About 45 years ago, I came to Minnesota to attend grad school. I had learned to play bridge as an undergrad, but rubber bridge only. I focused on my studies and other activities my first few years here - and then got introduced to duplicate.
Roughly when this sweet photo of Kerry Holloway, wife Cara and daughter Megan was taken, I met Kerry and he took this newbie under his wing. While we both play with others, Kerry and I have had a partnership for over 40 years now!
Along the way, I added another very talented and long time partner; Bill Kent of Iowa City. Between Kerry and Bill, I've played literally thousands and thousands of hands with each of them. You'd think that we'd have every agreement down pat by now, and never be on different wavelengths.
But - you would be wrong.
This past Friday night at the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club, I held this hand: AQ95, Q754, AJ7, 42. After 2 passes, my RHO opened 1D. Though my shape wasn't quite right, I judged to double. With both majors and 13 hcp, I decided doubling rather than passing or guessing which major to bid was the lesser of evils.
LHO bid 1H, Kerry bid 1S and RHO passed. What now?
Well. Had my LHO passed and had Kerry then bid 1S, I, too would have passed. Without the 1H bid, my call would show at least 16+ HCP and at least 4S. But, since Kerry took a "free bid" (bidding when he was not forced to do so), I knew he had some values. Thus, I raised to 2S, showing a reasonable opener with at least 4S - but not extras.
LHO passed, and to my surprise, Kerry bid 4S!
Alas; not surprisingly, given that he was only able to bid 1S the first time, we didn't have enough "wood" for Kerry to take 10 tricks. Here is the layout:
Dealer: W
Vul: None |
North
♠ KJ764
♥ K96
♦ 84
♣ 863 |
|
West
♠ 83
♥ J1032
♦ KQ10
♣ QJ95 |
|
East
♠ 102
♥ A8
♦ 96532
♣ AK107 |
| |
South
♠ AQ95
♥ Q754
♦ AJ7
♣ 42 |
What happened?
