Two-way shots: Experts vs. Non-experts

I left a comment on Memphis MOJO's blog post about appeals at the ACBL nationals in San Francisco, but the whole situation stinks so much that I might as well mention it here.

It's this appeal of a Break-In-Tempo (BIT):

 

You can read the description and ruling on the bulletin (page 12).

The committee ruling seems to be that since East-West do not have special agreements against intermediate 2-level bids (which are played by very few pairs) and are not experts, East was not capable of taking a 2-way shot over 4D (i.e. bidding 4H helps both when 4D makes and just in case 4H makes).

Meanwhile, the expert pair (North-South) were taking a two-way shot of their own. They doubled the 4H contract, and then called the director.  If the contract failed, the result would stand and they would win. If 4H makes, it would get thrown out and their 4D result would stand and they would win.

The plan worked only because East-West said that they had a "2-second pause" probably not realizing that admission of any delay was admission of guilt. So, non-experts out there, beware!  Unlike at your duplicate club, good players don't just shrug and smile about being fixed. Experts who play for money (I hate to call them professionals) will try to take two-way shots and attempt to throw the rulebook at you if you mistakenly land up in a winning spot.

Play what you preach

BBO has a nice program where juniors get to play with the basic robots for free. I signed up both our kids.  The best thing about the robot tables is that I have the time to explain stuff -- the kids don't have to play quickly to avoid annoying other people. Robots, for all their faults, are infinitely patient and don't say a cross word!

Any way, back to the story.  The 10 year old was playing at a table with three robots over Thanksgiving weekend when he picked up this hand:


12 points, balanced. A rather nice 12-point hand, with two aces. What would you do with that South hand?

"You need 13 points to open," I had told the kid and so he smartly passed.  Now, partner opened 1NT (15-17) and the 10 year old had no problem bidding 3NT.  The Jack of clubs was led and the contract was quickly wrapped up for two overtricks.

+6 imps for the kiddo.  Curious, I looked at why such a routine contract was worth 6 imps.  Turns out that most Souths opened the hand 1D and now West overcalled some number of Hearts and NS had a hard time getting to 3NT.

I was describing my son's fortunate pass to partner on my way to the club game today. So, the hand was firmly in my mind when I picked up:

.

Vul: None

Dlr: South

N

North

♠

Qxxx

♥

Qxx

♦

Kxx

♣

xxx

.

W

West

♠

AJ9x

♥

xx

♦

Jxx

♣

Jxxx

Lead: ♥A

E

East

♠

10

♥

AKxxx

♦

Axxx

♣

Axx

.

S

Me

♠

Kxxx

♥

Jxx

♦

Q10x

♣

KQx

.

What would you do with that South hand? It's a balanced dog and ought to be passed in any system. But ... I opened it and partner found himself down three in 2S;  -150 was a matchpoint bottom.

I should have listened to the advice I give my children!

Good news, bad news

The good news: declarer respected my defensive skills.

The bad news: I misdefended the hand.

Playing in a sectional pairs tournament, I missed a chance to capitalize on declarer's respect for my defensive skills.  This was the hand (I was East):

.

Vul: None

Dlr: East

N

North

♠

x

♥

xxx

♦

10xx

♣

AQJxxx

.

W

West

♠

xx

♥

AQxx

♦

Qxxx

♣

Kxx

Lead: ♠5

E

Me

♠

xxxx

♥

Kxxx

♦

Kxx

♣

xx

.

S

South

♠

AKQJxx

♥

xx

♦

AJx

♣

xx

.

The bidding went:

W

West

N

North

E

East

S

South

—

—

Pass

1♠

Pass¹

1NT²

Pass

4♠

—

—

—

—

(1) super-conservative partner

(2) forcing

I was playing with an occasional partner whose bidding and defensive play are very conservative.  This is usually not a problem -- I can, and did, adjust to partner's style. We had a 55% game overall, to end up 3rd overall in our direction. But, on this hand, the super-conservative style meant that he didn't do a negative double.  Obviously, North had been planning to bid some number of clubs. That, or a part-score in spades, was the contract at the other tables.  At our table, instead, declarer had bid what he thought he could make. 4S, making, was going to be a bottom board.

Double-dummy, of course, 5S makes, but declarer gave us a chance to set the contract. After the trump lead, declarer quickly pulled trumps and took the club finesse.  The Queen of clubs held. Then, he thought for a long while. Finally, he played the Ace of clubs (!) and when the king didn't drop, he ran his ten of diamonds to partner's queen.  Obviously, he was afraid that I had the king of clubs and had held up with it. Had he played a diamond to his Ace and repeated the club finesse, that would be the end of dummy.

But now that partner was in with the queen of diamonds, he could have set the contract if he'd cashed his Ace of hearts. I would have encouraged, and if he'd continued, we would have led a third heart to make declarer ruff and play diamonds out of his hand. 2 hearts and 2 diamonds would have been down 1. But partner led a diamond back, finessed me out of my king and that was the end for us.

But do you see why I say that I failed to capitalize on declarer's respect, in that he didn't take the "obvious" club finesse a second time? When he played the 10 of diamonds, I needed to go up with the king. Had I done so, we are guaranteed 4 tricks. Instead, I ducked, thinking that since dummy had no entries, my play made no difference. I failed to consider that partner might think that he was end-played and might well choose to finesse my diamond king.

A high-stakes gamble goes awry

The STaC results from the Monday game are in, and we missed winning the district by 2%, which means that this high-stakes gamble on the last round was worth 4 masterpoints. I held:

S

South

♠

xxx

♥

9xxx

♦

AJxx

♣

xx

This was the auction:

W

West

N

Pard

E

East

S

Me

—

1NT¹

Pass

Pass

2♥

Dbl²

Pass

?

(1) 12-15

(2) takeout with a good 14 or 15 points

What would be your call?

For me, it was a tough decision. Partner might have 4 spades and 3 diamonds for his double. In which case, 2S is the right call. Or he might also have only 3 spades and 4 diamonds in which case 3D is the right call. Finally, it appears from my 5 points that the points are evenly divided and no 2-level contract may make. Were we trading a +50 for a -50?

I think I had convinced myself. This was going to be a high-stakes gamble: +100 or -470. A matchpoint top or a matchpoint bottom. I passed.

Alas, 2H was cold on the hand as the cards lay:

.

N

Pard

♠

Qxx

♥

Ax

♦

K109xx

♣

AQx

.

W

West

♠

Kx

♥

KQxxxx

♦

Qx

♣

Kxx

Lead: ♦10

E

East

♠

AJ10xx

♥

J

♦

xx

♣

Jxxxx

.

S

Me

♠

xxx

♥

9xxx

♦

AJxx

♣

xx

.

We got 2 diamonds, 2 clubs and a heart (yes, if I had arranged to give myself a club ruff, we could have beaten it). 2H doubled and made was a matchpoint zero. We had been at 72% heading into the last round; the zero dropped us to 68%.  68% was enough to win our 9-table club game, but we needed 70% to win the district.

2S, which would have been my second choice, doesn't look like a picnic either and -150 would also have been a bottom.  3D goes down only one, and -50 would have been a top, since most pairs were in 2H making for -110.  2Hx and down 1 for +100 would also have been a top.

If 4NT could be Blackwood ...

Playing in the STaC game today, I was stuck for a bid on the third hand of the night. I was South and I held:

N

North

♠

Jxxx

♥

A

♦

QJ10x

♣

KQxx

Lead: ♦3

S

South

♠

AKQxxx

♥

Kxx

♦

Kx

♣

Ax

Partner dealt and opened 2D.  This is mini-Roman and shows a 4-4-4-1 hand with an unspecified shortness.

I have this vague feeling that his shortness might be spades. But I need to find out, so I bid 2NT, asking him where his shortness was.

I nearly fall out of my chair when he bid 3H. His shortness in hearts.

Now what?

3S is merely invitational (2NT was just a one-round force).

4S is fast arrival. I don't think we are quite done yet.

5S would ask him how good his trumps were.  Holding four little trumps, there ain't no way he's raising to 6.

How on earth does one explore slam after Mini-Roman?

Well, I bid 4NT. I intended it as plain-old Blackwood. Partner reasoned that since we had no suit agreement, it was quantitative.  I thought that since neither of us had bid NT naturally, it could not be quantitative. Quite obviously, we had not discussed what 4NT meant in this situation and our general principles were in conflict.

Fortunately, partner did not pass the 4NT.

Instead, he raised to 6NT!  I gulped. We had blown right past 6S!

They led a diamond, dummy came down and I claimed 12 tricks.  It was a cool top because everyone else was in spades.

Some days you just can't lose and today was one of those days.

Take, for example, another hand:

S

South

♠

KQJx

♥

—

♦

Kxx

♣

1098xxx

If East opens 1NT (15-17), what do you do?

I overcalled 2S!  Yes, I have only four of them, but what do you expect me to do? Pass with this offensive monster? Bid 3C (2C would have been the majors) on a 10-high suit? I decided to overcall 2S.

West Texas-ed to 4D, partner bid 4S and over East's 5H, partner bid again! Mercifully, this did not get doubled. West now led a small diamond and this was the dummy that came down:

N

North

♠

Axx xxx

♥

AKx

♦

—

♣

KQxx

Lead: ♦3

S

South

♠

KQJx

♥

—

♦

Kxx

♣

1098xxx

East turned out to have AJx in clubs, so 5S made on the nose.

This too was close to a top.

Thanks to results like these, we finished with a 68% game for first in A, B and C and have some hope of getting a nice district award.

Coming up roses

Playing our big club system, online, I forgot my bid.

My double here (after a jump overcall of partner's artificial bid showing 16+ points) is supposed to show 7+ points and a balanced hand. I thought it was showing 5-8 balanced (as it would had the opponents bid 2C, not 3C). Anyway, having overbid my hand, I was now playing a 4-3 fit at the 4-level.  Click on my name to hide the other hands and plan the play once East leads the 7 of clubs.

Can you make it? I could! (click Next to see my play) Sometimes, the most egregious bid comes up roses.

Had I passed, of course, partner reopens with a double and now I ought to pass. We would have gotten an easy 500 instead of the seemingly miraculous 420.