Match 2- Brazil

After a quick lunch, we resumed battle with the same lineup of my pair (Loo/Poon) and Kelvin/Liyu. A note about the food and accommodation. It is absolutely splendid. The room is very spacious and comfortable, almost suite style. All meals are provided and there is a good variety although it did seem to be repetitive towards the end but which menu wont bore after 10 days? I understand we paid quite a bit for all this but it is truly luxurious and makes life a dream, good bridge good rest and good food. :)

Ok, we sat down against Brazil confident after our last win but under no illusion that we will get another rout. And so it proved...

We got off to a good start again, with

♠ 8 7 3 2
♥ Q
♦ A K 8 6 3 2
♣ T 7

all non-vul, what do you open after 2 passes? A routine 3D?

Somehow, I felt that the hand had too many drawbacks, a 4 card Major plus bad spots. I once read that AKxxxx is a worse suit than KQJxxx for preempting, well, I agree with that analysis, so I passed and opps proceeded to a bid a normal 3NT going one off.

Though I didnt know it at that time, at the other table, my hand opened 3D dbled and passed out for -500. In the youth series, this result occured 6 times. As Michael Rosenberg says, sometimes it is right not to preempt.

At imps,players tend to bid vulnerable games, looking for that attractive bonus. The otherside of the coin is that when things get ugly you go down for a big number. A couple boards later, I held my usual:

♠ 3
♥ K J 9
♦ K 9 8
♣ 8 7 5 4 3 2

NV against Vul,
partner open 1C(2+) RHO dbls, I had a gadget in my bag, namely 2H to show a mixed raise. Now LHO blast to 4S passed to me, any move?

Your Kings are probably upgraded in terms of value, so you do have fair defensive values. However, 5C could be very cheap depending on the level of fit. Should you bid or not? I finally decided to 'consult' my partner with a dbl, hoping he would know what I am looking for. The dbl was passed out and we collected 500. other 3 hands:

------------♠ J T 8 2
------------♥ A 7 5 3
------------♦ Q 7
------------♣ A J T

♠ A K 6 5 4 --------♠ Q 9 7
♥ T 2---------------♥ Q 8 6 4
♦ J T 5 4-----------♦ A 6 3 2
♣ Q 6---------------♣ K 9


both opponents were pushy and we caught them.

We gave it back the next board when we were the ones overbidding

Vul against not, I held:

♠ K Q 3
♥ A T 9 8
♦ 5 4 2
♣ A K 9

LHO opened 1D pass pass, i dbled (1NT would be weaker and i didnt mind with all of values outside). partner respond 1H, what's your bid? well, in retrospect i suppose 2H is the right bid, at the table, the vulnerablility enticed me to stretched to 3H. partner suggested 3NT which I was more than happy to play in. That was swiftly dispatched for 3down, mercifully undbled :) Partner's hand:

♠ A J 7
♥ J 6 5 4
♦ J T 9 3
♣ 8 6

opps at other table stopped in 2H making so we lost 9 imps :(

Compared to the last match, this set of boards were much tamer with swings far and few in between. We lost another big swing when our teammates let through a game due to a defensive signal misunderstanding.

Then came what was probably the first play problem of the tournament.

♠ 3 2
♥ K 3 2
♦ J 8 3
♣ A K Q T 3



♠ K T 9 8 6 4
♥ A 5
♦ K 7 5
♣ 5 2

After RHO opened 1NT(15-17), you managed to overcome it and reached the very thin 4S.

After T of H lead (0/1 higher) which you win in dummy and lead a S, RHO quickly follows with the 7, your play?

your aim is to prevent 3 trumps losers since you probably can pitch a D loser on the club after you draw trumps.

now, the danger of playing the T is that if West gets in with a secondary honour and switches to a D you probably will need to rely on a 3-3 club break. After some thought, I decide to cater for all 3-2 breaks + 4-1 breaks with a sgl honour and play the K on this trick.

Wrong! RHO held:
♠ A Q J 7
♥ J 6
♦ A Q T 4
♣ J 9 6

arghh.. one off. at the other table my teammates sacrificed 4H after opps had reached the cold 3NT (clubs are 3-3) -500 for 11 imps away. Till now, I believe my play was right but still, it was not successful.

Towards the end, the match was fairly close and we got lucky on the following hand:
♠ Q J 8 4 3
♥ A K
♦ A J 7 6
♣ A 8



♠ A 9
♥ 8 7 5 2
♦ 5 3 2
♣ K Q 4 3

On my side, we reached the normal 3NT making with an overtrick. The real action was at the other table when they reached 4S duly defeated when S are 5-1. So, we picked up another 13 imps.

That last hand was the difference in the match when we came out 60-46 in imps (18-12 in VPs). This win could have been bigger especially since I misplayed that 4S and needlessly overbidded on some hands. But still, we were pretty happy with the proceedings, we managed to survive 2 potentially dangerous teams. We had to play another match before dinner and next match was Jordan. Judging from the early proceedings , it is fair to say we have fair hopes of securing another good win. Could we continue our winning streak?