The Gargoyle Chronicles: Free Weekly Instant Tournament - November 14

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - November 14 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

You can also watch Alex play this deal on the Gargoyle Chronicles YouTube channel:

♠ A 10 7 4 3 ♥ K 2 ♦ Q 8 ♣ Q 10 5 4

Three passes to me. I open one spade. Partner raises to two spades, and the opponents let me play it. West leads the seven of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
Pass	Pass	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 ♠	(All pass)

There are 20 HCP missing. Since both opponents are passed hands, they must be distributed 10-10 or 9-11. If either opponent had a stiff spade, he would have made a take-out double of spades, so spades are almost surely splitting.

What losers to I have? One club, two diamonds, and one or two spades. Although I do have to do something about the fourth round of clubs.

I play low from dummy, East plays the jack. So the lead is either from a doubleton or from specifically nine-eight-seven. Either way, I can ruff a club in dummy without being overruffed. I win with the queen and return the four of clubs. West plays the six, so the lead was from a doubleton.

East captures dummy's king with the ace and shifts to the king of diamonds. From ace-king? No. That would give him 12 HCP. He must have king doubleton. I play low; West plays the deuce. East continues with the six of diamonds to my queen and West's ace.

West returns the five of diamonds. East ruffs dummy's nine with the deuce of spades and I overruff with the three. I was intending to ruff a club in dummy. But that might not be such a good idea now. I can always make two by ruffing a club. But I have a chance to make three if I pick up spades for one loser. If I play a club and West ruffs in with an honor, I won't know how to do that.

If this is the layout after West ruffs in:

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

I need to cash the spade ace.

If this is the layout:

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

I need to finesse against East's king.

Maybe there's a way I can avoid guessing. If I'm right that no one started with a stiff spade, then spades are now either 2-2 or 3-1. That means I can pick up spades for one loser whenever possible by playing ace and another. If spades are 2-2, I can then ruff my club in dummy to make an overtrick. But if they're 3-1, West will draw dummy's last trump to stop the ruff.

But perhaps I don't need to ruff the club. Both opponents are passed hands. When I find out where the spade honors are, will I know who has the heart queen? If East has the queen of spades, he has 10 HCP, so he can't have the heart queen. I can finesse against West for a pitch. If West has both spade honors, then he has 10 HCP, so the heart queen must be with East. I don't have the communication to finesse him for it. But he has the club guard, so I can squeeze him in hearts and clubs.

Sounds good. I play ace and a spade. West cashes the king and queen of spades while East pitches a club and a heart. We are down to this position:

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

If West exits with a diamond, East is squeezed immediately. If West exits with a heart, I can win with my king and cash the last trump to squeeze East.

West chooses to exit with a heart. Unfortunately, East plays the queen, spoiling all my fun. The robots are such killjoys. Making two.

The full deal:

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

A few declarers went down, so plus 110 is worth 71%. I see that one declarer played exactly as I did except that, when West exited with a heart at the end, East didn't play the queen. Declarer won with the king in his hand and took a heart finesse to go down.

Strange. Should I be flattered? The robots know I'll find the squeeze, so, against me, they give up? But against this declarer they say, "I know this guy. He can't count to ten. No way I'm going to make it easy for him"?

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About This Blog

First, a word or two about who am I so you have some idea how seriously to take the advice you find here. I retired from tournament bridge in 1992 (coincidentally, the year my daughter was born). At the time, I had accumulated a little over 5000 masterpoints. I had won numerous regional events and had finished second or third in several national events. Annoyingly, I have never won a national event of any significance. (The qualification is necessary. I did win one national event of little significance.) My best result was second place in the Grand National Teams (with John Lowenthal, Michael Becker, Ron Rubin, Michael Rosenberg, and Brian Glubok). I have theories about why this is, but I won't bore you with them now.

I am still in contact with many of my friends from tournament days. So I still discuss bridge and, occasionally, still write articles for Bridge World magazine, some of which you can find reprinted here: Phillip Martin's Bridge Articles

I have always enjoyed writing about bridge and have, from time to time, considered starting a blog. I think there is a void in the bridge literature that I can make some attempt to fill. Bob Hamman has stated that most people play bridge by asking themselves what they should do. Instead, they should be asking themselves what is going on. Once you figure that out, what to do will often suggest itself. I think he is right about that, and I think bridge literature is partly responsible. Bridge books and articles focus on the unusual and the spectacular. They can get you in the habit of looking for opportunities to shine, which isn’t what you should be thinking about.

The late John Lowenthal, my partner for years, was perhaps the king of doing the unusual, especially on defense. But he always found these plays by being alert to what was going on, not by simply looking for opportunities to do something unexpected. If declarer spurned a finesse John expected him to take or failed to attack a suit that John expected him to attack, John would ask himself why. Frequently, the answer to this question would reveal the entire deal. Then John could be creative and think about finding some way to deflect declarer from the winning line. And, often, he succeeded.

What I am going to attempt to do in this blog is to show by example how one should think about the game. The focus will be on process, not on results. How do you figure out what is going on? How do you try to conceal what’s going on to the opponents? How do you try to clarify the position to partner? These are the skills that separate the expert from the intermediate player more than the ability to execute a backwash squeeze. And, for this purpose, almost any deal can provide material for discussion.

What I propose to do is to play in BBO robot individuals and report on each deal in detail, focusing on the questions I ask myself and how I reach each decision. I will report on each deal, not just the ones I find interesting or instructive. This blog will probably not be of much help to a beginner, but I think it will be instructive for an intermediate player. And my expert friends will finally see what is going on inside my head when I’m in one of my interminable huddles.

I will be South, but, following convention, I will always make South declarer in the diagrams. Thus my reported compass direction may change from deal to deal.

I should point out that not all of my ideas are mainstream. I considered including a catalog of quirks, but I decided that was unnecessary. They will become apparent in due time.

The Gargoyle Chronicles

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Free Weekly Instant Tournament - November 14 - Board 4

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