Match 2 - Board 56

Board 56
Neither vulnerable

♠ A K 10 4 ♥ 10 9 ♦ A K 10 8 6 ♣ J 6

LHO deals and passes, partner passes, and RHO opens with one heart. If you take away the diamond king, I might bid one spade. But I avoid overcalling in a four-card suit unless I'm happy to pass if partner raises. With this hand, if partner were to raise to two spades, I wouldn't know what to do. As a general rule, if you step out on a limb, get lucky (e.g., find the fit you were hoping for), and now find yourself faced with a a difficult problem, it's fair to say it was a mistake to step out on that limb in the first place.

So my choices are two diamonds or double. Two diamonds risks burying the spade suit; doubling and correcting clubs to diamonds suggests a better hand (without an agreement to the contrary). I decide to stretch a little and double. I do have four honor tricks after all, so it's not that much of a stretch.

LHO passes, partner bids one notrump, and RHO bids two hearts. I was intending to raise to two notrump if RHO had passed, and I see no reason to change my mind. I bid two notrump. LHO bids three hearts, partner bids four diamonds, and RHO passes.

One notrump, then four diamonds? I have a suspicion I'm going to disagree with at least one of partner's bids. It goes against the grain to pass with undisclosed five-card support for partner's suit. But it's hard to see how I can take 11 tricks opposite a hand that bid only one notrump the first time around. I pass, and LHO passes. RHO leads the five of spades, fourth best.

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

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

Four diamonds was downright weird. But one notrump was a mistake as well. With only two hearts opposite my known shortness, partner should anticipate there will be more bidding by the opponents, so he should get his five-card suit into the auction, allowing me to compete if I have good support. If he had just bid his long suit when he had the chance (look who's talking), he wouldn't need these heroics at the four-level.

I play the spade ace--nine--six. East must have the spade queen for his signal, giving West jack-eight-five. Wait. Does that make sense? Would East squander the nine with queen-nine-three-deuce? He could conceivably permit me to establish dummy's four by doing that. East must have five spades--queen-jack-nine-eight fifth--and West must have five-three or five-deuce doubleton.

I suspect West has both aces. With queen-jack fifth of spades and an ace, East would have bid over the double. If West has the club queen as well, I can establish a club trick to make this: Draw trumps, ruff a spade to my hand, and play a club toward the jack. West can't get his partner in to put a heart through.

Is there any way I can make it without assuming West has the club queen? Yes, there is, as long as West has at most one of the minor heart honors. I can draw trumps, cash the spade ace, then lead the ten of hearts. If East plays low, so do I. If he covers, I play the king. West is then endplayed. This line fails only if East has both the queen and jack of hearts.

I cash the diamond ace--five--three--seven, then the diamond king--club three--four--queen. The club three sets off all kinds of alarms. If East is 5-3-1-4, why is he pitching a club rather than a spade? I cash the spade king to get a look at the spots. East plays the deuce; West, the three. That certainly looks as if West led a doubleton spade. But I don't just believe East would clutch his fifth spade like that. Perhaps West led a middle spade from three small. I change my mind about floating the ten of hearts. I play the spade four--jack--jack of diamonds--spade eight. Whew! That was close. I have seen Jack lead middle from three small in the middle of the hand. But his convention card specifically says low from three small on opening lead. Good thing I got the wake-up call from East.

So West is 3-6-2-2. Can I lead a trump back to dummy and float the ten of hearts? No. That leaves me with only one trump in my hand. West will play three rounds of hearts. I can ruff, pitching a club loser from dummy. But now I have no trumps left to ruff dummy's last spade. The only way to endplay West is to lead a heart from my hand. That requires West to have both minor honors instead of just one.

It may appear that it's better to play on clubs. After all, that play requires West to have only one card, the club queen, while exiting with a heart requires him to have two, the queen and jack of hearts. But that reasoning ignores the fact that he is more likely to hold a particular heart than he is to hold a particular club. Let's examine the relevant hands:

(A)	♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A Q x x x x ♦ Q 7 ♣ A Q
(B)	♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A J x x x x ♦ Q 7 ♣ A Q
(C)	♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A x x x x x ♦ Q 7 ♣ A Q
(D)	♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A Q J x x x ♦ Q 7 ♣ A x

If West has (A) , (B), or (C), I must play a club. If he has (D), I must play a heart. Each of these hands leaves East with a normal two-heart bid over the double. If I were playing against anyone but Jack, I would rate (A) unlikely and would rate the other hands impossible. Therefore, I would play a club. But, after the last board, I'm not attaching much significance to East's failure to raise. So I will assume they are all possible.

A priori, (D) is roughly five times as likely as either (A) , (B), or (C), since there are five ways to hold ace-small of clubs and only one way to hold ace-queen. That's enough of a difference that, at the table, I wouldn't bother incorporating the heart suit into my calculation. But, since we have time, let's do it anyway just for the sake of completeness. There are 20 ways to hold three small hearts out of six, 15 ways to hold four small hearts out of six, and six ways to hold five small hearts. So there are 15 ways to hold (A), 15 ways to hold (B), six ways to hold (C),  and 100 ways (20 times five) to hold (D). As long as I'm right to pay no attention to East's failure to raise, exiting with a heart is by far the better play.

I play the heart king. West takes the ace, cashes the queen, then cashes the club ace. Making four.

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

It didn't matter what I did. Either play would have worked.

Almost everyone played four diamonds, but only one other pair made it, probably because they didn't have the foresight to play it from the South side. A heart lead from East beats it easily. So there! For those of you who didn't like my take-out double.

One pair defended four hearts and allowed it to score. I guess it's not that hard to slip up. You lead the diamond king and it holds. Unless you play three rounds of spades now, declarer will make it. That looks easy looking at all four hands. But what if you simply make one of declarer's spades a small club? Now the winning defense is to tap dummy with a second diamond, killing the entry to the spades and leaving declarer with a club loser. How can you decide? You could cash the spade king at trick two to get a count card from partner. But if you can't read his card, then you still won't know what to do. Perhaps the pair who allowed four hearts to score was playing upside-down signals. If declarer correctly drops the eight, South's six will be unreadable.

We get nine matchpoints for plus 130.

Score on Board 56: +130 (9 MP)
Total: 436 (64.9%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 55

Board 55
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K 9 6 3 ♥ A K J 10 6 2 ♦ A ♣ 6 3

I open one heart. LHO overcalls two clubs, which is passed back to me. Jack suggests two hearts at this point. But I don't see how that can be superior to double. I'm happy to correct diamonds to hearts at whatever level partner chooses to introduce the suit. And double brings spades into the picture. Even if we don't have an eight-card fit in spades, the knowledge that I'm four-six in the majors may help partner to evaluate his hand.

LHO bids two spades. Advancer couldn't raise clubs, opener has shown spade length, and responder has implied club length and might have a trap pass. All in all, this is a dangerous move on LHO's part, so he should have quite a good hand. Some would play that this bid promises five spades. But those who employ Michaels indiscriminately would probably never have five spades. For those players, this bid should show self-sufficient clubs with a secondary spade suit--much like my hand with hearts and clubs reversed. I don't know how Jack plays this auction, and RHO isn't very forthcoming with the explanations.

Partner bids three diamonds, and I correct to three hearts as planned. Everyone passes, and West leads the six of diamonds.

	NORTH ♠ J 10 2 ♥ 8 7 3 ♦ K J 9 8 2 ♣ K 8
	SOUTH ♠ K 9 6 3 ♥ A K J 10 6 2 ♦ A ♣ 6 3

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

What is going on here? This is the second time partner has declined to produce a perfectly normal single raise after an opponent's overcall. Had he bid two hearts, we would have had no trouble reaching game.

I play the diamond eight from dummy; East covers with the ten. That suggests the diamond lead is from a doubleton. Otherwise East would know my ace was singleton and might not cover. If two spades promised five, then West is 5-0-2-6. I don't have the entries to pick up four-zero trumps, so I cash the heart ace. West plays the queen; East follows with the four. I'm just as glad I was short of entries.

So it appears West is 4-1-2-6. He should have both black aces. Not only would his bid be exceptionally imprudent without them, his decision to lead a small doubleton in dummy's suit suggests that either black suit lead is unattractive.

I play the heart jack (Not the king. No reason to let West know his partner isn't winning the trick)--club deuce--seven--five. Then the heart king--club five-eight--nine. I play the club six--ace--eight--four. West returns the seven of clubs--king--ten--three. Jack tends to play up-the-line after his initial count signal. So East's remaining club is probably the jack.

I might as well cash the diamond king in case West made a sneaky lead from queen doubleton. King--three--spade three--diamond five. The only way to take an eleventh trick is to play East for queen doubleton of spades, even though it is unlikely he has it. Even with the queen West has a rather thin two-spade bid.

Well, maybe there is another way. Suppose I ruff out the queen of diamonds, then play a low spade toward dummy. If West has the spade queen, this is the problem he faces:

	NORTH ♠ J 10 2 ♥ -- ♦ 9 2 ♣ --
WEST ♠ A Q x ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ x x		EAST ♠ ? x ♥ -- ♦ 7 4 ♣ x
	SOUTH ♠ ? x x ♥ x x ♦ -- ♣ --

West must decide who has the king. If East has it, West must duck to untangle his spade tricks. But if I have it, he must hop with the queen. (Yes, I know technically that isn't true. He can also untangle his tricks by hopping with the either honor and continuing with a low spade while East still has a club exit. But, for practical purposes, that is the same thing as ducking, so I will ignore that option.)

If I play this way, will he duck? Or am I better off pinning my hopes on the unlikely chance that East has the spade queen? Let's look at the problem from West's point of view. The auction suggests I have the spade king. I don't need it for my opening bid, but I might have balanced with two hearts rather than double if my spade suit were four small. Furthermore, the spade king would be a huge card for East on this auction. He might well bid four clubs over three diamonds if he had it. There is also a clue from the play. On the second club East had an opportunity to give a suit-preference signal. While I am not nearly so big a fan of suit preference as most experts, even I would give suit preference in this situation.

Against that, West might reason that if declarer has the spade king, the field will be in game, rendering his play immaterial. The only time his play is apt to matter is when East has the spade king. So he might as well assume that's the case and duck. If I were West, I would probably duck for this reason.

Of course, these considerations apply only when playing against a human. Jack will not consider any of these things. He will simply deal out some random hands and choose the play that works most often. Even if he doesn't deduce that I have four spades, he knows I have at least three. So I will hold the spade king more often than not in his simulation, and he will conclude that the percentage play is to hop. As unlikely as the finesse is to work, it probably has a better chance than the swindle.

Too bad. I hate it when I decide the normal play is right. It's much more fun to make the abnormal play. I lead the spade jack--five--six--queen. Making four.

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

Just to make sure, I backed up the play and tried the swindle. I ruffed out the queen of diamonds then led the nine of spades (advertising that, if I have the king, I have spurned a legitimate play). West hopped with the queen and cashed the ace. I'm glad to see my judgment was correct.

Not surprisingly, we are the only pair not to reach to game, so this is a well-deserved zero.

Score on Board 55: +170 (0 MP)
Total: 427 MP (64.7%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 54

Board 54
Opponents vulnerable

♠ 4 ♥ A K Q 9 8 6 5 ♦ K 8 7 2 ♣ 5

I open with two hearts, an Acol two-bid. (This shows eight or more playing tricks and is forcing for one round.) Partner bids three spades. I play this as a splinter in support of hearts, but Jack plays it as natural. Since two spades creates a game force, this should show a self-sufficient suit. Even so, hearts looks like a better trump suit to me. I bid four hearts. Partner bids four notrump, key-card Blackwood for hearts. I bid five spades, showing two key cards and the queen of hearts. Partner bids six hearts, and I pass. LHO leads the six of clubs (fourth best).

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	2 ♥1
Pass	3 ♠	Pass	4 ♥
Pass	4 NT2	Pass	5 ♠3
Pass	6 ♥	(All pass)
1Acol Strong two
2Ace asking for hearts
32 aces and queen of trumps

Partner is the ten of spades away from having his three-spade bid. In a slam auction, a self-sufficient suit should be defined as one in which you can play a slam opposite a small singleton.

I play the club ace, and East plays the nine. There doesn't appear to be much to the play. Just draw trumps and drive the spade ace. Is there any conceivable way to get the opponents to duck the spade ace, giving me a shot at making seven? One thing for sure. No one is going to duck a spade if he thinks a club might be cashing. To have any chance of sneaking a spade through, I must let the opponents know I have a singleton club. At trick two, I play the ten of clubs from dummy. East plays the three. I ruff with the six of hearts, and West plays the club deuce. I now cash the heart ace.

This line must look pretty strange to dummy. I ruff a club to my hand so I can cash the heart ace? What possible reason could I have for doing such a thing? A former partner of mine used to start laughing out loud whenever I played a hand this way. Well, partner, now you know what I was up to. Not every play I make is technical. Sometimes it's just for propaganda.

I draw trumps in three rounds, pitching a spade from dummy. On the second round and third rounds, West pitches the eight and jack of clubs. Is there a hand where ducking the spade might be the right defense? Not one that's consistent with the auction. If I had the same pattern without the king of diamonds, however, it would be right for West to duck the spade ace. That beats the slam by force if he has ace fourth and, unless I am a good guesser, will beat it in practice if he has ace third or ace doubleton. (If he has ace third, I must win the spade in dummy, then continue with a spade honor and pitch. When West wins and plays a diamond, I must make the anti-percentage play of hopping with the ace and playing for three-three spades. If West ducks with ace doubleton, I must make the even stranger play of winning the spade in dummy and continuing with a low spade.)

I play a spade--six--king--ace. I claim the balance.

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

This is worth nine matchpoints, more than it should be. Reaching slam isn't all that hard. What happens if I am playing Standard and start with one heart instead of two? Jack says he would bid two spades. Again, he is the ten of spades shy for that call. His biggest problem rates to be distinguishing between a doubleton and a singleton spade in my hand. And starting with one spade is the best way to do that. He actually has a better shot at making that distinction with me than with most people. I raise responder's major with any unbalanced minimum containing three trumps. This style lends some clarity to my third-round preferences. Take these auctions, for example:

South	North
1 ♥	1 ♠
2 ♥	3 ♦
3 ♠

South	North
1 ♥	1 ♠
2 ♣	2 ♦
2 ♠

If you typically have four-card support when you raise responder's major, then these auctions suggest three-card support. But, as I play, these auctions unambiguously show two spades. In the first auction, the two heart bid flatly denies three spades. In the second auction, two clubs denies three spades if I have a minimum. I might have a hand with three spades that's too good for a single raise. But, if I do, I must take a jump preference over the fourth suit. So, again, the simple preference shows a doubleton. The ease with which you can sometimes locate your six-two fits is one of the benefits of this style.

On this deal, however, the benefit quickly evaporates. Opener will bid three hearts over one spade, which does not deny three-card spade support. Responder can be fairly sure he belongs in a slam but is unsure of the proper strain. I would attempt to solve that problem by bidding three spades, intending to follow with five notrump, offering partner a choice of trump suits.

Why did so many Jacks miss a slam? I had Jack bid the hand with himself to find out. He opens four hearts with the South hand and passes with the North hand. Yes, that will do it. I think it's fair to say that if one person pre-empts with a given hand and another opens a strong two-bid, at least one of them has made a poor choice.

Score on Board 54: +980 (9 MP)
Total: 427 MP (65.9%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 53

Before we begin, those of you who read my earlier posts advising Hartford Opera Theater about the mechanics of playing bridge might enjoy seeing the use to which my advice was put. The following video is from the rehearsal of Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge. Michelle Hendrick's stagings are always creative. I've never seen a bridge game quite like this one.

The video takes you through the auction and the opening lead. If you want to see the rest of the hand, you can purchase tickets here.

Board 53
Our side vulnerable

♠ A 5 4 3 ♥ Q 10 2 ♦ Q 8 ♣ 9 7 6 4

Partner passes, and RHO opens with one heart. I pass, LHO bids one notrump (forcing), and RHO bids two hearts. I pass again, and LHO raises to four hearts. Everyone passes.

If I had the same hand with three small hearts, I might lead the queen of diamonds, hoping either to build up diamond tricks or to maneuver a ruff. But, since I have a trump trick that I didn't have to have, there is less reason to be aggressive. I lead a third-and-lowest six of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♥
Pass	1 NT1	Pass	2 ♥
Pass	4 ♥	(All pass)
1Forcing

Declarer plays the club king from dummy; partner plays the eight; declarer, the deuce. Declarer cashes dummy's club ace. Partner plays the five, and declarer pitches the seven of diamonds. Since partner knows my club count, there is no reason for me to reveal it to declarer. So I decide to conceal the four. I choose the nine rather the seven, since it is the card I'm known to hold. (Partner obviously intended the eight as high, so he cannot hold the nine.) It may appear to the casual kibitzer that I'm giving suit preference for spades. Rest assured I am not.

Declarer's likeliest shape is 3-6-3-1. If he has a third-round spade loser, he can ruff it in dummy. If that is his plan, he will lead a spade from dummy at trick three. If he doesn't lead a spade, it's likely he has either the spade queen (with or without the king) or a doubleton spade. In the latter case, he is probably 2-7-3-1. 2-6-4-1 is unlikely, given the diamond pitch.

He doesn't lead a spade. He leads the three of clubs. Partner plays the ten, and declarer ruffs with the heart three.

What's this play all about? It appears declarer is stripping the hand for an endplay. Perhaps he intends to play ace and a heart to his jack, endplaying me if I win with queen doubleton. Although, given my conclusions about his spade holding, I can't construct a precise hand where that makes any sense.

Perhaps there is no technical basis for this play. Perhaps it is only a discovery play. Maybe declarer is trying to gather information about the lie of the club suit to help resolve a guess in another suit. If so, what card should I play? Either card will reveal something. The four will reveal my count; the seven will reveal I don't have an honor (since he knows I have only one card left higher than the six). How will this information help him? Count will help him if he is trying to guess the trump suit. Knowing about my high cards will help him if he is trying to place honors. Since there is nothing he can do about his trump loser, I would rather he have an accurate count than know I don't have a club honor. I play the club four.

Declarer plays the four of hearts. Declarer has no reason I can see to insert the eight, and splitting would cost a trick of partner has a stiff king. So I play the deuce--ace--nine. Declarer leads the eight of spades--seven--ten.

This looks like king-ten third of spades. So it appears declarer does need to ruff a spade. He just postponed the spade play, although I'm not sure why. It seems awfully risky--as well as pointless--to make this discovery play in clubs. What if I had something like

♠ Q x x x x ♥ Q x ♦ x x x ♣ 9 7 6 ?

I could win the spade queen, return a spade to partner's ace, and get a trump promotion on the fourth round of clubs. Maybe I was wrong to play the club four. The seven, making it appear that I was now out of clubs, might have given declarer more to worry about.

I take my ace and return the three of spades--jack--queen--king. Declarer cashes the king of hearts. In the fullness of time, I take my heart queen. Making five.

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

One pair got all the way to six hearts, down two. (Down two is a bit of a surprise. That means West didn't lead the spade ace, looking at a likely trump trick.) Of the five declarers who played in game, two made only four. So we get three matchpoints for minus 450.

Would I have done better to conceal the club count, playing the seven instead of the four on the third round? One of the advantages of playing against Jack is you can actually answer such questions. I replayed the hand to find out. Declarer was indeed afraid of an uppercut if I did that. Instead of playing a heart to the ace right away, he cashed the heart king, then played a heart to ace. He can no longer make five. Even if he guesses spades, I can take my ace, cash the heart queen, then exit in a minor to score partner's queen of spades.

Should I have seen this? I certainly should have seen that concealing the club count will make declarer worry about an uppercut. Annoyingly, that didn't occur to me until a few tricks later. It may be hard to see precisely how this worry will play out, but I don't need to. Instilling this worry must represent some advantage to the defense, and that fact is sufficient reason to play the seven. So I did made a mistake.

Declarer misplayed it, of course. It's unlikely he would learn anything useful from ruffing the club. He should have played a spade to the ten at trick two (taking the percentage guess in spades, since my failure to lead the suit increases the likelihood that I have the ace). But that's little consolation. When declarer misplays a hand, I'm supposed to make him pay.

Score on Board 53: -450 (3 MP)
Total: 418 MP (65.7%)

Current rank: 1st