Week 4

First regional of the year

I played in the Hawaii regional this week, mostly with Greg. It was a great opportunity for us to get some practice in, both individually and as a partnership. I had a few lazy moments at the beginning of the tournament, but by the end I was playing pretty well.

One pattern I noticed was not digging deep enough into unusual auctions, where what partner was doing didn’t make a lot of sense. My laziness sometimes kicks in, and I go with my initial understanding of their bidding, even though later calls don’t support that.

Here’s an example:

LHO            Greg              RHO              Me
                                                                1♣ 
1♠                 Pass               Pass              3♣ 
Pass             3♠                  Pass              4♣
Pass             4♥                  Pass               ?

3♠ sounds like partner is looking for a spade control for 3NT. That’s certainly plausible—maybe he has an 8-count that didn’t have anything to do over 1♠. I didn’t have a spade stopper and so bid 4♣. But now partner bids 4♥. What is he doing? Does he have long hearts? No, he can’t. He clearly has some values, but he didn’t bid 2♥ or make a Negative Double at his first call. Can you figure out what partner is doing? I shrugged my shoulders and bid a lazy 5♣.

Here was Greg’s hand: ♠ AKJ98 ♥ AK ♦ 643 ♣ 732

His initial pass was a Trap Pass—he was hoping I would balance with double and he could penalize 1♠. Once I jumped to 3♣, his hand was way too good to bid only 3NT. Even 4NT is an underbid. And he’d rather play notrump from my side, to protect whatever diamond holding I have.

I had Kxx of diamonds, so 6NT was cold from my side. In 5♣, they led a spade, which got ruffed. A diamond came back and they took the first 5 tricks.

When Greg bid 4♥, I should have realized he had a Trap Pass of spades and was showing something in hearts, looking for slam. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. But I was stuck on “He cuebid spades looking for a spade stopper.” I didn’t revise that thinking to consider the sequence of 3♠ and then 4♥. With my Kxx of diamonds, I should have bid 4NT. Hopefully he would have raised that to 6. If not, at least we would have made our game. We lost 13 IMPs to 3NT making 6 at the other table.

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I allowed myself to just focus on bridge at the table this week, so I didn’t do any other practice or study. I made sure to talk about the hands in depth with my teammates, and I made a habit of seeking advice from peers during play. When I put down the dummy, I’d ask the good players at the table if they agreed with my bid. That’s the sort of immediate feedback I’m looking for.

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I’m staying in Hawaii this week on vacation, and will try to find a mix of enjoying the vacation while also getting some work and study done. So much of this year is about finding what works and what is reasonable to expect. I’m making a commitment to improving my game and studying relentlessly, but I also need to enjoy life. And I’m in Hawaii! It’d be a shame to spend all my time in front of a computer screen. So finding that balance is part of the exercise. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Have a great week.

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