Jan 27-28 -- Clogged Arteries

Points Summary
♠     ♥     ♦     ♣	Gold	Red	Silver	Other	Total
Earned This Time			1.22		1.22
Earned Since Last Update				.84	.84
Earned Earlier This Year	3.78	9.75		.23	13.76
Total Earned This Year	3.78	9.75	1.22	1.07	15.82
Earned Prior to This Year	11.41	45.01	21.98	17.39	95.79
Total	15.19	54.76	23.20	18.46	111.61
Required	25.00	25.00	50.00	200.00	300.00
Still Needed	9.81	0.00	26.80	151.78	188.39

Advance Planning

I had arranged to play at the Sectional Tournament an hour away, at a Friday night pairs game wih "W," and for Saturday morning and afternoon pairs games with "E." "W" was not available to play in Sunday's Swiss Teams, and I needed some pairs competition with hand records with both "E" and "W," so I arranged my calendar to fit with each of them and this was the result.

"W" was able to play Friday afternoon, and drove to the tournament in midday traffic to play in that session. I had to drive there Friday after work. I left the office shortly after 5 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. game. I arrived at about 7:00, having spent almost two hours in lots of bumper-to-bumper traffic, far too much of it at stop-and-go speeds on Interstate highways.

Overall Results

"W" and I played in the Non-Life Master Pairs, in Strat A as each of us has over 100 Masterpoints. This was W's choice, not mine. I would have competed in Open Pairs, but W felt we had a better chance of winning points against competition with fewer Masterpoints. We finished with an above-average game, but did not win points as the field was so small.

The drive home, and the Saturday commutes, were each less than an hour.

"E" and I played 1n the only Saturday morning session, Open Pairs, in Strat C (less than 500 Masterpoints). We finished third overall in Strat C, and won the 1.22 Silver Masterpoints.

For lunch, we went across the street to a fast food place where I purchased a "fish sandwich" -- probably fish pieces formed into a frozen patty-shaped blob, then boiled in oil; served with some "processed cheese food" melted atop, and some greasy imitation-mayo-based sauce, on a bun. Just thinking about it, I'm sure, hardens my arteries.

In the Saturday afternoon session, we played in the 0-500 Masterpoint game, rather than the 0-300 game; this time my choice. We had a terrible result, less than forty percent.

Despite playing only three sessions in this seven-session sectional tournament, I earned more masterpoints than 54.3 percent of the participants. E also beat 54.3 percent of the participants, while playing in only two of the seven sessions. Still, coming up pointless in two of three sessions was a disappointment to me.

Tournament Summary
♠   ♥   ♦   ♣		Overall				Section				♠♥♦♣
Session	Pctg	Size	Strat A	Strat B	Strat C	Size	Strat A	Strat B	Strat C	MP's
Fri eve	51.25	12	7	n/a	--	6	3	n/a	--
Sat am	53.60	28	11	7	3	14	6	5	2	1.22
Sat aft.	37.12	26	25	--	--	13	13	--	--

Missing Tools

My new partners and I have not had enough discussion and practice to complete a bidding system. One board's terrible result this weekend shows me that one of the areas in which we are deficient is slam bidding.

Slams are relatively unimportant in a Matchpoint Pairs game, as each hand counts the same as any other hand. In team games, though, slams are of vital importance. Bidding game and making slam vs. bidding and making slam costs one slam bonus, which is anywhere from 500 points (non-vulnerable small slam) to 1500 points (vulnerable grand slam). These translate into 11 to 17 IMPS, often more than the margin of victory in a Swiss or Knockout match.


Here's the hand:

         ♠ (void)  ♥ J 6  ♦ A K Q 10 6 4 3 2  ♣ A Q 3

With two aces and the ♣ K in my partner's hand, I can risk 7 NT; ♥ A K and ♣ K makes 7 ♦ a strong bet; just ♥ K Q and ♣ K makes 6 ♦ a strong bet. My partnerships don't have the tools to find specific key cards. A Schenken 2 ♦ bid and its responses would have done the trick, but that bid is not in our arsenal and probably won't be added. The 2 ♦ weak two bid (Howard Schenken also invented the weak two bid) occurs much more frequently. Here was our auction:

North	East	South	West
Double Pass Pass Pass	Pass 4 ♠ 5 ♠ 6 ♠ Pass	1 ♦ 5 ♦ 6 ♦ Double	2 ♠ Pass Pass Pass

I decided to open the hand 1 ♦ because North's response to a 2 ♣ bid won't tell me about specific key cards, and the hand is far too strong to open with a pre-emptive bid at any level.

By the time the auction got around to me again, I knew from the negative double that North had something in the rounded suits, but I had no way to pinpoint key cards in North's hand. My 5 ♦ bid was a poorly educated guess. The alternative, a 4 NT bid to ask for aces, would have yielded no useful information if North held exactly one ace. The ♠ A would be useless; the ♥ A would tell me that bidding 6 ♦ would probably yield success. North's one-key-card-showing 5 ♦ bid would not tell me which Ace North holds.

East's continuing in spades told me East had no defense, and I figured a weak jump overcall opposite a hand with no defense gave North's hand enough key cards that I could persevere to 6 ♦. After East bid slam as well, I did not dare chance a possible minus score by bidding a Grand Slam opposite North's unknown holdings, so I doubled to get the largest possible plus score. If we had discussed and understood the "forcing pass," I would have passed and left the choice to North -- a much better option.

North and I went terribly wrong; our +800 for setting East-West four tricks beat only one pair in our section. The ten pairs who beat us were all making slam; top score was 2220 for 7 NT bid and made. Second score was 2140, a minor suit grand slam bid and made. Four pairs bid 6 NT and made 7; four bid a minor suit small slam and made 7.

The hand was difficult even at higher levels; in the Flight A/X Pairs, only three of nine pairs bid and made a grand slam; four bid the small slam and took all thirteen tricks; one was in a minor suit game making 7; one was setting an E-W pre-empt. In the Flight B Pairs, two of nine were in a minor suit grand slam; four in a small slam; one in game; and two setting E-W pre-empts. In the 0-300 game, no one bid a grand slam.

North's hand:

         ♠ A J 8   ♥  A Q 7 3   ♦ 7   ♣ K J 7 4 2

What I missed
Thanks to our local Unit President for pointing out my now-obvious error on the auction. I should have bid 4 NT instead of 5 ♦ -- this would have shown North that I had a strong hand. If North replied showing zero key cards (5 ♣) or one key card (5 ♦), I could just place the contract at 5 ♦ and leave it there. When North instead would bid 5 ♥, showing two key cards, I could bid 5 NT and North should show the ♣ K. Then I can count 1 Spade, 1 Heart, 8 Diamonds, and 3 Clubs and bid 7 NT. Even if East interferes with a 6 ♠ bid over North's 5 ♥, we may still get to the Grand Slam. I bid 6 NT, and North may figure that between his ♣ K and his ♥ Q we have a thirteenth trick and come up with the 7 NT bid. I couldn't do this 4 NT bid if my suit was Clubs, but with Diamonds the 4 NT bid makes sense.

Knowing we went wrong is one thing; knowing why, where, and how we went wrong, and what to do to correct this, is a significant challenge at this point in my development as a bridge player. Our slam bidding tools are weak; competition from the opponents clogged the auction and made things worse for us.

Next Steps

• Learn more about state-of-the-art slam bidding, both from Hardy's Advanced Bridge Bidding for the Twenty-First Century and from the Bridge World Standard system.
  
• Find the time to discuss slam bidding with my regular partners, reach clear agreements and add them to our convention cards.
• Continue to play with my regular partners as often as possible, especially where hand records are available.

Last Word

Fewer Masterpoints are available in Sectionals than in Regoinals (fields are smaller). Still, I need to earn morre points per Sectional than the 1.22 I earned at this one, or I will not reach my Silver Point requirement for Life Master.

Local Sectionals provide much better commutes, better hospitality, larger fields (almost 200 more players at the Jan 5-8 local than at the Jan 26-28 an hour away), and more familiar players than the ones an hour's drive away. I can also generally play in more sessions locally. If I can earn enough Silver Points locally, I'll skip the Nov. 17-19 sectional.

The coastal resort Regional is next on my schedule, with the 2-hour drive to a sectional en route. I have no firm arangements yet for this Regional, but may go even with none and do what I can with pick-up partners and teammates. I'll certainly test my stamina with eight straight days of competition if I do go!

Many thanks to W and E for agreeing to take the time to play, and for their continued willingness to work with me to learn and improve and seek Masterpoints.