Board 35

I'm trying something new.  If you click on the link "Board 35" below, you will be able to download a file called "Board 35.PBN".  If you own a copy of Jack or any other bridge-playing software that can read a PBN file, you can then play the deal yourself before reading this post.  Note that you will be South regardless of the compass direction I show here. I'll offer a PBN file for each deal I post from here on out.  If I get ambitious I may go back and offer them for earlier deals as well.

Board 35
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K 7 2 ♥ 4 ♦ K 10 7 4 ♣ J 9 7 4 3

I pass in first seat, and the auction proceeds one heart--pass--one spade to me. It's safer to get into the auction now then to balance over two of a major, so I double. Welcome to the fast lane. Partner might expect a little more in high cards for this double, but it shouldn't matter. Once you know the auction is competitive and you're not going to be bidding game on power, your decisions are going to be based primarily on the Law of Total Tricks. Partner cares only about your shape; your high cards are pretty much immaterial. As Paul Heitner used to say, "I'll tell you my shape. The opponents will tell you what high cards I have."

LHO bids two hearts, and partner bids three diamonds. After two passes, LHO continues with three hearts, and partner doubles. Partner isn't doubling for a one-trick set. He thinks we're collecting a number. So I do expect to beat this, just not by as many tricks as partner expects to. Partner leads the five of clubs:

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

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

This is probably a singleton. It looks as if partner is either 3-4-5-1 or 4-4-4-1, more likely the former, since a three diamond bid with 4-4-4-1 would not be too appealing. Declarer rises with the king. I discourage with the three to show a tolerance for a diamond shift. (This is attitude, not suit preference, in my opinion. I play suit preference at trick one only in very special, well-defined situations.) Declarer plays the deuce, confirming that the lead is a singleton, then plays the jack of spades from dummy. If declarer has a small singleton spade,  I should play the king. I may be able to gain the lead twice to give partner two club ruffs. It would be quite a good play on declarer's part to give me this problem at trick two. But it's more likely declarer has ace doubleton and is simply using dummy's only entry to take a spade finesse. If so, it wouldn't be a good idea to cover and give him a chance to take three spade tricks instead of two. Unless you have good reason to be suspicious, the odds are generally better that declarer is doing something normal than that he's doing something clever. I play the deuce--four--three.

We have no tricks in the black suits. We need to find five tricks in hearts and diamonds. Declarer plays the deuce of diamonds from dummy. I want to make sure I win at least one of these diamond tricks and both if possible, so I play the ten. Declarer plays the five; partner, the three. Why is declarer playing diamonds? Is it possible he has three and I need to shift to a trump to stop the ruff? I'd feel pretty silly giving partner a ruff with a natural trump trick when what he really needs is a trump shift from my side. But how is that possible? I know declarer is two-three in the black suits. Can he really bid this way with 2-5-3-3? I don't see how. His hearts can't be all that good, since he's already shown up with ten high-card points in the black suits. I shift to the club four, letting partner know he can underlead his diamond ace (as if he couldn't work that out himself). Declarer plays the queen, and partner ruffs with the six. Partner plays the ten of spades--five--seven--ace. If I get in with the diamond king, I'll play another club. Otherwise I'm just a spectator from here on out. As it happens, partner has the ace-king-queen of trumps, so we beat three hearts a trick:

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

That was exciting. The diamond from dummy was a nice play. With king-ten fourth, I had an easy decision. But if I had something like king-eight-four-three, it might not occur to me to put up the eight. (At least not for the right reason.  Maybe declarer's play would have a better chance of success against a pair playing upside-down count.)

Of course, we might have trouble managing the diamond suit even if left to our own devices. Give me king-eight fourth of diamonds and give partner queen-ten-nine fifth. Say declarer plays a trump at trick three. Partner wins with the queen, then cashes the king to let me know what's going on in hearts. At that point, I know we need to take one diamond trick and one ruff to beat it. If partner leads low from his queen-ten-nine fifth and declarer plays low from dummy, I would certainly think about playing the eight. Should I actually do it? The eight guarantees down one whenever that's possible, although it will drop a trick if partner has underled the ace. Is there any clue to tell me whether partner has the diamond ace or not? Actually there is. If partner had won the queen of hearts and immediately led a low diamond, I wouldn't even think about playing the eight. I don't know enough about where our tricks are coming from to do anything so esoteric. There can be no technical reason for partner's cashing the heart king before shifting, so it must be an attempt to communicate something to me. That something is probably letting me count our tricks so that I know we need to do whatever is necessary to drill a diamond entry into my hand. It's not an easy defense. It requires alertness on both sides of the table. But I think a good pair should be able to work all this out.

What about partner's double? I don't like it. It's true all he needs to beat this is to find me with an entry somewhere, and he's got three chances to find it. But who says I have one? I know not everyone would double one spade with my hand. But give me dummy's king of clubs, and I don't think anyone would quarrel with it. And if I don't have the diamond ten, we're not beating it. (Try it out. I get strip-squeezed in the black suits.)

To be clear, I'm not saying that partner shouldn't double because I might be light for my bidding.  It's the other way around.  I'm saying it's OK to get into the auction light because partner shouldn't be doubling voluntarily bid contracts on power.   It's simply a losing strategy.  You should double not on power but on surprises. South knows he's not looking at the ace, king, or queen of trumps, so West's hand offers no surprises. West need think no further than that to realize he shouldn't double.

Before you accuse me of being inconsistent (see Board 30), I should point out that the situation is a little different when you're contemplating passing partner's negative or responsive double. When you make a penalty double, your alternative is to defend the contract undoubled. Unless you're beating the contract several tricks, choosing not to double isn't going to be a costly mistake; you're going plus either way. But when you're contemplating passing partner's negative or responsive double, your alternative is to bid something. If you bid something and go minus when you could have defended and gone plus, you have made a costly mistake. As a result, you're willing to cut it a little closer.

At the other table, my hand passes over one spade, and South bids three hearts. That seems too much to me. Three hearts is usually based on seven and a half to eight playing tricks. This hand has only six and a half. If you think this hand is too good to open one heart and rebid two hearts, you might choose to avoid the problem by opening one notrump.  In fact, that would be my preference.

Three hearts ends the auction, and West leads a club. South rides it around to his queen and plays a trump. West takes the queen and king of trumps and switches to the three of diamonds--jack--king--ace. Declarer plays a trump to West's ace, and East pitches the four of diamonds. This is not a good idea, since a diamond pitch should deny a potential entry in the suit. Instead, East should pitch a low spade to deny the spade ace.  In a situation like this, the size of the card is less important than the suit itself, since partner might not be able to tell whether your spot is high or low.  The clearest way to get the message across is to pitch the suit you don't want led.

West apparently concludes that South needed the spade ace for his three heart bid, so he ignores his partner's carding and leads a low diamond anyway. East knows what to do when his ten wins. Down one.

If South rebids two hearts instead of three, my hand is faced with the decision whether to balance or not, the decision I was trying to avoid by doubling a round earlier. I don't know what Jack would do, but I would not balance, since the opponents haven't found a fit.  I would balance if South raises to two spades instead of rebidding two hearts.  But if South raises frequently with three trumps, even then it could be dangerous.  I still think it's safer to double a round earlier.

Me: +200
Jack: +100

Score on Board 35: +3 IMPs
Total: +91 IMPs