Well also made it to day 2 of the Roth Open Swiss



Picked up some pickup partners at the last minute when our planned partners bailed, and so did another pair. They held their own and brought back some nice scores day 1 at crucial times. Then yeah day 2...

Craziest hand of day 2 against the Meltzer team

KQxxx/AKxxxxx//x

r/w

Partner opens, auction goes 1NT-(4NT)

I just went for the gusto and bid 7H. This was doubled when LHO had Axxx/Qxxx/whatever

Win 12 when other team goes to 7SX-4. Lose match 12-33

Also played Onstott round 2. In an uncontested 1NT-3NT auction partner finds a lead from T87 of hearts into my KQxxxx suit. Opponent says nice lead before grumbling something about how that has how the whole tournament has gone...naturally they go on to win lol. We had a chance of beating them if partner finds a X with a nice 5530 on an auction of 1S-(3C)-P-(P) but alas partner bids 4H.

Have been playing a **** ton on BBO, often looking for opps. Sn fide51.

I very rarely get to play anymore, but I did manage to go to a sectional today. Was pretty vanilla overall, but there was one hand I enjoyed.

A K Q 2
A 9 4
T 4 3
A K Q

R/R, I'm in fourth chair. Auction goes 3 passes, 2N-3N (our 2N range is 21-22).

Lead is the J, and we get the following:

9 7 5
K J 8
K Q 7 2
9 3 2

J

A K Q 2
A 9 4
T 4 3
A K Q

Trick 1: J, 2, 6, K (standard signals)
Trick 2: 4, 8, K, A
Trick 3: J, A, 3, 5
Trick 4: Hook J successfully
Tricks 5-8: Cash K, Q of spades, and two hearts ending in hand. RHO has the high spade left, LHO has been pitching clubs
Trick 9: cash high club, RHO throws diamond.

Counting the hand, I know LHO started 2=3=1=7, so RHO was 4=4=5=0.

Now the position looks like this:

Dummy


Q 7 2
9

RHO:
8
T
J 9


Dec:
2

T 3
Q

On the last club, RHO is stuck. If he throws a diamond, I run those. If he throws a heart, I endplay him with a spade. If he throws a spade, I cash my spade, and hes stuck again. He needs to pitch his high heart to salvage one trick in diamonds.

I guess this resulted in a strip squeeze in three suits? I haven't played in a long time, but I can't remember seeing this happen before.

Note: I'm pretty sure you should never take the diamond on trick 2 if you are RHO. Sometimes, opponents can be nice.

This isn't a three suit squeeze, since you are threatening him in only two suits. It is a standard strip squeeze. You are forcing him to discard a winner and endplay him by playing spades

Crazy hand from Monday night club game

T87xx
/
x
AT98xxx

R/W Dad opens

1S-(2H)

I can't believe it with "only 4 HCP" but it is easy to envision slam with the right cards. So I bid 3C

1S-(2H)-3C-(3H)-3NT-(P)-

**** it, it is a Monday night club game. How often do I get to blast to slam, then tell partner before I lay the dummy down "So yeah I only have 4 HCP." And yeah it made.

Anyone doing Nationals in Honolulu? Trying to figure out if I should go, and would love to get some games in if anyone's interested.

I'm not. If I go to Honolulu in the next few months there will be lots of mai tais but no bridge.

Friend asked me to play a STAC game today, and I'm flexible w work, so I'm gonna play. First time touching playing cards since December so GL me.

When it rains it pours, though. I'm like 90% to meet a friend for a sectional in a couple of weeks. Last hurrah before we're a family of 4 at the end of Sept / early Oct!

I'm getting increasingly tilted at my inability to win a sectional swiss. Long story short I've got 3 2nd place finishes, 3 3rd places finishes, 3 times where fate was in my hand going into the last round (only one overlap there). Well another shot in two weeks...

Variance is a thing, especially in swiss which is super random. Keep being in it with 1 match to go and you will win at some point.

Good luck in Orlando, was nice losing to you at the OC regional haha.

Damn, what a post on BW, really sobering stuff.

yeah, goddamn

And honestly most of my tilt is I just want to win one with dad. We've had our share of close calls. I don't know how many more years of decent bridge he has left since he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. I know he doesn't care about winning, but I do damn it.

Don't read often but I looked this up.

Dude not sure if srs but there's SO many places you could work and have more upside than you do in bridge. There's trade offs ofc but it's super possible. Literally yesterday had a guy text me and he was looking for smart ppl. "Do you care about their background?" "Not much."

Text me and/or let's get coffee or a drink sometime. Also your network is so f'n good from bridge. Skills are great but your network is really all that matters. GL man you will do great but it's all about figuring out what function you are optimizing before you try to optimize it.

link?

FMK is sick of bridge or sumtin?

Blue team were a bunch of cheats

FMK-"Duh"

http://bridgewinners.com/article/vie...ule/?cj=705926

(virtual hug)

Hah, yeah those blue team hands are pretty cray cray to look at. I'm sure the book will be very interesting.

Wyman, let's definitely talk sometime. I have considered doing something non-bridge for a few years but obviously it's a big decision, bridge has been my life since I was like 13 and I love many of the people and the game. It's not really like poker where you assume you will burn out and move on and do it for the money heh. But yeah, I am cutting back how much I play next year from about 25 weeks to 15 weeks (wouldn't surprise me if I pick up another couple of tourneys though but whatever), and maybe that will give me some time to pursue other things or reflect and see how I like it. I have gotten a surprising amount of good insight since that post regarding this though, didn't really expect that so thanks.

Speaking of which...Dustin I almost stayed in OC another week after visiting Gardens casino lol. The poker games were soooo much better than vegas, they were playing 10/20/40 and sometimes 10/20/40/80 all night long and were actually giving action and were bad haha. CA is definitely better than Vegas for poker, but I had never been to this casino! But no, I will never go back to the live poker life for a living lol.

You have my number man - anytime.

Baby #2 a week from today so not gonna see you at any bridge tournaments soon tho haha

oh damn, congrats and GL bro haha!

good plan, now you have a full foursome at home

(spoiler: that didn't work for me)

Hmm, maybe I should get back into poker, I havent played in many yrs. See you in Honolulu.

So all I had to do was ***** about it



Sure enough first win is a complete domination with at least a share of first locked going into the last round. Not with dad, but oh well.

Had this happen at a club game today.

W/R MPs

A J 7
A Q 6
A J T 5
A Q 6

We're in 4th seat and the auction goes
(p) - p - (1) - X
(p) - 1N - (2) - X
ap

What do you lead, assuming standard leads?

I'll try a low trump.