tennis, life and a few things in between

Just learnt one more thing: Boston = bottom of something top of nothing.

Out of total 17 hands, I played 6: won 4 lost 2. Got two robbers with two different partners. Nothing too memorable except three hands, happened to be winning:

Hand 1: I’ve a grand of 4 hcp, which I should not have responded at all… but I did, to the calling of my P’s ♠️:

… the bid:

… Long story short, my parter made the contract of 4 ♠️.

Hand 2: forgot my own 1C contract… thought Spade was the trump.

Hand 3 – the last hand. All we need was 40 points, which meant 2C was just right. For some reason, I thought we needed 3C – 60 point. So I said 3C. Helllllloooo can’t you do the simple math? Guess NOT. Luckily, my partner ended up making 4.

大脑进水的一晚. 17手俺没有啥好牌, 不过打了6 手: 4赢2输. 四赢中的2手难忘

1. 4分俺也敢出声 有木有搞错呀
2. 叫了♣️, 以为 ♠️是主
3. 最后一手牌: 我们只需要40分. 2C正好.不知怎么的,我以为我们需要3C—60分. 信誓旦旦那种. 喂,你算术还给老师了 – 不会摆掰着手指算一下吗?

天堂鸟 水墨画 别要求太高 俺去睡觉 避免祸害人类

We played a total of 17 hands; my scores was 6-11: played seven and won six.

The grand slam was under bid 3D, due to laziness.

~I’ve 19 hcp: ♠️A, ♥️Q43,♦️AKQJ742, ♣️K7.
~ My P has 11 hcp: ♠️KJ10 5, ♥️K, ♦️653, ♣️A9853.

Since we only have 3 aces, I could only go for a slam, if I were bid. Because of 3♦️ bid, my L played ♥️10 who has the ♥️A too. My P’s singleton in ♥️, rendered her ♥️A useless.

It’s an intense one hour day of bridge: my L played bid and won 7H! My hands have been good, as usual, and won a 3NT.

Our 3N hand with 29 hcp:

• I’ve 17 hcp: ♠️KQ92, ♥️AQ7, ♦️Q83, ♣️A92.
• P has 12 hcp: ♠️A, ♥️10 6 4 2,♦️KJ94, ♣️ KJ10

One round bidding: my RH passed, I bid 1NT, LH pass and P bid 3N, which effectively close the bid.

The math: opening with 1N, means I’ve 16-18 hcp. P has 12, so we’rehacing at least 29 hcp (16+12), because two partners should have

• 26 hcp, bid a game
• 32 hcp,  bid a small slam
• 36 hcp, bid a grand slam

No Trump is the 5th suit in bridge, and it’s the highest of the four.

To bid

• 1N: 16-18 hcp, balanced hand
• 2N: asking for major suit
• 3N:
• 4N: asking for A
• 5N: asking for K

The math: opening with 1N, means I’ve 16-18 hcp. Two partners should have

• 26 points to bid a game
• 32 points to bid a small slam
• 36 points to bid a grand slam

1NT opening. You know your P has at least 16 hcp. Plus your own hand:

• 0-7 HCP: Signoff Responses
• 8-9 HCP: Invite to game.
• 10-13HCP: Game with no interest in slam.
• 14-15HCP: Game forcing, slam invitational.
• 16-17HCP: Small slam forcing
• 18+ HCP: Grand Slam Invitational/Forcing (depends on hand)

Response to NT bid

• 2N
• 3N
• 4N
• 5N
• …

Tonight, it felt like a losing game because we failed more than succeeded. But after counting closely, out of 15 hands, I played five and won four; collectively we only made 8.

The 4♦️hand: I’ve 14 hcp and my P has 12, with a void of spade ♠️. I couldn’t remember what was the reason to land us in 4 diamonds, which I’ve 3 and P has 4. But her void of spade helped a lot.

The last hand, I’ve 19 hcp, my P has 12 hcp. I dealt and opened with 1NT and my P respond w/ 2C:

A “2 club” response to a “1NT” opening in bridge is typically a Stayman bid, which means the responder is asking partner if they have a 4-card major suit, prompting the opener to bid their longest major suit if they have one; if not, the opener should rebid 2 diamonds to show no 4-card major.

1. me 1 NT; p; PT 2♣️: asking for a major suit
2. Pass; me 2♥️; pass;
3. PT 4H

So 4 hearts it’s, and I made 5.

Tonight 18 hands were played, 5 were no trump. I played 7 hands, only won 1. A big fat Waterloo night.

好牌不断
连输不断
…
魂断南桥

Two slams night: I played five hands winning 4, that includes an unbid grand slam.

The first slam is, a grand slam but we didn’t bid for – a pooper. We both have 17 hcp each:

♠️ A
♥️ K9872
♦️ AK62
♣️ K52
My P
♠️ K8
♥️ AQJ 10 3
♦️ Q10
♣️ A10 86

So, we’ve all four As and Kings. But we didn’t bid for it, for some reason, unfortunately, played at 4♥️.

The second slam, we’ve 32 hcp (me 15 and P 17): 3 As and 4 Kings.

We asked for As and Ks, ended up 6N and my partner made it – it was NOT an easy hand.

Note to myself: make sure to settle on the suit you’re playing before asking for As and Ks.

I initially bid for ♦️… If we stayed with ♦️, we could have another grand slam since we both have a singleton ♥️♠️.

Girls’ night in. Having another good hands game, starting from the very first hand – I played five hands, won 4:

1. #1 bid 2H, took 10↑ tricks
2. #4 2D, 8↑
3. #7 2H, 10↑
4. #8 4S 8↓ I didn’t play well
5. #12 2S 10↑

At clubhouse, my Lefthand opponent Ira opened with a pass. My partner Mark called two clubs, and said ‘you’ve to response.’ A pass followed. I answered with 3 clubs.

My hand is weak, with 8 points, with 5 low clubs cards, which was my longest suit. Since it’s informal and I’ve been asking questions on my bidding, Mark said ‘2 clubs’ meant a strong hand and not necessarily mean in club suit. 

A few notes for  Two Clubs bid and responses:

• 22 points to open bid (doesn’t show/deny club suit)
• 2D response bid = a bad hand, 0-6 points (doesn’t show/deny diamond suit)
• 2 No Trump bid only needs at 20-22 hcp with a balanced hand.

^{… a few hands from last night with the girls}

We chitchat a little between hands. And sometimes after a rubber or twenty some hands (22 hands here), we tend to loose focus. This will be the time we make mistakes. Most often, by playing the wrong card. Such as, one intends to use ♥️ to trump but instead plays ♦️. The dummy is usually keeps a tape on things, like who goes and if it should be led by the hand on deck. All the times, such mistakes were only pointed out afterward. No one, not even the partner would say a thing. And I like it a lot: at Guandan or other kind of card games with my fellow countrymen, oh boy, do they talk and cheat!

The first hand of the night: 18 hcp. I bid 4♥️ and made the game.

Toward end of the (the 16th hands) night, I bid 3 NT and ended up winning a grand slam.

The evening went smoothly and I ultimately played the majority of the hands.

My question for the evening is, would you have to play a great hand with little thinking needed, or a even hand that requests some brain to win?

您喜欢一手好牌不要用脑筋 还是 平均牌 需要技巧?