Match 2 - Board 51

Board 51
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A K ♥ K Q J 7 5 ♦ 8 4 2 ♣ 10 6 4

As I've said before, good things seems to happen when you open hands like this with a weak notrump, no matter how offensive it may be to your sense of propriety. And this deal is no exception. I open one notrump, and the auction proceeds pass--pass--two hearts.

In my methods, a double by me or by responder is for take-out. But Jack plays this as a penalty double. Until now, I've never seen a hand with which I would want to double for penalties on this auction. And, now that I've seen it, I don't know if I can afford to do so. Is partner really supposed to pass this double with a singleton heart? Perhaps he is. Never having played this way, I'm not entirely sure how it works. But if he is supposed to pass with a singleton, that means I can't double unless I have five. It seems wrong to reserve a useful call for such an unlikely event.

I would just pass if I thought partner was apt to pass it out. But, if he has a singleton heart, he is probably going to balance anyway. Having passed one notrump, he can bid a four-card spade suit or he can bid two notrump (unusual) with fewer spades. My best chance to shut him up is to double and hope for the best.

I double; everyone passes. Since we normally lead ace from ace-king, I lead the king of spades to show my doubleton.

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

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

Did partner sit with a heart void? I doubt it. More likely, declarer has balanced on a five-card suit.

Partner plays the six of spades; declarer plays the seven. On the spade ace, partner plays the five; declarer plays the ten.

Partner should not encourage in spades if he can stand the obvious shift. So, if I trusted partner's carding, I would assume he did not have the king of diamonds, in which case I would consider a club shift. (If declarer has king doubleton of diamonds and partner has the club ace, it might be necessary to put partner in before declarer can take a spade pitch.) But Jack doesn't think that way. It's too dangerous to break clubs without a compelling reason. I'm not entirely whether I would play a club if I did trust partner's carding. I'm certainly not going to play one when I don't. So I shift to a diamond. I choose the eight, since, if declarer plays low, I don't want partner inserting the ten from king-ten.

Declarer plays the queen from dummy, partner wins with the king, and declarer plays the ten. I assume this isn't a singleton. Even if partner is expected to sit with heart shortness and a semi-balanced hand, surely he should pull with a six-card suit. Partner returns the jack of spades. Declarer plays the queen, and I ruff with the heart five.

Obviously declarer has the four of spades remaining, since partner would have led the four rather than the jack if he had it. Declarer's falsecard at trick two was ill-conceived. If he had retained the ten, I wouldn't know the spade count. "Play the card you're know to hold" (or are going to be known to hold).

I play the four of diamonds--six--seven--heart deuce. Partner did sit with six diamonds! I'm just as happy this time, partner. But let's not make a habit of it. Declarer leads the eight of hearts from his hand. I play the jack, and partner follows with the six.

Declarer is 4-5-1-3, and he must have a club loser, else he would not have finessed the diamond at trick three. I will take two more heart tricks unless I get endplayed, and the only way I can get endplayed is if declarer can cash three club tricks. Thus it would be a mistake to switch to a club. If declarer has ace-king small or ace-queen small, a club switch would allow him to take three club tricks and pitch his spade on the diamond ace, reducing me to only trumps. If I play a diamond, I am guaranteed two more trump tricks.

I play a diamond to dummy's ace, and declarer pitches the seven of clubs. He plays a heart to the ten and my queen. I exit with a club and eventually score the heart king for down two.

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

Declarer could have held it to down one by rising with the diamond ace at trick three, since I must eventually break the club suit. But it would have made no difference. Even down one undoubled would have been a top for us. Everyone else declared one notrump our way. Half of them made it; half went down one.

That means we would have the same top if partner had pulled to three diamonds (as he should), assuming he made it. The defense can't beat it by force, but best defense will probably beat it in practice. Say South leads a spade. Declarer wins and plays the king of hearts. South takes his ace. He must now play a diamond to North's ace, and North must switch to the jack of clubs. Declarer covers with the queen. South wins and underleads his remaining honor. Declarer's percentage play (by restricted choice) is to play low.

This would be an unlikely defense to find. Not the jack of clubs shift. That's a well-known position. The hard part is the diamond shift. It's right only when partner has the diamond ace and the jack-nine of clubs. A club shift, however, is right anytime partner has the club queen and a slow diamond trick. Surely that's more likely.

Score on Board 51: +500 (12 MP)
Total: 407 MP (66.5%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 50

Board 50
Our side vulnerable

♠ Q ♥ 9 4 2 ♦ K 6 3 2 ♣ A 10 6 3 2

RHO opens with a Precision club. I like to interfere over strong clubs. But at this vulnerability, there's not much I can do with this hand. I pass.

LHO bids one heart, showing five hearts and eight or more high-card points and creating a game force. Partner bids one spade, and RHO raises to three hearts.

I pass, LHO bids four hearts, and RHO continues with Blackwood. This auction makes no sense. Why bid three hearts with a hand where you intend to bid again over a signoff? Better to bid two hearts, keeping the auction low in case partner can cooperate. Three hearts should show an intermediate hand--a hand with moderate slam interest, where you wish to wish to get your invitation off your chest then leave further action up to partner. Two hearts should be either a minimum or a hand with serious slam interest. That way, you get to show three ranges instead of just two.

(In classic Precision, two hearts is a trump-asking bid, and three hearts shows a minimum. But I assume my opponents aren't playing asking bids, else RHO would have chosen that route over a clunky Blackwood auction.)

LHO bids five diamonds, showing one or four key cards. RHO bids five spades to ask about the trump queen. Thanks, RHO. Perhaps my failure to double this will steer partner to a minor-suit lead, hopefully a diamond. I pass. LHO bids five notrump, denying the trump queen, and RHO settles for six hearts.

What lead should a double by me call for? Obviously it should call for some minor-suit lead. But, since the opponents have bid no side suits naturally, it's not clear which minor it should call for. Some partnerships have a specific agreement. (For example, "Lead the lower-ranking unbid suit.") Others, like me, prefer to leave it more flexible. ("Lead the suit you think I'm most apt to be void in.") A diamond lead is surely our best shot, even though it might not work. So, if I had reason to believe that double would elicit a diamond lead, I might try it. But I don't, so I pass. Partner leads the jack of spades.

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

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

If declarer has at least two diamonds, I may yet regret not doubling. Given South's Blackwood response, partner must have the ace or king of hearts. If it's the king, declarer, fearing a spade ruff, might decide to play a heart to the ace and bank on the diamond finesse. He is wrong about the diamond finesse, but he will be pleasantly surprised when the heart king drops. Either minor-suit lead would leave declarer with no reason not to take the heart finesse.

(I have known players--though I won't mention any names--who would solve this problem by "accidentally" letting declarer see the king of diamonds in their hand. Once declarer knows the diamond finesse is off, he'll take the heart finesse. Even if I were unburdened by any sense of ethics and inclined to try this maneuver, I couldn't. Jack's programmers forgot to include a flash-half-your-hand-to-declarer button.)

Declarer plays the spade king--queen--seven. Now ten of hearts--four--three--ace. Yay! Partner leads the nine of spades--ace--heart deuce--spade deuce.

What was the spade nine all about? For whatever reason, partner wanted to play a low card, and the nine was the lowest card he could afford. So declarer must have the eight (and he should have played it). It appears declarer is 3-5-2-3 or 3-5-1-4 with the king and queen of clubs. In the latter case, he will likely choose a ruffing finesse against my diamond king. In the former case, we have at least one more trick coming. Can I contrive to take another one?

Suppose I lead the ace of clubs to tap dummy. Declarer leads a heart to his king and plays a diamond to dummy's ten. (Hopefully, partner's doubleton includes the nine.) Say I duck. Now declarer can't get off dummy to repeat the finesse. He will probably play ace and ruff a diamond, trying to drop partner's king. When it doesn't drop, he has a spade loser left. But all I've done is broken even. No, wait. I haven't even done that. He can cash the king and queen of clubs, pitching dummy's spades, then ruff his spade. I've lost a trick on this line.

Although, come to think of it, giving declarer two club tricks might not be such a bad idea for another reason. What if he's 3-5-1-4? If I lead the club ace, setting up his king and queen, he is left with only one unruffable black-suit loser. So he needs only two diamond tricks to take the rest. If I don't hand him the club suit, he pretty much has to take the ruffing finesse in diamonds against me. But if I do, then he has the option of finessing partner for the diamond king.

I play the ace of clubs--seven--four--heart eight. Declarer plays the jack of hearts. But, instead of overtaking as I expect, he lets it hold, as partner plays the five of clubs. If declarer intended to finesse partner for the diamond king, surely he would have overtaken the jack of hearts. He must have a singleton diamond, and he's decided to take a ruffing finesse against me.

No. Declarer plays dummy's last heart and overtakes with his king. I play the club deuce; partner plays the spade four. Since dummy is out of entries, declarer can no longer take a ruffing finesse in diamonds. Furthermore, he can no longer ruff a loser in dummy, so one pitch on the diamonds must be sufficient. 3-5-1-4 is no longer possible. Declarer must have

♠ 8 7 2 ♥ K 7 6 5 3 ♦ 9 x ♣ K Q 7

Declarer leads the nine of diamonds--seven--eight. There is no reason to take this trick. If declarer repeats the finesse, I can exit with a club, locking him in his hand. He is left with a spade loser for down three. If he doesn't repeat the finesse, no harm done. We take partner's spade trick instead of my king of diamonds. I play the three of diamonds.

Declarer cashes the king and queen of clubs, pitching dummy's spades. I see. Declarer doesn't need to repeat the diamond finesse. He can now cash his trumps, executing a show up squeeze against partner. If the diamond king is onside, he will take the rest. If not, he will lose the last trick.

Oops. Declarer doesn't see the squeeze. He plays the four of diamonds--five--ten.  I take my king and exit with a club. Declarer ruffs and eventually loses a spade trick. Down three.

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

Jack must have been upset with his contract to have misplayed the end position so badly. Still, it didn't matter how many we beat this. No one else ventured past the four level, so we were the only East-West pair to go plus. While I would not have chosen North's auction, I do sympathize with him. He was probably the only one in the room who knew his partner had five hearts, and the fifth heart makes a huge difference in his hand evaluation. Consider that slam isn't all that bad opposite as little as

♠ x x ♥ A 9 x x x ♦ x x x ♣ x x x.

Score on Board 50: +150 (12 MP)
Total: 395 MP (65.8%)

Current rank: 1st

More A Hand of Bridge Notes

Michelle,

I don’t know how realistic you want the staging of A Hand of Bridge to be. But, if it were completely faithful to reality, this is what would happen:

The players are seated at the card table as pictured below:

                Geraldine

Bill          (Table)                  Sally

                David

Bill and Sally are across from each other. Geraldine and David are across from each other. Geraldine is to Bill’s left. Each player is holding thirteen cards. There is a second deck face down on the corner of the table between Sally and Gertrude. (Bill has just finished dealing the cards. Sally was shuffling the other deck and has placed it next to Geraldine, who will be dealing the next hand in the sequel to this opera whenever it’s written--which is whenever you give the word.) There is also a score pad  (I’ll see if I can find one. I may have one at home.) and a pencil by whoever is keeping score.

The bidding proceeds as discussed in my previous email. David’s “You play” at the end of the bidding is directed at Geraldine. Bill’s “put down your cards” is directed at Sally (who, as dummy, is supposed to place her cards face up on the table). He is, however, jumping the gun. She isn’t supposed to put down her cards until Geraldine has played.  Geraldine is obviously taking awhile to decide what to play, because David prompts her again with “You lead.” At the fermata, Geraldine leads (places a card face up on the center of the table). Sally then places her entire hand face up on the table, with the suits arranged in columns, the hearts to her own right.  The hearts should be placed down first. The cards should not be quite at the edge of the table but closer to the center, because Bill must be able to reach them. The “dummy” photo attached shows how they should look from Bill’s perspective.

The play proceeds as follows:  Bill plays a card from dummy (i.e., pulls a card from the dummy toward the center of the table near Geraldine’s card). David plays a card. Then Bill plays a card from his own hand.  Bill then gathers all four cards and places them face down in front of him. (I’ll assume the audience won’t be able to see which cards are played, so  if the choice of cards is logically impossible, it won’t matter.) This collection of four cards is called a “trick.”  Bill then starts the next trick by playing a card either from his hand or from the dummy. Each person, in clockwise rotation, contributes a card to this trick. Bill then gathers this trick and places it face down in front of him, staggered over the first trick, and play continues similarly. The picture “tricks” shows what Bill’s stack looks like after three tricks have been played.

There will usually be some pause between the conclusion of one trick and the start of the next trick as Bill decides to what to do. Geraldine and David will sometimes play immediately and will sometimes pause to think. After six tricks have been played, Bill will gather those six tricks together into a single stack, then proceed with staggering the remaining tricks as before. (This is simply an aid to counting how many tricks he has. The number of tricks he has in excess of six is what he is interested in.)

At one point, Sally says “From the table, darling!”  What has happened here is that Bill has thought a long time since the conclusion of the last trick and has forgotten whether the next trick should be started from his hand or from the dummy. He has, incorrectly, reached to pull a card from his hand to start the next trick. Sally, alert to this fact, stops him and tells him that the first card to this new trick should come from the dummy. Bill replaces the card in his hand and starts the trick from the dummy. (This is perfectly proper. Stopping declarer from playing from the wrong hand is one of dummy’s jobs.)

Of course, you may not care about any of this. But these are the actions implied by the text.  And be aware that any action completely out of sync with the text will annoy the heck out of any bridge players in the audience. I’m reminded of a movie I once saw on TV where someone was reading Psalm 100 from a Bible. But they were reading from somewhere toward the beginning of the book. “You mean to tell me there isn’t a single person on the lot who knows that the Psalms are in the middle of the Bible?” I thought. I was so disgusted I turned the movie off.

More later. I can’t make much sense out of the dialog after rehearsal 9. I’m going to have to think about it.

------------------------------------------

Phillip Martin

Composer-in-Residence

Hartford Opera Theater, Inc.

A Hand of Bridge

It's always hard to explain bridge to those who don't play the game. I need to do that now in my role as Composer-in-Residence at Hartford Opera Theater. HOT is producing three operas on June 4 and 5, one of which is Samuel Barber's 10-minute opera entitled A Hand of Bridge. Neither the director nor any of the singers plays bridge, so it's up to me to explain what is going on in the opera. I thought my readers might be interested in this memo I recently sent to the director. The misuse of the word "etiquette" in place of "ethics" was intentional. I thought the concept of ethics in a game would be foreign. Etiquette is easier to understand.

Michelle,

I just got my score to Hand of Bridge today, and I was looking it over.  There are a couple of things—for whatever they’re worth—that escaped my attention when I listened to it. Notice I’m not cc’ing any of the singers. I’ll leave it up to you whether to pass these observations along or not. 

Note that the bids at the beginning (a “bid” is a number plus a suit) do not come at a consistent tempo. “One heart,” “two clubs,” and “two hearts” are roughly evenly spaced. But there is a noticeable pause before David’s “Pass.” (“Pass” is declining to make a bid.) Bill then bids “four hearts,” and Geraldine’s “Five clubs” comes out almost immediately – considerably quicker than any of the previous bids.

There is a subtext to the tempo of this bidding that I’m sure was intentional. First of all, I have to explain a little of the etiquette of the game.  By the rules of the game, you may communicate to your partner (David and Geraldine are partners; Sally and Bill are partners) only by the bids you make. You may not communicate through body language or through the tone of your voice. Nor are you allowed to communicate through the tempo of your bids (by bidding quickly or by taking a long time to decide what to bid).  If your partner inadvertently communicates with you by one of these methods, you are honor-bound to ignore the message his improper communication conveyed. 

What has happened here is that David has communicated improperly to Geraldine, and she has improperly taken advantage of that fact. His taking a long time before passing (declining to bid) carried the information that he might have bid but, reluctantly, chose not to. Geraldine's“five club” bid is illogical on its face (I won’t go into why). So it indicates she is making improper use of the  information David conveyed to her. And the fact that she bids quickly is intended as a rebuke to David. (“If you’re too timid to bid your hand, I guess I’ll just have to bid it for you.”)  I’m sure all of this would be in their tone of voice as well. David’s “Pass” is undoubtedly hesitant. Geraldine's“five clubs” is undoubtedly defiant.

Antics like this would not be tolerated in a serious game. In a social game like this one, they happen all the time, even though everyone knows they’re improper. This is roughly the equivalent of, say, playing miniature golf and surreptitiously kicking your ball a little closer to the hole when you think no one is looking. 

------------------------------------------

Phillip Martin

Composer-in-Residence

Hartford Opera Theater, Inc.

If you're in the Hartford vicinity on June 4 or 5, I encourage you to come to the performance. Tickets are only $10. How often do you get to hear an opera about bridge? On the same program, we are also performing Gian Menotti's Telephone and Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

Match 2 - Board 49

Board 49
Neither vulnerable

♠ K Q 9 3 2 ♥ K 7 5 4 2 ♦ Q ♣ K 7

Partner passes; RHO opens with a Precision one diamond. At one time, it was customary to restrict Michaels' cue-bids either to hands worse than an opening bid or to very good hands. With intermediate hands like this one, one would simply overcall. Today, most players cue-bid on almost any hand of the appropriate shape. But I've never figured out how to make that work. To my mind, this hand is not good enough to cue-bid and bid again and too good to cue-bid and go quietly. So I overcall with one spade.

LHO bids two diamonds, and partner raises to two spades. RHO bids three diamonds. With five losers, I'm worth a game try. So I bid three hearts. Partner bids three spades, and RHO bids four diamonds. I have nothing further to say. I pass, and partner goes on to four spades, which ends the auction. West leads the deuce of diamonds (fourth best).

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1 ♦	1 ♠
2 ♦	2 ♠	3 ♦	3 ♥
Pass	3 ♠	4 ♦	Pass
Pass	4 ♠	(All pass)

Continuing on to four spades was foolish. Competing at the four level when we rate to have eight trumps and they rate to have nine makes no sense at all. We were probably beating four diamonds, and we are unlikely to make this.

What do I know about the opponents' shape? Diamonds appear to be four-five. West didn't make a negative double, so hearts are either three-three or two-four. And, since East didn't open with a weak notrump, he rates to have a second suit. So, putting all this together, either East is four-five in the red suits or he is 4-3-5-1 or 1-3-5-4.

How about the high cards? It's unusual to raise a Precision diamond with only four trumps. West would probably have preferred to bid one notrump if that were an option. So I suspect he doesn't have the spade ace.There is room, however, for him to hold the club ace.

East wins with the diamond ace and shifts to the ace of clubs. This is a strange defense. I was expecting a diamond continuation. Could this be a singleton? Unlikely. How is East planning on putting his partner on play to give him a ruff? It's more likely he's trying to give his partner a ruff. That means he's 1-3-5-4.  He plans on playing a third round of clubs for a possible trump promotion when he gains the lead with the spade ace. If I'm right about all this, I have four inescapable losers.

I unblock the king to get an extra dummy entry. I'm confident enough of East's stiff ace that I would play a low spade out of my hand if I couldn't get to dummy. But as long as I have an entry, there's no need to do that. West plays the club three. East continues with the deuce of clubs. West plays the five, and I win in dummy with the eight. I play a spade from dummy--ace--deuce---six. East plays the ten of clubs. I pitch the deuce of hearts, allowing West to ruff with his natural trump trick. He continues with the king of diamonds. I ruff and claim. Down one.

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

The hand was an open book at trick two. Maybe I should have won the second club in my hand and played the deuce of spades. Perhaps my flamboyant display of card-reading prowess would demoralize the opponents. Nah. Jack seems pretty unflappable.

As I expected, four diamonds was going down. We get five matchpoints for this result, tying the pair who went down one in three spades and beating the two pairs who sold to three diamonds. Going plus against four diamonds, it turns out, would have been worth only an additional two matchpoints. To get a good score, we must buy it in three spades.

West's diamond raise made that goal hard to achieve. Not everyone would raise a Precision one diamond opening with West's hand. But I think the raise makes sense. His spade length makes diamond shortness in his partner's hand unlikely.

Would a Michaels' cue-bid have worked out better? I replayed the hand, bidding two diamonds at my first turn to see what would happen. LHO passes, partner bids two spades, and RHO doubles. I pass, LHO bids three diamonds, and partner bids three spades, ending the auction. I guess that works, but I'm still not sure why. Partner's three-spade bid is as incomprehensible to me on this auction as his four-spade bid was on the auction we had.

Score on Board 49: -50 (5 MP)
Total: 383 MP (65.1%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 48

Board 48
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 2 ♥ A Q 10 8 5 ♦ A 2 ♣ A Q 8 6

Three passes to me. I open one heart--pass--one notrump--pass. I may be in the minority here, but I prefer an off-shape two notrump to two clubs. I like to limit my hand when possible, since it simplifies the ensuing auction.

I bid two notrump, and partner bids three diamonds. I seem to have saved myself a headache. If I had bid two clubs and partner had bid two diamonds, I would have a problem. I'm worth another move, but nothing appeals. I can't bid two notrump with jack doubleton of spades. The heart suit isn't quite good enough to treat as a six-card suit. Three diamonds understates my tolerance for notrump, since partner might reasonably assume I have a singleton spade. And two spades understates my tolerance for diamonds, since partner might think I have honor third of spades and a singleton diamond. My initial two notrump rebid was a less of a distortion than any one of those continuations would be.

I pass, and West leads a third-and-lowest eight of spades.

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

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

Three diamonds strikes me as a bit cowardly. I would have bid three notrump. It's not clear whether we would make that or not.

East wins with the spade king; I play the six. East cashes the spade ace, I play the four, and West plays the three. It appears West has queen-ten-eight fourth of spades. I expect to see a third spade, tapping dummy, but East shifts to the three of clubs--four--king--ace.

Why not tap dummy? Is it possible East doesn't have another spade? Hardly. I refuse to believe West passed in third seat with queen-ten sixth of spades and the club king. One thing for sure. East doesn't have queen-third of diamonds. If he did, he would have tapped me to prevent my finessing against his diamond queen. I decide to play ace of diamonds then a diamond to the king, trying to drop West's queen. I can then play three rounds of hearts, pitching my spade.

I cash the diamond ace--four--three--queen. How come every time I decide to drop an offside doubleton queen, my opponent plays the queen on the first round? As on Board 42, I know Jack isn't capable of a falsecard. So I could just play a diamond to my nine and claim. But what would I do in a real game? The falsecard with queen-ten doubleton isn't so clear this time. For one thing, West doesn't know I have the nine. For another, he doesn't know I have a third spade. So he can't be sure his partner's club switch marked him with the queen. Still, just because the falsecard isn't 100% doesn't mean some defenders might not try it.

If I can cater to the falsecard safely, I might as well do so. If I can't, I'll back my judgment and take the trump finesse. For starters, it can't hurt to cash the club queen. West would not have kept quiet with king-jack-ten sixth of clubs, so there is no danger of its being ruffed. I cash it. East plays the deuce, and West plays the five.

It appears East has three-deuce doubleton of clubs. That means he is either 4-3-4-2 or 4-4-3-2. I can cater to both cases. I can ruff a club to my hand, then return to dummy in whichever suit East pitched. (If he pitched a heart, I play king and a heart to the ace. If he pitched a spade, I ruff a spade.) I now ruff another club to my hand and return to dummy in the other suit, reaching this position:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ 10 8 5 ♦ -- ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ K J 9 ♣ --

East has either three diamonds or two diamonds and a heart. I play a heart from dummy. If East ruffs, he was 4-3-4-2, and he's couped. If he follows, he was 4-4-3-2. I can ruff with the king and cash the jack, dropping West's ten. (If West falsecarded with queen-small, more power to him.)

So far, so good. What happens if East unexpectedly follows to the third club? Now I can't afford to play for the coup, since East might have begun with a singleton heart. In fact, he probably did. If East doesn't have a doubleton club, then the three was probably third best from four, and he's 4-1-4-4. So I must revert to the trump finesse and resign myself to going down if West falsecarded.

The problem, however, is that the hearts are blocked. To make it, I must lead the heart king and overtake with the queen. Now I take a trump finesse, draw trumps, and play a heart to the ten to take my spade pitch. This is fine if East is indeed 4-1-4-4. But what if he led a middle club from three and is 4-2-4-3? I don't think that's likely. But I'd hate to pay off to it if he did.

Actually, I don't have to. My nine of spades subjects West to a show-up squeeze. I can run diamonds, reaching this position at trick 12:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ Q 10 ♦ -- ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ 9 ♥ 4 ♦ -- ♣ --

West must hold a high spade, so he can't hold a doubleton heart. In fact, I don't even need the ten of hearts. The deuce would do just as well. (Note that I've learned my lesson about saving threat cards. I didn't stupidly drop the nine of spades under the ace or king.)

I don't see anything wrong with this line. I play a club from dummy. To my surprise, East follows with the ten. So much for the trump coup. It's on to Plan B. I ruff with the seven and play the king of hearts--deuce--ace--six I play a diamond--five--eight--spade ten. Then I run diamonds, squeezing West. It turns out the squeeze is necessary. East did lead the three from ten-three-deuce of clubs, and he has the jack of hearts. I'm not sure why he led the three. I don't think I've ever seen Jack do anything like that.

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

That was certainly fun. The kibitzers probably didn't see the point of this line. They probably thought I was just showing off--wasting my heart king for no reason, then executing a squeeze to get the trick back.

I was the only declarer to score eleven tricks in a diamond partscore. Probably not because of my declarer play but because of East's defense. He should have continued with a spade at trick three. I could still make five double-dummy. But it requires a strange line of play that I would have no reason to adopt.

Even though we beat all the other partscores, this is only an average, because three pairs bid and made game. Two pairs made three notrump, and one got a top by reaching four hearts, making five. Four hearts! That's quite a nice contract. That's another reason not to bid two clubs over one notrump, On my auction, we had no chance to get to four hearts, so I can't feel bad about missing it. Had I bid two clubs, we would have had a chance to get there. So I would be annoyed when we didn't.

Score on Board 48: +170 (6 MP)
Total: 378 (65.6 %)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 47

Board 47
Our side vulnerable

♠ A Q J 8 7 4 ♥ 6 5 4 ♦ A 3 ♣ 6 4

I open one spade in first seat. Partner bids two notrump, showing a game-forcing raise. Didn't we just have this auction? Almost. This time RHO chimes in with three clubs.

If RHO had passed, I would have bid three spades. This is a minimum in high cards. But with six good spades and four controls, this hand is too good just to bid four spades. There are variety of ways to handle interference after Jacoby Two Notrump. But, as far as I know, there is no standard consensus. Personally, it makes sense to me to play that pass denies a singleton or void, new suits are natural, rebidding your suit shows shortness in the overcalled suit, and double shows a semi-balanced hand with shortness in some other suit. (Partner can find out where your shortness is by passing and seeing which suit you lead.)

Whatever Jack thinks my bids mean, he surely can't be misled too much if I just pass. So I do. Partner bids four spades. If that's all he can do, I have nothing further to say. I pass again, and West leads the queen of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
			1 ♠
Pass	2 NT1	3 ♣	Pass
Pass	4 ♠	(All pass)
1At least fourcard support, gameforcing

Wow! I'm happy not to be in a slam, but it does seem partner gave up awfully quickly. What should he have bid? If I hadn't just put Blackwood back on the card, I would say partner should jump to four notrump (natural and non-forcing) and I should pass. How's that for an auction? A perfectly straight-forward, quantitative slam exploration ending in exactly the right spot!

Since we've handicapped ourselves by disallowing a natural four notrump bid, this hand presents a problem. How do you issue a strong invitation while suggesting that notrump, not spades, is the right strain? Frankly, I can't think of an intelligent auction. Since I know from opener's pass that he doesn't have a complete minimum, I would probably just drive to slam. We would wind up in six notrump, which depends on three-three hearts or some unlikely squeeze possibilities. I suppose it's just as well partner held that hand rather than me.

Is there anything to the play in four spades? If I duck the club, perhaps East will think the queen is a singleton and will overtake to try to give his partner a ruff. I play low, and East plays the deuce (upside-down attitude). My card hardly matters. I randomly choose the six.

To my surprise, West shifts to the jack of hearts. I play the ace--deuce--four. It didn't take long for me to regret my play of the club six. If West guards hearts, I have the matrix for a double squeeze. But for the squeeze to operate, the club threat must be in my hand. Dummy's club king, being in front of East, is useless as a threat. So the squeeze will work only if West actually did begin with a singleton queen of clubs or if he began with queen-three doubleton. Had I not squandered my six, the squeeze would also work if West began with queen-five doubleton. Sigh. Keep winners; throw losers. When will I learn?

Too late now. I cash dummy's ten of spades; everyone follows. On the king of spades, East pitches the five of clubs. I am so happy to see that card! If I were East, I would torture declarer by holding onto it as long as possible. I cash the king and queen of hearts, on which East pitches the seven and nine of clubs. Now I run spades. West unguards diamonds, so East keeps his diamond stopper and throws all his clubs away, establishing my four. Making six.

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

This is not a top. One pair bid and made six notrump. East really led a club? I don't see how else declarer could have made it. Actually, most pairs were in slam, which isn't too surprising. Two pairs were down one in six spades, and one was down two doubled in six hearts. So simply staying out of slam was worth eight matchpoints. The extra overtrick is worth an additional two.

Presumably West shifted to a heart because he thought his partner might be void. And he might be. Jack's attitude signals indicate nothing more than whether or not he has an honor in the suit led. So the presence of a heart void would not cause him to signal any differently. How would a more sophisticated East signal a heart void?

First, let's assume right-side up signals. Some people play that a middle card is encouraging and that extreme cards are suit preference. Personally, I like to restrict three-way signals to situations where you are presumed to have six or more cards in the suit led. But, for this to work, you must have clear agreements about when six or more cards is presumed. My notes say that any three-level or higher overcall qualifies. So, by my rules, three-way signals apply here. I would play the seven to encourage, the deuce to request a diamond shift, and the jack to request a heart shift.

If I hadn't overcalled, three-way signals would not apply. I would play the nine (my highest spot card) to encourage, the deuce to request the obvious shift, and the jack as an alarm-clock to suggest an unusual shift. By sheer coincidence, this unusual shift is to the higher ranking side suit. But it needn't be. If dummy's red suits were reversed, the deuce would ask for the "obvious" heart shift, and the jack would ask for the unusual diamond shift. The reason for this is that you don't always have an alarm clock signal available. So you want to use the alarm clock to send whichever message you are least likely to want to send.

Playing upside-down, three-way signal work differently. You should play that your lowest card always encourages, even in a three-way situation. So the deuce requests a club continuation whether you are presumed to have six clubs or not. You can now use a middle card to request the lower-ranking suit and a high card to request the higher-ranking suit. This way, you needn't be so worried about whether you are on the same wavelength. Even if one of you thinks this is a three-way situation and the other doesn't, there is no ambiguity about the meaning of the deuce. The extra clarity upside-down signals gives to three-way situations is, I find, one of the major benefits to using them.

Why not play this way when playing right-side-up signals? Why not play high to encourage and middle or low for suit-preference? Because it is sometimes hard to tell whether partner's card is middle or high. The continue-or-shift message is the one you are most concerned about getting across. If partner knows you want a shift but can't tell for sure which suit you want led, he can sometimes use other clues to solve his problem.

Result on Board 47: +680 (10 MP)
Total: 372 MP (66.0 %)

Current Rank: 1st