Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 30 - Board 7

Board 7
Both sides vulnerable

♠ A 9 4 3  ♥ A K  ♦ K Q 6  ♣ K 7 6 5

I open with one club in first seat. Partner bids three clubs, pre-emptive.

Should you bid three notrump with 18-19 balanced opposite a pre-emptive raise? My partnership notes say, "yes." If responder has no interest in playing three notrump opposite that hand, he shouldn't make a pre-emptive raise. Some say, "no." Responder is expected to be weak, and any hand that want to play in three notrump opposite 18 to 19 balanced doesn't qualify. It's a matter of partnership agreement, but you need to make one agreement or the other and responder should bid accordingly.

There was a poll on Bridge Winners a few years ago: "I've heard some say that, playing inverted minors, one should avoid the pre-emptive raise to three with a hand that wants to play 3NT opposite a balanced 18-19. Do you agree with this?" The answers were evenly divided, so there does not appear to be a consensus on this matter.

When I hover my mouse over three notrump, the tooltip says it shows 21 HCP. So the robots, if they subscribed to Bridge Winners, would presumably answer 'yes' to the poll. But I don't believe the tooltip. I've seen the robots make pre-emptive raises with quite good hands. So I'm bidding three notrump. If partner has the wrong hand and three notrump has little play, maybe the cards will lie favorably. Or maybe the opponents will misdefend.

I bid three notrump. Everyone passes, and LHO leads the three of hearts.

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

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

See what I mean? I don't understand three clubs with this hand. Even in my style, I would bid one notrump rather than three clubs, since I believe three clubs suggests more shape. In a style where you don't expect partner to bid three notrump without 21 HCP, three clubs makes no sense at all.

The deuce of hearts is missing, so I'm not sure which opponents has five hearts. But hearts are probably five-four one way or the other. 

What do I need to make this? If clubs come home, I'll take four clubs, two hearts, and two spades, for eight tricks. If I knock out the diamond ace, they will take three hearts and two aces for down one. So I need to find my ninth trick in spades. I could simply take a finesse. Or I could hope that the hand with five hearts has the diamond ace and the spade queen. If so, he'll be squeezed when I run clubs. He must either come down to a doubleton spade or pitch a heart, allowing me to knock out the diamond ace. Of course, it will take some good card-reading to exploit that possibility.

I play low from dummy and East plays the jack. If I had the ace alone, I might duck. If I had the king alone, I couldn't afford to duck. So the king conveys less information. I win with the king and lead the six of clubs--deuce--queen--ten. I continue with a club to my king. East discards the deuce of diamonds, which is probably from a five-card suit. That makes East either 3-4-5-1 or 2-5-5-1.

West takes the club ace and leads the ten of hearts. East plays the eight, and I win with the ace. If West began with ten fifth, it would be strange to lead the ten. He would be more apt to retain it to avoid blocking the suit. So I suspect he has four hearts, making East 2-5-5-1. It's also possible hearts are 3-6, though West might have chosen a spade lead over a heart if that were the case.

I might as well run clubs to see what I can find out. Since West seems to have spade length, I'll probably wind up taking a spade finesse unless something strange happens.

I lead the seven of clubs to the jack. East pitches the five of diamonds. This is the current position:

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

If I finish running clubs, I'll need to lead a spade to the ace to take the finesse. If spades are three-three, then I won't be able to cash the fourth spade. So if I want to retain the option of taking four spade tricks, I must lead a club to my five and play a spade to the jack now. But my provisional construction places East with 2-5-5-1. Since it doesn't appear spades are three-three, I think I'd prefer to cash two more clubs and get more information.

I cash the eight of clubs. East pitches the seven of diamonds; West, the seven of spades. That's an unexpected card. Does that mean he doesn't have the queen? Or might he pitch from queen fourth? Actually, he might. Since I don't have two hand entries anymore, pitching from queen fourth is perfectly safe.  I don't think I can assume East has the queen.

I cash dummy's last club. East pitches the deuce of spades; West pitches the six of spades. There are only three spades left. If I'm right that East was 2-5-5-1, then the spades are dropping, and I can make an overtrick by cashing dummy's king and overtaking the jack with my ace.

Could my construction be wrong? Can West have all three remaining spades? If so, I go down if I cash the spade king. I must, instead, lead a low spade to my ace and take a finesse. But a low spade from dummy blocks the suit and gives up the overtrick if spades split.

For West to have three spades, East must be 1-6-5-1. That means West led a heart from ten-third rather than his own five-card spade suit. And it means West echoed with five spades, playing 7-6 from Q10876. Any one of those three things is possible, but they are all unlikely. So I'm not playing for the parlay. I cash the king of spades--eight--four--ten. I take three more spades and concede the last two tricks. Making four.

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

Plus 630 is worth 86%. Cashing all the clubs turned out to be a good idea. Had I led a club to the five for an early spade finesse, it might have been easier for West to hold his spades.

Actually, it was pretty easy for him to hold spades on this line. Why did West pitch the second spade anyway? Could that ever have been right? Maybe he was playing me for

♠ A x x  ♥ A K Q 6  ♦ Q x  ♣ K x x x

and assumed his partner had squandered the eight of hearts on the second round. If so, this would be the position, with West to play:

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

A heart or the diamond ace gives me a trick. If he pitches a low diamond, I can cash three spades and lead a diamond, forcing him to lead into my queen-six of hearts. But a spade pitch doesn't help. After three rounds of spades, ending in my hand, he's faced with the same problem. If he thinks this is the layout, his best play is to pitch a low diamond and hope his partner has the six of hearts. 

Surprisingly, everyone is in three notrump. Given the lack of consensus on the Bridge Winners poll and given what the tooltip says, I would have thought at least some would pass three clubs.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 30 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A K 5 4  ♥ K J 9 6  ♦ 8  ♣ K J 5 4

RHO passes. I bid one club, partner bids one diamond, and RHO chimes in with one notrump, showing the unbid suits. Double also shows the unbid suits. I'm not sure under what conditions the robots choose one notrump over double.

Double by me would be a support double of diamonds. I like support doubles for majors, but support doubles for diamonds make no sense to me. In any event, playing the robots' methods, pass is my only option. I pass, LHO bids two spades, and partner bids three spades, showing a good hand with club support. I have both majors under control, so I bid three notrump. Everyone passes, and LHO leads the three of spades.

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

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

Dummy's queen holds, East playing the deuce. 

When partner shows the majors, one generally bids hearts with equal length. This is especially true when partner is a passed hand. With 6-5 in the majors, one can open quite light. But 5-6 is problematic. If you open one heart, you may lose the spade suit. If you open one spade and bid hearts, partner will expect your spades to be equal or longer (and rightly so). So one is less apt to open light with 5-6. That means if you pass and show majors, you are more likely to have six hearts than six spades.

So West should be 3-2 in the majors, making his partner 5-6. Since I need diamonds to break, I need to hope East is 5-6-2-0.  If so, I can play a club to my hand and a diamond up. Then I need to guess whether to play West for king third or jack third. If I guess correctly, I set up six tricks in diamonds. If I guess incorrectly, I'm probably going down.

A priori, it's 50-50 which honor West holds. But the auction changes those odds. Sometimes when West holds jack third, East would have opened the bidding in first seat. For example, East probably would have opened with

♠ J 10 x x x  ♥ A Q x x x x  ♦ K x  ♣ --

but not with

♠ J 10 x x x  ♥ A Q x x x x  ♦ J x  ♣ -- .

That means some of the hands where West holds jack third are eliminated, making it better than 50% that West holds the diamond king.

I lead a club to my king, and East pitches the deuce of hearts. I was hoping he would show out, but the deuce is unexpected. BBO robots consistently pitch count cards, so I know he's 5-5-3-0. West, for some reason, chose to bid spades rather than hearts with equal length. That means it makes no difference whether I finesse the queen or ten of diamonds. If West has either honor doubleton, I take six diamond tricks whichever card I play.

Since it makes no difference what I do if my construction is correct, I might as well assume it's wrong. I'll proceed with my plan to finesse the diamond queen just in case East gave false count in hearts, though I seriously doubt he did.

I play a diamond, West plays the nine, I play the queen from dummy, and East wins with the king. He now cashes the heart ace--six--four--deuce, then shifts to the spade jack. We've reached this position with me to play to the spade jack:

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

If East began with king third of diamonds, then West's jack is dropping and I have the rest. I can pitch clubs on the ace and king of spades; lead a club to the ace; cash the diamond ace, dropping the jack; and run diamonds. 

What happens if the jack doesn't drop? The jack of diamonds gives East nine HCP. He presumably would have opened the bidding with the heart queen as well, so West has it. This will be the position after I cash the diamond ace:

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

I've taken six tricks. When I lead a diamond, East will win and cash his spades, and I must come down to two cards. If I come down to king-jack of hearts, West keeps two hearts. If I come down to the king of hearts and the club jack, West keeps his queen of clubs. So the king of hearts is all I get, for down two.

Perhaps I do better to cash one spade and one heart before leading a club to dummy, to avoid setting up East's spade suit. Now if the jack of diamonds doesn't drop, this will be the position:

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

I lead a diamond to East's jack, pitching a heart as West pitches a club. East now leads a heart. West wins and tosses me in with a spade to lead clubs into his queen-ten. Again, down two.

Against best defense, it makes no difference which two cards I cash, but cashing a spade and a heart at least requires both opponents to stay awake. If West carelessly pitches a spade or if East carelessly exits with a spade in the end position, I can endplay West and score my club jack.

I win the spade ace and cash the king of hearts, pitching clubs from dummy. Now I play a club to the ace and cash the diamond ace. The jack drops, and I claim. Making five.

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

Plus 460 is worth 96%. Seems generous. 

At the point East shifted to the spade jack, he could have returned a diamond to endplay dummy, holding me to four. But for all he knows, I have the club queen and there's no endplay. And there is no reason his partner couldn't have the spade ace, in which case the defense can take at least two spade tricks on a spade return. So the spade return seems normal.

The opening lead made things harder for East than it needed to be. Having supported spades, West should lead the seven if he choses to lead the suit at all. Or he could lead a heart, since he has some help in that suit. But, given everyone is playing against the same opponents, everyone should get the same opening lead. So I'm not sure why everyone isn't scoring 460.

Weirdly, about half the field actually went down. I no longer have access to the play at other tables, so I can't see how they managed that.

[Addendum: I posed this as a play problem on social media and a surprising number of people suggested playing ace and a small diamond. I have no idea what the point of that play is, and no one explained why he thought it was better than taking a finesse. But at least it explains how some are going down.]

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 30 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ A 8 4  ♥ Q J 10 7 2  ♦ J 8  ♣ A J 8

Partner passes, and East opens with one spade. Does this hand merit a two-level vulnerable overcall? There are several negative factors: I have only a five-card suit. I'm balanced. And I have the worst holding (three cards) in the opponent's suit. The only positive is my 13 HCP. But those high cards are just as useful on defense as on offense.

If I bid two hearts and the auction proceeds pass--pass--double--all pass, I won't be happy. But that's almost always true. If I worry too much about being doubled, I won't overcall frequently enough. A better question to ask is, would I be happy if I bid two hearts and it's passed out? The answer is "no." If RHO doesn't want to balance, the hand is probably a misfit. There is an excellent chance I will go minus 200. And, even if I hold it to down one, it's likely I would have gone plus on defense.

Still, it's close. I would bid non-vulnerable, since minus 200 is no longer a consideration. And I would bid vulnerable if you made the seven of hearts the nine. That card means I rate to take three tricks more in hearts than I would on defense.

I pass, LHO bids one notrump, RHO rebids two spades, and everyone passes. I lead the queen of hearts.

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

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

It appears I made the right opening lead. If we drive dummy's heart entry, perhaps declarer will be unable to make use of the diamond suit.

Declarer plays low from dummy, partner plays the five, and declarer wins with the king. He leads a low spade. I play low, and partner captures dummy's ten with the king. I'm expecting a heart return to knock out dummy's ace. But partner shifts to the ten of clubs. Declarer plays the king and I win with the ace. Here is the position, with me on lead:

	NORTH Robot ♠ 7 ♥ A 8 ♦ K 9 7 5 2 ♣ 5 3
WEST Phillip ♠ A 8 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ J 8 ♣ J 8

Why didn't partner knock out dummy's heart ace? Maybe he knows diamonds aren't a threat. He must have something like A10xx or Q10xx. 

Could it be right to persist in clubs? Let's give declarer some hand like

♠ Q J x x x x  ♥ K x  ♦ Q x  ♣ K Q x

Say I return the jack of clubs and play a third club if declarer ducks it. When I win the spade ace, I can play a diamond to partner and get a fourth club, promoting my eight of spades if partner has the nine. That makes three spade tricks, two clubs, and the diamond ace for down one.

I don't see any reason that can't be the layout. Shifting back to hearts would just be insulting partner. He knows what his diamonds are. If he didn't think knocking out the heart ace was necessary, he's probably right.

I play the jack of clubs. Partner plays the nine; declarer, the four. The nine? I hold the eight, so if partner knows he can afford the nine, he must have led from Q109. That gives declarer

♠ Q J x x x x  ♥ K x  ♦ Q x  ♣ K x x

or perhaps

♠ Q J x x x x  ♥ K x  ♦ A x  ♣ K x x .

In the former case, we have six tricks without a trump promotion. In the latter case, we need to score my spade eight for the setting trick.

It is strange that partner didn't overtake. If he could afford the nine, he could afford the queen. How did he know I had another club to lead? Maybe I have something wrong. Still, I see no reason not to continue clubs.

I lead the eight of clubs. Partner plays the seven, and declarer ruffs with the five. So declarer is 6-3-2-2. We have a heart trick instead of a club trick.

Declarer plays the six of diamonds to the king, and partner takes the ace. We still have a heart trick coming, so declarer is down one. Can we beat this two if partner has the nine of spades? If he does, this is the current position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ 7 ♥ A 8 ♦ 9 7 5 2 ♣ --
WEST Phillip ♠ A 8 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ J ♣ --		EAST Robot ♠ 9 ♥ x ♦ 10 x x ♣ Q x
	SOUTH Robot ♠ Q J x x ♥ x x ♦ Q ♣ --

If partner plays a heart, I get a heart trick but no trump promotion. If partner plays a club, declarer pitches a heart from his hand. I score my spade eight but no heart trick. It appears down one is the best we can do.

Partner shifts to the four of hearts, so I get a heart trick. Down one.

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

Plus 50 is worth 21%.

Overcalling two hearts would have worked out better. You play it there and make it. Funny that being passed out in two hearts was an auction I feared. In fact, if I had bid two hearts, heard it go all pass, and were told I could take my bid back, I would jump at the chance.

I still think pass is the percentage call. At least it would be at IMPs. I did go plus after all, which your primary concern in partscore battles at IMPs. At matchpoints, where you must aim for the highest plus score, who knows what's right? Partscore battles at matchpoints are hard. Sometimes the winning action seems pretty random to me.