Free Weekly Instant Tournament - January 18 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ Q 9 8 2  ♥ A K 10 8  ♦ 9  ♣ K Q 9 6

RHO passes and I open with one club. Partner bids one diamond, I bid one heart, and partner bids one spade, artificial and forcing to game.

One spade denies four spades in the robots' methods. Partner must bid two spades to show a spade suit. I'm sure some players will rebid one notrump, believing that, since we can't have an eight-card spade fit, that there is no reason to bid your spade suit. That would make sense with a 4-4-2-3 pattern or even with 4-4-1-4 and a stiff diamond honor. But with a small singleton diamond it's better to bid spades so partner knows you are three-suited. If partner's diamonds are weak, we may wish to avoid notrump. In fact, if partner has a good hand with a club fit, showing my diamond shortness may enable us to bid a club slam.

The next question is how many spades to bid. Had partner responded one spade initially, I would have raised to three with my 17 support points. Why not bid three spades now to show the same hand?

Some players have a phobia about jumping in a game forcing auction. Why take up the bidding space when two spades is forcing, they say? One good reason is that the 17-19 range is awkward for opener when responder forces to game. It's strong enough that slam is possible but not strong enough to risk a bid past game. So, when your hand falls in that range, you should show it if possible. Then you can sit back and leave the rest of the auction to partner.

In short, there is nothing wrong with consuming bidding space when you are making a bid that perfectly describes your hand. In that case, the gain in keeping the auction low is illusory. Perhaps if you simply tell partner what you have, he will know what to do.

I bid three spades, and partner bids four diamonds. What's that about? Could partner have self-sufficient diamonds? No. The robots play strong jump shifts at the two level. With self-sufficient diamonds and slam interest, he would have bid two diamonds over one club. And with a minimum game force, he would be bidding three notrump now.

This should be a choice-of-games cue-bid, suggesting two places to play. I doubt the robots are that sophisticated. But one thing for sure: Partner doesn't think three notrump is the right spot. So I bid four hearts to suggest a four-three heart fit. 

Partner bids four spades. This sequence should imply that I can correct to five clubs if it looks right. I might be 4-4-0-5 after all. My spade suit is a bit weak for a four-three fit, so I'm not too happy about playing four spades.  But playing clubs a level higher doesn't look any better. And, even if it did, I doubt partner and I are on the same wavelength. I just have to pass and hope for the best.

I pass, and RHO leads the club deuce.

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

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

With a club void and the knowledge that his diamond suit is worthless, partner made a good decision to avoid three notrump. I'm still not sure what he had in mind with four diamonds. Why not just raise three spades to four? Or, if four diamonds was intended as choice-of-games, why not respect my choice and pass four hearts?

I happy he didn't pass four hearts. Four spades looks like a better spot. I have two hearts tricks, one diamond trick, and one club trick after I ruff out East's ace. I need six trump tricks to make this. I can score three club ruffs in my hand. As long as I can ruff one diamond with my trump deuce. I can score three trump tricks in dummy. And here I thought my spades weren't good enough for a four-three fit. The nine-eight of spades turn out to be important cards.

Is making four good enough? What happens in three notrump? If you can take four spades and four hearts, a club, and a diamond, you can make four notrump. But that takes a lot of good luck. More likely three notrump makes only three or possibly even goes down. So I needn't worry about overtricks in four spades. I'll pretend I'm playing IMPs and try to maximize my chance of making this.

How might I go down? Given the lead of the club deuce, each defender should have at least three clubs, so I don't have to worry about a club's being overruffed. Someone might have a stiff diamond, but it's hard to see that I can do anything about that. Can I do anything about a stiff heart? 

If I'm lucky enough that the stiff heart is the queen, perhaps I can.  Let's say I ruff out East's club ace, then play a heart to my hand and the queen drops. I'll have four hearts tricks, so perhaps I can switch plans, playing for control. I ruff a club with the spade ace, then lead the jack of spades, overtaking with the queen if East plays low. I should be able to hold the defense to the spade king, one heart ruff, and one club trick at the end.

I play the club king from dummy. East covers with the ace, and I ruff with the spade ten. I lead the six of hearts--deuce--king--four. No stiff queen. I have to hope the second heart holds up.

I could cash the club queen, but I'm not sure what I want to pitch yet. Since I know no one has a doubleton club, cashing the queen can wait. I lead the six of clubs--four--spade jack--club seven. Now another heart. I might as well lead the jack. I don't think West will cover with king-ten in the dummy. But who knows? West plays the three on my jack. I go up with the ace, and East drops the five. I cash the club queen, pitching a heart from my hand. East play the three; West, the eight.

Here is the current position, with the lead in dummy:

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

I need to ruff the diamond now. I don't want to ruff something in my hand and give an opponent a chance to pitch a diamond. I play a diamond to the ace, East contributes the king, and West follows with the four. Now another diamond--ten--spade deuce--diamond deuce. I'm home. I ruff a club with the spade ace and have two trump tricks in dummy coming to me. Making four

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

I could have made five by taking the heart finesse. But that would be dangerous and greedy. Plus 620 is worth 89%. 

No one duplicated my auction. I'm not surprised. In retrospect, I think I should have bid two spades, not three. I stand behind my earlier rant in principle. When you have a descriptive bid available, you shouldn't shy away from it just because it takes up bidding space. But there is a special consideration in this auction that I didn't think about at the time. What if partner was preparing a forcing heart raise? He no longer has a forcing bid in hearts available, so he will have to guess how many hearts to bid. Since partner might have a plan, I shouldn't get in his way. 

Still, I think either two spades or three spades is a better choice than the misdescriptive one notrump that was the most popular call. And much better than the unilateral three notrump, a frequent choice that I don't understand at all. Either of those rebids lands you in three notrump.

What happens after two spades? Partner bids two notrump, then removes your three notrump to four hearts. Two players played four hearts after this sequence. One made it and one went down two.

I understand partner can't bid three hearts over two spades, since that should show a prepared raise with four trumps. So a temporizing two notrump makes sense. But it does seem better to remove three notrump to four diamonds, offering partner a choice of majors. Apparently the robot believed he had to make the choice himself. It's interesting that on my auction partner guessed to play spades but after a two-spade bid he guessed to play hearts.