Bread N' Butter Part IX

This is Part IX of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the last world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

The last of the round robin matches for USA2 was against Russia, with both cold war teams here running hot and ready to qualify for the playoffs.


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On board 1, Meckstroth opened 1D with the balanced 13, Rodwell bid 1H, Meckstroth rebid 1S where some approaches prefer a 1NT call with a balanced hand, 2C was fourth suit game forcing, and in their methods 2NT showed either 4-2-4-3/4-2-3-4/4-1-4-4. 3NT was a push.


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On board 6 we see once more the 1D-2m;-2H sequence to show the 11-13 balanced hand type, and now 3D artificially showed 6+Cs and 4+Hs, game forcing. Against 3NT South led a spade, and Meckstroth played club ace and another just making. In the other room in 3NT, the lead was a diamond, won in hand and on a club up Zia, South, played the club king, just getting one club trick. Russia had a couple of overtricks for 2 IMPs.


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On board 8, Meckstroth overcalled 1NT (15-18), and now opener's reopening double showed four spades in their methods. 2H was down 1. In the other room a 2D Flannery opening had East overcalling notrump at the two level, down 1, and the two +50s gave 3 IMPs to USA2.


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On board 10, Meckstroth opened a 14-16 1NT, and South's double was majors or strong single major or very strong hand. Since doubler could be weak, Rodwell did not initiate any runout sequence, and the opponents soon got to 4H, the contract in the other room. USA2 had an overtrick for 1 IMP.

The match score was 40-19 in IMPs, 20-10 in Victory Points. USA2 finished fourth in the round robin, and that it meant it would play who ever the top three teams didn't pick to play. Italy finished first, and picked Russia, who finished 7th, to play against, even though China was 1 VP lower than Russia. Norway picked China, and Bulgaria picked Germany. I love the picking of teams format for the playoffs since it produces motivation: the picked-on team says "you think we're easy pickings do you, let's change your mind". Before we get to the quarterfinals, and USA2 against the dangerous Dutch team, we'll look into issues of changing your mind in the next post.

Meckwell were 25th overcall in the round robin Butlers, a comparison of all pairs by results on each board across all matches. However different pairs play different matches, and Meckwell play all the tough ones. If we eliminate the matches that Meckwell did not play in, and take out a pair that had fewer than 5 match results left, we get:

1 Boye BROGELAND - Espen LINDQVIST Norway 0.82
2 Claudio NUNES - Fulvio FANTONI Italy 0.71
3 Alexander SMIRNOV - Josef PIEKAREK Germany 0.69
4 Kalin KARAIVANOV - Roumen TRENDAFILOV Bulgaria 0.68
5 Weimin WANG - Zejun ZHUANG China Long Zhu Open 0.61
6 Alejandro BIANCHEDI - Ernesto MUZZIO Argentina 0.58
7 Antonio SEMENTA - Giorgio DUBOIN Italy 0.57
8 Vadim KHOLOMEEV - Yury KHIUPPENEN Russia 0.54
9 Ulf Haakon TUNDAL - Glenn GROETHEIM Norway 0.51
10 Michael ELINESCU - Entscho WLADOW Germany 0.48
11 Zia MAHMOOD - Bob HAMMAN USA 2 0.42
12 Victor ARONOV - Julian STEFANOV Bulgaria 0.39
13 Kazuo FURUTA - Dawei CHEN Japan 0.36
14 Georgi KARAKOLEV - Diyan DANAILOV Bulgaria 0.30
15 Peter BOYD - Steve ROBINSON USA 1 0.29
16 Eric RODWELL - Jeff MECKSTROTH USA 2 0.28
17 Juei-Yu SHIH - Chih-Kuo SHEN Chinese Taipei 0.25
18 Huub BERTENS - Ton BAKKEREN Netherlands 0.23
19 Sjoert BRINK - Bas DRIJVER Netherlands 0.17
20 Simon de WIJS - Bauke MULLER Netherlands 0.09
21 Lixin YANG - Jianming DAI China Long Zhu Open 0.06
22 Per Erik AUSTBERG - Erik SAELENSMINDE Norway 0.05
23 Georgi MATUSHKO - Alexander KHOKHLOV Russia -0.04
24 Pablo RAVENNA - Carlos PELLEGRINI Argentina -0.37

The last figure is the average IMP gain per board played. If we then further take out the two easy matches that Meckwell had, we have:

1 Weimin WANG - Zejun ZHUANG China Long Zhu Open 0.69
2 Boye BROGELAND - Espen LINDQVIST Norway 0.63
3 Claudio NUNES - Fulvio FANTONI Italy 0.60
4 Kalin KARAIVANOV - Roumen TRENDAFILOV Bulgaria 0.59
5 Antonio SEMENTA - Giorgio DUBOIN Italy 0.51
6 Victor ARONOV - Julian STEFANOV Bulgaria 0.49
7 Alejandro BIANCHEDI - Ernesto MUZZIO Argentina 0.45
8 Zia MAHMOOD - Bob HAMMAN USA 2 0.42
9 Vadim KHOLOMEEV - Yury KHIUPPENEN Russia 0.41
10 Michael ELINESCU - Entscho WLADOW Germany 0.25
11 Peter BOYD - Steve ROBINSON USA 1 0.24
12 Ulf Haakon TUNDAL - Glenn GROETHEIM Norway 0.22
13 Eric RODWELL - Jeff MECKSTROTH USA 2 0.22
14 Alexander SMIRNOV - Josef PIEKAREK Germany 0.21
15 Sjoert BRINK - Bas DRIJVER Netherlands 0.21
16 Juei-Yu SHIH - Chih-Kuo SHEN Chinese Taipei 0.18
17 Lixin YANG - Jianming DAI China Long Zhu Open 0.16
18 Simon de WIJS - Bauke MULLER Netherlands 0.09
19 Georgi MATUSHKO - Alexander KHOKHLOV Russia 0.06
20 Per Erik AUSTBERG - Erik SAELENSMINDE Norway 0.05
21 Huub BERTENS - Ton BAKKEREN Netherlands -0.04
22 Kazuo FURUTA - Dawei CHEN Japan -0.05
23 Georgi KARAKOLEV - Diyan DANAILOV Bulgaria -0.11
24 Pablo RAVENNA - Carlos PELLEGRINI Argentina -0.37

Bread N' Butter Part VIII

This is Part VIII of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the last world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

One of the nice features of the Just Sayin' blog (see Memphis Mojo link to the right) is that it sometimes features poker magazine covers with a player quote from that magazine issue. With Meckstroth the star of balanced hands in this match, here's the bridge equivalent, the cover of the ACBL Bulletin, February 2010:


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In the interview, when asked about prep for the world championships, Meckstroth replied:

I try to take the week before off to get my head in the right place for the upcoming battle. Eric has taught me some visualization techniques that seem to work pretty well…

In this match we will see Meckstroth visualize a couple of notrump openings that some others would not attempt. Perhaps it's because, as Meckstroth answered when asked what his strong points were:

I am completely fearless. I'm not afraid to look silly, which I have done many times.

Well he might occasionally look silly, but his fearless style has a 99% genius, 1% silly ratio based on results. As Taylor Swift sings in her title track Fearless, "I don't know how it gets better than this".

Meckstroth's was in action with a balanced hand on board 1:


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Meckstroth doubled the 1C opening, which could be as short as two (1D by East would promise 4) - given he has only 3-2 in the majors, this double must have been meant as value showing instead of pure takeout. Rodwell bid 1D, and the Meckwell partnership like to show support in these situations, Meckstroth here bidding 2D. West tried a takeout double, and got to 2S, making. At the other table, the same 2S, but this time played by North: the bidding started P-1D-P-1H;-P-2H, and now South doubled, and North bid 2S to find the 3-3 fit, for down 2 and a push. Neither South player in this match wanted to make the 1NT overcall.

On board 9, Meckstroth decided to treat his hand as balanced, a mild 3rd seat psyche - 1NT showed 14-16, but here he upgraded his 11 count! West led fifth best, the ten of clubs, and this was down 1. In the other room, the auction was P-P-2H-3C;-3H-Double-P-5C, and that was down 1 for 4 IMPs to Argentina.


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On board 10, Meckstroth treated us to a four card major suit overcall:


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This would almost be the perfect Lawrence example (from The Complete Book on Overcalls, a must-have book for any bridge library): great suit, length in opponents suit opened, competitive values. Rodwell made an overtrick in 1NT, good for 1 IMP compared to -100, 1NT by East down 2, at the other table, where South kept out of the bidding.

On board 11, Meckstroth decided to treat his 2-5-4-2 hand as balanced:


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2NT by Rodwell was Puppet Stayman, 3H showed five, and they got to 4H, making 5 (a spade lead allowed the spade jack to be set up for a club discard). In the other room, they also opened 1NT, but here North just raised to 3NT, down 1 for 11 IMPs to USA2.

On board 12, Meckstroth competed with a double, but didn't having anything more to say, letting the opponents play in 3D for two overtricks and +150.


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In the other room, a Flannery auction got the opponents into 3NT, doubled, for -800, and 12 IMPs to USA2. With Lebenshol over takeout doubles, 3C promised some values, and that was just enough to get into trouble.


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On board 15, Meckstroth opened the 11 point balanced hand, and next made a support double, but Meckwell picked a good spot to stay conservative, 2D still down 2, -200.


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In the other room not opening the South hand got them to game, after Hamman overcalled 3C opposite a passed Zia.


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This time 3NT was down 4 for -400, and 5 IMPS to USA2. Even with all those nice results, it was still Argentina prevailing 39-35, 16-14 in VPs.

Bread N' Butter Part VII

This is Part VII of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the last world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

The big match of day 5 for USA2 was against Italy. There was a balanced hand on the first board:


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Meckstroth with a nice 10 count in second seat passed, but even though balanced, wasn't willing to sell out to a third seat 1NT. Double showed either both majors or a minor. Rodwell found out the hand type by bidding 2C, but this got doubled for takeout and the Italians were able to find a 2H contract for +140. This was a push as in the quieter room Zia, South, played in 1NT for +150.


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On board 5, Meckstroth opened 1NT, 14-16. Rodwell bid 2S, their range check and minor device, over which opener bid 2NT to show a minimum. 3C was to play, +110, losing 2 IMPS, as the auction in the other room was 1S-1NT (semi-forcing), and that was +180.

The last of the hands under review for us was board 8:


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Rodwell opened a 14-16 1NT, and Sementa doubled to show 4-3/3-4+ in the majors with values, or a very strong hand. Meckstroth passed, which asks partner to redouble, often a runout with two touching suits (Ss & Cs would be touching too). Here South started running first, bidding 2C, and Sementa introduced hearts. Meckstroth now bid 2S, which would represent only 4 as he would have shown spades on the first round with 5 or longer. It also showed competitive shape, and Rodwell was able to now bid 3D, making for +110. In the other room this was the bidding:


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Zia passed the value showing double, then retreated to 3H when 3D was doubled. This made for +140 and 6 IMPS to USA2, who won the match 29-4 in IMPs, 21-9 in victory points - more than twice as much victory points than IMPs for the Italians.

Bread N' Butter Part VI

This is Part VI of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the last world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

Meckwell had no rest on day 4 as the last match of the day was against China, now a strong contender for the championship. On the first board of the match we see a Marty Bergen idea that should be more popular, as Justin Lall blogged about in Five Uncommon Conventions You Should Play:

http://justinlall.com/2009/04/05/five-uncommon-conventions-you-should-play/

Perhaps it is uncommon because most people are reluctant to turn over the reins of a 3NT contract to their partner? Here though for Meckwell, regardless of which player transfers, you have a world class declarer.


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Rodwell opened the flat 11 with 1D, and after the overcall, Meckstroth jumped to 3S to transfer to 3NT. China, in 3NT by North after a 2S cuebid by South, made an extra overtrick for 1 IMP.


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On board 19 Meckstroth had a 3-4-3-3 13 count, so he opened 1D, and bid hearts after Rodwell's negative double. Since his hand is completely flat, I'm surprised he competed to 3H when 2S came back around to him. Still being not vulnerable down two only cost -100, and that picked up 5 IMPs, as the South at the other table opened a weak notrump, doubled by Zia, West, for +300.


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On board 22 it was back to opening flat 11s, and the first of two times we would see the sequence 1D-2C;-2H in this match. Meckwell play that 1D-2C;-2H and 1D-2D;-2H shows the balanced hand for the 1D opening. Now responder can bid notrump themselves, or can bid 2S to transfer to 2NT. Thus they can judge whether the 2C or 2D response has given a little too much information to the opponents, and it should be dummy, or if the hand has value location that makes it best to declarer a notrump contract. Here Rodwell placed himself in 3NT, making for a push.

Board 23 was yet another flat 11 count opening 1D:


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It might appear that the 1NT rebid is 11-13, but it is actually 11-14, since the 1NT opening when vulnerable in 3rd seat is 15-17 (or upgraded 14s). Note that the South hand did not rebid 2S, as the 1NT rebid can have a singleton spade. If 1NT promised a balanced hand, always 2 or 3 spades, then the South hand would want to rebid spades as the suit can find early retirement in notrump by the opponents holding up the spade ace, assuming that the outside values can't produce an entry. Both tables had the same auction for a push.

Board 29 saw the 1D-2C;-2H start again:


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Here Meckstroth transferred to notrump with 2S, then placed Rodwell in 3NT. Both tables were down 2 in 3NT for a push.

The balanced hands had little to write home about in this match, one that USA2 won by 33-11, for 20-10 in victory points. USA2 were in a comfortable fourth overall spot, but there were many good teams chasing them.

Bread N' Butter Part V

This is Part V of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the last world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

Part IV of this series was posted on September 21st, and since then we've looked at some theoretical concepts that can be examined as part of this series. For this and upcoming posts in this series, the postings will consider two potential modifications to the Meckwell style 1D opening:

1) Removing the unbalanced diamond hand types, and thus a 1D is a single hand type: 10/11-13 balanced or semi-balanced.
2) Adding 5-3-3-2s with a five card major, 11-13, into 1D, treating these as a balanced hand opening, and not a major suit opening.

With the news this past weekend that the Netherlands will host the 2011 World Championship (likely late October 2011, exact location not established yet), we will resume the series with the second match on Day 4 of the round robin against the dangerous Netherlands team.


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On board 4, Rodwell opened a flat 12 count, and next made a support double. After the three club fit bid (spades + clubs + values), note that Meckstroth's three heart bid is to play, and does not invite in any way. Bakkeren got to a decent game contract and Rodwell led the diamond ace, and then switched to a heart. After drawing trumps, declarer knocked out the diamond king, and then later took a ruffing finesse in diamonds, leading the diamond ten and hoping Rodwell had the jack. Instead Meckstroth had it and that was down one and 7 IMPs to USA2.


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On the next board Rodwell opened a flat 11 count in fourth seat, even though he was opposite a passed partner who would have opened any 11 count. However the 4-4 in the majors were nice, and opening 1D got them to 1H making 1 for a push.


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On board 8, Meckstroth opened the balanced 17 with 1C since 1NT for them in 3rd seat is only 15-17 when vulnerable. They landed in 3NT for a push, Rodwell's 1NT showing a game force with a spade stopper.


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On board 10, Meckstroth opened a flat one heart, and Meckwell had nothing more to say. If 1D would be the system opening (if 5-3-3-2s with a 5 card major are treated as balanced), the contract would likely be the same. In the other room, Zia as South overcalled one spade (their jump overcalls vulnerable are Intermediate), and this allowed East West to reach 3D making. 2S against Meckwell was down one for a push.

Board 11 had a balanced hand but due to a power outage just at the time there is no record of the bidding. Here is the hand from the other table, where they got to a five heart contract:


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This was an amazing hand, as Meckwell got to 6H, played by Rodwell, West. On a neutral lead, Rodwell drew trumps and stripped out the black suits, then led a diamond to the king. To beat this North just needs to duck this, and wait with his AJ of diamonds over the queen. Instead he took the king and returned a diamond. Now Rodwell had to guess whether North made a mistake or not. He assumed he didn't, and played the eight from dummy, covered by the nine, and down one losing 11 IMPs.

For further details see Ray Lee's write up and comments at:
http://ray.bridgeblogging.com/?p=205


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On board 15, in the other room Hamman, North, opened 1NT with a singleton king and played there, making. Against Meckwell, North opened one diamond, and Meckstroth overcalled one spade. Rodwell showed a spade fit and something in hearts (not much something here) a mixed raise (constructive values with four or longer trumps - thanks to David Morgan for this correction) with a three bid, and Meckstroth parked it in the part score, just making for 6 IMPs. With a game swing on the last board, USA2 had won 40-30, 17-13 in victory points.