Event 3 - Match 7 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither vulnerable

♠ A 3 ♥ Q 9 8 7 3 ♦ Q 9 6 ♣ Q 9 5

Three passes to me. This is annoying. Obviously I must pass, but then I have nothing to write about. I'm going to pass officially. Then I'll replay the deal and open the bidding, just to give me something to discuss.

What would be the best opening bid if it were illegal to pass in fourth seat? I could open one heart and pass partner's response. But LHO is apt to have an easy take-out double or one spade overcall over one heart. If I'm going to open light without spades, perhaps it's better to open a weak notrump. That might make it harder for the opponents to enter the auction. I'm two high-card points shy. But so what? As a passed hand, partner can't have a drive to game on power anyway. So what does he care how many high-card points I have? And the danger of going for a number is diminished by the fact that LHO, also a passed hand, can't have a double. Hmm. I've never thought of that before. If you're going to open a weak notrump with ten points, fourth seat seems like the time to do it. Not that I intend to make a habit of it.

I open one notrump (12-14). LHO and partner pass, and RHO bids two spades, showing five spades and a minor. I prefer to play double here as take-out, but Jack won't hear of it, so I have no choice but to pass. Luckily, LHO raises to three spades on his own. Everyone passes, and I lead the three of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Phillip	Jack	Jack	Jack
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1 NT	Pass	Pass	2 ♠1
Pass	3 ♠	(All pass)
15 spades plus a minor

Three spades? If partner can't open one spade in third seat, I wouldn't expect to have a game. I don't see the point of raising.

Declarer rises with the heart ace. Partner plays the six; declarer, the deuce. Declarer obviously has a singleton heart. With a five-card minor or a sixth spade, he probably would have accepted the game invitation. So he must be either 5-1-3-4 or 5-1-4-3.

Declarer leads the five of spades--six--nine--ace. Was that a finesse against partner's queen? I hope not. Already two of our high cards--the king and queen of hearts--are taking no tricks on defense. If partner has the spade queen, that makes a third high card that isn't working, which would considerably lessen our chance of beating this.

Declarer can't have any useful discards coming, so I see no reason to break a minor. I continue with a heart to partner's king, leading the eight to avoid emphasizing either minor. Declarer ruffs with the deuce of spades and leads the deuce of clubs. That confirms declarer is missing the spade queen. If he weren't, he would be leading spades from his hand. Obviously, he needs to reach dummy to repeat the trump finesse.

If declarer has the club king, he will finesse the jack. When he later cashes the ace, I will drop the queen, the card I'm known to hold. But what good will that do if I'm still holding the nine? Perhaps, if I play the nine now, declarer will have something to think about when I drop the queen on the next trick. I'm not sure this play can ever gain, and it might cost a trick if partner has the king. But it appears we have little chance to beat this contract, so there is little to lose by giving it a try.

I play the nine. Declarer unexpectedly rises with the ace, and partner plays the four. If partner is giving honest count, declarer is 5-1-3-4.

Declarer plays the deuce of diamonds--five--jack. I win with the queen. What is going on? Why did declarer go up with the club ace? Apparently, he is convinced I have a doubleton. If I have queen-nine, he doesn't need to finesse; he can drop my queen later. If I have ten-nine, then he wants to lead the jack to pin my ten. He is postponing his decision until he finds out where the diamond honors are. But how is he getting back to dummy to lead the club jack if that's what he decides to do? Of course! He thinks partner's spade queen is dropping, since I must have three spades if I have a doubleton club.

I lead the queen of hearts--jack--four--spade four. Declarer continues his campaign of discovery by leading the king of diamonds--six--three--ace. Declarer is 100% convinced I'm 3-5-3-2, so he isn't worried about a diamond ruff.

Partner shifts to the ten of clubs, and declarer rises with the king. He must be quite disappointed to see me follow with the five. He cashes the king of spades--three--ten--eight. We have two black-suit queens coming to us. Down one.

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

Not bad. South can make four spades, and we managed to beat three.

Why didn't declarer repeat the spade finesse once he found out he was wrong about the club suit? I guess he judged it was more likely that I had falsecarded with ace-queen doubleton of spades than that I had opened one notrump in fourth seat with a ten count. In a sense, he's right. I didn't open with this hand. Officially, I passed. So perhaps he did the right thing.

The play of the club ace I find interesting. Jack assumed that I would never play the nine from queen-nine-small. If he is right about that, then going up with the ace loses only when I have queen-ten-nine. Although, admittedly, you must do some good guessing later on to exploit your position. I agree a defender is unlikely to play the nine from queen-nine-small. But never (as this deal demonstrates) is an overbid. This is a failing in the state of the art of computer bridge. Jack can draw only binary inferences. Either a hand is possible for an opponent or it isn't. He has no concept of "likely." Often this doesn't matter. But when the gain in making an assumption is small, there is a huge difference between "likely" and "certain."

Did my play of the nine have any way to gain (other than declarer's losing his mind)? My half-formed idea was that declarer, with king-eight fourth, might place partner with ten fourth and waste a dummy entry leading up to his king-eight. Who knows whether that would make any difference or not? True, playing the nine might cost if partner has the king, since if declarer has ten-eight, he can now finesse against my queen. But, even then, I rate to survive if declarer has 10862 or 10842. With either holding, he will probably lead low to the next trick, expecting my queen to pop up. Then I can laugh at him.

Unfortunately, this was an imaginary result. My official result, passing it out, is duplicated at the other table, so we win the match by three imps and pick up 16 out of 30 victory points. That gives us 125 victory points with two matches to go. We are still in first place, seven points ahead of second place. Our opponents for the penultimate match, Christian and Floyd, play Bridge World Standard.

Table 1: 0
Table 2: 0

Score on Board 8: 0 imps
Result on Match 7: +3 imps (16 VP)

Current Total: 125 VP (out of 210)

Event 3 - Match 7 - Board 7

Board 7
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 10 6 4 2 ♥ 6 4 ♦ 10 8 ♣ A 10 8 7 4

I pass, LHO passes, and partner opens one notrump (12-14). RHO bids two hearts, showing five hearts and four or more cards in a minor. I pass, and LHO raises to four hearts, which ends the auction.

RHO probably has diamonds; his likeliest pattern is 3-5-4-1. I could lead a diamond, hoping for a ruff. But breaking declarer's side suit may be doing his work for him. I have no assurance that I can get a ruff or even that I need one (since partner may have slow diamond tricks anyway). I decide to go after spade tricks before they can be discarded on dummy's clubs. I lead the four of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
Phillip	Dimitri	Jack	Brodie
Pass	Pass	1 NT	2 ♥1
Pass	4 ♥	(All pass)
15 hearts plus a minor

Declarer's likeliest pattern isn't 3-5-4-1 any more. I don't care for North's four heart bid. The five-card diamond suit is of doubtful value opposite a heart-club two-suiter. Even the doubleton club is of doubtful value with only three trumps. I doubt there even exists a passed hand with only three hearts that is worth a raise to game. I would bid two notrump, intending to follow with three hearts to show an invitational raise (or four hearts if partner surprises me by bidding diamonds).

Declarer plays the eight from dummy. Partner plays the jack, and declarer wins with the ace. Partner presumably has the nine, else declarer would have played low from dummy. Though it can't hurt for declarer to play the eight for deceptive purposes if he has ace-nine-seven.

Declarer leads the three of diamonds. Declarer has no reason to attack diamonds with a singleton, so he is either 2-5-2-4 or 1-5-3-4. Either way, we probably have two tricks in the pointed suits plus my club ace. We need one more trick somewhere, and I suspect we have it. Declarer wouldn't be going after diamond tricks unless he needed to dispose of a club loser. Whatever his plan is to dispose of that loser, I don't think it's going to work.

I play the eight; dummy's nine forces partner's queen. Partner shifts to the club queen--king--ace--deuce. Presumably partner would have led low with queen doubleton, so he should have the club jack. That's the setting trick, and declarer still has two more clubs to try to dispose of. Too bad I couldn't double.

I might as well lead a spade through dummy's queen, so partner will have a safe exit when he wins the club jack. Obviously I must lead the ten to avoid giving partner a problem. Declarer plays the queen from dummy--king--three. I expect partner to cash the club jack, but he returns the nine of spades. Declarer ruffs with the heart deuce. Partner already knows the spade count, so I play the spade six to conceal the count from declarer.

I must be wrong about partner's having the club jack. Surely he would have cashed it if he did. Does that mean declarer is making this? Partner must have a heart higher than dummy's eight, so declarer can't ruff both clubs in dummy. Can he develop a diamond trick?

Declarer plays the five of diamonds--ten--ace--four. He has to be going down now. He can't ruff out partner's diamond king without drawing two rounds of trumps first. And, if he does that, he has no way to get back to dummy to cash the diamond.

Declarer plays the seven of hearts from dummy--five--jack--four. He cashes the jack of clubs and ruffs a club in dummy with the heart eight. Partner overruffs with the nine and returns the heart queen. I still have a club trick coming for down two.

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

Ruffing the club low was quite optimistic. Even if partner unexpectedly follows, declarer isn't home yet. As practical matter, it seems better to ruff with the ace and repeat the trump finesse to get out for down one. If they are in four hearts at the other table, you are throwing away three imps on a pipe dream.

The board is a push, which is disappointing. I didn't expect our teammates to reach the cold three notrump by North. But I was hoping that the one diamond opening at the other table would make it easier for them to avoid four hearts. If not, they might at least have held it to down one.

Table 1: +200
Table 2: -200

Score on Board 7: 0 imps
Total: +3 imps

Event 3 - Match 7 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A Q 8 7 4 ♥ 8 5 3 ♦ J 7 4 3 ♣ 6

RHO opens with one heart. I don't like overcalling with three cards in the opponent's suit. But that's not enough to deter me with this hand. My overcall is at the one level, I'm not vulnerable, and I have the spade suit.

I bid one spade, LHO bids two diamonds, partner bids three clubs, and RHO bids three notrump. I pass and LHO passes, but partner bids on to four clubs, which RHO doubles. If partner doesn't think we're beating three notrump, he's probably right. I just hope we don't go down too many. I may yet regret having overcalled with three hearts. Move one of my hearts to any other suit, and I'd be pretty sure we had done the right thing.

RHO leads the ten of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
Brodie	Phillip	Dimitri	Jack
1 ♥	1 ♠	2 ♦	3 ♣
3 NT	Pass	Pass	4 ♣
Double	(All pass)

Partner should not have saved. For one thing, he can't be sure of taking seven tricks. If I don't have an ace or if he has to lose a trick to the club jack, he rates to go for 800. For another, he can't be sure three notrump is making. The diamond queen is a scary card to hold. For all he knows, neither of their suits is running. In general, when you sacrifice, you must be fairly sure either that you aren't going down too many or that their game is making. A bid that has two ways to lose is seldom a good bet.

East plays the diamond king, and I drop the queen. He shifts to the ace of hearts. If West has a doubleton diamond, then East must shift to a trump at trick three for the defense to take all their tricks. If he plays another diamond, playing for his partner to have the singleton, I can ruff and take a spade finesse to pitch a heart.

How does West clarify whether or not his diamond lead was a singleton? As I play, he does so via an attitude signal. A low card asks partner to shift back to the original suit (probably, though not necessarily, because it is a singleton), and a high card suggests he do something else. One might also play suit preference: low to ask for a diamond and high to ask for a spade. Since a spade into dummy's ace-queen is illogical, a signal for spades (like an encouraging attitude signal) means nothing more than that you don't want a diamond shift. Partner must work out for himself what to do instead.

Whether you play attitude or suit preference makes little difference so long you are consistent about it. It would be a mistake to vary your methodology depending on the choice partner is faced with, that is, to signal attitude if the choice is between hearts and diamonds but suit preference if the choice is between spades and diamonds. Sometimes the choice is clear, but sometimes it isn't. And sometimes it is clear to one defender but not to the other. The main thing partner is interested in is whether or not your lead was a singleton, so you need an unambiguous way of conveying that information. To use attitude sometimes and suit preference sometimes to convey the same information is begging to have an accident. In this particular case, of course, you can't have an accident. A low heart suggests a diamond shift however you choose to signal. But you won't always be so lucky, so it pays to have a firm, consistent agreement.

I play the heart seven, and West plays the deuce. Despite this card, East switches to the three of clubs. How did East get this right? I suspect he paid no attention to his partner's signal (and rightly so). He probably considered it unlikely that I would bid four clubs with two diamond losers and played accordingly.

I don't need to finesse the club ten to pick up jack third of clubs onside. East is going to be ruffing the fourth round of hearts, after which his jack will drop. Only if East has jack fourth will it gain to finesse, and that's unlikely given the auction. I'm more likely to find West with ace-jack doubleton, so I play the club queen.

West wins with the ace. He cashes the king and queen of hearts, on which East pitches deuce, six of spades. West then plays a fourth heart, which East ruffs with the club five. East plays the diamond ace. I ruff with the ten of clubs and cash the king. Fortunately both opponents follow, so I'm minus 500.

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

Our counterparts at the other table also took the questionable save, so the deal is a push. Three notrump makes on any sensible line of play, so I suppose partner saved three imps. But it doesn't take much to make his decision a bad one. Give declarer ace-jack third of clubs, for example. Or, better yet, switch the seven and nine of spades. Now we might actually beat three notrump. (To make it, declarer must win the opening club lead. If he ducks, he corrects the count for a squeeze against his own hand on the run of the diamonds. Not easy to see at trick one.)

Table 1: -500
Table 2: +500

Score on Board 6: 0 imps
Total: +3 imps

Event 3 - Match 7 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ A Q J 9 7 ♥ A K 10 7 2 ♦ 4 ♣ J 5

Two passes to me. I open one spade, and partner responds one notrump. We play Acol two-bids, so three hearts by me is non-forcing. An Acol two-bid shows about eight playing tricks. Since I was just short of that, three hearts now seems about right.

Over three hearts, partner bids four clubs, a cue-bid in support of hearts. This is an encouraging development. If partner has, say

♠ K x ♥ Q x x x x ♦ x x x ♣ A x x

we have a slam, which we will bid easily. At the other table, the auction may well go one spade--one notrump / two hearts--four hearts.

I bid four diamonds to show my diamond control. Partner bids four hearts. If he had the magic hand above, he wouldn't be giving up, so I suppose we're high enough. I pass. West lead the deuce of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
Dimitri	Jack	Brodie	Phillip
	Pass	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	1 NT	Pass	3 ♥
Pass	4 ♣	Pass	4 ♦
Pass	4 ♥	(All pass)

I don't like the four club bid. It's dangerous to cue-bid a king in a suit partner is apt to be short in. And it's not as if partner needs to find an aggressive bid. Slam seems pretty unlikely opposite a hand that couldn't open two spades, so a simple four hearts is adequate.

Presumably RHO is going to win the diamond ace and shift to a spade. I'm not sure yet whether I will finesse or not. But, if LHO has the spade king, at some point he will get in and will play a low club, forcing me to guess the suit.

What clues do I have about the club honors? One clue is RHO's failure to double four clubs. I'm not sure what to make of that, however. Would East be more likely to double four clubs with the ace or with the queen? East presumably has the diamond ace. If I were East, I would be more inclined to double four clubs with the queen, encouraging partner to lead from his putative king before my diamond ace is knocked out. With both minor suit aces, I would have no reason not to let partner make his natural lead. But I doubt Jack thinks that way. His failure to double probably suggests he doesn't have the ace.

Another consideration is the opening lead. If West has the club ace, he knows North cue-bid a king, so underleading the club ace at trick one would look pretty attractive. This is exactly the time to try such heroics: We have investigated slam and stopped at the four-level, so a straight-forward defense is unlikely to beat us. For a good player, failure to lead a low club under these circumstances is a pretty good indication that he doesn't have the ace. (The converse, however, is not true. Leading a low club at trick one does not suggest the ace. On the contrary, if West has the club queen, he would expect dummy to have the ace, and a club lead in an attempt to establish a trick would be pretty normal. That fact is what makes the underlead of the ace a plausible deception, unlike many trick-two situations where such an underlead is risibly transparent.)

But, again, to draw an inference like that is to give Jack more credit than he is due. Against an expert pair, I have two indications that the club ace on my right. Against Jack, I think both the failure to double and the failure to lead a club suggest the ace is on my left.

If East has both the ace and king of diamonds and is careless enough to win trick one with the king, then I can establish a diamond for a club pitch and not worry about who has the club ace. There is no particular reason I need to play dummy's nine. For all East knows, I have the stiff ten in my hand. By retaining the nine, I may get two pitches if West has ten third.

I play a low diamond from dummy. East wins the trick with the ten. He can't possibly do that with ace-ten. He might have king-ten, but that requires West to have underled the diamond ace into my cue-bid, which would be bizarre. So East must have ace-king-ten. That means I get to pitch a club.

East plays the ace of diamonds. What's this? He thought I psyched my cuebid? I ruff with the ace of hearts, as East plays the five. Against some pairs, I would suspect that West had falsecarded his opening lead.

I play the seven of hearts to the queen. West plays the four; East, the nine. If I draw the last trump, then ruff out the diamond king, I have no way to get back to dummy safely. So I have to take the ruffing fineese now. Despite my suspicion that West falsecarded on the opening lead, I don't think I need to worry that he has a doubleton. East would not have passed twice with ace-king-ten sixth of diamonds. Nor he is wily enough to have won trick one with the ten while holding the eight. So West must have the eight, and ruffing out the diamond king should be safe. I play the jack of diamonds--six--club jack--diamond eight. I draw the last trump and take a spade finesse. I'll take the rest if it wins. It doesn't. West takes the king and cashes the club ace. Making four.

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

Partner's gratuitous cuebid might have been fatal. On this auction, a low club lead from the West hand seems pretty obvious.

The board is a push, although our opponents did reach four hearts from the other side of the table. I assume North bid two hearts, rather than one notrump, over the one spade opening. I'm not sure whether I approve or not. That choice will probably work out well if partner bids again. In some cases, it may make it easier to find a five-three heart fit. But if partner passes, two hearts may well be the wrong partscore.

Table 1: +620
Table 2: -620

Score on Board 5: 0 imps
Total: +3 imps