USBC – Segment 7: Where it all happened

Coming into the seventh of eight segments in the final of the US Team Open Team Championship Diamond led Fleisher by 3 imps.  In this segment Fleisher scored 57 imps and Diamond could only muster 3.  Fleisher was in the lead, never to lost it again.

The biggest swing was on Board 102.

Board 102

Vul: East- West

Dealer East

First let’s look at the action at Weinstein’s table in the Open Room.  The auction took place in 4 quick bids.  East opened 1♠, Levin overcalled 2♦, Diamond bid 5♦ (exclusion).  What do you do sitting North holding?

Gitelman/Weinstein ♠ 8 5 ♥ Q 2 ♦ A Q J 5 ♣ 8 6 4 3 2

If you believe your opponents than you might pick Weinstein’s call.  He bid 7♦.  East doubled and that ended the auction.  We shall see the fate of this contract in a moment.

In the Closed Room the auction had a slower pace.

Stansby	Gitelman	Martel	Moss
			2♦
4♦	5♦	pass	pass
DBL	pass	6♠	all pass

 

	Gitelman/Weinstein ♠ 85 ♥ Q2 ♦ AQ J5 ♣ 86432
Stansby/Diamond ♠ AJ932 ♥ KJ10985 ♦ – ♣K5		Martel/Platnick ♠ KQ1076 ♥ A6 ♦ 643 ♣ Q97
	Moss/Levin ♠ 4 ♥ 743 ♦ K109872 ♣ AJ10

4♦ showed majors and Fred Gitelman raised diamonds.  He did not have the information that Stansby had a void.  Martel’s pass over 5♦ is forcing.  When Stansbly reopened with a double which showed values Martel jumped to the spade slam.  Moss can’t really move over this.  Should Gitelman take another bid? Obviously it’s right on the deal.  He doesn’t have any defense.  The ♦A is highly suspect.  I think it is very tough but maybe it was the time to just take out some insurance.  6♠ is cold for 1430 and 7♦, four down, goes for only 800.  This was 12 imps for Fleisher.

Board 99 was another big swing.  Here one pair was in the heart game and made six while the pair actually in the slam went down.  But then the pair in four had a different objective.  Here is the deal and here is how Moss who was in 6♥, with no opposition bidding, played it.  The opening lead was the ♦4.  Martel played the ♦Q and Moss won the ♦A.  Martel and Stansby play fourth best.  Take a moment and decide how you will proceed.

Board 99 Dealer: South Vul: E-W	Gitelman ♠ K 9 7 5 2 ♥ K 10 4 ♦ 8 ♣ K Q 10 8
	Moss ♠ 4 ♥ A Q 9 8 6 ♦ A J 2 ♣ A 7 3 2

At the table, Moss decided to try for a spade trick and led a spade to the king at trick two.  If this had worked (say West won the ace) then he could ruff one diamond in dummy.   He had to lead a spade at some point anyway to provide communication to his hand.  Say he ruffs a diamond.  He could cross to his hand on the ♣A to get a second diamond ruff but after cashing the ♥K he would have no way back to his hand to draw trump except through a spade ruff.

It seems better to set up the spade ruff right away and it will provide a convenient pitch if the ♠A is onside.  In fact if the spade is onside this works quite well.  Say West wins the spade and returns a club.  You win in hand, ruff a diamond and if you judge the clubs are breaking you can just draw trump.  Or you could ruff a second diamond reserving the spade pitch for a club.  Your choice.

But what if the spade is wrong?  Does it hurt your chances in anyway?  After all if you plan to ruff diamonds right away, you were going to have to lead a spade from dummy giving up on the spade trick completely.  Is it really a problem to lead spades at trick two?

Let’s look at the whole deal now

Board 99 Dealer: South Vul: E-W	Gitelman ♠ K 9 7 5 2 ♥ K 10 4 ♦ 8 ♣ K Q 10 8
Stansby ♠ Q 8 ♥ J 5 3 ♦ 9 6 5 4 3 ♣ 9 6 4		Martel ♠ A J 10 6 3 ♥ 7 2 ♦ K Q 10 7 ♣ J 5
	Moss ♠ 4 ♥ A Q 9 8 6 ♦ A J 2 ♣ A 7 3 2

When you lead a spade at trick two (whether you put up the king or not) you can be defeated.  Let’s start with the assumption that you put up the ♠K.  Now the trick is for the defense to make it as hard as possible to ruff two diamonds.  Obviously a diamond is a helpful return for declarer.   Suppose the defense returns a spade, using an entry that declarer needs later as he ruffs diamonds.  That is what happened at the table.  Now Moss can ruff a diamond, return to hand on a club ruff a diamond but this is the ending.

Board 99 Dealer: South Vul: E-W	Gitelman ♠ 9 7 5 ♥ K ♦ – ♣ K Q 10
Stansby ♠ – ♥ J 5 3 ♦ 9 6 ♣ 9 6		Martel ♠ J 10 6 ♥ 7 2 ♦ K ♣ J
	Moss ♠ – ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ – ♣ 7 3 2

You are in dummy (you can cash the ♥K or more likely you cashed it early and when you come off dummy with a spade ruff, Stansby’s ♥J will be promoted.  That means that had Stansby returned a heart when in on the spade declarer would have prevailed.  But either a spade or a club leads to defeat.  And even without foreseeing all the consequences a spade return seems natural.

The same principle holds true if Moss had ducked the spade at trick two.  If Martel wins though three suits are now eliminated, spades, hearts, and diamonds.  So only a club lead will lead to the ending above and this may be very hard to find at the table.

So is it right to play a spade at trick two in principle (it’s obviously wrong on the lay of the cards)?  50% of the time you will have improved the situation and 50% of the time you will have created the possibility of a promotion.  But the promotion only matters when Stansby has exactly Jxx of trump.  (There are some obscure cases with a stiff ♥J where you are very likely to go down after playing spades early as well).  But then the problem is that even when the spade is onside you really only need that when clubs are not breaking.

The simplest line and one that works is to ruff a diamond at trick two, give up a spade, win the return, and ruff a second diamond.  That is how the hand was played by Levin in the Open Room but then he was under no pressure to make 6.  One more interesting point is that the diamond lead by Stansby created the problem in the first place.  Obviously a spade lead or a trump lead makes the hand fairly easy and Moss can try for a spade trick if he wishes.  Moss has to be a little careful on a club lead and win it in dummy to preserve entries to his hand.

So most of the time this slam will be made on this lie of the cards and many others.  It was a good slam and Gitelman-Moss did well to get there and although it is scant recompense for losing imps here is their excellent auction

Moss	Gitelman
1♥	1♠
2♣	2♦*
2♥*	3♥
4NT	5♣
6♥

The two alerted bids (shown with stars) allowed Gitelman to show a game forcing hand with three card heart support.