Some fireworks

February 17th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

I decided to have a quick check of a match played last night by my frequent and talented opponents Sondra and Isabelle.  They were playing with Francine and Pamela against Paul Thurston and Jeff Smith.  I am not sure who the other pair was. 

I never really got much past the first hand but it was a bonfire.  It was hot and exciting.  Perhaps the victors did not fully deserve the result they got.  You can decide.

At one table the opening bid by North was 3NT with nobody vulnerable.  You hold:

East

A643
AK1063
AK109
void

What do you do?  Let’s assume you double.  You may have a defense against gambling 3NT but double is probably the bid you would make in most of them.

South bids 5 which is presumably pass or correct and this is passed back to you.  What now?  I suppose the first question is what does double mean.  Is it just a good hand or does it strongly suggest takeout?  Assuming the South had support for both minors and North had a seven or eight card suit you are not likely to have a balanced big hand but I suppose it is possible.  I think double here is a reasonable choice, the other one being 6.  If as seems likely partner has a fit for one of your majors and just her share of high cards then you probably have some sort of play for slam.  But things are splitting badly and it may be best to take your plus.  Overall, double seems right to me.

Now it is up to partner who has

West

KJ95
Q952
J52
43

I can come up with a case for bidding.  Partner has to have a big hand and has zero or one clubs with support for the majors.  But is it really clear that on a hand with bad splits that you want to be at the five level?  Pass seems reasonable enough.  I call this a 50-50 choice.

Now let’s look at what happened at the other table where things timed out a little differently.  North held

North

102
87
3
AKQJ9652

Whether by choice or by system she opened 5.  I think that this is quite a reasonable bid although there is an argument for 4.  Now over 5 East might have bid double.  But here this bid is so much less likely to be taken out.  Here it really just says I have some cards.  So East decided that the potential for slam was too great and it was worth the risk of just asking partner to bid a suit.  East bid 6.  However West got a bit carried away.  I think that you need to give partner a little leeway here.  West made a bid that I would not have even considered, chicken that I am, he (or she?) bid 7.

As it turned out some how spades were 3-2 with the queen onside and there was not heart ruff (declarer chanced a stiff heart in the South hand to have a chance to pick up a 4-0 split with South holding 4 (which was likely less probable).

As I have often found assuming that east-west was allowed to play there bidding the small slam would have won most of the imps (one of the bid arguments against bidding the grand).

Here is the whole hand

	North 102 87 3 AKQJ9652
West KJ95 Q952 J52 43		East A643 AK1063 AK109 void
	South Q87 J4 Q8764 1087

The ladies did in the end have a fine set and there was lots more action too.  How else could it be after this start!

I decided to assign my pick of best, worst bid.   I am willing to take the BBE (I just found this in an acronym dictionary it means the Biggest Beating Ever and may be used to describe some of my bridge match results).

I think the worst bid was 7 at table 2.  I don’t want anybody yelling Bob Hamman at me… yes I know it makes.  I think the decision to bid 6 over 5 was a good one and at the other table I liked the choice of bidding 5 over 3NT which won the auction.  At table one I am not going to pick one or the other but I think East-West at the might have found their way to something better than 5 doubled.

Oh Vancouver

February 15th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  5 Comments 

What makes some people a champion and others just also-rans.  Watching the Olympics brings this to mind.   Some times the most unlikely people produce something of greatness.  Perhaps the first moment of Olympic greatness occurred at the opening ceremonies from an unlikely source, a poet from the far North of Canada called Shane Koyczan.  He had written a poem about Canada which was posted on Utube and the Olympic Organizing Committee asked him to recite it at the opening.  He stood in the centre of the huge stadium, casually dressed and he recited…

We Are More

This is an excerpt… some lines from the middle of the poem

we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One

who inspired little number nines

and little number ninety-nines

but we’re more than just hockey and fishing lines

off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes

and some say what defines us

is something as simple as please and thank you

and as for you’re welcome

well we say that too

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

There is something very Canadian about this young man.  He doesn’t look like a poet.  He doesn’t look like Hollywood.  But in his own way he is a champion.

So I think about all the money that the government put into producing a good Olympic team this year and I wonder about whether it is worth it.  It probably is to the men and women who got to build their skills, who had coaching and training and were paid to train.  Too bad that that doesn’t exist in bridge except for the very few who are sponsored.

Back at the games we see the winners.  They seem to fall into a number of categories.  Those who seem always to have been destined to win and meet their potential, those who seem to win by some miracles, their opponents fall down in front of them and then they have a blessed run,  those who seem to win by sheer effort, the lucky, the talented, the hard workers.   Guts, instincts, skills.

I know my biggest failing is guts.  When I get into the tough situation I think I wish I weren’t going to have to go on compete.  Its easier to watch and write about it (or just ignore it).  Its hard to force yourself to go and complete anyway.  Its interesting to hear a skating pair say the same thing.  Its fun when its over.

Perhaps the best moment of the Olympics was KD Lang singing Hallelujah.  My daughter Jennifer who was at a rehearsal the day before told me that K.D. Lang was the only singer who wasn’t lip syncing at the event.  She was wonderful.

It ends like this… this is for all of us who had the courage to compete and lost something important by the slimmest of margins.

I did my best, it wasn’t much

I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch

I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you

And even though

It all went wrong

I’ll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Does Anybody Know How To Set An Alarm Clock?

February 12th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

Karen and I have had an interesting discussion about this hand.  Your hand is

109 J9876 QJ9753 void

Partner, South, passes and for once the colors are on your side and you can throw a monkey wrench in the works when West opens 1.  You bid 2 showing hearts and a minor.  This is doubled which they play to show a good hand and your partner bids 2NT, asking for your minor.   West bids 3 and you are quite happy to show your diamonds.  East bids 4 and partner competes on to 5.  However West mindful of the colors continues to 5.  This has been the full auction with you on lead:

West	North	East	South
			pass
1	2*	DBL	2NT*
3	3	4	5
5	all pass

What should you lead?  You are playing third and fifth, by the way.  You obviously want partner to give you a club ruff.  Perhaps you should lead your lowest diamond as a wake-up card?  Partner will be alert to the idea of a ruff and that would suggest that you could ruff clubs.  It seems like a good idea.  But wait!  Partner doesn’t know you have six diamonds.  If you lead the 3 partner will deduce that you have five diamonds and may try to cash two of them.  Perhaps this isn’t the best plan?

After some discussion we came up with the 9 as a wakeup card.  This can’t be a true card.  From the auction it will be easy to work out what suit you want to ruff.

Of course after the fact it is easy to make these choices.    Here is the whole hand.  Partner might have tried to give you a ruff anyway but had hopes of a trump trick (and one down) if both diamonds cashed.

	109 J9876 QJ9753 void
AK532 4 6 AJ9643		864 AKQ105 84 KQ10
	QJ7 32 AK102 8752

I love this discussion because I think it is quite cool to figure out how to help partner find the right defense.  There are often no real rules about how to set the alarm clock.

Imp Decisions

February 10th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

I played an interesting 10 board team match with Karen this afternoon.  I though I write up a few hands in the form of a quiz.  The opponents were a practiced pair and seemed pretty decent. 

Question 1

AKQ932

J98

A

J108

You are East, white on red and you open 1 in first.  South bids 3.  Partner raises spades to game and North bids 5.  What is your call?

Question 2

The opponents have this auction red on white

1	2
2	3
3	4
4NT	5
6

Your hand is

Q94

QJ2

A1076

985What is your lead?

Question 3

You are not vulnerable against vulnerable playing against good opposition (us).  What do you bid on this hand after partner opens 1NT

Q642

953

K864

K7Okay so these problems aren’t so tough but lets see if you got them all right.  Here is my unbiased opinion and what happened at the table. 

Answer 1

I think it is right to bid 5.  This hand says offense to me. Try partner can have a wide range of hands but these colors are so forgiving.  In total trick land there is probably about 20-21 total tricks.  If we have 11 they have 10 and vice versa.  5 is right.  If you pass it to partner she will probably double and that won’t be as good a result.  You need to take the push to get a push since the opponents were allowed to play in 4 at the other table.

J1086

64

72

AKQ93

Answer 2

Did anybody NOT lead the A!  Did you think it was a trick question, dude?  (I just always wanted to say dude like that, sorry).  It cashes and so does your trump trick.  Any other lead and they are writing up +1430.  This is a big swing because the opposition played in game not slam at the other table.

	A K KJ942 KQJ1032
Q94 QJ2 A1076 985		J108653 53 Q83 76
	K72 A1098764 72 A

Answer 3

I prefer pass on this hand not vulnerable.  You have a flat eight count without good spots and no aces.  I know partner could have hearts and a fitting 17 or something.  A long time ago everybody passed on this hand.   At my table the opposition just bid 3NT!  At the other table they did bid Stayman and played in 2NT when there was not fit.  I didn’t find the best lead but they still went 2 down for a push).  If you pass 1NT you have a decent chance of making it.

I find with some partners they are quite forgiving and you can do think a bit off-center with them and its okay.  I did for example overcall 1 with 1NT with a fourteen count and six clubs.  Karen ended up in 2 which wasn’t the easiest contract.  She figured out the ending (a trump endplay) to make it.  Thanks Karen. 

And I did have a fun hand to play in 1NT with I had to guess the ending for yes really a strip squeeze and endplay.   The defense was not perfect and some good unblocking (two good unblocks) would have avoided the end play but it was still fun. 

Sunday was bridge day with lots of children time too

February 8th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  6 Comments 

I had a lovely Sunday.  Colin, Luise, Jessica and Marcus slept over.  The kids love a sleepover.  We had pancakes for brunch.  I made some batter and the kids put strawberries, bananas and chocolate chips into custom pancakes.  After that we watched Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.  I have to say that Jessica liked Walt Disney’s Snow White (which we watched the night before) a whole lot better.  Walt Disney had magic.

After the kids left the day was full of bridge.  I pondered systems over 2.  Do you like playing control showing responses?  I was thinking about inverting 2 to show more controls than 2 because it seems to me that when you have more controls you need more space not less.  Thoughts on this matter are welcome.

Later on I watched the finals of Women’s Canadian curling while I played some bridge.  Fortunately I have a TV mounted right beside my computer.  (Okay maybe my bridge playing was a touch distracted).  It was an exciting final and an interesting display of “fear of winning”.  Going into End 8 out of 10 the Prince Edward Island team had a formidable two point lead with the hammer.  They did badly in eight, nine and ten and eventually lost in an extra end.  It was as if knowing that they would be the first team ever to win a major curling championship from PEI, the pressure was just too much.

Back at my bridge game, this deal provided a bit of a bidding challenge for me.  I held: A94 Q54 A107 KQJ2

I opened 1NT in second chair and partner raised to 4NT.  Is slam worth a go?  I have 16 points right in the middle of the range and the spot in diamonds and spades might be helpful.  The J is a better card than than some jacks.  But I decided to pass.

It was the 4-3-3-3 shape that did me in.  I was happy I had passed when I saw my partner’s hand.  She had J32 AJ KQJ A9854

6NT is not a good spot.  It does have some play.  If the heart finesse works you might make via a squeeze of some sort.  If my LHO holds the top two spades along with the heart king there is a simple squeeze and it works with or without the count.  You can just run winners or you can lead a spade towards the jack earlier on.

Is 6 better?  It requires less card reading but it does need the same holdings in the east-west hand.  Best to play in game as we did.  Well done partner.  If she had transferred to clubs and then bid 4NT (as I might have done) we would have been in the poor slam.

Here was one more interesting decision.  Your hand is:

3 AK7532 Q54 KQ43

Your partner opens 1 at favorable vulnerable and RHO bid 1.  You bid 2 and partner bids 2NT.  Righty isn’t finished; vulnerable or no, he bids 3.  What do you do?

I think double here should just show a good hand.  You can’t have trump.  You are just setting up a force and letting partner decide.  You could bid 3NT or 4 but maybe you are better defending.  Let partner decide.  That was the decision of my expert partner and it was a very good one.

I held: QJ6 J6 KJ1062 A102

I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do but with only one spade stopper I was going to have to run nine tricks in 3NT and I didn’t fancy the 5-2 in hearts (which broke 5-1 not too surprisingly).  3 doubled only went down one but this was a great result since we could make nothing.

Just after this I had a session with Colin.  Here is another deal in my series bidding slams without Blackwood.  With both side not vulnerable Colin held

875 AKQJ9 A2 K73

He opened 1 strong and I bid 2NT.  This shows 12-14 HCP, with no suit longer than five cards.  RHO bid 4, and Colin bid 4, showing his suit.  He knew that I had a good hand and it was important to get his suit in.   I wouldn’t give up on a suitable hand. I had

AQJ 10653 K943 A9

I suppose I could bid 4NT, keycard.  If I do Colin will bid 5 (3).  I could bid 5 which would get 6.  I could bid 6 and Colin would bid 6 which would end the auction.  There is nothing wrong with this auction. 

But once Colin shows a hand worth 16 points or more and hearts nothing is keeping me from slam.  The bigger issue is should we be in 7.  Would Colin go to the grand with the hand below over keycard?  I don’t think so.

87 AKQ932 AQ K73

What I actually did was bid 5 over 4. Colin bid 5 and I bid 5. Colin bid 6 which was doubled.  I bid 6.  Now would Colin have bid 7 on the hand above?  I pretty well have to have the diamond king, club ace, and the spade king at least.  Do I absolutely have to have the spade ace?  It seems likely.  We will never know the answer.

Colin had to play carefully because the hearts were 4-1 and the long hearts had four clubs (and fortunately also the K.  A dummy reversal looks attractive (ruffing diamonds in the long hand) but in fact I believe it needs the same things.

Do you like my bid on the next hand or not?

97 J42 K3 AQJ642

Red on white 1 was opened in front of me and I bid 2 which worked out well when we won the auction with 3.  I know I don’t have much but my bid takes up a lot of space and other excuses.  Here is a second slam hand (I wimped out and bid Blackwood.)  However I think the play is the thing on this board.

We arrived in 6 after Colin showed five clubs, heart support and stuff.

Colin

A4 975 KQ4 A9864

Me

K763 AKJ82 A K102

The opening lead was the J.  Maybe the best line is to draw trump.  Suppose I win the spade in dummy and hook the heart.  I can win the return, say a club in hand.  Draw another round of trump and play spades ruffing the third round in dummy.  I can get back to my hand with a diamond and draw the rest of the trump.  If trump behaves decently I can throw my losers on the diamonds, twelve tricks.  If the heart finesse wins I follow the same line but I have extra chances.

What does this line need?  Only one heart loser basically.  If hearts are 3-2 and the finesse loses then I can’t stand spade ruff of the second round or a spade ruff in the third round with the 10. I think any line involving setting up the clubs is just not as good (even though the club spots are nice).

What I actually did was win the spade in hand and start with a high trump from hand.  When the 10 came down on the first round I was much better position for a spade ruff so I stopped drawing trump, cashed the diamond, crossed on a spade, played diamonds pitching my losers, returned on the K, ruffed a spade and played the 9. LHO, who started with Qxxx, could only make one trump trick. I still don’t know what the mathematically best line is.  I just know mine worked.  I had the added disadvantage of a kibbitzer (who shall not be named) standing in my office and yelling at me to do the wrong things.  Here is the whole deal and if you have some comments I would be interested.

	A4 975 KQ4 A9864
Q1085 Q643 9872 5		J92 10 J10653 QJ73
	K763 AKJ82 A K102

I had one other hand that Colin announced was Linda proof but it really wasn’t. Here was the hand which I did make (but not without some sweat).

	1094 QJ98 K10864 9
	A5 AK102 AJ74 KQ5

After opening 2NT I arrived in 4.  I won the opening lead of the K and tried two rounds of trump with RHO showing out on the second round (won in dummy).  I tried a club from dummy.  RHO won the K with the A and played two rounds of spades.

	10 Q9 K10864 —
	— K10 AJ74 Q5

I ruffed high and drew the remaining trump in two rounds.  Now all I had to do was guess diamonds.  About this point I am thinking couldn’t I have played this hand on a safer line.  Well, if you are going to play like this you better be able to guess well. I don’t really have a count.  I know RHO has four hearts and three spades and some clubs.  I am missing nine clubs so if they split somewhat equally he has three or four of them at least.  I think he is odds on to be short in diamonds.

I played the K and both followed (rats).  Now I am thinking diamonds were never bid by our side.  With four trump and a spade sequence how likely is it that you would lead your stiff diamond?  I decided not that likely so I finessed and that was right.  So it was Linda proof and I made five in the end.  Given that I only had to make four maybe its safer to play diamonds earlier!  Perhaps I should duck the opening spade lead, win the continuation, play the two top hearts and then play diamonds finessing.  West can ruff but I still make it.

	1094 QJ98 K10864 9
KQJ3 7654 9 A864		8762 3 Q32 J10732
	A5 AK102 AJ74 KQ5

How Bidding Decision Matters

February 4th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I think there is some luck in bidding and also some judgment.  It seems like you have a lot of choices to make and some times the decisions turn out awfully well.  It is hard to distinguish whether that is luck or skill except over many deals, I suppose.

Here is a few decisions from my session yesterday with Karen.

What do you open this hand white on red in first at imps

KJ76432
void
Q65
A86

pass, 1, 2,3,4 or 4 (if you play Namyats)

I personally like 1.  You do have some defense and it is possible that playing high numbers of spades is not best.  But I can see 4 as a choice I suppose.  Maybe the opponents can make lots of hearts and you are certainly making it harder for them to find their spot.  I don’t like 2 or 3.  What is your poison?

Anyway, Karen bid 1 and we had no trouble finding slam.  Actually I probably would have tried for and gotten to slam opposite any number of spades.  My hand was

AQ8
A53
AJ42
KJ10

3 would have been the hardest to deal with.  I wonder if without discussion 4 is some sort of slam try in spades?  It probably should be.  My opinion is that anyone who opens 3 on this hand is not unlucky to miss slam, they deserve to miss slam.

Here is another choice.  First what do you bid on Karen’s hand with

A8
KJ97
AJ10982
K

You are vulnerable against not and it goes 2 pass 4 to you?  Do you like double?  If partner passes you are okay with that and if partner pulls to clubs you plan to convert to diamonds.  This is the bid Karen made.  I prefer bidding to passes and I think double is fine.  5 seems reasonable to me too.  Anyway this was my decision now

5
A864
K6532
543

I figured that on this auction Karen can’t have a spade stack.  She is doubling on high cards or shape.  We figure to be able to play a red suit contract.  I picked 5.  I figured that if she was really short in diamonds she could pull to hearts.  Maybe we were lucky, maybe we had good judgment But 5 was a great contract.  I was able to element the black suits and have a 100% contract with a chance for an uptrick by hooking the J.  6 isn’t a terrible contract but it doesn’t make on the lie of the cards.

Some times it seems like you just have a series of these decisions.  They are close decisions and you have to make a choice.  I suppose the really good players based on their experience and talent get them right a lot more than we lesser mortals.

Playing With Karen

February 4th, 2010  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

I had a chance to have a game with Karen Cumpstone today. We played a session on BBO with very little discussion. I have found that those are the sessions were you don’t have misunderstandings. You are both being quite careful. Still there were a few auctions to think about. Before any of that I thought this was an interesting position.  Here is the whole hand

	Karen
	QJ1098
	98
	752
West	A92	East
AK		76542
AKQ74		10
AJ3		Q1086
K73	Linda	Q106
	3
	J6532
	K94
	J854

The opponents arrived in 3NT after West showed a strong balanced hand with hearts.  Karen led a spade of course.  Declarer tried the J which was ducked.  He conceded a diamond to me and I got out a small heart which declarer won in hand. 

At this point he had to play the club suit.  Our declarer led a club to the 10.  This seems superficially attractive because if he can make two club tricks he doesn’t actually need to reach dummy.  But actually it is still 50-50.  If both are onside all works and if both are offside nothing works.  If the J is onside then the 10 works but if the A is onside then he has to rise with the Q since if he guesses wrong he not only will only have one club trick but he won’t be able to get to dummy.

If either of us has the A doubleton and he puts in the 10  he can still get to dummy true.  But he gets the same result if either of us has the J of clubs and he puts in the Q,

The presence of a ninth trick in dummy changed the odds in the club suit.  Cool.  Of course he might have led the K from his hand first.  We might make a mistake but in addition if Karen had a doubleton club honor even if she ducked he would see it and know what to do.  That is certainly the best play.

Here was a hand where no discussion played a role.  How do you bid this crazy hand:

AKQ73 J A AKQJ52

Red on white Karen opened 2.  I wanted to bid 3 but people play that as all sorts of things.  Would see take it as natural and forcing?  I thought about 6 which would probably work most days.  Anyway I bid 2.  This bid makes me wince when I look at it again.  Karen bid 3 and RHO decided to come in with 3 no doubt influenced by the vulnerability.  I bid  6.  Now that bid doesn’t make me wince.  Anyway Karen did not have a perfect hand for me and it turned out that both slams needed pretty much the same thing.  Here was her hand:

85
K9
Q1087652
43

Playing in clubs is better because you can try for the remote chance that if spades don’t break that the four spades are with the stiff club.  In any case neither slam was making today.  Thinking about it again I should just have bid 6 right off.  Then I wouldn’t have had to wince and I would have played in the right contract.

It was a lot of fun and Karen was awesome.

Squeezes everywhere

February 2nd, 2010  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

Our good friend Bill Milgram sent me a squeeze to look at (and classify) that allowed him to make 6C in a high quality game at the bridge club.  Ray commented that his opponents were unlucky that Bill had been the declarer since he was one of few players (maybe the only one) who would have made the contract.  However the defense did err at the beginning of the hand.  So this is a challenge for you.  Would you have made 6?

Here is the hand

Leah (patient wife)

AK872

632

J10943

void

Bill

6

AJ10

7

AKQJ6532

The spot cards are approximate and I don’t have an auction.  But assume there is no helpful information from the opponents.  The opening lead is the 6.  West wins the K and returns a small diamond which you ruff.  Can you make it from here?

While you are thinking about the hand, the Clyde E. Love practice deals are now available as a free download at www.ebooksbridge.com.  So if you like squeezes enjoy the twenty practice hands which cover a wide range of different types of squeezes and be sure to let me know if you find any mistakes.  People who provide useful input will be acknowledged in updates to the practice deals so this is your chance to be famous.

Back to the Bill’s deal.  It looks to me like both hands guard diamonds.  You have no entries to dummy to ruff anything out.  One possibility is that one hand guards spades and hearts.  Then when you run all the clubs you reach this ending and the victim cannot hold three spades and the KQ of hearts.

Leah (patient wife)

AK8

void

J

void

Bill

6

AJ10

void

void

Is there anything else?  The problem is the entries (non-existent).  If West holds spades and East hold hearts when you run clubs you end up in a similar ending:

	Leah (patient wife)
	AK8
	6
	J
	void

West
QJ10
9
Q
	Bill
	6
	AJ10
	void
	3

On the last club West still has an idle card and can throw a heart.  Dummy has no useful discard.  The double squeeze does not work.

Is there any other lie of the cards that works?  We need to make West’s life a bit tougher?  You can make the hand if the heart honors are split so long as West holds spades.  This is a double guard squeeze.  Let’s look at the ending since it was the squeeze that existed at the table.

	Leah (patient wife)
	AK8
	6
	J
	void

West		East
J109		Q
Q		K98
Q		A
	Bill	void
	6
	AJ10
	void
	3

When Bill led his second last club West was squeezed in three suits.  He had to give up his diamond guard.  Anything else would leave immediate defeat.  Bill throws a spade from dummy and East can discard a spade.  Now Bill cashes spades and arriving at a two card ending.  East is squeezed in hearts and diamonds. 

The nice thing about the hand from declarer’s point of view is that the hand sort of plays itself.  You really don’t have any other choices but to run clubs and when you do both the triple squeeze and double guard squeeze will operates.

The defense did err though.  At trick two when in on the top diamond, East has to damage declarer’s fragile entries.  Either a spade lead or a heart lead will do the trick.  Here is the whole deal:

	Leah (patient wife)
	AK872
	632
	J10943
	void

West		East
J109543		Q
Q7		K9854
Q86		AK52
87	Bill	1094
	6
	AJ10
	7
	AKQJ6532

Those Special Moments

January 31st, 2010  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

There are a lot of reasons why people like to play bridge. Its a terrific social activity and you belong to a very special group of people. Most of the time its not really about winning, at least for me. There is usually nothing of real importance to win. The best thing is the enjoyment of each deal. Some of them are magic, some even funny or ironic. A few make me sad or angry. (And then there are the times where it is about the winning … )

Anyway here is an example of a tiny special moment or two from a session with a favorite partner last night.  Your hand with everybody vulnerable is:

South – You

QJ764

6

Q1085

K52

Partner opens 1 which could be three and you bid 1.  West with a great BBO name (Red Baron) doubles, partner passes and East bids 2.  I have three choices:

• pass, prudent or mouselike?
• 2 I have five but partner has at most two (no support double)
• 3.  (at this point she has to have at least four diamonds).

Well I am no mouse so I bid 3.  West bid 4 and partner doubled.  One of these doubled games had already made (See later).  But I really had no choice but to pass.

I led a small diamond and a ferocious dummy appeared:

RB’s Ferocious Dummy

AK982

AJ97

2

AJ10

Partner won the K and switched to the 10.   Were we beating this? 

The question was answered in a second.  Declarer led a small heart from dummy and partner won the 10.  That was quite soothing.  Some errors by declarer led to +800.  Declarer held 4-4-4-1 with a stiff spade and the Q as his only high card.  A 3 bid would have been more circumspect by RB but after the 3 bid perhaps it sounded too competitive for RB.  Some times Snoopy has his day.

I think this hand was satisfying because of the roundness of +800, because some opponents are so very aggressive (that’s what you like to do) and because you survived your own overbidding.

Now here is a hand that was very satisfying for someone (not for me).  You hold

Soon To Be Satisfied Opponent

432

AKQ873

K97

10

You are in third chair with nobody vulnerable.  Two passes to you.  What do you do?  What do you do if I am in fourth chair and you want to irritate me?

1. Pass – the most friendly bid, giving opponents a nice free ride (nobody is this wimpy)
2. 1.  You have a full opening bid with a good suit.  Partner will know what to do and your bridge teacher will be happy
3. 2  That will put it to the opponents.  You might some day miss a game but not many days
4. 1  I only know a few people who would venture into this territory and most of them aren’t of drinking age

At my table the bid was 3, sock it to you.  Do you like that one?    So here I am with

Yours Truly

KQ985

4

65

AKJ64

I have played a system at times where I could bid 4 here to show clubs and spades but that was not on the system card with this partner.  I suppose I could pass but (see earlier comment about not being a mouse) I bid 3.  LHO bid 4 and partner doubled.  Should I pull?  Partner probably doesn’t have a heart stack on this auction.  She probably doesn’t have a lot of spades.  She therefore has minors.  5?  Well if you figured that out you would have been right.  5 is likely down one and 4 doubled was gin.  Curse you RB.

Red Baron Victorious

AJ76

9652

Q4

Q83

Do You Want To Be In This Slam- Read At Own Risk

January 31st, 2010  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Don’t read on unless you are into rather dull analysis but here goes…

I came on to watch the last board or two of an Icelandic match on BBO.  This rather interesting hand came up.  I have rotated the deal.

North

KQ107

J87632

AK8

–

South

J8642

A

J

AQJ1053

Both tables reached 6 and I can tell you right now it is not a “Bob Hamman” slam.  On the lie of the cards it doesn’t make.  So as declarer struggled we had an abstract discussion about whether it was or was not a 50% slam.  My argument was that it makes almost all the time the K is onside and some times if it is offside.  Having played with the hand in Deep Finesse I can tell you that if I put the K onside it makes every time double dummy.    That doesn’t mean you will make it all the time.  The trouble with that sort of analysis is that declarer gets to pick one line and he may not always find the one that works.  If declarer had the 9 he would be better off but if he plays to basically draw trump and take a ruffing finesse in clubs as he line of choice lets see how that works out.

So let’s pick a line and then see how it works on the various breaks.

You win a diamond lead in dummy and you play a high spade.  East wins and returns a heart.  You try the ruffing finesse twice (you can’t stand a 6-1 break most of the time), nobody covers but it works.  You lead a small club and ruff high.  If East follows the K is coming down so you can just draw trump and claim.  If East shows out then you do have a guess.  You cross to hand on a red suit ruff and ruff the last club high.  Now you lead a spade from dummy and have to decide whether to play for spades 2-2 or for East to have the 9.  You have a reasonable amount of information about the hand by this time having played quite a few cards.  Generally the finesse is probably right.

This line requires the K onside and works when the clubs are 4-3 and the spades are 3-1 or 2-2 with almost no exceptions.  It works if clubs are 5-2 and spades are 3-1 or 2-2 and the ruffing finesse works except if the 9 is doubleton or tripleton with the clubs.

This line is obviously less than 50% but it does exclude the chance that the defenders will help out a bit.  A trump lead would help (and a club but that seems very unlikely to impossible).  A heart lead might be a bit helpful as it does allow some play in the heart suit which might work on some distributions.

Can we improve this line?  It might be better to try for some cases where the club king is short offside even if that gives up on some of the hands where the trump break 3-1 in the offside hand.  Is it wise to bring hearts into the mix?  I don’t think so after the diamond lead.

If we change the line so we start with a trump and play a small club when in hand with a heart and then cash a high trump in dummy we have some decent changes when the trump are 2-2 and the K is offside doubleton or even in some cases where trumps are 3-1.  Does this bring it back to 50%?  I don’t think so.

With due consideration this contract is less than 50% but close enough that considering the choice of opening lead and possibly less than accurate defense its within spitting distance of that number.

I admit this type of analysis is tricky but it was sort of fun to do.  If anybody wants to take it the next step.  Enjoy!