The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
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Assigning blame since April 20, 2007

Apocalypto

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This entry was posted on 6/3/2007 11:30 PM and is filed under Assigning Blame.

Just saw the film.  Fantastic, highly recommended for non-squeamish viewers.  The title reminds me of this board from the CNTC I said I might blog.

1st hand AT42 / AK653 / 8 / J87

3rd hand 9763 / T974 / AK2 / A5

Auction

1 Heart - 3 Clubs - 4 Clubs - Pass
4 Diamonds - Pass - 5 Clubs - Double
6 Hearts - Float

Assign blame

6 Hearts went down 3.  The commentators were split between assigning most of the blame to 3rd hand and all of the blame to 3rd hand.  This is one of those hands where you have lots of controls and no tricks.

My opinion is that 4 Diamonds and 5 Clubs were both bad bids (6 Hearts looks like an overbid too, but he was kind of endplayed into that since he had the Spade control so it was up to him to either bid slam or not at that point) and that 5 Clubs was the worst bid in the auction.  Why cuebid 4 Diamonds when you don't have first round control and you have a minimum opener?  I think you need too much to bid anything other than 4 Hearts.  At least one commentator said he didn't mind 4 Diamonds because it's a cheap bid, but to me you don't just make a cheap bid because it's cheap.  It still might propel you to the 5 level where you have no reason to think you're safe.

5 Clubs was pretty gross because you stretched already to bid 4 Clubs and now you're making it sound like you have a club void or stiff ace or something.  1st hand is looking pretty good opposite that.  Partner has cuebid diamonds, so your AK of diamonds isn't pulling full weight (unless you're playing partner to have psyched a cuebid.)   One commentator said that 3rd hand should have just bid 4 Hearts originally, but I think that's resulting.  Pard will never play you for this much when you just jump to game when you had a cuebid available.  He's certainly a bare minimum for 4 Clubs, but not sub-minimum.

I'd assign it 40-60 1st-3rd.  5 Clubs was a much worse bid, but the first mistake always gets an extra helping of blame.



 
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Comments

    • 6/4/2007 3:35 PM Scooter wrote:
      The 5 club bidder lost their mind. 4 clubs was more than enough on the 11 count, especially after partner bids 4 diamonds, most likely a stiff.
      Reply to this
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