As you can see on BBO, the US Team Trials to select the team for Lille is progressing apace in in Schaumburg, Illinois at the moment.
For teams that did not gain the seeding points required for a bye (that is, 15 of the 18 teams), it is a long and costly event if you are going to win. They will play ten consecutive days of top-level bridge with about 50-60 boards a day. Given all the other days of bridge in the season, not to mention the target competition in Lille, a normal 'working' person would not be able to take the amount of time off work necessary, so they are excluded from the process.
The entry fee for the event is $360, but on top of this there is a $300 session fee per day. So if one, or two, of the 15 teams reach the final, the cost of winning the trials (or, worse, losing in the final) will be $3,360. This strikes me as quite a lot of money and about double the cost of playing at one of the Nationals. Nothing to some of the wealthy sponsors, of no concern to the professional players, but good amateur teams are not going to show up.
Of course this is the American way and, with so many professionals and sponsors, unlikely to change. But those who extol the virtures of this approach for other countries might like to consider whether this is fair for all.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Scots in France
The Scotland teams for the World Bridge Games, previously known as the Olympiad, in Lille later this year have been announced. They are:
Open:
Jim Hay & Jun Nakamaru-Pinder
Charles & Vi Outred
David & Cathy Gerrard
npc: tba
Women:
Anne Symons & Sheila Adamson
Liz McGowan & Sam Punch
Maida Grant & Sheila Macdonald
npc: tba
Seniors:
Iain Sime & John Murdoch
John Matheson & Willie Coyle
Brian Short & Alan Goodman
There were no trials, I believe due to lack of people interested in playing in the event. The SBU cannot be blamed for this, as the WBF made life difficult for many with a very late announcement of the location and timing of the championship, and then putting it in August, a time when many will already have made holiday plans. Personally, given the number of trials this season, I'd have selected the teams and not worried about more trials; of course that is not permitted in Scotland so the selectors must be pleased that they were not required.
In such circumstances it is pleasing to see that the Women and Seniors teams look competitive. Both teams use the core of the Home International and European teams with the introduction of the 'unlucky' fourth pair from the Euro trial.
Whereas it is very disappointing that none of the Camrose or Euro Open team are available for the event, the inclusion of Jim and Jun, who only missed out on a European spot by four imps, is especially pleasing. If there had been trials, I would have exempted them and made others compete for the remaining two places. A great opportunity, deserved after their performance in the Euro trial, for a young talentand an old codger to experience the challenges of bridge at the highest levels. I know that they will prepare thoroughly.
Although the Open team is not the strongest that Scotland could send, the Outreds and Gerrards made the semifinals of the Euro trials and their challenge is to maintain that standard over a long competition. David is also the only player on the team with Olympiad experience. I expect that they will prepare thoroughly too, if only to keep Jim quiet.
Naturally I wish all three teams the best of luck. I know supporters in Lille during August will be welcome and there is also the opportunity for everyone to play in the World Transnational Mixed Teams. If you've not already made plans.
Open:
Jim Hay & Jun Nakamaru-Pinder
Charles & Vi Outred
David & Cathy Gerrard
npc: tba
Women:
Anne Symons & Sheila Adamson
Liz McGowan & Sam Punch
Maida Grant & Sheila Macdonald
npc: tba
Seniors:
Iain Sime & John Murdoch
John Matheson & Willie Coyle
Brian Short & Alan Goodman
There were no trials, I believe due to lack of people interested in playing in the event. The SBU cannot be blamed for this, as the WBF made life difficult for many with a very late announcement of the location and timing of the championship, and then putting it in August, a time when many will already have made holiday plans. Personally, given the number of trials this season, I'd have selected the teams and not worried about more trials; of course that is not permitted in Scotland so the selectors must be pleased that they were not required.
In such circumstances it is pleasing to see that the Women and Seniors teams look competitive. Both teams use the core of the Home International and European teams with the introduction of the 'unlucky' fourth pair from the Euro trial.
Whereas it is very disappointing that none of the Camrose or Euro Open team are available for the event, the inclusion of Jim and Jun, who only missed out on a European spot by four imps, is especially pleasing. If there had been trials, I would have exempted them and made others compete for the remaining two places. A great opportunity, deserved after their performance in the Euro trial, for a young talent
Although the Open team is not the strongest that Scotland could send, the Outreds and Gerrards made the semifinals of the Euro trials and their challenge is to maintain that standard over a long competition. David is also the only player on the team with Olympiad experience. I expect that they will prepare thoroughly too, if only to keep Jim quiet.
Naturally I wish all three teams the best of luck. I know supporters in Lille during August will be welcome and there is also the opportunity for everyone to play in the World Transnational Mixed Teams. If you've not already made plans.
The Last Round
The round-robin stage of the BBO InterCity League concluded last night. We were playing Ascoli Piceno, the holders, and needed a draw to ensure qualification to the knock-out stages. But as Rijeka, the only team who could catch us, were also playing a higher-placed team we were huge favourites as long as we avoided a white-wash.
Things started well on the first board when, after opening one heart and being overcalled by one spade, I reopened with a double (which seems the normal action) when the player at the other table rebid two hearts. With no game likely to make we were certain of +300 and, after a few efforts by both sides to hold it to this number, we found another trick for +500 and nine imps.
They gained some small swings and the match was almost tied when I had a decision to make on board 8:
At love all (white, or w/w US), what is your call?
On the following board it was Danny's turn to be in the firing line.
You will not get a consensus on whether you should open this hand with one heart or two clubs, but when you see the five clubs overcall pop up you certainly wish you'd opened with a natural bid!
At EW Game (red, r/w US), what is your choice now? Of course I expect Danny knew that pass was lack of values in this auction, as it would be for Alex and I as we play pass/double inversion at this level, but hopefully all my readers know the difference between pass and double from West. Of course you do!
Arriving at board 12 we were seventeen imps down when Alex and I failed to deal with another goulash hand.
The crucial decision in the auction was Alex's double. He could have bid four diamonds, a convention known as Leaping Michaels, to show a strong hand with spades and diamonds, but he was concerned that we would miss the spade game. Unfortunately, his four spades bid shows a strong flexible hand which is why I continued on to five clubs. I should have corrected five diamonds to five spades immediately, but I got there is the end.
However we were lucky as West failed to find the only lead that would defeat the contract and +850 was worth six imps.
On the penultimate board we lost twelve imps when the opponents outbid us, finding the diamond slam:
In the other room, playing a strong club system, North showed 6+ points whereas I was able to show less than eight. I am close to showing 8+, but the void in partner's suit did not look an attractive reason to upgrade.
On the final board Helen played four spades a lot better than our declarer, and we defended better than their defenders, to earn ourselves a game swing and 13 imps back.
So the final score was 29-41 imps which converted to a 12-18 VP loss. As it happened, the team below us in the table conceded their final match and we were comfortable whatever the result, but we only discovered that after the match.
Next week is the round of sixteen and we play Praha, the runaway winners of Group B. We'll need to play well to challenge them.
Things started well on the first board when, after opening one heart and being overcalled by one spade, I reopened with a double (which seems the normal action) when the player at the other table rebid two hearts. With no game likely to make we were certain of +300 and, after a few efforts by both sides to hold it to this number, we found another trick for +500 and nine imps.
They gained some small swings and the match was almost tied when I had a decision to make on board 8:
At love all (white, or w/w US), what is your call?
On the following board it was Danny's turn to be in the firing line.
You will not get a consensus on whether you should open this hand with one heart or two clubs, but when you see the five clubs overcall pop up you certainly wish you'd opened with a natural bid!
At EW Game (red, r/w US), what is your choice now? Of course I expect Danny knew that pass was lack of values in this auction, as it would be for Alex and I as we play pass/double inversion at this level, but hopefully all my readers know the difference between pass and double from West. Of course you do!
Arriving at board 12 we were seventeen imps down when Alex and I failed to deal with another goulash hand.
The crucial decision in the auction was Alex's double. He could have bid four diamonds, a convention known as Leaping Michaels, to show a strong hand with spades and diamonds, but he was concerned that we would miss the spade game. Unfortunately, his four spades bid shows a strong flexible hand which is why I continued on to five clubs. I should have corrected five diamonds to five spades immediately, but I got there is the end.
However we were lucky as West failed to find the only lead that would defeat the contract and +850 was worth six imps.
On the penultimate board we lost twelve imps when the opponents outbid us, finding the diamond slam:
In the other room, playing a strong club system, North showed 6+ points whereas I was able to show less than eight. I am close to showing 8+, but the void in partner's suit did not look an attractive reason to upgrade.
On the final board Helen played four spades a lot better than our declarer, and we defended better than their defenders, to earn ourselves a game swing and 13 imps back.
So the final score was 29-41 imps which converted to a 12-18 VP loss. As it happened, the team below us in the table conceded their final match and we were comfortable whatever the result, but we only discovered that after the match.
Next week is the round of sixteen and we play Praha, the runaway winners of Group B. We'll need to play well to challenge them.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Dissection
Penultimate round of the club pairs championship and my predictive scoring was way out, so I thought I'd examine why I was so wrong.
Our card:
The boards where I was most inaccurate do represent most of the difference between my estimated score and actual result.
With Brian and George away this was our opportunity to reduce their lead in the competition and we have done some damage, but they still remain clear favourites.
According to my calculations, with their best six results, they have a lead of 2.72% going into the final round. As our lowest counting score is 59.79%, we need to score at least 62.51% to overtake them. However this assumes that they do not beat their lowest counting score of 58.47%, so our target will be
Two years ago Brian and George won the championship by one matchpoint on the final evening. It will probably not be as close this time, but you never know!
Our card:
| Board | Contract | Our Score | Estimate | Actual | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3NT-1 | -50 | 0 | 10 | Went down in game, others did worse |
| 2 | 3NT+1 | 430 | 8 | 13 | Defensive assistance |
| 3 | 4H-2 | -200 | 0 | 2 | Poor bid by me, but never scoring well |
| 4 | 2H+1 | 140 | 8 | 10 | Normal result |
| 5 | 5H+2 | -710 | 16 | 14 | Opponents missed easy slam |
| 6 | 2S-1 | 50 | 12 | 15 | Light opening bid pushed them into wrong partscore |
| 7 | 2C-2 | 200 | 12 | 10 | Kiss of death for the opponents |
| 8 | 3NT+4 | 520 | 16 | 14 | Played in notrumps rather than 5-3 heart fit |
| 9 | 1NT+3 | 180 | 8 | 14 | Pseudo-squeeze for additional trick |
| 10 | 3NT+2 | 660 | 16 | 15 | Judged well not to bid 31-point slam, got nice lead |
| 11 | 1NT+2 | 150 | 12 | 14 | Received favourable lead |
| 12 | 3NT-2 | -100 | 8 | 8 | Overbid to poor contract, lucky to score average |
| 13 | 5D= | -600 | 12 | 10 | Pre-empted above their best spot |
| 14 | 4S+1 | -450 | 8 | 10 | Normal result |
| 15 | 3S-2 | 200 | 16 | 16 | Notrump range dependent result, but accurate defence |
| 16 | 4H= | -420 | 4 | 6 | Opponents bid thin game |
| 17 | 2NT-3 | 150 | 16 | 13 | Aggressive bidding pushed opponents too high |
| 18 | 4D-1 | -50 | 0 | 4 | Poor bidding when we should both have bid 3NT |
| 19 | 4S-3 | 150 | 8 | 16 | Opponents overbid (did not appreciate how badly) |
| 20 | 5S= | -650 | 4 | 5 | Opponents played in 4-4 spades rather than 5-5 clubs |
| 21 | 4SX-2 | -300 | 0 | 6 | Found good sacrifice (but was a bottom after 4 rounds) |
| 22 | 4H+1 | -650 | 4 | 6 | Normal result |
| 23 | 3H+2 | -200 | 16 | 11 | Opponents missed excellent game |
| 24 | 4C= | -130 | 0 | 2 | Opponents did well in competition to reach par contract |
| 25 | 2H-3 | 150 | 16 | 16 | Opponents played in our secondary fit |
| 26 | 2S+1 | 140 | 8 | 9 | Normal result |
| 27 | 3S+1 | -170 | 4 | 8 | Aggressive bidding caused opponents to miss game |
| 232 | 277 | ||||
| 53.70% | 64.12% |
With Brian and George away this was our opportunity to reduce their lead in the competition and we have done some damage, but they still remain clear favourites.
According to my calculations, with their best six results, they have a lead of 2.72% going into the final round. As our lowest counting score is 59.79%, we need to score at least 62.51% to overtake them. However this assumes that they do not beat their lowest counting score of 58.47%, so our target will be
62.51% + MAX (0, Brian/George last score - 58.47)
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Wow
Having featured the women winning the Lady Milne Trophy earlier in the month, I thought I’d celebrate more success. Now it must be said that a women’s pair was a definite favourite to win the Women’s National Pairs this year but I think everyone will be delighted to see Julia Palmer and Claire Hargan achieve their first major national success by winning the Cyril Breene Trophy yesterday.
Jules, who can often be found on BBO with a glass of Shiraz to hand, tells me that there was no official photograph taken but I found this image on the interweb of them:
I must admit that I am a little disappointed with the lack of photographs. This does not seem to happen when the ‘stars’ of the Scottish game win, so hopefully this will be rectified soon.
Having established that neither Jules or Claire were going to write up their win, I asked them for a hand. Initially it was all the same modest rubbish, “we didn’t have the cards, but were lucky”, “we seemed to defend fairly routinely, but that seemed better than most”, “luckily we didn’t have the cards as we cannot bid” but eventually they sent me the following hand:
Unlike the Dutch Julia and Claire have fairly strict requirements for their weak opening bids and it is expected to be "good" in first or second position. A sound strategy even if it does reduce the frequency of the bid.
After such an auction, when dummy goes down it is important to plan the play. At matchpoints especially, it is very important to consider what the target number of tricks is. In this case, it is probable that few will bid game, so your target is to make the contract and not worry about overtricks. It is also acceptable to take a risk to make the game, as the field will be making a part-score and any minus score will be poor.
On such an auction it is likely that declarer has values in both minors, but Jules’ opponent missed this inference and led a club. On a good day you might be able to ruff down the ace of clubs and, with trumps 2-2, make a lot of tricks. But if you can make eleven tricks you will be scoring very well so Jules’ discarded a heart from dummy as North won the ace of clubs. Belatedly North switched to a heart but Jules could rise with the ace, draw two rounds of trumps ending in her own hand, discarding hearts on the top two clubs, establishing the rest of the clubs and conceding a trick to the queen of diamonds.
Sensible play in a thin game that won most, if not all, of the masterpoints on the board.
Hopefully the results will be published soon so that we can see the margin of victory. Sam and Liz, fresh from the Lady Milne, were second.
Congratulations to Julia and Claire, I know that they work hard on their partnership and it’s good to see that rewarded.
Update: results now online and they won by almost 2%, or three-quarters of one board.
Jules, who can often be found on BBO with a glass of Shiraz to hand, tells me that there was no official photograph taken but I found this image on the interweb of them:
I must admit that I am a little disappointed with the lack of photographs. This does not seem to happen when the ‘stars’ of the Scottish game win, so hopefully this will be rectified soon.
Having established that neither Jules or Claire were going to write up their win, I asked them for a hand. Initially it was all the same modest rubbish, “we didn’t have the cards, but were lucky”, “we seemed to defend fairly routinely, but that seemed better than most”, “luckily we didn’t have the cards as we cannot bid” but eventually they sent me the following hand:
Unlike the Dutch Julia and Claire have fairly strict requirements for their weak opening bids and it is expected to be "good" in first or second position. A sound strategy even if it does reduce the frequency of the bid.
After such an auction, when dummy goes down it is important to plan the play. At matchpoints especially, it is very important to consider what the target number of tricks is. In this case, it is probable that few will bid game, so your target is to make the contract and not worry about overtricks. It is also acceptable to take a risk to make the game, as the field will be making a part-score and any minus score will be poor.
On such an auction it is likely that declarer has values in both minors, but Jules’ opponent missed this inference and led a club. On a good day you might be able to ruff down the ace of clubs and, with trumps 2-2, make a lot of tricks. But if you can make eleven tricks you will be scoring very well so Jules’ discarded a heart from dummy as North won the ace of clubs. Belatedly North switched to a heart but Jules could rise with the ace, draw two rounds of trumps ending in her own hand, discarding hearts on the top two clubs, establishing the rest of the clubs and conceding a trick to the queen of diamonds.
Sensible play in a thin game that won most, if not all, of the masterpoints on the board.
Hopefully the results will be published soon so that we can see the margin of victory. Sam and Liz, fresh from the Lady Milne, were second.
Congratulations to Julia and Claire, I know that they work hard on their partnership and it’s good to see that rewarded.
Update: results now online and they won by almost 2%, or three-quarters of one board.
Friday, 20 April 2012
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Swinging both ways
The sixth round of BBO InterCity League started with a bang. Three bangs as it turned out that slam swings turned over thirty-five imps in the first three boards, fortunately skilfully two in our direction to lead 24-11 imps.
On the first Andy evaluated his hand better, upgrading a prime 22-count. On the second Phil passed a non-prime 4441 twelve count and this made it difficult for Alex to appreciate the slam potential of the hand, even when Phil made a desperate attempt to bid it. But their judgement was back in tune on the third hand when they avoided a slam needing a 2-2 break.
Both pairs had a couple of soft results in the next few boards, and the odd success, but we entered the last two boards with a five imps deficit. I thought both East-West pairs did well on board 15:
The auction was the same in both rooms, the East players converting the 'Woolsey' double into penalty. I'm not sure I would have done the same, but it was successful on this occasion. The defences lost their way a little, but it was still +500 in both rooms.
On the final board Andy and Shireen got +800 from an overcall, good compensation for a non-vulnerable game, and we emerged winners by four imps.
The round-robin ends next week. We face Ascoli Piceno, the holders and current group leaders, needing a solid performance to qualify for the knock-out stages.
On the first Andy evaluated his hand better, upgrading a prime 22-count. On the second Phil passed a non-prime 4441 twelve count and this made it difficult for Alex to appreciate the slam potential of the hand, even when Phil made a desperate attempt to bid it. But their judgement was back in tune on the third hand when they avoided a slam needing a 2-2 break.
Both pairs had a couple of soft results in the next few boards, and the odd success, but we entered the last two boards with a five imps deficit. I thought both East-West pairs did well on board 15:
The auction was the same in both rooms, the East players converting the 'Woolsey' double into penalty. I'm not sure I would have done the same, but it was successful on this occasion. The defences lost their way a little, but it was still +500 in both rooms.
On the final board Andy and Shireen got +800 from an overcall, good compensation for a non-vulnerable game, and we emerged winners by four imps.
The round-robin ends next week. We face Ascoli Piceno, the holders and current group leaders, needing a solid performance to qualify for the knock-out stages.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
The Pentagonal Squeeze
A guest post by Roland Wald, Mr "BBO Vugraph", who is writing a series of articles called the "BBO Files" in BRIDGE Magazine based on some of the exploits he comes across on Bridge Base Online.
Some squeezes are extremely complex and also very rare. You mostly find them in books, for instance in one for the greatest books of all time, 'Adventures in Card Play' by Hugh Kelsey and Geza Óttlik. One of those squeezes is the pentagonal squeeze, a compound squeeze where both players guard two suits, and one player guards a third suit. On the play of a card the player guarding three suits must give up one of the shared guards in order not to provide immediate winners for declarer. Now each opponent singly guards one suit, and a third suit that is jointly guarded. This means that a double squeeze materialises.
Very complex already, is it not? Agreed, but look at the following deal from the 2012 Lady Milne Trophy match between England and Wales. Nicole Cook from England is our hero. She executed the pentagonal squeeze.
Six Diamonds is not a great slam, but we have all been in worse. Aida Aris led the six of clubs to the king and ace, and from there it was only a question of the queen of hearts. In one match declarer knocked out the ace of diamonds and eventually took a heart finesse for down one. Fair enough, quite normal. At this table, however, Nicole Cook showed the hundreds of spectators in the BBO VuGraph Theatre that the contract can make. She had a feeling that the finesse would not work and still found the route to success.
At trick two she drove out the ace of trumps and won the club return with the queen. She cashed the queen of diamonds, followed by a spade to the ace, the king of spades and a spade ruff. After she drew East's last trump with her jack this was the position with five cards left:
When Cook played the nine of diamonds, West had to part with the jack of spades, the suit both defenders could guard. A heart was discarded from the dummy, and East could spare her club. Now the six of diamonds turned the three-three split in hearts into two-two!
Aris was forced to pitch a heart in order to guard the clubs, so now the menace in that suit, the ten, had done its job and away it went. Linda Greenland obviously had to keep the queen of spades and also let go a heart. As West was unlikely to have started with both the queen and jack of spades when she did not lead one, East was pretty much show-up squeezed from a holding of 4-3-2; certainly not an everyday occurrence.
Hearts were now two-two, and Cook could take the last three tricks in the suit. Fine declarer play indeed. 920 points and 10 IMPs to England compared with 3NT+2 at the other table.
The observant reader will have noticed that the contract cannot be made on a spade or diamond lead. In fact, it can also be defeated on the club lead it got. If East had followed small at trick one, she would still have the king and there would be no squeeze. That is all double dummy of course, for what if West had led from the queen? Then the king must be played.
Finally, East did the bridge journalists a favour when she returned a club after winning the ace of diamonds. If she had switched to a heart, the pentagonal squeeze would have vanished and the rather boring 'simple' heart-club squeeze against West would probably have been the theme.
Roland Wald, April 2012
-------------------------------------------------
Paul adds ... with BBO's handviewer you can step through all the play using the 'Next' button (you can use the GIB button to see the positions where the defence could have broken the squeeze if they could see all four hands):
The beauty of this line is that Cook always retained the option of finessing in hearts, but gave herself the extra chance of a squeeze or defensive error. The fact that such a remarkable squeeze transpired may not have been seen at trick one, but if you never give yourself the chance then it never will.
Some squeezes are extremely complex and also very rare. You mostly find them in books, for instance in one for the greatest books of all time, 'Adventures in Card Play' by Hugh Kelsey and Geza Óttlik. One of those squeezes is the pentagonal squeeze, a compound squeeze where both players guard two suits, and one player guards a third suit. On the play of a card the player guarding three suits must give up one of the shared guards in order not to provide immediate winners for declarer. Now each opponent singly guards one suit, and a third suit that is jointly guarded. This means that a double squeeze materialises.
Very complex already, is it not? Agreed, but look at the following deal from the 2012 Lady Milne Trophy match between England and Wales. Nicole Cook from England is our hero. She executed the pentagonal squeeze.
Six Diamonds is not a great slam, but we have all been in worse. Aida Aris led the six of clubs to the king and ace, and from there it was only a question of the queen of hearts. In one match declarer knocked out the ace of diamonds and eventually took a heart finesse for down one. Fair enough, quite normal. At this table, however, Nicole Cook showed the hundreds of spectators in the BBO VuGraph Theatre that the contract can make. She had a feeling that the finesse would not work and still found the route to success.
At trick two she drove out the ace of trumps and won the club return with the queen. She cashed the queen of diamonds, followed by a spade to the ace, the king of spades and a spade ruff. After she drew East's last trump with her jack this was the position with five cards left:
When Cook played the nine of diamonds, West had to part with the jack of spades, the suit both defenders could guard. A heart was discarded from the dummy, and East could spare her club. Now the six of diamonds turned the three-three split in hearts into two-two!
Aris was forced to pitch a heart in order to guard the clubs, so now the menace in that suit, the ten, had done its job and away it went. Linda Greenland obviously had to keep the queen of spades and also let go a heart. As West was unlikely to have started with both the queen and jack of spades when she did not lead one, East was pretty much show-up squeezed from a holding of 4-3-2; certainly not an everyday occurrence.
Hearts were now two-two, and Cook could take the last three tricks in the suit. Fine declarer play indeed. 920 points and 10 IMPs to England compared with 3NT+2 at the other table.
The observant reader will have noticed that the contract cannot be made on a spade or diamond lead. In fact, it can also be defeated on the club lead it got. If East had followed small at trick one, she would still have the king and there would be no squeeze. That is all double dummy of course, for what if West had led from the queen? Then the king must be played.
Finally, East did the bridge journalists a favour when she returned a club after winning the ace of diamonds. If she had switched to a heart, the pentagonal squeeze would have vanished and the rather boring 'simple' heart-club squeeze against West would probably have been the theme.
Roland Wald, April 2012
-------------------------------------------------
Paul adds ... with BBO's handviewer you can step through all the play using the 'Next' button (you can use the GIB button to see the positions where the defence could have broken the squeeze if they could see all four hands):
The beauty of this line is that Cook always retained the option of finessing in hearts, but gave herself the extra chance of a squeeze or defensive error. The fact that such a remarkable squeeze transpired may not have been seen at trick one, but if you never give yourself the chance then it never will.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Winners
Scotland have won the 2012 Lady Milne Trophy. Congratulations to Sheila Adamson and Anne Symons, Liz McGowan and Samantha Punch, Fiona McQuaker and Yvonne Wiseman, and long-suffering NPC, Brian Short.
They beat all the other teams and the only close match was against England. However it was Wales who were the surprise package as they beat four teams to finish in a well-deserved second place.
Final table:
I watched and commentated on most of the matches. Although this is a real boost for the Scots, they will face much tougher opposition in the European Team Championships in June and I hope that they will not rest on their laurels but focus on some of the areas where improvements are needed. After celebrating their win this evening of course!!
Hopefully I'll get some photos to post.
They beat all the other teams and the only close match was against England. However it was Wales who were the surprise package as they beat four teams to finish in a well-deserved second place.
Final table:
| Scotland | 104 VPs |
| Wales | 96 VPs |
| Ireland | 71 VPs |
| England | 69 VPs |
| Northern Ireland | 65 VPs |
| WBU | 38 VPs |
I watched and commentated on most of the matches. Although this is a real boost for the Scots, they will face much tougher opposition in the European Team Championships in June and I hope that they will not rest on their laurels but focus on some of the areas where improvements are needed. After celebrating their win this evening of course!!
Hopefully I'll get some photos to post.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Gold Cup Round 4
Of little interest to us but the remaining Scottish teams in the Gold Cup have the following matches:
Harry Smith vsDavid Shenkin or Brian SHORT (#10)
Bob McKinnonor Iain SIME (#11) vs Mrs Georgia Ray
If all the seeds win through then both will face London opponents, Brian Short will play Simon Gillis andIain Sime Bob McKinnon will play Glyn Liggins. But a lot of bridge for all before that.
Updated after McKinnon beat Sime by 13 imps.
Harry Smith vs
Bob McKinnon
If all the seeds win through then both will face London opponents, Brian Short will play Simon Gillis and
Updated after McKinnon beat Sime by 13 imps.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Selection and selectors
As the SBU starts looking for a new Selection Committee, Julia has pointed me at the article on bridgetopics.com by Christian Vennerød, Norwegian NPC.
"How to choose the national team" is an interesting read (update: Part II now published).
According to wikipedia, Norway and Scotland have similar populations (around five million) and there seems little reason why we cannot achieve the same in the bridge world. Perhaps it is just cyclical or the effect of one or two great players, but Norway will be striving to win the European Team Championships while Scotland will be successful, beyond all expectations, if they finish in the top half of their group.
However it is fair to say that the means of selection probably has little effect on the Scottish performance but is far more important for Norway.
But time will tell when the championships commence in June.
"How to choose the national team" is an interesting read (update: Part II now published).
According to wikipedia, Norway and Scotland have similar populations (around five million) and there seems little reason why we cannot achieve the same in the bridge world. Perhaps it is just cyclical or the effect of one or two great players, but Norway will be striving to win the European Team Championships while Scotland will be successful, beyond all expectations, if they finish in the top half of their group.
However it is fair to say that the means of selection probably has little effect on the Scottish performance but is far more important for Norway.
But time will tell when the championships commence in June.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
At the last minute
Fifth round of the BBO InterCity League and Phil M and I were called up to play an hour before the match when one of the team fell ill. We've played a few times before and sketched out the rest of the system in the thirty minutes we had and this proved sufficient for the match.
With Mike and Miro at the other table we had a comfortable 51-16 imps win, converting to 23-7 VPs. We retain the final qualifying position in the group but play the team below us next week in what, in all probability, will decide who makes the knock-out stages.
Things started well when our opponents had a bidding misunderstanding and stopped in a partscore after a game-forcing response. I was slightly worried that 3NT appeared to have little play and they'd get lucky: indeed Mike and Miro bid a poor slam on the cards, but their defender tried to take the contract two down and inadvertently let it make for 13 imps to the good/lucky guys.
Phil and I pulled in twelve imps when the opponents got too high and we were able to double when trumps were 5-0. Then a decision in the auction for me:
Your call?
In the remaining boards Phil and I missed a twenty-one point game that probably needed two of three finesses and a 3-2 break, but all finesses worked and breaks were friendly: but got the points back when our opponents missed an easier game.
All to play for next week.
With Mike and Miro at the other table we had a comfortable 51-16 imps win, converting to 23-7 VPs. We retain the final qualifying position in the group but play the team below us next week in what, in all probability, will decide who makes the knock-out stages.
Things started well when our opponents had a bidding misunderstanding and stopped in a partscore after a game-forcing response. I was slightly worried that 3NT appeared to have little play and they'd get lucky: indeed Mike and Miro bid a poor slam on the cards, but their defender tried to take the contract two down and inadvertently let it make for 13 imps to the good/lucky guys.
Phil and I pulled in twelve imps when the opponents got too high and we were able to double when trumps were 5-0. Then a decision in the auction for me:
Your call?
In the remaining boards Phil and I missed a twenty-one point game that probably needed two of three finesses and a 3-2 break, but all finesses worked and breaks were friendly: but got the points back when our opponents missed an easier game.
All to play for next week.
Lady Milne 2012
This weekend it is the turn of the women in the Home International Series as they compete for the Lady Milne Trophy in Llandrindod Wells. It will be fully covered on BBO and the results page, and other info, can be found on a dedicated WBU site. It starts on Friday evening at 18:00 GMT.
Scotland is represented by the team that will be playing at the European Team Championships in June:
- Sheila Adamson and Anne Symons
- Liz McGowan and Samantha Punch
- Fiona McQuaker and Yvonne Wiseman
- NPC: Brian Short
Slam zone
Final round of the club teams championship, the Scott Cup, was a slam fest.
LotG and I started poorly on board two:
I knew LotG would hold seven cards and an outside card for a second-in-hand vulnerable pre-empt, but I wimped out as we don't really have any useful methods to locate outside kings. At the other table Brian faced a similar problem and, eventually I'm told, just bid six notrump. What I should have done!
We did better later in the session, on board twenty-seven:
LotG and I play a 2/1 system, unlike most at the club, so I was able to a forcing two hearts on the second round of the auction. I was slightly nervous at this point, as my hearts were poor and a void in partner's suit is not really a positive. LotG's raise to three hearts was a slam try in this case, but could have just been a lack of further distributional features but too strong for an immediate four hearts call.
I'm not a huge fan of cue bidding shortage in partner's suit but LotG felt a little fixed over three spades. The hand is too good for four hearts, as I am unlikely to move forward with poor trumps, and the Blackwood option uses a lot of space and might not help. So she temporised with four clubs. I would say that perhaps the only time I'd do this is with excellent trumps.
My four spades bid showed a massive hand in context, given my failure to jump to three hearts over two diamonds. It is highly unlikely that I'd go past game with only one ace and poor trumps, so LotG presumed that I must either have the ace of diamonds, ace of clubs or a diamond void. Well bid, even if I say so myself!
There were even more slams in the opposite direction, starting with board three:
A fairly straightforward auction this time. And then there was board nineteen:
Diana made a good decision to bid four clubs, whereas our opponent bid three notrumps and played there.
And finally, board twenty-three:
Ros made a good decision to support clubs immediately, an advantage of playing Acol, with a passed-hand inverted raise. The hand is a good play problem for an intermediate player. How do you make the contract on the lead of the four of spades?
We finished the evening in second place and finished the season in second place too, with Brian, George, Reg and Malcolm taking the title and winning four of the seven evenings. Illness and travel meant that we missed two of the nights, something we could not afford if we really wanted to challenge them, but as we only finished above them once in the five nights we both played they clearly deserve the trophy.
LotG and I started poorly on board two:
I knew LotG would hold seven cards and an outside card for a second-in-hand vulnerable pre-empt, but I wimped out as we don't really have any useful methods to locate outside kings. At the other table Brian faced a similar problem and, eventually I'm told, just bid six notrump. What I should have done!
We did better later in the session, on board twenty-seven:
LotG and I play a 2/1 system, unlike most at the club, so I was able to a forcing two hearts on the second round of the auction. I was slightly nervous at this point, as my hearts were poor and a void in partner's suit is not really a positive. LotG's raise to three hearts was a slam try in this case, but could have just been a lack of further distributional features but too strong for an immediate four hearts call.
I'm not a huge fan of cue bidding shortage in partner's suit but LotG felt a little fixed over three spades. The hand is too good for four hearts, as I am unlikely to move forward with poor trumps, and the Blackwood option uses a lot of space and might not help. So she temporised with four clubs. I would say that perhaps the only time I'd do this is with excellent trumps.
My four spades bid showed a massive hand in context, given my failure to jump to three hearts over two diamonds. It is highly unlikely that I'd go past game with only one ace and poor trumps, so LotG presumed that I must either have the ace of diamonds, ace of clubs or a diamond void. Well bid, even if I say so myself!
There were even more slams in the opposite direction, starting with board three:
A fairly straightforward auction this time. And then there was board nineteen:
Diana made a good decision to bid four clubs, whereas our opponent bid three notrumps and played there.
And finally, board twenty-three:
Ros made a good decision to support clubs immediately, an advantage of playing Acol, with a passed-hand inverted raise. The hand is a good play problem for an intermediate player. How do you make the contract on the lead of the four of spades?
We finished the evening in second place and finished the season in second place too, with Brian, George, Reg and Malcolm taking the title and winning four of the seven evenings. Illness and travel meant that we missed two of the nights, something we could not afford if we really wanted to challenge them, but as we only finished above them once in the five nights we both played they clearly deserve the trophy.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
To the max
Our Edinburgh team scored a maximum win in the latest round of the BBO InterCity League to move us into a qualifying position for the knock-out stages. When I reported the result, 75-20 imps (25-3 VPs), to the organiser, his first question was how many of the players were drunk. However, having lost more imps in the first set of the Vanderbilt last month I know that this does not have to be the case!
This was the most exciting hand:
Where I was watching Shireen opened three hearts. This made it difficult for EW to sort out their values and they took +1100, probably thinking this was reasonable since you'd have to guess the queen of clubs to make the slam.
The auction in the other room was livelier.
This left Harry in an interesting contract to play, but eventually he divined where the queen of clubs lay and emerged with +1680 and eleven imps.
More next Wednesday.
This was the most exciting hand:
Where I was watching Shireen opened three hearts. This made it difficult for EW to sort out their values and they took +1100, probably thinking this was reasonable since you'd have to guess the queen of clubs to make the slam.
The auction in the other room was livelier.
This left Harry in an interesting contract to play, but eventually he divined where the queen of clubs lay and emerged with +1680 and eleven imps.
More next Wednesday.
Arrow switching
Back at the club for the next round of the pairs championship. LotG and I went into the evening needing a 70% session to even start a challenge to Brian and George, and exited the evening still needing it.
We were second with 64% and closed the gap a little, but still a mountain to climb. Reg and Malcolm did achieve the 70% mark, but they need to score the same in both the final two rounds to even compete for the Royal Bank trophy. Two more 64% sessions would make us competitive but unlikely to win, which is why we need a monster score ourselves.
We had one system disagreement last night. What do you think double should show in these sequences (and are they the same)?
The other interesting point from last night was the effect of the arrow switch. For probably the first time the five strongest pairs (as most, probably except for the sixth strongest pair, would agree) were all sitting North-South. With eight and one half tables in play, a simple Mitchell movement would probably have left at least one of these pairs below average and the others all scoring in the mid- to lower-50%. The arrow switches, designed to deliver a single winner for the evening, enabled all five to finish in the top positions with scores above 55%. It certainly feels fairer.
We were second with 64% and closed the gap a little, but still a mountain to climb. Reg and Malcolm did achieve the 70% mark, but they need to score the same in both the final two rounds to even compete for the Royal Bank trophy. Two more 64% sessions would make us competitive but unlikely to win, which is why we need a monster score ourselves.
We had one system disagreement last night. What do you think double should show in these sequences (and are they the same)?
The other interesting point from last night was the effect of the arrow switch. For probably the first time the five strongest pairs (as most, probably except for the sixth strongest pair, would agree) were all sitting North-South. With eight and one half tables in play, a simple Mitchell movement would probably have left at least one of these pairs below average and the others all scoring in the mid- to lower-50%. The arrow switches, designed to deliver a single winner for the evening, enabled all five to finish in the top positions with scores above 55%. It certainly feels fairer.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Down and out
We lost our third round Gold Cup match to the Ray team by 18 imps yesterday. We lost 30 imps in the first set and would then pull imps back in the even sets and lose some more in the odd ones.
I made two errors in the fourth set, missing a slam and not finding the defence to beat a game: they did not cost imps directly but definitely missed opportunities. Our opponents bid a really bad slam in the second set that came home, but since they bid more bad slams that did not make we did gain in this area.
But overall we just did not play well enough as a team, disappointingly as it was a match we should have won.
Anne and Sheila are off to the Lady Milne in a couple of weeks, then we'll have the Silver Plate final just before they jet off to Dublin for the Europeans. Next up for Alex and I is the EBU Spring Foursomes in Stratford-upon-Avon.
I made two errors in the fourth set, missing a slam and not finding the defence to beat a game: they did not cost imps directly but definitely missed opportunities. Our opponents bid a really bad slam in the second set that came home, but since they bid more bad slams that did not make we did gain in this area.
But overall we just did not play well enough as a team, disappointingly as it was a match we should have won.
Anne and Sheila are off to the Lady Milne in a couple of weeks, then we'll have the Silver Plate final just before they jet off to Dublin for the Europeans. Next up for Alex and I is the EBU Spring Foursomes in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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