21.docx |
I found myself unexpectedly playing in the Roswell Sectional yesterday. Partner and I took first in X, but the real satisfaction came from a couple interesting deals. N E S W 1♣ P 1N P 2♣ P 2♥ P 2♠ P 3♣ P 3♦ P 3♠ P 4♣ P 6♣ P P P When you use relay methods, there's nothing more satisfying than using them... except for applying them well! Below is a brief description of this auction, as the editing tool will not let me use superscripts to make little note inserts. 1♣ 15+ artificial (17+ if balanced) 1N 5+♣ 8+ FG 2♣ Relay, asking for length 2♥ 6 card suit 2♠ Relay, asking for top honors in ♣ 3♣ 1 Top Honor (A, K, or Q) 3♦ Relay, asking for aces 3♠ 1 Ace 4♣ Relay, asking for kings 6♣ No Kings Unaware of the ♠/♦ layouts, I elected to not try for 6N (which, as the auction was, would go down on a ♦ lead). 6♣ was a shared top. As a point of interest, I was a little disappointed with East's lack of aggression over the strong club. Bidding any slam becomes a lot harder after an auction like: N E S W 1♣ 1♥ 2♣ 3♥ For those curious, N/S make 1♥ This theme of passivity occurred frequently against us during this tournament. For instance, Our auction was as follows: N E S W - - - P 3♠ P P P Most other pairs reached 4♥ on the E/W cards. Believe it or not, N/S missed their game. We didn't have to lift a finger to do it either.
N E S W - - P P 1♣ P 1♥ P 3♥ P P P Consider the rationales that each player goes through to arrive at these unfortunate consequences, singe dummy. There's a lot to be learned from analyzing the routine hands like these, for bidding, play, or otherwise, simply by sitting in every seat and experimenting with the alternative choices. I urge the reader to examine these boards, as well as the ones you play at your next club game, just a little closer. |
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