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Assigning blame since April 20, 2007

5 of a minor

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This entry was posted on 5/6/2007 10:40 PM and is filed under Assigning Blame.

Adam and I missed 2 slams last night or we would have had a monster game.  First one:

2nd seat :

2 / AKQ2 / AQJ73 / 632

4th seat :

AJT98 / 94 / KT98 / K5

Uncontested auction:

1 Diamond - 1 Spade
2 Hearts - 2 Spades (game forcing with 5+ spades)
2 NT - 3 Diamonds
3 Hearts - 5 Diamonds
Pass

2nd one:

1st seat:

AT642 / AJ3 / - / K7632

3rd seat:

5 / K72 / K984 / AQT84

Auction(uncontested except for the 2H overcall):

1 Spade (2H overcall) - 3 Clubs
5 Clubs - Pass

Assign blame.

I hate playing 5 of a minor at matchpoints.  My friend Joanie (the enthusiastic beginner I've mentioned before) occasionally asks me to look at her results and I notice that almost invariably she's got two or three 5 of a minor contracts on her card, usually with poor results.  I've encouraged her to tell her partners that she plays that 5 of a minor is a relay to 6 of that minor (an effort to get her inexperienced partners to bid 3NT more frequently.)

I held the 16 count on the first slam.  I felt like I'd already stretched when I decided to treat this hand as a reverse.  To me, Adam needs to decide between 3NT and 6 Diamonds.  5 Diamonds is not an option.  Either choice would have scored a lot better.  It's not the best slam in the world, but you never bid 5 Diamonds at matchpoints with 11 high opposite a reverse and all suits stopped unless you've already gone by 3NT and find out you're off 2 aces.

I held the 3 Club bid on the second hand.  Again, I felt like I'd bid my hand and that Adam probably had something like a 4 and a half club bid (else why isn't he cuebidding?)  My K of diamonds was wasted, I had no extra values, and yet 6 was virtually laydown. 

Sigh.

 
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    • 5/8/2007 8:14 AM Sam Stakes wrote:
      On #1, I think the bidding sequence weakened after the 2NT bid. With no prior agreements (e.g. random BBO pairs), I'd bid 3C to show 1-4-5-3.

      The 3H bid could be misinterpreted as well. How would you bid with a 2-4-6-1 hand (Does that bid 3H as well)? In that case slam would have no play on a spade lead. I'd bid 4D -- and expect partner to place the final level.

      #2 is luck. Neither side is best suited to place 3NT -- perhaps blasting to 6C on principle is the only solution
      Reply to this
    • 5/8/2007 11:30 AM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
      I partially agree with you, Sam. I might have bid 3 Clubs instead of 2NT, but I WANTED to slow things down since I barely (if that) had a reverse in the first place. The biggest problem with my 2NT bid is that it wrongsided NT. But I'm not sure it slowed things down as much as you suggest. Adam had every reason to believe that all of his cards were pulling full weight (it sounds like I'm probably 2-4-5-2 (if I'm bidding 3 Clubs on most 1-4-5-3 hands, I probably have something like xx AKxx AQxxx Ax) so my clubs almost have to be Ax.)

      Once Adam bid 3 Diamonds, 3 Hearts seemed (and still seems) normal to me. The heart moyse might be right (especially at matchpoints.) I've already 'faked' a stopper in the 4th suit; if Adam still has doubts about NT, it would be foolhardy to second guess him. And with the 2-4-6-1 hand, I'm surely bidding 3 Diamonds instead of 2NT, so that's not a consideration. My 3 Heart bid also would tend to deny 2 Spades, I should think.

      I agree that the missed slam on the 1st hand was more of a team effort than the 2nd hand. But if you're not going to bid slam, I made it real easy to bid 3NT (which still gets most of the matchpoints in most club games.)
      Reply to this
      1. 10/9/2007 1:59 PM Wayne wrote:
        Blame on both hands to the person who jumped to 5.
        Hand 1: How about 1D-1S-2H-3D (limit raise values...would relay with 2nt with weak hand)
        Now 3H-3S-4D-5C. If 5C gets doubled, you can stop in 5D. If not, you can bid 6D
        Hand 2:
        1S-2H O/C-3C-3H-3NT. Now you have A of S AND a D void left over. 6C seems about right
        Reply to this
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