Cavendish John Roberts Teams

May 8th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

This year’s winners are Jim Mahaffey, Mike Passell, Sam Lev, Jacek Pszczola, Jie Zhao and Zhong Fu by 1 Victory Point!

With one round to play O’Rouke had 175 VP, Mahaffey in second place had 151 VP. Seems the leaders will hold on to win. To win this event Mahaffey had to blitz their last round opponents and O’Rouke, Jacobus, Hampson, Rodwell, Levin and Weinstein had to not lose by more then 15 imps in their match. Then it happened, Mahaffey blitz and O’Rouke lost by 17 imps. 

The Chinese Pair of Zhao and Fu played very well in the last round to contribute to their teams’ victory.

They are long time China nation open team members. 2006 was a very good year for Zhao and Fu. First they won the the Vanderbilt in Dallas playing with Fred Chang, Gunnar Hallberg and Seymon Deutsch. Then they followed that up by winning the World Open Pairs in Verona.

Board 20. Dealer West, North-South Vul.

This was the auction.

The auction is of some interest.

Fu opened the north hand one spade as his hand was suit orientated. Zhao’s two club bid was game forcing. Two no trumps was waiting and three club shown extra length. Three diamond was cuebid and club interest. Pass of the double of three diamond was forward going. Redouble promised first round diamond control. Three heart cuebid, three spade cuebid, four heart cuebid. Four no trumps Roman Key Card for clubs, five spade shown two key cards and the club queen. Five no trumps asked for kings and also said that they had all the key cards and invite seven. Seven club said we have what we need. Seven no trumps was a very thoughtful bid as Fu knew they needed all the imps they can get for a blitz. 

As you can see there are 13 winners and gained 13 imps.

In the other room the north-south pair had a lazy auction to six no trumps.

* 1NT 14-16 points

** 4C Gerber

*** Two aces

The Cavendish Invitation Pairs started play to-day and is carried live on BBO

Total auction pool is $958,500. The favorites are Levin and Weinstein went for $61,000. Hampson and Rodwell, last year’s winners went for $55,000 and the third highest pair are Helgemo and Helness went for $50,000. They were all bought by Jim Mahaffey.

What is your partnership agreement?

May 7th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Playing IMP. Board 15 Dealer South. North-South Vulnerable.

You are East holding

This is the auction.

Decide what you would lead before reading on.

What is your partnership agreement in this auction. Does the double of 3NT ask for a particular lead? Would it change your lead if partner did not double 3NT?

This hand came up at the Cavendish Invitational John Robert Teams Round 5 between Goren and O’Rourke. This Cavendish is on from the 6th May to the 10th May. The prize money this year for the winning team will be $43,450, 2nd $31,350, 3rd 21,450 and 4th $13,750.

Unfortunately for the Goren team, Hurd led the spade four, dummy’s spade jack won the first trick. Bobby Levin finessed the club jack, ran five club tricks and and soon after thanks to a discarding error by the defense, made eleven tricks for plus 1150 and won 16 imps for the O’Rourke team!

At the other table East also made the two spades over call, but this time there was no double of three no trumps. East led the diamond six and declarer finished with seven tricks. Down two for a surprised gain on the board.

If your partnership agreement of the double of three no trumps ask for the leader to lead his own bid suit, then West can not double the final contract of three no trumps in this hand.

Bargain hunting for Masterpoints.

April 29th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  5 Comments 

Some play this game we call bridge for fun. Some play bridge for ACBL Masterpoints. When times were good nobody cares how much the card fees cost, but now that we are in the middle of a recession, all of a sudden there is a limit to how many bridge tournaments one can afford to attend. Everybody is looking for the best bang for the buck.

Last week I came across the best bargain priced Regional tournament in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

One can play all week, from Tuesday to Sunday a total of 16 sessions for only $160 Canadian. That is $10 per session! It was even cheaper if one played on six person team. There is more good news. Another step in the right direction, players under 50 Master points play free on Tuesday and there is a discount for all the 199er events and Junior players.

Besides all the bridge you can play, you also get a free meal everyday if you decided to part take. On Wednesday lunch was lasagna, Thursday dinner was lemon chicken, Friday lunch was soup and sandwiches, Saturday lunch was quiche or pasta, Sunday we had pizza. Tea and coffee were served with the meals, fine hospitality.

Another innovative idea was their stating times. Morning sessions started at a civilized 10 am for people like me who enjoy their sleep. Then play resumed at 2 PM and evening sessions started 7.30 PM to leave enough time for socializing afterwards.

What is the price for a hotel room you may ask? Room rate at the playing site, The Marlborough Hotel, is $78 Canadian. I rented a car for $140 for the week and parking for the day is $8.50. Drinks are so cheap even Jonathan Steinberg bought a round.

As I didn’t make up my mind to go to the tournament until the last minute, the partnership chair of Marielle Brentnall and Deloris Ankrom plus others tried their best to line me up with partners.

Thanks to their efforts, the team I played on with Bill and Sue Treble, Brian Pauls and Ray Hornby won the first KO. Playing with G Sekhar, Robert Kuz and Barry Senensky, we came second in the morning KO. Playing with David Brough, Kuz and Senensky, we placed 5th-7th overall in Thursday Swiss. Playing with Ken Sired, Al Mowat and Kai Cheng, we came second in the Sunday Swiss. Not bad for a guy that just dropped in for a visit with no partners.

The tournament committee headed by Marlene Pontifex, Sue Treble and their committees of volunteers did a wonderful job.  A good time was had by all. I know I will be back to this tournament next year.

If you are interested playing in their next Regional 13th to 18th April 2010, check out www.bridgemanitoba.org

Local expert players David Sired playing with G Sekhar bid the following hand rather well in the Sunday Swiss.

North dealer. Both sides vulnerable. 

When Sekhar bid three diamonds after West doubled three clubs, David Sired deduced that partner has length in spades and diamonds. He made a good bid by jumping to the cold four spade game, earning his side a game swing.

That is the hand.

April 3rd, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

This is the rest of the hand from the last post “The Hand that almost was.”

Dealer East. E-W Vul.

You are South in six hearts. After west led spade, spade. You ruff and test trump with two rounds, discovering trump broke 4-4-4-1.

Rather then just depending on the diamond suit breaking 3-3 which is only about 35% chance. Best line of play is to play two rounds of clubs first. Club to the king and club to the ace. If the club queen dropped doubleton you just made the hand. Otherwise draw the rest of the trumps discard the club from dummy and play for diamonds to break 3-3. There maybe squeeze chances even if both minor suits don’t break. You may not want to draw the rest of the trumps before testing clubs as that squeezes dummy.

If you play as suggested you win 13 imps as our opponents at the other table stopped in five hearts.

Their auction was:

The Hand that almost was!

April 1st, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

Playing at the Victoria Sectional in the Sunday Swiss. I held this hand in third chair.

Dealer East E-W Vul.

The auction was

3S was shortness. 5D was one or four key cards in hearts. Not playing Italian cue-bids, Kickback or 1430 left me with a guess as to the best contract. After much agony I made the “All In” bid of 6H.

After West led the Spade Ace, I put the dummy down and Declarer’s hand was

West led the Spade ace, nine, king, two then continued Spade five, declarer ruffed with the heart two, four and three. Declarer then drew two rounds of trump, discovering that trump broke 4-4-4-1 With west holding four trumps.

After two rounds of trumps, East discarded one spade. This was what you know of the hand so far.

You had three tricks in, how would you play the rest of the hand?

Mastery in Motion

March 2nd, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

Every winter Vancouver BC runs an extended teams competition that we call the IMP League.  Play begins in October and continues through the winter to mid-April, with playoffs in each division following in April and May (and sometimes slightly beyond).  Teams of 4-6 players play a match against another team two or three times a month, usually at a bridge club or occasionally at someone’s home.  Usually, there are two or three divisions to separate the top players from the more casual or social players, and in some years we have enough interest to have a division of newer players.

This year there are fourteen teams in Flight AX and six teams in Flight B. I am playing with Brad Bart on the Bart team with Chris Christophersen, Cam Doner, Paul Hagen and Cam Lindsay.

Our Brad Bart, not to be confused with the World Champion Bart Bramley from Dallas or the Les Bart from Florida of the Bart Convention fame, nor, although young in age, with the mischievous Bart Simpson, teaches computer science at Simon Fraser University. He shows, in his declarer play of this hand, why he is a two-time champion of the Canadian Open Pairs.

Brad was South and I was North.

East Dealer. North-South Vulnerable.

This was the auction.

DBL* was negative double. We have been toying with the bid of one spade shows five after a heart overcall. I was on shaky ground when I made the negative double showing four – four in the majors after the one diamond overcall.

West led the diamond ace, two, ten and three. Continued with diamond king, four, spade eight, eight. Diamond six, five, east ruffed with heart two, queen. East shifted to club two. Having lost the first three tricks, Brad needed the club king on side, so played, in tempo, the five, nine and dummy won with the ten. Flowing with perfect rhythm, Brad now drew three rounds of trumps, played the heart three, five, king and seven. With the play of the heart ace, west chose to discard the diamond nine, six and eight. Next on the heart four, west discarded spade three, queen, nine. Brad finessed in club, seven, three, jack and six.

This left:

Now with the play of the heart jack, west discarded spade three, dummy the spade five, ten. Next came the club ace. What is poor west to do – left dangling between a rock and a hard place?  Discard the diamond jack and dummy would discard the spade five then diamond seven would be good. If west discards a spade then dummy would discard the diamond seven and spade seven would be good! Four hearts making for plus 620.

East was squeezed at trick two! If he had discarded a club instead of the spade then Brad’s club suit would have come in for five tricks with repeated club finesse and the club nine dropping.

If at trick four east led a spade to break up the transportation for the squeeze, Brad would still make the contract if he guessed to finesse the club, heart queen, cashed the spade king, finesse club, ruff a club to set up the club suit and return to hand with a trump to draw the rest of the the trumps.

The beauty of Brad’s line of play by way of the double squeeze was that he catered for bad breaks in both the trump and the club suit. Astounding.

The 14th NEC CUP***

February 14th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

There is more fireworks to come.

Board 45.

Dealer North. Both vulnerable.

In the Closed Room. The auction was

1C* was strong. 1S* shows either majors or minors. 2S* was pass or correct. All the interference convinced North-South that suits are not breaking so they stop at five diamonds. Making eleven tricks for plus 600.

In the Open Room the auction was more ambitious.

Teramoto (North) made the same eleven tricks for minus 100 and lost 12 imps.

The Chinese Women with the help of these much needed imps in the third quarter went on to win the match. 130-122.

Sun Ming, Wang Hongli, Wanf Wenfei, Liu Yiqian, Yan Ru, Dong Yongling. Li Guohua (NPC), Ju Chuancheng (Coach) Are the Winners of the 14th NEC Cup.

The 14th NEC CUP **

February 14th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

Board 44.

Dealer West. North-South vulnerable.

In the Closed Room the auction was

Sun (North) led the diamond four and got the diamond ruff to beat six spades three tricks for plus 500.

In the Open Room the auction was

Here 1C was strong and 1D was negative. On the club ace lead The Chinese declarer Wang Wenfei made four spades doubled 10 tricks plus 590 for 14 imps.

To beat four spades North would have to lead a low spade at trick one.

The 14th NEC CUP *

February 14th, 2009  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Every year in February The Japan Contract Bridge League host The NEC Bridge Festival  in Yokohama City, Japan. This year it is The Chinese Women Team playing The Japan Open Team in the 64 boards final for the grand prize of US$12,000.

At one point in the third quarter, The Japan Open enjoyed a 40 imps lead. However the Chinese Women won 36 imps over the following three boards.

In the Closed Room it is Sun Ming (North) and Wang Hongli (South) for The Chinese Women vs Chen (West) and Furuta (East) for The Japan Open.

Board 43.

Dealer South. Non vulnerable.

In the Closed Room Wang Hongli led the heart two and there after got a heart ruff. With the club king to come beat four spades one trick for plus 50.

In the Open Room where Wang Wenfei (West) and Liu Yiqian (East) for Chinese Women vs Teramoto (North) and Takayma (South) for Japan Open.

The auction was the same as the other room. However Takayma led the diamond two. The Chinese declarer Liu Yiqian had an easy way to make four spades plus 420 for 10 imps.

Rooms at The Bridge Week

December 2nd, 2008  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

The Canadian National Team Championship (CNTC) is held each year in the summer and it is called The Bridge Week.

For 2009 The Bridge Week 6th to 13th June is at Pentiction Lakeside Resort. If you like to stay at the host hotel call 1-800-633-9400 or 250-493-8221 to make reservation.

If you are looking for other alternative, here is a hotel you may be interested. www.tikishores.com  Condominium Beach Resort.

You may write to  tikishores@shaw.ca Their phone number is 866-492-8769 ask for Amada at the front desk.

The large suites sleeps four or five has master bedroom with king bed, one bedroom with double beds, two bathrooms, sitting room with pullout. kitchen with eating area. Has own outside BBQ pit with lounge chairs. The rate for this Two Bedroom Deluxe is $72.28 plus tax, per day. They also have cheaper one bedroom suites that sleeps two and other options.

The rate for the week of the regional that follows Bridge Week is higher as Penticton is the largest regional in Canada.

If they are sold-out, you may check out the following.

The Golden Sands Resort  877-389-6888.

The Rochester Resort        800-567-4904

Shoreline Resort                866-898-5219

Crown Motel on the lake     250-492-4092

Spanish Villa                     800-552-9199

All motels has kitchens, across from the beach and walking distance of bridge venue.