Tempo needed at trick one!

On Board 16 in the September 8 pairs game, with only the opponents vulnerable, it was three passes to me and I held:

♠ J 3 2 ♥ A J 7 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 10 9 3

I briefly considered opening 1 Club instead of 1NT with this 15-count because of my three jacks, but the 5-card suit make this hand a legitimate 1NT opener.  Partner thinks awhile and then bids 4H, a transfer to spades without any interest in slam.  My 4S bid ends the auction.

My LHO leads the 7 of Spades, and this is what I see:

♠ A 10 9 8 6 5  ♥ 10 5 4 2  ♦ A 7  ♣ J

♠ J 3 2 ♥ A J 7 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 10 9 3

In our system, partner didn't want to open 2 Spades with two aces and a 4-card heart suit.  I suppose she could have tried Stayman (often a 4-4 fit will play better than a 6-2 fit), but on this hand we would have ended in 4S anyway.   My LHO leads the Spade 7.

At first glance, I can possibly lose two spades, two hearts (not really), and a club; however, that is quite pessimistic and isn't going to happen.   It is inconceivable that LHO has led away from KQ of Spades, so there is no reason to duck this trick in dummy.  If RHO holds KQx of trumps, then I have two trump losers anyway.  More importantly, I don't want RHO to win the first trick and shift to a heart.   The most important thing about this hand is that I need to set up my clubs in order to throw hearts from dummy before they knock out my Ace of Hearts.  Tempo here is crucial, and therefore I cannot duck the first trick.  This will be the difference between making the hand (if trumps split 3-1) and going down or the difference between ten tricks or eleven tricks (if trumps split 2-2 and the opponents misdefend).

Accordingly I win the Ace of Spades in dummy and lead the Jack of Clubs.  RHO takes the Ace and plays the King of Spades (trying to shorten trump in dummy to cut down on club ruffs???), which draws the Queen and a grimace from my LHO.

RHO now shifts to a heart, but it is too late, as I now have eleven tricks, throwing all of dummy's hearts on my good clubs.

♠ A 10 9 8 6 5                  ♥ 10 5 4 2                  ♦ A 7                  ♣ J
♠ Q 7 ♥ K Q 8 ♦ Q 8 6 4 2 ♣ 7 5 4	N  W E S	♠ K 4 ♥ 9 6 3 ♦ 10 9 5 3 ♣ A 8 6 2
	♠ J 3 2 ♥ A J 7 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 10 9 3

Notice that if RHO holds KQx of Spades, then the opponents could set the contract if I had ducked the first trick.  RHO can win the King of Spades and shift to a heart, and whether I fly up with the Ace or not, I cannot prevent them from taking four tricks.   As it was, they could hold me to ten tricks by shifting to the heart after taking the Club Ace, as I could then only throw two of dummy's hearts on the clubs before LHO ruffed.

So, this wasn't a particularly hard hand.  One just had to be alert to the dangers of instinctively ducking the first trick.  Doing so would lose tempo and would waste the value of that wonderful Jack of Clubs partner gave you!  One other pair also took eleven tricks for 450, while the others scored 420, 170, and -50.

What to open?

In Thursday night's game on Board 18, with E/W vulnerable, East passed and I held this hand as south:

	♠ A K Q 7 5 4 3 ♥ 4 ♦ 8 ♣ 8 4 3 2

I never quite know what to do with these hands.  I suppose one could argue for 1S, 3S, or 4S.

Why 1S?

• For those who like the rule of 20 (which says to add your HCP to the sum of the lengths of your two longest suits, and if you reach 20, then you can open) or the rule of 15 (which says to add your HCP to your number of spades, and if you reach 15, then you can open), this meets both.   
• You certainly have a comfortable 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rebid, if necessary.   
• It is possible that 1S will serve as a preemptive bid and keep the opponents out of the auction when they have the bulk of the points.  However, given that the opponents will likely be short in spades, they may bid on distribution anyway.  Now, 3S would be more of a preempt, though it would advertise that you are a weaker hand.
• Two singletons and a side 4-card suit are very attractive.
• 1S gives partner more room to describe his hand.  Afterall, preempts can also preempt partner.

Why not 1S?  The biggest reason is that partner may take you for better hand strength, and it is why I didn't open 1S at the table.  In hindsight, though, that isn't much of a reason.  If partner has enough points (i.e. an opening hand) to want to be in game, this hand has enough to comply.  If the opponents jump into the auction and partner doubles, we can always pull to spades, the boss suit.

Why 3S?  Excellent 7-card suit and 5-10 points, just like the card says.

Why 4S?  This really shuts the opponents out if partner is bust.  Plus, it would have a play opposite as little as
xx
Axxx
xxx
KJxx

I chose to open 3S, which was probably the worst choice of the 3 bids.  On some nights it could be right, of course, but not this time.  Partner held

♠ 8 2
♥ K 7 5 2
♦ A K Q 10 6
♣ J 5

but understandably passed, and 4S was cold.  Every other table in the room was in 4S, too!   So, fellow players, please let me know.   Did you open 1S (which will surely get you to 4)?  Did you open 3S and still got to 4S?  Or did you just open 4S?

Opening Lead?

On Board 10, with everyone vulnerable, RHO opened 1NT, 16-18, and I passed holding

♠ Q J 6 5
♥ K 10
♦ 8 4
♣ A 10 9 7 5

Left-hand opponent transferred to hearts and then rebid 3NT, which ended the auction.  So, what is our lead?

The only thing we can really gather from the auction is that LHO has 9-12 points and probably does not hold 4 spades (else he would have used Stayman) , while RHO must hold exactly 2 hearts.

Clubs are the longer and stronger suit, but in order to set up the suit, we'll need entries.  It is possible that the suit could run right off the top, but not likely (would need partner to hold Kx and declarer to have a doubleton).  The heart King is a possible entry, but again is unlikely, since LHO holds 5 hearts and RHO holds 2.

It seems better to lead a 4th-best spade.  If partner has either the Ace or King, then we set up two or three spade tricks in our hand when we get in with our club ace.  Give partner a trick or two and we can set the contract.  So I lead the 5 of spades and here is what I see:

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

Partner wins the Ace of Spades and plays back the  8, declarer winning the King.  It seems declarer must have only 3 spades;  holding K943 she likely would have ducked around to the 10, preserving the K9 to protect against my Q6.  So, either she has made a mistake or she doesn't want to lose the lead and have us switch to another suit (probably clubs! drat!).  She then starts on diamonds, taking five tricks in the suit.  So, declarer holds 5 diamonds, 3 or 4 spades, 2 hearts, and 2 or 3 clubs.  She then plays the Heart Jack.  I must cover this with the King, else she will let it ride and then finess my King to win 3 tricks in the suit to get to 9 tricks.  I am hoping partners 4-card heart holding includes the 9, or the entire suit is running anyway! 

Indeed, partner does hold the 9. As the cards lay, declarer could still make the contract by leading the Club Jack from dummy after taking the top two hearts, eventually coming to 5 diamonds, 2 hearts, 1 spade, and 1 club after forcing out my Ace of Clubs.  However, she continued hearts, and only came to 8 tricks.
 
                   ♠ A 8
                   ♥ 9 6 5 3
                   ♦ 7 6
                  ♣ 8 6 4 3 2

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

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

We ended up getting a top board for setting this one trick.  Deep Finesse says that with perfect play, only 8 tricks are all that is possible.  It seems my spade lead was ill-advised afterall.  If I had led a club, any club, at trick one, then declarer can only get 8 tricks: 1 Club, 5 Diamonds, and 2 Hearts.  The old maxim of leading from your strongest and longest suit works pretty well.  We were lucky here...I should have followed it.

Second hand low?

One of my weaknesses as defender is that I often play low too quickly in second hand, relying on the maxim "Second hand low."  However, there are cases where this isn't the right play.  One instance is that it is usually right to cover an honor with an honor.  Another instance is when there is a singleton in dummy.

My partner faced this situation the other night.  Declarer was in 3NT and led a small club towards the singleton 9 on the board.  My partner held Jxx, and without much thought played small.  Unfortunately, I held A8x.  Declarer had made an unusual play, holding KQTxxx in his hand, and ultimately scored five tricks in the suit.

The reason it is often right to cover (at least with a low honor like the jack, probably not with the Ace in this case) is to protect against what happened.  Even if I had held Kxx, he needed to rise with the Jack.  Because there was a singleton in dummy, declarer would not be able to subsequently finesse my King.  Similarly, if I held Qxxx, he needed to rise with the Jack in order for us to score two tricks in the suit.   In fact, I can't think of a single holding I could have had (not even AK tight) where ducking the Jack gains us a trick.

Questionable Slam

I am in Colorado Springs, playing in a Swiss game with a partner I just met.  We took about 20 minutes filling out a card, and agreed to play 1430 Keycard.  We were not playing Kickback (bidding the suit above trump as Ace Asking once a fit was established), per se, but he did say that he sometimes would use it when obvious (whatever that means!).  We also agreed to play Exclusion Keycard (jumps to 5-level ask for keycards in suit other than the one bid.) We were scrambling around, trying to find a fourth player for our team, so we never quite finished the conversation.  This came back to get us.

Vulnerable, partner and RHO passed and I opened 2NT with

♠ K J 3
♥ A K 6 5 2
♦ A 7 4
♣ K Q

Partner bid 3C, Puppet Stayman, asking for a 4- or 5-card suit.  I bid 3H, showing my 5-card suit, and he went in the tank and pulled out the 4S bid.  Clearly it would not be natural (he would have transferred me to spaded over 2NT if he had spades).  Exclusion?  Seems doubtful, since not at the 5-level.  It seems that 3S would be a cuebid, but maybe my partner wasn't sure it would be forcing, so I decided 4S must be a cue-bid, showing interest in slam.  I bid 4NT to ask about keycards. He bid 5C, showing one.  I bid 5D to ask about the trump Queen, and he jumped to 6H.

My partner meant 4S as Keycard!  He thought 4NT showed 4 keycards, and he meant 5C as the Queen Ask.  My 5D evidently said I had it, so he jumped to 6H, believing we had all 5 keycards and the trump queen (but evidently thinking that we shouldn't be in 7H with only 31-32 HCP). 

I got a small club lead, and here is what I saw:

♠ Q 8
♥ 7 4 3
♦ K J T 8 2
♣ A J 5

♠ K J 3
♥ A K 6 5 2
♦ A 7 4
♣ K Q

I must lose a trump trick on any layout, so how do I avoid losing the spade Ace?  I need some luck.  I need to conceal my club King, so that the person who wins the trump trick will continue clubs (assuming they don't have the Spade Ace).   I can't give up the first heart trick, though, because I run the risk of the the person with the Ace overtaking partner to cash that Ace).  My hope is to throw all three spades away, two on the diamonds and one on the long club.

So, I win the first club in dummy with the Ace and then drop the Queen from my hand.  Now, this suggests I have a singleton at first glance.  But, it would also be a reasonable false-card if I held Qx.  Then I play the Ace of Hearts and a small heart.  LHO plays small and Ten, while RHO plays small and then overtakes with the Jack.  So far so good!  She exits with a club!  So, I win with my King and draw the last trump.  Now all I need is the diamond finesse.  It works, and diamonds split 3-2, so I can throw my three spades away on dummy's long diamonds and Club Jack.  Making Six.

P.S.  This story is a bit of a fabrication.  In fact, I didn't play it as above.  I didn't cash the Heart Ace first; rather I just played out a small heart at trick two.  LHO won with his Ten  and cashed the Spade Ace.  If I had played Ace and then a small one, RHO would have been on lead...we'll never know if she had found the spade switch.   [It wasn't clear to the opponents how many keycards we had, since there was clearly confusion in the auction about who was asking and who was telling in terms of number of aces.]

June 23, 20111

Last week I wrote about trusting partner instead of the opponents.  Well, I should have followed my own advice on Board 13 last night.  My partner opened 1H and RHO made a takeout double, while I was looking at this very nice hand:

♠ 7 4
♥ 7 6 5 2
♦ A K Q
♣ A 6 3 2

We play Jordan, so a 2NT bid by me shows a Limit Raise (heart support and at least ten points) or better.  This hand certainly qualifies.  However, given that RHO should have close to an opening hand for her takeout double, it seems slam is out of the question, and I don't want to give the opponents any chance to find a spade fit if they have some distributional freak.  I therefore jump to 4H immediately.

Partner makes the surprising bid of 4 Spades.  We play Kickback; this means that once we have found a trump fit, the suit directly above trump is Keycard asking.  This allows us to stay a bit lower in the auction (and room to ask for the Queen) than when 4NT is used.  I dutifully respond 5D, which shows 2 Keycards without the Queen of trump.  Now partner makes the even more suprising bid of 6D, which should be asking if I have the King of Diamonds.

What is going on?  My 4 Heart bid should not have shown partner that I had a great hand. It really said I was pretty distributional.  Is he reading me for something else?  How could he think I have two Aces and now the King of Diamonds, especially when the opponents made a takeout double?  What I am supposed to do is bid anything other than 6H if I have the Diamond King.  I decide to bid 6NT.  This will keep us at the 6-level in case we have had some kind of misunderstanding.  Partner can correct to 7H if he wants, knowing that I have the Diamond King.  Partner thinks this over quite a while and passes.  Here are our hands.  (RHO had a 7-count with 4-0-6-3 distribution!)

♠ A K 3
♥ A K J 9 8 4 3
♦ 10 7
♣ Q

♠ 7 4
♥ 7 6 5 2
♦ A K Q
♣ A 6 3 2

We have 13 tricks, of course.  I should have trusted partner's 6D bid more than my RHO's takeout double, recognizing that partner must have extra Hearts.  Not only did I have the Diamond King, but I had the Diamond Queen--obviously an extra trick partner would not be counting on.  Rather than bidding 6NT to give partner a choice between 6NT and 7H, I think I should have bid 7D, giving partner a choice of grandslams, either 7H or 7NT.  If I held the King of Clubs instead of the Diamond Queen, then I could have bid 7 Clubs.  If I held neither card, then I guess 6NT is the right bid, and partner should pass, as he can only count 12 tricks (7 hearts, 2 spades, 2 diamonds, and 1 club).  In that sense, he was lucky that I didn't have such a hand and hear me blast into 7H in response to his 6D query. I still don't know how partner took my 4H bid, but he obviously was not deterred by the takeout double!  Having said that, he was extremely lucky that I didn't have the hand my 4H bid said I could have (heart fit with no Aces), as he would have lost two diamonds and a club off the top, and his Keycard ask would have caused us to go down 1 in 5 Hearts.

It turned out that we got a top board anyway, because no one bid a grandslam and other pairs were naturally in their 11-card heart fit, taking the same 13 tricks.  Still, it was a good hand to learn from.

June 16 (STAC game)

After three passes, with N/S vulnerable, you need to decide what to do with the following hand.

♠ A 6
♥ K 10 6 5 3 2
♦ J 6
♣ K 7 6

Suppose you choose (questionably, for sure) to open 1 Heart.  The bidding then proceeds:
 P -  P -  P  - 1H
2D-2S - 3D - P
 P- 3H - 4D - P
 P - X - All pass

Partner was a passed hand, but then bid twice and doubled the opponents.  He must have a decent hand, though he can't have too many diamonds!

Partner leads the 9 of Spades and down comes a formidable dummy, all things considered.

          ♠ K Q J 3
          ♥ 8
          ♦ 9 8 4 3 2
          ♣ Q 10 8

♠ A 6
♥ K 10 6 5 3 2
♦ J 6
♣ K 7 6

Partner must not have the Ten, or he would have led it.  So, he bid 2 spades on a suit headed by the 9?  Well, he must have some outside strength...probably both red Aces.  (He needs the diamond Ace for the double and since he must not have 3-card heart support, he should probably have AQ of Hearts, or at least AJ.)  He can't then also have the Club Ace, then, or he would have opened the bidding. 

Would partner double, though, with a stiff Ace of Diamonds?  If he has a doubleton, then LHO overcalled with only 4 diamonds (albeit as a passed hand).  Wow, not sure what is going on here for sure, but LHO is probably 2-4-4-3 (and partner's 2S bid was a bit aggressive) or  1-4-5-3 or 2-4-5-2 (and partner made an aggressive double with a singleton trump).  

Declarer played a low spade from dummy (confirming that she held the Ten), and I won the Ace.  Thankfully, she played low (in hindsight, I probably should have ducked this trick, just in case she held the singleton Ten, as it would take her a bit of time to get over to dummy to set up the spades, and we could take our side suit tricks in the meantime.)

Since I am playing partner for the Diamond Ace, I decide to lead back a spade to the board.  Declarer cannot cash the spades now, or I'll ruff, and if she tries to draw trump first, partner will return a spade and I will ruff with my Jack.   Even though she will likely overruff, I have two reasons for doing this: first, if partner has AT of diamonds, I will promote his Ten; second, this will waste one of the good spades in dummy, and declarer will only get one pitch.

All goes as planned, as dummy wins the spade and returns a diamond which goes around to partner's Ace... Wait...Why isn't partner returning a spade?...Partner cashes the Heart Ace!  Oh, no, he must think I don't have another trump!  Of course!  He doesn't think West would overcall with a 4-card suit.    How can I get him to play another spade?   I can signal on the heart Ace.  Since dummy has a singleton, perhaps partner is cashing the Ace for me to show suit preference (I won't show attitude when dummy has a singleton with all those trumps.).  Accordingly, I play a high heart, which I think should say "I want a spade."  

However, partner now plays the Jack of Clubs, covered by the Queen.  I am frustrated and play the King (which might be a mistake, since declarer could then finesse partner's nine and not lose a club trick, but it really doesn't matter, since declarer now can draw trump and has two pitches on the spades and can ruff three hearts in dummy).  Making 4.

Board 12 West Deals N-S Vul

♠ 9 8 7 5 2 ♥ A J ♦ A 7 ♣ J 9 4 3

♠ 10 4 ♥ Q 9 7 4 ♦ K Q 10 5 ♣ A 5 2	N  W E S	♠ K Q J 3 ♥ 8 ♦ 9 8 4 3 2 ♣ Q 10 8
	♠ A 6 ♥ K 10 6 5 3 2 ♦ J 6 ♣ K 7 6

Partner and I had a good post mortem discussion about our well-deserved bottom on this board.  I really can't criticize him too much, because I certainly am guilty of not giving partner a ruff when it is practically demanded by partner.  In fact, I have done so in each of my last two games. (I often out think myself and come up with some reason not to do so.  This is what partner did.)

I can't blame partner for thinking I wouldn't have another trump left.  But, if he trusted me, he should have played that spade when he won the Diamond Ace.  Why else would I lead into the teeth of those spades on the board?  And, if he still wasn't sure, cashing the Heart Ace would still have been okay (since I had the Heart King instead of declarer!) if he read my high heart as suit preference.

Invariably you will face a decision where the clues don't add up.  In this case the decision was whether declarer had overcalled on a 4-card suit or whether partner had made a rather silly play.  It is good practice to trust partner and not the opponents!