14/08/2007
Qualcuno una volta mi ha detto “il cambiamento è
spesso positivo”. Allora facciamo un cambio ed ispiriamoci all’eccellente libro
“Over Hoffman’s shoulder” facendo un pezzo in inglese, accontentando così anche
i nostri visitatori dall’estero (si, ci sono!) A voi:
It’s the beginning of July and it’s
hot although it’s eleven in the evening. As the summer holidays approach, the
attendance to the club’s weekly duplicate tournaments starts to drop.
Still, twenty-four pairs are playing
tonight which is not bad at all. I play with one of my favourite partners,
Patrizia. We are almost halfway through the session with a score well above average when we reach the next table and
I pick up:
ª A94 © AQ8 ¨ QJ874 § Q5
Our opponents is a good pair which I
suppose has done well so far as they seems very concentrated to me. Whilst I
count my points preparing the bid, right hand opponent in first seat opens with
1 ©. So much for my opening bid. Our 1NT overcalls
vary a bit, say 15–18 in green and 16-19 in red. I look at the board to check
if we are vulnerable. Yes, we are. Nevertheless I enter the bidding with 1NT as
I have a double stopper in hearts and I hate to stay out with these cards.
Probably I have done the wrong thing
because a double arrives from Marino on my left. My partner passes, so do
Alessandro on my right after a tense look to the bid (but he’s often tense). At
least I have a five-card suit, so I try 2 ¨, but also this is doubled on my
left after a few seconds. My poor partner passes again and so do Alessandro
after another tense look, and that ends the auction.
Marino
comments the bidding as he usually does (and sometimes he gets berated for this
habit, but it’s a friendly game) “well, let’s hope for the best” while he leads
the heart six. The dummy goes down while Patrizia simply says “good luck
partner”.
ª QT82
© JT
¨ 653
§ T832
lead:
© 6
ª A94
© AQ8
¨ QJ874
§ Q5
Things are looking grim but there is
nothing I can do. I put the ten and capture Alessandro’s king with the ace to
play a second heart to dummy’s jack, west follows with the four and east with
the deuce. I continue with a diamond and the king, an obvious singleton,
appears from east. He thinks for a few
seconds and then returns a third heart. I play my queen and Marino chooses
after some thought to discard a spade and so do I from dummy.
Diamonds ought to be 4-1 so I have three losers in this suit. I
have to pay two trick in clubs and, at
least one in spade, what can I do? I have to try something in clubs and I lead
the five. West stares on this card for a while but finally produces the four. I
try the eight and east wins with the jack. He cashes the club ace dropping my
queen and I notice the nine from west. He continues with a third club which I
ruff whilst the king is dropping on
my left.
Things have improved and it’s time
to draw trumps. The diamond queen is captured by west’s ace who continues with
the diamond ten, east discards two hearts. These cards remain:
ª QT8
© --
¨ 6
§ T
ª Xxx N ª Xxx
© -- W E © 9
¨ T9 S ¨ --
§ -- §7
ª A94
© --
¨ J8
§ --
I take west’s ten of diamonds with
the jack and endplays him with the last diamond to his nine. With a sigh he
plays the forced spade.
Decision time. If I guess the right
card to play, I will make two diamonds doubled which must be a top. If I chose
the wrong spot I will go down for a near bottom. What to do? I recall the
bidding and count the points in west’s hand: three in clubs, four in diamonds,
nothing in hearts. Normally Marino is a prudent player and would he have
doubled two diamonds with the jack of spades, a mere eight-count? The board has
been bid and played in slow time so we are a bit late. I finally put up the
queen which is immediately covered with the king to east’s relief. One down.
The complete deal:
ª QT82
© JT
¨ 653
§ T832
ª J653 N ª K7
© 64 W E © K97532
¨ AT92 S ¨ K
§ K94 §AJ76
ª A94
© AQ8
¨ QJ874
§ Q5
The second board is played quickly.
After a light opening we buy the contract for one down which should be a good
result, but I blame myself for not having guessed the spade distribution right
on the previous hand. Only just before the change for the next round, it hits
me that it was hardly no guess at all!
East had two occasions to play a spade when he was in. The reason for
not having done so, must be that the defence couldn’t move the suit without
losing a trick. Therefore the king had to be in east!
It would have been better that I
hadn’t realized my blunder as our score worsen for the rest of the evening.
However, it results that this time the “death kiss” (-200 in matchpoints) is not
a bottom, we get 33% on the board. Some pairs have gone for -500, and we still
finish 6th, which is just enough to catch the last prize.
For sure I won’t forget this error
for long. Hopefully a useful experience to improve the future play .
Jan