sort of know my upper limit. 2 may show a zero count. And 3NT may be playable. 4 otherwise.
Michael Dimich: 3. Very tempting to bid 3NT but a telling 3 bid is being a good partner.
Gabor Sandi: Pass. I take my partner to have about 10 points and a 6+ card club suit. If West goes to 3, I might risk 4 when it's my turn.
Larry Meyer: Pass. Yes we have a good fit, but no need to invite partner to bid 5.
Paul McMullin: Pass. Could be our last chance for a plus score.
Hendrik Sharples: 3. Will pass 4. I think I'm too good to be bidding an immediate 4.
Allan Simon: Pass. Partner is just competing and trying to help me on opening lead.
Lars Erik Bergerud: 3NT. 3 is dangerous because partner may easily bid 4 when we belong in 3NT. And what now? 3NT seems like a much better bet than 5, especially since East most of the time has only 2 hearts.
Kf Tung: 4. Let them guess for 4. If partner can defend it is fine, if not partner will bid 5.
Louk Verhees: 3. I do have a fairly good hand. I could pass but 3NT could be cold. I think bidding 3NT is burying partner too much, so I make a game try.
Earle Fergusson: 3. Pard must have a great offensive hand for clubs. Always going to 5.
Timothy Wright: 3. I want to be in 3NT if partner has a second heart stopper.
|
| 2. Matchpoints. Both vul.
| |
K J 9 7 5 4
K
10 7 5
A 7 5
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
|
1
|
Pass
|
1
| |
|
2
|
2
|
Pass
| ? |
Your call?
| Bid | Votes | Award
|
|
3
| 3
| 100
|
|
Pass
| 4
| 90
|
|
3
| 3
| 80
|
|
3
| 2
| 60
|
|
2
| 2
| 50
|
|
4
| 0
| 20
|
|
Moderator: It was hard to get this problem wrong! By a slight edge, Pass wins the panel's favour, but because a majority of the panelists chose to move forward, the more conservative Pass was demoted just slightly by the scorer.
Jeff Meckstroth: 2. I'm going to take the low road here. We certainly might miss a game, but I have no safety at the three level, so I'm going to opt for the plus score. Hopefully.
Jill Meyers: Pass. This is a harder problem at IMPs. Give partner something like x A Q J x x x Q J x K x x, and we might not even make three.
Barry Rigal: 3. Second choice is 2. The singleton honour looks good enough to treat as two trumps here. 3 would be wild, in my opinion. But maybe that is old age talking?
Kerri Sanborn: 3. At least we have the right number of trumps and high cards for 3, although this is not a perfect bid. If partner bids 3NT, it should have play.
Zachary Grossack: 3. Very hard, but the free 2 bid combined with my fitting king sent me over. I will raise whichever major partner bids on the three level. Hopefully no 3NT coming.
Nicholas Adamski: 3. . . maybe asking for a stopper or secondary support.
David Waterman: 3. Very tough. I don't think I will score many points with this choice, but I think it is best overall.
Christopher Diamond: 3. Just fishing since nothing is right. Hopefully we get to our best major.
Michael Dimich: 3. Partner bid over 2 so a 3 bid is a no brainer.
Gabor Sandi: 2. I am showing 6 spades and 10 points or so. Partner can pass with a minimum and a singleton spade, otherwise he can bid on.
Larry Meyer: 3. Show my 6-card suit and my invitational strength.
Paul McMullin: Pass. 3 lost the mental coin flip.
Hendrik Sharples: 3. I like 2 as forward going, but think this is too much for that bid.
Allan Simon: 3. Hoping that partner can bid 3 with a doubleton honour.
Lars Erik Bergerud: Pass. 3 is an obvious alternative, but may go down opposite a minimum opener and bad breaks. Anyway, +170 will probably not be too bad. A cuebid would allow partner to show spade values, but it's game forcing.
Kf Tung: 3. Invite.
Louk Verhees: Pass. In teams I would bid, but at matchpoints pass seems fine. Yes we will miss a game sometimes. 2 is an option for sure.
Earle Fergusson: 3. Find the best strain then the right level.
Timothy Wright: 3. The diamond holding warns against forcing to game.
|
| 3. IMPs. E-W vul.
| |
4
J 10 9
A K Q 7 5 4 2
7 6
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
3
|
3NT
|
Pass
| ? |
Your call?
| Bid | Votes | Award
|
|
4NT
| 5
| 100
|
|
6NT
| 3
| 90
|
|
4
| 2
| 80
|
|
Pass
| 2
| 70
|
|
6
| 1
| 50
|
|
4
| 1
| 40
|
|
5
| 0
| 30
|
|
5
| 0
| 20
|
|
Moderator: Another one on which the panelists do not agree, but this time, it's because they have no conventions to play with. The majority try for slam.
Larry Cohen: 4NT. . . a complete guess because partner has such a wide range. As long as diamonds run, we'll survive 10 tricks even opposite a min like K Q x K x x x x A K x x x. I'd love to invite slam in diamonds, but there is no way to do that.
Steve Weinstein: 4. With no fancy system, this seems like the best way to start.
Daniel Korbel: 6NT. I have absolutely no idea here.
Steve Robinson: Pass. It's where I want to be opposite A K x x Q x x x x A K x x. Preempts give opponents problems.
Nicholas Adamski: 4. A time for Gerber if I've ever seen one. Assuming we don't play that, 4 to set a suit to try for 7. I don't want to guess how many aces partner has.
Robert Sauve: Pass. Can't play partner for magic hand.
James Harris: 4. Gerber.
Christopher Diamond: 4. Obviously forcing. I'll likely play in a diamond slam if he bids 4. Otherwise some level of NT because of the threat of a ruff.
Michael Dimich: 4NT. Partner's 3NT bid could be made on either a huge hand or a stopper hand with a long suit source of tricks.
Gabor Sandi: 4NT. 14-30 or not, if partner bids 5 or 5, you sign off in 5. If he bids 5, go to 6.
Larry Meyer: 6NT. Pard is wide open in diamonds, so I expect him to have controls in all the other suits.
Paul McMullin: Pass. East should be holding any missing black suit honors. I decline to search for the 11 trick slam.
Hendrik Sharples: 4NT. I'd like to bid 6 but there are so many hands we could be off the first 2 tricks.
Allan Simon: 6. All I need from partner is the A, so it's worth a gamble.
Lars Erik Bergerud: 4. Natural force with slam in sight. 3NT as the last plus score is not so likely. Partner may show a control or sign of in 4NT whereupon I bid 5 to show a self-sufficient suit, inviting 6.
Kf Tung: 4. Natural, good diamonds. Partner may hold good clubs and a heart guard, but spades are unguarded.
Louk Verhees: Pass. Anything could be right, but just hoping this is the correct spot.
John McAllister: 6NT. Not sure of an intelligent way to reach 7 .
Earle Fergusson: 6NT. Too many tricks to let pard make the decision.
Timothy Wright: Pass. This looks like a pretty good contract; if partner has 3 hearts, a defensive ruff at Trick 1 or 2 is likely.
|
| 4. IMPs. N-S vul.
| |
---
A Q 9 6 4
5 4
Q J 9 6 5 3
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
|
1
|
Pass
|
1NT
(1)
| |
|
Pass
|
2
(2)
|
Pass
| ? |
| (1) One-round force.
| | (2) At least three clubs.
|
Your call?
| Bid | Votes | Award
|
|
4
| 8
| 100
|
|
5
| 2
| 70
|
|
3
| 3
| 60
|
|
3
| 1
| 40
|
|
3NT
| 0
| 30
|
|
Moderator: The majority bid 4, a sort of distributional invite.
Amber Lin: 4. . . highly invitational to 5, so I think I'll get bumped on most hands that are making 5. Without a system, I don't think I can ever bring hearts into the picture. This is a helpful area to have some agreements. I usually play a Bart-like system, so I could bid 2 to 'transfer' to hearts and then jump in clubs.
Janice Molson: 3. Here's another convention. Over 1-1NT; 2m-3, 3 shows five hearts and longer in opener's second suit.
Mel Colchamiro: 5. Put me down for 3 if that is fit-showing. We need very little to make game.
Nicholas Adamski: 3. Invitational with hearts. 2-level bids are drops.
David Waterman: 4. I would like to keep hearts alive but I can't do everything.
Christopher Diamond: 3. I know nothing Mr. Fawlty. He could still have a balanced 11 and 2 should be a better suit. In a perfect world he patterns out with 3.
Michael Dimich: 3. If partner has values in spades, clubs and diamonds they can sniff for 3NT with a 3 bid now.
Gabor Sandi: 2. You promise 5 hearts with this bid. If partner bids 3, go to game. If he bids 2 or 2NT, go to 3.
Larry Meyer: 3. Support with support.
Joel Forssell: 5. Best game.
Paul McMullin: 3. Forward going, hopefully NOT forcing.
Hendrik Sharples: 3. I don't have a way to show clubs and hearts.
Allan Simon: 3. I wish I were playing Bart. (Not Brad Bart)
Lars Erik Bergerud: 3. . . forcing I expect, and fit-showing for clubs, I hope. 4 may be the only game. The alternative is a nonforcing 4 to show a distributional hand with a long club suit. Too good for 3, but 5 is too much.
Kf Tung: 3. Safety first, partner can imagine more.
Louk Verhees: 4. Interesting hand. Would be nice to have a toy to show hearts and clubs. Anyway, 4 seems the value bid. Very often short spades.
Earle Fergusson: 4. If hearts are right, I'm wrong.
Janet Galbraith: 3. If playing the Bart convention, 2 is perfect here.
Timothy Wright: 3. 2 could be right, but partner is unlikely to picture this hand unless I bid clubs now.
|
| 5. Matchpoints. Both vul.
| |
Q 9 8 6 4
A 9 7 6 4
A 4 2
---
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
|
|
|
1
| |
|
2
|
3
|
Pass
| ? |
Your call?
| Bid | Votes | Award
|
|
3
| 6
| 100
|
|
3NT
| 6
| 90
|
|
Pass
| 2
| 50
|
|
3
| 0
| 20
|
|
3
| 0
| 10
|
|
Moderator: Ye olde bridge books demanded two and a half quick tricks, a biddable suit and a prepared rebid to open the bidding. The modern game isn't nearly as stern, with balanced quacky 11-counts masquerading as the ace-and-king-led platoons of yore.
Steve Weinstein: Pass. It's a really, really bad thing to pass a forcing bid. You should absolutely never do it. Pass.
Jeff Meckstroth: 3NT. This is a bad spot. Can't really get out of this below game, so will try and end the auction ASAP.
Barry Rigal: 3. I would open this hand, but do not feel strongly about it. It is a complex hand that I will never get off my chest if I pass. Having said that, I wish I'd passed now. I will bravely try 3 since everything else looks (far) worse.
Nicholas Adamski: 3. Weakest bid I can make.
David Waterman: 3NT. Endplayed!
Christopher Diamond: 3. Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into Stanley. Forcing so fishing.
Michael Dimich: 3. What else can you bid? Partner hasn't denied spade support and you keep the auction flexible.
Gabor Sandi: 3NT. Can you afford not to take this chance?
Larry Meyer: Pass. When you are in a hole, stop digging.
Paul McMullin: 3. Is it too late for me to reconsider my 1 opening bid?
Hendrik Sharples: 3. What looked like a marginal opener now looks like a non opener.
Allan Simon: 3. Impossible problem!
Lars Erik Bergerud: 3. Keep it low and await the response. Don't like it, but I like 3 and 3NT even less.
Kf Tung: 3. Hope no one noticed the bad opening bid.
Louk Verhees: 3NT. I wish I hadn't opened the bidding. There is nothing much you can do except gamble a pass. Could easily be right but looks very silly if partner has a spade fit. So 3NT (eyes closed).
John McAllister: 3NT. Wouldn't have opened!
Earle Fergusson: 3. God help me.
Timothy Wright: 3. Is this an advertisement for sound openings? 3 is perhaps the least worst of my horrible set of choices.
Sandy McIlwain: 3. Shame on me for opening this one vulnerable!
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