Board 2
Our side vulnerable
| ♠ K J 10 2 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ Q 9 6 3 ♣ A Q |
RHO passes. I open with one diamond and partner bids one spade. 19 support points is worth a four-spade bid. But the ace-queen in my short suit isn't pulling full weight, nor is the unsupported queen of diamonds. And I have six losers. This hand doesn't merit driving to game. I bid three spades.
Partner bids four notrump. I bid five clubs, showing my three keycards. Partner bids five diamonds to ask about the queen of trumps.
If I bid five spades and partner passes, then we are off an ace and the queen of spades. Am I unhappy if that happens? Should I lie and say I have the queen to make sure we get to slam?
One doesn't normally lie about holding the trump queen unless you are known to have a ten-card fit. But holding the jack and ten of spades may make this hand an exception. If partner holds five spades and passes, we've missed a 52% slam. If he has four spades and passes, we've missed a 50% slam.
Actually both of those percentages are slightly overstated. The opponents might start the defense with ace and a ruff. Or, if partner has four trumps, we might run into a five-zero break. So slam is good, but only marginally so, if partner has five spades and against the odds if he has four.
He is more likely to have five spades than four, since, with four, he needs a better hand in high cards to bid Blackwood. In other words, the set of hands where he will bid Blackwood is larger when he five spades. So if small slam were the only consideration, it's probably right to lie. But I can't be sure we're off an ace. If we aren't, partner is intending to bid seven if I show the spade queen. I certainly don't want to get to a marginal grand slam. It's close, but I think the odds favor telling the truth.
I bid five spades, and partner passes. RHO leads the three of hearts.
| NORTH Phillip ♠ K J 10 2 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ Q 9 6 3 ♣ A Q |
||
| SOUTH Robot ♠ A 9 8 7 4 ♥ K 8 ♦ K 8 ♣ K 8 6 5 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Robot | Phillip | Robot | Robot |
| Pass | 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♠ |
| Pass | 3 ♠ | Pass | 4 NT |
| Pass | 5 ♣ | Pass | 5 ♦ |
| Pass | 5 ♠ | (All pass) |
Partner has five spades, so slam is a favorite. Nothing I can do about that now. All I can do is take as many tricks as I can in this contract.
Some players think that, in a situation like this, you should take an anti-percentage play in spades, taking a finesse rather than playing for the drop, in the hope that six spades is going down. That's faulty reasoning. You aren't competing against the pairs in six spades. You are either going to beat them or lose to them, and nothing you do at your table will change that. You are competing only against the other pairs who didn't reach slam, and your best chance to beat those pairs is to take your percentage play. So I'm winning the heart and cashing two top spades.
What do I do after that? What I would like to do is sneak a diamond through. If I can, then I can pitch my last diamond on dummy's hearts and avoid a diamond loser. I don't want to play a side suit to get to the right hand for the diamond lead. That would give the defense unnecessary information. So I need to decide now which hand I want to be in after I cash the spades.
Which hand is more likely to have the diamond ace? West might have led the diamond ace if he had it. He might be afraid to lose it, or, if he has diamond length, he might hope his partner has a singleton. That's not a lot a go on, but it's all I've got. So I want to end up in dummy to lead toward my hand after cashing the spades.
I play low from dummy on the heart lead. East plays the nine, and I win with the king. I cash the spade ace--six--deuce--five. Now a low spade--three--king--queen. Unfortunately, six spades is making. I lead a low diamond from dummy as planned--four--king--five. I claim the rest. Making seven.
| NORTH Phillip ♠ K J 10 2 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ Q 9 6 3 ♣ A Q |
||
| WEST Robot ♠ 6 3 ♥ J 6 4 3 2 ♦ 10 7 5 ♣ 4 3 2 |
EAST Robot ♠ Q 5 ♥ 10 9 7 ♦ A J 4 2 ♣ J 10 9 7 |
|
| SOUTH Robot ♠ A 9 8 7 4 ♥ K 8 ♦ K 8 ♣ K 8 6 5 |
A few players did reach slam by lying about the trump queen. And perhaps they were right to do so. It's close.
The overtrick was important. Plus 710 is worth 46%. Plus 680 would have been worth 29%. Only one player decided to finesse the spade because he missed a slam. He scored 650 for a zero.
I was thinking queen of hearts and a diamond off dummy at trick 2. Or does that look too suspicious?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say. In general, you want to make a deceptive play as early as possible. But not earlier. One doesn't usually postpone drawing trump without a good reason. So if you lead a diamond at trick two, East might ask himself what that reason is.
DeleteA similar situation occurs when you hold Axx opposite Jxx and want to cash the ace, hoping RHO doesn't unblock his doubleton honor so you can later endplay him. You want to do this early. But, still, CASHING the ace early is the wrong idea. It looks weird and might wake RHO up. Leading to the ace early is better, since it might look as if you're just utilizing your entry.