Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 26 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither side vulnerable

If you have not yet played this week's Free Instant Tournament, do so--or at least play the first board--before reading on.

♠ 7 4 2  ♥ A J 10  ♦ A 10 5  ♣ K 8 4 3

Partner bids one diamond in first seat. I bid two notrump, natural and invitational, and partner bids three hearts.

If partner is semi-balanced, say "5431," he should have spade shortness. Partner would not worry about club shortness, since clubs is usually my best suit when I respond with two notrump. Spade shortness, however, would be a concern. Of course, spade shortness is not a certainty; it is simply an inference. The more freakish partner's shape, the less valid this inference is.

With five controls, no spade wastage, and heart fillers, I have the best hand I could hold on this auction. If partner is interested in slam, I should have what he needs. But he isn't necessarily interested in slam. He could just be trying to avoid three notrump if we have a problem in the spade suit. While I should make as encouraging a noise as possible, I am not allowed to drive to slam without a forwarding-going move from partner.

What encouraging noise can I make? Three spades would show something in spades but not enough to bid three notrump. It is certainly not a slam move. Four clubs would suggest slam interest but should show the club ace. Four diamonds would show an inability to bid three notrump but carries no suggestion of slam interest. I might bid it simply to leave open the possibility of playing in four hearts if partner is six-five. 

Is four diamonds forcing? Technically not. I'm limited, so partner can do what he wants. As a practical matter, however, it's hard to see partner's passing four diamonds. Since it shows weakness in spades, our hands should fit well. It is unlikely that five diamonds will be a terrible spot.

Four hearts would suggest game in a four-three heart fit. So that leaves four spades or higher for slam suggestions. What should these bids mean?

Five diamonds should convey that my primary feature is good diamond support. It should definitely not show a bad hand on the principal of fast arrival. Five diamonds can't show a bad hand unless four diamonds shows a good hand. And, as we have seen, four diamonds isn't available to show a good hand. You must sometimes bid it for no reason other than to give partner a chance to rebid a five-card heart suit. As a general rule, fast arrival should not apply in auctions where there is still uncertainty about strain.

Five clubs and four notrump are available as slam tries, and could be assigned very specific meanings by partnership agreement. Without an agreement, however, it is not clear what those specific meanings should be, so it is best to avoid either bid without prior disucssion.

Four spades, though, is unambiguously a slam try in diamonds. You could think of this as a Bluhmer (bidding partner's short suit to show slam interest), except that partner has only implied spade shortness; he has not promised it. So it is not technically a Bluhmer.

Four spades is the right bid. Unfortunately, my robot partner will not understand it, so there is little point in choosing it. According to the tool tips, neither four clubs nor four spades shows diamond support. The only way to show support is to bid four diamonds or five diamonds. Four diamonds seems like the better choice, since it gives partner room to cue-bid four spades or five clubs. Over either bid, I will bid a slam.

I bid four diamonds, and partner raises to five. I'm not happy about passing this, but it would be a violation of captaincy to bid again. I am a limited hand. Partner could have invited me to bid slam and chose not to. He might have been stretching, in which case my good values may mean that five diamonds is a sound contract rather than the touch-and-go contract it might have been. 

I pass, and RHO leads the spade ace.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
			1 ♦
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 ♥
Pass	4 ♦	Pass	5 ♦
(All pass)

Making six, for a 43% board. 

Can we get to slam intelligently? I could break discipline and simply bid it. That would work this time, but there is no reason partner's eighth diamond couldn't a black loser. I believe partner should make a move over four diamonds. Five clubs, cue-bidding his void, would be dangerous. I have no reason to suspect he is void in clubs, so five clubs will make me think the club king is a useful card. Four spades seems like the right move. Surely I will bid slam with both red aces, and I doubt I would bid slam with anything else. With one red ace and the club ace, I would cooperate with five clubs, then give up when partner bids five diamonds.

Of course, four spades by me over three hearts is the easiest way to get there. A reliable partner should understand this as a general slam move even without prior discussion. If he also understands the bid to deny the club ace, as I believe he should, he has an easy six diamond bid. It's hard to see what would get me so excited other than the two red aces.

The full deal:

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

Some pairs did reach six diamonds, but they did so by overbidding on the first round. They bid three notrump over one diamond, and South leapt to six diamonds. I'm not impressed.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 12

Board 12
Our side vulnerable

♠ A K Q 4  ♥ A K Q  ♦ 9 6 5 3 2  ♣ J

Partner opens with three clubs in second seat and RHO passes. If partner has a stiff diamond and a one-loser club suit, we could make five clubs. If I needed one bit of luck, I might try five clubs. But two bits of luck is too much to hope for.

I pass, as does LHO. West leads the diamond king.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
		Pass	3 ♣
(All pass)

We have three diamond losers and at least one club loser. I'm happy I didn't get too aggressive with this hand.

I play a low diamond from dummy, and East discards the spade deuce. I might actually go down in this contract. If East can pitch three spades and get a spade ruff, I'll need the remaining trumps to be two-two.

West continues with the ace of diamonds. That's an error. He should lead the queen to tell his partner he will be making two more discards. He should lead the ace only if he doesn't have the queen or if I started with a singleton. In the latter case, the queen, suggesting East will be making two more discards, would be misleading.

On this trick, East pitches the spade nine; on the next, the spade jack. West doesn't get the hint. He shifts to the six of hearts. I win and cash the ace and king of clubs. They split. Making three.

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

East had a natural club trick, so West's failure to give him a spade ruff didn't cost.

Plus 110 is worth 77%. Some brave souls bid three notrump over three clubs, a bid I didn't even consider. They caught partner with a magic hand: Two cashing tricks, three spades (so the a three-three spade trick gives you a ninth trick), and three diamonds (so East has no diamond to lead).

Despite this good fortune, of the 49 declarers who played 3NT, 36 managed to go down. East always led the club seven. Some declarers continued to display their bravery by ducking the club to their jack. Unfortunately, while the finesse worked, they now had only one club trick instead of two. I'm not sure what to call this kind of finesse. A finesse that gains nothing if it works and loses if it doesn't is commonly called a practice finesse. But what do you call a finesse that must lose tricks whether it works or not? Perhaps a Pyrrhic finesse?

Another declarer overcame the trick one hurdle by rising with the club ace. But he also failed to notice that dummy was entryless. He cashed the club king and played a third club to establish the suit. Since East was void in diamonds, he should have survived this. But he pitched the four of spades on the third round of clubs, so he still found himself a trick short.

My final score was 75%. I finished 46th out of 16,499.

Next week I'm going to go back to playing the Weekly Free Instant Tournament, but I'm going to do it a little differently. I'll starting by posting board number one from the August 26th tournament. The following week, I'll post board number two from the September 2nd tournament, and so on for the next eight weeks. That way, if you haven't played the board yet, you will still have an opportunity to play it before you read the post. Of course, since each board will be from a different tournament, there will be no meaningful overall score at the end.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 11

Board 11
Neither vulnerable

♠ 10 4  ♥ 9 8 4 3  ♦ A K Q J 10  ♣ Q J

I open in first seat with one diamond. LHO bids one heart, and partner responds with one spade. RHO bids three-diamonds, showing four hearts and seven to nine support points. Since diamonds is the prime feature of my hand, I double. LHO and partner pass. East unsportingly runs to three hearts.

I've said all I have to say. I pass, LHO passes, and partner bids four clubs. That's strange. If partner wanted to bid clubs. why didn't he do so on the previous round? The opponents obviously were not going to play in three diamonds doubled. By passing, he took the risk that, at his next turn, the auction would be too high for him to show his club suit.

I know it's pointless to try to figure out what a robot is up to on a complicated auction. But let's imagine that we are playing with a reliable partner. What might we conclude from the fact that partner passed on the previous round?

Normally, one strives to introduce suits as early as possible because it might be right to compete if we find a fit. Since partner risked not finding a club fit, he presumably had no interest in competing even if we found one. In other words, if the opponents had bid four hearts, he was happy to defend. Quite possibly, he was intending to double.

This conclusion is contraindicated by my holding four hearts. But the robots have been known to overcall in chunky four-card suits. So it's possible partner is, say, 5-2-1-5 with top cards and fancied his prospects on defense.

Again, this is all moot playing with robots. And it's probably moot playing with a reliable partner as well, since, whatever partner's auction suggests, the only action that makes sense with this particular hand is to correct to four spades.

I bid four spades. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the heart ace.

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

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

As one might expect, partner does not have the hand he should for this auction. It's not entirely clear what he should have done. Perhaps pulling the double to four spades is the practical call. We might have a club slam if I have the right cards, but it will be hard to diagnose.

I'm off the club ace and possibly the spade king. I also have the fourth and fifth round of clubs to worry about, but I can probably manage to pitch them on diamonds. I have two entries to dummy: one in clubs, and one in diamonds. I need to use one to take the trump finesse and the other to take my discards. Does it matter which one I use first?

If I play a club now, the opponents might take the ace and play another. Now if the trump finesse loses, I might suffer a club ruff. So I need to use the diamond entry first.

I play a diamond to dummy. West plays the six; East, the nine. It appears one of the opponents is giving false count.

I lead the spade ten--seven--three--nine. I repeat the spade finesse and drive the club ace. Making six.

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

Plus 480 is worth 69%. I'm averaging 75% with one board to go.

Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 10

Board 10
Both vulnerable

♠ K 5 3  ♥ J 8 3  ♦ A K 5  ♣ A 9 5 4

I open with one notrump in second seat. Partner bids four hearts, a transfer to spades. I bid four spades and buy it. West leads the ace of hearts.

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

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

It's unlikely West would lead the heart ace holding ace-queen. But I don't know whether he's leading from shortness, trying for his own ruff, or from length, hoping to give his partner one. I play the five. East encourages with the nine and I discourage with the three. West shifts to the seven of diamonds. Dummy's queen wins, as East plays the diamond nine.

The fact that West shifted suggests he was not leading a heart from length. If he were, he would have no reason to believe he had not lucked out and caught his partner with a singleton. So I suspect he has a stiff ace or perhaps ace doubleton and decided, since dummy has the spade ace, that there was no point in going after a ruff.

Does the fact that I suspect West has short hearts mean I should play him for trump length and finesse him for the queen? No. To do so would be falling for the Monty Hall Trap. If West chose to lead a heart because he was short, then that knowledge is not as significant as if I had discovered his heart shortness on my own.

Another way to look at it: If West thought leading a short suit was a good idea, he would lead whichever suit he was short in. The fact that that suit happens to be hearts (like the fact that Monty opens specifically door number two) is immaterial. Of course, he might not have a short suit at all, so we can't ignore the information altogether. But the question to ask is not "How should I play spades given West is short in hearts?" Rather it is "How should I play spades given West has some short side suit?"

If you want to calculate that, go ahead. I'm not going to, however, because there are other factors to consider. For one, I'm not even sure West has short hearts. That's merely an inference. So if I were to calculate the odds West had queen of third of spades, I would then have to discount those odds according my confidence in the inference.

Further, queen third of spades might make a short suit lead less attractive to West. If he had some chance of scoring a trump trick without a ruff, another lead might look more appealing.

Taking all these factors into consideration, I see no reason not to cash the ace and king of spades. And I might as well start with the ace to ensure I don't lose two tricks if the suit is four-zero. I cash the ace--four--three--ten. I lead the spade jack and East plays the seven. I see no reason to change my mind. I go up with the king, and West follows with the queen.

If the heart queen and club king are in the same hand, I have the rest. If I had no clue where the heart queen was, I could play it as a criss-cross squeeze. I could I come down to,

	NORTH Robot ♠ -- ♥ K ♦ -- ♣ Q 6
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ J 8 ♦ -- ♣ A

Now I have to guess whether the club king or the heart queen is singleton. But since I'm pretty sure the heart queen in on my right, I can avoid a guess by coming down to,

	NORTH Robot ♠ 2 ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ Q 6
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ J ♦ -- ♣ A 9

Now I cash the last trump. If East doesn't pitch the heart queen, I pitch my heart jack and hope he had to stiff the club king. That's the line I'll take, although I'll postpone cashing the heart king as long as possible. I might as well leave the crisscross option open in case I change my mind.

I cash the ace and king of diamonds, pitching a heart from dummy. West plays four--ten; East plays eight--three. I play a spade to dummy. West pitches the club eight; East, the club deuce. The opponents are probably giving count with these club pitches. So West has four clubs and East has three.

On the next spade, East pitches the heart six. I pitch the club four; West, the club three. If anyone has two diamonds left, he probably would have pitched one by now. So the diamonds were probably four-four. That makes East 2-4-4-3 and West 2-3-4-4. I'm down to this position:

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

If my construction is correct, each opponent is down to two hearts, one diamond, and two clubs. 

I can cash one more spade before cashing the heart king. On this spade, I pitch a club. Both opponents pitch hearts. East, the four; West, the seven. I cash the heart king. East drops the queen and I claim.

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

This is worth 100%. That's ridiculous. I know this field doesn't do squeezes. But this one plays itself. All you have to do is cash your tricks. Well, maybe that's not exactly true. You do have to cash all your diamonds before finishing the trumps. I suspect that's where most declarers went wrong. 

Incidentally, note that West led the heart ace from neither shortness nor length. So I was right not to place too much confidence in my inference.