The Gargoyle Chronicles: ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021

Sunday, August 8, 2021

ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ A Q J 9 7 6 4 ♥ A J 9 5 4 ♦ -- ♣ A

RHO opens one diamond. I might as well start with two diamonds with the intention of bidding lots of spades later. LHO passes, partner bids two hearts, and RHO passes.

The right bid is three spades. That should be almost forcing, since it means I'm willing to hear a correction to four hearts. Partner is allowed to pass with a serious misfit (say, 1-2 in the majors), but most of the time he should either correct to four hearts or raise to four spades. Unfortunately, I'm not sure partner will see it that way. I'm afraid he'll pass more often than he should. With a three-loser hand, I don't want to risk missing a game, so I bid four spades. That suggests my spades are self-sufficient and I'm not really interested in a correction--that I was just showing my heart suit in case we had a good fit and could make a slam.

Partner seems to think we can. He bids six hearts, and I pass. West leads the seven of diamonds.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ A Q J 9 7 6 4 ♥ A J 9 5 4 ♦ -- ♣ A

	SOUTH Robot ♠ 2 ♥ 10 7 3 ♦ A Q 10 4 ♣ 10 8 7 6 4

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
1 ♦	2 ♦	Pass	2 ♥
Pass	4 ♠	Pass	6 ♥
(All pass)

If I had my bid, this would be a good contract. As it is, it's bad but not hopeless. I need to bring in the heart suit for one loser and set up spades with no losers. Unfortunately, I don't have enough entries to make my best play in both suits. I need to compromise on one of them.

I pitch a spade from dummy, East plays the deuce, and I win with the ten. By the Rule of Eleven, East has one diamond higher than the seven, and, since he didn't play it, it's probably the eight.

I see two options. (A) I can play a spade to the queen and ruff a spade, which is my best play in the spade suit, then hope one heart finesse is sufficient to bring home the heart suit, or (B) I can take two heart finesses, which is my best play in the heart suit, and decide later whether to take a ruffing finesse in spades or to try to drop a doubleton king on my left. (A) is problematic. Even if the spade finesse works, I'm not home yet. If the king drops doubleton when I take my ruff, I will need both heart honors on my left, else West can score an overruff when East wins his trump trick. (B) looks like the better line. For one thing, I will have a better idea who has the spade king once I find out how the trump honors are split.

I play the three of hearts--deuce--nine--king. There are 18 HCP outstanding, so there is room for the spade king in East's hand. But it is overwhelmingly likely to be on my left. So if East continues hearts, I will need to hope I can drop it with only ruff.

East doesn't continue hearts. He shifts to the nine of clubs. West plays the three, and I win dummy's ace. No club honor from West. So he probably started with king-queen third or fourth of clubs, leaving him relatively short in the majors. If he is 2-2, 2-3, or 3-2, as seems likely at this point, I am probably making this. If the king of spades drops after one ruff, and I can take a heart finesse. If it doesn't, I will need to ruff a second spade, but then the queen of hearts will be dropping. I suspect the spade king is doubleton. East would have returned a trump if he thought I needed two ruffs.

I play ace and ruff a spade. Everyone follows, but, surprisingly, no king. I ruff a club to my hand and ruff another spade, dropping the king as East pitches the eight of diamonds. I ruff another club and cash the heart ace. The queen drops. Making six, for a 99% board.

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

East could beat me by returning a trump at trick three. I'm not sure why he didn't. It wouldn't appear to be a difficult play to find. I don't even see what he was trying to accomplish with the club shift. It turns out line (A) would have worked by force, but I still think (B) was the percentage choice. That's especially true if East is going to misdefend anyway, rendering (A) unnecessary.

Most players bid two diamonds, then raised two hearts to four. I don't care for that auction. Spades could easily be the better game. You'd feel pretty silly if partner is two-two in the majors. Some doubled, then bid four spades over partner's two clubs, an auction I care for even less. You don't make take-out doubles with seven-fives. Even if you plan from the start to bid four spades next whatever happens, an initial two diamonds gives partner a better picture of your hand than a take-out double does. A few players actually bid correctly and reached a sensible contract: two diamonds, followed by three spades, which partner corrected to four hearts. Some overbid as I did, reaching slam on the same auction. But only two of them made it.

Well, this was an exciting start! A grand slam and a small slam, both with some difficult choices in the play. One of the things I like about these daylong tournaments is that after a hand like this I can relax a while before going on to the next one. Stamina isn't a problem.

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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, August 8, 2021

ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021 - Board 2

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