Match 2 - Board 13

Board 13
Both sides vulnerable

♠ A 7 3 2 ♥ K Q J 10 7 ♦ Q 2 ♣ 6 2

Pass by partner; one notrump (15-17) on my right. I don't expect to make a game opposite a passed hand, and I think I'm likelier to get a plus score defending one notrump than I am playing two of a major. So my inclination is to pass. As a general rule, I'm hesitant to bid over an opponent's one notrump opening without a singleton.

This is a pretty good hand, however, so I might bid even without a singleton if not for the fact that I have both majors. That probably sounds strange to you. And it should. As far as I know, I'm the only one in the world who thinks that holding both majors is a deterent to bidding over one notrump. Let me attempt to explain. Maybe I can actually win one or two converts.

Suppose my spades and clubs or my spades and diamonds were reversed. Now, if I pass, there is a serious danger that I will wind up defending two spades. Passing might not be so bad if the opponents weren't playing transfers, since I would have a chance to balance over two spades. But, if I pass and the auction continues two hearts--pass--two spades, I won't know whether the auction is about to end or not. It is surely less dangerous to bid on the first round than to bid now.

With the actual hand, however, I'm not too worried about defending two spades. LHO is less likely to have spades. And if he does transfer and pass, partner, if he has a singleton spade, may well balance. If I pass one notrump and wind up defending a partscore, that partscore will probably be either one notrump or three of a minor. I am delighted to defend one notrump with this hand, and I am moderately happy to defend three of a minor. Pushing the opponents up to the three level, after all, is much of what competitive bidding is all about. With this hand, I don't have to bid to push them. They'll get to the three level all by themselves.

Of course, if we defend three of a minor and it turns out we have a nine-card heart fit (and would have found it had I bid), then I will regret my pass. But that's a risk I'm willing to take to have a chance of defending one notrump.

I pass. LHO bids two spades, puppeting to three clubs. RHO duly bids three clubs, and LHO passes. I lead the king of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 ♠1	Pass	3 ♣2
(All pass)
1Weak with long minor
2Forced

Partner plays the deuce of hearts, and declarer wins with the ace. Declarer leads the queen of clubs to partner's ace. Partner has from seven to nine high-card points. I've just seen four of them, so he has three to five left.

Partner shifts to the three of diamonds. Declarer plays the ace, which suggests he has the king as well. If I'm right about that, then partner is marked with the spade queen plus one or both of the pointed jacks.

Declarer cashes the club king. Partner follows with the four. Declarer plays the five of hearts--seven--club seven--heart three. Obviously declarer began with three clubs. He has no reason not to ruff this trick high if partner has the club eight left.

Wrong. Declarer cashes the club nine. Partner follow with the eight, and declarer discards the eight of hearts. Pitching a spade might suggest I don't have the queen, so I pitch the ten of hearts.

If declarer ducks a diamond to my queen, should I underlead the spade ace or not? Since I know partner has the spade queen, it's safe to underlead unless declarer is 3-3-5-2. If he is, then underleading risks letting declarer take the rest of the tricks.

Let's assume declarer is 3-3-5-2 and look at this problem from his point of view. If declarer has three small spades or jack third, he risks going down by rising. Ducking my spade lead will guarantee his contract. Only if he has jack-ten third is it safe for him to play the king. Even then, he may guess incorrectly. So underleading must be the percentage play.

Delcarer plays the diamond six--nine--ten--queen. I shift to the deuce of spades. Declarer plays low from dummy. Partner wins with the queen and returns a spade to my ace. Making three.

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

We did have a nine-card heart fit. In theory it was right to sell out anyway, since they could double three hearts and collect 200. But, in practice, they won't double, so we should follow the Law and compete to three hearts.

Unfortunately, we were never going to do that. Had I bid, I would have bid two diamonds (Astro), showing spades and another suit. LHO would have bid three clubs or two notrump, depending on what they are playing, and we would have been out of the auction.

We will find our fit if I choose to treat my hand as a one-suiter and overcall with two hearts. And I'm sure there are some who would do that. But I don't like it. I would be more inclined to bid two hearts if I didn't expect to be on lead. But this hand has more potential opposite a spade fit than it does opposite a heart fit. So, if I'm bidding purely in an attempt to buy the contract, I don't think it makes sense to treat the hand as a heart one-suiter.

Three pairs played three hearts making. (Making? What am I missing? It should be easy for South to find a club switch when he's in with the diamond king.) The other three pairs played three clubs. One declarer managed two overtricks, so we get four matchpoints.

Result on Board 13: -110 (4 MP)
Total: 112 MP (71.8%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 12

Board 12
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 3 ♥ Q 6 4 ♦ A K 3 ♣ A K 10 6 2

Three passes to me. I open one club. LHO overcalls with one spade, partner doubles, and RHO passes. I bid two notrump, and LHO bids three spades. What's this all about? He wouldn't pre-empt in first seat, and he wouldn't pre-empt over my one club opening. But he's willing to bid three spades opposite a passing partner in the middle of a strong auction?

Partner bids three notrump, which ends the auction. West leads the queen of diamonds. Maybe he didn't pre-empt because he has a two-suiter? A seven-five pattern perhaps?

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

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

Was this opening lead a mistake? At first glance, it appears to be immaterial. I don't have the tempo to set up a heart trick and a spade trick. And hearts can hardly be three-three.  So, unless the heart king is unexpectedly onside, it appears I make exactly nine tricks after either a spade or a diamond lead. Unless, that is, I can get East to return a spade instead of a diamond when he wins the heart king. Perhaps that's not so unlikely. If East thinks I have ace doubleton of spades instead of king doubleton and if West has either five diamonds or queen-jack-ten-nine, then East must shift to spade to get his partner off the endplay. Let's hope East appreciates that fact.

What I can't afford to do is to cash clubs early.  If I give West a chance to discard, he will discard low spades to tell his partner that he doesn't need a spade shift.  I play a low diamond from dummy, East plays the four, and I win with the ace.  Normally I would win with the king to leave open the possibility that West has led from ace-queen-jack, but in this case I want to make sure that East knows diamonds aren't running. Maybe at a high level this is wrong, since East may wonder why I didn't make the normal play. But if he's that smart, more power to him.

At trick two, I play the four of hearts, and West follows with the eight. I play the jack from dummy, and East wins with the king. As I hoped, East shifts to the spade nine. Making four.

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

Should East have solved this?  He knows I have the ace and king of clubs once I don't attack clubs.  If I have the heart queen, then I have 16 high-card points outside spades.  The spade ace would give me 20 high-card points, enough for a two notrump opening bid. It's true that I've been known not to open two notrump with a perfectly normal two notrump opening bid. It's also true that I might not have the heart queen. I might, for example, have a 2-2-3-6 pattern and be ducking a heart to correct the count for a strip squeeze. But if, in the post mortem, East offered either of those as the reason for his play, I would suspect him of thinking it up after the fact. More likely, he simply didn't take the time to construct the hand he was playing for.

There is a wide variety of results on this board: three notrump making three or four; five clubs making five (Making five? Yes, I guess it does, thanks to the blockage in diamonds. A Morton's fork coup in hearts followed by endplaying West.); and four spades doubled, down two. The booby prize goes to the North-South pair who played four hearts, down one. Actually, I'm surprised there's only one of those. Three spades--pass--pass--double / pass--four hearts seems as if it would be a popular auction.

Only one other pair made four notrump, so this result is worth 11 matchpoints.  And a totally undeserved 11 matchpoints, since I misplayed it. As Gal points out in his comment below, the very same Morton's fork that enables five clubs to make enables me to take ten tricks in notrump by force.

Score on Board 12: +630 (11 MP)
Total: 108 MP (75%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 11

Board 11
Neither vulnerable

♠ A 8 6 ♥ A 10 9 5 ♦ A 10 6 3 ♣ 5 3

I open one notrump (12-14) in first seat, and everyone passes. West leads the deuce of spades.

	NORTH ♠ 9 5 4 3 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ 9 8 4 ♣ A J 9
	SOUTH ♠ A 8 6 ♥ A 10 9 5 ♦ A 10 6 3 ♣ 5 3

West	North	East	South
			1 NT
(All pass)

My opponents lead attitude against notrump, so this lead could be from a five-card suit. But that seems unlikely, since any five-card suit would contain an honor sequence. I play low from dummy, and East plays the ten. It appears East has jack-ten doubleton and West has led from king-queen-seven-deuce. I might as well win this while the spades are blocked.

I don't care for my chances. I have four aces and very little time to develop tricks elsewhere. The diamond spots make diamonds more convenient than hearts to attack from my hand, so I lead the three of diamonds. West plays the jack--four--five. I note that I haven't seen the deuce. Perhaps West has it, or perhaps East has signaled count.

West plays the seven of spades to his partner's jack, and East shifts to the deuce of hearts. I'm happy to see a low heart spot rather than a high one. It means that, after cashing his spades, West will probably continue hearts rather than shift to a club. Should I play the ten of hearts or the nine?

If I play the nine, no matter what card West wins with, East will know I have the ten. If I play the ten, East will have no inference about the location of the nine. So the ten reveals less to East. What about West? West may already know I have some card higher than the nine from East's failure to lead the top of a sequence. So the ten might reveal less to West as well.

I play the ten, and West wins with the queen. West cashes the spade king, and East pitches the deuce of clubs. Another card I'm happy to see. It is almost certain now that West will continue hearts after cashing his last spade.

On the spade queen, East pitches the six of clubs. I haven't seen the club four. Jack typically discards from the bottom up, so West probably has the four. What should I discard?

I must save my long heart, since I expect West to shift back to hearts, establishing it for me. I probably won't have time to set up the long diamond, but I can always hope. It would be nice to hold the long diamond as well. Given East's defense, I'm fairly confident West isn't going to shift to a club. But if he does, holding a second club won't help much.  He can always shift to an honor from honor-ten to prevent me from ducking. So I decide to discard a club.

My choice of spot cards makes no difference to West, since he knows I have both the three and the five. But I would like to conceal my club weakness from East if possible. Pitching high spot cards is generally how one does that, since it suggests that your remaining cards are higher still. So I pitch the club five.

As expected, West shifts to a heart: the seven. If the opponents' carding is honest, West began with queen-seven and East began with king-jack-eight-deuce. I play low from dummy and duck East's jack. East shifts to the queen of clubs. West plays the eight, and I win in dummy with the ace. If I'm right that West has the club four, he probably intends the eight as a signal, showing the king. I suspect West has the club ten as well, since East might not have discouraged a club shift so vehemently if he held queen-ten behind dummy's ace-jack-nine. That gives West an initial holding of king-ten-eight-four. He is unlikely to have a fifth club, given his initial spade lead. So West apparently began with a 4-2-3-4 pattern.

I lead a heart, East plays the eight, and I finesse the nine. West plays the club four. I cash the heart ace, West plays the club ten. I'm down to this ending with dummy to play:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ 9 8 ♣ J 9
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ A 10 6 ♣ --

If I've read the position correctly, West has the king of clubs and two diamonds left. If so, I can't take more than my diamond ace, so I might as well assume I'm wrong. For my play to matter, I must assume that West chose to lead a spade with a 4-2-2-5 pattern and that he sneakily discarded the ten of clubs from king-ten-seven (as, of course, he should). If so, then West has king-seven of clubs and a diamond left, and East has three diamonds. I doubt very much that that's the case. But what does it hurt to assume that it is?

I have two possible plays: (1) I can pitch a club from dummy, then play ace and a diamond, hoping West's singleton is an honor. Or (2) I can pitch a diamond from dummy, then play a low diamond, endplaying East if West's singleton is the seven or deuce. (I must pitch a diamond from dummy in case (2) to avoid losing all the tricks if West's singleton is an honor.) I can't think of any reason to go against the odds, so I adopt line (2). (King-jack, queen-jack, jack-seven, and jack-deuce are equally likely a priori. But West might have played the queen from queen-jack.) As I expected, it makes no difference. Down two.

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

We get three matchpoints, beating the pair who defended one notrump making two the other direction and tieing the pair who also played one notrump our direction. Everyone else played one diamond our way, either making or going down one. I am a little surprised that so many Easts sold out to one diamond.  After one diamond--pass--pass, I would balance with one notrump myself. Partner would probably raise to two.  Will this make?

It probably will in practice, because South will probably lead a heart. But best defense will beat it after a diamond lead. Declarer wins and plays a spade. South wins and plays another diamond.  Declarer wins, unblocks the spades, and plays a heart toward dummy's queen. If South ducks, declarer makes it easily, since South is squeezed on the run of the spades. To beat this, South must hop with his ace and immediately play a club.  (He can't cash his diamonds first, because he needs to retain communication.) Declarer does best to play the club king.  North takes his ace and plays a diamond to South.  South now cashes the last diamond and plays another club, killing declarer's entry while the hearts are blocked. Any other defense allows declarer to untangle all his tricks, provided he takes the right view in clubs.

Score on Board 10: -100 (3 MP)
Total: 97 (73.5%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 10

Board 10
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K Q 7 ♥ A Q 10 6 ♦ Q 5 2 ♣ J 5 4

RHO opens one spade in first seat. Some would double with this hand--you do have support for all the unbids suits after all--but I prefer to be cautious when I hold three cards in my opponent's suit, especially when I have secondary values there. In my view, there are two bad things that can happen if you double with this hand: (1) You catch partner with spade shortness (so that your spade honors are wasted on offense); or (2) you don't catch partner with spade shortness (so that your spade honors are getting ruffed away). Since my hand isn't good enough to overcall with one notrump, I don't see much point in bidding.

I pass, and so does everyone else. What should I lead?

The king of spades has a certain appeal. It might give away a spade trick, but it doesn't have to. Even the ten of spades in partner's hand may be enough to prevent that. And, if it does give away a trick, I might get that trick back by stopping a ruff in dummy. Furthermore, it's not as if I have a perfectly safe lead in a different suit. Dummy will be short of entries, so any lead might be taking a finesse for declarer that he would be unable to take himself. OK. I've talked myself into it. I lead the king of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
			1 ♠
(All pass)

Dummy plays the six; partner, the deuce; and declarer wins with the ace. I think I'm happy with my lead. We may have stopped a diamond ruff. And the sight of dummy would have made me nervous after either minor-suit lead. The opponents, by the way, are playing an Acol variation. So South might have only four spades, and he might have a strong notrump.

I'm anticipating a low diamond lead by declarer. I think I'm going to duck it to give partner a chance to win and play a spade in case he has ten-eight. But, before I've completely made up my mind about that, declarer plays the five of spades. Could it be right to hop? Yes. If partner began with jack-eight fourth and I duck this to partner's jack, declarer will be able to duck out my queen. But it could obviously be wrong to hop, and I have no idea what to lead if I win this trick. So I play the seven. Partner takes dummy's nine with his jack.

Partner shifts to the jack of hearts, declarer plays the king, and I win with the ace. I continue with the queen of hearts, and partner pitches the three of clubs. Partner would be unlikely to discard a club from a four-card suit, so I suspect he began with either three or five.

I suppose I could construct a hand where it's right to continue with the ten of hearts. But partner's low club suggests that dummy's club king is an entry, so a heart continuation is surely wrong if delcarer has five spades. And it might be wrong if he has four. I know partner has a high diamond honor (or six small), since declarer would have played ace-king and ruffed a diamond in dummy otherwise. If partner has the ace, a diamond shift is safe. If he has the king, perhaps he has the ten as well. I shift to the deuce of diamonds--three--ace--four.

Partner returns the eight of diamonds--nine--queen--jack. The eight of diamonds should be a count card, so partner should have begun with ace-ten-eight-seven-six. If I'm correct that he would not have discarded from a four-card club suit, that gives him an original pattern of 4-1-5-3, leaving declarer with 4-2-3-4. Declarer has the spade ace, the heart king, the diamond king, and the club ace: 14 high-card points. Since he didn't open with a weak notrump, he must have the club queen as well, so I now know declarer's hand:

♠ A 10 x x ♥ K 9 ♦ K 9 4 ♣ A Q x x

Declarer has no side losers left. All we can score is trump tricks. If I lead the ten of hearts to tap him, we will take two trump tricks for down one.

I lead the ten of hearts. Partner pitches the eight of clubs, and declarer ruffs with the eight of spades. He plays the six of clubs to the king, then leads the seven of hearts. Partner ruffs with the three, and declarer overruffs with the ten. Declarer plays the queen of clubs. Partner ruffs with the four spades, and we still have my spade queen to score for down one.

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

Something is nagging me about this end position. Finally I figure it out. I'm an idiot! I was double-dummy, and I misdefended. Find my mistake before reading on.

Instead of playing the ten of hearts, I should have continued with a third round of diamonds, establishing two winners in partner's hand. Declarer will pitch a club from dummy, reaching this position:

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

Declarer will presumably play a trump to my queen, pitching a heart from dummy.  Now I play the ten of hearts, allowing partner to pitch a second club. Declarer can't afford to ruff this, or he will finish down three. He must pitch a club himself, and we have our setting trick. I now continue with my last heart. Partner lets dummy win this, pitching his last club. If declarer could get to his hand to draw partner's last trump, he could claim. But he can't. He can postpone the inevitable by leading dummy's last heart and pitching one more club.  But he doesn't have enough hearts to pitch all his clubs.  So, eventually, he must lead a club, allowing partner to ruff with his four of spades for down two.

Of course, declarer would have enough hearts in dummy to pitch all his clubs if he hadn't discarded one when I won the queen of spades. Perhaps he would do better to pitch a club instead?  No. If he does that, I don't play the heart ten.  I play a club. If he wins this trick in dummy, he's down three.  If he wins in his hand to draw partner's trump, I get the last two tricks for down two.  It turns out dummy is squeezed when I win the queen of spades.

Why didn't I see this? Whenever I have a blind spot, I try to extrapolate the general principle that I overlooked. Yes, in this case, I could have simply worked the position out card for card, but I may someday encounter a similar position where I have less information. So it's worthwhile to find the principle involved.

I suppose the basic idea is that I lost a tempo by tapping declarer right away. Once dummy's hearts were established, declarer didn't need to continue drawing trumps, and my queen of spades was no longer an entry. Playing diamonds does not deprive me of my chance to tap declarer, because I must gain the lead with the spade queen. But tapping him immediately does deprive me of my chance to establish diamonds. The reason the extra tempo gains a trick is quite complicated. But that part isn't really important. Had I thought about the position in these terms, I wouldn't need to think any further to see that a diamond continuation can't do any worse than playing the heart ten and might do better.

Luckily, the lost trick doesn't matter. We are the only pair not to defend two hearts making, so this is a top. It's embarassing how lucky I've been in this match. Not only am I playing against a pair who isn't playing strong notrumps, but I'm sitting in the right seat. Had I held my opponent's cards, I would have opened one spade and would have wound up with a zero instead of a top.

Or maybe not. It occurs to me that some players would have doubled one spade. I wonder if Jack is one of them. I replay the board sitting in RHO's seat. I open one spade. Jack doubles. Partner passes, East bids two diamonds, and partner balances with two hearts, ending the auction.

So I needn't be too embarassed. At least I can accept some responsibility for this result from my decision to pass over one spade. The strange thing is: Had I known at the time that passing would result in defending one spade and doubling would result in defending two hearts, I probably would have doubled.

Score on Board 10: +100 (12 MP)
Total: 94 (78.3%)

Current rank: 1st