The Gargoyle Chronicles: Board 78

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Board 78

Board 78
Neither vulnerable

♠ A J 6 2 ♥ A J 10 5 ♦ K 9 7 ♣ 7 2

RHO opens one club, and I double. LHO bids two clubs, and partner doubles. According to Jack's footnote, this shows 8 or more high-card points and at least four-four in the majors. RHO bids three clubs. I see no reason to bid. I don't think we can make a game unless partner can act again on him own. If he has extra high cards, he will double again, and if he has a five-card major, he will bid it without any encouragement from me. I don't want to bid at the three level simply to compete for the partscore when I have only eight trumps. True, the double fit suggests total tricks will be high. But if partner is four-four in the majors, he is probably 4-4-3-2. The matching pattern offsets the advantage of the double fit.

I pass, LHO passes, partner bids three hearts, and RHO passes. The fifth heart improves my hand considerably. I'm willing to bid game. The question is which game. If partner is 4-5-3-1, four spades could easily be better, since I might be able to pitch a diamond on partner's fifth heart. If partner is 4-5-2-2, four hearts will probably be better, since they may be able to threaten a heart ruff if we play in spades.

I have no way of knowing which game is better. But I'm pretty sure Jack will choose hearts at the other table, so I bid four spades, which ends the auction. West leads the queen of clubs.

	NORTH ♠ K 9 7 3 ♥ Q 6 4 3 2 ♦ A J ♣ 10 9

	SOUTH ♠ A J 6 2 ♥ A J 10 5 ♦ K 9 7 ♣ 7 2

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

East plays the four. He's probably encouraging with ace-king-four-three. I play the deuce, and West continues the the five of clubs to East's king. Clubs are obviously five-four. West might have shifted to a singleton heart. If so, that means heart are either three-one or two-two. In the former case, East must be 4-1-4-4. In the latter, he is either 4-2-3-4 or 3-2-4-4. This is hardly certain. West won't necessarily shift to a singleton heart. But those are the patterns I'm most inclined to place East with at the moment.

East continues with the ace of clubs. Giving me a ruff and sluff supports the idea that he has four spades. So 4-1-4-4 or 4-2-3-4 is starting to look quite likely. I pitch a diamond and ruff with the seven of spades. I'm not sure this is going to matter, but it probably can't hurt. The spade seven can only get in the way.

If East is balanced, he must have the king of hearts to come to 12 high-card points. If he is 4-1-4-4, the heart king might be offside, in which case I'm probably going down. I have a slim chance of making on that layout if I take the heart finesse right away (very slim--West must return a spade or a diamond to let me make it). But it doesn't hurt to try, so I lead the queen of hearts--king--ace--seven. If I'm right that East has four spades, I can still pick up the suit if West's singleton is the queen, ten, or eight. I lead the deuce of spades--eight--king--four. Then the nine of spades from dummy, on which East plays the five. I can't go down by finessing. If West has another spade, East can't have a singleton heart. So I duck. West pitches the three of diamonds, and I claim the balance. Making five.

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

At the other table, the auction is the same up to the point where East bids three clubs. My counterpart then bids three hearts. I've already explained why I think that's wrong. West bids four clubs, and North bids four hearts.

West leads his singleton eight of spades. Declarer covers with the nine--queen--ace. With the opponents threatening a spade ruff, it would be dangerous to take a heart finesse. So declarer plays ace and a heart. He later finesses against the ten of spades to make four. So four spades did take one more trick than four hearts. It would have been nice if that were the tenth trick rather than the eleventh.

Me: +450
Jack: +420

Score on Board 78: +1 IMP
Total: -127 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

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Board 78

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