--
A K Q
A 3
A K Q J 10 6 5 2David was in 4th seat with both sides vulnerable (playing IMPs in a Swiss Team Match).
12 out of 13 Ain't Bad
by Larry Cohen
In the end of 2005, my partner, David Berkowitz seemed to pick up a lot of unusual hands (see "A More Unlikely Bid."). This hand, from the Atlanta Regional in December was one of the best you will ever see:
--
A K Q
A 3
A K Q J 10 6 5 2
David was in 4th seat with both sides vulnerable (playing IMPs in a Swiss Team
Match).
The bidding started with a Pass on his left, 2
by his partner (that would be me), and Pass on his right. Now what?
Obviously it is just a question of 6
or 7. I think the chances for
7 would have been better had partner Passed. The fact that he has
6 spades doesn't improve your hand. Had he opened a diamond preempt, that
would have been more encouraging. Anyway, here you are--what should you do?
I think it might make sense to bid 2NT asking for a Feature. If
partner shows a diamond feature, bid 7
-- otherwise content yourself with 6.
However, David just took a chance and jumped directly to 7
on the first round of bidding. This certainly drew some amused looks from around
the table.
Here was the (disappointing) dummy:
|
K J 9 7 5 2 |
Vul: Both | ||
|
4 |
Dlr: West | ||
|
J 10 9 7 |
|||
|
9 7
|
|||
|
-- A K Q A 3 A K Q J 10 6 5
2 |
|||
| WEST | NORTH | EAST | SOUTH |
| Pass | 2 |
Pass | 7 |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
West led the K.
There was not much hope. David won and played a club (LHO playing the 8). He won
the 9 in dummy and tried a
low spade. Nothing good happened. He floundered around (running all his
winners), but it was easy for the defense to keep the setting trick in diamonds,
down 1.
|
K J 9 7 5 2 |
Vul: Both | ||
|
4 |
Dlr: West | ||
|
J 10 9 7 |
|||
|
9 7 |
|||
|
Q 10 4 |
A 8 6 3 |
||
|
J 8 7 3 |
10 9 6 5 2 |
||
|
K Q 8 5 2 |
6 4 |
||
|
8 |
4 3 |
||
|
-- A K Q A 3 A K Q J 10 6 5
2 |
|||
| WEST | NORTH | EAST | SOUTH |
| Pass | 2 |
Pass | 7 |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
So, how unlucky was David to find this dummy? To make 7
he needed one of the following:
1) K in
dummy.
2) Club entry and A in dummy
3) Club entry and QJ
and a winning finesse (or 2 club entries and a ruffing spade finesse KQ)
4) Three clubs in dummy (then the top four red cards exhaust dummy's red cards
and a diamond can be ruffed).
5) A defensive error
There are even others -- if you think you have a good one, please e-mail me and
I will add it to the list!
In a span of 2 months, I twice saw David bid a grand slam on the first round of bidding. At least he made one of them.