Poker pearl #40

This from the Eeewwww Department.

Jeff Madsen was interviewed in the April issue of Bluff magazine (see scan above of front cover). Madsen recently won the Borgata Winter Open (Atlantic City). I expected to hear some pearls of wisdom, but instead, this:

"I was feeling good despite, of course, that the entire Borgata lost ALL hot water for three days of the tournament! It was ice cold and impossible to take a shower, so basically you had a room full of unwashed poker players for days."

The dealer who didn't bark

After the tournament at Sam's Town, I bought into a $1/3 NLHE game for $120. I lost most of my stack when I flopped two pair and lost to a higher two pair. I was left with $17 and two hands later it folded to me on the button. I had ♣Q ♣J and moved all in (If I raise, I'm pot committed anyway). Of course, I should have reloaded, but that's another story.

Both blinds called so there's $51 in the pot. The flop was ♣8 ♥7 ♦4. (I'm not positive of the low card, but I think this is what it was -- it doesn't affect the story - the rank of the two higher cards is accurate). Both blinds checked.

The turn was the ♣10 and the fireworks started. I remember thinking the turn was a good card for me. I have a flush draw and an inside straight draw. The SB checked and the BB bet $50 and SB folded. I didn't notice the river card, but the dealer pushed the pot to the BB after he showed 9-6 for the straight.

"Wait a minute," I said in a state of shock.

The dealer tells me to turn over my cards, so I do. She now calls the floor. She tells him she made a mistake and pushed the pot to the SB without considering my hand. The floor says he'll "call upstairs" and get the play reviewed. If the river was a 9 or a club, I win.

Instead of reloading, I decided to get something to eat. When I returned, I asked the dealer if the floor had come back and told her what he found out. She said no.

I then found the floor and asked him what happened. He said the dealer had given him the sign not to have the eye in the sky review it. Now, I never told her that I had changed my mind and didn't want it reviewed. It was only $51, but I just wanted to know what the river card was. He said he'd have them check.

I then went out and got a car wash - the review can take some time. When I returned, the floor told me what he had found out: The river card had not been dealt!

Of course, if the floor had understood that the last card hadn't been dealt, he might have been able to save the deal. The stub (deck she had been dealing from) was still sitting on top of the muck.

So, the dealer had not fully explained her error to the floor. I can only guess she thought she'd get in more trouble if she said she never even dealt the last card or maybe she was just flustered. Then she tried to cover it up, hoping it would go away, by signaling the floor to skip the review, something I never agreed to.

One word: shameful!


Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Short but sweet -- not!

I played in the tournament at Sam's Town Casino today (see image above). The buyin was $150 and 147 runners signed up.

My tournament boiled down to one hand. I was dealt ♥Q ♣Q when the blinds were 50/100. There were two limpers so I raised to 650. A guy behind me called and so did one of the limpers. The flop was ♠A ♥9 ♣8. The limper checked, I gritted my teeth and CB 1200, both called -- uh oh. The turn was the ♦Q. The limper checked, I bet 3000 and the guy behind me moved all in. The limper now also moved all in. I had played with both players long enough to know they were loose. What would you do?

I had so much of my stack out there, that I called. Sure one of them might have J-10 and a straight, but, if so, I have outs. More often than not, they have A-K, A-9 or maybe a set of 8s or 9s.

I called and the first all-in guy had ♦A ♠4 (I couldn't make this stuff up), but the other guy had J-10 for the straight. That's the problem of playing with bad players -- once in a while they have something.

The river was a brick and I was short-stacked. I lasted a little while longer, but busted out when my A-J ran into A-K. That normally wouldn't happen, but beggars can't be choosers.

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Seen on a tee shirt:

I will not overplay Ace-King
I will not overplay Ace-King
I will not overplay Ace-King

ALL IN!!!

When you walk in the front door of Sam's Town Casino, the atrium is what greets you (this taken from third floor near the escalator).

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

It's my birthday, and I'll cry if I want to

I almost stayed home and watched basketball, but I got the itch to play in a $70 tournament at the Gold Strike Friday night. We started with 10K in chips and 20-minute blind levels.

Early on, I couldn't get much going. I was in the big blind with 9-3 off suit and got to see a free flop. The flop was A-5-3 rainbow. Everyone checked. The turn was a 9 giving me two pair. I bet 1200 and got one caller, an older man. The river was a king. I checked and the old man fired out 3000. It just seemed like he really had it, so I folded. Weak/tight maybe, but I felt the guy had too much credibility.

My stack dribbled down to 3800 and I picked up ♥A ♦A. The blinds were 300/600 and I shoved. Sure, you want action with aces, but I was going to be pot committed anyway. Two players called me! One had ♦7 ♣7 and the other one never showed. My hand held up and I was back in business.

I was moved to another table, I believe there were around 27 players left. The blinds were 400/800/100 which meant each pot had ~2000 before the flop, something worth fighting for. I picked up ♥K ♥Q, and after one limper, I raised to 3600, hoping to win the pot right there. The big blind was Dina Rylander. If you click on her name, you'll see lots of winnings, but it doesn't include her recent $57,000 win -- she can play. She called, and the limper, who had a lot of chips, called, too.

The flop was ♠A ♠J ♦5. They checked to me, and I checked behind.

The turn was beautiful: ♣10 giving me the nuts. Again, they checked to me. What would you do? I went ahead and moved in -- no use getting fancy. If I win this pot, I have a good chip stack and can win the tournament. If you fancy play, someone might hit a flush, or have A-J and make a full house. The river can be a card to give someone else a straight. Just gimme the money.

Dina called me and the other guy folded.

I turned over my hand, and she said, "I'm free rolling," as she turned over ♠K ♠Q -- she also had Broadway with a redraw to the flush. The river was the ♠3 and I was out.

Maybe Dina didn't get the memo that it was my birthday.

It was too early to go home, so I went to see about a cash game. No Omaha going, and there was a long waiting list for the 1/2 NL games, so I played $4/8 limit, won back my entry fee and left early. Sam's Town Casino is having its monthly biggie tournament today, but it starts at 11 a.m., and you have to get there early because it usually sells out. Maybe things will go better in that one.

Birthday boy plays games

Yesterday was my birthday! Don't ask how old and I won't have to lie to you.

I worked on my birthday, but took today off. I slept late, then tried poker, but I was "running bad," as they say. So, I tuned into BBO to play bridge with the robots.

                  ♠ A Q 8 6 2
                  ♥ 9 3
                  ♦ Q 2
                  ♣ A Q 6 5
==
                  ♠ K J
                  ♥ Q 8 2
                  ♦ A K 10 7
                  ♣ J 8 3 2
==
          North      South
                     1♦       
          1♠        1NT
          2♣ (1)    2♦ (2)
          3NT       Pass
(1) Human, do you have three spades or four hearts?
(2) No, robot, sorry. Would I lie to you?

West led the ♥4 to East's king. He returned the ♥J, covered and won by West with the ace. After the West bot led a heart to East's 10, East cashed the ♥7 and West followed with a low one as I discarded a club.

At this point East exited with the ♦8 and my 10 held the trick. I cashed the ♠K J and on the second one, East showed out (discarding the ♦5).

Time to figure out what was going on.

I could take a club finesse and make my game if West had the ♣K. But, because West had four hearts and five spades, I decided that it was less than 50-50 that the hook would work. Besides, anybody can take a finesse -- let's go for the squeeze.

I led a club to the ace (probably leading the jack is better as he might cover and solve all my problems) and cashed two spades. East discarded a club and a diamond. When I led the ♦Q and overtook in my hand, my diamonds were good.

Here's the complete deal.


You can click on the image to make the it larger.

UPDATE: I realized after I posted this, that I have nine tricks after the 10 of diamonds holds. Oh well, it's my birthday and I can do what I want, lol.

Making 3NT was worth 82.69% and you can see the movie if you click here.

Images from the table

Ralph Katz (above) has 20 NABC titles. It's no surprise then, that when the Nickell team was looking for a replacement for Dick Freeman, they turned to Ralph. He's not only a great player, he is usually calm at the table and seems to bring out the best in his partner.

Last fall, he became a world champion -- the team he was on (Nickell) won the Bermuda Bowl in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (He had two second-places finish and a third-place finish before then as well as many other high placings.)

Katz comes from a bridge-playing family. His wife, Martha Benson Katz won the World Youth Team Championship in 1991. Their son Sam is also an up-and-coming player. Ralph lives in Burr Ridge IL, near Chicago.


Nikolay Demirev (above) of Arlington Heights IL (also near Chicago) has five NABC wins. A great player is often one who can win with many different players. Nik's five wins are with four different partners. He is a part-time blogger here.


Justin Lall of Dallas TX won the world Youth Team Championship in 2003 and 2006. In 2006, he won the Grand National Teams - Championship Flight. At just 22 years old, it's obvious to say his future is bright. Justin blogs here.

Images by MOJO and taken in Reno with my Canon 40D.

NABCs are for catching up

I had a good time in Reno. I can honestly say I didn't play a wrong card, either at bridge or poker. Yep, you're right, I didn't play a single hand of either.

I did meet Franco, but only to take his photo for the Daily Bulletin. He won the brand-new, prestigious Platinum Pairs. It was a nail-biter. At first, another pair won, then after some score corrections he and Andy Stark won. I didn't introduce myself, just took the photo and moved on.

Bridge blogger Mike Yuen was nice enough to come by the Daily Bulletin office and we visited. He says he hasn't been blogging much because of the Winter Olympics (he lives in Vancouver BC). He went to some of the events (he says he likes the speed skating), and had relatives, who wanted to attend the Olympics, come visit.

The San Francisco Bay area has an in-school bridge teaching program called Center 4 Bridge Education. A person who helped found and drive the program is Lauren Friedman. She was kind enough to drop by the DB office. I enjoyed meeting her and we had a nice chat. Anybody who promotes bridge, particularly among young people, is all right in my book.

I spoke very briefly to bridge blogger Stacy Jacobs. Her team had just finished second by a very close margin in the final-day Machlin Women's Teams. No doubt that was disappointing, and I'm sure she wasn't in a mood to visit -- I kept it brief.

I saw many other friends, most of whom aren't bloggers. That's one of the best things about an NABC -- you get to visit with old friends and catch up.


I took the first image with my Canon. Image above is the Reno NABC logo taken from the ACBL web site.

Faces and places

At the North American Bridge Championships, the best players come from around the world.

Jan Jansma (below) is from the Netherlands. The Dutch bridge teams have been getting stronger and stronger lately. I think it's possible they can win a world championship. Jansma has won the Spingold KO teams, the Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs and was second in the Vanderbilt. In world play, he is a World Bridge Federation World International Master.


Aleksander Dubinin (below) lives in Moscow, Russia, and, along with partner Andrew Gromov, has won the Spingold KO Teams (and was second once), the Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (and was second once) and the Keohane North American Swiss Teams. The WBF ranks him as a World Life Master.


Eric Rodwell is on the short list of best players in the world. He's won 50 NABC titles. In world play, he's a won the Bermuda Bowl (five times), the Olympiad and the World Open Pairs. He is a WBF World Grand Master.



Images by MOJO and taken with my Canon. Sorry the first one is fuzzy.

Things you might see in Reno

I'm still in Reno at the North American Bridge Championships.


Above is the Summit Ballroom, the largest of five playing areas. There are 22 by 26 rows or 572 tables if my math is right.


Reno at 7:30 p.m. from my hotel window.

Images by MOJO and taken with my Canon 40D. Click to enlarge any of these images.

Special guest in Reno

I'm still in Reno -- traveling back to Memphis Monday.


The Reno Youth Bridge brought players from area middle schools to play today. After the game, there was a surprise guest -- bridge player Bill Gates, who also, oh by the way, is founder of Microsoft. He answered questions and the kids were thrilled to interact with him.

Image by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Going to Reno

By the time you read this, I'll be in Reno NV. The Spring North American Bridge Championship is being held at the Grand Sierra Casino. I'll be working, not playing bridge. Don't you feel sorry for me? No poker, no bridge for two weeks.

If you want to keep up with the NABC, you can read the Daily Bulletins if you click here and look for the day you are interested in.

I'll be home late Monday, March 22. There won't be much blogging until then.

Image copied from the ACBL web site.

Sorry, Mr. Blackwood

The Blackwood convention (which uses a bid of 4NT to ask for number of aces) is probably the most utilized and most famous convention in the history of bridge. When Easley Blackwood devised it, he submitted a write-up about it to the Bridge World magazine. They rejected it!

We're getting ready for our move to the new building. As I was packing things in my office, I came across the rejection letter dated May 24, 1935. The ACBL archivist has the original. This is a scan of a photocopy (click to enlarge):

Behind the scenes

These two semi-trailers were parked outside the new ACBL Headquarters last week. On Thursday, they were gone. No, they were not involved in our move. So then, why were they there?

The North American Bridge Championship (called NABC) gets under way later this week in Reno NV. The league sends a massive amount of supplies and equipment -- 21 tons! These semis are used to haul supplies from the ACBL warehouse (in Horn Lake MS) to Reno.

Here are some numbers:

* 1000 card tables
* 3600 bidding boxes
* 2000 decks of cards
* 19 pounds of rubber bands

There are also pencils, entry slips, computers, printers, and the list goes on. What about chairs? The host hotel (the Grand Sierra Resort) provides those.

The trucks arrive in Reno several days early so ACBL staffers can unload and set up.


An ACBL staff member loads one of the trucks. Shown on the forklift (above) are 60 card tables.

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S. Click on either to enlarge.

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Here's an update on the ACBL headquarters move. There's a problem with the phone company getting things set up for internet and phone service, so the move is delayed. No new date, but it could be up to one month.

Bring your A-game

I just got back from the Gold Strike. I had a coupon for the buffet that expired today, so I decided to get a free meal.

Where did the coupon come from? When I played in the tournament Saturday, each runner who made it until 6:30 p.m. got one. They gave us an hour to eat dinner, and it was on the house.

I didn't use mine (Saturday), though. Why not?

When you are in the middle of a poker (or bridge) tournament, the last thing you need is to stuff yourself with a big dinner, then come back and try to play good poker. Instead, I went to the food court and got one piece of pizza and a salad. I didn't finish either one. Players don't think of little things like this, but I really believe that they can make a difference.

Here's something else I did. After I got ready to go play Saturday morning, I logged into online poker and played for 20 or 30 minutes. When a golfer is going to play, he might take some practice swings. He goes to the putting green. Baseball players take fielding and batting practice. All this is part of the warm-up process. People in other sports do the same thing, so why not in poker? When I got there, I was ready to play. (Glen Ashton has written about this on his bridge blog -- sorry I don't have the exact link.)

After around four to five hours of play, an older man limped in. I had started with 8000 and had chipped up up to ~38,000 and the man had ~22,000 (these are approximate, but close). I believe the blinds were 500/1000/100. I checked my hole cards and was pleased to see ♥K ♦K. I raised to 4000, the blinds folded and he called.

The flop was ♥10 ♥6 ♣2 and the villain moved all in!! This didn't make sense. If he had a set, he could just make a regular bet, rather than blow me out of the water. Another line is that he could "check to the raiser," then check-raise me. I finally decided he had a flush draw, so I called.

The villain turned over ♠A ♣6 for middle pair, wow. The very next card, however, was the ♦6 to give him trips. The river was a brick.

Instead of having ~62,000, I was down to 16K -- brutal. It would have been easy to go on tilt, but I sat out the next hand, got up and went out in the lobby, and got a soft drink. I began to visualize getting aces and doubling up and thinking positive thoughts. When I got back I was ready to play again. Looking back, this was probably a turning point and part of the reason I did as well as I did.

What do you do to bring your A-game?

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To see the results of the event I played in go here. Note that the win figures don't account for the chop.

Image by MOJO and taken with my phone.

I'll take the fifth

I played in the Delta Gold Poker Tournament Saturday at the Gold Strike Casino. This was Event #16 and 195 runners signed up to play. We started with 8000 in chips with 40-minute blind levels.

I made the final table, and, when the smoke had cleared, I finished 5th. Several readers have been supportive in previous comments (Wolynski, Crash, bastin, Luchpher, Thane.) writing that I'd eventually win one of these things. I really thought this would be it. I had a slightly above average stack when we were down to 10 and felt confident.

An interesting thing happened that I don't believe I've seen. At the final table, almost everyone had the same stack size. Normally, there are two or three that are just hanging on, and two or three large stacks. Because we all had about the same, everyone was playing super-tight. Finally someone suggested a chop: All 10 of us would get $3000. Then we would play and first place would get an extra $4200 and the trophy (which was a very nice crystal thing - see photo below).

All agreed on the chop, and this loosened things up. One by one they dropped. When we were five-handed, it slowed down like before. Again, we all had about the same amount of chips. Unfortunately, I went card dead -- 9-2, 7-3, J-4, etc. and my stack dribbled down. Finally, I was all in with Q-10 (10 on the board), but the villain had A-J and an ace came, too.

I'm too tired to recap the deals, but needless to say, it was exciting.


Above is what the shot clock looked like when I busted out.


This is the trophy I was playing for.

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

When a knife won't cut it, use a fork

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

       West   North   East   South
       1♦    Pass    Pass   1♠  
       Dbl    2♠     Pass   4♠
       All Pass

West didn't want to lead from one of his aces, so punted with the ♠6. Declarer won the 8, drew a second round, then led a club towards the king.

West won the ♣A and exited with the ♣Q. What would you do?

If declarer wins the ♣K, he has no good discard. Declarer played low and ruffed it. Next, he led the ♥3 and West was caught in a Morton's Fork. If he rose with the ♥A, declarer's queen would be good, and he could discard two diamonds on the king and jack of hearts and another on the ♣K. West, therefore, played low and the ♥K won the trick. The ♣K was played next and declarer discarded the ♥Q. This meant South could claim -- he would lose two rounds of diamonds and ruff two in the dummy.

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Here's an update on the ACBL headquarters move. There's a problem with the phone company getting things set up, so the move is delayed. No new date, but it could be up to one month.

Poker pearl #40

Corwin Cole was interviewed in the latest Card Player magazine (see scan of cover above). He was asked what can players do to open up their poker game against bad players.

"There's nothing wrong with playing a small pot and perhaps creating a situation where you can show a bluff. You'll be surprised by how much action this can create by doing it once. Even if your bluff doesn't work out, as long as you picked the right situation, perhaps in a limped pot, it won't cost you that much and you'll be able to set yourself up for a big win later on. It's a win-win situation. As long as the fish recognizes that you're there to play ball with him, regardless of your hand, you'll be able to get maximum value later on in the session."

It just didn't happen

I played in the Super Stack tournament at the Horseshoe last night. Sixty-seven players plunked down $110 to enter. I busted out 12th, unfortunately, and nine were paid. As best I recall, first was $1850 -- now that would have been sweet. Ninth paid $107 -- so you play your heart out, finish ninth and lose $3 for the night! LOL, but that's tournament poker.

I had this key hand when the blinds were 2000/4000/200: ♠A ♠K. I had ~55,000 in chips (we started with 20,000) and raised from UTG to 12K. It folded to the small blind who thought for a while and called. The pot now was 30K (12K + 12K +2K in antes +4K from the BB) if my math is right.

The flop was ♥10 ♠8 ♠7. The villain moved all in for 23K more. What would you do?

First of all, the villain could be making a stop and go, and I'm ahead. He needs chips just like I do, so he might be making a good move with air. Even if you assume he has something good, I have nine cards that give me the nut flush, and my overcards may be outs, so it's a trivial call.

The villain showed ♣9 ♣8 for a pair of 8s and an open ended straight draw. I used the Cardplayer magazine's odds calculator to see what it thought: I was a 50.1% favorite, the villain was 48.69% favorite and there would be a tie 1.21% of the time. Too bad he didn't just have A-10 for one pair -- his open-ended straight draw made it close.

The turn was a pretty card for me: ♦K moving me up to a 77.27% favorite. The river was a brick, and my hand held.

"Nice catch," said the villain in a mean-spirited way. He made it sound like I sucked out even though I was ahead. I'm glad to say I don't give anybody any sarcastic shit grief when they bust me. Players like that need to grow up. I'm just sayin'.

On the flop, It cost me $23K more to win a 53K pot, so even if he flopped a straight, it was right for me to draw to my flush (36%) from a math standpoint.

There was one other similar hand that I wasn't involved in. When the blinds were 100/200, there were three limpers to the BB who raised to 1200. Two of the limpers called. The flop was: ♠J ♥7 ♥2. The raiser moved all in and one of the others insta-called.

The raiser showed: ♠A ♣A. The caller turned over ♥J ♥10.

Players at the table oohed and ahhed that the caller would risk her entire stack with a flush draw. Not so fast -- she had other outs as the turn showed: ♣10 giving her two pair and her hand held.

I ran it through the odds calculator, and, sure enough, she was a favorite on the flop! She would win 50.71% of the time, the A-A would win 49.29% of the time, and there could not be a tie.

Busto: With 12 left, the blinds were 5000/10,000/500. We were six-each at two tables and the dynamics were this: someone would shove (no use making a 3XBB raise, you were pot committed) and the others would fold. It was all decided pre-flop. I hate a shovefest, but that's often how it plays out.

I had 50K (so my M was around 3), and it folded to me in late position. I had ♠A ♣5 and shoved. At this stage, you need to shove with any two -- the ace was just the lagniappe a bonus. The BB woke up with ♥Q ♦Q and called and I was toast when he flopped a set. No problem. I played well, it just didn't happen.

ACBL move on schedule

The ACBL will move its headquarters from Memphis to Horn Lake MS, approximately 10 miles south. The move date is the weekend of March 12 -- 14.


Above is a shot of the reception area that they are calling the Pre-function Area. Pre-function area? Well, excuuuuse me.


Above is another shot of the Pre-function Area with the receptionist's desk straight ahead.


An example of a cubicle is shown (above). The workers are still assembling them, but they tell us everything will be ready by time we expect to move.


Above is a shot of a cubicle that isn't finished.


They call this (above) the break room, but it's used mostly for lunch. The majority of the employees bring theirs.

To play well, you have to "Work" at it

Whist is the granddaddy of modern-day bridge. Next in the evolution was bridge whist (also called bid whist), then auction bridge which was thought to have been first played in 1903 or 1904. Contract bridge came along in 1926 and auction lost its popularity.

In auction bridge, the aim was to keep the contract as low as possible because declarer's side was credited with the number of tricks won, whether game or slam was bid or not.

The book shown above was copyrighted in 1920 by Milton Work. Work was considered the greatest authority on auction and contract bridge from 1917 through 1931. He popularized a high-card point count system that Goren took, simplified and gave to the masses. Work also is credited with developing the losing trick count method of hand evaluation. He's a member of the ACBL Bridge Hall of Fame.

The book is charming and has mostly good advice. Here's a sample:

"A player who has bid his full strength, should thereafter be silent."

Good advice -- too bad some players today don't follow it. Notice the term he used for takeout doubles below:

"There are two kinds of doubles: Informatory and Business. Informatory are made for the purpose of conveying information to the partner who is expected to overbid. Business doubles are made with the expectation of defeating the adversary and for the purpose of increasing the score."

Work wasn't quite on the mark with this:

"Declarer, in the absence of conflicting information, should base his play upon the probability of an even division of the cards. That is, with seven of a suit in his own hand and Dummy, he should play for each of the adversaries to have three. In the long run, playing for the even break will net many tricks."

Actually, a 3-3 split is only 35% while a 4-2 split is 46.88%. With a combined nine cards in a suit, the 3-1 split is slightly more likely than the 2-2 division.

"One of the best and most servicable means of giving information is the Come-on signal, which is made, when not attempting to win the trick, by the play or discard of an unnecessarily high card. For example: the Ace and King of a suit being led, the play of the 6 followed by the 5 constitutes a signal, as the 6 is an unnecessarily high card. The meaning of this signal is that the player who makes it desires the continuation of the suit in which it is made.

"The signal is still used by some players to mean, 'I can ruff the third round,' but it seems foolish to limit it to any such narrow meaning."

Again, it's too bad so many modern-day players don't follow this tried-and-true advice.

Here's a hand from his book that was played in an auction tournament:

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

North opened 1NT and South bid 2♠, ending the auction.

West led the ♣Q. How would you play it?

The suggested line is to overtake the club with the ace and advance the ♠Q. After West covers (probably not best), you win the ace and lead another spade to your hand.

Next you finesse in diamonds and end up taking 13 tricks: six spades, five diamonds, one club and one club ruff in dummy. In auction, because you took all 13, you're credited with a grand slam!


I scanned the book cover and the table of contents (shown just above). I borrowed the photo of Work from the ACBL web site. Click on either scan to enlarge.

Poker pearl #39

Jason Somerville was interviewed in the March issue of Bluff magazine (see scan above). He was asked about Full Tilt's RUSH poker.

"Everyone knows going into Rush Poker, that they lose (some) elements when they click to take a seat. It's no different than a live player giving up the ability to make live reads upon deciding to play online. Yes, the lack of that information waters down the skill edge and the so-called spirit of the game, but you know what you're going to get going in. I don't think Rush Poker will ever take over regular online poker just as regular online poker didn't extinguish live poker."