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December 7th, 2007
08:52 pm - Opponents silent.
What does this auction mean?
1H - 1N [forcing]
2N - 3S
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07:13 pm - Equal white, teams
You end up in 3N after an auction best left unmentioned. Your dummy is:
J T98x Qxx J9xxx
You hold:
A9xx A Kxx AKQTx
LHO quickly leads the heart king. Any thoughts on finding trick #9?
Current Location: Silver Spring, MD
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07:10 pm - Favorable, swiss
x KQT98x KQxxx Q
1H (1S) P (P)
2D? (P) 2S (P)
3H? (P) 4S (P)
?
(a) do you agree with 2D and 3H?
(b) your agreements here are "kickback when obvious".
Is it obviously kickback or does partner obviously have AK-8th of spades and a stick?
Current Location: Silver Spring, MD
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November 12th, 2007
11:22 pm - System question, submitted by the girlfriend
We're playing Phantom Club, and we come up against a big club pair. Do we open with our favorite big club defense?
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05:27 pm - All white; IMPs
Not your normal bidding question:
You hold Txxx xx xx Jxxxx. Partner has opened 2C strong, and through some irregularity, has become barred for the rest of the auction.
Your call.
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November 8th, 2007
11:45 pm - One of the high points of my bridge career
So I gave another I/N lecture today. Subject: Suit preference signals. This one went off a lot better than yesterday's, and I had to pull up short to not go over the allotted time. After the lecture, I had several people compliment me on it, and one very nice lady talked to me for about five minutes about how much she enjoyed it and how informative it was. She said I was her favorite bridge lecturer... I feel very good about myself and my life right now. I'm going to volunteer to do a lot more of these.
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12:16 pm - Virginia Beach Regional
I'm having a pretty good time here in Virginia Beach. There are plenty of friends but very little time to hang out with them.
I gave my first regional I/N lecture here yesterday. I thought I was awful but got some nice compliments afterwards. I think they want me to do another this evening. I hope they found someone else...
All red, BAM
9xxxx Ax QJxxxx --
Partner opens 1N. Your options:
(A) 2C, and over 2Red, bid 2S showing 5+ and invitational values;
(B) 2H (transfer) showing five spades and either weak or game-forcing values;
(C) 3C (transfer) showing six diamonds and either weak or game-forcing values (a new suit over 3D is shortness);
(D) 3D showing 6+ diamonds, invitational.
If B or C, what's your rebid, if any?
Current Location: Virginia Beach, VA
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October 11th, 2007
02:53 pm - mini-update
see comments in last post for what happened at the table...
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October 5th, 2007
02:17 am - here's a nice wtf hand...
all white at imps:
x AJx Axxx KJTxx
Partner opens 1S. You force to game with 2C, he bids 2N, you lift to 3N, and he bids 4S. What does partner have? What's your bid?
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October 4th, 2007
11:45 am - Hands from the Seaside Regional
All hands IMPs.
(A) xxx xxxxx xx Jxx
all white
(4S) P (P) X (P) ?
4S is in a Namyats context.
(B) xx KJ9xxxx xxx x
What colors would you bid a natural 2H over RHO's first seat strong NT?
(C) AKT9x -- K9xx Txxx
favorable
1S - 1N (forcing) - 2D - 3N - ?
(D) Axxxx QJTxxx x A
all white
P (P) 1H [do you?] (3C) P (P) ?
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September 13th, 2007
06:37 pm - Homeward Bound
I just got the great news that I'm going to be playing the upcoming Seaside, OR Regional. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of friends and family there... there should be time for some good bridge too. Anyone who can't make it to Seaside: I'll be at the Eugene club game the day after the tournament. Stop by and say hi there!
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August 25th, 2007
10:26 am - All red, maltchpoints
Any ideas for a good auction with these hands?
KJxx Ax AKJTxx x
-- Kxxxx x AJTxxxx
The auction began (2S) 3D (3S).
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August 24th, 2007
12:08 am - Two-parter
Unfavorable, teams
AQJ xx AQJxx Kxx
Partner deals and opens 1C. RHO bids 4H. You double, LHO passes, and CHO pulls out 5N.
(a) WTF is 5N?
(b) What's your bid?
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August 13th, 2007
09:37 am - problem H: all white, teems, 4th pos
J9xxxxx Jxx QJ x
pass, pass, 2N, pass, 3N, all pass.
Your lead.
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August 12th, 2007
08:47 am - All white, matchpoints
-- Kx Txxxx KTxxxx
(3S) 3N (P) ?
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July 30th, 2007
12:11 pm - Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
So I took off the second half of Nashville to attend the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in upstate New York.
I left Nashville Tuesday after a disappointing GNT, a great stint for Kenny (70+ in 4 days) and one session caddying the Flight B, er, Wagar. I drove to Charlottesville Tuesday night, and on Wednesday afternoon shorty and I headed up to Philly for a pre-concert concert with my fave, Slaid Cleaves. The show was fucking awesome. The crowd was knowledgeable, too. There were requests from his albums as far back as '92. I guess he's been playing the east coast a lot longer than Oregon. Afthe show, we headep to Jersey and got a crappy and offensively priced hotel room. Thursday morning we had breakfast with Dave, who was working in Red Bank NJ for a week. The reunion was great, but way too short. I was able to keep my composure through breakfast, but once we got back to the car I cried for most of an hour. I miss that dude so fucking much. We headed north into the Berkshires for the Fest. We camped for three nights and saw many great shows. I was very impressed by the Glengarry Bhoys, Tracy Grammer, and Dar Williams. The festival was closed down with a great set by Arlo Guthrie. It was loads of fun, and I met a lot of wonderful people. All other things being equal, I think I would've had even more fun in Nashville, but I definitely made the right decision to go. All other things were most definitely not equal.
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July 22nd, 2007
11:26 am
So after losing the 3rd round of the KOs yesterday afternoon, we had to play a side game in the evening. There was no single-session swiss, so we entered the Board-a-match. We had to play four-handed, so sadly (heh) we had to leave Pancakes on the bench. We played as well as we have been, and won the event. It's totally clear who the weak link on this team is.
I played the midnights last night. We lost in the semis.
One interesting hand:
x KQ98x -- QJxxxxx
all white, teams
Partner opens a weak (11-14) NT. You play transfers and Stayman at the two level and you don't know what the hell you play at the three level. Plan the auction.
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July 21st, 2007
05:33 pm
So for the third match in a row, our lovely lunar client left with a nice lead, and for the third match in a row, her team let her down and shat many imps onto the table. Unfortunately, this time the lead she left us (15) wasn't enough to hold on. How embarassing. And we lost to an old enemy. (See comment in previous post.) Damnation.
xxx AJT98 Axx xx unfavorable
(P) P (3D) 4C (P) ?
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01:41 am - Annoying.
So I was all thrilled to work for a new team here in Nashville. Until I found out that my partner would be Pancakes. Damnation. Thankfully I got to play with the client half the time, and only had to play with the NPC for half.
So in the first match of the day, with client, I held Kxx KJx J AKJxxx. LHO opened a could be short diamond, pass, pass to me. I briefly thought about a double, but decided to bid 2C. Pard 'cued' 2D, and I made the mistake of trying to ask for a diamond stopper. 3D went down two. We were up 38 at the half. Pancakes came in and we won by 15. We should not do 61 imps better with the client in...
In the second match I was in full pro mode. I psyched a favorable third seat opening. The opponents were shocked, just shocked. Apparently they didn't notice the colors or the fact that I'm under 30. Three hands later, I'm favorable again. I hold Axxxx xxxx x xxx. It goes pass, pass, a strong notrump to me. By now it's obvious the opponents don't really know what's going on, so I stick a 2D (majors) bid in. They proceed to snafu lebensohl but sady end up in a playable spot for a push. The next hand at all red I pick up Jx KQJTx xxx Q98. Pass, 1D to me. I decide to bid 2H. LHO doubles, RHO bids 2S, and LHO raises to 6 (cold for 7). Nice auction, guys. After the hand, my RHO demands to see my hand, and calls the director on me. When the cops show up, he claims that he was damaged by my three psyches. He knows I'm only allowed one, and three in nine boards is over the line. The director explained that you can psyche 24 times in a session if you have the right hands for it (as long as partner bids as if they have no clue about it), and I only psyched once - the other two were judgment calls. He got all pissy, and said that it just wasn't right. The director said to call her back if there was a real problem. A few hands later, I bypassed a four-card major to respond 1N to my partner's opening. After the hand, I showed it to him, and asked him to call the director back. He said, no, he'd bid the same way on that hand. I thought about trying to explain to him that the only difference between the situations was that his judgment was finally the same as mine, but decided against it.
We were only up 20 at the half, so I was very scared when the NPC came in. She made three decisions that should have cost 11, 13, and 12 imps, along with shoddy general play. Thankfully all three (!) of those boards were pushes and we hung on o win by 3. So far in two sessions we've done 98 imps better with the client in than not... shameful.
Oh, btw, getting the money shot in this put me over 2500 and made me a (oooooh) Gold Life Master. Yet another fairly meaningless masterpoint milestone passed. Next stop: 3000. This one actually means something... no more X flight for me. My goal for that is before the end of Detroit.
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July 20th, 2007
08:41 am - Damnation.
So we lost in the round of 16. I'm quite embarrassed. I feel I played pretty well, though, for however little that's worth. I really, really disliked our opponents. I hope they either lose in the next round or get horribly scarred in a fire. Or maybe both.
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