tennis, life and a few things in between

^{My rho bid 1♣️ off the bet: I doubt that he’d make it.} 

One of conventions in bridge is doubles: takeout or penalty. It’s being used so often, that can be taken as a natural call.

I use the penalty double (jericholibrary.org) often, especially when I don’t have a biddable suit. My aim at this stage, is to win under the line points toward game and rubber, and doubling a contract, however successful, wins no such points.

The following two hands were good candidates for penalty double, at my 2023 annual party (cue bid): my rho bid twice my suit and both times, were club.

This hand, I’ve 4 clubs: ♣️Q,J,10,7, with total 13 hcp, not counting the two doubletons.

Round 1 bid: p, p, 1C, 1S – me, who won the bid.

My lho led ♣️4, my partner has ♣️8,6,3,2, which meant my right opponent has ♣️A,K,9, 5. Also, my partner has 9 hcp.

We made 2 (8 tricks in total). If I just doubled him, we wouldn’t win the 20 under the line point.

Interestingly, the same opponent bid my suit the second time, also in club.

This hand, I’ve six clubs: ♣️KQJ432, 17 hcp with two doubletons. Clearly, club is my best suit.

There was only 1 round of bidding: 1♣️, 1♠️ – me, who won the bid. At this point, I didn’t know cue bid, and also wrongfully bid 1♠️ – I think the better bid should be 1N, to show my points.

The take out doubles, on the other hand, is a little complicated, with many factors …

1. essentially, it’s asking your partner to bid the unbid suit
2. you’ve 11+ pts, 3+ cards in each unbid suit
3. …

An unbelievably handsome hand to cap the girls night in.

Joyce to my left dealt, who has 12 hcp, bid 1♥️. My partner passed. Linda paused and then said, 4N. She has 26 hcp: 4 aces, 2 K+J and 1Q.

Me? A lonesome ♦️J. So I passed, reluctantly.

Her partner Joyce, looking pleased, 5N.

My partner Barb said cheerfully, pass, she was blessed with a ♥️J.

After I led with my only prized possession and the dummy laid down her hand, Linda said, “let’s not to play …” ha ha ha… no point, indeed.

… asking for aces ^4NT & kings ^5NT: ♣️^{4 or none},♦️¹, ♥️², ♠️^{3 kings}.

Ira: Correct response to 4N (asking for aces) sb 5C (all or none); next bid sb 5N (asking for kings since they have all the aces) correct response sb 6H (2 kings) then 7N

… 7N is the proper bid.

…without much support: another Aces and spaces.

My partner opened with 1♦️ who has all hcp in the suit.
1♦️
pass
2♦️ me: 8 hcp, 4 diamonds
pass

Upon hearing my response, my partner jumped to 4♦️.

Actually, our hands are pretty lousy.

Your 2D response indicates you have d’s BUT neither of you have anything else. Partner’s response to you s/b 3d. Then pass all around since neither of you have any other suits. Partner barely has opening points,12, you have 8, not enough for game. You have aces and spaces.

The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon and a Blue Moon, and Rakhi Purnima posted by nasa on August 24, 2023.

For the past two days, our skies were cloudy, perhaps from Idalia that passing through Florida recently. This morning as I was heading to the pool, the moon was high and mighty.

All photos are taken with my iPhone 12 Pro. The info on the large photo below: telephoto camera 52mm f2, 3mp · 1780×1763 · 1.3.mb. ISO 100; 218mm; 0 ev, f2, 1/109s ⇓

Ok … finally, I played my first real small slam 💃…

My hand had 14 hpc, 17 with a singleton (2 pt) and 1 doubleton (1 pt)

♠️KQ8762, ♥️3,♦️Q764, ♣️AK

My partner has 17 hcp, 20 in total distribution.

♠️J, ♥️AKQ42, ♦️AK92, ♣️42

Slam bidding by MIT is a good read:

• To make a small slam (bid of 6) ↔ 33 pts.
• To make a grand slam (bid of 7) ↔ 37 pts.

… some no trump plays

• 5 nt hands played ↓
• 2025.1.06 ↑

Our bidding tonight:

1. P;  me 1♦️; P; 1♥️
2. P;  me 1♠️; P; 2♦️
3. P; 4NT; P; 5♥️ which means 2 As
4. P; 6♦️

At the 3rd round, I bid 4nt: asked for my partner’s As

Blackwood convention: 4NT is asking for how many Aces (such as this dream hand), 5NT for kings, the reply should be:

• 5♣️ = None or all four aces
• 5♦️ = One ace
• 5♥️ = Two aces
• 5♠️ = Three aces

… 5NT is asking for kings, the reply should be

• 6♣️ = None or all four kings
• 6♦️ = One king
• 6♥️ = Two kings
• 6♠️ = Three kings

My first set of question to Ira the expert:

Conventionally, I should open with 1♠️ ? … I didn’t bec I want to give my partner a chance to bid at 1 level, to know her hand better.

With distribution, you have 16 points. Conventionality, bid s/b 1NT BUT you’re short in clubs. Better opener is 1S bc of strength and length. You’ll probably end up in 6D anyway but you asked for correct opening bid.

Make it short in clubs and hearts

Irene, rule of thumb, if you have opening, by point count OR length of suit, ALWAYS bid your strongest and longest suit.

My subsequent questions:

1. Does winning 12 or 13 tricks but bid at level 5 or below, still consider a small / grand slams? … Yes
2. The conventionally method to bid longest and higher suit, vs bidding low to let my partner to bid at lower level hence to know her/his hand better?

A new player, Phil joined us today … and it’s men vs women … and I played a slam on my first hand … unfortunately we didn’t bit for it, as usual.

~ Another first hand gs in 2025

The bidding went

Pass
1♦️ (me)
Pass
1♠️
P
2♦️ (me)
P
2♠️ my partner
P
3♦️ – after giving much consideration

As it turn out, suit diamond is better for us: 8 vs 7 spades. I made 12 tricks.

We played 13 hands: 8 went up and 5 down.

⇐ My big disaster is the 4th hand when I bib 3♣️ – I only made 6 tricks.

This hand ⇓ ^{The 1st round} my partner opened with 1NP; 2♥️; 2♠️ (me); 3♣️. ^{The 2nd round} 3♦️- my partner. This hand was played 3♦️… and we were down 2 – made only 7 tricks!

The second time in a row, Ons Jabeur (6 seed this year) lost to unseeded Marketa Vondrousova / Vondroušová (1999; 2016; $5,447,411 with only two titles with £2.35 / $3.08m from this toruney) of Czech Republic on Saturday, July 15. My heart goes out to Jabeur: I’m so hopeful for her to win, to make an impact for the women of Tunisia and the region at large.

I’ve an interesting hand: a void, ♠️2345678, ♥️AQ76 and ♦️AK.

My partner played a weak 2♠️ a couple of hands earlier (se below ⇓). So I tried it on this hand.

Weak two means you’ve weak hand (5-10 pt) but with at least 6  ♠️/♥️/♦️. 2♠️ is the most effective, because it’s the top suit, making it harder to top – only 2NT or going to 3 …

My hand has 13 HPC without counting in the void which is an additional 3 pts. But I went with it anyway, for the novelty. We ended up making 10 tricks.

According to my expert, my bidding was wrong:

Count your points! You can’t bid a weak 2 anything; with distribution you have over 13 points!

My partner’s weak 2 bid: she opened bid by weak 2♠️, 2N, me pass, 3♦️. I doubled it. They only made 9 tricks – didn’t make it.