Board 7

Board 7
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 5 3 2 ♥ K 10 9 2 ♦ A Q 5 4 ♣ 4 2

Partner opens one diamond in third seat. RHO overcalls with one spade, and I double. LHO raises to two spades and partner bids three hearts. The range of this bid is rather wide: anywhere from a good single raise to a bad triple raise. Good/Bad Two Notrump would help to narrow this down a bit, but Jack doesn't play it and neither do I. And I'm not going to unless someone can think up a cleverer name for it. Possibly not even then.

RHO passes, and I carry on to four hearts. This could be a rather poor contract, but the diamond fit argues for pushing a little. West leads the ace of spades, playing ace from ace-king:

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

West		North		East		South
		Pass		Pass		1♦
1♠		Double		2♠		3♥
Pass		4♥		(All Pass)

Let's think about this deal from the opponents' point of view. First, let's suppose West has the ace-king spades and the club king and that trumps are three-two. There are three basic strategies he can adopt. If I have four diamonds, he needn't do anything rash. I have no discards available, so (Plan A) he can defend passively and take whatever tricks he is entitled to. If I have five diamonds, however, he may need to go after his club trick before I pitch one of dummy's clubs on my long diamond. He needs to take two spade tricks and the ace-king of clubs or two spade tricks, some red-suit trick from his partner, and one club. There are two ways to go after his club trick. (Plan B) He can cash his spades and shift to a club, hoping his partner has the ace or queen (plus a red-suit entry in the latter case). Or (Plan C) he can underlead his spade king at trick two, playing his partner for the spade queen and a red-suit entry. East can see all this as well. He knows that a passive defense, a club shift, or a spade underlead are all possible defenses, and he must express his opinion about each one of them. His first job is to express his opinion about an underlead, since partner must make that decision at trick two. The choice between Plans A and B can wait. So his first duty is to play his lowest card without the queen of spades or his highest spot card with the queen. He could also play the queen from queen-jack or the jack from jack-ten (possibly allowing partner to underlying ace-king-queen). Suppose he plays low and partner cashes the king. With dummy's spot cards so conveniently low, he can now play either of his remaining cards to express his opinion about a club shift. The normal way to communicate this message would be with a suit-preference signal: low to show a club card, high to deny one (Technically to show a diamond card. But since partner doesn't really care whether he has a diamond card or not, it simply denies a club card.) This is simply a matter of tradition. Obviously there are other ways to communicate the same information as long as both partners are on the same wavelength. One could play attitude again (high to say don't shift to a club) or even give surrogate count in diamonds. (If partner knows declarer has five diamonds, he might as well shift to a club. ) But, despite my distaste for suit preference in certain other situations (see On Kit Woolsey's 'Taking Control'), suit preference seems like the natural choice here. Other methods, while possible, would require a special understanding.

How will West defend if trumps aren't breaking?

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The usual defense when trumps aren't breaking is to create problems for declarer by tapping him. This will often be ineffective, however, if the hand with the long suit has no entries. In that case, another approach might work better. Consider this layout:

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

If West plays three rounds of spades, you will ruff and cash the ace and queen of hearts. You will be unhappy when West shows out, but the minor suits lies favorably, and you will wind up making your contract. But suppose West cashes two spades and shifts to the nine of diamonds? If you go up for fear he has shifted to a singleton, you will go down. This play isn't especially hard for West to find. He knows trumps aren't breaking and you don't. In such a situation, a good player will be alert for opportunities to put you to a guess before you find out the bad news.

On the ace of spades, East plays the seven. What does he have?

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I assume he has Q7x. The only way the seven can be low is if he has J107, in which case he would play the jack.

Which card do you play to create the maximum ambiguity?

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That was a trick question. It doesn't matter. If you play the nine, West knows his partner has Q87, Q7x, 87x, or Q87x. The second holding is the only one with which he would play the seven, so West knows exactly what his partner has. If you play the eight, West knows his partner has Q97, Q7x, 97x, or Q97x. Again, the second holding is the only one with which he would play the seven. You can't scramble the signal.

At trick two, West cashes the king, and East drops the jack. East, of course, can't have that card. Obviously Jack and I don't see eye to eye on how to signal. I don't think East would encourage without the queen, and surely he would have played the queen from QJ7. So I'm going to assume he had J107.

West shifts to the ten of diamonds. What is going on?

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Most likely either West has a singleton or he's trying to talk you out of a diamond finesse. You don't mind being talked out of the finesse if trumps are three-two. If West does have the king of diamonds, East surely has the king of clubs, so your contract is safe. But, as I pointed out earlier, it would be fatal to refuse the finesse if trumps aren't breaking. What should you do?

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A priori, it is more likely that West began with a singleton diamond than that he began with king doubleton and trumps aren't breaking. Even if that weren't true, the fact remains that a shift from a singleton is easy to find, while a shift from king doubleton isn't. Most players will just routinely play a third round of spades when trumps aren't breaking. It takes foresight to see that a tap doesn't help and that the diamond shift is better. Even an expert will miss this play on occasion, although, if he does, you can be sure he will be annoyed with himself.

I rise with the ace. East plays the three. I draw trump, ending in dummy. West pitches the four of spades on the third round. I play a club--nine--queen--king. West returns the eight of clubs, and I still have to lose a trick to the king of diamonds. Down one:

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

I'm still not sure what seven-jack of spades was all about. In the replay, the auction was identical, and the play began the same way, declarer hopping with the ace after the diamond shift. After that, the play took a decidedly weird turn, but the end result was the same: Down one.

Me - 100
Jack -100

Score on board 7: 0 IMPs
Total: +31 IMPs