Free Weekly Instant Tournament - July 25 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ Q 9 7 5 4 3  ♥ A K 6  ♦ Q 7  ♣ Q 5

RHO bids one club. I overcall with one spade, and LHO raises to three clubs, pre-emptive. Partner bids three hearts, and I go on to four. RHO leads the jack of hearts.

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

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

Not quite the hand I was expecting. If three hearts was non-forcing, partner should have a better heart suit. If it was forcing (as I presume most would play it), partner should have a better hand, especially given he has a singleton in my suit. A responsive double seems more to the point. Although I doubt we'd get to game after that. So I can hardly complain if we make this.

We're missing 17 HCP. Since West didn't lead a high club, East rates to have either the ace or king of clubs. If he has another king, that leaves West with at most 11 HCP. Since West appears to be balanced, he must have at least 12. So West should have both the spade and diamond kings.

What else do I know? East holds at least five clubs for his three-club bid, so West holds three or four. Since the robots open one diamond with four-four in the minors, West can't hold four diamonds. Either diamonds are three-three or West holds king doubleton. 

OK. I have a provisional construction. What are my prospects? I have to lose two clubs and a diamond, so I can't afford another loser. I need trumps to break and I need to avoid a diamond loser. 

Two basic plans are possible. I can try to set up spades or I can try to set up diamonds. To set up spades, I need the king of spades to be doubleton or third. I already know I can set up diamonds, provided I can manage to ruff one safely. That seems like the better plan unless it presents difficulties.

Does it? I can't afford to ruff a diamond with an honor. So I must rise with the ace or king on this trick to preserve a low trump to ruff with. Then I play a spade to my ace and a diamond up. West hops with ace. The defense cashes two clubs and plays another trump. I must win in dummy with the other honor. Now I ruff a spade to my hand and play a diamond. If West was three-two in the red suits, he can ruff high in front of dummy to score the setting trick.

Note the defense has to cash two clubs before leading the second trump for this to work. If they don't, I can pitch a club from dummy when West ruffs in, then later score a club ruff. They might not find this defense, so I might survive on this line even if West is three-two in the red suits.

How about setting up spades? I'll need lots of dummy entries, so I must start by winning this trick in my hand with the queen. Now ace of spades, heart to dummy, spade ruff, heart to dummy spade ruff. If the king of spades has ruffed out, dummy's spades are good. But so what? I have no way to get there. I've drawn three rounds of trump and ruffed twice, so I'm out of trump. If I lead toward the diamond queen, West hops and cashes oodles of club tricks.

Setting up spades doesn't work, so I have to set up diamonds. If West is three-two in the red suits, let's hope they misdefend.

I rise with the heart ace. East plays the heart nine. Interesting. The ten is the only heart out higher than my spots. That may solve my problem in the trump suit.

I play a spade--deuce--ace--six. Now a diamond. West hops with the king, and East follows with the four.

West shifts to the three of hearts. This is the current position, with dummy to play:

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

I was intending to rise with the king, saving the low heart to ruff with. But, since the ten is the only high heart left, there is no longer any reason to do that. I can duck the heart to my hand. If East plays the ten, all my hearts are high. If he doesn't, I win the heart cheaply. Now I can ruff a diamond with the king and still have the queen in my hand to draw the last trump. 

I play the six of hearts from dummy. East discards the four of clubs. Oops. West began with four hearts. That changes things.

If diamonds are three-three, I'm still OK. West kindly gave me the contract by picking up the heart suit for me. But what if they aren't? I can't ruff out the diamonds without setting up a trump trick. So I might as well just concede a diamond, losing two diamonds and two clubs for down one.

Will that work? Let's say I draw the third round of trumps, cash the diamond queen, and ruff a spade to my hand. There is one trump outstanding. This will be the position, with the lead in my hand:

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

No, it doesn't work. I'm tapped out. If I draw the last trump, cash the diamond ace, and diamonds don't split, I lose the last four tricks for down two.

Perhaps I can hold it to down one if West is 3-4-2-4. In that case, I can ruff out the spade king for an extra trick.

Let's see if that works. Say I win the heart six in dummy, ruff a spade, play a diamond to the queen, and ruff another spade, dropping the king. Now we're down to this position, with the lead in my hand:

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

Dummy's spades are good, but I can't use them. I don't see any way to take more than two tricks. I still lose four tricks at the end for down two. I might has well just draw trump and hope diamonds are three-three.

I cash the king of hearts and the diamond queen and ruff a spade to my hand. Now I draw the last trump and cash the diamond ace. Diamonds split, so I make my game. Nice three-heart bid, partner. 

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

Plus 620 is worth 100%. But 170 would have been worth 100% as well. As is often the case at matchpoints, you don't need to bid a game. You just need to make it.

Why did no one else take ten tricks? Apparently everyone had the same blind spot. When West continued hearts at trick four, everyone rose with the king. I don't know if they didn't notice that East played the heart nine at trick one or they didn't see that there was nothing to be gained by rising.

Anyway, that's two 100% boards to start the event. It's going to be all downhill from here.

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - July 25 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither side vulnerable

♠ A Q 2  ♥ A K 10 9 5 3  ♦ J  ♣ K J 3

Two passes to me. I open with one heart and partner raises to two hearts. I have a clear drive to game. What do I need for slam to be cold? King of spades, queen of hearts, ace doubleton of clubs? That's well more than a perfect minimum, so I don't have a slam invitation. That means I shouldn't bother with a four-diamond splinter. I should simply bid four hearts.

Before I get a chance to act, however, RHO doubles. Once the auction becomes competitive after a single raise, priorities change. If you have a game drive, your primary responsibility is to help with a five-level decision should the opponents save. With that in mind, I don't think four diamonds should be a splinter after the double. A more useful treatment is to play that it shows game values with a second suit. When you hold a two-suiter, whether partner fits your second suit is a huge factor in determining your offense-to-defense ratio.

In this case, I'm not worried about a five-level save. RHO is a passed hand, and LHO couldn't bid over one heart. Plus, I have quite a good hand for defense. I probably have only one heart trick, since RHO is unlikely to have made a passed-hand double without a stiff heart. But I have four high cards sitting behind the doubler. So they could be in trouble even at the three level. If LHO bids three diamonds, as seems likely, I might have him down in my own hand. If partner happens to have a diamond stack, this could be brutal.

I can always bid four hearts later. Should I try to penalize the opponents first? I could redouble. But I think redouble encourages partner to double three diamonds more frequently than I want him to. We need to collect 500 to compensate for our game, so I don't want to defend unless he has a genuine diamond stack. After redouble, I think partner would be perfectly justified in doubling on honor third.

Suppose I pass, then balance with a double when LHO bids three diamonds? What does that auction mean?

I can't imagine a hand where I would want this double to be for penalties. How can I have a good enough hand in high cards plus good enough diamonds to double unilaterally? With such a hand, I wouldn't pass RHO's double. I would either make a game try or, if I were determined to try to penalize them, I would redouble to bring partner into the picture--just in case they don't happen to land in my best side suit.

If it's not a penalty double, the logical meaning of a balancing double is that I'm interested in competing to three hearts. If I were sure I wanted to compete (with a minimum and a sixth heart, for example), I would have bid three hearts directly over the double to pre-empt LHO. So the presumption is I'm not sure. I have a mixture of defense and offense.

I don't think any balanced hand would qualify. If I have a balanced hand without enough strength either to redouble or to invite game, I would have no interest in bidding on. So my hand must be unbalanced. And my short suit must be diamonds, otherwise I would be happy to defend.

In other words, the hand this sequence logically suggests is some 4-5-1-3 or 3-5-1-4 where I would have been willing to defend had LHO bid a black suit but want to compete after they've settled in my shortness. This is how the auction is defined in my notes. Partner is expected pull to three hearts most of the time. But doubling gives him the chance to overrule me if I catch him with a diamond stack. 

It's unusual to hold six hearts for this sequence. But I still think it's right. The fact that I have such good defense compensates for the sixth heart. If partner passes, we rate to take a lot of tricks. Unless, of course, partner thinks this is a penalty double.

I'm not sure how they robots play this auction. But they, like most humans, play fewer penalty doubles than I do. If I think this is a take-out double, the robots probably do as well.

In any event, I don't have to guess what they think. I can find out. I can pass, then, after three diamonds--pass--pass, I can check the tooltip. If partner thinks double is for take-out, I double, then raise to game if he pulls. If he thinks it's for penalties, I bid four hearts. Sometimes there are perks to robot bridge. I couldn't risk this auction undiscussed with a human partner.

I pass, LHO bids three diamonds, and partner passes. Partner should compete on virtually any hand with four-card support, so he probably has only three hearts. RHO passes as well. Now I check the tooltip. It says double shows "2+ diamonds, 5+ hearts, 11-21 HCP."

So partner doesn't think it shows shortness. On the other hand, he doesn't think it shows a diamond stack either. It doesn't show much of anything. It sounds like one of those dreaded do-something-intelligent-partner doubles. That's not what I was hoping for, but it may suffice. If partner thinks I might double with 11 HCP and a doubleton diamond, I doubt we'll do too badly if he chooses to pass.

I double. Everyone passes. OK. Let's hope I didn't do anything foolish. Partner leads the ten of clubs, and I see the following dummy. .

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

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

Nice lead, partner! For once your reluctance to lead my suit may have paid off. Declarer plays the queen, I win with the king, and declarer plays the nine.

The nine? Thanks for the clarification. I'm now sure partner led from shortness, although I would have suspected that anyway. Assuming partner would have competed to three hearts with four of them, declarer must be either 3-2-4-4 or 2-2-5-4. I'll assume the latter for now. South might have bid clubs with equal length. And if partner has five diamonds, declarer is in big trouble anyway.

How many tricks can we take? North made a questionable double with a doubleton heart, so we're taking two heart tricks instead of the one I was assuming. If we can manage all four of my black honors, declarer is down two even before partner takes any diamond tricks. The tricky part is going to be finding exits to avoid being endplayed.

Suppose, for example, I cash two hearts, lead the jack of diamonds, and it holds. Now I'm endplayed. I must either lead a black suit or give declarer a ruff-sluff in hearts. Perhaps I can avoid the endplay by cashing only one heart, leaving open the possibility of leading a heart to partner's queen.

I cash the king of hearts. Partner should play an attitude card here to let me know if I can underlead. But who knows what my robot partner will do?

On the king of hearts, declarer plays the deuce; partner, the six. That should be encouraging from Q64. But even if partner intends it as count, I'm OK. For the six to be his lowest card, he must have Q86. So, however he intends the six, I'm pretty sure he has the queen. Although not 100% sure. A random six from 864 is just the kind of trap robot partners like to set for you.

I shift to the jack of diamonds. Declarer plays the four, and partner overtakes with the queen to lead another club. Partner is being uncharacteristically nice to me. Declarer rises with the ace and leads a diamond to his ace as I discard the three of hearts. Declarer exits with a club to my jack as partner pitches the seven of spades. The robots pitch count cards, so it appears partner has four spades and declarer is indeed 2-2-5-4.

We've reached this position with me on lead:

	NORTH Robot ♠ K J 8 5 ♥ J ♦ 9 ♣ 2
WEST Robot ♠ x x x ♥ ? x ♦ x x ♣ --		EAST Phillip ♠ A Q 2 ♥ A 10 9 5 ♦ -- ♣ --
	SOUTH Robot ♠ x x ♥ ? ♦ x x x ♣ x

If partner has the queen of hearts, I can underlead to take two spade tricks and whatever diamond tricks partner has left. In fact, even if partner doesn't have the queen of hearts, the heart underlead won't cost. I'll lose a heart trick, but I'll get two spade tricks and break even.

I lead a low heart. Partner takes the queen, cashes the king and ten of diamonds, and taps declarer with a heart. This is the right defense. We get two more tricks this way even if I don't have the spade queen. Down five.

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

Plus 1100 is worth 100%. Plus 500 would also have been worth 100%. So, while we were lucky to take as many tricks as we did, most of that luck was overkill. Three diamonds doubled would still have been the right contract in less extreme scenarios.

I was curious how many experts play the double of three diamonds as showing shortness, so I took a poll. Some did, but the vast majority of those I asked play the double as penalties.

I don't get it. I still can't imagine a hand where, having passed North's double, I would want to make a penalty double now. And I'm someone who likes penalty doubles. At one time, I even gave up negative doubles to play penalties doubles as an experiment. So it's an unfamiliar experience for me to be on this side of the penalty-or-take-out argument.

Even those who play most low-level doubles for takeout apparently make an exception when they've bid and raised a suit. After finding a fit, I'm told, they play double for penalties (unless it's specifically defined as something else--maximal, for example). 

That rule makes sense in general, but here I think it ignores a key factor: You could have redoubled on the previous round and didn't. However you choose to define it, surely redouble followed by double and pass followed by double should mean different things.