Vegas - Day 7 - Spingold Starts
Day 7 in Vegas - Monday 0-5000 Spingold
This is the other event that matters to me here. I am going to be playing with QP - but apparently only half the time. That sucks. I did not know that I was half of a support person on this squad. Not that it bothers me that much, but I prefer to have my judgment be a part of the equation for every hand, not just the even numbered quarters of each match - or so I assume.
Well anyway, we end up with the 43 seed in this event. The seeding is a joke. They take everyone’s factored masterpoints, and assign you a value based on that number. Ridiculous. Whatever, they claim they have to do it to make it ‘fair.’ Yeah, it’s so fair that the #1 seed fell in the round of 64. Joke. The defending champs are seeded 22. Sure that’s fair.
Anyway, enough about my problems. We are playing with Tom Breed and Li-Chung Chen. I hope I spelled that correctly. QP is gonna ‘kiss the sky’ for the odd numbered quarters, and I’ll enjoy the even numbered quarters - fine - as long as we win. So I come in the second quarter on the day 1 qualifier. There are 100 teams, and they have to get down to 64 - a power of 2 - to get to a decent place - so 36 teams get eliminated today. We are in a three-way with the 29 seed and the 87 seed. Well, we’re down 11 to the 29 seed and down 13 to the 87 seed when I enter the fray.
Lo and behold, who should sit down against me but an old nemesis from my fledgling days in Tucson. LAD we’ll call him. LAD once accused me of cheating when I pulled the wrong card out of my hand - I trumped instead of following suit - when I had 2 of the suit to follow - and his partner subsequently went down in claimer. I think I had 7 masterpoints then. OBVIOUSLY I knew I could get away with that because with 7 masterpoints, you need to cheat - and you know how to cheat, right? Arse.
The second board out LADs partner overcalls 1NT. I was having no part of that and cranked it up - +500 for the good guys and win 9. Two hands later….
AQ7652
A
KQ43
A10
So I opened 1S. QP bids 2H (wow!), and I bid 2S. QP now bids 4D. ZOIKS - this is good and bad news - the grand is out (we generally don’t splinter with stiff Aces), but we’re definitely bidding some slam. So my rock and I bid 4NT. QP fesses up to 2 key cards - so it was stiff Ace. Lets see, 6 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds, 1 club. Further, I know his pattern is 4513 (or better for me). That means we have NO losers in any suit. Not sure we have 13 winners on power in NoTrump. 7S I say. 2210 later, we pickup 13 IMPs. My teammate, nijuku we’ll call him, preempted 3C as the dealer on my left, so it was hard to get there….
When the smoke clears, we pick up 10 IMPs, and at half-time we’re down 1 to this team - the 29 seed.
In the other match, we’re playing a couple of Asian dudes who, QP claims, may engage in various levels of nefarious activity. I don’t know much. But they bid everything in sight, and sadly, QP and I are handcuffed to do anything about it - we give up 6 more IMPs in this quarter - but an interesting success. It is clear we’re losing more imps to this team going into the final board, and I picked up”
103
AK1097
A4
J1097
I opened 1H. QP bid a semi-forcing NT. I bid 2C, and QP bid 2NT. The hell with it. I bet he cant take exactly 8 tricks! 3NT I say! His hand?
654
Q4
Q9873
AQ5
Can you take 9 tricks? Hearts break. The CK is offside. The DK is ‘onside’ third. The lead is the D5. That goes to the King and a diamond back. Guess what? They are 3-3. Claim it up. Horrible defense. And we needed the extra 10 IMPs. So we give up 6 more imps to this team.
As we enter the dinner break, we’re down 1 IMP against the ‘high seed,’ and down 19 IMPs against the ‘low seed.’ I think (read: know) we can beat the high seed. The low seed, not too sure - they play the cards very well, and bid like maniacs. A lethal IMP combination.
Sky invites us all for dinner and we have a wonderful meal as a team. I am dead broke. Literally all I have in my pocket right now is my room key, 2 pennies, and 4 tokens for video games at the Sahara hotel….summer time is not easy when there is NO income. That said, tt is fun to hang with these guys, and get to know Nijuku and Tomb.
One of these days, I am going to post ALL the nicknames that have been used on this blog and address the people in detail. We’ll see if that helps you.
SO the third quarter comes up with a bit of a hitch. We drop IMPs to the nemesis team and now trail them by 13. We pickup 10 IMPs against the ‘low seed’ and now trail them by 9. This blows. This should not be happening. On paper, we should be able to crush these two teams. I don’t know Tomb and Nijuku from Shinola, but I know they finished in the overalls of the 3-day Life Master Pairs.
LAD comes over before the 4th quarter begins to inform me that he wants to hold my cards and see how they do. I think that is an awesome idea. I want to plant my foot so far into this guy’s colon that I have to reach into his mouth to untie my shoes. Forgiven but not forgotten, I guess.
Second board out - we pick up 10 IMPs on what should have been a routine hand. QP passes. RHO opens 1D. I bid 1S. Lefty passes, and QP bids 1NT. I raise to 3NT. He is used to this because I always have extras for my overcalls…my hand:
AKQ98
Q
KJ4
A982
QP knows this is a possible hand type for 19 highs, sure, but an obvious flaw, and if QP cant raise, are we going to make a game? I think not. No Harm is overcalling alone. The contract is the same, but the result is different - somehow Nijuku and Tomb beat it….oh well…
2 boards later - the auction, you are South and the dealer.
W N E S
--……--……--……P
1D…2S…..X……P
3C…P…….3S…..P
3NT…P…..P…..DBL
(all pass)
I was speculating a bit. Have you discussed a sequence similar to this with your favorite partner? You should if you have not. What is dbl here? They have bid all the suits except spades. You had 2 chances to ‘raise’ spades (re-double of the double, and double of 3S) but chose not to. Ergo, a spade is out. You don’t have a suit of your own that partner is aware of, so this is a Lightner-esque double. What was dummy’s first bid suit? Hearts!
Your hand:
103
AQ1095
1094
J85
Sure you have no defense if they can rack up 9 winners…but without a heart lead, you probably stand no chance. As it turns out, declarer has only 8 tricks without a heart lead, but with a heart lead - declarer has 6 tricks. You collect 500 and another 10 IMPs for your effort. Later on, you smack them in a partial and collect 100 for win 5. You win this set 26-0 and send LAD back to his hotel room sucking his thumb. He did NOT crack 3NT - although he did pause for thought for a very long time over both the 3H bid and the subsequent 3NT call. Nice. Who’s cheating?
Enter the 87 seed. You’re down 9 to them - barely an IMP a board. But they are a good team so it probably wont be easy. Second board out…it goes 1D-Pass-1S to you, holding:
32
AKJ93
52
A1065
SO the auction begins with 1D on your left. RHO bids 1S. You bid 2H. You are one trick light for this overcall - QP has grown accustomed to me have the same hand but with AJ10 of clubs or something similar that would produce an extra trick. I don’t have it - but when LHO bids 2S, QP bids 3S - yee haw. So I bid a game - obviously - knowing that I am probably a trick light. QP has a scattered 10 count and makes a comment about having a slam try - and he does, opposite a more normal overcall for me. Win 7 for +450 when they only get to a part score at the other table….
We’re now down 2 imps to this team with 5 boards to go…and then….
AKQJ97
-----
A2
AQJ72
I am a conservative bidder, but this looks like a 2C opener to me….the opps are silent:
P - 2C
2D! - 2S
3C - 5H!!
5NT!!! - 7C
! = something
!! = exclusion blackwood for clubs
!!! = 1 key card, no trump queen
This was laydown, QP held:
43
9872
J3
K10983
25 HCP grand slams do not suck. Win 14. My counterpart opened all of 1S. and his RHO, my teammate, balanced. They managed to get to game.
We picked up 13 IMPs a bit later when our opps did not bid a slam, but our teammates did. Then, a bit of a play problem…
K107
J109
10876
976
Q32
AQ2
AKQ
A432
The spots are 100% accurate. This looks like a ‘Bridge-Master’ hand. In Bridge Master, the spots are 100% relevant - and all spot cards are givens as 2’s or 3’s unless they matter. So I got a heart lead…can you find 9 tricks? Me neither. I found 10. Win 11. The HK is not onside…
So we beat this team 46-3 this set. We win both matches! We now assume the 29 seed because they lost - so long LAD. Go back to Tucson and accuse others of cheating, cheater. And life goes on…Day 2 of the spingold tomorrow. We draw the 36 seed - they are higher than our original seed, but perhaps the seeding is really as meaningless as it appears….in any event, I assume I will only play the 2nd and 4th quarter tomorrow as well…
Will let you know more about that then…..
AMF!
This is the other event that matters to me here. I am going to be playing with QP - but apparently only half the time. That sucks. I did not know that I was half of a support person on this squad. Not that it bothers me that much, but I prefer to have my judgment be a part of the equation for every hand, not just the even numbered quarters of each match - or so I assume.
Well anyway, we end up with the 43 seed in this event. The seeding is a joke. They take everyone’s factored masterpoints, and assign you a value based on that number. Ridiculous. Whatever, they claim they have to do it to make it ‘fair.’ Yeah, it’s so fair that the #1 seed fell in the round of 64. Joke. The defending champs are seeded 22. Sure that’s fair.
Anyway, enough about my problems. We are playing with Tom Breed and Li-Chung Chen. I hope I spelled that correctly. QP is gonna ‘kiss the sky’ for the odd numbered quarters, and I’ll enjoy the even numbered quarters - fine - as long as we win. So I come in the second quarter on the day 1 qualifier. There are 100 teams, and they have to get down to 64 - a power of 2 - to get to a decent place - so 36 teams get eliminated today. We are in a three-way with the 29 seed and the 87 seed. Well, we’re down 11 to the 29 seed and down 13 to the 87 seed when I enter the fray.
Lo and behold, who should sit down against me but an old nemesis from my fledgling days in Tucson. LAD we’ll call him. LAD once accused me of cheating when I pulled the wrong card out of my hand - I trumped instead of following suit - when I had 2 of the suit to follow - and his partner subsequently went down in claimer. I think I had 7 masterpoints then. OBVIOUSLY I knew I could get away with that because with 7 masterpoints, you need to cheat - and you know how to cheat, right? Arse.
The second board out LADs partner overcalls 1NT. I was having no part of that and cranked it up - +500 for the good guys and win 9. Two hands later….
AQ7652
A
KQ43
A10
So I opened 1S. QP bids 2H (wow!), and I bid 2S. QP now bids 4D. ZOIKS - this is good and bad news - the grand is out (we generally don’t splinter with stiff Aces), but we’re definitely bidding some slam. So my rock and I bid 4NT. QP fesses up to 2 key cards - so it was stiff Ace. Lets see, 6 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds, 1 club. Further, I know his pattern is 4513 (or better for me). That means we have NO losers in any suit. Not sure we have 13 winners on power in NoTrump. 7S I say. 2210 later, we pickup 13 IMPs. My teammate, nijuku we’ll call him, preempted 3C as the dealer on my left, so it was hard to get there….
When the smoke clears, we pick up 10 IMPs, and at half-time we’re down 1 to this team - the 29 seed.
In the other match, we’re playing a couple of Asian dudes who, QP claims, may engage in various levels of nefarious activity. I don’t know much. But they bid everything in sight, and sadly, QP and I are handcuffed to do anything about it - we give up 6 more IMPs in this quarter - but an interesting success. It is clear we’re losing more imps to this team going into the final board, and I picked up”
103
AK1097
A4
J1097
I opened 1H. QP bid a semi-forcing NT. I bid 2C, and QP bid 2NT. The hell with it. I bet he cant take exactly 8 tricks! 3NT I say! His hand?
654
Q4
Q9873
AQ5
Can you take 9 tricks? Hearts break. The CK is offside. The DK is ‘onside’ third. The lead is the D5. That goes to the King and a diamond back. Guess what? They are 3-3. Claim it up. Horrible defense. And we needed the extra 10 IMPs. So we give up 6 more imps to this team.
As we enter the dinner break, we’re down 1 IMP against the ‘high seed,’ and down 19 IMPs against the ‘low seed.’ I think (read: know) we can beat the high seed. The low seed, not too sure - they play the cards very well, and bid like maniacs. A lethal IMP combination.
Sky invites us all for dinner and we have a wonderful meal as a team. I am dead broke. Literally all I have in my pocket right now is my room key, 2 pennies, and 4 tokens for video games at the Sahara hotel….summer time is not easy when there is NO income. That said, tt is fun to hang with these guys, and get to know Nijuku and Tomb.
One of these days, I am going to post ALL the nicknames that have been used on this blog and address the people in detail. We’ll see if that helps you.
SO the third quarter comes up with a bit of a hitch. We drop IMPs to the nemesis team and now trail them by 13. We pickup 10 IMPs against the ‘low seed’ and now trail them by 9. This blows. This should not be happening. On paper, we should be able to crush these two teams. I don’t know Tomb and Nijuku from Shinola, but I know they finished in the overalls of the 3-day Life Master Pairs.
LAD comes over before the 4th quarter begins to inform me that he wants to hold my cards and see how they do. I think that is an awesome idea. I want to plant my foot so far into this guy’s colon that I have to reach into his mouth to untie my shoes. Forgiven but not forgotten, I guess.
Second board out - we pick up 10 IMPs on what should have been a routine hand. QP passes. RHO opens 1D. I bid 1S. Lefty passes, and QP bids 1NT. I raise to 3NT. He is used to this because I always have extras for my overcalls…my hand:
AKQ98
Q
KJ4
A982
QP knows this is a possible hand type for 19 highs, sure, but an obvious flaw, and if QP cant raise, are we going to make a game? I think not. No Harm is overcalling alone. The contract is the same, but the result is different - somehow Nijuku and Tomb beat it….oh well…
2 boards later - the auction, you are South and the dealer.
W N E S
--……--……--……P
1D…2S…..X……P
3C…P…….3S…..P
3NT…P…..P…..DBL
(all pass)
I was speculating a bit. Have you discussed a sequence similar to this with your favorite partner? You should if you have not. What is dbl here? They have bid all the suits except spades. You had 2 chances to ‘raise’ spades (re-double of the double, and double of 3S) but chose not to. Ergo, a spade is out. You don’t have a suit of your own that partner is aware of, so this is a Lightner-esque double. What was dummy’s first bid suit? Hearts!
Your hand:
103
AQ1095
1094
J85
Sure you have no defense if they can rack up 9 winners…but without a heart lead, you probably stand no chance. As it turns out, declarer has only 8 tricks without a heart lead, but with a heart lead - declarer has 6 tricks. You collect 500 and another 10 IMPs for your effort. Later on, you smack them in a partial and collect 100 for win 5. You win this set 26-0 and send LAD back to his hotel room sucking his thumb. He did NOT crack 3NT - although he did pause for thought for a very long time over both the 3H bid and the subsequent 3NT call. Nice. Who’s cheating?
Enter the 87 seed. You’re down 9 to them - barely an IMP a board. But they are a good team so it probably wont be easy. Second board out…it goes 1D-Pass-1S to you, holding:
32
AKJ93
52
A1065
SO the auction begins with 1D on your left. RHO bids 1S. You bid 2H. You are one trick light for this overcall - QP has grown accustomed to me have the same hand but with AJ10 of clubs or something similar that would produce an extra trick. I don’t have it - but when LHO bids 2S, QP bids 3S - yee haw. So I bid a game - obviously - knowing that I am probably a trick light. QP has a scattered 10 count and makes a comment about having a slam try - and he does, opposite a more normal overcall for me. Win 7 for +450 when they only get to a part score at the other table….
We’re now down 2 imps to this team with 5 boards to go…and then….
AKQJ97
-----
A2
AQJ72
I am a conservative bidder, but this looks like a 2C opener to me….the opps are silent:
P - 2C
2D! - 2S
3C - 5H!!
5NT!!! - 7C
! = something
!! = exclusion blackwood for clubs
!!! = 1 key card, no trump queen
This was laydown, QP held:
43
9872
J3
K10983
25 HCP grand slams do not suck. Win 14. My counterpart opened all of 1S. and his RHO, my teammate, balanced. They managed to get to game.
We picked up 13 IMPs a bit later when our opps did not bid a slam, but our teammates did. Then, a bit of a play problem…
K107
J109
10876
976
Q32
AQ2
AKQ
A432
The spots are 100% accurate. This looks like a ‘Bridge-Master’ hand. In Bridge Master, the spots are 100% relevant - and all spot cards are givens as 2’s or 3’s unless they matter. So I got a heart lead…can you find 9 tricks? Me neither. I found 10. Win 11. The HK is not onside…
So we beat this team 46-3 this set. We win both matches! We now assume the 29 seed because they lost - so long LAD. Go back to Tucson and accuse others of cheating, cheater. And life goes on…Day 2 of the spingold tomorrow. We draw the 36 seed - they are higher than our original seed, but perhaps the seeding is really as meaningless as it appears….in any event, I assume I will only play the 2nd and 4th quarter tomorrow as well…
Will let you know more about that then…..
AMF!