The Gargoyle Chronicles: ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021

Sunday, September 19, 2021

ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither vulnerable

♠ Q 5 ♥ A K Q J 9 5 ♦ J 8 5 ♣ J 6

RHO opens one club in third seat. I bid one heart. LHO raises to two clubs, partner bids two spades, and RHO passes.

Partner tends to have good suits for his weak two bids. So he probably has a six-card spade suit that wasn't up to his standards. A good five-card suit is possible but unlikely, since it would be dangerous to bid past two of my suit with only five spades and no expectation of a fit.

Should I pass or correct to three hearts? Even though my suit is better, it's a level higher. For it to be necessary to correct to hearts in order to go plus, hearts would have to take two tricks more than spades. I see no reason to believe that's true.

I realize that's more of an IMP than a matchpoint philosophy. But my experience is that other tables find all kinds of ways to go minus. So even at matchpoints my primary goal in partscore auctions is to go plus. I rate to go plus here. Who knows what will happen if I bid three hearts? Partner might even bid again.

I pass. West passes also and leads the deuce of hearts.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ Q 5 ♥ A K Q J 9 5 ♦ J 8 5 ♣ J 6

	SOUTH Robot ♠ K 10 8 6 4 3 ♥ 4 ♦ 10 9 ♣ A Q 9 8

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
		Pass	Pass
1 ♣	1 ♥	2 ♣	2 ♠
(All pass)

East wouldn't be raising without four clubs, so West has only three. Why is he leading a heart? A lead from three small in my suit would be weird. I suspect he has four hearts and is trying to give his partner a ruff. So he is either 4-4-2-3 or 3-4-3-3.

I might as well pitch one of my diamond losers. I win with the ace and cash the king, pitching a diamond. East plays six--eight. West follows to the second heart with the three.

Now what? If I try to cash a third heart and East ruffs, I have lost my chance to take a club finesse. That may not matter. I don't expect the club finesse to work, since I don't think West would have led dummy's suit if he had a safe club lead. So I might as well try a third round of hearts. Good choice. Both opponents follow, and I pitch my last diamond. So West is apparently 4-3-3-3.

I was wrong about the heart split. Let's see if I'm wrong about the club finesse as well. I lead the club jack--five--eight--king. West belatedly tries the the diamond ace. East plays the deuce and I ruff. If West has ace-jack-nine fourth of spades, he has three trump tricks unless I can endplay him. Can I? I can cash the ace-queen of clubs and ruff a club to dummy as West pitches a diamond. Then I ruff out his last diamond and lead a spade. He can't take more than two spade tricks.

Embarking on this plan, I cash the ace and queen of clubs, pitching a heart from dummy. West's ten drops. Now my nine is good. This is the current position:

	NORTH Phillip ♠ Q 5 ♥ J 9 ♦ J 8 ♣ --

	SOUTH Robot ♠ K 10 8 6 4 ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ 9

When I lead the nine of clubs, West ruffs with the deuce, and I overruff with the five.That's another way to hold him to two trump tricks. Can I hold him to one? If he has ace-jack-small of spades left, there is nothing I can do. My only hope is that East's singleton is the jack.

I lead the spade queen. No such luck. East follows with the nine. I have to lose two spade tricks. Making four.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ Q 5 ♥ A K Q J 9 5 ♦ J 8 5 ♣ J 6
WEST Robot ♠ A J 7 2 ♥ 10 3 2 ♦ A 7 6 ♣ K 10 7		EAST Robot ♠ 9 ♥ 8 7 6 ♦ K Q 4 3 2 ♣ 5 4 3 2
	SOUTH Robot ♠ K 10 8 6 4 3 ♥ 4 ♦ 10 9 ♣ A Q 9 8

95%! Another surprisingly good result. True, West made a poor opening lead. But it's not even his worst opening lead. Leading the suit they had bid and raised would have dropped yet another trick. Besides, everyone has the same opponents, so you wouldn't expect this result to be unusual.

The reason it is unusual is that most players are in hearts. Some bid three hearts over two spades and played it there. Others tried a two-heart overcall over one club, pre-empting partner out of mentioning his suit altogether. A two-heart overcall is not a terrible choice opposite a passed hand. In fact, it's somewhat unlucky that it works out poorly. One would not expect that hearts is the wrong strain. In fact, the only reason it is is that East has an easier opening lead than West does.

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About This Blog

First, a word or two about who am I so you have some idea how seriously to take the advice you find here. I retired from tournament bridge in 1992 (coincidentally, the year my daughter was born). At the time, I had accumulated a little over 5000 masterpoints. I had won numerous regional events and had finished second or third in several national events. Annoyingly, I have never won a national event of any significance. (The qualification is necessary. I did win one national event of little significance.) My best result was second place in the Grand National Teams (with John Lowenthal, Michael Becker, Ron Rubin, Michael Rosenberg, and Brian Glubok). I have theories about why this is, but I won't bore you with them now.

I am still in contact with many of my friends from tournament days. So I still discuss bridge and, occasionally, still write articles for Bridge World magazine, some of which you can find reprinted here: Phillip Martin's Bridge Articles

I have always enjoyed writing about bridge and have, from time to time, considered starting a blog. I think there is a void in the bridge literature that I can make some attempt to fill. Bob Hamman has stated that most people play bridge by asking themselves what they should do. Instead, they should be asking themselves what is going on. Once you figure that out, what to do will often suggest itself. I think he is right about that, and I think bridge literature is partly responsible. Bridge books and articles focus on the unusual and the spectacular. They can get you in the habit of looking for opportunities to shine, which isn’t what you should be thinking about.

The late John Lowenthal, my partner for years, was perhaps the king of doing the unusual, especially on defense. But he always found these plays by being alert to what was going on, not by simply looking for opportunities to do something unexpected. If declarer spurned a finesse John expected him to take or failed to attack a suit that John expected him to attack, John would ask himself why. Frequently, the answer to this question would reveal the entire deal. Then John could be creative and think about finding some way to deflect declarer from the winning line. And, often, he succeeded.

What I am going to attempt to do in this blog is to show by example how one should think about the game. The focus will be on process, not on results. How do you figure out what is going on? How do you try to conceal what’s going on to the opponents? How do you try to clarify the position to partner? These are the skills that separate the expert from the intermediate player more than the ability to execute a backwash squeeze. And, for this purpose, almost any deal can provide material for discussion.

What I propose to do is to play in BBO robot individuals and report on each deal in detail, focusing on the questions I ask myself and how I reach each decision. I will report on each deal, not just the ones I find interesting or instructive. This blog will probably not be of much help to a beginner, but I think it will be instructive for an intermediate player. And my expert friends will finally see what is going on inside my head when I’m in one of my interminable huddles.

I will be South, but, following convention, I will always make South declarer in the diagrams. Thus my reported compass direction may change from deal to deal.

I should point out that not all of my ideas are mainstream. I considered including a catalog of quirks, but I decided that was unnecessary. They will become apparent in due time.

The Gargoyle Chronicles

Sunday, September 19, 2021

ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021 - Board 8

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