Zenith Daylong - Oct 14, 2021 - Board 10

Board 10
Both vulnerable

♠ Q 6 3  ♥ 4 3  ♦ K Q 2  ♣ A J 10 5 4

RHO passes. I open with one club. LHO bids two diamonds, weak, and partner bids two hearts. I bid two notrump, and partner bids four hearts. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the ace of diamonds.

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

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

One would normally have a six-card suit for a two-level pre-empt. But since East has a jack-high suit and since the robots are not particularly aggressive with their pre-empts, I suspect he has seven of them. I play the deuce from dummy, and East plays the four. The card I play makes to difference to East. since West can have either one of them. Can my choice make a difference to West? Probably not. But since East would never play his second-lowest diamond, the three is the card I'm known to hold. So I play it on general principles.

West shifts to the seven of spades. (Robots don't play suit preference.) I play low from dummy. East wins with the ace, and I follow with the deuce. I have a diamond discard for my long spade. So after West takes his diamond ruff, I have the rest--barring something unexpected.

East returns the six of diamonds. West ruffs with the heart five and returns the nine of spades. East doesn't ruff it, and everyone follows to the first heart. So I claim.

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

56% for plus 620. 

This isn't much of a deal from our perspective. It's far more interesting from the opponents' perspective. What would you play as East at trick one on partner's lead of the diamond ace? 

First of all, what does your card mean? When you are known to have at least six cards in the suit led, your card should be a three-way signal. If you play standard carding, the eight (your middle card) would ask for a diamond continuation and the jack or four would be suit preference. If you play upside-down attitude, it's better to play that your lowest card asks for a diamond continuation and high or middle is suit preference. This is less accident prone than playing middle encourages. To play that your lowest card sometimes asks for diamonds and sometimes for clubs is begging for an accident. You may think you can choose some criterion to make it unambiguous. But what's the point? Since there is no gain to switching methodologies, why risk it? If your lowest card is always encouraging, there can never be an ambiguity.

Why not do the same thing playing standard signals? Why not play high is always encouraging and middle or low is suit preference? For some reason, I don't know of any pair who plays that way. Perhaps anyone who is sufficiently concerned about disambiguation to adopt such a method is already playing upside down.

In any event, what switch should you request with this hand? It's hard to see beating this unless partner's diamond ace is a singleton. So let's assume it is. We have two aces and one ruff. Where is our fourth trick coming from? Given South's jump to four hearts, it seems unlikely partner has the spade king. Might we take a club trick as our setting trick? Declarer can pitch one club on a diamond, so he will need three clubs for us to have a club trick. That makes him 2623. If that's his pattern, does it matter whether partner switches to a club or a spade? A club switch beats it easily. What about a spade switch? I win, give partner a ruff with my lowest diamond, and now he switches to a club. That kills the dummy entry, so declarer can't take two discards. So it doesn't matter which suit partner leads at trick two.

Can we find a layout where partner's switch does matter? What if partner has a natural trump trick? Maybe then we can beat this even if declarer has a doubleton club. Let's try this layout:

♠ K J x  ♥ A K Q x x x  ♦ x x  ♣ x x

If partner switches to a spade and I give him a ruff, we are out of tricks. If he switches to a club, we get two aces, a club, and a trump trick. Perhaps there exists some deal were a spade shift beats it and a club shift doesn't. But the fact that I'm having a hard time constructing one suggests that, if there is one, it's a very specific layout. And there is nothing unusual about this layout. So I suspect it's right to ask for a club shift.

But the problem isn't over yet. Let's say you ask for a club shift and partner shifts to the club nine. (His card should be attitude: high to confirm he's ruffing a diamond and low to say he isn't.) Declarer hops with the ace and cashes the ace and king of hearts. You drop the jack of diamonds, suit preference for spades. Declarer now leads the heart ten and partner wins with the queen.

Now what? As long as declarer has another club, he's down. But what if he doesn't? What if he has

♠ K J x x  ♥ A K J 10 x x  ♦ x x  ♣ x?

Now partner must shift to a spade to get his ruff. Is that clear? Are you sure--and, more importantly, is your partner sure--that the diamond jack necessarily shows the spade ace? And what happens if partner does lead a spade to your ace? If declarer has the hand above, you must give partner his diamond ruff. But if he has

♠ K J  ♥ A K J 10 x x x  ♦ x x  ♣ x x,

you must cash a club. 

Partner could solve this problem for you by giving attitude with his spade return: high to say he can ruff a diamond return and low to say he can't, like his club play at trick two. But it's not clear he'll do that. He might not be on the same wavelength about what your problem is. He might be afraid that if he leads a low spade, you will play him for the king.

Fortunately, there is a more reliable way to solve both your problems. You should discard the king of clubs on this trick. This discard makes sense only if you have king-queen tight. So if partner began with three clubs, he knows another club is cashing; and if he began with four, he knows it isn't. In the former case, he will return a club, solving your cash-out problem. In the latter case, he has no choice but to play you for the spade ace. You will win his spade shift and, knowing the club can't be cashing since partner didn't lead one, will give him his diamond ruff.

This deal is a good example of the technique of "drawing a box around partner." If you can play your cards in such a way that partner is forced to do the right thing, do so. Also, if partner knows the layout and could have forced you to defend in a particular way (e.g., cashing your club for you above), assume he will. If he doesn't, then assume that what he could have forced you to do is not the right defense. This is a far more effective method of defense than relying on signals, since signals are always in danger of being misinterpreted.