How Serious - Challenge Pete #1

[@ringobunny]

hah i managed to get to 7s by responding 6s to partner's 4d, fingers were massively crossed for the diamond finesse haha

[@914mela]

Haha. Me too!

[@dkinrys]

@@914mela I was with Pete in 6S. My fingers were crossed for the finesse to be wrong. 😉

[@JohnRMayne]

On 1, I had a goofy auction to 7. I bid 5C (cue) over 4D on Board 3 and partner... did not cooperate. Ouch. (I did take the club finesse first and made 7.) You were adventurous on 2 and 4; one went well and the other didn't. I did the same thing you did on five. Fun set! Thanks!

[@grahamlucy6627]

WD on #2. Looked like pd needed a shed load of good cards for game to make

[@dkinrys]

Fun set, with some great hands. On B5, I made the wrong decision and bid 2NT over their 2S sign-off to see about playing in clubs. Got doubled by West 😳. If the trumps had split better, I think I would've made it, for the win...

[@ligafftheindifferent3495]

Hand 1. I hate having 2C as game force. This hand has 9 tricks and yet 2C seems pretty clear. The problem with 2C game force is that you rarely actually get that hand and you also wind up with a super wide range for 1 of a suit. To compensate, partner has to have a wider response range or you miss games. I wound up in 7S at partners insistence. I showed the full compliment of key cards and partner simply jumped. I think that is fine with AKQ of diamonds, but on this hand parter really only had one more trick that was already known. Robot should bid 6D and I will sign off since I don't know about either minor queen and I don't get a chance to ask. Should I bid 6C instead of 5NT? I think yes. That should confirm all key cards and show the KC. Now partner can go to 7 with QJxx of clubs or Qx and kd. Of course, I did not think of 6C and I am not sure what the robot would make of it. Playing 6c would suck. Hand 2. I really don't know the math on this. If you find partner with 3+ spades and Ax in a red suit, you probably have great play for game, but look at this hand. Partner had AQxxx in a side suit end Qx of spades and yet 3NT is an underdog contract because that spade suit has no side entry. If partners hand is less suitable, 2NT is probably too high. Even with 3 spades, I can envision a lot of hands were 2S is the last chance at a plus score. Maybe this is 2NT vulnerable at IMPS, but matchpoints? I bet a simulation would really help here. I chose to pass 2S and made a ton, but lost to 3NT. Hand 3. I passed to start. I just don't see the rush and 2S seems really gross on multiple levels. Hand 3. I assume Peter had a few beers before the hand. Trick 2 lead the QC and let it ride if not covered....... This line took me about 2 seconds to find. I watched the video and saw that he did finally sober up. As for slam. I think the Robot has to bid it and hope for the right cards in dummy, but that is probably a big ask. As the hand is, I only have 4 points in the majors, but could easily have far more and have little or no play for 6D. When I played this hand I passed, but any hope for slam was crushed when partner opened 5D. Sure, I love my KD and AC, but I cannot know to go on. To find slam, North needs to establish RKC for diamonds and discover I have 2. Easier said than done. Hand 4 Never mind....He's still drunk. That hand really isn't a slam try. In fact there are some fairly routine light 1S bids that don't make game. Hand 5 This was a tough defense, but in this case, I think any remotely sane defense would have worked out.

[@fredriknorling5969]

Got to 7s on #1. I also made a NS slam try, after cuebid and Blackwood I bid 5NT on which p immediately jumped to 7S. 6D would imo be a better bid, showing Kd and probably denying other kings. Then I probably sign off in 6s. Here I expected partner to have AdKd and Kh where a grand is not bad at all. On the others I was not as aggressive as you, missed the game on #2 but stopped in game on #4. P should imo raise 5d to 6d on #3. At absolutely worst it is on a finesse.