SNS Bank Matchpoints Pairs Maastricht, April 30, 2000

SNS Bank Matchpoints Pairs 2000

Maastricht, Festi Village, April 30

Session 01, boards 15-21

Board 15 S/NS WEST	NORTH ª 7 3 © 8 6 5 ¨ K J T 8 § 8 4 3 2	EAST
ª Q 5 4 2 © Q T 4 3 ¨ 5 § K Q 7 6	SOUTH	ª J 8 6 © A K J ¨ 9 7 6 § A J T 5
	ª A K T 9 © 9 7 2 ¨ A Q 4 3 2 § 9

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
670	1	72	0
100	1	70	2
90	1	68	4
50	7	60	12
-100	5	48	24
-110	6	37	35
-130	1	30	42
-140	10	19	53
-170	1	8	64
-200	2	5	67
-400	1	2	70
-420	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
---	---	---	1¨
pass	pass	1NT	pass
pass	2¨	pass	pass
dbl	pass	3§	3¨
pass	pass	pass.

A balancing 1NT shows a balanced hand with 11-14 hp; a ¨-stopper is not required. At matchpoints, it's all about partscores, so North comes alive. West has excellent shape to reopen with. When East picks his best suit, South pulls it to 3¨. EW must cash their tricks right away to hold South to 9.

Board 16 W/EW WEST	NORTH ª K 6 5 4 © Q T 3 ¨ Q J 6 3 2 § A	EAST
ª A Q 7 2 © J 5 2 ¨ A K 7 4 § T 3	SOUTH	ª T 8 © A K 9 4 ¨ T 9 § Q 8 5 4 2
	ª J 9 3 © 8 7 6 ¨ 8 5 § K J 9 7 6

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
200	1	72	0
100	5	66	6
-50	1	60	12
-90	7	52	20
-100	2	43	29
-110	2	39	33
-120	8	29	43
-150	6	15	57
-300	1	8	64
-500	1	6	66
-600	2	3	69
-800	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
1¨	pass	1©	pass
1ª	pass	1NT	pass
pass	pass.

South leads a § to the Ace. North cannot continue the suit, so he shifts to a © for the Jack. East cashes 3 more ©, and leads ªT to Jack, Queen and King. North returns ¨Q, which is allowed to hold. North must proceed with ¨J, for a ª-return would set up 2 extra tricks for Declarer. Now, East cashes his ¨ and ªA, and returns a ª to South, who is forced to lead from §KJ to §Q8. Two overtricks are worth 79.17% of the matchpoints.

Board 17 N/- WEST	NORTH ª A 7 2 © Q J 9 5 ¨ K T 9 6 3 § 5	EAST
ª Q 3 © 8 2 ¨ Q 7 4 § J T 8 7 6 2	SOUTH	ª 6 4 © K T 7 6 ¨ J 8 5 2 § K Q 3
	ª K J T 9 8 5 © A 4 3 ¨ A § A 9 4

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
1010	1	72	0
980	3	68	4
510	10	55	17
480	15	30	42
450	4	11	61
230	1	6	66
-50	2	3	69
-100	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
---	pass	pass	1ª
pass	2¨¹	pass	3ª²
pass	4§³	pass	4©⁴
pass	4ª⁵	pass	4NT⁶
pass	5§⁷	pass	5¨⁸
pass	5©⁹	pass	6ª
pass	pass	pass.

1: North can't bid 3ª, for that would promise 4-card support. With 10 hcp and a singleton, North doesn't want South to pass
below game anyway. So he begins with a one round force.
2: On a 2-over-1 response, this jumprebid forces game. South only needs a good 14-count for such action.
3: Either a genuine §-suit, looking for a fit, or an advanced cuebid, aiming at a ª-slam.
4: Fourth suit forcing, even at the 4-level: "What are you up to, partner?"
5: Reveals his ª-fit.
6: Roman Keycard Blackwood for ª-contract.
7: 1 or 4 out of 5 Aces, 1403-variation.
8: Asking for ªQ.
9: Denies ªQ, but promises features in ©, ¨ or both reds. 5ª would call off the whole thing, and North can't bypass this
station on his own.

If the Queen of trumps doesn't come down, ©K can still be on. South must ruff 2 § in Dummy, so this slam succeeds in about 70% of all cases. West leads a § to King and Ace. South ruffs a §, crosses in ¨, ruffs another §, crosses in ª, dumps a © on ¨K, runs ©Q, crosses in ©, and drops ªQ for 13 tricks.

Board 18 E/NS WEST	NORTH ª J 8 4 © 9 8 6 ¨ A T 5 § T 6 4 3	EAST
ª Q T 9 3 © Q 7 3 2 ¨ 7 6 3 § K J	SOUTH	ª A K 6 5 2 © K T ¨ K 8 2 § 8 5 2
	ª 7 © A J 5 4 ¨ Q J 9 4 § A Q 9 7

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
500	1	72	0
150	1	70	2
100	1	68	4
50	10	57	15
-140	16	31	41
-170	5	10	62
-200	1	4	68
-300	1	2	70
-400	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
---	---	1ª	dbl
3ª	pass	pass	pass.

West has a max for his preemptive raise; most EW-pairs at this level will play 2NT as limit raise or better. East has no reason to go on. He yields 2 ¨-, 1©- and 1 §-trick.

Board 19 S/EW WEST	NORTH ª A 10 9 8 © K 8 4 ¨ 7 3 2 § K 8 4	EAST
ª J 5 3 2 © A 3 ¨ A J 5 § 10 5 3 2	SOUTH	ª 7 4 © Q 10 9 7 6 5 ¨ 9 8 6 4 § 6
	ª K Q 6 © J 2 ¨ K Q 10 § A Q J 9 7

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
460	11	62	10
450	2	49	23
430	14	33	39
420	1	18	54
400	6	11	61
200	2	3	69
140	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
---	---	---	1§
pass	1ª	pass	2NT
pass	3NT	pass	pass
pass.

North's 4333-hand rules out a slamtry. Without distributional assets, small slam requires 33 hcp. West will start a ©A and a small one. North will duck in order to guard against a 5-3 break in that suit, which is far more likely than 6-2. Now South can safely develop a ¨-trick, no matter what East does next.

If South knows how © break, he can rise with the King in trick two, cash all of his §. This squeezes West out of his third ¨, so he will be kind of endplayed on ¨K.

Board 20 W/A WEST	NORTH ª K 3 2 © J 9 7 ¨ Q 5 § K Q T 3 2	EAST
ª J 7 6 4 © K Q 8 2 ¨ T 9 § 8 6 4	SOUTH	ª Q T 9 8 5 © T 4 ¨ 8 6 3 § A 9 7
	ª A © A 6 5 3 ¨ A K J 7 4 2 § J 5

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
1370	1	72	0
690	26	45	27
660	3	16	56
630	1	12	60
620	1	10	62
600	2	7	65
300	1	4	68
150	1	2	70
-100	1	0	72

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
pass	pass	pass	1¨
pass	2§	pass	2©¹
pass	2ª²	pass	3¨³
pass	3ª⁴	pass	3NT
pass	pass	pass.

1: On a 2-over-1 response, South only needs a good 14 hcp for his reverse bid.
2: Fourth suit forcing, asking for more info.
3: Promises 6⁺ ¨.
4: Repeats forth suit forcing.
5: Shows ª-stopper, i.e. ªA.

6¨ requires either ©AK, §J and ¨AK, or ©A, §AJ and ¨AK. If South is that strong, he is the one to take the auction beyond 3NT. Here, South only takes 11 tricks on a ©-lead.

Board 21 N/NS WEST	NORTH ª J © K 9 8 6 ¨ 9 6 2 § Q 9 6 3 2	EAST
ª A K 9 3 © T 4 3 2 ¨ 7 4 § K 8 4	SOUTH	ª Q T 8 7 6 5 2 © Q 7 5 ¨ 5 3 § A
	ª 4 © A J ¨ A K Q J T 8 § J T 7 5

NS score	Freq	mp NS	mp EW
600	2	71	1
500	2	67	5
300	4	61	11
150	1	56	16
130	2	53	19
100	7	44	28
50	3	34	38
-100	5	26	46
-200	4	17	55
-400	1	12	60
-420	2	9	63
-500	2	5	67
-530	2	1	71

Recommended bidding sequence:

West	North	East	South
---	pass	3ª	4¨
4ª	pass	pass	pass.

South would double with 17 or more hcp, so North has no point in going on. Neither North nor South has reasons to double for penalties, unless one of them draws inferences from his partner's hesitations or gestures. NS can and should start out with ¨A, ©A, ©J to the King, ©-ruff, and another ¨, but at favorable vulnerability, no one can blame EW for going all the way.

Go to Session 02, boards 01-07