Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 10 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither side vulnerable

♠ A 8 5  ♥ K J 4  ♦ K 7  ♣ A J 10 3 2

Partner opens with one diamond in second seat. I bid two clubs, game forcing, and partner rebids two diamonds. This bid does not promise a six-card suit in the robots' methods.

Three notrump should show about 16-17 HCP, a hand with mild slam interest but not enough to bid past game. Fast arrival can't apply here, because responder must be free to bid two notrump with a minimum to leave room for investigating other strains. The robots don't play this way, however. They appear to make no distinction between two notrump and three notrump.

If three notrump doesn't show mild slam interest, then there is no reason to bid it. I bid two notrump to give partner the opportunity to describe his hand. Partner, not one to squander an opportunity, bids three diamonds.

Is this a slam try? Would partner have just raised to three notrump with no slam ambitions? As a general rule, finding the right strain takes precedence over slam bidding. Until proven otherwise, we should assume partner is simply concerned that three notrump is the wrong game. He could easily have a minimum opening. So where do we stand?

To express doubt about three notrump, partner should have a singleton somewhere. And his singleton is probably in a major, since shortness in the suit I bid is of no particular concern. If he does have a major-suit singleton, he is likely either 4-1-6-2 or 1-4-6-2, since he didn't support clubs.

Why not bid his four-card major with those patterns? He should if his diamonds are weak. But if they are playable opposite a doubleton, I think three diamonds is a better choice. If we belong in a diamond slam, it will be hard to get there if partner doesn't confirm a good suit now.

It would be nice to know where partner's singleton is. If it's in spades, our hands fit quite well. Opposite as little as 

♠ x  ♥ Q 10 x x  ♦ A Q J x x x  ♣ K x

slam is virtually cold.

The best bid at this point is three hearts. This is, in essence, an anti-Bluhmer, saying, "I have stuff in hearts. If your singleton is in hearts, I've got you covered. If it's in spades, three notrump is probably the wrong contract."

I know some will say it's a waste of time to try to have a sophisticated auction with a robot. But spades is the only suit we haven't bid. How sophisticated does partner have to be to bid notrump if he has good spades and something else if he doesn't? Besides, the alternative is to give up and bid a unilateral three notrump. That seems too defeatist to me. We could easily have a slam if partner has spade shortness, so I have to make some attempt to get there.

I bid three hearts, and partner bids four hearts. The tooltip says this shows a four-card suit, presumably suggesting a final contract. If partner thinks a four-three heart fit is a better spot than three notrump, the inference that he holds a singleton spade is pretty strong. So six diamonds looks like a good bet. I bid six diamonds. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the deuce of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
		Pass	1 ♦
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 ♦
Pass	3 ♥	Pass	4 ♥
Pass	6 ♦	(All pass)

I wouldn't have been so cavalier about bidding past three notrump with partner's hand. Over responder's three hearts, three spades gets the message across: "I know you're worried about spades. My spades aren't good enough to bid three notrump, but I do have some help there." With the black suits reversed, partner would be fully justified in spurning three notrump, and six diamonds would be a fine contract.

Even opposite this hand, slam is quite good on the expected spade lead. If West leads from the king, the contract is almost cold. If East has the king, I can make it if the heart queen is onside with some chances if it isn't.

The actual heart lead isn't so friendly, but at least it reveals that the heart finesse isn't working. West surely isn't leading from the heart queen in a suit we've bid and raised. He probably has three or four small. In the latter case, the queen is dropping, so I have three cashing heart tricks. In the former case, I have three tricks after I lose one. I Either way, that brings me up to eleven tricks. For a twelfth, I need to set up a long club or possibly execute a black-suit squeeze against West.

I need the heart king as an entry to ruff out clubs, so I play low from dummy and win with the ace. East contributes the ten. Now a club to the five, ace, and eight and a low club from dummy. If East has the king, he may hop. A human East would know I can't have queen doubleton when I didn't take a finesse, but robots don't draw inferences like that. If East hops with the king, then all I need is four-three clubs. I can draw trump, cross to the spade ace, and lead the jack of clubs, pitching my spade. Then I have two clubs tricks for heart pitches.

No such luck. East plays the nine on dummy's club lead. I ruff, and West follows with the seven. I play the six of diamonds--three--king--eight and another club from dummy. East plays the king. I ruff, and West follows with the four.

We've reached this position, with the club queen still outstanding:

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

I might as well test diamonds. If diamonds don't break, I can't afford to ruff the last club. I cash the diamond ace. Both opponents follow.

If West led from four small hearts, I'm home. I'll draw the last trump, lead a heart to the king, dropping East's queen, then ruff out the club queen for my twelfth trick. If West led from three small hearts, I'll need some luck. When the heart queen fails to drop, I'll find myself in this position with the lead in dummy:

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

After I ruff out the club queen, East is down to the heart queen and three spades. If he has the spade king, I'm home. I exit with a heart, and he must give me an entry with the spade queen to cash the last heart. 

I don't see anything better. I need to hope that the heart queen drops or that East has the spade king. I draw the last trump, pitching a spade from dummy. West follows, and East pitches the nine of hearts. 

The nine of hearts? Time to rethink my construction. East isn't stiffing his queen. It appears West didn't lead from heart length. The deuce must have been a singleton. I need a new plan.

What's West's shape? If he has the last club, he's 5-1-3-4. If that's the case, I can play a heart to the king, then lead the club jack, pitching a heart. When West wins, he has only spades left. If he has the king, he's endplayed. I'll take two spades and can pitch my last heart on the club ten.

I like my chances. East is five to three to have the spade king a priori, and the fact that he didn't lead a spade on an auction that screamed for it makes it even more likely he has the king.

I play a heart. West pitches the spade deuce. I win in dummy, reaching the position above. I lead the jack of clubs. East pitches the spade four. I pitch a heart, and West wins with the queen.

West switches to the jack of spades. I duck in dummy. Annoyingly, East wins with the king and cashes the queen of hearts. Down two.

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

So close. Minus 100, as you might expect, is a zero. Most players bid an unimaginative three notrump over two diamonds and played there. I certainly don't mind reaching this slam. It had excellent chances right up to the end. Sometimes luck isn't on your side.