ACBL Daylong 1 - Jul 29, 2021 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 6  ♥ A K Q J 9 8  ♦ Q 8  ♣ 10 8 3

I'm in first seat. If I open one heart, what should my rebid be? A rebid of three hearts usually shows seven and half or eight tricks, and this hand has only seven plus. Still, it's too good for a two-heart rebid. 16 HCP plus two length points in hearts makes 18. Even if you deduct for the unprotected queen of diamonds, you still have 17. In short, the hand is worth a three-heart rebid if you count points but not if you count playing tricks.

This is a common problem. Some hands fit in the cracks between a minimum rebid and a jump rebid. One way to solve the problem is to open such hands one notrump, getting your extra values into the auction without overstating them. One notrump is about what this hand is worth in playing strength, though choosing that bid with a six-card major isn't to everyone's taste. Personally, I don't think it's a terrible choice, especially at IMPs. It's not hard to imagine three notrump making with four hearts going down, and opening one notrump may be the easiest (and least revealing) way to get there. But it could also lead to a silly result. This hand is only a quarter trick shy of a three-heart rebid, so I'll take the more mainstream approach.

I open one heart, LHO doubles, and partner bids one spade. I bid three hearts as planned, LHO doubles again, and partner raises to four hearts, which ends the auction. West leads the five of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
			1 ♥
Double	1 ♠	Pass	3 ♥
Double	4 ♥	(All pass)

If we assume West would have led a diamond with ace-king, then East must have one of those two cards. West must have everything else--and probably a stiff heart as well--to have his second double. That means the queen of clubs is onside. Unfortunately, I have no entry to dummy's long club, so it appears I have four losers. That extra quarter trick would come in handy. Just make the diamond queen the king, and I could endplay West to make this.

How will the play go? I will draw trump and lead the club ten. West will have to hold up until the third round of clubs, then switch to a diamond. But maybe that won't be obvious. If he thinks I have, for example, a stiff spade and king-queen third of diamonds, he will shift to a spade instead of a diamond, giving me an overtrick.

I play a low heart from dummy, and East plays the ten. I win with the queen (to leave open the possibility that East has jack-ten fourth) and cash the king. West pitches the five of clubs. West would probably pitch from a five-card suit if he had one, but he would pitch his lowest card, since the robots signal count when discarding. Since the five can't be lowest from a five-card suit, it appears West is 4-1-4-4. 

On the next heart, West pitches the eight of spades, and I pitch dummy's diamond five. On the fourth heart, West pitches the four of clubs, completing his echo. If I have read the hand correctly, that was an error. Now he can't hold up his ace until the third round. I pitch another diamond from dummy and lead the club ten. West plays the queen. I win with the king and play another club to West's ace. East plays the six, then the deuce.

West shifts to the jack of diamonds, East takes his king and returns the deuce to his partner's ace. I can pitch my spade loser on dummy's long club, so I have the rest. Making four.

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

Plus 420 is worth 87%. I'm not sure why West pitched the second club. Some Wests defended better. Weirdly, what seemed to make the difference was the play at trick one. At the tables where declarer won with the heart jack, West worked out the right defense. When declarer won with the queen, he didn't. 

Winning with the jack is certainly an error. There is no reason to let West know your hearts are solid. But why that made it easier for West to see he had to hold his clubs, I can't say. Sometimes I wish I could trace through the code and see why the robots do what they do.

While I got trick one right, I did make a rather lazy play myself later on. I realized that I wanted West to play me for

♠ x  ♥ A K Q J x x  ♦ K Q x  ♣ x x x

But I forgot the next step. I should have pretended that's what I had and played accordingly. I would never pitch from dummy's ten third of diamonds if I held king-queen third in my hand, since the diamond jack might be doubleton. I would pitch two spades in that case, so that's what I should do here. That way, I might still make this even if West holds onto his clubs. 

Human defenders, of course, should solve this problem. East must give count on the clubs so West knows how many rounds to hold up. But on the third club, he should pitch a discouraging spade. West will then play him for the diamond king. 

A discouraging spade is better than an encouraging diamond. Sometimes your spots are unreadable, and partner can't tell whether your play is high or low. If you routinely pitch discouraging cards from suits you don't like rather than encouraging cards from suits you do, partner will have an easier time resolving ambiguities when they occur.

I'm sure some partnerships would try to solve this via some fancy suit-preference footwork in the trump suit. But that's not for me. You have 24 different ways to play your spots, and I haven't a clue what any of those sequences means. Pitching a discouraging spade on the third round of clubs is the clearest way to get your message across.