Zenith Daylong - Oct 14, 2021 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A Q J 10 5  ♥ Q J 9  ♦ 9 8  ♣ 9 7 6

RHO passes. Most daylong tournaments on BBO are best-hand tournaments, which means that when you hold ten HCP, everyone else holds ten HCP also. This has two implications: (1) If you pass, the hand is likely to be passed out.  (2) If you open and buy the contract, you rate to do quite well in the play, since you will be able to place the high cards accurately--even down to jacks. So with a balanced ten-count it makes sense to open, then to pass partner's response even if it's forcing. You aren't concerned about getting to the best contract, since, with many tables passing the board out, any plus score rates to be a good result. None of this applies when you hold 11 HCP. So, in a best-hand tournament, I would open one spade with this hand but would pass if you gave me another jack.

Zenith Daylongs, however, are not best-hand tournaments, so I pass. LHO opens with one diamond. Partner passes, and RHO bids one heart. 

I could bid two spades to apply a little pressure. This is the right vulnerability to step out a little, and the fact that I didn't open with a weak two-bid should serve as a warning to partner not to take me too seriously. But this partner won't draw that inference. If I bid two spades and catch partner with good support, he will probably take me too high. So I content myself with a pusillanimous one spade. 

LHO doubles, showing three-card heart support, and partner bids three spades, weak. RHO passes. The opponents might have a game somewhere, but with a flat hand including queen-jack-nine in their suit, four spades rates to be expensive. I pass, and LHO bids four hearts. Partner and RHO pass.

Since West has only three hearts, he doesn't know that four hearts is a viable contract. So he will usually double if he wants to compete, offering his partner the option of defending. Bidding four hearts instead, therefore, shows extra shape, a hand where West has no interest in defending. Usually he will have at least six diamonds, although he might be 0-3-5-5. If responder doesn't want to play four hearts, he can correct to five diamonds or punt with four notrump to leave open the possibility of playing five clubs.

How much of this do the robots know? I suspect West knows enough to double if he is bidding on high cards rather than on shape. But I doubt if East knows enough to draw that inference. So I can't read much into his pass.

What should I lead? Dummy is probably short in spades, so I see no reason not to lead the spade ace. Even if I set up the king in declarer's hand, it's a trick he could ruff or pitch on diamonds anyway. And my ace might go away if I don't cash it. I lead the ace of spades. Dummy is a surprise:

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

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

I guess I was wrong. West didn't know enough to double with this hand.

Dummy plays low, partner plays the four; declarer, the deuce. Some would play suit preference here, since there are no more tricks to be had in spades. But that makes no sense to me. What is partner supposed to do if he wants me to continue spades as a passive defense? I believe in always playing attitude at trick one unless you are known to have a six-card suit (in which case, a three-way signal is readable). In a situation like this, partner encourages in spades if he wants a passive defense and discourages if he wants a shift. It's up to you to figure out which shift makes sense.

Opposite this partner, I'm on my own. I need to decide for myself whether to defend passively or to shift and, if so, which suit to shift to. Does either shift makes sense? If partner has the ace-queen of clubs, could it be necessary to cash them? If declarer is 1-2 in the black suits, yes. But is that possible? If partner has five spades and ace-queen of clubs, he probably wouldn't be making a pre-emptive raise. So I'm not worried about a pitch on the spade king. Could declarer pitch clubs on dummy's diamonds? If he is 2-6-3-2 or 2-6-2-3, that's possible. But I will gain the lead in hearts in time make the switch. It doesn't appear that an immediate club switch can be necessary.

How about a diamond shift? If partner has the diamond queen, do I need to shift to diamonds to score it? Let's try constructing a hand for declarer where that's the case. How about

♠ x x  ♥ K 10 x x x  ♦ x x x  ♣ Q x x?

Left to his own devices, declarer can pitch a diamond on dummy's long club. What happens if I switch to a diamond? Declarer simply cashes two top trumps, then knocks out partner's club ace. We can't stop the pitch. What if I drop an honor when declarer cashes the heart ace? Maybe he will finesse, fearing four hearts in partner's hand. Then I can play a second diamond before partner's club ace is dislodged.

It's worth a shot. Do I switch to the diamond nine or the eight? It should make no difference. I don't need to be honest here, so a good declarer should pay no attention to which card I lead. But if declarer is the type to pay attention, leading the nine is probably better. Most defenders would lead a "tricky" nine from queen-nine third. It's a good idea to lead the same way whether you have the queen or not. I lead the nine. Declarer rises with the ace, partner drops the seven, and declarer plays the five.

Now ace of hearts--eight--deuce. I play the jack, as planned. Declarer plays the heart three--six--ten--jack. Good. Exactly what I was hoping for. I shift to the diamond eight. Declarer rises with the king and partner drops the queen. 

So declarer had five diamonds. That makes him 2-5-5-1 or 2-4-5-2. Declarer leads the heart five, and partner follows with the four. So declarer is 2-4-5-2. If he has the club ace, he has the rest. If partner has it, we have one or two club tricks coming to us. Declarer has it. Making five.

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

32%. What did I do wrong? Did some defenders find a way to talk declarer into the diamond finesse? No. I lost the board in the auction. Some Wests saved in four spades over four hearts. Since this was going down five, it would seem like a bad idea. But the opponents chose to bid five diamonds rather than double, scoring 600. I can't worry about such things. I judged four spades was going for more than their game, and I was right. And for North to work out to double four spades with a hand where he should have doubled three doesn't seem all that hard. Sometimes you're destined to get a poor result.