Bah, humbug

The International Bridge Press Association gives out various awards each year for well-played or well-bid deals. In 1998, this deal won an award for Best Play By a Junior. The winner was Igor Grzejdziak of Poland.

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

North opened a Polish club, South bid 1♥, North raised to 2♥ and South bid 4♥.

West led the ♠8 (third-best from even, low from odd). Declarer played low from dummy, East followed with the ♠2 and declarer the 3. What would you do now?

At the table, West continued with the ♠6. Here are all four hands:

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

Declarer Grzejdziak had made a terrific deceptive play. He took the jack with his ace and drew three rounds of hearts. Next he finessed in spades and threw a club loser on the fourth spade.

Before you criticize West, cashing the ♣A could have been a catastrophe on a different layout.

Happy holidays

Here's a holiday present for bridge players:

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

You are declarer in 6♥ after West opened 2♠. West leads the Q♠ and you win the ace and draw trumps in three rounds.

You continue with the ♦A and then the queen, but East notices West's count signal and ducks. The contract can no longer be made. East wins the third round of diamonds and exit with a club, leaving you a trick short when the club finesse loses.

Just then, Santa Claus came down the chimney.

"Ho ho ho. I'm giving you an 'undo' for your holiday present," says Santa. "You get to start over."

You win the spade lead, draw trumps as before, then stop to think. This time, instead of the ♦A, you lead the ♦Q. East must duck or you can win two spades, six hearts, three diamonds and one club for 12 tricks.

Next you play the ♣J, giving West a version of East's dilemma on the previous trick. When West plays low, you overtake with the ♣Q, discard a club on the ♠K, and then finesse East for the ♦K.

As you score up 6♥, you hear "Ho ho ho, and a Merry Christmas to all," as Santa flies away in his sleigh.

Robot or human?

The robots on Bridgebase Online have a reputation for doing wacky things. Guess what? Humans do, too. Here are some problems. You have to guess whether the wackiness was by a bot or a human.

Problem #1:
You hold:
♠8 6 ♥A K 6 3 ♦9 5 ♣J 10 9 8 7.

The auction is pass pass 1♠ to you, and you double! Are you human or robot?

Problem #2:
You hold:
♠A 10 4 3 ♥Q 2 ♦J 9 7 ♣K Q 9 4.

Partner opens 1♥ and the opponents are silent. You bid 3NT and go down one. If you respond 1♠ you find your 4-4 fit and make five. Are you human or robot?

Problem #3:
You hold:
♠Q J 8 2 ♥7 6 3 ♦Q 9 5 4 ♣7 2.

It goes pass pass to you, and, vulnerable against not, you open 1♦. Are you human or robot?

Problem #4:
You hold:
♠A 9 8 7 5 ♥9 7 ♦Q J 5 2 ♣4 3.
Partner opens 1♣. Your right-hand opponent doubles, then bids 5♦ on his own. You not only don't double (it goes down 3), but you lead the ♣3!

Are you human or robot?

All these actions were taken by humans. I played in one of the individual tournaments last Friday night. I may think twice before doing so again. You can see all of these atrocities goofs if you click here.

Six left, two weeks to go

With two weeks left in the season, only six of the original 43 poker bloggers are left in the NFL Eliminator series. Last Sunday, three players picked Denver and were disappointed when Oakland upset them. That eliminated CK, PinkyStinky and lightning36.

I picked Arizona for this coming week. They are playing at home against the hapless St. Louis rams. Las Vegas wise guys make them a 14-point favorite, so obviously I like that.

There's no money involved, but with poker bloggers, it's always about bragging rights. Everyone wants to show they're a playa.

You're a good bridge player, Charlie Brown

Charles Schulz was arguably the most famous cartoonist in the world. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus,the Red Baron and all the other characters were beloved. The Peanuts cartoon strip ran in newspapers for about 50 years. There were also many books.

Who can forget Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, only to have Lucy pull it back at the last second as he fell on his butt? We can all relate to that.

Schulz was a bridge player. Back in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, bridge was quite the rage. It's still considered the greatest of card games, and is very popular, but it has more competition these days with poker, video games, wii games, etc.

I'm not positive, but I believe Schulz (notice there's no "T" in his name) learned how to play when he served in WW II. Often he incorporated bridge into his cartoons. Before rushing off to fight the Red Baron, the WW I Flying Ace has to wait for his mechanics to finish playing a bridge contract (see photo above).

In 1997, ACBL CEO Roy Green went to visit Schulz in Santa Rosa CA to present a certificate proclaiming him an Honorary Life Master. In return, Schulz donated a framed copy of one of his strips that had a bridge theme. It's the one in the photo above, and is hanging on the third floor at ACBL Headquarters.

Interesting tidbit: Schulz offered his drawings to be used in his high school yearbook. He was turned down.

=================================================
Which is your favorite Peanuts quote? Here are a few of mine:

"I love mankind! It's people I can't stand." - Charlie Brown

"Ugh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get hot water, get some disinfectant, get some iodine!" - Lucy

"Dear IRS, Please remove me from your mailing list." - Snoopy

"I have a new philosophy in life; I only dread one day at a time." - Charlie Brown

"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from!" - Linus

"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement." - Snoopy

Ultimate Bet glitch

I signed up for a quickie sit and go on Ultimate Bet Saturday morning. When it took me to the table, above is what I saw. I decided that it was a glitch, so I waited, but nothing happened. About an hour later, a pop-up told me I'd finished 3rd! Aarrgh.

Yesterday, Sunday, it happened again! This time, I scrolled through the games that were running, and found the one I was supposed to be playing in. When I opened the game, there was a button that I could click on to to go my table -- worked like a charm, but still pretty annoying.

Don't be too quick

Bridge players are taught to draw trumps as soon as possible unless they have to ruff losers in dummy or certain other situations. Get the children off the street, they say. The declarer did that on this deal:

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

South opened 1♣, West overcalled 1♠, North made a negative double, East passed and South rebid 5♣!

West led the ♠K. Declarer won the ace and discarded a diamond. He led two rounds of trumps and East showed out. South led a third round. After ruffing the spade return, declarer led a diamond to the ace, took the heart finesses and was down one.

Suppose South was your partner. After the game, while running the boards, he complained about his luck and asked you if he could do better. What would you tell him?

A better play might be to discard the ♥Q at trick one. Then continue with ♦A and another. If East wins, your ♦Q is good. If East plays low, you play the ♦Q and West is in with his king. What can he do? If he leads a trump, your club loser disappears. If he leads a plain suit, you can ruff the diamond in dummy. You make the contract, losing a diamond and a trump. This line works against almost any reasonable distribution.

Do you notice anything else? South can also make the contract via an endplay. He can run all his trumps, keeping ♥A Q and ♦Q 8 in hand and ♦A 6 in dummy. West has to keep K-x in both red suits. Then declarer can play ace and another of either red suit and West is endplayed.

The second line requires more to make the contract, but isn't unreasonable. Cute hand.

What is an RBT?

I played on Bridge Base Online today with the robots. The bridge on this deal wasn't very good, but it shows what an RBT is.

I was dealt:
♠A 8 5 ♥A 6 5 ♦7 ♣A K 7 4 3 2.

After two passes, I opened 1♣, left-hand opponent overcalled 1♥, partner made a negative double and RHO passed. You're up.

I thought about bidding 1♠, or even 1NT, but finally settled on a pedestrian 2♣. Everyone passed. Here are all four hands:

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

The West robot led the ♠2 to the 3, 9 and my ace. What do you think about the lead? I think it stinks. Why not cash a high diamond? This would let West make a better decision about how to proceed after getting to see dummy.

I tried the ♣A and a low one. East won the 10 and cashed two high spades. He continued with the ♠J and I discarded a diamond. I was now regretting that I hadn't played three rounds of trumps when I first got in.

Another spade would be best, but the East Robot switched to a low heart. I won the ♥A and ran my trumps. West was squeezed in the red suits. He discarded all his hearts (to save his high diamonds), so when I led one at trick 12, he showed out and I avoided a nasty guess. I made three for a matchpoint score of 60.54%.

Question: What's an RBT?
Answer: A squeezed ROBOT.

To see the traveling scoresheet, click here.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra rolled into Memphis yesterday for two shows. The first was at 4 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. I caught the early one.

I've seen them several times on Public Television when PBS does periodic fundraisers. Because I enjoyed that, I wanted to see them in person.

Who or what are they? Think rock-and-roll fused with symphony - Think light and laser show created by somebody on an LSD trip with pyrotechnics thrown in as well - Think great instrumentation and singing - Think high energy.

The group came two days early. "We now own Beale Street," one of them said. He then added that they'll be performing eight shows in the next five days, so I guess that was the calm before the storm. Do they get tired doing the same show over and over? They said no, and in fact they claim they live for the shows.

Has anyone else seen them in person or on TV? Did you like them?




To visit their web site, click here.

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

I was shot

No, not that kind of shooting. What they call the "Shot Nurse" came to our office Monday, and she was offering the H1N1 vaccine -- the one for swine flu. It cost $19 and the injection felt about the same as the regular flu shot I got back in October.

Some say the vaccine hasn't been tested enough and may not be safe. I rather think that there's more risk in not getting one.

Anyone else planning to get one? Anyone going to decline?

Poker pearl #33

This from the Dec. 16 issue of Card Player magazine (Alan Schoonmaker's column):

If you keep whining about your bad luck, you will play like a weak, scared, passive victim. You will lose, and deserve to lose. If you realize that you're about as lucky as everyone else, you can play like a confident decisive winner.

Go for the overtrick

I played on Bridgebase Online last night with some old friends. Usually I play live poker on Saturday nights, but I had played on Wednesday and Friday nights (Brag: Wednesday I played in a $110 buyin live tournament at the Horseshoe Casino and chopped first through fourth), so decided to stay home and play online bridge.

This was one of the hands I held:
♠Q 3 2 ♥A K 2 ♦A J 2 ♣A 8 6 2.

I opened 1♣, left-hand opponent passed and partner bid 1♥. RHO overcalled 1♠.

We were playing support doubles, so should you make one? The answer is no. If you do, the bidding can become awkward later. It's better to bid 2NT and play that it doesn't deny three-card heart support. 2NT describes your high-card points, your distribution and partner can make a chack-back bid to find out about hearts -- you have the best of all worlds.

Partner raised to 3NT, the final contract. West led the ♠5 and the dummy was (hands rotated):

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

After I played low from dummy, East put in the jack and I won the queen. Who has the ♠K? East has it, he was allowing for West to get in and lead another, apparently, although the king works out the same in most cases.

I played a club to the king and another to my ace. West showed out, so East almost certainly had five spades and four clubs. There were nine tricks off the top, but why settle for nine. Hearts did't rate to split, so I didn't want to count on that. What would you do next?

I made the funny looking play of advancing the ♦2. I was hoping that East had 5=2=2=4 distribution. In that case, I could run my hearts, cash the ace of diamonds, and lead the low spade to endplay East.

West won the ♦8 and led the ♠10 to the ace. I led a low heart from dummy, and East showed out! That means he was 5=0=4=4. Okay, that likely would work, too.

I played three rounds of hearts, ending in dummy, while East discarded two spades and one diamond. I led a diamond to the ace as East played the ♦Q. That could be a falsecard, but I judged he had played it from ♦K Q, so led the spade. He won it, cashed his high diamond and was endplayed. Here are all four hands:

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

Below is the BBO Handviewer presentation:

Joe Cada: poker world champion

In the Dec. 2 issue of Card Player magazine (scanned above), Justin Marchaud, Associate Publisher, says this about Joe Cada:

Cada admits that he got extremely lucky and ran very well at the final table.

Cada says he welcomes the role of poker ambassador. "I hope to help poker grow and represent it well," he said.

Cada also said he'll contribute what he can to fight on behalf of the legal challenges now facing poker.

"Poker is not gambling. There is decision-making, there's logic, there's math and I think that taking away online poker takes away people's rights."

We're down to nine

Forty-three poker bloggers started the NFL Eliminator series called "Challenge CK!!!" Pick a football winner each week and survive. Pick a team that loses, and you go home. Sounds simple, but after 13 weeks, there are only nine of us left.


(Click to enlarge if you don't have a life and actually want to see are interested.)

I need Tennessee to beat St. Louis this week. I like my chances, but I've learned not to get too confident. If Cleveland can beat the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, anything can happen.

Don't give up

When a bridge contract looks hopeless, look again. Sometimes you can overcome:

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

West opened 3♠ and South had no good bid. He made the practical choice of 3NT. West led the ♠2, and declarer took stock. The lead was an obvious singleton, so he won the trick and cashed two high diamonds. When West showed out, South was in trouble.

At trick four, he led a club to the king, and when East showed out, his distribution was known to be 7=2=4=0 and West counted out to be 1=5=1=6. What now?

South continued with a diamond to his ♦Q and played three rounds of high hearts. He led a fourth round of hearts won by West. West cashed his long heart, but now he had only clubs left. West played the ♣A Q, but then had to concede a club to the jack.

In all, declarer took one spade, three hearts, three diamonds and two clubs.

Arranging things in order

The IBPA newsletter is a rich source of intersting bridge deals. This is one of them:

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

North opened the bidding with 3♦ and South bid 3NT. West led the ♠Q taken by declarer.

Beginning bridge classes teach you to count your tricks. South could see if he knocked out the ♥A, he would have only seven tricks. If he led the ♦Q first, the defense would have to duck. That would still only give him eight tricks -- no good.

The line that gives you a chance is to lead the ♦Q and overtake with the king. The defender's must duck. Next, declarer can lead a club to the queen. When that wins, he can switch his attention to the heart suit. Driving out the ♥A yields four hearts, two spades, two clubs and one diamond for nine tricks.

It's all about counting your tricks and developing a plan -- one that does things in the right order.

Bridge bloggers were in San Diego

I met Michael Yuen (left above) and he is a nice guy as well as a terrific player from Vancouver BC. He got on my good side right away when he said he likes the photos on my blog, lol. I kibitzed him twice. He was in the final of the Blue Ribbon Pairs and the final of the North American Swiss Teams.

I already knew Jonathan Steinberg (second from left) who's from Toronto. He was on the ACBL Board of Directors representing District 2 for many years. He's not a blogger, but has a bridge web site you can see here. Besides being a good player, he takes more photos than I do. He probably has carpal finger syndrome or whatever from all the shutter snapping.

Third from the left is Daniel Korbel of Waterloo ON. He's a terrific player who won the team trials to select the Canadian national team last summer. He's also a poker player (mostly online). Korbel doesn't blog as much as he used to. There's a new Korbel in the family -- Matthew Alexander Korbel is only two months old. There's no word yet as to whether he has learned how to execute a trump coup.

The old guy on the far right is somebody who calls himself MOJO.


Mark Horton of Bath, England, was in San Diego, and we went to dinner several nights. He's a well-known bridge author and player. Besides his books and his editorship of Bridge Magazine, he writes on the uber-blog BridgeBlogging.

I also went to dinner with blogger Ray Lee of Toronto ON. He is a humorous guy and we had a good time. He moved to Canada from England, and he and Mark Horton knew each other back then. I didn't have my camera, so no photo. Ray and Linda Lee are the owners of Masterpoint Press, the leading publisher of bridge books. You can read Ray's blog here. Linda was there, but she was playing, and I missed seeing her again. She blogs here.

I was disappointed that I missed bloggers Bob Klein and Jennifer Jones. They are Californians who have a nice bridge blog called Jennbridge. Check them out.

Another blogger who was there. but I wasn't able to hook up with is Drew Becker who is an up-and-coming player from Chicago. He has a real life so only blogs occasionally. When he does, the pieces are interesting problems, usually from a tournament.

Seen on a tee shirt:
I bid, therefore I am.

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

NABC is over

I'm back from the San Diego NABC. It was a terrific bridge tournament: The playing site was great, the weather was great, the attendance was great and the entertainment was great.

I flew there on Thanksgiving Day. I've traveled on that day before and usually there aren't many travelers. This time the Memphis airport was busy. I figured I'd see some people I knew on the plane. I set the over/under at three. Wrong. I noticed seven, and the plane was packed, so there might have been others I didn't spot.

Most mornings, I made a short walk to Seaport Village. It's a collection of shops and eating places on the San Diego Bay -- an excellent place to eat breakfast outdoors. In the evening, I usually went to the Gaslamp District on 4th Street. I ate a variety of cuisine -- Indian, Mexican, etc. My favorite meal was at a place called Dobson's -- I had sea bass and mussels souffle.

I met several bloggers, but unfortunately there were some whom I missed. I will post about that tomorrow

Seen on a tee shirt:
Bridge
Sex
Rock and roll . . .
Life is good

Here's a shot of one of the ballrooms where bridge was played. I took it two hours before game-time. There were 14 rows of tables by 24 rows. At four players per table, that makes 1344 of them, if my math is right. This was only one of four ballrooms. This tournament was well-attended.


Image by MOJO and taken with my Canon.

Faces from around the world

Bridge players are here in San Diego from many different countries:


Above is Sandra Rimstedt, one of the many Swedish stars.


Norberto Bocchi (above) is an Italian world champion.


Above is Victoria Gromova of Moscow. She was second earlier this week in the Women's Pairs. losing by only 4.40 matchpoints on a 25 top.


Martin de Knijffe (above) considers his next play. His father is Dutch, his mother is Swedish and he lives in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a foreign country, right? Well, sort of.

De Knijffe was second in the Blue Ribbon Pairs in Boston last year. He is also a poker player with more than $3 million in winnings. He won three World Poker Tour events, so you might have seen him on TV. He was 13th in the WSOP Main Event a few years ago.

Images by MOJO and taken with my Canon. Sorry they are dark, but I couldn't use my flash.

Cheek recovering from swine flu

I posted about bridge-player Curtis Cheek who traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and nearly died from the H1N1 virus -- swine flu. He was in the hospital for nearly one month and was close to death.

He's here at the San Diego NABC, and I interviewed him for the Daily Bulletin. You can read his story if you click here.

Cheek is moving about in a scooter. He can walk, but it puts pressure on his feet and they are still healing. He wears these so-called "sherpa" boots. They spread the pressure thoughtout the feet, rather than in a few spots.

Cheek's right hand looked fine, but his left hand was in bad shape. He seemed to think it will recover. He said he thinks he caught the swine flu after he arrived in Sao Paulo.