The Gargoyle Chronicles: Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 30

Sunday, October 13, 2024

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%.

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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, October 13, 2024

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 30 - Board 6

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