Linda Lee — My personal bridge blog

Vanderbilt Day 3

 

All matches in the Round of 16 in the Vanderbilt figured to be tough, top players battling it out.  The third quarter match between Nickell and Zimmerman was no exception.

I want to start by highlighting a principle I use when playing lesser events and it appears that it sometimes applies in great events too. 

Don’t bid grand slams that aren’t claimers. 

A reasonable amount of the time the opponents are in game.  Helgemo and Helness found this out on Board 39.  Here are the two hands.  Perhaps they had a tiny warning from the opposition bidding but it was very tiny indeed.

With everybody vulnerable Helgemo was in second chair.  His opponent passed and he opened 1Copyofd_thumb252

 

Helgemo

s_thumb252 KQ6
h_thumb252
Copyofd_thumb252 AKJ10875
c_thumb1252 105

 
     
 

Helness

s_thumb252 A10754
h_thumb252 AJ3
Copyofd_thumb252 42
c_thumb1252 A43

 

Zia Helgemo Hamman Helness
pass 1Copyofd_thumb252 1h_thumb252 Dbl
2h_thumb252 DBL pass 4s_thumb252
pass ?    

Hamman overcalled 1h_thumb252 and Helness made a negative double.  I am not sure what their agreement is  the double obviously shows spades.  Zia raised hearts and Helgemo’s double showed three card spade support.  Helness had enough to jump to the spade game and Zia passes.  What now?  You have a lot of playing strength for sure.  If partner has three aces a grand seems possible.  If partner has a two aces and clubs controlled then you are likely to make 6.  Do you like 4NT?  I am not sure – its not a bad bid.  You could be passed the last thing that makes if partner doesn’t have a club control and you are missing the heart ace… Say

s_thumb252 AJ1075
h_thumb252 K2
Copyofd_thumb252 Q42
c_thumb1252 QJ3

but that is a bit unlikely.  Helgemo heard 5c_thumb1252 0 or 3 and signed off? in 5s_thumb252 in case partner had zero (avoiding going down more?).  Partner corrected to 6s_thumb252 and now it was up to Helgemo.  Really the only thing likely to beat seven is a bad spades split if partner is missing the jack or an immediate diamond ruff.  But then the little bell goes…. are you SURE they will be in slam at the other table.  And what about the diamond grand? If partner has a diamond or two or three that will definitely be much safer.  Why not bid 7Copyofd_thumb252 and let partner pick.

Helgemo bid 7s_thumb252 and I assign him no fault.  It is a very good grand and they did well to get there.  But the spades are 4-1 with Zia holding the s_thumb252J983 and you can’t make it.  You can however make the diamond grand. 

Here is the whole deal

 

 

Helgemo

s_thumb252 KQ6
h_thumb252
Copyofd_thumb252 AKJ10875
c_thumb1252 105

 

Zia

s_thumb252 J983
h_thumb252 Q52 
Copyofd_thumb252 Q9
c_thumb1252 Q876

 

Hamman

s_thumb252 2
h_thumb252 K109864 
Copyofd_thumb252 64
c_thumb1252 KJ92

 

Helness

s_thumb252 A10754
h_thumb252 AJ3
Copyofd_thumb252 42
c_thumb1252 A43

 

So what happened in the Closed Room.  Meckstroth and Rodwell bid the small slam right?  Wrong.  They bid 3NT.  Here was their auction

M. Nessis Meckstroth T. Bessis Rodwell
pass 1Copyofd_thumb252 2h_thumb252 Dbl
3h_thumb252 DBL 3NT all pass

 

With Meckstroth’s hand limited Rodwell was hardly thinking slam.  The 2h_thumb252 bid disrupted their auction.  I don’t know why Rodwell couldn’t (or wouldn’t) bid the five card spade suit.  Perhaps its not forcing. 

So there you have it another sad story where a good grand fails and the very distinguished opposition doesn’t get to slam at all.

The next deal is one where dummy play wins the board.  This was from the second quarter match between Diamond and Gordon.  Both declarers are excellent players.  But one made 3NT and one went down.  Luck or skill?  With no opposition bidding you arrive in 3NT after you open 1NT and your partner shows five hearts.

 

 

s_thumb252 A10
h_thumb252 KJ842 
Copyofd_thumb252 KJ5
c_thumb1252 J52

 
West   East
 

Aa/Greco

s_thumb252 QJ2
h_thumb252 Q9
Copyofd_thumb252 A10984
c_thumb1252 KQ8

 

 

The play to the first few tricks was the same.  Both table got the lead of the s_thumb2527.  Declarer played the s_thumb25210 and that lost to the s_thumb252K.  One tiny difference, Greco go the return of the s_thumb2528 while Aa got the subtle falsecard of the s_thumb2524 when East returned a spade.  Both declarers after winning the s_thumb252A played the h_thumb2522 from dummy and in both case East hopped up with the h_thumb252A and returned a spade. clearing the suit.  Both declarers pitched the c_thumb12522.  So what now?  If spades break you could just give up a club.  You have four heart tricks, two spades and two diamonds.  But if spades are 5-3 then if the long spades has the c_thumb1252A you are going down.  Another approach is to try to guess diamonds or even cash the top two diamonds and if the queen does not come down give up the c_thumb1252A.  Each approach has some pluses and minuses.

Aa now decided to finesse the diamond into the “safe” hand.  If West had five spades and East had he Copyofd_thumb252Q perhaps he also had the c_thumb1252A. 

Let’s move to the other table where Greco took a different (and I think better) approach.  He ran the hearts first.  Remember, he only needs one more trick.  He played the h_thumb252Q and when West played the h_thumb25210 he overtook with the h_thumb252K and cashed the hearts throwing a club and two diamonds from his hand and keeping all his options open. 

This was the ending

 

 

s_thumb252 
h_thumb252  
Copyofd_thumb252 KJ5
c_thumb1252 J5

 
West   East
 

Aa/Greco

s_thumb252 
h_thumb252 
Copyofd_thumb252 A109 
c_thumb1252 KQ

North who had two hearts had to make three pitches and all of the pitches were clubs including the 10 and the 9.  South had only one pitch to make a club.  What does Greco know?  From the play it seems to me that West is very likely to have the c_thumb1252A.  The hint is that East hopped up on the h_thumb252A.  I admit is is a very small hint but it makes it more likely. If so he probably has 5-2-2-4.  If he had five clubs to the A109 he probably would have led that rather than xxxx or xxxxx in spades.  The defender’s carding at Greco’s table suggested that the spades were 5-3.  So West had two diamonds to East’s three.  I suppose even if this was all the information you had it is enough to suggest you take the diamond finesse through East.

But I think there is another subtle thing here. it seems even clearer to rise on the  h_thumb252A when you KNOW you have diamonds stopped.  Maybe that is reading too much into that play.

I don’t know how he figured it out but Greco did finesse that way and it was right.  Great declarers figure these things out.  I am not saying that Aa is not a great declarer just that yesterday Greco played this hand better and he got it right.  Here is the whole deal

 

 

s_thumb252 A10
h_thumb252 KJ842 
Copyofd_thumb252 KJ5
c_thumb1252 J52

 
West

s_thumb252 97653
h_thumb252 107 
Copyofd_thumb252 73
c_thumb1252 A1097

  East

s_thumb252 K84
h_thumb252 A653 
Copyofd_thumb252 Q62
c_thumb1252 643

 

Aa/Greco

s_thumb252 QJ2
h_thumb252 Q9
Copyofd_thumb252 A10984
c_thumb1252 KQ8


5 Comments

Bob M.March 20th, 2010 at 12:27 am

So far you have picked the winners impeccably. Maybe some nice guys will win for a change. The bridge in the Nickell vs Zimmermann was terrific. I was hoping for the Precision pair to carry on, but there was no shame in their loss to a great team headed by Helgemo.

We still have Greco-Hampson to root for. They have improved greatly. With regard to Greco’s failure in the grand slam referred to in your previous blog, he played with the odds and went down, that’s all. My view was that the state of the match was such that with a big lead, he could risk ‘bidding with the other table’ . Or maybe he is still young enough to take chances.

HanniMarch 20th, 2010 at 9:57 am

Several years ago, Carl Hudecek had these words of advice (meant for all levels maybe, but I use them in club games): Don’t bid grand slams and don’t balance

LindaMarch 20th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

In my Day 4 blog one team bid another grand slam (failing) while their opponents bid game.

SandyMarch 20th, 2010 at 1:15 pm

Great job by declarer but I am sure Greco was lucky with the diamond finesse.Cannot really see any reason to finesse diamond one way or the other.Also it was probably better to discard all the clubs on the hearts and lead diamond jack (intending to play ace if east doesnt cover). I think most experts shld be covering the diamond jack seeing just KJX in dummy and shld bring declarer through.

Bridge Bloggin « Learning Bridge SpotNovember 1st, 2010 at 1:12 am

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