that will teach me

[a***@yahoo.co.uk]

for trying to be clever.

My monthly evening on the strong evening with an aspiring beginner, and another of those evenings where anything that can go wrong does go wrong.

MPs, NS vuln

North
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642

N E S W
1C P 1S
?

It looked to me like they were heading for a major suit game, so I decided to throw in a 2D overcall as a lead direct, in case EW ended in a 4H game, it would give partner a good lead.

Sadly that didn't happen:

N E S W
1C P 1S
2D X AP

Partner had Q82 in diamonds but they were 5-0. I escaped for two off which was a bottom, because no-one bid the spade slam and only two of the other five pairs even made a game.

The full deal:

Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

[ais523]

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
MPs, NS vuln

[snip]

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
N E S W
1C P 1S
2D X AP
Partner had Q82 in diamonds but they were 5-0. I escaped for two off
which was a bottom, because no-one bid the spade slam and only two of
the other five pairs even made a game.
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

I don't think you did anything wrong here. Looking at the full deal, 2DX
is an excellent contract to be in, and you were mostly just unlucky with
the diamond split. (I can see why the slam wasn't found; looking only at
the E/W hands, all of spades, hearts and clubs have potential issues,
and although the JT9 of spades makes slam much better, very few bidding
systems will be able to ask about all those cards.)

[Hotzenplotz]

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
for trying to be clever.
My monthly evening on the strong evening with an aspiring beginner, and another of those evenings where anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
MPs, NS vuln
North
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
N E S W
1C P 1S
?
It looked to me like they were heading for a major suit game, so I decided to throw in a 2D overcall as a lead direct, in case EW ended in a 4H game, it would give partner a good lead.
N E S W
1C P 1S
2D X AP
Partner had Q82 in diamonds but they were 5-0. I escaped for two off which was a bottom, because no-one bid the spade slam and only two of the other five pairs even made a game.
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

" Looking at the full deal, 2DX is an excellent contract to be in"
Your definition of excellent and mine are totally different. 2D is a very poor vulnerable bid.

[Douglas Newlands]

Post by Hotzenplotz

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
for trying to be clever.
My monthly evening on the strong evening with an aspiring beginner, and another of those evenings where anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
MPs, NS vuln
North
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
N E S W
1C P 1S
?
It looked to me like they were heading for a major suit game, so I decided to throw in a 2D overcall as a lead direct, in case EW ended in a 4H game, it would give partner a good lead.
N E S W
1C P 1S
2D X AP
Partner had Q82 in diamonds but they were 5-0. I escaped for two off which was a bottom, because no-one bid the spade slam and only two of the other five pairs even made a game.
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

" Looking at the full deal, 2DX is an excellent contract to be in"
Your definition of excellent and mine are totally different.

2D is a very poor vulnerable bid.
indeed!
Crazy man stuff!
Three tricks if you're lucky coming in to a live auction.

doug

[ais523]

Post by Hotzenplotz

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

" Looking at the full deal, 2DX is an excellent contract to be in"
Your definition of excellent and mine are totally different. 2D is a
very poor vulnerable bid.

You need to get out for down one, for the sacrifice to be worth it over
an enemy nonvulnerable game. That's seven tricks.

Based only on the N/S hands, five diamonds and a club seem almost
guaranteed, so you only need one more trick from somewhere (probably a
length trick in clubs or hearts). If you don't have one, the opponents
can probably make slam unless you have two diamond tricks on defence
(which implies a favourable trump split, and thus gives you more
entries to try to find that seventh trick).

Maybe 2DX isn't as good at unfavourable as I thought, but it'd
definitely be favoured if the opponents were vulnerable.

[a***@yahoo.co.uk]

Post by ais523

Post by Hotzenplotz

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

" Looking at the full deal, 2DX is an excellent contract to be in"
Your definition of excellent and mine are totally different. 2D is a
very poor vulnerable bid.

You need to get out for down one, for the sacrifice to be worth it over
an enemy nonvulnerable game. That's seven tricks.
Based only on the N/S hands, five diamonds and a club seem almost
guaranteed, so you only need one more trick from somewhere (probably a
length trick in clubs or hearts). If you don't have one, the opponents
can probably make slam unless you have two diamond tricks on defence
(which implies a favourable trump split, and thus gives you more
entries to try to find that seventh trick).
Maybe 2DX isn't as good at unfavourable as I thought, but it'd
definitely be favoured if the opponents were vulnerable.
--
ais523

I wasn't even thinking about a sacrifice, I was giving partner a lead should she end up on lead against the opponents game. I wouldn't normally overcall at the two level on that kind of suit, but I took a gamble that the opponents would keep bidding to their game, which they would if the sodding diamonds weren't 5-0. The gamble didn't work this time, but maybe I should save such actions for when I am not vulnerable and they are far less likely to hit it. Frustrating in a way as I have seen people get away with and gain on far worse overcalls plenty of times.

[Hotzenplotz]

snipped

"I have seen people get away with and gain on far worse overcalls plenty of times."

If you play in weak competitions, then yes you might see worse overcalls. Let us analyse why? Your Qx of S is a bad holding on offence; you have 5 Ds only; your Cs are poor and yet need to be established to make something out of this hand; at the same time you are likely to be forced in H. I MIGHT consider this NV at MPs. Here the overcall is dreadful - the sort of thing you get to see on BBO quite often. You say "anything that can go wrong does go wrong". Yes, if you put your head on the chopping block in a live auction, this is highly likely.

[a***@yahoo.co.uk]

Post by a***@yahoo.co.uk
for trying to be clever.
My monthly evening on the strong evening with an aspiring beginner, and another of those evenings where anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
MPs, NS vuln
North
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
N E S W
1C P 1S
?
It looked to me like they were heading for a major suit game, so I decided to throw in a 2D overcall as a lead direct, in case EW ended in a 4H game, it would give partner a good lead.
N E S W
1C P 1S
2D X AP
Partner had Q82 in diamonds but they were 5-0. I escaped for two off which was a bottom, because no-one bid the spade slam and only two of the other five pairs even made a game.
Q6
7
AKT63
J7642
AJT74 K92
KT AJ843
J9754 -
A KQ943
853
Q95452
Q82
T5

Sory, East opened 1H, not 1C.