The Gargoyle Chronicles: Board 42

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Board 42

Board 42 (Click to download pbn file)
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 8 5 4 ♥ K J 4 ♦ J 10 7 ♣ A 9 3 2

RHO opens two spades in first seat. I pass, as does everyone else. The jack of diamonds looks like a normal enough opening lead, but I wish I had chosen something else when I see dummy:

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

West	North	East	South
			2 ♠
(All pass)

Declarer plays the queen from dummy--ace--six. Partner shifts to the three of hearts--ace--four--deuce. If declarer has the king-queen of spades, he has eight tricks, so I must assume partner has a spade trick. At trick three, declarer plays the five of clubs. Even with a spade loser, a club ruff will bring him up to eight tricks. It doesn't look promising.

My first thought is that my only chance to beat this is to play partner for a singleton ace of diamonds. Suppose I win the club and lead a diamond. Partner ruffs, plays a heart to me, and I give him another diamond ruff. That's still only five tricks. We need for a second heart to cash. That gives declarer 6-3-3-1, which is impossible. Why would he lead a club at trick three with that?

Is there anything else that might work? Since I'm already playing partner for the spade king, suppose I play him for the ten or nine as well. Perhaps that will enable us to exploit my eight of spades. Suppose I win the club, cash two hearts (the jack, then the king, to retain the lead), then shift to a spade. Declarer wins, plays the diamond queen, ruffs a diamond, and ruffs a club. He's down to all trumps in his hand and we need two trump tricks to beat him. He ruffs a diamond with the ten (or nine, whichever card partner doesn't have). If he leads the queen of spades, trying to pin the eight, he'll go down. But if he leads low, letting partner's king catch air, he'll make it. I have the eight behind declarer's queen, but partner has nothing to play for a trump promotion.

Maybe I'm better off if declarer started with only two hearts. When I try to cash the second heart, he ruffs it, ruffs a club to dummy, and cashes the diamond king. We're down to this position:

	NORTH ♠ A ♥ 10 ♦ 9 5 4 3 ♣ --
WEST ♠ 8 5 4 ♥ -- ♦ 10 ♣ A 2

We need three more tricks. Declarer still has a club loser in his hand, and partner still has the queen of hearts. Declarer cashes the spade ace and ruffs a diamond low. Again, if he leads a low spade, there's nothing we can do. But if he leads the queen, partner can win, cash a club, and play the queen of hearts for a trump promotion. In the diagrammed position, he might do better to ruff a diamond and ruff his last club with the spade ace. We now need three trump tricks. He leads a diamond and ruffs with the six. I overruff with the eight and tap him with a club. If partner has the king-ten of trumps left, he's down. King-nine isn't good enough in this variation.

I hop with the nine of clubs, intending to play jack, then king of hearts. Partner has different ideas. He overtakes my nine with the ten and returns the eight of diamonds, apparently playing me for a singleton diamond. Really, now! Would I rise with the club nine if I needed him to win this trick and give me a diamond ruff? Declarer pitches the five of hearts, I play the ten of diamonds, and dummy wins with the king. Declarer cashes the nine of diamonds and pitches the seven of hearts. It appears he was 6-3-1-3. If so, he can now cross-ruff hearts and clubs and we might or might not have trump tricks when he's done.

Declarer ruffs a heart, ruffs a club with the jack of spades, then cashes the ace of spades. He plays a heart and pitches the jack of clubs, allowing me to score the king of hearts, then takes the rest. Making four.

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

Our spades were good enough to keep declarer from making five. If he had continued the cross-ruff, he would have no way to get off dummy when he was done. Whichever red suit he led, partner could uppercut with his ten of spades, promoting my eight.

If partner did have king-ten of spades and four hearts, would he still have overtaken my nine of clubs? Was I really supposed to hop with the ace of clubs to make sure I retained control of the defense? I don't think so. There's no reason declarer couldn't have the club king.

At the other table, West leads the heart four against the same contract. Maybe that's right. Perhaps there's sufficient danger that dummy has a source of tricks in a minor that I should be making an aggressive lead. Declarer takes East's queen with the ace and plays a diamond to the king. If East wins and returns a trump, they hold declarer to eight tricks. But he ducks! Declarer ruffs a diamond to his hand and plays a club. West wins with the nine, cashes two hearts, then leads the ace of clubs to tap dummy. Declarer ruffs, ruffs a diamond, and plays a trump to the ace. He pitches his last club on a diamond as the defense ruffs. Then he takes the rest. Making three.

Me: -170
Jack: -140

Score on Board 42: -1 IMP
Total: +94 IMPs

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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

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Board 42

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