Free Weekly Instant Tournament - July 25 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K J 9 6 5 4  ♥ Q 2  ♦ A K 7 5  ♣ K

Several readers have complained about this blogger platform and their annoying ads, so I've been looking for another platform. I considered Substack. But I decided why not move into the 21st century? YouTube videos about bridge and chess have become quite popular, so why not give it a try?

It's a bit of work to produce them, but I think the presentation is better. It's certainly easier to follow the play when you have dynamic graphics. Give it a try and tell me what you think. For those who prefer reading to watching, the text version is below. But rest assured nothing is in the text that isn't also in the video:

I open with one spade in second seat and partner bids one notrump.

Should I rebid two spades or two diamonds? The answer depends on what I intend to do if partner rebids two notrump. If I intend to bid game, then I should bid two diamonds. Then, over two notrump, I can bid three spades, forcing. If I don't want to bid game, then I should bid two spades. Now, if partner bids two notrump, my three-diamond rebid is non-forcing. With this hand, I want to reach game if partner invites, so I bid two diamonds.

Partner takes a preference to two spades. A useful rule of thumb when partner shows a preference is to bid one less than you would have bid had he raised. If you would have bid game over a single raise, then invite. If you would have invited, then pass. I would have invited over an immediate two spade-bid, so I pass now.

Two spades ends the auction. West leads the four of clubs.

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

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

I'm off three top tricks. Game depends on picking up the spade suit. I wouldn't mind being in game vulnerable at IMPs. But at matchpoints, I'm glad I stayed low.

I play low from dummy, and East takes the ace. He shifts to the jack of hearts. I cover with the queen, and West takes the ace. He continues with the five of hearts to East's king. West should be returning a count card: his highest heart to show an even number or his lowest to show an odd number. But the robots don't do that (much to my annoyance when I defend with them). So East doesn't know whether I have a third heart or not.

Given that, if East has queen third of spades, he will play another heart, trying to tap dummy, so I can't take a spade finesse. If I don't have a third heart, that will give me a ruff-sluff. But so what? East knows I have no loser to pitch, so a ruff-sluff won't help me.

When East leads a heart, I'll ruff in my hand and play a spade to the ace for a finesse. Is there anything I can do if East has queen fourth of spades? Maybe. If West's singleton is the ten, dummy's eight of spades will hold. Then I can ruff a club to my hand and play a diamond to dummy, reaching this position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ 10 8 ♣ Q J 10
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ K J ♥ -- ♦ A K 7 ♣ --

Now I lead clubs. If East ruffs, I overruff and claim. If he refuses to ruff, I pitch all my diamonds and coup him at trick twelve.

But East surprises me by shifting to the five of clubs. East might have queen doubleton of spades. But There's no way he has queen third and didn't try to tap dummy. Does that mean I should take a backwards finesse against West?

A backwards finesse picks up queen third or queen doubleton of spades in the West hand--three cases each for a total of six cases. Finessing against East picks up those same six cases in the East hand. In addition, it picks up queen-ten third (three cases) and queen-ten doubleton (one case), for a total of ten cases. Thus, a priori, and ignoring four-one breaks, the forward finesse is a 10 to 6 favorite. But knowing East can't have queen third or queen-ten third changes that. The odds are now 6 to 4 in favor of the backwards finesse.

Could I be wrong about this inference? I don't see how. There is no reason from East's point of view that I can't be 5-3-4-1. So if he has queen third of spades, a heart return is automatic.

I lead the jack of spades--three--eight--deuce. Yay!. Now a low spade--seven--ace--ten. And a diamond to my hand. That wins, and I claim ten tricks.

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

We didn't need to reach game. Plus 170 is worth 93%.

It was careless of East not to return a third heart. I would have no reason to take the backwards finesse if he did. Perhaps he was avoiding a possible ruff-sluff on principle. Inexperienced players often avoid giving ruff-sluffs, because they know it's sometimes a bad idea. But if you know declarer has no losers to pitch, a ruff-sluff is something you should routinely consider. It can't hurt. And sometimes good things happen.

For example, change my hand to

♠ K J x x x  ♥ Q x  ♦ K J x x  ♣ K x

What do I do if East plays a third heart at trick four? If I ruff in dummy, I can no longer take a spade finesse. If I ruff in my hand, I'm in danger of being tapped out. I would hate to find myself in that position.

And yes. I know. If East held the queen of spades and could see my hand, failing to play a heart to talk me into a backward finesse would be a very clever play. But he can't see my hand. And, frankly, this East isn't that clever even if he could see it.