(no subject)

[jianantonic]

LJ is totally fucked up today. Meh.

Ahren and I had a pretty good game last night. He made two bidding errors that made me really mad, but I made two playing errors so we can call it even. We finished 3rd of 10. Respectable, but we could've been first if we'd both just used our heads a little more. Our defense was staggering.

For those of you out there who play bridge:

Ahren and I will open almost any shape 15-17HCP hand at 1nt, as long as there's no 5 card major and no singletons, and not necessarily stoppers in every suit. In other words, it's entirely possible that a 1NT opener might have a short major, or even two short majors. So when I open 1NT in third seat, unfavorable vul, and you have this:

ATxxx x xxx Qxxx

What do you do?

If you're my partner and our agreement is as stated above, I certainly hope you'd pass. But Ahren transfered me into 2S. The only time I'll transfer with fewer than 8 points is if I have a solid long suit (at least 6) and absolutely can't stomach 1NT. Otherwise that transfer is a stop along the road to a game invitation in your choice or NT or my suit.

My Kx of spades didn't help much and I was down 2. 1NT makes 2 in every other instance. Blast.

Anyway it's time for lunch. More later.

Peace.

Comments

My high horse for the day

[mczen.livejournal.com]

Actually, it would never occur to me to pass 1NT on this hand. Not because I'm sure 2S is a better contract than 1NT [gut feeling says it will be a better spot about 60% of the time, though] but because I'd much rather be dummy at 2S than defend 2H, which is where competent opponents will get to 95% of the time. Sure, you can back in to 2S when they get to 2H, but that may give them enough information to profitably compete to 3H [or even double!].

Also, may I suggest a rethinking of the no 5-card major thing? Missing a 5-3 major suit fit isn't the end of the world. Unless the 3-card holding has side shortness, it'll generally play as well in 1N. Also, with good agreements [1N - 3M shows a stiff, three in the other major, and 5-4 in the minors, game-forcing] you can find the profitable 5-3 fits. I've had much better results playing this style of NT openings than when I never opened 1 or 2NT with a 5-card major. [By the way, Puppet Stayman is evil. Just use normal Stayman, Smolen, and judgment.]

By the way, looking great. I have a long-standing anti-short-hair position, but I'll admit you made a good call.

Re: My high horse for the day

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I know at higher levels of play, most people will open NT even with a 5 card major, but Ahren and I are still getting comfortable with the agreements we do have, and throwing something more complicated into the mix is just not a good idea right now. I also don't see a problem with letting the opps find 2H. Even if I'm looking at a stiff, chances are that means there's a bad break and it should be pretty easy to defend. Though if opps make a Cappeletti bid, I'd probably go ahead and transfer at that point, just to stop them from talking too much about their suit. I dunno. I hate 1NT hands. I'll probably lighten up a bit on this when I get more comfortable with things like Smolen, etc. And especially once I can trust Ahren to use it properly. Teaching him support doubles opened up a whole ugly can of worms...

And yeah I was pretty anti-short hair myself, but looking at the pictures, I'm really pleased with my decision, too.

XOX