Free Weekly Instant Tournament - March 15 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A Q 2  ♥ A 9  ♦ K Q 5 3 2  ♣ A 8 2

One pass to me. I have 19 HCP, so I open with one diamond, intending to rebid two notrump to show 18 or 19. I know some will add a point for the five-card suit and open with two notrump. But I disapprove. I think upgrading to a two notrump opening is almost always a mistake.

The two-notrump opening is one of the weakest parts of standard bidding. If partner has a good hand and you belong in a minor-suit slam, it is very difficult to get there, since you can't even introduce your suit below the four-level. And if partner has a bad hand and passes two notrump, you are probably too high. The main reason for opening two notrump--that you may miss a game if you open at the one-level and partner passes--doesn't apply when you have only 19 HCP. So what's the point of upgrading? It serves no constructive purpose. 

True, it may serve a tactical purpose. Two notrump--three notrump gives nothing away. A slower auction may help the opponents on opening lead. 

It may also serve a pre-emptive purpose. Sometimes the opponents can actually make something or have a profitable save, and a two-notrump opening will shut them out of the auction. Still, I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. As a general rule, I don't go out of my way to open two notrump. It's an opening I try to avoid.

Over one diamond, partner responds one heart. I rebid two notrump as planned. Partner bids three spades, showing four-four in the majors. I bid three notrump and everyone passes. West leads the three of clubs.

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

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

I have three club tricks, probably four diamond tricks, and four tricks in the majors. Eleven tricks in all. If spades come home or if I can execute a major-suit squeeze, I have twelve.

I play the club ten from dummy. East plays the four. I suppose there is some chance East ducked with the queen if his hand is good enough to know his partner can't have the ace. But it's more likely the club queen is on my left. And, even though the robots like three-card leads against notrump, I doubt West would lead from queen third. So I'll make the tentative assumption that West has queen fourth. I play the eight, leaving open the possibility from East's perspective that the lead is from a five-card suit.

I lead the jack of diamonds from dummy--seven--deuce--eight. Now the ten of diamonds--four--three--six.

I don't want to give away the spade position, so I come to my hand with the club ace rather than a spade to continue diamonds. East plays the six; West, the five. Now king of diamonds--heart six--heart deuce--diamond ace. This is the position, with East on lead:

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

The robots usually give count when discarding, so the heart six is probably high from a four-card suit. That makes West 3-4-2-4, in which case I'm making six. But it's possible the six isn't as high as it looks. If it's West's lowest heart, he could be 4-3-2-4 or 2-5-2-4. Is the latter really possible? Wouldn't West have led a heart with that pattern? Partner did bid the suit, so maybe not. I'll assume either shape is possible.

Let's consider 4-3-2-4 first. If that's what West has, the run of the diamond suit will probably clue me in and I can take a finesse in the end position. What if he's 2-5-2-4? If his doubleton spade is the jack, I'm making six. If it isn't, then my only chance is to squeeze East in the majors. Since the spade threat is in front of East, my heart threat must be behind him. That means I need East to have both the king and jack of hearts, making my nine a threat.

East shifts to the seven of clubs. West plays the queen and I win with dummy's king. Now that I know for sure West has the queen, I'm confident he started with four clubs. In most scenarios, the queen, the card West was presumed to hold, would be his correct play. In this case, his low club would have been a better choice. I'm more likely to question my presumption about the club queen than I am to believe West led a club from queen third.

I play a spade to the ace. East plays the three; West, the five. The robots do not give count when following suit, so I can draw no inference from their spade spots.

Now diamond queen--heart eight--heart four from dummy. East follows with his last diamond. I still don't know if the heart six was high or low. 

I cash the spade queen to save time if the jack falls. It doesn't. West plays the eight; East the nine.

Now the ace of hearts--five--ten--seven. So the six was high, which means West began with four hearts. If I've read the position correctly, West was 3-4-2-4 and this should be the layout:

	NORTH Robot ♠ K 10 ♥ Q ♦ -- ♣ --
WEST Robot ♠ x ♥ x ♦ -- ♣ 9		EAST Robot ♠ x ♥ x x ♦ -- ♣ --
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ 2 ♥ 9 ♦ 5 ♣ --

Could I be wrong? Let's recheck my assumptions. I suppose it's possible West did lead a club from queen third after all. If so, he holds two spades and a heart now. If that's the case, perhaps his heart is the king and he will be squeezed when I cash the last diamond. But if he pitches a low heart, I'm not finessing the spade. If I'm wrong about the club lead, I'll pay off.

I cash the diamond. West pitches the heart three. East removes all doubt by pitching the six of spades. I claim. Making six.

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

Plus 490 is worth 75%, which seems generous for what should be a flat board. Since jack third of spades is onside, there is no guess in the spade suit.

It turns out the two-notrump openers were punished. After a two-notrump opening and a Stayman auction, West doesn't find out about North's heart suit, so he has a natural heart lead, holding the contract to five.

Despite the fact that I don't approve of the two-notrump opening, this result does seem unfair. As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs, one possible gain in opening two notrump is that the auction will be less revealing. For the two-notrump opening to work out badly precisely because the auction is less revealing is cruel. But I'm not complaining. Sometimes the bridge gods work in mysterious ways.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - March 15 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ A K 8 3  ♥ A 6 2  ♦ Q 10 5  ♣ A 4 2

Two passes to me. I open with one notrump, and partner bids two hearts, a transfer to spades.

I believe one should pre-accept on almost any hand with four spades. This hand, with four trumps and four-plus honor tricks, should meet anyone's standards. 

I bid three spades, partner goes on to four, and West leads the queen of clubs.

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

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

I have two diamonds losers, so I need to hold my heart losers to one. If I can strip the hand, I might manage an endplay. There are two ways to play the heart suit in the end position. I can play a low heart from my hand, guess whether to play the ten or queen, and hope, if I guess wrong, that East has both honors and is endplayed. Or I can cash the ace and lead to the ten or queen, hoping, if I guess wrong, that East is out of hearts and must give me a ruff-sluff. For either plan to work, however, I need to have a trump left in each hand after drawing trump and ruffing two clubs. So I will need trumps to be two-two.

Should I ruff a club now while it's convenient? Let's see if I need to. If I win the second trump in my hand and trumps are indeed two-two, I can ruff one club at that point. Then, assuming from the opening lead that East has at least one diamond honor, I can always reach my hand with a diamond to ruff the second club. Since I have no entry problems, there is no need to ruff a club now. An early, gratuitous ruff might prove embarrassing if trumps don't split.

East plays the seven of clubs at trick one. I take the club ace, play a spade to dummy, and a spade back to my hand. They split.

Now a club ruff. West plays the three; East, the five.

I lead the deuce of diamonds. East hops with the king; West follows with the seven. East continues with the ace of diamonds. I play low, and West following with the eight. East continues the nine of diamonds to my queen, as West discards the nine of hearts. We've reached this position:

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

The nine of hearts is presumably count. If so, West is 2-4-2-5, and I'm cold. All I have to do is ruff a club, play a heart to my ace, then play a heart to the queen or ten. It makes no difference which, since if it loses, East has only minors left and is endplayed.

I ruff a club to dummy and play a heart. East plays the jack. I take the ace and claim ten tricks.

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

I guess East hopped with the jack to save himself the embarrassment of being endplayed.

Plus 620 was worth 82%. Strangely, quite a few players didn't pre-accept and languished in two spades.  

I see some declarers did ruff a club at trick two. Once I saw that the immediate ruff was unnecessary, I didn't bother to check if it might cost. Let's do that now.

Suppose I ruff a club at trick two, then draw trump. If trumps turn out to be three-one, I must draw three rounds. Then I drive a diamond honor, and the defense leads a third club to tap dummy, reaching this position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ -- ♥ Q 10 5 4 ♦ 4 2 ♣ --
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ 8 ♥ A 6 2 ♦ Q 10 ♣ --

I drive the other diamond. Now they tap my hand with a fourth club and I'm out of trumps. Even if I guess hearts correctly, I'm still going down if the hand with the heart king has the long club. So an immediate club ruff is an error. I could go down when I'm cold if I guess hearts.

Ruffing a club at trick two is the kind of error an expert can easily fall into when he's being lazy. Stripping the hand looks like a good idea. So why not ruff a club now, when you have the chance? Stopping to work out whether you're short of entries and need to ruff a club early is too much work.

Sometimes playing by instinct is unavoidable. You don't always know enough about the layout to tell whether or not you need to make some preparatory play, such as taking an early ruff or ducking a trick to prepare for a squeeze. So you have to rely more on instinct than on analysis. But this deal isn't one of those cases. If you bother to check, you can see easily enough that you aren't short of entries, so there is no hurry to ruff a club. 

Incidentally, I did misbid this hand, because I was unfamiliar with the robots' methods. I discovered later that they play two notrump over the transfer as a maximum with four trumps and "4333" distribution. So that's what I should have bid. It might allow partner, with a different hand, to choose three notrump rather than four spades.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - March 15 - Board 4

Board 4
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K 4  ♥ K Q 8  ♦ K 8 4  ♣ J 9 8 6 3

RHO opens two diamonds, weak, in third seat. I pass, LHO raises to three diamonds. Partner, despite being a passed hand, chimes in with three spades, and RHO passes.

Personally, I would never bid this way. If I had a suit I'm willing to introduce at the three-level, I would do something on the first round of the auction. Obviously partner doesn't agree with this approach. So what does he have? Why is he willing to bid three spades now when he wasn't willing to bid on the first round?

I suspect he has a two-spade opening, or possibly a three spade opening, but was deterred by a four-card heart suit. If so, my hand is golden. I have three cover cards for him. (The king of diamonds is probably opposite his singleton, so I'll ignore that card.) Still, if three cover cards were enough for game, partner would have a six-loser hand. A six-loser hand with ten cards in the majors is an opening bid. Another concern is that his fourth heart may be an unexpected loser, since he won't be able to ruff it in dummy. Despite the fact this is quite a good hand on the auction, it doesn't appear to be enough to raise.

I pass, as does LHO. RHO leads the heart six.

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

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

I called it! A weak two-spade bid with four hearts and seven losers. So my three cover cards are just enough to make three. Fortunately, partner has the heart jack, so the fourth heart isn't a problem. Although a heart ruff by an opponent might be. This lead looks suspiciously like a singleton. If so, is there anything I can do about it?

I could try winning the heart in dummy and leading a low spade from the table. But what if East hops with the ace, leads another heart, and West follows? Then there was no heart ruff after all. But now spades are blocked. I can't get to my hand to draw the last trump. So if West has it, I've gone down in a cold contract.

In fact, if West has three spades, the ploy can't work anyway. Even if East ducks the spade ace, he can still give his partner a ruff on the next round. So the ploy works only when West is specifically 2-1-6-4 and East choses to duck the spade ace. And I go down in a cold contract whenever West is three-two in the majors and East hops. The swindle is clearly a bad bet.

I win with the heart king; East plays the deuce. I lead the spade king--eight--deuce--ace. Oh. Somehow I didn't think of the pre-empter's holding the spade ace. The swindle is worse than I thought. It works only if West is 2-1-6-4 and East holds the spade ace and chooses to duck it.

West continues with the heart four. I have three unavoidable losers left. Making three.

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

Everyone played three or four spades and almost everyone took nine tricks. Plus 140 was worth 61%.

One declarer tried a ploy I didn't think of. He won the first heart in his hand with the ace and played a spade toward dummy. If East holds five hearts, this leaves open the possibility from his perspective that the opening lead is from jack-nine-six and declarer holds ace doubleton. Unfortunately, declarer's imaginative play was punished. West ducked the first spade, won the second, and played another heart. Declarer had no way to get off dummy to draw the last trump, so he went down one.

This might have worked if East had the spade ace. But even then it seems unlikely. If declarer has ace doubleton of hearts, why wouldn't he cash his hearts and pitch his stiff diamond before driving the spade ace? Still, I like the idea of trying to convince East the lead isn't a singleton.

Perhaps there's a better way to accomplish that: Play the heart king from dummy and overtake with the ace. You can always hook against the ten later, and this sequence might make it appear to East that you have ace-jack third and are retaining an additional hand entry.

Again, it seems unlikely this will work. It's not as if East has anything better to do than to try to give his partner a heart ruff. But it can't hurt to try. Unlike the other two ploys, there is no risk if the six is an honest card. If West unexpectedly has the ten, you will find out in time, since he will play the seven on the second round. So why not? I wish I'd thought of it.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - March 15 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K Q 5  ♥ Q 8 6  ♦ A K 9 7  ♣ J 8 7

I open one notrump in first seat and buy it. LHO leads the three of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
			1 NT
(All pass)

I play low from dummy and West wins with the king. What should I do if East continues with a low heart at trick two? A priori, East is twice as likely to have the jack as to have the ace by restricted choice. Yet one could argue that I should go up with the queen anyway, since East would lead the jack if he had it to smother dummy's ten.

But would he? He certainly would if he had the nine. But if he doesn't, then I might have it and leading the jack takes my guess away. True, leading low from jack-empty risks letting me take a trick I'm not entitled to. But if I'm going to hop whenever he leads low, leading low from jack-empty doesn't cost. 

But if I decide East will reach this conclusion and will therefore lead low from jack-empty, it becomes wrong for me to hop. I should go with the a priori odds and duck. But if I'm going to duck, East can no longer afford to lead low from jack-empty. But that means it is right for me to hop. And so on ad infinitum.

How do you escape this vicious circle? What's the right answer? It so happens I wrote a Bridge World article about this suit combination years ago. If you're interested, you can find my solution there. In this case it's moot, since East continues with the ace at trick two, and West follows with the nine.

At trick three, East leads the jack of hearts. I win with the queen, and West follows with the seven. I still haven't seen the deuce. Hearts could be four-four or either opponent could have started with five hearts.

I have six tricks. I need one more. If East has the spade ace, my contract is safe. I can lead a spade toward my hand. If East ducks, I'm home. If he hops, there is no scenario where the defense can take seven tricks. If East has five hearts, they can take four hearts and two aces. If West has five hearts, they can't cash them unless East leads a club to West's ace, solving my club problem. And if hearts are four-four, the best they can do is to take three hearts, a spade, and two clubs.

If West has the spade ace, however, I could have a problem. Say I play a spade to my hand, and West wins, cashes two hearts, and leads a low club. I'll need to hope West has a club honor and will have to guess which one in order to make my contract.

I could run all my diamonds before playing a spade to maximize my chance of guessing clubs. But then I won't be able to lead up to my spades twice. I'd like to do that, since if East has both aces and no more hearts, I can make an overtrick by taking two spade tricks.

It's not clear how much I will learn by running all my diamonds anyway. So I'll compromise by cashing three diamonds before playing a spade toward my hand. If the spade wins, I'll finish the diamonds and play another spade. If it loses, at least I'll have some extra information from having cashed three diamonds.

I pitch a club from dummy on this trick and cash the ace and king of diamonds. On the second diamond, West pitches the five of clubs. There are two lower clubs out. I can't tell whether that's a high club or a low one.

I play a diamond to dummy, and West pitches the ten of spades. That one's high. The robots like pitching count cards. So it appears West is 4-5-1-3 or 4-4-1-4. If he turns out to be 4-5-1-3, I'm going to play him for the club ace. I doubt his first discard would be a club from queen third.

We've reached this position with the lead in dummy:

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

I lead a spade from dummy. East plays the jack, and I play the queen. West takes the ace and cashes the five of hearts. I pitch a spade from dummy. East pitches the six of clubs. I'm happy to see that card. If East had both club honors, he wouldn't be pitching clubs. He would be hoping to run the club suit. So I'm sticking with my assumption that West has the club ace. Presumably this is the current layout.

	NORTH Robot ♠ 7 ♥ -- ♦ J 6 ♣ K 9
WEST Robot ♠ x x ♥ 2 ♦ -- ♣ ? ?		EAST Robot ♠ x x ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ ? ? ?
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ K ♥ -- ♦ 9 ♣ J 8 7

West cashes the last heart. I pitch a spade from dummy, and East pitches the club three. East's coming down to a doubleton club was an error. I can now pitch a club from my hand safely. Even if I misguess clubs, I'm down only one. East would have done better to hold all four clubs. Then, if I think East has both club honors, I might decide to pitch a diamond from my hand and concede down one. Pitching a club retains the possibility of making but risks going down three.

I pitch a club, intending to play West for the club ace if he leads a low one. But he doesn't put me to the test. He shifts to a spade, and I claim three tricks. Making one.

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

Plus 90 is worth 61%. Most declarers ran all their diamonds before playing a spade. I think that's a mistake, though it didn't matter this time.

West's spade exit at the end was strange. That was simply giving up. But I see what he was "thinking." Since robots assume you are double-dummy, they will never put you to a guess if they have another option. West was hoping his partner had the last diamond and I had no way to get to dummy except to lead a club to the king, in which case he could win and cash a spade. In the robot's opinion, I'm more likely to have completely butchered the play earlier than I am to misguess a queen now.