{"id":12824,"date":"2019-10-08T17:56:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T15:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=3477"},"modified":"2021-02-10T13:04:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T11:04:06","slug":"funbridge-exclusive-tournament-milan-macura-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/funbridge-exclusive-tournament-milan-macura-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Milan Macura’s Exclusive Tournaments – October – #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another week is over and we know the winners of the two first Exclusive Tournaments of October, organized by bridge profesionnal player, Milan Macura. <\/strong><\/p>

Find the analysis of the tournaments<\/strong> below<\/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>

Both the IMP and MP tournaments start on Saturday and end on Thursday every week.<\/strong><\/p>

The IMP tournament is played by Milan Macura and broadcast live every Thursday evening on his YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>

The video of the MP tournament is available on Funbridge’s YouTube channel<\/a> every Friday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is the beginning of October and both weekly exclusive tournaments are over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With combined effort, we have broken the record in participation!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The numbers increased by hundreds with 426 (previously 284) and 515 (previously 328) players respectively marking the MP and IMP tournaments as favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The participation has risen to 590 players in MP and 770 in IMP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results of the MP tournament<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tarun from India is back to the top, this time beating his own record \u2013 91.55%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Jean-Pierre from France achieved an impressive score, but still 10% behind Tarun with 81.76%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bronze medal goes to Klaus from Germany with 80.92%. Here are the lists of the top 10 players and top 10 friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I scored 54.46% and finished in 188th place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Top 10 ranking of the MP tournament – General<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Top 10 ranking of the MP tournament – Milan’s friends<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Results of the IMP tournament<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The winner in IMP scoring was Klaus from Germany with +46 IMPs, followed by Wengki from Indonesia with +44 IMPs and Miki from the UK with +33 IMPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was running for the top 5 but did not win 7 IMPs on the last board, lost 5 IMPs instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Top 10 ranking of the IMP tournament – General<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"This
Top 10 ranking of the IMP tournament – Milan’s friends<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s have a look if you will do better. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You are having +23 IMPs and this is the last board of the tournament. You need 5 IMPs to get to the top 10 and 7 IMPs for the top 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is your hand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Your hand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Your LHO opens 1NT and both other players pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you do?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You have a great hand with both major suits\nand only 4 losers. But, most of the HCP are behind you so the finesses will\nmost likely not work. You can try to bid 2♣ LANDY to show\nboth Majors and once your partner picks the hearts, you can show longer spades\nand let your partner decide. Bidding this way, you will end up in 2♠ or 3♠\nrespectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should rely on your partner\u2018s decision if\nyou have complete trust and understanding of what strength you show via 2♣ followed\nby 2♠ or 3♠. My recommendation is 5 losers for 2♠ or 2NT and 4\nlosers for any 3 level bid where you show your distribution, knowing the shortness\nis the key. With this hand, it is more difficult because you have a void. Also,\nI prefer to declare from my hand to hide the distribution and to put West on lead.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose the 4♠ bid. Bidding this\nway, you hide your 4 cards in hearts and the club void. Opponents might\nmisdefend, which increases your chance for winning your 7 IMPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West leads ♣A and partner puts a decent hand in the dummy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You have a diamond loser, two heart losers, and a spade loser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the chances of scoring 10 tricks?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You have to ruff the diamond in North, you\nneed spades 2-2, you can pray for ♠K with East, and you can lose only one heart trick if you win an honor with\nyour Ace. You can achieve that if ♥KQ is doubleton or if any player is holding a doubleton honor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should start with the HCP analyses. West\nshowed ♣A and ♣K, you can find the ♦A if you play the ♦K, West is most likely having it, which gives him 11 HCP already. So,\nhe cannot have both ♠K and ♥KQ. Most likely he will have exactly two of these honors to hold 15-17\nHCP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you should do the distribution analysis.\nYou need spades breaking 2-2 so you put West with 2344, 23(53), or 24(43)\ndistribution because he promised a balanced hand. That means East is having\nmost likely only two hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best line you can choose, based on the\nanalyses and needs, is to play three rounds of diamonds and ruff it in the\ndummy. Then lead the ♥J and if it is not covered, play low. If East is really having ♥Kx or ♥Qx and\nspades split 2-2, you are winning the contract. You have also an extra chance\nthat West started with ♥KQ doubleton so an honor drops to your ♥A in the second\nround.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, on this board, West has a 2245\ndistribution with ♥Q5 so you end up losing a diamond, two hearts (because you don\u2019t have a\nsecond entry to dummy to play the finesse again), and a spade trick. Down one\nfor -5 IMPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the full board<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you play immediately ♠A and another\nspade, West will lead the ♥Q and you make the contract gaining +7 IMPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

West can still beat the contract if he plays a\ndiamond or the ♣K. That will put South on the lead again and with only one entry to the\ndummy with the diamond ruff, he has to lose two hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know the layout in hearts from the\nbeginning, you can always win the contract. Just play a low heart from South while\nyou still have an entry to the dummy. If West plays the ♥Q, you ruff a\ndiamond in dummy and finesse the ♥K. If he plays the ♥5, you play the ace and the ♥Q drops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the most played contracts. Only 8 players made 4♠ and 3 players made 4♥.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The most played contracts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

On the following board, you have a bidding problem.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You are holding this hand, how would you bid in MP?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Your game<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You are holding 18 HCP and a semi-balanced\nhand. Standard is to open 1♣ and wait for partner\u2019s response. Most likely you will hear 1♦, 1♥ or 1NT\nfrom partner so you can jump to 2♠ to show a maximum hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this board, partner passes and RHO bids 1♥.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What now?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You can double to show the maximum hand, but not with a singleton diamond. The better bid is 1♠ to show a 2-suiter hand with an option to double in the next round if opponents are only in 2♥. Your LHO jumps to 3♥ and your partner bids 3♠.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you raise or pass?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Argine suggests passing. Your partner Argine passed 1♠ so she has less than 5 HCP. But, do you need any HCP from partner to make a game? What are your losers? How can partner cover them? These are the questions you should constantly ask yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are going to lose the diamond, you have\nthree heart losers, and a potential spade loser. The key is the heart suit.\nSince West jumps to 3♥, he is most likely having a 4-card fit. That would leave partner with a\nsingleton since 13-5(E)-4(W)-3(you) = 1(partner). Simple math can cover you 2\nmore losers by ruffing two hearts in the dummy. You can even lose a spade trick\nto make 10 tricks if clubs break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the full board<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If I\u2019d be holding North hand, I would jump to\n4♠ myself, but Argine is too much focused on HCP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 118 out of 590 players bid and made the game. They have deserved the best score of 88.05%. The majority of players passed 3♠. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The most played contracts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

October Exclusive Tournaments videos<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

MP tournament video<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You can find all the boards in the video which is posted on the Funbridge YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subscribe to be notified directly when my next video is online! Click on the button below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n