Free Weekly Instant Tournament - November 10 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K Q J  ♥ K Q 5 3 2  ♦ Q 7 6  ♣ K J

RHO opens with one heart. I could overcall with one notrump. But since the opponents are vulnerable and we aren't, it's tempting to pass, hoping to collect a penalty.

There are two problems with the approach. The first is that my defensive prospects aren't as good as my point count suggests. While I have five hearts, my spots are bad, so my heart stack may not be all that troublesome for declarer. And I have no aces; my values are all soft.

A more serious problem, however, is that if I pass, I may have no good follow-up. If the auction happens to proceed one spade--pass--one notrump, I'm in great shape. I can double, and partner will have a pretty good picture of my hand.

Other auctions, however, are more awkward. If opener rebids two hearts, my spots aren't good enough to double, so I will have to pass. If he rebids two of a minor over a one spade or one notrump response, I will have to pass then as well. 

So passing one heart will likely lead to defending something undoubled. Since this could easily be our hand for a notrump game, I'm not willing to do that. It looks better to overcall one notrump. That will not only make it easier to bid game if we have one, it will also keep the auction uncomplicated--always a good idea when playing with a robot.

I bid one notrump, LHO passes, and partner bids two notrump, a transfer to clubs. RHO passes, and I dutifully bid three clubs. LHO now comes to life with three diamonds. What's that all about? With long diamonds and a hand not good enough to double, why not bid two diamonds on the previous round? I can't imagine a hand where I would take this auction.

I have nothing further to say. I pass, and partner leads the deuce of spades.

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

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

Declarer apparently has ace third or fourth of spades and probably a stiff heart, since partner would have led a heart if he held the singleton. He must have six diamonds to trot out the suit unilaterally at the three-level. Perhaps he has something like

♠ A x x  ♥ x  ♦ K J 10 x x x  ♣ x x x

This would give some semblance of sense to his auction. With six good diamonds, he is happy to defend one notrump, but less happy to defend three clubs. He might have chosen to double one notrump with this hand, but perhaps not.

The next step after forming a provisional construction is to predict how the play will go. Then, if your prediction is wrong, you will know to revise your construction. If my construction on this deal is correct, declarer will probably win and play ace and a club, intending to ruff a club with the diamond ace and hook me out of the diamond queen.

My best chance for another trick is to find partner with a stiff jack of diamonds. Then declarer can't afford to ruff with the diamond ace. Even a stiff ten will force declarer to guess the diamond suit. Either the jack or ten in partner's hand makes South's decision not to double one notrump more believable. So this is a likely layout.

I have a slight problem in that I have no safe exits. On my construction, I have a safe club exit, but I don't want to commit to my construction unless I have to. While it's unlikely declarer has the club queen, I'd just as soon he didn't get any ideas about endplaying me. That means I don't want him to know I have king-queen-jack tight of spades. I'll play the spade queen at trick one, making it appear I have a spade exit. Partner will think declarer has the jack, but he doesn't have much to do on this deal, so I doubt the lie will do any harm.

I play the queen, and declarer wins with the spade ace. He then, surprisingly, plays the four of hearts to dummy's ace, partner contributing the nine, and leads a spade from dummy.

What's going on? Why isn't declarer trying to ruff a club in dummy? The most likely explanation is he doesn't have one to ruff. Perhaps he's 4-1-6-2 and intends to ruff a spade if they don't break.

But why go to the trouble to play spades from dummy? It's inconvenient to release the heart ace. He must have some reason. 

Maybe he wants me to win the second spade. Perhaps he's afraid if he leads a spade from his hand, partner will hop with the jack and shift to a club. He thinks if I win the trick, a club shift will be harder to find. Yes, that makes sense. He is hoping spades are three-three and trumps two-two. Then, if we don't get clubs going fast enough, he can pitch dummy's club on the long spade and ruff a club in dummy.

Since trumps aren't two-two, he can't do that. Say I cash both spades and play a trump. He can either draw all the trumps and lose a club or cash two trumps and pitch a club as I ruff in. He must lose either a club or a trump. Making four.

What happens if I go after the club trick? I win this spade, play a club, win the next spade and cash the club. Now he has to guess the trumps. If he misguesses, he makes only three. Since I have a notrump overcall without the diamond queen, he might well misguess.

I'm sure I'm wrong about why declarer is determined to play spades from dummy. The robots don't play at that level. But this looks like the right defense anyway. I win with the spade jack--five--eight.  Now the club king--three--six--ace.

Declarer plays another spade--king--ten--four. I lead the club jack and partner overtakes with the queen to lead the ten of hearts. Declarer plays low from dummy and ruffs it.

Now a diamond to the ace and a diamond back to the king. Partner, surprisingly, follows to the second diamond with the jack. So declarer is 4-1-5-3?

He ruffs a club in dummy. I overruff with the queen and declarer takes the rest. Making three. 

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

This is a surprising 100%. The field is passing one heart. The auction then goes one spade--pass--one notrump, and they pass again. I don't get it. Isn't this exactly what you are hoping for if you pass one heart? You get the continuation you were dreaming of and then don't double? One notrump makes two, so my minus 110 beat the minus 120s. If you double, partner will pull to two clubs. Who knows what happens after that, but you will surely do better than minus 120.

There seems to be a reluctance among some players to overcall one notrump. The deal last week was, I thought, a routine one-notrump overcall and almost no one bid it. I even got some weird objections in the comments in the Bridge People group on Facebook. One person, if I understood him correctly, suggested I wouldn't have overcalled one notrump in a real game.

I find the one notrump overcall to be a very useful call. If partner has a decent hand, it makes your auction run smoothly. It can make it easy to bid a game that would be difficult to reach otherwise. Yes, sometimes LHO will double and you will have no place to run. But, so what? You can get in trouble overcalling in a suit as well. You can't bid assuming the worst will happen. If you have a bid that describes your hand perfectly, it's usually a good idea to make it.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - November 3 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 6  ♥ A 2  ♦ A Q 10 5 3  ♣ Q J 4 2

Partner passes, and RHO opens one spade. I bid one notrump. LHO doubles--pass--pass back to me.

After an opening bid and a one-notrump overcall, the opponents are well placed to judge their defensive prospects. So it's usually wrong to sit. And with only a single spade stopper and two possible trump suits, now is not time to make an exception. The robots play "system on" after a double, with redouble showing a long minor (a method I don't care for). So partner probably has a balanced hand. That means two diamonds rates to be a playable spot.

Still, it's wrong to bid two diamonds right away, since we might have a club fit. It would be a shame to bid two diamonds, get doubled, then see dummy hit with two diamonds and four clubs. I need to bring clubs into the picture somehow. But how?

The obvious solution is to redouble. But the tooltip shows the robots play this as natural. I can't imagine why I would ever want to redouble for play in this auction, but those are the methods I'm stuck with. Given I can't redouble, the next best choice is simply to bid two clubs. If the opponents let me play there undoubled, I'm happy even if it's not our best strain. Any port in a storm. Of course, that probably won't happen. If no one can double two clubs, then they will probably bid something. Either way, I'm off the hook.

If they do double, I'll run to two diamonds. I can't be sure diamonds is a better spot than clubs. Partner still might have four clubs for all I know. But I'm no worse off than if I had bid two diamonds right away. I gave myself an extra chance and it didn't pan out.

This is an important principle to follow in an auction where you may be in trouble: Never bypass a potentially playable spot. If you think you know where you belong and it is higher-ranking than other possible spots, you have plenty of time to get there. It doesn't hurt to try other contracts on the way and see if the opponents let you off the hook.

I have heard some object to this approach by saying it may get the opponents into a "doubling rhythm." Bidding two clubs, then running to diamonds may induce them to double two diamonds with a hand where they would let you escape if you bid it right away.

Hogwash! Competent opponents don't get into "doubling rhythms." They are looking at the same cards whether you bid two diamonds right away or get there after bidding clubs first. If they have a double of two diamonds, they will double. If they don't, they won't.

True, incompetent opponents may base their doubles on emotions rather than on the cards they are looking at. But I'm not worried about such opponents. If they double two diamonds when they don't have a double, there is no particular reason to believe they are making the right decision. There is a clear advantage in bidding clubs en route to two diamonds. I'm not going to give up that advantage for fear the opponents will do something foolish and it will work out in their favor.

Having said that, does the fact that I am playing with a robot change anything? Who knows what partner will think is going on if I bid two clubs, then run to two diamonds? Will he take me back to three clubs with two-three in the minors? Let's hope not.

I bid two clubs, and LHO doubles. Partner bids two hearts. Partner's auction makes no sense. He can't have five hearts, else he would have transferred on the previous round. So why is he running from two clubs doubled to a four-card suit? He must have a stiff club. But with 4-4-4-1, why not run to two diamonds? Or why not take advantage of the fact that we play Stayman after the double and bid that? Maybe he's 5-4-3-1. That's the only pattern I can think of where this sequence makes any sense. If we get doubled here, should I back my judgment and run to two spades?

Fortunately I don't have to make that decision. RHO comes to the rescue and bids two spades himself. Everyone passes and I have to find a lead.

RHO's reluctance to give his partner a chance to double two hearts suggests a singleton heart. So LHO rates to have six of them. That means leading partner's suit is out. Leading partner's presumed shortness, clubs, looks better. Leading an honor is usually wrong when partner is short. so I choose the deuce of clubs..

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

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

Dummy has six hearts as expected. Although he also has a spade, so apparently partner has only four of them. Is he actually 4-4-4-1? Or did he run from two clubs with 4-4-3-2? That makes no sense either. With a doubleton club, he should pass. I will run myself if I don't have five clubs.

Declarer plays the club eight from dummy, and partner plays the nine. Declarer wins with the ace and leads the ten of hearts.

It must be right to win this and lead the club queen. Perhaps partner can ruff out the king and lead a diamond to my ace. Then I can cash the club jack and lead another club for partner to overruff dummy.

I play the ace, and partner follows with the four. Now queen of clubs--king--six--four. So partner is 4-4-3-2. I can still give him a club ruff when I get in with the spade king.

Declarer leads the seven of spades from dummy--deuce--five. I win the king and cash the jack of clubs. Partner pitches the diamond deuce. I play another club. Partner doesn't ruff it. He pitches another diamond, allowing declarer to win the trick with the club five. Apparently he has a natural trump trick.

In time we score the spade jack and the diamond ace. Making two.

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

Minus 110 is worth 79%.

If we were playing natural advances instead of "system on" after the double, partner should bid two diamonds, ostensibly to play. Then, if doubled, he can redouble to show the next two higher suits. We should escape after that start. I will pass two diamonds, and LHO will, or should, bid two hearts.

I didn't even comment on the one notrump overcall, since it struck me as routine. But it was actually an unpopular choice. Some doubled, a strange decision with a doubleton heart. But the most popular choice was two diamonds. That seems misguided to me. Not only is your diamond suit below par for a vulnerable two-level overcall. But also your likeliest game is three notrump. A one-notrump overcall makes it easier to get there than a two-diamond overcall.

Only three people were faced with the decision I was with how to handle the double of one notrump. Two sat it out and went for 500 and 800.

One ran to two diamonds. North doubled. Again, East ran to two hearts, which makes even less sense after two diamonds than after two clubs. This time, however, South passed. (Perhaps he bid when his partner doubled clubs because he thought the club fit increased their offensive potential.) When two hearts was passed around to North, he passed it out and collected 400. Presumably he was afraid his partner would pull if he doubled, and defending, even undoubled, had to be better than declaring.

So bidding two clubs did turn out to be the best way of handling the double. Although, since neither partner nor the opponents took sensible actions in any scenario, I can't claim this board proves anything.