Too easy

Richard and I played this deal against Cindy and Mark, two friends from Memphis. It was from the second session of the North American Pairs district final held last Sunday at Sam's Town Casino (Sam's Town atrium shown above):

                ♠ 8 6 3
                ♥ K Q 5 3
                ♦ 9 5 4
                ♣ K 8 6
==
                ♠ A Q J 9 2
                ♥ A J 10 2
                ♦ A 10 6
                ♣ A

Richard, South, opened 1♠ and I raised to 2♠. Richard rebid 3♥, a help-suit game try that is often a three-card suit. What would you do with my hand? I accepted, of course, with a strong heart holding, but I bid 4♥ instead of the lazy 4♠ bid.

Now Richard had a problem. He knew I had nothing to cuebid. Finally, he decided that we had found a better fit than some would, so we were ahead of the field -- he passed. As it turns out, it's a five or seven hand as long as the major suits split.

Mark led a low diamond, the most effective defense, and Richard won Cindy's honor with the ace. He played a high trump, unblocked the ♣A, then led a low heart to dummy's king.

Declarer discarded a diamond on my ♣K, then took the spade finesse. That won, so he led a third trump to my ♥Q to repeat the spade finesse. When that also won, and the suit split, he discarded dummy's diamonds and made seven via: five spade tricks, five heart tricks, two clubs and one diamond.

Surprisingly, plus 510 was a complete top. There was one plus 490, and the rest were 480s. Too bad they can't all be this easy.

Image by MOJO and taken with my point-and-shoot.

What if it happened to you?

Everyone has heard about the swine flu. If you're like me, that's something that happens to other people. You probably don't know anyone who has actually caught it, do you? It only happens to somebody you hear about on TV -- wouldn't ever happen to me or my friends or family.

Curtis Cheek (shown above) is one of the best bridge players in the world. Besides being a great player, he's a gentleman and a kind person. He lived in Huntsville AL for many years, but finally moved to Las Vegas, like all the bridge players seem to be doing.

Back in the Eighties, before he became so famous, I played on teams with him at the Gatlinburg Regional. He played with Steve Beatty, and I played with Alan Bell. Steve and he always wore caps and were known as "The Hats." Yes, we were all much younger and much more frivolous.

Four weeks ago, Curtis went to the World Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to play in the Transnational Team competition. He was sick then, but didn't know it. He was supposed to fly home Sept. 14, but didn't make it. Coughing up blood, he was rushed to the ER at a big hospital. They admitted him, and he was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, the so-called swine flu.

In the ICU, things got even worse. There was swelling and pain, and he was put into an induced coma.

His parents rushed to Brazil, and are going through hell. They can only stay in his room for short periods, and claim they are living in a taxi -- the one that takes them from their hotel to the hospital and back.

The swelling caused pressure on his brain, and circulation problems in his extremities. It didn't look good -- not good at all.

Curtis is a bridge player, though, and bridge players are tough. Just when things looked the worst, he began his recovery.

On Sept. 24, his parents reported great news: Curtis could hear them when they talked to him! He nodded his head! His bandages were changed and the extremities were swollen and purple. He still had a long way to go. He was intubated, but there was talk of removing the tube.

Sept. 26: More good news. His parents went in his room and Curtis whispered "Hi, Mom." The visits are still short. Curtis is weak and has a lot of healing to do. They hope he'll be back in the U.S. in 10 days to two weeks.

If you would, send some good thoughts, good energy and good karma Curtis's way. I promise I have my mojo workin' for him. If you pray, keep him in mind.

But what are the spades?

Richard and I played in the District 10 (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, most of Arkansas and most of Tennessee) finals of the North American Pairs at the Tunica Regional, held at Sam's Town Casino. Unfortunately, we didn't qualify to advance to the national level (Reno NV, next March). Even though we were disappointed, it wasn't all bad. For example, Richard found a double squeeze (with a little help from his opponents) on this deal:

                 ♠ 9 7 3
                 ♥ A 2
                 ♦ 10 7 6 3 
                 ♣ A Q 7 3
♠ ? ? ?                       ♠ ? ? ? ?
♥ K 8                         ♥ J 9 6 4 3
♦ A J 4                       ♦ K 9
♣ J 9 6 5 4                   ♣ 10 2
                 ♠ A K 2
                 ♥ Q 10 7 5
                 ♦ Q 8 5 2
                 ♣ K 8

Against 2NT, West led the ♣6. Richard won the ♣K and advanced a low diamond. West pondered this and played low. The ♦10 from dummy forced the king. East shifted to a low heart, and Richard played the ♥7, East the 8 and the ace won the trick.

South led another diamond, and West won the ♦J, cashed the ♦A, the ♥K, and exited with the ♣J.

Did you notice that I put question marks for the East-West spade cards? The reason why is that it didn't matter what they held. Declarer led a spade to his ace, cashed his ♥Q (on which West discarded a low club), then led a diamond to the 7 in dummy to cash the high club.

West had to protect the club suit, East the heart suit, and nobody could guard spades -- making nine tricks and a score of 70% on the board.


I took this shot of Sam's Casino from the road, just before the game started. It's a big place, and you can only see here a fraction of how large it is.


All images by MOJO using my point-and-shoot.

B-o-o-o

Why I hate poker.

Cigar

My previous post was No cigar, because I just missed. I won this little tournament (see above, click to embiggen), so I guess if that was no cigar, this one is yes a cigar, ha.

Brent called and we decided not to play bridge today, so I was doing laundry and just messing around. I had music on my CD, was laid back reading some blogs, and decided to enter this cheap tournament. Can you say bankroll boostah?


This (above) was the last hand. The previous one he had 7-7 and I had 9-9 and I eventually got him all in on the river. He was left with virtually no money, so you see the above.


Most of the hands I simply tried to stay out of trouble. The one above (at the final table), I was in the big blind with ♣K ♠K and the button called. I made a pot-sized bet, and he moved all in. If he had A-A, screw it so be it. Nope, he had the mighty ♣7 ♣6 and was doing one of those fancy plays like you see on TV. Works for me.


The screen shot above shows an important hand. I bet the flop, bet the turn, bet the river, and the other guy moved all in! I wonder what he thought I had, but that's what you see at the lower levels.


I was the chip leader at the final table, but not by much. Besides that doesn't really mean much. It seems so easy when it works out like this. It won't change my lifestyle, as they say, but winning is better than losing.

No cigar

Brent and I finished third in the Stratified Open Pairs at the Tunica Regional (bridge) yesterday. We have nobody to blame, but ourselves (for not winning). We were barely above average in the afternoon, then had a monster game at night. There were three 15-table sections, so 90 pairs. Regional pair games are really getting small -- everyone wants to play the KO Teams.

"Are you going to put a spell on me?" asked a woman bridge player as she sat down at my table.

For a second, I was taken aback, then remembered I had on one of my mojo tee shirts. Sure enough on the second board I played 1NT making four! At one point in the hand, she was on lead (on my left), and played ♣A and another club. Dummy had two low, and my holding was: ♣K Q 8 6 2. As play continued, her partner sluffed a club and now the suit ran. I guess I put a spell on him, too. That was a 9 on a 12 top.

Many of the good boards from the evening session were ones in which the opponents lost their minds. One pair had a 27% score. I've played bridge for forty years, and I don't believe I've seen one this bad. We got our quota against them -- two 11s (12 top). On one I opened a 10--12 point 1NT and they played 2♠ in a 4-2 fit, down 300. On the other, they played 1♠, making one, when Deep Finesse says they can make 4♥. Yikes.

On another round, a lady playing with a pro held:
♠8 ♥K 10 9 6 2 ♦A ♣Q 10 9 8 7 5.

Her left-hand oppenent (moi) opened 1♦ Mr. Pro doubled and her RHO bid 2NT, Alerted as a preemptive diamond raise. What would you do? Many players would bid 4♥, but she bid only 3♥. This was passed out and she made six, for an ugly score of plus 230. Here are all four hands:

                  ♠ A 5 2
                  ♥ Q J 8 4
                  ♦ 8 6 
                  ♣ A J 4 3
♠ Q 10 9 6                     ♠ K J 7 4 3
♥ A 3                          ♥ 7 5
♦ K Q 10 3 2                   ♦ J 9 7 5 4
♣ K 6                          ♣ 2
                  ♠ 8
                  ♥ K 10 9 6 2
                  ♦ A
                  ♣ Q 10 9 8 7 5

Now, Mr. Hotshot Pro began fussing at her. Her defense was "I only had 9 points." Then she said: "I didn't know you had all those clubs with me." Mr. HSP fussed some more.

Let's get this straight. She's paying him good money to play, she's a nice lady, she made a bad bid. Yes, they got a 2 on a 12 top, so giving her a hard time will change that, right? Doing that will bolster her confidence and make her play better the rest of the session, right?

What should have happened? After the session, Mr. HSP should grab a hand record, sit down, and go over the boards. That's part of what he's being paid to do. Should he then immediately bring up this deal? No, absolutely not. First he should go over some boards where she did something correctly -- reinforce good stuff. Then he should discuss this hand. Yes, you only had 9 points in high-cards. Remember when I double, however, I have hearts and clubs with you, so you should add points for your distribution, the double fit, blah, blah. Teach her to evaluate a hand accurately, rather than be a slave to point count.

Mr. HSP is a bright guy. He has a Harvard law degree. He co-authored this well-received poker book with Mike Caro. He's an occasional columnist in Card Player magazine. He has a zillion masterpoints. He must be smart, right? Wrong, he's a dumbass not as smart as he thinks he is. Sorry if that comes across as harsh. Apparently, he thinks good clients grow on trees. Guess what? They don't.

Image is Sam's Town Casino taken by MOJO with my point-and-shoot.

The deuce is loose

The Tunica Regional Bridge Tournament is being played this week at Sam's Town Casino (see image above). I plan to play Friday and Sunday; Saturday is still up in the air.

The District Qualifier for the North American Pairs is Sunday, and my partner is Richard. About a month ago I looked at the calendar and noticed that on Sunday it said Yom Kippur. I e-mailed Richard in a state of panic - would he be able to play? He said it didn't start until Sundown, and we'd be finished in plenty of time. Good thing it was an e-mail -- he was probably laughing at me.

I haven't played much lately, so to knock some of the rust off, I played online several times this week. This deal was the last board of an OKbridge mini-tournament on Wednesday:

                 ♠ A 7
                 ♥ Q J 10 7 5
                 ♦ 5 2 
                 ♣ K 10 7 6
♠ K 3 2                     ♠ 10 6 5
♥ 9                         ♥ A K 8 6 4
♦ K 10 8 7 4                ♦ Q 9
♣ 9 5 4 3                   ♣ Q J 8
                ♠ Q J 9 8 4
                ♥ 3 2
                ♦ A J 6 3
                ♣ A 2

The bidding went Pass Pass to East who opened 1♥. I overcalled 1♠ and it passed out. Would you pass with North's hand? I could be fairly strong and still just bid 1♠, so maybe 1NT would have been better. Good thing my partner didn't do that, however, because then there would be no story.

West led the ♥9, I played the 10 from dummy, East won the king, and I dropped the 3. East couldn't tell who the singleton, so shifted to the ♦Q. I ducked, and West encouraged. He continued with the 9♦, and I won the ace.

It looked more likely that East had the ♠K, so I led to the ♠A and continued with another. West won, cashed the ♦K and led the ♦7 for East to ruff. The 10, suit preference, would have been better because he could ruff a heart. Poor East still didn't know who had the ♥2. You might say he couldn't deduce the deuce. On second thought, let's don't go there. So, East exited with the ♣Q, I won the ace, and this was the position:

                ♠ ---
                ♥ Q J 7
                ♦ --- 
                ♣ K 10
♠ 3                         ♠ ---
♥ ---                       ♥ A 8 6
♦ 10                        ♦ ---
♣ 9 5 4                     ♣ J 8
                ♠ J 9 8
                ♥ 2
                ♦ ---
                ♣ 2

When I ran my spades, East was caught in a squeeze between the round suits. In practice, I discarded dummy's hearts saving ♣K 10. East discarded all his hearts (to guard clubs), and at trick 12, my ♥2 won the trick -- making an overtrick for plus 110.

Anybody can take a trick with a 3. I took a trick with a 2 for maximum style points. It's amazing what little things please a bridge player.

For this, we gained 1.12 IMPs, and you can see all the scores here.

"That would be me"

Don't you envy people who use only one name and others know who they are? If I said Cher, you'd know immediate who I meant. In fact, you may not even know her last name is Sarkisian. How about Liberace or the singer Jewel?

When I ran across a blog by Wolynski, that caught my eye. It wasn't Susan Wolynski or Debbie Wolynski, just Wolynski. Next, I found her other blog with really nice photos of Las Vegas. At the end of each piece, she would say "Images by Wolynski" -- again, with the one-name Wolynski thing.

Her web site mentioned that she plays poker, but was a photographer and a comedian (they prefer the term comic) in previous lives. Intrigued, I resorted to help from Mr. Google, and found an article in the NY Times (that quoted a Wolynski extensively) called Waiter, There's a Joke in My Soup. Could this be the same Wolynski? I e-mailed her and asked, and she wrote back, "That would be me."

She now takes her photos with a simple point-and-shoot, and you can see them at Vegas Images. My favorite series is here, but they are all nice and you may prefer one of the others.

On the Wolynski, blog, you can read about poker, such as here or here. You can also read humorous pieces such as In Tongues. You can read social commentary, too, for example: Bob Dylan Went A-Walkin'.

Wolynski was born in Poland, but moved to London at a fairly early age, and thus speaks English with a British accent. So, she uses one name -- I can accept that. She takes better photos than I do, and I can accept that, too. This highfalutin British accent? I'm going to have to think about that one.

===========================================
Images shot by Wolynski are peppered across the Internet. This one originally appeared in the book Wild Years: The Music And Myth Of Tom Waits, and is my favorite:


Other well-known people she's shot include: Andy Kaufman, Gilda Radner, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Anka, Tip O'Neill, Stan Getz and many others.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs gave her their award for top female stand-up comic in 1996. See here or see here (then click on past winners, then click on 1996).

Wolynski was described in the NY Times as a "contemporary WC Fields" (see here).

Couldn't make up funny stuff like this

You know how bloggers and others write LOL to mean something is funny? Usually, you don't really laugh out loud -- it's just an expression.

I just read this on the Grump's poker site, and it actually did make laugh out loud.

   Board is Q8KK. Opponent and I both go
   all in. We both show KQ. He says, "I
   knew I was good unless you had pocket
   kings."

Fall Sundays are made for football

Here are some (clickable) shots from the NFL game Sunday in Nashville:


Parking is a big problem. Unless you had a parking permit, you had to park on the other side of the river, then walk back over one of the bridges (see above). There are three of them (I took this from one, you can see another, and one is out of sight).

Everybody who thinks it's the Tennessee River, raise your hand. Wrong, it's the Cumberland River. You there who didn't raise your hand, yeah you. You cheated and used Google -- I know your type.


Good thing I have plenty of energy for an old fart guy and don't mind walking. Notice the guy above in the very front in the middle?


I chased after him and asked if I could take his photo. He stopped and posed, but didn't smile -- game face on and all that.


The owner of this tricked-out truck (above) must be another super fan.


Tailgating and drinking some beer are pre-game rituals.


Country singer Ronnie Milsap sang the national anthem. After that, two jets did a fly-by.


There was a 60% chance of rain. When I got there at 11:30, it was overcast and they already had the lights on -- uh oh, a bad sign. It didn't rain during the game, however, and, in fact, the sun came out briefly. Above you can see the lights and one side of the stadium. Look at the skyscrapers. Maybe a Bob Dylan album there, ya?

Images by MOJO, and all but the first one were taken with my Canon.

A lot can happen in 1.1 seconds

I went to Nashville this weekend to see the Tennessee Titans play the Houston Texans. These shots were taken in what Canon calls continuous capture mode (6.5 frames per second). That term is too long for me, so I call it burst mode.

Tight End Owen Daniels (#81) catches a touchdown pass from QB Matt Schaub. In the first frame Schaub fakes a handoff to #22 and Daniels fakes a block on the #53. These fakes are what allows Daniels to become wide open.















These were taken from the third level in Row FF (think high, think thin air). I envy the guys who have great cameras and get to stroll the sidelines. You can see some of them on the far left.

Images by MOJO and taken with my Canon.

Poker pearl #29

Above is a scan of the cover of All In magazine.

In that issue, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier was asked about three bets.

   Three betting when there is a raise and a 
   cold-caller is called a squeeze play. It
   works based on the idea that the opening
   raiser is loose, so the guy calling him,
   knowing that, doesn't have to hold a
   premium hand (or he would have re-raised).

   A popular counter to the squeeze play
   these days is the "New York Back Raise"
   which involves flat-calling a raise with
   A-A, K-K, Q-Q and A-K (occasionally J-J,
   too) when you have a loose raiser in
   front of you, and an aggressive player
   behind you.

   You are hoping someone behind you
   will try the squeeze play, as your
   hand is vastly under-represented,
   so that you can come over the top
   of him.

That's what poker's all about. When they make plays, you make counter-plays. When they make adjustments, you make counter-adjustments.

Poker Pearl #28

In the Sept. 23 issue of Card Player magazine (see scan above), there's a short interview of Andrew Brokos (check out his excellent blog called Thinking Poker.) He has cashed in the WSOP main event for the past three years including a 35th-place finish in 2008.

Adding to your arsenal:
When asked about throwing some wrinkles into one's game, he says:

   I think a big problem that a lot of people
   settle into is playing mechanically. If you
   are open raising and three-betting with the
   same hands, all you are doing is passing
   money around the table.

   If you look at the history of online poker,
   the people who have made a lot of money are
   people who started doing something no one
   else was doing.

   What I recommend is to start doing something
   that you don't ordinarily do. It might even
   be things that only bad players would do.
   It might be min-betting, min-checkraising,
   limping into pots, overbetting the pot,
   and so on.

   Your opponents are used to someone who
   raises their big blind from the button.
   They know how to deal with that.  They
   don't know how to deal with people over-
   betting the turn when the board pairs,
   or something else they've never seen
   before. A lot of times people are going
   to make a mistake.

   After the game, ask yourself how did
   it work out? Were you using it in the
   right spot? Why did it work? How did
   the guy respond? All that gets you 
   thinking about the game, rather than
   going through the motions.

MOJO outs the tweak

A popular poker blogger participated in a year of losing business, then suddenly turned things around. She calls it "The Tweak," but has been secretive about it, thus frustrating the blogging community.

MOJO hired five private detectives, and has gotten to the bottom of this. We, here in the blogosphere, don't have to put up with any secrets, do we?

So, here's the scoop on The Tweak:

1. Fold A-A preflop. It's a known fact that they will get cracked from between 60.1 and 82.5% of the time, depending on how you play them and the phase of the moon. You don't have to put up with stuff like that, just fold. Stay out of trouble. I mean, even Stu Unger said they only win a small pot or lose a big one. Listen to the man.

There are some variations that you can use to make folding them even better -- a tweak to the tweak, as it were. If someone raises to $12 UTG and it folds to you in the BB, go ahead and show before you fold. Besides not losing your whole stack with the dumb things, you confuse the opponents - excellent! Eventually, you'll you see a glazed look in his eye, and he'll be drooling on the table. Then you know you pwn him.

2. If you are dealt 4-2 (whether suited or not), just move all in. Works like a charm. The other guy has A-A and is licking his chops (he didn't read part 1 above). The flop comes with A-3-5. Now, aren't you glad you got all your chips out there? He has only top set and is drawing thin - a poker player's dream!

Besides seeing you fold A-A, the villain has seen you move all in with the mighty 4-2 Is he confused? Yes, I think so, don't you? You'll love stacking his chip$; the steam coming out of his ears is the lagniappe. Soon, you'll learn the power of lagniappe, as Jusdealem already has. It's a cool word, so make it part of your repertoire. If you can't beat them at poker, baffle them with your vocabulary. Whatever.

There you have it. Don't applaud, just throw money -- I take Pay Pal. I'll need the extra ca$h to defend the law suit she'll bring after reading this. No, wait. She won't read it -- my blog isn't cool enough for her. Suh-weet!

So, it's just that simple. When poker is broken down, there's no mystery to it, but rather just common sense and proper execution. It's all about the basics, and, of course, a tweak here and there.

You can walk the walk, if you tweak the tweak, or, um, well, something like that. I'm MOJO, and I'm just sayin'.

MOJO is everywhere these days

I'm a sucker for stuff like this (which I saw on one of OhCaptain's web sites). In fact, it was images like this that attracted me to Wolynski (although hers are more clever).

Go to PhotoFunia if you like goofy things, too.




Anybody know what this French means? Maybe it means back then he had more hair???

It's just a fantasy

I lived in Raleigh NC for 21 years in a previous life. We started a fantasy football league back in 1990, and all of the original 10 owners were bridge players. Fantasy FB was new then, so we made up our own rules. Some of the owners changed, but the core of the league has remained the same, and bridge players are tough -- they're smart, and they're competitive.

Last weekend, I traveled to Raleigh, enjoyed the fellowship of my long-time friends, and picked my team for this year.

We draft 20 players. Each week you play two QBs two kickers, one TE. You also play seven RBs and WRs. You have to have four of one and three of the other, so four-three either way. See? I told you we made up our own rules, but it's fun. We draft six RBs and six WRs for each team. That means 60 of each are taken. Folks, when you get down to the 60th running back, well, it can get u-g-l-y. I'm just sayin'.

Here's my team:

QB (QB and Ks are by team, play two each week):
Pittsburgh
Atlanta
New York Jets

Kicker (play two each week):
Green Bay
Pittsburgh
Miami

TE (play one each week):
K. Winslow TB
V. Davis SF

RB (play four or three):
B. Jacobs NYG
S. Slaten Hou
R. Rice Bal
C. Benson Cinc
T. Hightower AZ
J. Davis Cle

WR (play four or three):
R. Moss NE
C. Ochocinco
T. Holt Jax
D. Mason Bal
E. Bennett Chi
D. Avery SL

I like my team. What do you think?

Notes:
1. Last year, some of the poker bloggers formed a league, and it was fun. Not sure why they didn't this year. We do have the CK Eliminator Challenge going, though. Five of the 39 players didn't survive week one.

2. On the airplane, I saw that people are starting to wear surgical masks. Is this the new trend, or just a swine flu reaction? Probably a good idea, ya?

3. Sunday, I had white chocolate mousse frozen yogurt - very good. I'm sure it was low in calories. Well, maybe not.

4. My favorite player? Brandon Jacobs. He's a Saluki (S.I.U.). We don't draft defensive players, but, if we did, I'd have to have Bart Scott (NYJ) who's a Saluki, too. My next favorite players are the wolfpack from N.C. State (I got Tory Holt, but missed out on S.D. QB Rivers) - I went to school there, too.

The Rueful Rabbit strikes again

The Safari Bridge Club held its annual tournament in which all the animals competed for the prestigious Ostrich Egg Cup. The most exciting deal was this:

                ♠ 6 5
                ♥ Q 10 6 5
                ♦ J 9 6 5
                ♣ 10 9 7
♠ 8                            ♠ Q 9 4 3 2
♥ A K J 4 3 2                  ♥ 9 8 7
♦ Q 7 4                        ♦ A 10 3 2
♣ 8 4 3                        ♣ 5
                ♠ A K J 10 7
                ♥ ---
                ♦ K 8
                ♣ A K Q J 6 2

Most pairs bid to 5♣, a good contract. The ♦A often would be onside for declarer, and, if not, he might have no side losers. A typical line of play was to ruff the heart lead, play two high trumps, then lead the ♠A K. When West ruffed the second spade, the contract could not be made.

Some declarers improved on this line of play, based on the auction in which West had invariably opened 2♥ or 3♥. They cashed the ♠A, played two rounds of clubs ending in the dummy, and led a spade to the ♠J. When West ruffed, again, the contract could not be made.

The Rueful Rabbit played the board the last round. Most of the other animals had finished play, and were standing around watching. Word had gotten out that if the Rueful Rabbit stayed out of the hopeless game, he would win the event. If he bid 5♣ and went set, however, the Hideous Hog and Wally the Walrus would take first place.

Most players at the club had inflated ideas of their abilities, but the RR was different. He claimed to be the second-worst player in the world. The other animals of the club liked him too much to point out that they disagreed, if you follow what I mean.

West opened 3♥ and there were two passes to the RR. All these kibitzers made him nervous. The RR bid 4♥ showing spades and a minor suit and a good hand. It looked like his partner would bid something and declare. Unfortunately, his partner bid 4NT to ask for the minor suit. The Rueful Rabbit's nose twitched as he bid 5♣. Oh no, he said to himself. Now I must play it with all the animals watching. His nose twitched again.

West led the ♥K, ruffed by the RR. With all these aces and kings, surely there were 11 tricks somewhere, he thought. What should he play next?

The RR decided to crossruff. He'd heard about advanced plays like this, but was never sure when to do it. If he messed up, his partner would yell at him. What should he do?

The RR continued with the ♠A, then reached for the ♠K, but instead the ♠7 fell on the table.

"I mean, um, wait," stammered the RR, as he reached for the low spade to put it back in his hand.

"Too late," hissed the Secretary Bird. "That's a played card."

The Rueful Rabbit's neck turned red from embarassment. Why does this happen, he thought, when so many animals are watching me? It's a good thing I'm used to humiliation.

East won the low spade, but the contract could no longer be defeated. The RR was able to ruff both his spade losers and lead up to the ♦K along the way.

After the game, the Hideous Hog held court in the bar. He was savoring a 1989 bottle of la Rose Figeac, one of his favorites.

"That's the difference between the Rueful Rabbit and most players," expostulated the HH. "Even the worst of them can take their aces and kings. The RR can't even do that, yet he wins more than many. There's a lesson there, but I'm not sure what it is."

"This wine has a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you think?" asked the Hog. "Waiter! Another bottle."

[From the ACBL Washington DC NABC, board #8 here.]

Need an answer

I took this photo Thursday of a billboard on South Third Street in Memphis.

I need an answer to a question.

What kind of world do we live in where we have to put ads on billboards to try and stop adults from hurting or killing baby children?

Usually, I'm just sayin'. Right now, I'm just askin'.

World championship nears conclusion

And then there were two.

After nearly two weeks of play, there are a pair of teams left fighting for the gold medal in each of the three main team categories at the bridge World Championships, being contested in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Play in these events concludes Friday.

For the Bermuda Bowl (the open teams), USA2 will challenge Italy. These two countries were the pre-tournament favorities in most camps, and it's fitting they are playing for the gold medal. Bulgaria and China will play for the Bronze.

In the Venice Cup (the women's teams), USA1 plays China in the final. I'm pulling for the U.S. team not only because I'm an American, but because my old friend Lynn Deas is on the team. Several years ago, she was stricken with myasthenia gravis, and now plays bridge from a wheel chair. Her will to win must be tremendous to overcome what she's had to face. You go, girl! You can visit her web site here. USA2 plays France for the Bronze.

In the d'Orsi Senior Bowl, Poland squares off against England. England squeaked past Indonesia in one semifinal match. The U.S. has owned this event recently, but lost in the other semifinal to Poland. This is one of the deals from the last segment of that match.

                ♠ Q 5 4
                ♥ K J 8
                ♦ K Q J 10 6
                ♣ 6 5
♠ A 10 8 6 3 2                ♠ J 9 7
♥ 10                          ♥ Q 7 4
♦ 8 5                         ♦ 9 7 4 3 2
♣ A K 7 3                     ♣ Q 4
                ♠ K
                ♥ A 9 6 5 3 2
                ♦ A
                ♣ 10 9 8 7 2

When the board was played, Poland had taken the lead over USA2, but the match was still in doubt.

In one room, David Berkowitz played 4♥. West, Jerzy Russyan, led the ♠A, the ♣A, then shifted to a diamond. After this defense, declarer wasn't seriously tested. He won his ♦A, cashed the ♥A, and led another to the king. He was then able to discard on the good tricks in dummy, losing one spade, one club and one heart.

The Poles were now in danger of losing a game swing.

The defense was tougher in the other room. West was Mike Passell, East was John Sutherland. For the Poles, Apolinary Kowalski was North and Jacek Romanski was South. Romanski also played 4♥, and West started with the ♣A. After this held, Passell played the ♠A, the ♣K, and exited with a spade. This was won with the ♠Q in dummy as South discarded a club.

Romanski had lost three tricks and had to guess the trump suit for no losers. Declarer ruffed a spade, cashed the ♦A, then lead a heart to the king. At trick eight, he led the ♥8 from dummy and when East played low, he let it ride. Now, he was able to discard the rest of his clubs on the diamond suit to make his contract. Nicely done!

[Deep Finesse says the contract can be defeated if West refrains for leading the ♠A. The double-dummy defense is two high clubs and then a low one.]

For more information about the championships, click here.

Speed up, then slow down

Bridge players are taught to pull trumps when they first gain the lead. They hear: "Get the kiddies off the street." That's generally good advice, but not always, and that's what makes bridge the ultimate card game. For every rule, there's an exception. For every maxim, there are times when that advice won't work. Poker players like to say: "It depends." But in bridge, it really depends. There are just so many variables.

Playing online Tuesday night with Kate, I held:
♠A Q J 4 3 ♥J 8 6 2 ♦A 8 2 ♣Q.

With both sides vulnerable, there were three passes to me and I opened 1♠. Both opponents were silent, and partner bid 2♣. In our methods, this showed invitational values and three-card spade support. What would you do?

The singleton ♣Q may not be worth much, and I suppose I should have re-invited. Bidding 2♥ doesn't promise extra, however, and has the disadvantage presenting a revealing auction, making it easier for the defense.

Playing online in a short match (this was a 12-board mini-tournament), it pays to take the agressive route.

If you were driving a Mercedes Benz on the German Autobahn, would you go 55 or would you step on the gas? When I got out of college (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I travelled in Europe for several months. While hitchiking, I was picked up by a German, and he was driving a Mercedes (it purred like a kitten), and it was, indeed, on the autobahn. At one point, I looked at the speedometer and saw he was going 160!! Later, I realized that it was kilometers, so "only" 100 mph.

I don't have a Mercedes, but I can drive fast too, and so I bid 4♠.

West led the ♠8. Here are all four hands (rotated):

                ♠ K 10 2
                ♥ A 9 5
                ♦ K J 6
                ♣ 8 7 6 4
♠ 8 7                         ♠ 9 6 5
♥ Q 10 7 4                    ♥ K 3
♦ Q 7 4                       ♦ 10 9 5 3
♣ A J 9 2                     ♣ K 10 5 3
                ♠ A Q J 4 3
                ♥ J 8 6 2
                ♦ A 8 2
                ♣ Q

When I checked the results later, many declarers went set. They won the opening lead, were in a hurry to draw trumps, then gave the contract some thought. Wrong. Go slower. Do your thinking at trick one.

I could see I had a club loser and two heart losers (barring a miracle). Therefore, I assumed the diamond finesse would work. That would be three losers, but how many winners did I have? I had five spades, three diamonds and (most likely) only one heart trick. But wait, maybe I could ruff a heart in the dummy, even after this pesky trump lead.

I led a heart to the 9 (maybe ace is safer), and East won with the ♥K and returned the ♥3. I took the ace, and led a third round. East ruffed this, and the contract was cold. Ruffing was a thoughtless play -- if I had the ♥Q, I wouldn't have played this way.

At first it looked like East could lead another trump at trick three. Then when West wins the heart continuation, he could underlead his ♣A to allow East to win and lead a third round of trumps. Deep finesse says the contract is always cold, however, and I'll let you figure out how I could have countered this defense.

For bidding and making 4♠, we gained 5.33 IMPs. This deal was played 77 times and 18 declarers went set in 4♠. Three declarers were in the ha-ha 6♠ contract. A few were in spade partials, and one brave pair bid and made 3NT. If you don't believe me, you can check all the results here.

Handviewer presentation:

Weekend wrap

If you play live poker, and can't find anything to blog about, you're not trying hard enough -- I'm just sayin'. Here are a few more stories from my poker adventure last weekend at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi MS (shown above):

I'm all in, but I don't really mean it
In the $1/2 NL game, a player raised to $12, was called, and another (who had ♠K ♣K) raised to $40. It folded to a player who held ♣8 ♣7. He meant to fold, but said "All in," and about one-half second later said, "I mean I fold, I fold." Between the all in and fold, the next player had mucked his cards.

The floor was called. The guy said he was tired, and just said the wrong thing. The floor ruled he was all in. (He had a little more than $300 in front of him.) The floor explained that a player had acted behind him, his verbal statement was binding, blah, blah. Everyone else folded and the guy with K-K couldn't wait to call.

A funny thing happened on the way to the bank. The flop came with a 7 and an 8, and this guy was less ticked off. Yes, his two pair held up.

Don't mess with me, I'm wearing a ballcap
A young, ballcap guy sat down at the table. The second hand he raised to $12, and got two callers. The flop was queen-high and he bet $30. Everyone folded and he turned over ♦8 ♦4. The fact he showed us was his way of saying I'm here now, folks, and the game is about to change. I used to find guys like him annoying, and they made me feel slightly uneasy. Now, I like them at my table -- I have a ballcap, too.

What the heck is thin slicing?
On a deal with a $5 straddle, I called UTG with ♦Q ♥J. Kids, don't try this at home.

Bad. Hand. Out. Of. Position.

A lady raised to $12 (not large enough, imo), three called, so I also called. Once you start sliding down the slippery slope, it's hard to stop yourself.

The flop wasn't too bad for me: ♥A ♠K ♦10 -- I had flopped the joint, whatever that means.* Surprisingly, the guy who had been in the BB led out for $20. The board looked safe, so I decided to just call, and spring my trap on fourth street. The lady, who originally raised, called and two players folded.

The turn was the ♣4, and made a rainbow board. The BB led out for $30, so again I smooth-called. Now the lady thought for a while. I could tell she was thinking about whether to call or fold, and the hand was now a read out. I knew exactly what everyone had, do you?

You might be reading the board and the bets and trying to put it all together. I was at the table, so had more information than you. I was carefully watching all the players. I knew the guy on my right thought he had a winner (from his body language), so, unlikely as it might sound, he also had Q-J. The lady on my left raised preflop. She likely had A-Q or A-J. With A-K or pocket 10-10, she would have called a little more easily. With less, she would have folded.

The river was a rag, and the BB bet $40. What would you do? I again smooth called. The lady thought and finally called. You could tell she thought she was beaten, but the pot was too big, and she couldn't resist. Sure enough, she turned over ♠A ♥Q and I chopped the pot with the BB who had ♠Q ♠J.

"But mine were suited," he joked.

"And, therefore, you get half the pot," I replied, in tempo.

By betting the way I did, I got at least an extra $40 (of which I won half) out of the A-Q lady. Have you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? The situation in which you make snap judgments, and just know you are right, is something he calls thin slicing.

* [This web site says flopping the joint means somebody dropped a certain cigarette on the floor.]

So there!
Driving home, I saw a fairly young lady on a motorcycle. When I got to the stop light, she was just ahead of me. Here's what the back of her shirt said:

Yeah, you were just passed by a girl!!

I would have shot it, but my camera wasn't handy.

Heard at the table
After he lost a big pot, a man said: "If they meant for me to hold onto those chips, they'd have built them with handles."

(Where do they get this shit stuff? I mean srsly?)

Saw it, still don't believe it
A guy held ♦Q ♦3 and raised from early position to $12, and got a caller behind him as well as the BB. Raising with Q-3? Seriously? Dude, get your meds checked - I beg you.

The flop was ♠Q ♥10 ♣6. The BB bet $10 and he called (the other player folded). The turn was ♣7 and the BB bet $20 and he called. The river was a non-descript rag, and the BB bet $60. This guy called, again.

The BB showed ♣K ♦J for a failed straight draw and a big bluff on the end. Doncha love live poker? I couldn't make up blog material this good.

Talkin' sexy
Driving down and back, I had help from Ms. Garmin. I love it when a woman whispers in my ear and directs me.


The Hard Rock Casino (above) is next to the Beau Rivage.


The Beau Rivage is one of the stops on the bus line. There are lots of ways to lose your money get to the gaming spots.


The ocean sunsets are great, even when clouds try and cover them up. (Taken from the Beau Rivage parking deck.)

Images by MOJO and shot with my Canon.

================================================
One of this blog's loyal readers calls himself Crash. Up to now, he didn't have his own blog, but has decided to start one. He's handy with a camera, so expect photos, and maybe pokering. He's calling it Crash (of) course. I'll mention it again when he gets things going.

What a difference a day makes

The cash game Saturday was wonderful, but I ended up a small loser. That changed on Sunday. The game was wonderful, and players tried their hardest to give me their chip$.

Where do I start? I was in late position with ♥10 ♥8 and limped in. I love playing hands like this in position. The flop was 10-10-4. An early player bet $10, and it was folded to me. I raised to $35, and he re-raised to $135. He was a young ballcap guy. I eat players like this for breakfast, but because they're aggressive, they can be dangerous.

What would you do? My reads were pretty good last night and he seemed like he had the goods, so I folded. He showed Q-10. Yes, he had me beat, but why show? All he did was give me insight into his game. I decided to lock in on him.

A few hands later, he raised UTG to $15 and there were four callers to me in the BB. I called. The flop was ♣7 ♦4 ♠4. He bet $30 and I raised to $70, and he reraised to $170. I already knew from the previous hand he would make huge raises with a good but non-nut hand. He had started with $350, so I moved all in. He called and proudly turned over ♠Q ♣Q.

Do you think I had that beat? Of course, and I showed ♦7 ♥7 for the flopped boat -- about what I said I had. Did I do anything great and wonderful? No, I sat there and stacked his donkey chips. What did that Chau Giang guy say on TV? "I love play pokah."

I won lots of pots. I don't believe I went to the river and didn't turn over a winner. There was one other big pot I won, I had ♠A ♠5. It was a straddle hand (which is $5 at the Beau), so I called. A player raised to $15, and three people called and I shrugged and called, too. Raising from $5 to $15 is for donks not good poker, but I'm just a reporter.

The flop was rather nice for me: ♠J ♠10 ♠7. A player bet $20 to me. I'm not a fan of slow-playing in situations like this -- just go ahead and raise and see if they'll play a big pot with you or not. This time, I just called, however, and a guy behind me raised to $130. WTF? The first bettor folded, and I had a delicious problem. I decided to re-raise to $230, and he called. Notice I don't have the nuts -- ♠9 ♠8 would be a straight flush.

The turn was a rag, and while I'm thinking it over, he says "I'll show you one," and flashes ♠K. Now I know what he has: either ♠K ♠Q or ♠K ♠9. In other words, the second nut flush and a redraw to a straight flush. Thanks for the information, buddy. I moved all in and he called. He had ♠K ♠Q and seemed surprised to see my hand.

There was some other amazing stuff at the table. A guy sat down to play and it was obvious he hadn't played much live poker. They say the economy is bad, but players were whipping out three and four $100 bills at a time. This guy counted out 10 $20 bills. What's with the twenties? On one hand, a guy (who raised a lot preflop) made it $15 and the new guy called. The preflop raiser had ♦9 ♦8 and newbie had ♦K ♦Q. The flop was ♦J ♦10 ♣4. Both players had flush draws, yes straight and straight flush draws, and the betting was heated. I don't remember the turn, but there was more betting. The river was a rag and none of the flushes or straights got there and neither player had a pair. The first guy says "I have 9 high," and shows his hand. The second guy mucked! I couldn't make this stuff up. The guy sitting next to newbie asks couldn't you beat a 9? Now, the newbie sees what has happened. He gave a $200 pot to a guy with 9 high.

Most of the players were not this incompetent, but there was one other one. She was young, cute, and perky, but obviously inexperienced. She sat there and folded for several orbits. Finally, she raised to $15 and got one caller. I remember thinking uh oh, she probably has aces. Now, one of the players, who was not in the hand, says out loud, "What color are they? I mean, I know you have aces, but are they red or black?" This is bad form, of course, but the dealer or no one else said anything. The flop was 7-7-x. The young lady bet $25 and the other guy folded. Now she showed her hand: ♣A ♣7! LOL, but that's poker with tourists.

Seen on a tee shirt
"Yeah, I'm a donk, so what?"

I took a break at one point and took the escalator to the tournament which was on the convention level. There I saw a friend. We exchanged how's it goings, and he told me the day before he played in the tournament and came in 61st. Of course, they only paid 58. "I played 14 hours for nothing," he whined, although there was a word between 14 and hours and it started with an F. That's the trouble with tournaments: The payoff is hit or miss. Also, you miss out on the cash games.

Why were the cash games so wonderful? I believe that when it's a holiday weekend, there are more bad players, and even the semi-competent ones are there to gamble. This is especially true at a tourist destination such as Biloxi -- it's just that simple.


Above is the lobby at the Beau Rivage. It was lovely.


If you look straight ahead (above), you can see one of eateries in the food court. There are some shops to the left, and out of sight.

Images by MOJO and taken with my point-and-shoot.

Weekend at the beach

I spent last night playing poker at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi MS. The Beau is a beautiful property, and the poker room was terrific, too. It had handsome wood paneling, and a nice feel to it. I believe there were 16 tables and they were packed. On the TV monitor that showed the waiting list, there were often as many as 50 players waiting. They spread $1/2 NL, $2/5 NL, $4/8 Limit and $10/20 Omaha-8 with a 1/2 kill. The latter was tempting, but I decided to swim in the familiar waters of $1/2 NL.

The dealers were good, there were auto-shufflers, they swiped you in at the table. There were several TVs and the usual assortment of football games were on (Alabama beat Va. Tech and LSU beat somebody, maybe Washington). The drink service was excellent.

The game I sat in on was juicy, although, unfortunately, I wasn't able to grab my share of the juiciness. I saw a guy turn over ♠Q ♣9 and win a $60 pot when there were overcards on the board, but also a 9. I saw a guy call a $75 bet (pot-sized) with Q-10 where the board had K-J-x-x. With only eight outs, this is not a call unless you think you can get the rest of the other guy's stack if you hit. In fact, he did hit (an ace came), then he checked to the other guy who was wise enough to check behind. When you call a big bet like that and hit, make 'em pay. I'm just sayin'.

One of the things I didn't like was that they use a time-rake process (Harrah's in New Orleans did, too) and it's $6 every 30 minutes (when the new dealer pushes). I played for five hours, so that was $60 down the black hole. The reason this is bad for me is that I only won four or five pots (three were big, one medium, and one small). With standard rake, I would have paid maybe $16ish or so.

I had A-A twice. Once I raised to $15 ($12 to 15 was standard at this table) and everyone folded. The other time I got two customers. The flop was interesting: ♣A ♠K ♠10. Yes, that gave me top set, but Q-J would have a straight and there could be a flush draw. I led out for $25 and an older guy called. The turn was ♦10 giving me the boat and an almost unbeatable hand. Now what? I decided to bet again, hoping he had a 10 or a flush draw, but how much? I bet smallish (compared to the pot size): $30, but unfortunately the other guy folded.

The only other premium hand I had was A-K and I won a medium pot when an ace came. The usual scenario was I would have a small pair, and call a raise after others called, then whiff the flop. That and fold, fold, fold. I made some calls on the button with junk, but was never able to do anything with them.

One other cute hand. I had ♦8 ♥8. There was a raise and two calls to me, so I called from the blinds. The flop was Q-4-4 which is great for me, but being the nit that I am out of position, I checked. It checked around, and so I knew then that I should have bet, oh well. The turn was the ♠8 giving me the boat. What would you do? I led for half the pot and got a caller! I forget the river, but I bet again, and my customer folded.

It pays to pay attention. Two seats to my left, a guy always raised to $12 when it came to him and the pot was unraised. The big blind always called (he had a big stack and was splashing around in lots of pots) and others would fold. Finally, I limped when he was on the button, he raised to $12 and only the BB called. Now, I made a big re-raise, both folded, and I picked up a $30 pot for free. My hand? I had that powerhouse of ♥4 ♦4.

The best hand of the night happened at the table next to us in a $2/5 NL game. It was a loud game, so I had been keeping my eye on it. Everyone had tons of money in front of them with lots of laughing and drinking. At one point, the floor came over and told them either to stop cursing or to lower the volume. She knew they were having fun (and didn't want to squelch that), but if someone else in the room complained, it would be her ass.

All of a sudden, I heard a louder than usual commotion, so I stood and turned around to watch. Two guys were all in and there was more than $5,000 in the middle. I don't know what the loser had, but the winner had an open-ended straight draw and a back-door flush draw. Sklansky would say he had 9 outs (for some reason he counts the back-door thing as one out, even though you only hit it one time out of 22, and zero times out of 22 if you're MOJO). The turn completed his straight.

After he was pushed this huge pot, someone asked him why he called the all in. He said "I felt like gambling." Doncha love it? I mean really. The poor bastard guy, who was the 2:1 favorite, came over and shook his hand, and left the game. Give him props, he took it well.

I'll be back to the tables today. Also, I'll check in on the tournament. In the meantime, here are some photos. I had my camera and an itchy trigger finger, lol.


The Beau Rivage sits directly on the Gulf of Mexico.


The grounds are beautiful.


I'm here with my laptop and the only image editing program is a freebie a friend recommended called FastStone. I've only used it once, so didn't do much tweaking as I didn't feel like climbing up the learning curve right now.




I was hoping for a great sunset, but clouds rolled in and hid the sun, making this more pink than orange. I'm glad this sailboat came along as it added to the shot, obviously.

Remember I said the Beau sits right on the Gulf? This shot was taken from the parking garage, maybe 20 feet from my car and without a zoom lens.

Biloxi bound

There's a poker tournament that's just starting at the beautiful Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi MS and it's called the Gulf Coast Poker Tournament.

Yes, this is a three-day weekend, and I'm shooting down there. I've heard the Beau Rivage is as beautiful as anything in Las Vegas, and, it's located on the ocean (actually, the Gulf of Mexico) instead of being in a desert. No offense intended to Vegas, but I'm just sayin'.

They say it's beautiful, but let's do the experiment. Things like this must be checked out. I want hard data!

I'm not going to enter the tournament as I won't get there in time Saturday and the Sunday event is LIPS. Maybe I could borrow a dress, and, um, nevermind -- that could get ugly.

So, I'll just play some ca$h games Saturday, Sunday and maybe even Monday, and relax and have some fun. I'm sure I'll eat some seafood and walk on the beach. The odds are pretty good that I'll have my camera.

The skyscratcher

The famous architect Eero Saarinen was hired to build a part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in St. Louis MO.


Saarinen considered and rejected a monument, an obelisk and other constructions; he settled on a simple arch. But what is simple to the architect may not be so simple to the engineer.


If you look straight ahead in the image above, you can see the entrance to the Arch. Just inside, there is a security check that is almost identical to what you go through at an airport. Once inside, you can view a movie that shows how it was built. I won't go into all the details, but it's an engineering marvel.


The construction began in 1963 and took two and one-half years. It was opened to the public in July, 1967.


The planners estimated that 13 men would lose their lives during construction. Amazingly, even though the workers didn't use safety harnesses, and the hard hats were the old-fashioned type, no lives were lost.


The Gateway Arch is 630 feet high, and seems like it touches the sky. It's also 630 feet across at its base. You can find out more about this fascinating icon at visityourarch.org.


The view from the top: Busch Stadium (above) and the surrounding area can be seen from the observation deck.

Because the Arch is curved, a standard elevator wouldn't be possible. To get to the top, you have to ride a contraption which is part train car, part elevator and part amusement park ride -- they call it a tram. It's too weird to describe, and all I can say is don't take it if you're claustrophobic. If you don't mind the ride, however, the view is great. I'd love to return at night.