In addition to providing us live entertainment and commentary during the GNYBA Final KOs, David Gurvich offered the following analysis and thoughts on some key boards. All of the boards can be found at the KO leaderboard.
For the finals of the GNYBA Winter League I had the pleasure of commenting during the match between Bianchi-Koeppel on Vugraph. I’d like to thank Adam Grossack(nevereast00 on twitch.tv) and Ron Smith for commenting as well. Adam handled all the technical details while producing the twitch stream. I also want to thank David Moss and Katherine Todd for getting me to do this(not a threat).
Let’s get to the boards. There weren’t many large swings in the set with only 3 boards of 10+ IMPs and a final tally of 61-51 over 40 boards. Board 10 of the 1st session produced a game swing after a transfer sequence placed South on lead but I think board 11 was more interesting.
Board 11 ended with a laydown slam played in 3NT and 4NT for a push. The auction for Bianchi ended in 3NT when both North and South were conservative in evaluating the hand. South clearly had a maximum for the minimum shown. I have sympathy for North bidding only 3NT(having seen what they open).
Koeppel had a slightly different auction but stopped in 4NT. I feel that the more natural auction could have reached slam. Despite having only 13 points South should accept the invite. The AKJ10x of hearts is clearly worth more than 8 points, the club K is gold. For slam you need controls and tricks more than points and this hand supplies that.
Board 20 shows how many pairs that open light have agreements to avoid getting too high. In contrast to board 11 Bianchi gained by stopping in 2H. 9 tricks are available but the play isn’t clear and it’s nice to have an extra level for any bad guesses. The 2H rebid was alerted as limited because they play gazzilli. South was tempted to invite but fought that off after a lengthy hesitation. There were some questions about what gazzilli is during the match from spectators and I thought I’d give a brief explanation.
The basic idea is that all very strong openers go through 2C. 1S-1NT-2C shows either 18+ or 11-14 with 5S+4C. Other simple rebids at the 2-level all show weaker range hands. Hands that are in between minimum and 18 bid above 2S. Responder bids 2D to show enough to force game opposite 18+ with other calls showing less. I don’t recommend gazzilli unless you are willing to have some long discussions with partner about the meanings of later calls.
Board 13 in the 1st set gave South an opportunity to bid the unusual 2NT after a 1H opening by East. Double dummy 2NT is the correct call. Partner has a double fit and 4H makes by dropping the singleton HK offside.
This is not a call that I would be brave enough to make vulnerable. The suit quality is awful and the 2 aces provide defense. The bid also reveals everything about my shape. Assume a normal singleton spade lead against 4H(this happened at the other table). Declarer innocently took a heart finesse and could have been -2 had South gotten a ruff. With a 2NT overcall declarer knows the spade lead is a singleton and that South is 55 or better in the minors. A strong declarer would suspect that the HK is not onside when South is looking for a ruff. We don’t want to think how bad being in 3mX might be when North is 5422.
Board 6 in the 2nd set again gave South the chance to overcall 2nt and both tables took advantage. The suit quality is excellent and opposite 3 keycards slam might have play(most of my partners beg me to be less diligent in looking for slams). The problem with bidding 2nt here is that an uninspired partner won’t know that 4H is the right call with Jx in hearts and Kxx in clubs. AHA! you think to yourself, I’ll bid 3H over 3C and clue partner in. That’s exactly what happened to the Bianchi pair at one table. Not a great success once doubling started. At the other table Lynne Koeppel passed 3C and gained 8 IMPs when her partner went -3 undoubled.
But what can we do? The risk of missing 4H or even a slam is clear. A normal plan might be to overcall 1H and plan a 2nd call if the auction doesn’t die.
One of my partners advocates a 4H call here, especially at favorable vulnerability. I’m not a big fan but I can’t argue against the effectiveness. The odds of getting doubled are low and there are all kinds of opportunities to gain. The opponents may bid and go for a number, you might get a club lead, partner might have 3 keycards and you are cold for slam. Here you are likely to be -3 undoubled and would do 8 IMPs better.