{"id":12817,"date":"2019-09-16T21:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T19:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=3367"},"modified":"2021-02-10T13:11:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T11:11:39","slug":"exclusive-tournament-milan-macura-imp-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/fr\/exclusive-tournament-milan-macura-imp-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis of the IMP Exclusive Tournament #2 of Milan Macura"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The second \u201cweekly exclusive tournaments\u201d are over. We know the winners and you can watch and read the bridge hands analysis.<\/strong><\/p>


If you have not played these tournaments yet, you can find them under \u201c<\/strong>Get started\/Practice > Exclusive tournaments\u201d <\/strong><\/em>and search for Milan Macura.<\/strong><\/p>


Both the IMP and MP tournaments start on Saturday and end on Thursday when I am making the videos.<\/strong> <\/p>

Here’s the report of Milan Macura’s IMP Exclusive Tournament number 2!<\/strong> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Milan Macura’s IMP Exclusive tournament deal analysis <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Also this time, there were more players participating in the IMP tournament. The numbers increased from 397 to 610.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With this pace, we can reach 1,000 players at the end of September, which will be awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, we had more interesting boards where you could score a lot of IMPs if you played well and had luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best player of week number 2 was Klaus from Germany with impressive +61 IMPs. Second place went to Durba from India and AproX from the Czech Republic with +57 IMPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here is the top 10 leaderboard<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"TOP
Top 10 leaderboard of Milan Macura’s exclusive tournament #2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I scored +34 IMPs and took the 28th<\/sup> place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slightly different auction on board number 2 could bring me another 14 IMPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argine chose a different lead if you show a balanced hand with 1NT rather than if you bid 2♣. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The four hands<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This deal was discussed a lot by the players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Argine giving the contract away with ♦A lead only to some players? <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The reason is that there is either a different auction, so Argine makes a different presumption, or there is an approximately similar probability for more leads, Argine can choose another lead in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complete truth is hidden in the Funbridge program code.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This can be very frustrating if it happens to you, but it is nothing unusual. In real bridge, some tables would also choose an alternative lead to change the scores a bit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most interesting hand came immediately on board 1. You get the following hand and partner opens 1♠.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your bidding plan?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Your
Your hand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You have four key cards for spades and an extra doubleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people count their HCP and bids according to that. The HCP method works well in NT and with balanced hands, but definitely not with unbalanced hands (7-card suits, 10 cards in 2 suits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, you are balanced, but your partner promises a 5-card Major so he is most likely semi-balanced (5422, 5431, 6322 or 6331).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The better approach, when raising the Major suit, is to count how many losers you cover \u2013 I call it useful honors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard 1M opening shows a hand with 7 losers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a singleton, it has mostly 6 losers even in a lower range of the opening 12-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If partner has a 2-suiter hand (6-4 or 5-5), it has only 5 losers even with 13-16 HCP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since your honors are covering losers for sure, you should start thinking about the slam immediately.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The best way how to figure out partner\u2018s strength and distribution is to bid 2♣.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this board, partner responds 2♦ to show 4 cards and you jump to 3♠ to show a strong hand with spade fit. Argine\u2018s description for 3♠ is 14+ HCP, but once again, bridge is not about HCP, but about tricks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3NT continuation should be without a small singleton so mostly a 5422 hand or 5431 with a singleton honor and extra points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argine\u2018s definition is poor trumps and 14+ HCP. You are still not sure if you should bid the slam or not, but you can continue describing your hand by cuebidding.4♣, 4♦ and 4♥ show the control in the suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the cuebidding sequence, partner asks for key cards. We want her to ask since it is partner who will have an easier decision to bid a slam or even a grand slam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5♣ shows 3 key cards and once partner asks for the ♠Q, you jump to 6♠ denying any outside kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is my suggested bidding<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

East leads ♥9 and you are the declarer of 6♠. What is your plan?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You are missing the trump Ace, but you have AK in all other suits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In trump contracts, you should identify losers in the hand with more trumps as you did already in the bidding and try to figure out how partner can cover them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have two losers in diamonds which you can trump in dummy, you have one club loser which you can discard on the ♥A and you have to lose the ♠A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there any danger here?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you start drawing trumps and they split 3-1, you will be left only with one trump in dummy for two diamond losers. Sure you can try the club finesse and use the ♥A to discard one of the diamonds, but that provides another risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way is to win the ♥K, play a spade towards the ♠K and if it holds, you cash ♦A and ♦K and ruff the diamond with a high trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you cross to the hand with ♣K and ruff another diamond high and play a trump. West shows out and East wins with ♠A and plays a small club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do now when West discards the heart on the fourth round of diamonds and also on the second round of spades?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You win the ace, cash the ♥A and discard the club loser in hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But which suit will you play now?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you choose a suit where East is also out, you will get overruffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there any indication of East\u2018s distribution?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Yes, East showed 4 diamonds and 3 spades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he has 6 cards in hearts and clubs. If they split 3-3, you can play any suit, but if they split 4-2, you have to find the 4 cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key is the first lead of ♥9 and West discarding 2 hearts. Heart honors are still out and East cannot have both since he led the ♥9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore you have to play a club to win the contract and score +10 IMPs. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here are the most played contracts <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The most played contracts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Only 20% of the field reached the slam and 23 players failed to make it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Milan Macura’s IMP Exclusive Tournament: video analysis <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can watch all the boards followed by the challenges against top Funbridge players in the video on Milan Macura\u2018s YouTube channel<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n