The biggest swing in the first segment of a Vanderbilt semi

March 19th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

The first segment in the Vanderbilt semi final (Grue versus Kang) was full of swings with more going to Grue than to Kang (57-35).  Two deals were played in grands.  Both of them excellent and one was missed at one of the tables.  But the biggest swing wasn’t a slam.  It was a hand played at the one level at both tables.  In the Open Room. you hold this hand and with nobody vulnerable he opens 1♦ of the nebulous short kind with a limited hand.  South overcalls 1NT.  What do you do?

West ♠ Q1064 ♥ Q102 ♦ A105 ♣ J54

Me, I pass.  I have as I count them 9 average high card points a bit more for the 10’s a bit less for the quacky nature and balanced shape.  I am not at all sure what to lead.  It looks like one of those hands which you play at the two level.  Call me mouse.  At the table Curtis Cheek decided to double and I can’t really fault that.  I am guessing a bit here but North’s pass forced a redouble and this went all pass.  1NT redoubled.  Don’t worry too much about what to lead.  Here is the whole deal and 1NT redouble is cold for two.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ K95 ♥ 864 ♦ Q8742 ♣ 103
West ♠ Q1064 ♥ Q102 ♦ A105 ♣ J54		East ♠ J7 ♥ AKJ3 ♦ 93 ♣ K8762
	South ♠ A832 ♥ 975 ♦ KJ6 ♣ AQ9

At the other table East opened a weak 1NT and played it there.  Somehow the defense never found the diamond suit and 1NT made 3 the other way.  However if East-West had just defended 1NT undoubled Open Room making 2 the result would have been +120 and +150 for a total of +270 or 7 imps for Kang.  The redouble made it 14.

There is no moral to this story.  And if there was one it would probably be … shit happens.

The downside of Lightner doubles and Linda gets a headache

March 16th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Doubling a slam is a two edge sword as East discovered in a deal on BBO today.  You can waste a lot of brain power figuring out what slam to play once East’s doubles as I discovered.  This is the situation.  I was sitting North

The auction started quietly with two passes to me and I opened 1♣ .  East overcalled 1♠ and Francine bid 2♦ .  East bid 2♠ and I doubled.  At this point I wasn’t really sure where I was headed and double seemed the most flexible.  East passed and Francine bid 3♥ .  This auction continued like this

Since Francine was a passed hand she had to be wildly distributional and her diamonds were better than her hearts.  I thought if we happened to be on a 4-4 heart fit that she might be able to throw a heart loser on my ♠ A so diamonds seemed the best spot.  Then East doubled.  This just had to be a heart void.  Francine passed it to me and I was worried.  If East had a heart void then maybe West had a heart winner, say J10xx.  I could try 6♥ or 6NT.  What I knew was that 6♦ doubled was the wrong place.  There was no way Francine could make a decision between hearts and notrump (she didn’t know about my black suit cards.)   It seemed unlikely Francine had a club void but for the bid she probably had a stiff (possibly the ace but with solid diamonds that was too much for a passed hand).  If she a club void then she was 7-5-1?  or 8-5-0?  Most importantly if her diamonds weren’t completely solid she might have to ruff one because they were splitting to a void.  I decided to bid 6♥ .  This was doubled after a lot of thought and I struggled with 6NT one more time but decided to pass.  As it turned out anything I did (other than pass 6D would work).  Redouble would work only if I was prepared to bid 6NT if they decided to run to 6♠ because it is a great save.

Going back a stage, if East passes 6♦ because he suspects he doesn’t want to defend 6♥ then would West figure the ruff out.  Probably not, because we all believe in Lightner doubles so much.  Maybe it isn’t all that great in these revealing auctions.

Dealer: South Vul: Both	Linda ♠ A765 ♥ AK63 ♦ A8 ♣ K52
West ♠ Q1042 ♥ J752 ♦ 92 ♣ J106		East ♠ KJ983 ♥ – ♦ 43 ♣ AQ9874
	Francine ♠ – ♥ Q10984 ♦ KQJ10765 ♣ 3

I am Impressed. Congratulations to Krista

March 14th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

On Sunday Katie, Krista, Cora and I had our usual game.  The highlight for me was Board 8.

Krista opened 1♣ and Katie bid 2♣ (limit raise or better).  Krista bid 3♥ game forcing good hand, heart values.  Katie cuebid her spade ace and Krista showed a diamond control.

Now what?  Krista’s bid suggested she was very interested in slam and while Katie doesn’t have all that many highcards she does have six card support, aces and two ruffing values.  She bid Blackwood and when Krista showed two aces and the trump queen Katie bid the small slam.  It was now up to Krista to make it.

Dealer: Vul:	Krista ♠ J6 ♥ KQ42 ♦ AQ7 ♣ AQJ3
	Katie ♠ A9 ♥ A3 ♦ 1098 ♣ K87542

Krista got a spade lead and won the ace.  This hand is right out of a text book and Krista played it perfectly to set up the endplay.  She drew trump in two rounds and then played hearts discarding a spade from dummy.  She ruffed a heart in dummy, crossed back to her hand with a trump to ruff a spade.  Now all she had left was the diamonds and trump.  She led the ♦10.  The defense was helpless.  If it lost to the jack then East would be forced to return a diamond into her AQ.  This was a 100% hand once trump didn’t break horribly.  It is a great feeling and it was the first endplay that Krista had both planned and executed.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ J6 ♥ KQ42 ♦ AQ7 ♣ AQJ3
West ♠ Q1072 ♥ J1096 ♦ J43 ♣ 96		East ♠ K8543 ♥ 875 ♦ K652 ♣ 10
	South ♠ A9 ♥ A3 ♦ 1098 ♣ K87542

I think after you play bridge for a few years you can forget the joy of making a beautiful play.  Sometimes we (especially me) focus on mistakes.  Everybody makes lots of them.  Sometimes we focus on winning.  But in the end the joy of bidding and making a slam on your first endplay is what makes bridge wonderful.

Prayers for our Japanese Friends

March 14th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

Yes, there is a Nationals going on and yes I have so many interesting hands to discuss but today there seems to be something going on that is so much more important.

Our thoughts go to the survivors of the terrible earthquake and tsunami.

Video of Japan town wiped out by monster quake-tsunami

We know that the Japanese are a great people and they will survive these events and rebuild their country better than new.

Its all about the Bidding (Saturday)

March 7th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

It’s actually Sunday but I had a busy day yesterday.  Today I bid with Francine and then played with the ladies. Cora, Krista and Katie.

Do you like this bidding?

North ♠ 1075 ♥ A432 ♦ AJ1096 ♣ A

South ♠ KJ3 ♥ KQ ♦ 52 ♣ QJ9752

East was dealer with North-South vulnerable and passed.  East-West remained quiet throughout the auction.  South opened 1♣ .  What do you think North should bid?  I personally don’t like bypassing diamonds with an opening bid.  You will have a chance to bid hearts later.  Might as well describe your shape.  At our table North bid 1♥ .  South bid 2♣ .  What should North do?  Do you play 2♦ is forcing one round?  What is 3♦ ?  Notice how nicely the auction works if you just bid 1♦ in the first place.  Over 2♣ you bid 2♥ .    If you play as I do that a new suit by responder is forcing for one round than a jump to 3♦ should have a specific meaning.  Perhaps it should be invitational with 5/5 in the reds.  Francine and I played it shows clubs support and is game forcing.   Anyway, South bid 3NT and that was a good spot.  I am interested in what you think of the auction.  But nobody will convince me that you should bid 1♥instead of 1♦ .

This deal inspired some discussion.

South ♠ A ♥ K742 ♦ KQJ7 ♣ Q1083

With nobody vulnerable partner opened 2♠ in second chair.  Your weak two-bids are decent.  Do you bid?  If you do what is your plan?  You may well have enough for game but if partner doesn’t have something good outside the spade suit than you are probably going to have to play spades.  The top spade is a good card but the other cards may or may not help.  You could bid 2NT and ask for a feature.  If partner bids 3♠ denying one pass?  You could ask for shortness.  If partner has club shortness you would bid the game but otherwise play in partscore.  Or you could just bid 4♠.  Francine and I had a similar situation in our bidding practice session.  I decided to ask for shortness and she made the innovative bid of 4♠ with no shortness but a maximum and that worked out well.  (Probably that should be part of the system or maybe 3NT should show that hand).

At the table South bid 3NT.  This was not a success.

North ♠ KQ10832 ♥ Q86 ♦ 108 ♣ 64

South ♠ A ♥ K742 ♦ KQJ7 ♣ Q1083

If spades break then you might get to dummy on a heart or possible a diamond if West holds it and ducks when you lead to the ten.  But this is not a good contract and things did not work perfectly.

Friday: A bridge lesson

March 4th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

This deal came up in play with a student yesterday.  We discussed the deal after the match but sometimes with each of us frantically typically in the chat room (especially me) it is hard to fully convey the ideas.  So here is a student’s eye view of what you should do when you are declarer.

Linda ♠ AQ865 ♥ A94 ♦ 1085 ♣ 95

Student ♠ 9 ♥ KQ532 ♦ AQ6 ♣ AKJ8

South was in fourth chair not vulnerable against vulnerable and opened 1♥ .  West overcalled 1♠ and I passed.  I could have raised hearts and some of you may think that would have been better but if partner didn’t reopen game was not likely and I was content to defend my vulnerable opponent’s spade contract.  Partner did reopen with 2♣ and we soon (very soon) arrived in the heart game.  The opening lead playing low from odd was the ♠2.

Students:

Step 1: When you see dummy you stop and count your losers.  If you have a finessing position count it as a loser.  Here you have four losers if trump break, two diamonds and two clubs.

Step 2: Figure out what you will do with excess losers.  You can ruff them or discard them or take a finesse.  Here you could ruff clubs, take the spade finesse to discard a diamond.  You could also finesse diamonds or clubs.  So with all these opportunities which is best.

Often a finesse is not the best option but after West overcalled spades with not very many high cards so he is very likely to have the ♠ K.  So I like that finesse.  But diamonds and clubs are INTO the hand that probably has the points.  One nice thing about the spade finesse is that even if it loses you can still use the ace to discard a diamond later in the hand so it isn’t a do or die finesse.  In a way this is a sort of “free” finesse.  Maybe not free but low cost anyway.

You take the spade finesse and it wins.  By the way what do you think West holds in spades?  The J and 10 are missing.  It seems quite possible that West might have led the ♠ J with KJ10 although you can’t be certain.  The lead of the lowest outstanding spade suggests a five card suit.  The poor spades would suggest some cards elsewhere (i.e. the missing minor suit cards).

The second thing I want students to think about is should they draw trump right away.  If not why not.  Here if trump break you have your contract.  Let’s go that route for now.  Save the ♠ A for later just in case West has six.  You draw two rounds of trump with your king and dummy’s ace. West shows out on the second round.  Since you may not be in dummy again you cash the ♠ A and East drops the ♠ J.  So West’s spades weren’t all that good.

		Linda ♠ 865 ♥ 9 ♦ 1085 ♣ 95
		Student ♠ — ♥ Q53 ♦ AQ ♣ AKJ8

You have a choice now you can take a finesse or you can  ruff.  The ruff is almost 100%.  If East follows to two rounds of clubs then ruffing ensures the contract.  It doesn’t matter if East overruffs.  He always has that trump trick.  You don’t care when he takes it.  There is nothing the defense can do.  You are safe.    However if East has a singleton club then you could go down.  He would ruff your ♣K and return a trump.  You would have no trump in dummy to take care of your club loser.  True, East doesn’t have one club.  (West would have 6 clubs and the auction would have been different).  But just in case you can improve your odds slightly.  Cash the ♣A before you play the second trump to dummy.  Now if West shows out on the trump, lead a club from dummy towards your hand.  If East ruffs then he is “ruffing air” rather than ruffing your club honor.

What about a club finesse?  Actually if you have played as suggested cashing the ♣A in hand first, playing a heart to dummy, cashing dummy’s spade winner and then leading a club from dummy when East follows to the second club it is safe to take the finesse.  If West wins and returns a spade you ruff and play a small club ruffing in dummy.  It doesn’t help East to overruff as before.   There is nothing that can hurt you and if the club finesse wins you have a chance of an overtrick.

Here is the whole deal as it was at the table:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ AQ865 ♥ A94 ♦ 1085 ♣ 95
West ♠ K10432 ♥ 7 ♦ K94 ♣ Q1076		East ♠ J7 ♥ J1086 ♦ J732 ♣ 432
	South ♠ 9 ♥ KQ532 ♦ AQ6 ♣ AKJ8

One man’s inference…

March 3rd, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

It didn’t take long to find an interesting hand in a match I played today on BBO.  With nobody vulnerable, both pairs arrived in a grand slam in hearts with no opposition bid, on similar auctions. One made it and one went down.  See how you would do.

North ♠ KJ632 ♥ KJ10 ♦ J10 ♣ AJ5

South ♠ A ♥ A986542 ♦ AKQ9 ♣ K

The auctions were almost identical.  West passed and East opened one spade.  South bid hearts East raised hearts and a couple of cuebids and blackwood.  At our table the lead was the spade four dummy played low and East planned the spade nine.  At the other table the club eight was lead, dummy played the club five, east played the club ten and you win the club king.  How do you play hearts?

The only danger is that hearts are 3-0.  So you have to decide if somebody has three hearts who is: Door number 1, East or Door Number 2, West.  You can’t really use the inference that you didn’t get a heart lead.  West is not going to lead a heart from Qxx and he can’t lead a heart if he has the void.  I think there is one other tiny point to consider: West was in first chair and didn’t preempt.  Of course East might preempt over 1♠ but it might be a touch less likely.  Am I grasping at straws?

Is there anything helpful in either lead?  The ♠4 could be from length or from shortness it is pretty hard to tell.   But would West likely lead a spade from the queen after North bid spades.  It does seem a bit strange.  The ♣9 suggest less to me.  It could be from a lot of things given how many clubs are missing (but probably missing the Q and the 10).  Then there are people who like the idea that the queen likes over the jack (more useful when you shuffle manually since people cover the jack with the queen and sometimes the cards don’t get separated during a shuffle).  Or you could play the person you like least for the queen.

These are the things I would think about. (well not so much the last one) Can you come up with others?  Have you made your choice?  Fortunately I didn’t have to.

In this case the queen did not lie over the jack.  It was Door number 1, East who had Qxx.  The whole deal was.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ KJ632 ♥ KJ10 ♦ J10 ♣ AJ5
West ♠ 4 ♥ Q73 ♦ 7654 ♣ 98762		East ♠ Q109875 ♥ — ♦ 832 ♣ Q1043
	South ♠ A ♥ A986542 ♦ AKQ9 ♣ K

And holding the East hand I was thinking about preempting ♠2 and would have in first chair.  So maybe that small inference about West passing had some merit.  What do you think?    By the way I played the ♠ 9 to conceal my spade holding in the hope to avoid helping declarer with a trump decision if he had one.

South was quite disappointed and who could blame him.  “It’s not my day”, he said.

Wednesday … Taking the push

March 2nd, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

This deal came up when playing with students.  South held

With everybody vulnerable West (me) opened 1♦ .  The auction continued

Do you bid on or satisfy yourself with playing game?   Your 2S bid was forcing but you could have passed a 3S bid by North.  So North has something extra along with spade support.  You have a lot on reserve.  The CQ singleton which might not be very useful on same hand is likely to be a big card after partner’s overcall.  You should continue.  You have a terrific hand, full of controls.  And it would be right.  Here is the whole hand.

North ♠ KQ62 ♥ 6 ♦ K9 ♣ KJ10642

South ♠ A10985 ♥ AQ74 ♦ A52 ♣ Q

North set the way by bidding 4♠ .  She considered her well placed high cards (even the ♦ K figures to be a trick) and her great spade support.  But South was a bit too wimpy and passed 4♠ .  Do you like North’s bid?  I do.  Hand evaluation is very important in getting to slams (even more important than getting to games).  Counting points is only a small part of the job especially when you have found a fit.  Controls are very important, obviously.  Aces are worth much more than 4 points.  But so is a source of tricks and extra trump length.  Now here is an extreme example of points schmoints from the same game.

You side is vulnerable and your partner overcalls 1D with 1NT.  You transfer to spades and partner accepts the transfer (but does not superaccept).  Do you bid on or not? 3♠ or 4♠ ?

I think it is automatic to bid 4♠ when I have a decent six card suit opposite an opening notrump bid and a bit more.  Here the bit more is the extreme shape.  So I would bid 4♠.  I know you have 4 lousy points.  Here is the whole deal:

North ♠ KJ8632 ♥ 4 ♦ 2 ♣ 109764

South ♠ 109 ♥ K73 ♦ AQ63 ♣ AQJ8

I don’t really have an ideal hand.  I have a minimum, wasted red cards and a minimum spade fit but I do have a good club fit so the spade game is a good bet.  If North bids only 3♠ will South go?    A hard choice but probably I would.  I hate missing vulnerable games.  I would argue that I have fillers in any side suit that North might have and that my hand has good controls.  I would wish my spades were a touch better.

Tuesday – A slamming we will go

March 1st, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

i was commenting on a Swedish District finals match.  This deal came up.  Think about how you would bid it.  You are not vulnerable against vulnerable and West your opponent deals and passes.  the opponents are then silent throughout.

North ♠ AK6 ♥ K532 ♦ J1074 ♣ KQ

South ♠ 953 ♥ AQJ974 ♦ — ♣ A754

You can see that grand slam makes but can you get there.  This deal is a perfecto.  Every card is perfect for the grand.  Mostly North has no wasted diamond cards, a big heart fit (well four of them is overkill) and lots of controls.  South started off with some version of Stayman.  And when North bid 2♥ over 2♣.  South bid 4♦ (splinter).  The auction proceeded:

South showed 2 keycard with a diamond void and in my opinion (and his partners) heart length.   So there they were in a grand in seven bids.  I thought this was a pretty auction.

At the other table the bidding started the same way but after the splinter it took a different course.  North didn’t take control of the auction.   He just kept describing his hand.  He bid 4♠ over 4♦ .  If 4NT is keycard now (as it would be for almost everyone) South will find they are off a keycard. He had no way of knowing if it was diamonds or something else.  Suppose over 4♠ you refuse to take over and instead bid 5♣ .  North would bid 5♠ and if you have a way of finding out about the ♥ K (some variation on grand slam force where partner shows his trump holding with less than 2 of the top 3 if there is space) you might, maybe, get there.  But most likely South will bid Blackwood and the grand will be missed as happens at the other table

Obviously on the hand it works out better when North bids Blackwood.  Is it clear that is the best bid?  How do you know?  If you bid Blackwood as North you are going to find out what you need to know.  You will find out if you have enough keycards (aces here) and if South happens to have a diamond void.  You should be able to see from your hand that with a partner with slam interest and heart length the missing elements can be determined with Blackwood.  That is why you should take charge.  Don’t be polite and let partner take over.

When you know what to do or how to find out what you need to know then you should take over.

One Week of Daily Bridge Blogs .. A weak stopper

February 28th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

I thought I would write a week of blogs about bridge hands that I have commented on, played with students or otherwise.  These will be instructive (I hope).    Any comments, critique or new ideas from experts is welcome along with any questions from students.

This deal came up when I played with my students on Sunday.  You are not vulnerable versus vulnerable in fourth chair.

Your RHO opens 1H in third.   I hate doubling with only two spades.  Partners can jump to 4♠ expecting you to hold that suit and then you just have no sensible way out.  They are not going to take 4NT as a landing spot.    You have too much to overcall 1NT and so you double anyway.  Partner bids 2♣ and you show your hand with 2NT.  Partner bids 3NT and everybody passes.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ K82 ♥ 87 ♦ 432 ♣ A10654
West ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣		East ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
	South ♠ A9 ♥ Q52 ♦ AKJ10 ♣ KQ83

The opening lead is the H6 and East wins the HA and after some thought returns the ♥ 3.  You have two choices.  You can rise with the ♥ Q playing East for the ♥ A and ♥ K or you can duck playing West for Kxx.  What do you do?

You have 27 high card points.  East opened the bidding in third chair and figures to have most of the remaining 13 HCP.  Is West’s only high card the ♥ K?  It does seem like the odds favor playing East for the both top hearts.  But I have two pieces of evidence that support the idea that West has the ♥ K.  First West led low.  Yes she could have had the ♥ J or even the ♥ 10.  Second East won the ♥ A.  With both honors it is more traditional to win the ♥ K.  True if she was trying to false card she might win the ♥ A but she didn’t really think at trick one.  She just played.  As declarer I am entitled to take the opponents tempo into account.  So I ducked.  Here is the whole hand:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ K82 ♥ 87 ♦ 432 ♣ A10654
West ♠ 10743 ♥ K96 ♦ 986 ♣ J72		East ♠ QJ65 ♥ AJ1043 ♦ Q75 ♣ 9
	South ♠ A9 ♥ Q52 ♦ AKJ10 ♣ KQ83

Besides my heart play there are some interesting points for the defense.  One, always take a little time when dummy comes down.  There should be no “automatic” plays.  First you should think about what is happening on the hand anyway and second you want to keep a consistent tempo.

Winning the ♥ A is a nice falsecard when you do have the ♥ AK.  East could be pretty sure that I had the Qxx.  I would NEVER bid notrump with Qx (of course I might and have but this is unlikely).

Would it help to have led back the ♥ J from her AJ10xx rather than a small one?  No the small one was better because I know her partner has an honor and if she leads back the jack it will help me to know its the king.