The Gargoyle Chronicles: Event 3 - Match 9

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Event 3 - Match 9 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ J 7 2 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ K J 10 7 ♣ Q 9 7

Two passes to me. I pass, and LHO opens one heart. RHO bids two clubs--natural, not Drury. LHO bids two diamonds, and RHO corrects to two hearts, ending the auction. Partner leads the three of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
Jack	Marcin	Phillip	Daniel
Pass	Pass	Pass	1 ♥
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	2 ♥	(All pass)

We lead lowest from an odd number, so partner has five spades, giving declarer ace-king or ace-queen doubleton. There is no reason for me to play the jack. If I play low, it will clarify the spade position for partner. I play the deuce, and declarer wins the trick with the six. Oops. What happened? I'm getting a feeling of deja vu. I expect to hear Lowenthal explain to me after the deal why it was necessary for him to lead low from king-queen-ten fifth.

Declarer plays the deuce of diamonds to the ace. Partner plays the four, and I play the seven. Declarer leads a diamond off dummy. We are going to have a hard time beating this contract if we take only one diamond trick, as we will if I hop and establish declarer's queen. If I duck, perhaps declarer will duck also, hoping to ruff out king third in partner's hand. I play the diamond ten. Declarer plays the queen; partner, the six. Can we start this board over?

Declarer plays the five of diamonds, partner plays the eight, and declarer ruffs with the four of hearts. I play the king, the card I'm known to hold. Declarer plays the five of spades--seven--ace--ten. The ten is a curious card. I'm still not sure what's going on in the spade suit.

Declarer leads his last diamond. Partner, perhaps flustered by my play so far, ruffs with the three of hearts. Declarer overruffs with the ace. Declarer leads the nine of spades--jack--queen--king. I see! Declarer is 4-5-4-0. That pattern didn't even occur to me. So it turns out my duck at trick one didn't cost. Luckily declarer had ace-queen fourth rather than ace-king fourth.

Partner plays the club ace, and declarer ruffs with the heart six. Declarer has a good spade and four hearts left. Declarer cashes the heart king and continues with the jack of hearts, partner playing five, eight. My queen of hearts is our last trick. Making five.

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

Obviously I can save a trick by hopping with the diamond king. I don't regret that play, however. Hopping is simply giving up. We can do better yet if partner avoids a spade lead. A spade from king third does seem like an overly aggressive choice when the club suit isn't a threat. A trump makes more sense.

Our teammates also missed the cold game and also received peccable defense, so the board is a push. (The cold game, by the way, is four spades: Three hearts, a diamond, and six trumps on a crossruff.)

Table 1: -200
Table 2: +200

Result on Board 5: 0 imps
Total: +8 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

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Event 3 - Match 9 - Board 5

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