The opponents may not be Law-abiding

At the club game yesterday, partner passed, RHO opened 1D and I had a decision to make holding:

S

South

♠

Axxx

♥

xx

♦

Jx

♣

AKQ109

What would you do? You should know that we open nearly all 10-point hands, so partner's initial pass means that we are unlikely to have game our way.

2C seems to be a standout. That's the lead I want if lefty declares NT or any other contract.  It also takes away a bunch of bidding space. The auction continued:

W

LHO

N

Pard

E

RHO

S

Me

—

Pass

1♦

2♣

2♥

3♣

3♥

?

Now, what do you do?

This was how I reasoned.  The opponents, by going to the 3-level, have shown 9 trumps. I think that we have eight, maybe 9. Thus, there are a total of 17-18 tricks on this hand.  Hearts are breaking 2-2, opener most likely has short clubs, so 3H is probably making.  4C, on the hand, may be down only 1. If it is down 2, we will be okay as long as we are not doubled. Consequently, I bid 3S. If partner has 4 spades, we could play there. By issuing a game try, I can probably convince the opponents to not double.  Partner corrected me to 4C and that is where I played, (undoubled).

This was the full hand:

.

Board: 16

Vul: None

Dlr: North

N

North

♠

KQ

♥

Jxx

♦

xxxxx

♣

Jxx

.

W

West

♠

xxxx

♥

KQxxx

♦

Qx

♣

xx

Lead: ♥K

E

East

♠

Jxx

♥

Axx

♦

AKxx

♣

xxx

.

S

Me

♠

Axxx

♥

xx

♦

Jx

♣

AKQ109

.

As you can see, 4C is off 1 with two diamonds and two hearts off the top.  -50 was not a good matchpoint score because 3H is also down -- we'd have gotten 3 spades and two clubs.

The opponents were following neither the law of total tricks nor were they counting losers -- East  had gone to the 3-level on a 8-card fit and a flat, 9-loser hand hand.  . The simplistic rule-of-thumb "3-level is for the opponents" would have served me well.

Have your mishaps on boards where they don't cost

Lately, I have left the table convinced that I picked the wrong line, by missing something obvious.  Looking back, it turns out that there was no better option. I don't know what to call these not-quite-mishaps.

Take this hand from a few days ago:

.

Board: 16

Vul: E-W

Dlr: West

N

North

♠

QJ1098

♥

K

♦

K10xx

♣

xx2

.

W

West

♠

xxx

♥

?xx

♦

?xx

♣

J10x4

Lead: ♣4

E

East

♠

Kxxx

♥

?xx

♦

?xx

♣

KQx

.

S

Me

♠

A

♥

AJxxx

♦

AJ9x

♣

Ax3

.

I was South, and was in 3NT with the opponents silent throughout. I got the lead of the 4 of clubs.

At the table, I held up once, then took the Ace of clubs, played the Ace of spades and a heart to the King and played the Queen of spades. East took the King and played another club.  So, I lost three clubs and the king of spades. 3NT made 3. A seemingly average board, but had I not missed a clue?  The 4 of clubs was the lowest club, and so West is marked with only 4 of them. If I hold up twice and then take the Ace of clubs, East would not have a club to return and perhaps, then, I had a free diamond finesse. Ergo, I should have made four! Poor play!

But looking back, now, If I had done that, without a club to return, East would have led a heart -- the obvious lead, with a void in dummy. And unable to risk the heart finesse (since West held the fourth club), I would have to go up with the Ace. And then, I could not risk the diamond finesse either. So, there are only 9 tricks no matter what.  Not scrutinizing the opening lead did not cost.

Or take this hand from a more recent club game:

.

Board: 16

Vul: E-W

Dlr: West

N

North

♠

Qx

♥

Qxxx

♦

xxx

♣

AQJx

.

W

West

♠

KJxxx

♥

A

♦

AJx

♣

xxxx

Lead: ♣4

E

East

♠

xxxx

♥

xx

♦

10xxx

♣

Kxx

.

S

Me

♠

Ax

♥

KJxxxx

♦

KQx

♣

109

.

I was South, and playing 4H. I got the lead of a low club. How do you play this hand?

I tried the club finesse, losing to the king. East returned a high diamond. I played the king. West now took the Ace and played the jack of diamonds to my queen. Now what?

I could see one diamond loser, one slow spade loser and one heart loser.  I have already lost two tricks. I gave up on the hand and played a trump.  This way, I can get rid of the slow spade loser and get out for down 1.

Immediately, I realized that I had made a mistake. A better line is to now go to dummy and pitch the diamond loser on the club queen.  Then, pull trumps. But as you can see, that is no good as the hand lies. West wins the Ace and plays the 4th club, East ruffs the Jack and I don't get a spade discard. So, I am still down 1.  This is a better line, though, because it would have worked had West held the second heart or the 3-card club suit.  But again, giving up on the hand too quickly did not cost.

You know it is a lucky session when you make your mistakes on boards where they will not cost.  And sure enough, we ended up with 60% in both sessions, good enough for second overall both times.

Bid what's in front of your nose

Playing at the club game with an occasional partner, we were having a pretty decent game mostly by sticking to the straight-and-narrow and getting good boards only when the opponents gifted them to us. But once in a while, you have to make a decision and I failed to find the right one on this board.

I was South, holding:

S

Me

♠

J10xxx

♥

Axx

♦

9x

♣

AJx

The auction had gone:

W

West

N

Pard

E

East

S

Me

—

—

—

Pass

2♥¹

3♦

Pass

?

(1) weak

What is your bid?

When I posted this as a poll on Bridge Winners, the votes were 2:1 in favor of 3NT over 3S.  I chose the unpopular option assuming that if I heard back 4D, I could bid 4NT (natural) but over anything stronger, I could investigate slam. My two aces looked extremely powerful.

Unfortunately, with the preempt having removed a lot of bidding space, 3S only served to torture partner. She held:

N

North

♠

Qx

♥

Kx

♦

KQJ10xxx

♣

Kx

Without the Ace of diamonds, she did not feel comfortable bidding the NT game, and so it was in 4S that I played.  I deserved that, for not bidding what was in front of my nose.

Judgement is everything

Visiting New York City on work, I asked B. if he would play with me again at the Manhattan Bridge Club. To my surprise, considering our  poor (by his standards) 53% game last time around, he agreed.  As he put it jokingly after our game, I with my 200 master points, am "good value".

We were East-West and having a pretty good game.  Finally, we came to the table where the strongest pair in the room (two experts whose names ocassionally grace newspaper bridge columns) were sitting North-South.  Get two good boards off these guys and we would have a good game indeed.

First board. South deals and after two passes, North opens 1D in 3rd seat. What would do you bid holding:

E

Me

♠

—

♥

AK10x

♦

J10xx

♣

A109xx

I can not double, of course, with a spade void.  Bidding clubs has two drawbacks: (1) I don't want partner to bid spades. Correcting to hearts will take us to the 3-level where I do not want to be (2) My clubs are rather anemic. So, I bid 1H. Yes, my 4-card suit.  Least of all evils. I would even welcome a heart lead if South ends up bidding spades and they play in the suit.

The bidding now went:

W

West

N

North

E

Me

S

South

—

—

—

Pass

Pass

1♦

1♥

Dbl

4♥

Pass

Pass

Dbl

Pass

4♠¹

All Pass

(1) Can you blame him?

4S stood no chance because the full deal was:

.

Board: 15

Vul: N-S

Dlr: South

N

North

♠

KQJx

♥

—

♦

AQxxx

♣

xxxx

.

W

West

♠

9xxxx

♥

Q9862

♦

K

♣

J7

Lead: ♥4

E

East

♠

—

♥

AK10x

♦

J10xx

♣

A109xx

.

S

South

♠

A10xx

♥

Jxxx

♦

xxx

♣

KQ

.

With careful play, 4H can make. I do not think I would have made it, but 4H doubled and down 1 would still have been a good board because the field was in 2S making (the auction having gone 1D-2C-X-2S-allpass).  +200 for us was a pretty good board.

The next board also required good judgement.   Partner deals and passes. Then, North bids 1H. What do you bid with this hand?

E

East

♠

K9xx

♥

Axx

♦

KJxx

♣

xx

On the one hand, you have 4 spades, 11 points and partner can bid spades on the one-level. On the other hand, you are a rather poor shape and are at the low end of the range for a takeout double. I hope you passed. I, unfortunately, didn't. I doubled for takeout and disaster proceeded to ensue. The bidding now went:

W

West

N

North

E

East

S

South

Pass

1♥

Dbl¹

4♥

5♣²

Pass

Pass

Dbl

All Pass

(1) ill-advised

(2) oops

5C didn't have a chance and we went down 2 doubled.  -500 was terrible because even 4H doesn't make:

.

Board: 16

Vul: E-W

Dlr: West

N

North

♠

QJx

♥

Q10xxx

♦

Qx

♣

AKx

.

W

West

♠

Axxx

♥

x

♦

x

♣

QJ109872

Lead: ♥4

E

East

♠

K9xx

♥

Axx

♦

KJxx

♣

xx

.

S

South

♠

10x

♥

KJxx

♦

A10xxxx

♣

x

.

So much for getting two good boards off these guys.

We ended up with a 58% game.  It was good enough to win our direction, but only for second overall, losing to the pair we played at this table.  I wish I could take that ill-advised take-out double back!

A first time for everything

No mishap, really.

But just wanted to celebrate my first squeeze with y'all since I've been waiting for this for a long time.  I was North on this deal. Watch West (West was a robot, so it is okay to gloat) get slowly squeezed (Click Next to see the play):



I realized that this was turning into a squeeze only after West had shown up with 2 spades and 4 clubs. From that point on, I was playing for this end position with the heart being led from dummy (South).

.

Board: 1

Vul: N-S

Dlr: North

N

North

♠

—

♥

K

♦

Kx

♣

9

.

W

West

♠

—

♥

—

♦

Jxx

♣

10

Lead: ♥4

E

East

♠

—

♥

xx

♦

Qx

♣

—

.

S

South

♠

—

♥

x

♦

A10x

♣

—

.

Now, West has to throw away a diamond (if he throws a club, my 9 is good). At that point, I lead the King of diamonds and a small diamond.  As it turned out, West had both the QJ of diamonds, but the squeeze would have operated as long as East could have started out with only 2 diamonds.

But could he? That meant he would have 5 hearts and 4 spades. I have had very poor success with the NT leads recommended by Bird and Anthias since real declarers do not play double-dummy. However, robots simulate deals on similar principles and had I not read their book, I would not have even played for that split.

Teammates on fire

Playing in the regional Swiss today, our teammates were on fire. How good were they?

Try bidding out East-West hands. Can you now find the small slam in clubs?

.

Board: 

Vul: E-W

Dlr: West

N

North

♠

Kxx

♥

QJTxx

♦

K10xx

♣

x

.

W

West

♠

Qxx

♥

x

♦

A52

♣

AJx xxx

Lead: ♥Q

E

East

♠

Axxx

♥

AKx

♦

QJxx

♣

KQ

.

S

South

♠

Jxxx

♥

xxxx

♦

xx

♣

xxx

.

And having found the small slam, can you bring it home? What is your line?

The solution that our team-mate found at the table was to realize that he could make on 3-3 diamonds and that a squeeze position existed if the defender with the king of spades also had 4 diamonds. So, he combined the two chances and took the losing diamond finesse, thus rectifying the count. Then, he played clubs from hand until he reached this end position:

.

Board: 16

Vul: E-W

Dlr: West

N

North

♠

Kx

♥

—

♦

109

♣

—

.

W

West

♠

Qx

♥

—

♦

x

♣

A

Lead: ♥4

E

East

♠

Ax

♥

—

♦

Jx

♣

—

.

S

South

♠

—

♥

—

♦

—

♣

—

.

On the A of clubs, North is squeezed.  Pretty good, eh, for someone who's been playing only a couple of years?  (With the calmness of hindsight, simply leading twice to the QJ would also have worked, but that is a boring line!)

Unfortunately, we ran into a team of former partners and team-mates on the last round. It was "Norman A" vs. "Norman B". After 7 boards, the match was tied.  Since we were leading going in, a tie would have won us the tournament.  But ... on the hand that matters, we were both in 3NT. It came down to a guess of hearts. I was declarer; I guessed wrong; the opponents guessed right. And that was the match.  So, 8 gold points instead of 11 on a stupid guess.  My mishap, although I don't think I would guess any differently the second time. It just so happened that the same defender had both missing aces this time ...

Still, if you'd told me that my first-time partnership and our team (the sum of whose points is under 600) would land up second in the Swiss, I'd have been thrilled.  And so, I am!