Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 30 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

|

♠ 9 7  ♥ A K 10 9  ♦ A J 8 5  ♣ A 6 4

RHO passes. I open with one notrump and partner raises to three. West leads the seven of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
		Pass	1 NT
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

If the seven is fourth best, i.e., from QJ87, then I'm winning the first trick cheaply and taking three heart tricks. If it's from a doubleton or singleton, even better. I can double-hook East out of his queen-jack and take four heart tricks. I play low from dummy. East plays the jack, and I win with the king. (The king is the right card. You would sometimes duck the ace but would almost never duck the king, so winning with the king conveys less information.)

There is some chance West led from Q87. But that's an unattractive lead, so I'll assume the lead is from shortness and RHO has the queen. That means I can take four heart tricks, three spade tricks, and a diamond. If I can take four club tricks, that makes twelve tricks in all.

I need to lead toward the queen-jack of clubs twice to pick up king fourth on my left. If I had entry problems, I would lead a low club now. But I don't, so I might as well cash the ace first in case RHO has a stiff king.

I cash the club ace--nine--three--deuce. Now six of clubs--ten--jack--king. East continues with the four of hearts. I finesse the ten, and it holds. I have the rest. Making six.

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

Plus 490 should be dead average. No other auction is conceivable, and the play was routine. But quite a few declarers managed to take only eleven tricks.

How? They began by playing a spade to dummy to lead the club queen. You can't take five clubs tricks no matter how the suit lies, so finessing East for the king never gains. And it loses if either opponent has a stiff king or if West has king fourth or fifth.

Still, the suit was friendly. So that mistake didn't matter. It was the next mistake that was fatal. If you lead the club queen, it holds, and you find yourself in this position:

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

You need to take two heart finesses to come to twelve tricks. Having squandered one of your spade entries, you must take one finesse now. Then you can drive the club king, run clubs, and finish with a second finesse. The declarers who reached this position, however, played another club and held themselves to eleven tricks.

Taking a heart finesse in this position is indeed dangerous. If it loses, a spade shift will kill the dummy, and you will lose the club suit. But we decided at trick one that the heart queen was onside. It's not clear to me whether these declarers failed to deduce at trick one that the heart queen was onside or whether they didn't notice that they were running out of entries. But, for whatever reason, playing this hand correctly was worth a generous 82%.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 30 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ A J 4  ♥ K 10 8 7 3  ♦ J 4  ♣ K 6 2

Two passes to me. I open with one heart. LHO passes, partner bids one spade, and RHO passes.

Some players are fond of passing one-level responses with a minimum third-seat opening. A game is unlikely, they reason, and if you bid again, partner's rebid may get you too high.

I try to avoid passing, since it makes it too easy for the opponents to enter the auction. If partner's rebid gets you too high, then maybe the opponents could have made something.

In this case, however, the fact that the robots don't allow three-card raises of responder's major creates a problem. Since I can't raise to two spades, my only choices are one notrump and pass. I've observed the robots don't always correct a one notrump rebid to their five-card major. So I'm worried that, if I bid one notrump, I may play it there when we belong in spades. It feels wrong to "correct" to what is probably an inferior strain. So, while I don't especially like making it easy for LHO to balance, I choose to pass.

LHO balances with one trump, which the tooltip says shows the minors. He shouldn't have a lot of shape, since he didn't bid over one heart. I suspect he's five-four one way or the other.

Partner bids two spades, presumably inferring my three-card support from my pass. RHO bids three diamonds.

After two passes, partner competes again with three spades. I suppose he has six spades--and not a good suit, since he declined to open with a weak two-bid. Now I wish I had bid one notrump.  Partner would have corrected to two spades and we probably would have bought it there. Letting LHO in cheaply resulted in our being pushed to the three level. Passing led to exactly the outcome I was afraid of.

Everyone passes, and RHO leads the three of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
			Pass
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	Pass	1 NT	2 ♠
3 ♦	Pass	Pass	3 ♠
(All pass)

The three is the lowest outstanding club, so it appears clubs are three-four. West must have four diamonds to have bid three diamonds, so East apparently balanced with one notrump with only four-four in the minors.

I play low from dummy, East plays the ten, and I win with the queen.

Nine tricks is going to be difficult. I'm going to need West to have the club jack so that clubs are sente for the defense. In that case, West must have the diamond ace. Otherwise he would have preferred a diamond lead to an unattractive lead from jack third. That means I'm losing two diamonds, a heart, and a club. I'm going to need West to have the spade king, and I'll need to dispose of my third club and my third diamond somehow. 

How might I do that? Suppose trumps are two-two and the heart ace is onside. Then I can ruff a diamond and pitch a club on the heart king. That means I'm playing West for

♠ Kx  ♥ A x x x  ♦ A x x x  ♣ J x x.

But that's an opening bid. He can't have that hand. How about this hand?

♠ K x  ♥ x x x x  ♦ A Q x x  ♣ J x x

I can draw trumps, then lead toward the jack of diamonds. The defense can't continue clubs. So eventually I pitch one of dummy's clubs on my diamond king and ruff a club.

That sounds like my best shot. I lead the ten of spades and float it. It holds. Now a low spade. West plays low. I play the jack, and East pitches the seven of clubs.

Trumps weren't two-two. That means I can't ruff anything in dummy. My only chance is to develop a heart trick for a club pitch. Maybe West has the heart queen and East will hop with his ace when I lead a low heart from dummy, thinking I'm trying to sneak through my stiff queen.

I cash the spade ace, and East pitches the five of hearts. Now a low heart from dummy. East plays the jack; West, the nine. That didn't work. This is the position, with East on lead:

	NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ K 10 8 7 ♦ J 4 ♣ K 6
	SOUTH Robot ♠ Q 9 7 ♥ -- ♦ K 8 2 ♣ 9 5

At least East is now endplayed. He must give me one of dummy's kings or break diamonds. So I don't need West to hold the diamond queen anymore.

East shifts to five of diamonds. West wins with the queen. West did have the queen, so the endplay was unnecessary. I still have the diamond ace and two clubs to lose, so I'm going down one.

West cashes the diamond ace and shifts to the four of clubs. I play low from dummy, and East takes the ace. Making three.

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

Plus 140 is worth 100%. No surprise, since there is no way to make this legitimately. I have no idea why West shifted to a club at the end. I can't imagine how he thought it could cost to exit with a heart or a diamond.

I almost found the best line. At least I avoided leading up to the heart king early. That's a superficially attractive line, but it can't work if my inference about the diamond ace is correct. In the end, though, it wasn't my play that mattered. The defense simply handed me a gift.

Why "almost" the best line? Leading the spade queen for the finesse rather than the ten would have been better. It shouldn't make any difference. West should see that covering might allow me to use one of dummy's trumps to ruff with. But if he does foolishly cover, I might save a trick.

Take this layout, for instance:

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

If West ducks the spade queen, I'm down two. If he covers, I can take the ace and lead the heart king from dummy, keeping West off play so he can't lead another trump. East wins and plays another heart, which I ruff. I now play a diamond to the jack, hoping to find West with the queen. That fails, but the defense can't stop me from getting a diamond ruff, so I get out for down one.

So far as the auction goes, East's balancing one notrump was wrong. He should have doubled, showing a three-suit takeout, to bring hearts into the picture. Hearts is his best suit after all. Since I opened in third seat, I might have only four hearts and hearts could easily be the right strain.