Lucknow Bridge Association conducts bridge regular bridge tournaments in Lucknow.There are two regular pair events every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.On Tuesday matchpoint pair event takes place and on Friday IMP pair event takes place. The entry fee is nominal Rs. 10 per person or Rs. 20 per pair for members. All bridge enthusiast all welcome. The membership of Lucknow Bridge Association is nominal Rs. 250 per annum and all regular players are expected to become members of the association. The venue for these tournaments is Lucknow Club. The address is: Lucknow Club, Near Ashok Marg, Lucknow.The timings are 6:30 pm onwards in the evening.
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In this section I would cover tournaments happening in India and more so the tournaments happening in Northen part of India and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The 13th Worldwide Simultaneous Pairs event , which in the past have been sponsored by EPSON and Alcatel, took place on June 5 & 6 1998. The event didn't take place in India for the first time since the inception of the event.According to WBF (World Bridge Federation) the BFI (Bridge Federation of India) decided not to participate in this year's event despite having the knowledge of the event three months in advance.
Noida Bridge Association is conducting a bridge tournament at NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh in July 1998. The total prize money is Rs. 100000. The entry is by invitation only.
The annual tournament organized by HINDALCO is being held on July 24-26 at Renukoot,Uttar Pradesh this year.
In this section I would cover one good deal which appeared in the Weekly Bridge Tournaments at Lucknow or in a recent tournament with explainations.
This weeks's deal is again the type you would encounter many times if you are a regular bridge player.
Dealer North
Vul NS
| S | 7 5 2 | |||||||||||
| H | A 9 7 2 | |||||||||||
| D | J 8 4 | |||||||||||
| C | A K 9 | |||||||||||
| S | 8 | S | K Q 6 4 3 | |||||||||
| H | 6 4 3 | H | K 8 | |||||||||
| D | K 6 2 | D | Q 9 7 5 | |||||||||
| C | J 8 7 5 3 2 | C | 10 4 | |||||||||
| S | A J 10 9 | |||||||||||
| H | Q J 10 5 | |||||||||||
| D | A 10 3 | |||||||||||
| C | Q 6 |
The crux of this deal is that when you've 4-4 fit whether you should play in NT or suit contract. Especially you must consider situations where the choice is between 3NT and 4 of Major.
Consider the above deal in which North passed and South opened weak 1NT, North responds 2 diamond which is forcing stayman and on hearing South's 2 heart has a choice of bidding 4 hearts or 3 NT. East West have passed throughout in an IMP pairs contest.Actually North bids 4 hearts. If North opens prepared 1 diamond or 1 club (2/1 or standard) South would respond 1 heart to which North has a choice of bidding 1 NT or 2 hearts ,most Norths would bid 2 hearts though, which would determine if you would play in 3NT or 4 heart.
In this deal 4 heart doesn't score on an obvious spade singleton lead but 3 NT scores on any lead.
So is it a matter of pure simple luck of what contract you must bid or are there any guidelines?
A 4333 pattern is usually Notrumpish and sometimes it would definitely pay to play in 3NT if one or both the partners have this pattern. This is exemplified in the deal shown but consider the following deal:
Dealer North
Vul NS
| S | A K x | |||||||||||
| H | K Q x x | |||||||||||
| D | A x x | |||||||||||
| C | K 10 x | |||||||||||
| S | Q J x x x x | S | 10 x | |||||||||
| H | x x | H | x x x | |||||||||
| D | x x | D | x x x x | |||||||||
| C | J x x | C | Q x x x x | |||||||||
| S | x x | |||||||||||
| H | A J 10 x | |||||||||||
| D | K Q J x | |||||||||||
| C | A 9 x |
In this deal 7 heart is cold but 7NT would only make on unlikely club lead and here also North holds 4333 pattern.
Perhaps if both partner hold 4333 pattern , a NT game is more likely to succeed.The likely loss would be when one of the defender holds good 5 card suit which would yield 4 tricks and an outside Ace , with an outside King also contract can go down but chances of inflicting a squeeze increase. In the first deal shown diamond 10 is the key card for suppose spades do not break badly and east has diamond KQ10 to 5 card then 3NT would go down but 4 heart would make.If one of the partners hold 4333 pattern the judgement is more tricky.
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