Board 41

Board 41 (Click to download pbn file)
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K J ♥ A K Q 10 6 5 4 ♦ -- ♣ A 10 5 2

Two passes to me. I open one heart. With nine playing tricks, I suppose I could open two clubs, but I try not to do that unless I have to. Two-club auctions tend to be awkward. LHO bids four clubs, and partner bids four hearts. I have no idea if I can make slam or not and no intelligent way to invite.  I like my chances if partner has the ace of spades.  If he doesn't, I'll need good enough trump spots that East will be unable to overruff as I ruff clubs in the dummy.  This is the kind of decision where Jack actually has an advantage.  He can deal out random hands and see what works out most often.  My internal random-hand generator isn't up to that task when I hold a freak.  In the end, my reasoning is no more sophisticated than this: "Partner was willing to play game opposite a mere opening bid, and I have a game force.  Therefore, I'm bidding a slam."

I bid six hearts, and LHO leads the king of clubs. It's over quickly. East ruffs the opening lead, and I take the rest. Making six:

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1 ♥
4 ♣	4 ♥	Pass	6 ♥
(All pass)

At the other table, my hand opens with two clubs, and West bids three clubs. Jack frequently surprises me in competitive auctions. Why take it easy on the opponents when they don't have their suit in the auction yet? If you can bid four clubs over a one-heart opening, I should think you would bid five clubs over a two-club opening. North bids three diamonds, a questionable choice. With an ace-queen opposite a two-club opening, he knows he's in the slam zone, so he should be hesitant to introduce a suit containing no high cards. Instead, he should pass and give his partner a chance to indicate what his two-club opening was based on.  Pass does not deny a good hand; it simply denies an opinion about strain.

Over three diamonds, South bids three notrump, another questionable choice. It's certainly possible that three notrump is making and four hearts isn't, but North could have further ambitions, and three notrump grossly misdescribes South's hand.

As it happens, North does have further ambitions.  He bids four hearts, his second suit, so to speak. This is the fourth bid in a row I disapprove of, yet they've managed to reach hearts from the North hand. If they get to a grand, they're going to make it.  I guess I should stop criticizing.

South bids four notrump, which is apparently key-card Blackwood, although I should think, given the three notrump bid on the previous round, that it should be natural. North bids five hearts to show his ace, and South bids five spades, asking about the queen of trumps. I know from earlier deals that Jack shows the queen whenever he has an extra trump. I don't think that's a sensible agreement. I think you need to know your side has ten trumps before you show a queen you don't have. But, given Jack's agreement, he is presumably trying to discover if has partner has a fifth trump.  I'm not sure what good that knowledge would do him, since he doesn't even know which ace his partner has.  Maybe Jack is just practicing.  North bids five notrump, denying the queen, and South settles for six hearts.

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	2 ♣1
3 ♣	3 ♦	Pass	3 NT
Pass	4 ♥	Pass	4 NT2
Pass	5 ♦3	Pass	5 ♠4
Pass	5 NT5	Pass	6 ♥
(All pass)
1Strong
2Ace asking for hearts
31 or 4 aces
4Asking for queen of trumps
5No trump queen

They make seven, winning an IMP for their care in reaching hearts from the right side of the table.

I was curious what would happen if West bids five clubs over the two-club opening, so I replayed the board to see. North makes a penalty double, South passes, and North finds the diamond lead to go plus 1100. Good thing the opponents aren't always this tough. I wouldn't stand a chance in this match.

Me: +980
Jack: +1010

Score on Board 41: -1 IMP
Total: +95 IMPs

Board 40

Board 40 (Click to download pbn file)
Neither vulnerable

♠ 6 ♥ A J 9 3 ♦ Q 9 8 4 ♣ 10 9 5 2

LHO opens one notrump in first seat, and partner passes. I hope RHO bids something. Otherwise I'll be annoyed that we're not playing Astro, which would allow me to balance with two clubs. He does. He bids two clubs, LHO bids two spades, and RHO bids three notrump. Partner leads the queen of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
			1 NT
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♠
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

Partner's spades should be headed by queen-jack-ten-nine. If partner is missing any one of those cards, he should be leading a low spade or, more likely, some other suit entirely. He has two to four high-card points outside of spades, so it's hard to believe he thinks he has enough entries to make leading spades productive. Dummy plays the four, I play the six, and declarer wins with the ace.

Declarer leads the jack of clubs--six--three. I doubt partner will have much to do on this deal, and I see no reason to help declarer count the hand, so I play the deuce.

I know a fair amount about this hand already. Since partner has no high cards in clubs, he must have either the heart queen or the diamond ace. The heart queen seems more likely, since he might have overcalled two spades with the diamond ace.  (Assuming he has six spades.  I suppose he could have the diamond ace if spades were five-five.)  If partner does have the heart queen, he might or might not have the diamond jack. Also, it looks as if declarer has three clubs. If he has four, he's just blocked the suit, and he wouldn't seem to have the flexibility to afford that.

Why is declarer playing clubs? My guess is he plans to cash three clubs, then lose a trick to me, forcing me to break a red suit. He probably suspects I have the heart ace for the same reason I suspect he has the diamond ace.

Whatever declarer was up to with his club play, he seems to have changed his mind. He abandons clubs and leads the eight of hearts--seven from partner--deuce from dummy. Declarer will have to lose the lead three times to set up a heart trick. With three entries plus the head start declarer gave me, I have time to set up my long club. I win with the nine of hearts and play the five of clubs. Declarer wins in his hand with the ace and plays the five of hearts--queen--king. I take the ace and play a third club. Declarer wins in dummy and plays a heart to my jack. Partner pitches the deuce of spades.

Partner's spade pitch disabuses me of any notion that spades might be five-five. Declarer must be 4-3-3-3, and he now has eight tricks. If I cash the club, will I rectify the count for a squeeze?  No. I guard diamonds and partner guards spades, so there is no squeeze. Unless declarer has the jack of diamonds, he has no prospect for a ninth trick. Is there any way I can talk him into a losing option if he does have the diamond jack? It's hard to see how. He has a complete count, so even if he has the jack-ten and has a two-way guess for the queen, he should get it right.

I cash the club, then exit with my last heart. Declarer doesn't have the diamond jack, so he's down one.

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

As long as declarer was going to play hearts this way, why not attack hearts at trick two? If he hadn't given me the tempo to establish a club trick, he would have made it. In the end position, he would have king-nine-seven of spades and two diamonds. Even if partner had started with three diamonds, he would have been squeezed down to a doubleton. So declarer can cash diamonds and lead the nine of spades to endplay him.

This was possible only because of partner's questionable queen of spades lead. He had spades behind declarer and he knew I had hearts behind dummy. That suggests a passive defense to me, so I would have led a club. As it turns out, a club is actually productive, since clubs is our source of tricks.

The auction and lead are the same at the other table. Again declarer wins the opening lead and cashes the jack of clubs. I'm not sure what this jack of clubs play is all about. My teammate tries a different tack in the heart suit. He leads the five of hearts and ducks West's seven. West leads the queen of hearts, and declarer ducks that as well. He's going to have a hard time setting up a heart trick this way. West exits with a club. Declarer wins in dummy and plays a diamond to the ten and jack.  If  this play had established a diamond trick (that is, if he had found three-three diamonds or even nine-eight doubleton in West's hand), he would have made it.  He would have eight tricks and could endplay partner for the ninth.

West decides he's destined to give away a spade trick sooner or later, so he gets it over with. He leads the jack of spades to declarer's king, then shows he has a sense of humor by ducking when declarer leads the spade seven. That gives declarer his eighth trick, which was inevitable, but declarer has nowhere to go for a ninth. Down one for a push.

This is a difficult play problem for declarer. It's hard to decide whether to go after the eighth trick in hearts or in diamonds.  It seems to be close enough that Jack plays differently depending on which set of random hands he deals out for his analysis.  You should be glad I wasn't declaring, or this post would be considerably longer.  We would still be examining declarer's options at trick two. 

But I don't think cashing the jack of clubs would be one of those options.  Maybe Jack was just stalling.

Me: +100
Jack: +100

Score on Board 40: 0 IMPs
Total: +96 IMPs

Board 39

Board 39 (click to download pbn file)
Both sides vulnerable

♠ A K 10 3 ♥ 5 4 ♦ Q 5 3 ♣ Q J 7 4

I open one club in first seat, partner responds one diamond, and RHO overcalls with one heart. I bid one spade, and partner bids three notrump, which ends the auction. West leads the three of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
	1 ♣	Pass	1 ♦
1 ♥	1 ♠	Pass	3 NT
(All pass)

Partner seems to be pretty aggressive with these three notrump bids. I'm not sure what was wrong with two notrump. I play the four from dummy, and East plays the ten. Falsecarding with the king wouldn't work too well here. West has no reason not to play hearts from the top once he gets in. So I win with the jack. I know from the lead that hearts were five-three.

I have essentially two ways to make this: (1) Hope West has all the missing high cards. I play diamonds out of my hand. When West is in with the king of diamonds, he can't afford to clear hearts, since that gives me my ninth trick. So I have ample time to establish my ninth trick in clubs. (2) Try to run the diamonds. I cash out the spades, then lead the queen of diamonds from dummy, hoping West has ten doubleton or East has king-ten doubleton.

Neither line is especially good. Which one is better? Let's start by assuming diamonds are three-two. (We'll relax this assumption later). In that case, line (2) is easy to calculate. There are 20 possible three-two breaks (the combinations of five things taken two at a time--times two, since either hand can have the doubleton), and our play works in four of them (three doubleton tens in West's hand plus one king-ten doubleton in East's hand). That makes line (2) 20%. Line (1) is little harder to calculate. It works when West has three out of three critical cards. Normally this would be 12.5%, but it's better here because some layouts are contra-indicated by East's failure to raise hearts over one spade. Let's assume East can't have all three honors, that he can't have the ace-king of clubs, and that he can't have the ace of clubs and the king diamonds. We'll allow him to have both minor-suit kings. This is a simplification. Depending on his shape, he might sometimes pass with the club ace and the diamond king and he might sometimes bid with both kings. But it's a reasonable approximation. We've eliminated three of the eight possible ways for the honors to be split. So West will have all the missing honors one time out of five, making line (1) also 20%.

In our first approximation, then, both lines are roughly equal. Next we consider what chances each line might offer above what we've already calculated. Line (1) will work on certain four-one diamonds breaks. Specifically, it will work when West has a singleton king or when East has either singleton honor and West has both club honors. Line (2) has an advantage that's hard to quantify, namely, flexibility.  Depending on what happens when you cash the spades, you may change your mind about how to play diamonds.  You may wind up leading a diamond to the jack, essentially reverting to line (1) with some extra chances against king doubleton of diamonds on your right.  And if the jack of spades happens to fall, allowing you to put pressure on the opponents by cashing four rounds of spades, additional possibilities arise.  I decide I like line (2).  Line (1) is too committal.  When you stay flexible, good things tend to happen.

I cash three spades, pitching a club from my hand. East plays deuce--four--five. West plays nine--six, then discards the deuce of hearts. So West is already under pressure. What's going on?

____

West might be 2-5-4-2 with ten fourth of diamonds. He might also be 2-5-3-3 with ten third of diamonds and ace-king third of clubs. It's not immediately obvious that he can't afford a club from the latter hand. But, in fact, he can't. After leading the queen of diamonds to the king and ace then cashing the jack, I can simply exit with a diamond, and he has to give me my king of hearts for my ninth trick. To escape the endplay, he must keep an exit card in clubs.

One thing for sure. He doesn't have the ten doubleton of diamonds I was about to play him for, since has no reason not to pitch a club from four. So I'm changing my mind about leading the queen of diamonds. Suppose I play a low diamond to the jack, cash the ace, presumably dropping East's king, then play a diamond to dummy's queen and exit with the queen of clubs. I've taken seven tricks. I need only two more, and West must give them to me.  He can either play hearts, giving me an entry to my diamonds, or he can play clubs, giving dummy two club tricks.

I play the three of diamonds--seven--jack--deuce. Ace of diamonds--eight--five--ten. Ten? That's disappointing. I was sure this was going to work. I play the eight of clubs. West hops with the king, cashes the diamond king and the club ace, then plays a club to dummy. I have to lose the last two tricks for down one.

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

When West didn't pitch a diamond, I thought he had ten third. But he had king third, and the reason he couldn't afford to pitch one was he needed to duck the first round. Nice play. It turns out line (1) would have worked. But I still think line (2) is better.  There's no particular reason the king and ten of diamonds couldn't have been reversed.

I was impressed with Jack's defense.  Assuming I work out to abandon my original plan of leading the diamond queen, this defense was necessary. He had to hold a diamond so he could duck the first round, and he had to hold a small club to avoid being endplayed. I gave this problem to several gargoyles, and no one found this defense. For once, I think I went down against Jack when I might have succeeded against most humans.

At the other table, the auction and lead are the same. Jack wins the jack of hearts, cashes the spade queen, and, strangely, leads a club. West hops with the king and plays ace and a heart. Declarer plays another club. West hops with the ace and cashes his hearts. Declarer has the rest. Down one for a push.

I'm not sure what Jack was up to. Did he consider it so unlikely he could make this hand that he was simply playing to hold the undertricks? It's true that, if you give East one of West's club honors, Jack would have been down two, while I would have gone down five, losing seven imps. I risked a lot of extra undertricks for a line that had little chance of working.  In this case, perhaps my customary single-minded devotion to finding a way to make the hand was wrong?  Perhaps Jack's line makes more sense?

I don't think so, at least not under normal conditions.  The game is thin, and you have no reason to expect your opponents to reach it at the other table.  If your opponents are going plus at the other table, the cost of going down a few extra tricks is minimal compared to what you rate to pick up by making the game.  In this match, however, the same South is sitting at both tables, and all of my own actions were routine.  So maybe it's fair to assume they will reach game at the other table as well.

Me: -100
Jack: -100

Score on Board 39: 0 IMPs
Total: +96 IMPs

Board 38

If you have bridge-playing software, you'll want to play this one yourself before reading the post.  After you bid it, reset the contract if necessary so that you declare three hearts as South.

Board 38 (click to download pbn file)
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A Q 10 3 ♥ K Q 8 5 2 ♦ 4 3 ♣ J 6

I open one heart in second seat, hoping the auction doesn't continue pass--one notrump--pass. Fortunately it doesn't. Partner raises to two hearts. I pass, and LHO balances with a double. Partner bids three hearts, which ends the auction.

If I were West, one thing I would be unlikely to have for this auction is a three-suiter short in hearts. If I have a classic pattern for a  take-out double and wasn't willing to double at the one-level, I'm probably not going to be doubling at the two-level. More likely, I would have a hand without support for one the unbid suits. 4-2-2-5, 4-2-5-2, or even 4-3-1-5 or 4-3-5-1 would be typical. To cater to these possibilities, I play that, after this double, partner's two notrump shows a desire to bid diamonds. If I can't support diamonds, I bid three clubs.

West leads the ace of clubs:

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

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

I play the nine from dummy; East plays the five. What do you play?

____

The right play is the jack, the card you're known to hold. It seems West has ace-king and East is signaling to show possession of the queen. If you play the six, West will know you have the jack (since East would play the queen from queen-jack). If you play the jack, he won't know you have the six.

West cashes the king of clubs, on which East plays the deuce, then shifts to the deuce of spades--jack--six--three. West apparently began with the ace-king of clubs and the spade king. (It would have been a good play for East to refuse to cover the jack of spades, but he can't possibly know that.)  So East probably has both red aces.  If he began with a doubleton spade, I can make this.  East can set up his partner's spade king, but West has no entry to cash it.  Eventually, I can pitch my spades on dummy's diamonds.

It probably doesn't matter, but if I had to guess, I would place West with the five-card club suit.  Assuming East signaled with his highest spot (a fair assumption given that we recently saw him give away trick by signaling with the nine from Q97x), then there is only one way he can have five clubs: Q5432.  There are two ways he can have four clubs: Q542 and Q532.  That makes it two to one that he has only four clubs even before factoring in the possibility that he would have bid something with queen fifth of clubs and two aces.

I play the six of hearts--four--queen--nine.  I'm about to lead a diamond to return to dummy for a second heart play when a paranoid thought occurs to me.  Could West have ducked with ace doubleton of hearts?  If so, I need to continue hearts out of my hand.  If I play a diamond, East can put a spade through while West still has an entry.  Ducking the heart ace isn't a hard play to find.  West can see that he has no chance to beat me if he wins this trick.  So I have to rely on the auction to make my decision.  Which of these hands is West more likely to hold, given that he passed over one heart:

(A) ♠ K x x x ♥ A x ♦ x x ♣ A K x x x

(B) ♠ K x x x ♥ x ♦ x x x ♣ A K x x x

If he has (A), I must play a heart.  If he has (B), I must play a diamond.  Personally, I wouldn't pass with either hand.  But I can come a lot closer to understanding a pass with (A) than I can with (B).  The suit is not ideal for a two-level vulnerable overcall.  And, in some continuations, it may be easier to find a spade fit if you pass than if you bid two clubs.  Passing with (A) I would categorize as overly cautious.  Passing with (B), on the other hand, is bizarre.  But Jack doesn't seem to think the way I do about competitive bidding.  If I have to bet which hand Jack is more likely to hold (and I do), I would have to go with (B).
 
I play a diamond--six--ten--ace. East plays the nine of spades--ace--five--four. I play a diamond to dummy and a heart--jack--queen--four of clubs. Making three.

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

Just look at that hand West wouldn't double one heart with! Not surprisingly, he was wrong. It's his hand for four clubs, and an initial double should get you there:

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♥
Double	3 ♥	Double	Pass
4 ♣	(All pass)

The auction is identical in the other room. But at trick one, South plays the club six.  West underleads his king of clubs; East wins with the queen and shifts to a spade.  Down one.

I replayed this board several times to see if this was a fluke.  It wasn't.  Every time declarer plays the jack at trick one, West cashes the ace.  Every time declarer plays the six, West underleads. I suppose what's happening is that, when declarer plays the jack, West worries that his partner is playing low from six-five doubleton. Since he's not even sure it's necessary to put partner on play, he's not willing to risk the underlead.  But when declarer plays the six, West knows the five is high.  The way Jack cards, East must have the queen, so the underlead is perfectly safe.  (This decision isn't fatal.  On this particular layout, even after cashing the king, West can beat you by defending passively.  But that's a different problem.)

Playing the jack works not because it fools West but because it keeps him in the dark.  He knows you have one or more club spots, but he needs to know what it or they are in order to decode his partner's signal.  Note that there is no need for you to appreciate this fact to find the right play. The jack carries no information, and the six does.  You needn't think any deeper than that. 

It's nice when being attentive to such details pays off. Most of the time it doesn't matter.  But every now and then you pick up five imps out of the blue. 

Me: +140
Jack: -50

Score on Board 38: +5 IMPs
Total: +96 IMPs

Board 37

If you click on the link "Board 37" below, you will be able to download a file called "Board 37.pbn". If you own a copy of Jack or any other bridge-playing software that can read a pbn file, you can then play the deal yourself before reading this post.

Board 37
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 4 ♥ 3 ♦ A K Q 5 4 ♣ J 5 4 3 2

Two passes to me. I open one diamond, LHO bids one spade, and partner doubles. RHO raises to two spades. I'm glad Jack doesn't play good/bad two notrump. I'd hate to have to bid two notrump with this hand, telling partner I want to compete but not telling him why. We need to determine how good our club fit is, and the only way to do that is for me to bid them. Why should partner care whether I have a good hand or a bad hand?

I bid three clubs, and LHO bids three hearts. Partner passes, and RHO bids three spades, which ends the auction. Partner leads the jack of diamonds.

	NORTH ♠ 8 3 2 ♥ K 8 7 ♦ 9 8 6 3 2 ♣ K Q
		EAST ♠ K 4 ♥ 3 ♦ A K Q 5 4 ♣ J 5 4 3 2

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1 ♦	1 ♠
Double	2 ♠	3 ♣	3 ♥
Pass	3 ♠	(All pass)

South has length in both majors, but he didn't bid Michaels over one diamond. I don't know if that means he doesn't have equal length or if it's possible he could have equal length but a hand of intermediate strength. Too bad I can't ask. In any event, it looks right to play for heart ruffs. I overtake with the queen of diamonds, and declarer plays the ten. I shift to the three of hearts--six--ace--seven. Partner returns the four of hearts--eight--ruff--deuce. Opposite a human partner, I would simply play a club back, but, as I've said before, I've seen no evidence that Jack knows what a suit-preference signal is. Is it really possible for partner to have the club ace? If he does, he surely has at most four clubs, since he sold out after I bid three clubs. What hand can I construct for declarer where he would bid this way that includes a small doubleton club?

♠ A Q J x x ♥ Q J x x x ♦ x ♣ x x

No. That's a Michaels cue-bid by anyone's standard.

♠ A Q J x x x ♥ Q J x x ♦ x ♣ x x

If he chose one spade rather than two on the first round, he surely would have bid three spades, not three hearts, on the second. I'm inclined to think partner can't have the club ace and that my best shot is to play him for a singleton diamond despite his carding. I play a low diamond. If I play the ace, that should mean I don't want partner to ruff, perhaps because I don't have another trump.  The king should leave it to partner's discretion.

Declarer ruffs with the ten of spades, crosses to the club queen, and plays a spade. Making four:

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

The auction is the same at the other table, but East ducks his partner's jack of diamonds (encouraging with the five no less, apparently unconvinced that partner will work out he has ace-king-queen when the jack holds). West cashes the heart ace, but, when partner's singleton turns out not to be the jack, he sees no reason to give partner his ruff. He continues diamonds. Declarer ruffs and leads a club to dummy to take the spade finesse. When spades split, he makes four.

If I were West, I would assume partner had a heart void when he left me on play at trick one, and I would consider playing a low heart at trick two to retain my heart entry for some nefarious purpose later on.  Is it possible to construct a layout where a low heart at trick two is necessary? I can't think of one, although I can come close.  [11/21/09 - As a reader points on in the comments below, there may be no reason to lead a low heart, but West should certainly lead the queen if he thinks his partner is void.]

Me: -170
Jack: -170

Score on Board 37: 0 IMPs
Total: +91 IMPs

Board 36

If you click on the link "Board 36" below, you will be able to download a file called "Board 36.PBN".  If you own a copy of Jack or any other bridge-playing software that can read a PBN file, you can then play the deal yourself before reading this post.  You can bid it as South if you wish, but switch to the West seat for the play.

Board 36
Both sides vulnerable

♠ Q 10 ♥ A Q 6 5 4 ♦ 5 ♣ 10 7 5 3 2

Partner opens one spade in second seat. I bid one notrump, partner bids two spades, and I pass.

At the other table, Jack raises to three spades in this position, and opener passes. I didn't even consider three spades, at least not for very long. This hand isn't going to play very well unless partner has a heart fit. Even three may be too high. As a general rule, you should be conservative with invitations that take you from the two-level to the three-level. When you make such an invitation, there are two bad things that can happen: partner can refuse the invitation and go down one or partner can bid game and go down (sometimes even if you belong there). Once you're already at the three-level, the odds are different. You can be more aggressive about bidding on.

There wasn't much to this deal from declarer's point of view. So I'm going to move you over to my teammate's seat at the other table and have you defend three spades after the lead of the four of clubs:

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♠
Pass	1 NT	Pass	2 ♠
Pass	3 ♠	(All pass)

Partner and declarer have 22 high-card points between them. If you're going to beat this, partner needs his fair share. That means he can't have a lot of shape, since he didn't bid over one spade. A six-card diamond suit is probably out of the question. This makes declarer either 6-2-3-2 or 6-1-4-2. Declarer should have a high diamond honor, since partner didn't lead the ace of diamonds. And if that honor is the ace, declarer should have the queen as well, since partner didn't lead the king.

You have two club tricks and no heart tricks, so you need to find three tricks in spades and diamonds. Two possible defenses spring to mind: (1) win the first trick with the club king and switch to a trump, or (2) win the first trick with the club king and switch to the ten of diamonds. One thing you shouldn't do is win the first trick with the club queen. Since you're a passed hand, you might as well just show declarer your hand if you're going to do that. You want declarer to worry about your holding the heart king--or maybe the spade king or the diamond king. Partner will be deceived, too, but the deceit isn't apt to be material to partner. As long as he knows you have two club tricks, he doesn't really care whether you or declarer has the queen. In fact, the falsecard may actually help him. If you win with the queen, it may be possible from his point of view for declarer to have a singleton. If you win with the king, he knows you have a second club trick.

How do you decide between defenses (1) and (2)? You begin by deciding, in general terms, what you are hoping for with each defense. Then you construct some specific layouts where one defense works and the other one doesn't. This last step is important. It's surprising how often you will discover that, for one defense or the other, you can't construct a winning layout that's consistent with what you know about the deal. Failure to construct a specific deal where your defense is necessary is probably the single most frequent cause of defensive errors.

First the generalities.  There are three scenarios we are concerned with:

(A) Declarer needs to ruff diamond losers in dummy. (In other words, he can't dispose of his losers in some other way, such as establishing and running clubs.) In this case, you want lead trumps. (In the interest of completeness, let me point out that this isn't always true. Although it doesn't apply on this deal, sometimes the best way to stop ruffs is not to lead trumps but to attack declarer's entries to his hand.)

(B) Declarer does have another way to dispose of his losers, namely by pitching them on dummy's clubs. But you have diamond winners to cash off the top. The winning defense is to draw dummy's trumps so you can cash them before declarer can take his discards.

(C) As in (B), declarer can pitch his diamond losers on dummy's clubs.  This time, however, you don't have the tempi to draw trumps and cash diamond tricks. Instead, you need to lead diamonds to force declarer to ruff them (before he can discard them) in the hope of establishing trump tricks for the defense.

Now let's generate a specific hand for each scenario. We will get some idea of how likely each scenario is by how hard we have to work to construct an example. I'm going to warn you ahead of time that this is not going to be a complete and thorough analysis. When I consider a possible hand for declarer and say that a certain defense beats it, it may well be the case that declarer has some alternative line of play that enables him to make his contract. That's not important. What we're trying to do here is not replicate the detailed discussion you might have at Wo Hop after the session. It's to replicate your thought processes as you sit at the table with everyone glaring at you, trying to decide how to defend. Your goal isn't to figure out every variation to the last detail. It's to figure out, in broad strokes, which defense looks stronger.

Scenario (A)

♠ K J x x x x ♥ x ♦ A Q x x ♣ J x

With only one heart entry, declarer can't establish and run clubs. He needs to ruff diamonds in dummy, and a trump shift puts a stop to that. After two rounds of spades, declarer can come to eight tricks with a heart finesse, but he can't find a ninth. Note that you can't afford to cash a second club before playing trumps. In constructing this deal, observe that I gave declarer a singleton heart so that he had only one dummy entry. A singleton heart might well be a prerequisite for scenario (A).

We've shown that a trump shift works.  But that's only half of our task.  We must now see if a diamond shift works as well. If you play a diamond, declarer can win, ruff a diamond, ruff a heart back to his hand, and ruff another diamond. Now how does he get back to his hand to draw trumps?  Unless he has the eight of spades, he can't.  Even if he's missing the seven, he has problems.  It might help to take a red-suit finesse, but which one?  And how does he manage if we modify the hand so that he's missing the jack of spades.  In short, a diamond shift might or might not beat him.  It depends on how good his spades are and on what line he chooses.

Scenario (B)

♠ A J x x x x ♥ K x ♦ K x x ♣ J x

Declarer no longer needs to ruff diamonds. He can establish and run clubs if we give him enough time. But if we clear dummy's trumps, we can cash diamonds when we win the second club. Again, cashing a second club before shifting to trumps doesn't work.

How about a diamond shift?  It isn't fatal as long as we work out to switch to trumps at trick three.  Say declarer covers the diamond ten.  Partner takes his ace and plays a spade.  Declarer crosses to the heart king and ruffs a diamond.  Now two more hearts, pitching something.  Partner ruffs, crosses to you in whichever suit declarer didn't pitch, and you lead a heart, promoting his spade king.  Declarer may have a different line that works. But that's not important.  The important thing is that, even though a trump shift is stronger, a diamond shift isn't necessarily fatal.

Scenario (C)

♠ A x x x x x ♥ x x ♦ A Q x ♣ J x

We don't have the tempi to draw trumps and take diamond tricks. Say the defense plays two rounds of spades, and declarer plays a second club. You win and switch to diamonds. Declarer rises with the ace, draws the last trump, and uses his two dummy entries to ruff out clubs and run them.

A trump shift doesn't work, but a diamond shift might. If declarer rises and plays a club, you play another diamond to tap dummy. Partner now has two trump tricks. Success for declarer hinges on whether he can dispose of his last diamond. And whether he can do that or not depends on how high partner's spade spot is. If partner has the seven or eight, declarer is in trouble. If he ruffs a club, plays a heart to dummy, then plays a winning club, you can uppercut with the nine of spades. If he ruffs a club, then ruffs a diamond, he can't get off dummy.

Can he make it if he takes a heart finesse at trick three before playing the second club? Again, that can wait for Chinatown. It's clear that a spade shift gives declarer no problems and a diamond shift does. At this point, that's all we care about.

What have we learned? One thing we've learned is there's no clear answer. Sometimes a trump is necessary, sometimes a diamond is necessary, and sometimes either will work. A trump shift would seem to do better when declarer has a singleton heart. When he has a doubleton heart, rendering the club suit more of a threat, the relevant factor seems to be how good partner's spades and diamonds are. The better his spades, the more likely the tap is to work. The better his diamonds, the more likely a trump shift is to work.

So which play is right? My impression is a diamond shift works more often. Whenever we found a layout where a trump shift worked, a diamond shift might work also, depending on a variety of factors.  In deal (C), where a diamond shift was better, the trump shift accomplished nothing.  I only looked at three hands, so that's hardly conclusive, but that's about all you have time for with the director breathing down your neck.  Remember, this blog isn't about clean solutions; it's about how to approach the problem.  And that's good, because this problem may well not have a clean solution. That's why you would never see it discussed in a bridge book even though it's the kind of problem you face all the time.

We have accomplished one thing, though. If we choose incorrectly and partner asks, "What exactly were you playing for?" we can answer him. It's embarrassing to have to think about it and then admit that your chosen defense was never superior to the alternative on any plausible layout.

Jack, incidentally, does not adopt either of the suggested defenses. At both tables, defending both two spades and three spades, he wins with the queen of clubs, cashes the ace of clubs, then shifts to a trump. It's hard to see how cashing a second club can be right. That's simply doing declarer's work for him. (What exactly were you playing for, Jack?) At both tables, declarer rode the spade around to to West's king, then easily took the rest, making four:

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

I was curious to see how Jack would declare after a diamond shift, so I replayed the deal with myself as East, defending three spades. I won the club king and shifted to the ten of diamonds. Declarer finessed the queen. Partner won with the king and shifted back to clubs. I won with the ace and played another diamond. Declarer took the ace, ruffed the diamond, ruffed a club, and played ace and a trump. Down one.

Me: +170
Jack +170

Score on Board 36: 0 IMPs
Total: +91 IMPs

Board 35

I'm trying something new.  If you click on the link "Board 35" below, you will be able to download a file called "Board 35.PBN".  If you own a copy of Jack or any other bridge-playing software that can read a PBN file, you can then play the deal yourself before reading this post.  Note that you will be South regardless of the compass direction I show here. I'll offer a PBN file for each deal I post from here on out.  If I get ambitious I may go back and offer them for earlier deals as well.

Board 35
Opponents vulnerable

♠ K 7 2 ♥ 4 ♦ K 10 7 4 ♣ J 9 7 4 3

I pass in first seat, and the auction proceeds one heart--pass--one spade to me. It's safer to get into the auction now then to balance over two of a major, so I double. Welcome to the fast lane. Partner might expect a little more in high cards for this double, but it shouldn't matter. Once you know the auction is competitive and you're not going to be bidding game on power, your decisions are going to be based primarily on the Law of Total Tricks. Partner cares only about your shape; your high cards are pretty much immaterial. As Paul Heitner used to say, "I'll tell you my shape. The opponents will tell you what high cards I have."

LHO bids two hearts, and partner bids three diamonds. After two passes, LHO continues with three hearts, and partner doubles. Partner isn't doubling for a one-trick set. He thinks we're collecting a number. So I do expect to beat this, just not by as many tricks as partner expects to. Partner leads the five of clubs:

	NORTH ♠ Q J 9 6 5 ♥ 8 5 ♦ J 2 ♣ K 10 8 6
		EAST ♠ K 7 2 ♥ 4 ♦ K 10 7 4 ♣ J 9 7 4 3

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

This is probably a singleton. It looks as if partner is either 3-4-5-1 or 4-4-4-1, more likely the former, since a three diamond bid with 4-4-4-1 would not be too appealing. Declarer rises with the king. I discourage with the three to show a tolerance for a diamond shift. (This is attitude, not suit preference, in my opinion. I play suit preference at trick one only in very special, well-defined situations.) Declarer plays the deuce, confirming that the lead is a singleton, then plays the jack of spades from dummy. If declarer has a small singleton spade,  I should play the king. I may be able to gain the lead twice to give partner two club ruffs. It would be quite a good play on declarer's part to give me this problem at trick two. But it's more likely declarer has ace doubleton and is simply using dummy's only entry to take a spade finesse. If so, it wouldn't be a good idea to cover and give him a chance to take three spade tricks instead of two. Unless you have good reason to be suspicious, the odds are generally better that declarer is doing something normal than that he's doing something clever. I play the deuce--four--three.

We have no tricks in the black suits. We need to find five tricks in hearts and diamonds. Declarer plays the deuce of diamonds from dummy. I want to make sure I win at least one of these diamond tricks and both if possible, so I play the ten. Declarer plays the five; partner, the three. Why is declarer playing diamonds? Is it possible he has three and I need to shift to a trump to stop the ruff? I'd feel pretty silly giving partner a ruff with a natural trump trick when what he really needs is a trump shift from my side. But how is that possible? I know declarer is two-three in the black suits. Can he really bid this way with 2-5-3-3? I don't see how. His hearts can't be all that good, since he's already shown up with ten high-card points in the black suits. I shift to the club four, letting partner know he can underlead his diamond ace (as if he couldn't work that out himself). Declarer plays the queen, and partner ruffs with the six. Partner plays the ten of spades--five--seven--ace. If I get in with the diamond king, I'll play another club. Otherwise I'm just a spectator from here on out. As it happens, partner has the ace-king-queen of trumps, so we beat three hearts a trick:

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

That was exciting. The diamond from dummy was a nice play. With king-ten fourth, I had an easy decision. But if I had something like king-eight-four-three, it might not occur to me to put up the eight. (At least not for the right reason.  Maybe declarer's play would have a better chance of success against a pair playing upside-down count.)

Of course, we might have trouble managing the diamond suit even if left to our own devices. Give me king-eight fourth of diamonds and give partner queen-ten-nine fifth. Say declarer plays a trump at trick three. Partner wins with the queen, then cashes the king to let me know what's going on in hearts. At that point, I know we need to take one diamond trick and one ruff to beat it. If partner leads low from his queen-ten-nine fifth and declarer plays low from dummy, I would certainly think about playing the eight. Should I actually do it? The eight guarantees down one whenever that's possible, although it will drop a trick if partner has underled the ace. Is there any clue to tell me whether partner has the diamond ace or not? Actually there is. If partner had won the queen of hearts and immediately led a low diamond, I wouldn't even think about playing the eight. I don't know enough about where our tricks are coming from to do anything so esoteric. There can be no technical reason for partner's cashing the heart king before shifting, so it must be an attempt to communicate something to me. That something is probably letting me count our tricks so that I know we need to do whatever is necessary to drill a diamond entry into my hand. It's not an easy defense. It requires alertness on both sides of the table. But I think a good pair should be able to work all this out.

What about partner's double? I don't like it. It's true all he needs to beat this is to find me with an entry somewhere, and he's got three chances to find it. But who says I have one? I know not everyone would double one spade with my hand. But give me dummy's king of clubs, and I don't think anyone would quarrel with it. And if I don't have the diamond ten, we're not beating it. (Try it out. I get strip-squeezed in the black suits.)

To be clear, I'm not saying that partner shouldn't double because I might be light for my bidding.  It's the other way around.  I'm saying it's OK to get into the auction light because partner shouldn't be doubling voluntarily bid contracts on power.   It's simply a losing strategy.  You should double not on power but on surprises. South knows he's not looking at the ace, king, or queen of trumps, so West's hand offers no surprises. West need think no further than that to realize he shouldn't double.

Before you accuse me of being inconsistent (see Board 30), I should point out that the situation is a little different when you're contemplating passing partner's negative or responsive double. When you make a penalty double, your alternative is to defend the contract undoubled. Unless you're beating the contract several tricks, choosing not to double isn't going to be a costly mistake; you're going plus either way. But when you're contemplating passing partner's negative or responsive double, your alternative is to bid something. If you bid something and go minus when you could have defended and gone plus, you have made a costly mistake. As a result, you're willing to cut it a little closer.

At the other table, my hand passes over one spade, and South bids three hearts. That seems too much to me. Three hearts is usually based on seven and a half to eight playing tricks. This hand has only six and a half. If you think this hand is too good to open one heart and rebid two hearts, you might choose to avoid the problem by opening one notrump.  In fact, that would be my preference.

Three hearts ends the auction, and West leads a club. South rides it around to his queen and plays a trump. West takes the queen and king of trumps and switches to the three of diamonds--jack--king--ace. Declarer plays a trump to West's ace, and East pitches the four of diamonds. This is not a good idea, since a diamond pitch should deny a potential entry in the suit. Instead, East should pitch a low spade to deny the spade ace.  In a situation like this, the size of the card is less important than the suit itself, since partner might not be able to tell whether your spot is high or low.  The clearest way to get the message across is to pitch the suit you don't want led.

West apparently concludes that South needed the spade ace for his three heart bid, so he ignores his partner's carding and leads a low diamond anyway. East knows what to do when his ten wins. Down one.

If South rebids two hearts instead of three, my hand is faced with the decision whether to balance or not, the decision I was trying to avoid by doubling a round earlier. I don't know what Jack would do, but I would not balance, since the opponents haven't found a fit.  I would balance if South raises to two spades instead of rebidding two hearts.  But if South raises frequently with three trumps, even then it could be dangerous.  I still think it's safer to double a round earlier.

Me: +200
Jack: +100

Score on Board 35: +3 IMPs
Total: +91 IMPs