Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 4

Board 4
Both vulnerable

♠ J 10 9 5 4 3  ♥ --  ♦ A K 7  ♣ A 10 9 2

Partner opens with one heart in second seat. I bid one spade, and partner bids two hearts. I have ace-king ace and a six-card major with internal solidity. So when partner opened, I wasn't planning on stopping short of game. But his bidding and rebidding my void is not encouraging. And my own suit isn't worth much without a fit. So I change my mind and bid an invitational three spades. Partner passes, and West leads the club five.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 ♥	Pass	3 ♠
(All pass)

This seems quite high enough. I'm starting with at least four spade losers. Since the robots don't like aggressive leads, it's likely the club five is from shortness. If so, I have a club loser as well. That means I'm probably not making this.

Can I manage to lose only three spade tricks? If West has two honors fourth of spades, then maybe I can get him to play those honors on the first two rounds. Then I can duck out his partner's stiff honor.

I cover the club five with dummy's six. (Edgar used to do that--usually with a comment like "Just in case." So I continue the tradition.) East plays the jack and I win with the ace.

The spade jack is more likely to induce a cover than the ten or nine. So I lead the jack. West takes the king, I pitch the heart deuce from dummy, and East follows with the spade deuce. 

West will probably continue clubs if he began with a doubleton. He doesn't. He shifts to the diamond  three. So the lead was probably a singleton, and he is now trying to put his partner on lead for a ruff.

I want him to believe it's possible his partner has a diamond entry. If he has king-queen-fourth of trumps, perhaps he will be afraid to duck my next trump lead for fear I have ace-jack-ten-nine sixth and am trying to sucker him out of his ruff. If so, he will hop and lead another diamond. Then I will win and lead a low trump to East's stiff ace. If East doesn't give his partner a ruff, I can draw the last trump and lose three spades and a club. If he does, I can then pitch a club on the heart ace and avoid a club loser. 

I want to win this trick with the card that will leave open the possibility that East has a diamond entry. Which card will do that? The ace or the king? If I were missing the king, I might play the queen on this trick, so playing low and winning with the ace suggests I have the king also. If I were missing the ace, however, I would always duck in dummy. So the king is the right card to conceal my holding.

I play low from dummy. East plays the jack. I take the diamond king and lead the spade ten. West plays the six. Too bad. Either he didn't fall for my ruse or he doesn't have a trump honor. I pitch the heart three from dummy, and East wins with the spade ace. He then shifts to the heart four. I ruff as West follows with the heart eight.

This is the current position:

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

My only chance now is that someone has a stiff queen of trumps, although it's hard to imagine that's the case. I lead a low trump--eight--heart seven--spade seven. It appears I'm going down one.

West leads the five of diamonds, and East ruffs dummy's queen with the spade queen. He now surprises me by shifting to the club three. That gives me a club trick, and my last club goes on dummy's heart ace. Making three.

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

What was that club shift all about? Did East really think his partner had a trump left? And even if he did, what difference did it make? He was always scoring the club queen so long as he didn't lead the suit.

I suspect he thought his play didn't matter, so he just chose a card at random--a mistake I've certainly made before. Perhaps he thought this hand was impossible, since I would never bid three spades with 12 HCP. But what hand did he think I held instead? I suppose it's possible he wasn't playing me for any specific hand. Maybe once the universe of possible deals gets pruned down to an empty set, the robots simply play at random. Faced with such a problem, humans can rethink their assumptions and reconsider layouts that they previously thought were impossible. Perhaps robots, as they are currently programmed, can't do that.

Plus 140 was worth 96%. I can't take credit for making this, since that was all East's doing. But I can take credit for not overbidding and forcing to game. Minus 100 would still have been worth 76%, since most pairs got overboard.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K Q 7 5 3  ♥ K J  ♦ A K 10  ♣ A K 9

Two clubs followed by 2NT shows 22-24 HCP in the robots' methods. With 23 HCP, I'm in the middle of that range.

I open with two clubs, partner bids two diamonds, and I bid two notrump. Partner bids three clubs, Stayman. I bid three spades, and partner raises to four. West leads the spade nine.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
			2 ♣
Pass	2 ♦	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 ♣	Pass	3 ♠
Pass	4 ♠	(All pass)

I can draw trumps, pitch a club from dummy on a diamond, and ruff a club. Then I need to guess hearts. If I guess right, I make five. Sometimes I say I would rather have king-deuce in this position than king-jack. With king-deuce, I have a 50% of taking a trick. With king-jack, I have only a 25% chance. Perhaps we can put that theory to the test on this deal.

I play a low spade from dummy. East plays the eight and I win with the queen. I play the spade three, and West pitches the four of diamonds. I play the spade jack, and East ducks with the six.

Ducking this trick is strange. One would expect East to win and try to find a useful shift, perhaps attempting to score a ruff with his remaining trump. Is there any suit East might try to ruff? A doubleton where he might hope to find his partner with ace-queen? If so, the fact that he didn't try for a ruff means he thinks it unlikely his partner has the ace-queen, which, in turn, suggests he has the heart ace.

Given West's diamond discard, if East does have a doubleton, it's probably in diamonds, where it does him no good. A doubleton heart or club is unlikely, since that would give West five cards in the suit, and he might have pitched one. That's unfortunate. East's failure to try for a ruff offers no clue.

Perhaps East could have tried to give his partner a ruff. At trick one, he didn't know his partner had a stiff spade. If was looking at ace fourth of hearts, he might have won the first trick and underled the heart ace, playing his partner for king doubleton.

A human might shift to a heart from queen fourth as well, playing his partner for ace doubleton and for declarer to misguess. But a robot wouldn't even bother to try that. He assumes you play double dummy, so he looks for defenses that work by force. Since a heart shift from ace fourth does work by force if West has king doubleton and another trump, there is a strong inference East does not have ace fourth of hearts. If we eliminate hands with ace fourth of hearts from consideration, East is better than 50% to hold the heart queen rather than the ace.

I might as well lead a heart now. I'm not going to discover anything more if I continue playing, but East might. And the less he knows about my hand the better. If he does have the heart ace, he might think of some reason to hop if I play a heart now.

I play the heart five from dummy. East plays the four. I play the jack and West wins with the queen. He shifts to the diamond six. I win with dummy's queen, and East plays the seven. I play the six of hearts from dummy, and East hops with the ace. Making four.

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

So East did have ace fourth of hearts but didn't try to give his partner a ruff. I find that surprising. It's hard to see how ducking two rounds of trumps offers better prospects.

This result is a mere 31%. Other declarers were not better guessers than I was. Some of them were just better bidders. After two clubs--two diamonds, they rebid two spades, effectively forcing to game. Now East, fearful declarer has a stiff king of hearts, hops up with the ace when they lead a heart from dummy.

Apparently I'm supposed to rebid two spades with king-jack of hearts and two notrump with a stiff king. Maybe some day I'll be that good.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ A K 10 7 6 2  ♥ J  ♦ Q  ♣ K 9 8 7 3

RHO opens with one heart. I could bid two hearts, a Michaels cue-bid, showing spades and a minor, but that could make it hard to get the sixth spade into the auction. So I bid one spade instead. LHO raises to two hearts, passed around to me. When I chose not to use Michaels, I judged that the sixth spade was more important than the club suit, so I might as well follow through. I bid two spades. Everyone passes, and West leads the heart king.

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

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

A human West, anticipating a critical shift at trick two, might lead the heart king from king third to retain the lead. But I'll assume this West has ace-king third. That leaves twelve HCP unaccounted for, and East should have most of them.

East plays the heart seven at trick one, and West shifts to the diamond eight. I play low from dummy, East plays the deuce, and I win with the queen. I suppose East wasn't expecting me to have two singletons. That's one reason not to show my two-suiter.

East presumably has ace-jack-ten fourth or fifth of diamonds. Since he has at least nine red cards, there is a good chance he has a doubleton spade queen. But if I cash the ace and king of spades trying to drop it and he shows out, I will have two spade losers. 

I could lead a low spade from my hand. If East does have a small singleton spade, I avoid two spade losers that way. And if he has queen doubleton, failing to drop it might not cost. If he is 2-5-4-2, I now have a dummy entry to lead through his club ace. My safety play in spades loses a spade trick, but I get it back in the club suit.

What if he is 2-5-5-1? If I start clubs from my hand, my correct play is to duck in dummy. If clubs are three-two, ducking doesn't cost, since I have to lose two club tricks anyway. So I might as well guard against a stiff ace. That means I don't gain anything starting clubs from dummy, so the safety play costs a trick in this case.

The safety play gains only if East has a small singleton spade. That leaves him with only ten HCP. He probably wouldn't open with only ten HCP unless he was five-five. So a low spade gains only when he has specifically,

♠ x  ♥ x x x x x  ♦ A J 10 x x  ♣ A J.

With bad hearts and ace-jack tight of clubs, I probably wouldn't open that hand myself, but a robot might, since robots aren't big on exercising judgment. Even if he has that hand, however, cashing the top spades still doesn't cost if the singleton spade is the eight. So leading a low spade caters to a very small set of hands--possibly even none, depending on East's opening bid tendencies.

I cash the spade ace. West plays the eight. I play the nine from dummy, and East follows with the four. Now king of spades--five--jack--three. East seems to have begun with queen third of spades. That means his club ace is singleton. This, I assume, is the position:

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

I'm going to lead a club and duck in dummy. But I might as well lead the club nine to tempt West to do something foolish. He does. He covers with the ten. Great! Now, when I duck, East will take his stiff ace. I can then play a club to dummy's six, picking up the suit for one loser. Even if I've somehow misread the position and West has jack-ten third, ducking won't cost. So I play low from dummy.

East surprises me by winning with the jack. He shifts to the four of hearts. I ruff and drive the club ace. Making three.

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

It turns out a low spade at trick three was the right idea, since it allows me to make four. I didn't consider this layout, because I was assuming East had at least four diamonds. It didn't occur to me that West might lead the eight from ten-eight fifth and that East might duck with ace-jack-deuce. Perhaps it should have.

I could also have made four by playing the club queen when West covered my nine with the ten. But that's an impossible play to find. Covering with ten third makes no sense. What I was envisioning was more likely.

Plus 140 is worth 73%, since a fair number of players made only two or scored 110 in clubs. Making four would have been worth 96%.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 1

Every Sunday BBO offers a free robot individual. Since it's free, it attracts over 15,000 entrants, so it's a chance to see how you do in an enormous field. I decided to try it for my next set.

Board 1
Neither vulnerable

♠ A 5 2  ♥ A K 7 6 2  ♦ 7 3  ♣ A J 6

Partner opens with one club, I bid one heart, and partner bids two clubs. I prefer to play that a two-club rebid denies three-card heart support, but the robots refuse to play that way, so partner might have three hearts. If he does, he will have a sixth club or be 1-3-4-5. Either way my chances for slam are good. King-queen sixth of clubs, queen third of hearts, and the diamond ace is a minimum opening bid and we have a grand slam on normal breaks. If partner doesn't have a heart fit, we still might make a slam in clubs, but that will be hard to investigate. I'll check for a heart fit first and worry about how to find a club slam later.

I suspect partner expects me to bid my better pointed suit to check back, but I want to keep the auction low to make investigation easier. It's hard to see how it can hurt to bid two diamonds rather than two spades, and it allows partner to show heart support at the two level.

I bid two diamonds, and partner bids three diamonds. This should show four-card "support." If I were sure partner was four-six in the minors, I would be very interested in a club slam now. But he could be four-five.

I would not be four-five myself. I open one diamond with four-five in the minors and insufficient values to reverse. While I don't generally like to bid suits out of order, one doesn't usually end up playing in minor suits. So ambiguity about your relative minor-suit lengths will often prove unimportant. And there are two benefits to bidding this way: (1) If your opponent overcalls, responder will often have an easier time after a one-diamond opening than after a one-club opening. (2) It can be helpful to know opener has six clubs on an auction such has this one. Still, I believe I'm in the minority here. This is a more common approach in Acol. I used to play Acol, and this is one of the quirks I've retained from that style.

In any event, my robot partner could easily be four-five, which makes slam less likely. At matchpoints, I don't want to risk getting past three notrump in pursuit of a speculative slam. So I settle for a timid three notrump, which ends the auction. West leads the spade nine.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
	1 ♣	Pass	1 ♥
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	3 ♦	Pass	3 NT
(All pass)

Partner has more than a minimum in high cards, but the lack of a sixth club makes slam problematic. While six clubs might make, I'm happy to be in three notrump.

The opening lead appears to be from a doubleton. I wonder if bidding and raising diamonds steered him off a normal diamond lead. Good thing I'm not playing against humans. If a diamond lead turns out to be better, I can already hear the opponents calling the director, claiming I psyched. I didn't. I chose two diamonds for purposes of economy--not deception.

I have ten cashing tricks. Can I find an eleventh? Even if hearts are four-three, I don't have the tempo to establish a long heart trick. I could try to find the king-queen of diamonds onside, or I could duck a couple of tricks and try for a squeeze.

Suppose I win the spade in dummy and duck a heart. The opponents will probably continue spades. To correct the count for a squeeze, I'll have to duck, eliminating my spade threat. Now a diamond shift will destroy any remaining squeeze chances. In fact, even a spade continuation destroys any squeeze chances, since I will have no entry to my hand after running clubs.

If a squeeze isn't going to work, my only reasonable shot at an eleventh trick is finding the king-queen of diamonds onside. I play a low spade from dummy, and East encourages with the eight. I take the spade ace and lead the diamond three. West plays the queen. That looks promising. West appears to be splitting with king-queen. I duck, and East follows with the ten.

West continues with the spade seven. I win with dummy's king, and East follows with the four. Assuming West has the diamond king, I now have eleven cashing tricks. And if West began with four or more diamonds, I have a double squeeze for twelve. West stops diamonds and East stops spades. So neither can stop hearts. Thankfully, West didn't find a heart shift, which would have killed the double squeeze.

How confident am I that West has the diamond king? Might he be inserting the queen from queen doubleton or third? If I take the diamond finesse and it loses, East will have three spades to cash.

Since I know East had the diamond ten, I'm pretty confident West was splitting. West might insert the queen from queen-ten doubleton. Maybe even from queen-ten third. But without the ten, inserting an isolated queen would be a strange play. Of course, one never knows what strange plays the robots are capable of. But it seems unlikely the king is offside.

I play the club deuce to my ace. East plays the nine, West the three. I lead the seven of diamonds. West plays the nine. The moment of truth. I play the jack. East follows with the five. When I cash the diamond ace, East discards the club four. I can't claim, because I'm only inferring East has the rest of the spades. But of course he does, so I wind up making six.

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

Plus 490 is worth 82%. Squeezes tend to be worth a lot in these events. The field doesn't do squeezes. It might have been worth more, but some players bid and made six clubs.

Quite a number of players simply bid three notrump over two clubs. With 16 HCP, it's probably true that, if we stop in game, three notrump is better than four hearts--even if partner has heart support. But blasting three notrump is giving up on slam too easily.

Leaping to three notrump works out badly for a strange reason. It induces West to lead a club, giving declarer the tempo to go after a long heart trick. With that option available, playing for king-queen of diamonds onside is no longer the best line. You do establish an eleventh trick in hearts, but you can no longer find a twelfth.

In retrospect, perhaps I played too quickly when I ducked the diamond queen. Since I haven't seen East play the ten yet, there is a real possibility that West played the queen without the king. If he did, I would go down on the line I took.

A safer way to try for an extra trick is to take the diamond ace, then return to my hand with a club to play another diamond. If West hops with the diamond king and doesn't find a heart shift, I still have a double squeeze for twelve tricks. But if he plays low, I might decide he doesn't have the king. After all,  what's the point of splitting if you're willing to let me score the jack on the next diamond play anyway? If I decide West doesn't have the king, I can duck, ensuring the opponents can't take more than three diamond tricks. That way, at least I take the ten tricks I started with.