May 19, 2011

On Board 7, both sides vulnerable, I dealt and picked up a balanced minimum.  
This would be a perfect hand to open 1NT if I were playing weak NT.  But Leah 
and I play strong NT, so I opened 1D, as would most pairs in the room.  
Typically, if one is 4-4 in the minors, one opens 1D.  One would open 1C if 3-3 
in the minors (if NT or a major cannot be opened) or would typically open 1C if 5-5 
in clubs and spades.

 
10 4
Q J 7
A Q 5 2
A 5 4 3

Leah responded 1 spade and I briefly considered rebidding 2C but quickly 
decided against it. For one, my club suit isn't very good.  For another, 1NT is 
simply much more descriptive, both in terms of high-card points and in terms of 
distribution (no 5-card suit).  Partner will know I probably have between 12 and 
14 points.  After my 1NT bid, Leah bid 2C, which I alerted as New Minor Forcing.  
This bid is forcing for one round and asks me to describe my hand further; it 
says nothing about clubs.  She almost certainly has five spades and could have 
four hearts as well.  She will not be 4-4 in the majors, or she would have bid 
1H over my 1D opening.

Our agreement is that my first duty is to show a 4-card heart suit, if I have it, 
by bidding 2H, because it would be better to play in a 4-4 heart fit than in a 5-3 
spade fit (Both sides can ruff and the side 5-card suit provides extra length for 
discards.)  If I don't have four hearts, then I can bid 2S if I have 3-card spade 
support.  I unfortunately don't have either, so I bid 2NT despite my poor spots 
in clubs.   As I put the bid down, I realize that 3C might be a better bid. Partner 
would probably be able to infer that I have 2-3-4-4 distribution, given that I  

1. denied 3 spades and 4 hearts and
2. bid NT on my first rebid rather than clubs, which I might have done if I held more than 4 of either minor.

But, 2NT is on the table and partner raises to 3NT.  She must have a pretty good
hand.  West leads the Ten of Hearts and I see:

A Q J 8 7 3
K 8 3
3
Q 7 2

10 4
Q J 7
A Q 5 2
A 5 4 3

Indeed she does have a good hand. I am surprised to see six spades, however.  
She probably wanted to make a forcing bid over 1NT, so she didn't want to bid 
2S or even 3S.  She might have jumped to 4S over my 2NT bid though...OK, 
why I am worrying about that?  I've got to make 3NT.

First of all, will I clearly make this?  I likely will take at least five spade tricks, 
two heart tricks, and two aces.  But this is not guaranteed.  I may not be able to 
get over to dummy to run the spades.  In any case, I am certainly going to keep 
that King of Hearts in dummy as long as I can for a future entry, so I play low in 
dummy.  RHO plays low and I win the Jack.

I said I hoped to win at least five spades, but of course I'd rather win six of
them!  So, I lead the Spade Ten and it rides around to RHO who hesitates briefly 
before winning the King.  So, RHO must have held exactly Kx of spades.  It 
would be unethical for him to hesitate before playing a singleton and if he had 
Kxx he would certainly duck the trick, because by holding up he might be able to 
keep me from getting to dummy to run the spades.

Now RHO leads the Jack of Diamonds.  I went in the tank.  Do I win this?   If so, 
with what?  Suddenly my contract does not seem secure, as I have not yet 
knocked out the Heart Ace.  If I go up with the Diamond Ace now, my diamond 
suit is a bit vulnerable.  If my RHO has the Heart Ace (and ducked smoothly at
trick one), then he might get in later and lead diamonds through my Queen.  I 
decide to duck and intend to win the second diamond with the Ace. (More on 
this decision later.)  However, he does not continue the suit!  After a long 
hesitation, he leads a small heart.  I cover with the Queen and after another 
long hesitation, LHO plays the third round of hearts, which I take per force in 
dummy, RHO following suit.  I am in dummy, and have now won two tricks and 
lost three.

A Q J 8 7
--
--
Q 7 2

4
--
A Q 5
A 5 4 3

I can take 5 more spades and my two Aces to get to nine tricks.  It seems that 
if I do anything else I am risking the contract.  I sure wish I had a diamond in 
dummy so I could try the diamond finesse!  Oh well, I take my nine tricks  and 
am chagrined to see that RHO has the Diamond King.

This is not a good result, since almost all pairs are in 4S making 4 for 620,
beating our 600.

        A Q J 8 7 3
        K 8 3
        3
        Q 7 2
6 5 2               K 9
A 10 9 2            6 5 4
9 7 4               K J 10 8 6
K 9 6               J 10 8
        10 4
        Q J 7
        A Q 5 2
        A 5 4 3

Thoughts?

I have plenty of them.  We could have gotten a cold top if I had won 10 tricks. 
Recall that at the beginning of the hand I had noted that we should have been 
in spades, but then turned my attention to trying to just make 3NT?  Well, I 
should have stopped to consider whether I could make 4 Spades.  Why?  Well, 
most pairs were going to be in 4 Spades, and we are trying to beat them; 
afterall, that is the goal in Duplicate Bridge.  So, if N/S can take 10 tricks in 
Spades, then taking nine tricks in NT is not enough.  However, if 4 Spades is 
going down, then I should be getting a very good result for taking 9 tricks.

So, thought #1 is that I should have assessed the 4S contract at the table, as 
it could inform how I would have played the contract, starting at trick 3.  At that 
point I knew I had a club loser and heart loser.  How would those in 4S avoid 
two club losers?  One chance would be for the diamond finesse to win, and then 
throw a club from dummy on my Ace of Diamonds.  The other chance would be 
for LHO to hold the Club King.  A good declarer would hope to have the opportunity 
to combine both chances by leading low to the Club Queen first, and if that 
failed then try the diamond finesse. (This is assuming that the opponents have 
not forced his hand first, by cutting communication to dummy or leading a 
diamond early in the hand, like my RHO did to me.)  But, my guess is that most 
4S declarers may find themselves in dummy after drawing trump and will need 
to try the diamond finesse to find the tenth trick.

Thought #2:  Instead of ducking, should I have played the Diamond Queen 
(finessing) at trick 3?  This puts me on equal footing (which I need) against all 
of the 4 Spade bidders, if I am assuming they will also finesse the diamond.  
If the finesse loses, what happens?  If LHO continues hearts (he shouldn't), 
then I would have my 9 tricks.  If instead LHO returns a diamond to knock out 
my Ace, I could be in trouble, as then my Diamond suit is wide open, and 
opponents are going to get in when they win their Heart Ace to continue those 
diamonds!

So, it seems that if the finesse was working, I needed to take it, and if it was 
not working then I was no worse off than the 4S bidders.  Given that this was 
my only chance to finesse, I believe I should have tried it.

Thought #3:  If I didn't try the finesse at trick 3, I should have at least gone up
with the Ace of Diamonds.  It seems that my LHO is more likely to have the Ace 
of Hearts than my RHO, so my Diamond Queen would be protected.  This isn't 
certain ... I didn't know how to read RHO's hesitation at trick 3.

One last point here.  It is always good to ask why the opponents play a certain 
way.   We all know that it is good practice to lead back partner's suit.  When 
that doesn't happen, we should ask, "Why not?"  So here, why didn't RHO lead 
back a heart at trick 3?  Could I have used the fact that he didn't to draw any 
conclusions about his diamonds?

Often such a play would mean the player believes his own suit will be easier to 
set up than partner's suit, and in this case that would suggest my RHO had the 
missing diamonds (so I should finesse).   However, a couple of other factors 
were at work here:

1. Dummy had a singleton diamond, so a diamond shift might be reasonable. RHO could be desperate to get his side's diamonds before I go up and run all of those spades. If he led a heart back to his partner's Ace, his partner would be on lead and would have to lead away from any diamond tricks he had.
2. The play at trick 1 pretty much told the heart story, so RHO knew I had hearts double-stopped. My LHO led the Ten, which denied that he held the Jack. (This is why I won with the Jack instead of the Queen, because both opponents knew I must hold the Jack--play the card you are known to hold.) RHO probably also read me for the Queen of Hearts, even though I tried to hide it. Afterall, would I have bid NT twice with Jxx of hearts? Would his partner have led the Ten of Hearts from AQTx? Not likely. So, RHO knew there was not too much future in hearts.

I give my RHO credit for not continuing the diamonds.  Perhaps he interpreted 
his partner's negative signal properly, but maybe if I had ducked smoothly 
instead of thinking all of those thoughts above, he would have played another 
one.

So, what do we take away from this hand?

1. When you aren't in a normal contract, take a little time to estimate how many tricks your counterparts at the other tables will be making, and plan accordingly. In this case, I was actually in a *better* contract, as the cards lay, and I didn't take advantage of it.
2. When you only have one chance to take a finesse, and your opponent's give it to you, you should take it, especially when ducking won't help anyway!
3. When you duck a trick, you need to do it quickly or your opponents will know the situation.

May 12, 2011

This week we will look at a hand where keeping proper transportation is 
important.  And counting ...

East dealt and passed, and I picked up this nice collection:

A K 5 4
-- 
K J 9 5 4 
Q J 7 5

I opened one diamond (showing 11-15 HCP in our system with 5+ diamonds 

unless I have a 3-suited hand).  LHO overcalled 1H and partner doubled. This 

double by partner is called a negative double and strongly suggests that he 

holds four spades.  He should have at least 8 high card points.  It certainly 

looks like we can make game here.  I decide to jump to 2 spades, because I 

want partner to know I don't have a minimum.  This also leaves room for 

partner to inquire further about my hand if he has slam interest.  Well, LHO 

isn't done yet and bids 3 Hearts.  Partner now bids 4 Spades, and that ends 

the auction.  LHO leads the Ace of Hearts, and I see: 

Q J 8 2
7 2
A 10 3
A 9 8 6 

A K 5 4
--
K J 9 5 4
Q J 7 5

Wow, we are likely making overtricks here.  I ruff low.  The only danger in this
hand is that since LHO has bid hearts twice, she very likely could be short in 
spades.  It trumps split 4-1, I could be in trouble.  I will probably only be able 
to draw three rounds of trumps in that case and then will rely on some minor 
suit finesses.  My partner and I have 25 HCP; that leaves 15 for the opponents.  
Now, west has bid twice, vulnerable, so she has most if not all of those missing 
HCP.   Maybe one finesse will lose, but certainly not both of them.
So, I decide to draw three rounds of trumps, regardless of how they split, ending 
in hand so that I can try the finesses.   Accordingly, I lead a low spade to the 
board and then come back to hand and cash the Ace and King.  I am happy to 
see that trumps split, with LHO having two of them.  This is now what I see:

Q
7
A 10 3
A 9 8 6

--
--
K J 9 5 4
Q J 7 5

Which suit should I finesse first if I think that at least one of them is working?  
Diamonds! It is the longer suit and I am missing only one of the top five cards!  
How should I play them? I need to be able to end up in my hand to run them 
and my only fast entry is the diamond king.  So, I should finesse by leading to 
the Ten.  I do, and this holds the trick.  I cash the Diamond Ace, both opponents 
following and come back to my Diamond King to run the suit.  After I play my 
fifth diamond, I am in my hand, looking at this.  I have not yet lost a trick.

Q
-- 
--
A 9 8

--
--
--
Q J 7 5

This is matchpoints, so of course we are greedy.  We want as many tricks as we
can get.  What should you play next?  I played the Queen, planning to finesse 
LHO for the King.  Afterall, she had cooperated so well already the entire hand.  
She covered with the King and I won the Ace.  When I continued with the 9, 
RHO played low.  What should I play?  Where is that Ten of Clubs?  Maybe if I 
go up with the Queen I will drop it and take all 13 tricks?   Is this a guess or 
should I know? I SHOULD KNOW!  How?  Did anyone take note of what 
happened when I played the diamonds?  I didn't tell you, actually, other than 
to say they split 3-2.  Suppose I tell you now that LHO had 3 diamonds.  Then 
what?

[Side note: Here is where the counting is important, and it is the hardest part 
of the game for me.  Actually, in hindsight, I don't think it was so hard in this 
particular case.  One just has to commit to paying attention and always be 
thinking about the distribution of the opponent's cards.  Doing this on every hand 
(you don't always know at the beginning of the hand whether it will be necessary 
or not) is a discipline that is essential for becoming a good player.  I still have a 
ways to go, as you will see momentarily.] 

 So, LHO had 2 spades and 3 diamonds.  And lots of hearts.  So probably not many 
clubs.  How many?   If she had 7 hearts, then only one club.  With 6 hearts, then 
two clubs.    Which is it?  I think she is more likely to hold seven hearts than six 
for two reasons.  One, she was vulnerable and bid hearts twice, including at the 
3-level.  Two, and more importantly, our opponents have 11 hearts and if LHO held 
only six of them, RHO would hold five and surely would/should have jumped into 
the auction over my partner's negative double, even if she didn't have any high 
card points.  That gives LHO 2 spades, 7 hearts, 3 diamonds, and one club (the 
King, which she just played).  So, I need to let the 9 of clubs ride and I can take 
all 13 tricks.

 Did I do that?  No, I played the Club Jack?  Why?  Carelessness?  Already happy 
that everything else had worked and not worried about the extra trick?  This is 
the kind of hand I probably get right when I read it in the paper, but did not get 
right at the table.   We got an average board, as every N/S pair was in 4 spades 
(one pair did make seven and one pair made five).   Here was the entire hand (Board 22).

          Q J 8 2
          7 2
          A 10 3
          A 9 8 6
7 6                      10 9 3
A K Q 10 9 8 6       J 5 4 3
Q 7 2                    8 6
K                        10 4 3 2

          A K 5 4
          —
          K J 9 5 4
          Q J 7 5

May 5, 2011

I had to look for a pretty long time to find a hand I thought was interesting to discuss. Most of the night I just felt like I was watching my opponents bid games and slams. But, I found a hand where I should have woken from my slumberous stupor and helped out partner.

Board 25: With the opponents vulnerable, my partner (North) opened 1H, vulnerable and RHO overcalled 2 diamonds.

What is your call?

9 8 7 6 5 3 2

K 2

—

A 10 7 5

With this partner, a 2-level bid is forcing for one round, and I should have 10 HCP for that. A negative double generally shows at least 8 HCP, though I do have support for the two unbid suits. My spade suit, while containing a straight flush which would be nice for poker, is headed by the 9.

I elect to pass, as does LHO bids, followed by 2H by my partner. Now what? Since we are playing a big-club system, partner has at most 15 HCP. My Ace of clubs is a valuable card, but how useful can my void be? I can probably ruff only one diamond, and if I ruff another with my King, that may be just setting up a trump trick for the opponents. I choose to pass again, but now LHO chimes in with 3D.  Partner persists with 3H, which buys the contract.

1H - 2D - P - P;

2H - P   - P - 3D;

3H - Pass out;

          A 4

          A Q 10 8 5 3

          K 3

          J 8 4

Q 10               K J

J 9 6               7 4

Q 10 7 4 2       A J 9 8 6 5

K Q 9              6 3 2

          9 8 7 6 5 3 2

          K 2

           —

          A 10 7 5

East led the Ace of Diamonds, ruffed in dummy, and we somehow took 11 tricks. (I don't recall for sure, but I think partner must have cashed the heart king, got to hand with the spade ace, drew trump and exited a spade. Since spades split, my straight flush was set up to discard his clubs.)

If East instead leads a club (hard lead to find, I know, but bare with me), then North is hard-pressed to take 10 tricks. Let's see...if he wins the Ace in dummy, then the opps will get two clubs later and the King of spades, so North must somehow avoid a diamond loser. A lack of entries to hand make this seem difficult, as he can't ruff both diamonds. If he plays the Ace and another spade he can't draw trump and get to dummy's good spades, even once spades split.

So, maybe he needs to duck the Ace of clubs. Then West cannot continue clubs without giving up a trick. I suppose a spade return is best. Declarer can take the ace and ruff a diamond, but cannot get back to hand to ruff another diamond. If instead declarer plays a second round of spades, East can win and play another club. Do you see how North can prevail and take 10 tricks? Can E/W stop it?

Here is the situation, with East leading the 6 of clubs. So far, E/W have taken two tricks.

            --

            A Q 10 8 5 3

            K 3

            J 8

--                               --

J 9 6                           7 4

Q 10 7 4 2                   A J 9 8 6 5

K 9                             6 2

            9 8 7 6 5

            K 2

            --

            A 10 7

I have my thoughts on this, but I'll let you stew on it awhile. Let me just say that I think this is a very difficult hand to play by both declarer and E/W, even when all four hands are visible, and that the optimal line for either would be hard to find at the table.

But, while this is a nice hand to consider, my main point for this deal of the week is the criminal bidding by South (me!). The entire discussion above was predicated on N/S being in game, which we weren't at our table, though we should have been. Yours truly fell victim to point count and missed a couple of overriding factors. Rob and I are playing unbalanced majors, which essentially means that when we open a major we either have six or more of them or we have a second 4-card suit. We will NOT have a 5332 hand. I clearly need to either make a negative double at my first bid or bid spades at some level. 

If I double and partner doesn't have a second 4-card suit, then he has six hearts and he won't be disappointed for me to show up with Kx of trump, a void, and a side-suit Ace. If he does have a second suit, it is either clubs, diamonds, or spades. If it is diamonds, he can leave in my double. I have great support for either black suit, too, though I can't believe he would actually hold spades. 

Even better might be to bid my spade suit.  I have a seven-card suit, an Ace, a King in partner's suit, and a void.  That is certainly worth a bid.  So, wrap my knuckles for not bidding the first time...and the second... But, LHO gave me even another chance by bidding 3 Diamonds. When partner mustered up a 3 Heart bid, having heard nothing from me, I think I should raise to 4 Hearts. Certainly I have more than he can expect from me, as I have first round control in two suits and the King of a suit he has bid twice. Points-schmoints.

So ... the questions, to see if you agree with me.

1. What should South bid at his first turn?

2. If South passes at his first turn and the auction proceeds as it did, should South get in the auction later?  If so, in spades or in hearts?

3. Who should prevail in perfect play in 4H by North, if that is the contract?

April 28, 2011

I'll start with a few more comments about carding. Paul has been describing standard carding, and he has detailed out what that means in various contexts. A quick review: When the opponents lead, and you decide to play a spot card, you give count to partner by playing  a) the highest card you can afford to show an even number of cards in     the suit and  b) your lowest card to show an odd number of cards in the suit. When your partner leads, if you play a spot card (not expecting to win the trick), then you play  a) a high card to tell partner you like the suit (lead it again) and  b) a low card to tell partner you don't like the suit. On your first discard, you discard a low card in a suit you don't like and you play a relatively high card in a suit to show that you like that suit. Now, of course, there are a lot more subtleties, but those are the basics. If you ask your opponents what system they play, and they say "standard," it should be the above system. (By the way, if you don't play the above system, and you always just play your lowest card when you have no chance to win the trick and you always just discard a low card regardless of your interest in the suit, if your opponents ask you about your carding, you should not say "standard." You should say, "We don't play any signals.") What other systems are common? If your opponents play "Upside-down Count and/or Attitude," it means they follow the guidelines above, but switch the roles of high and low throughout. If your opponents say they play Odd/Even discards, this should imply that they play Standard when following suit, but on their first discard (and first discard only), the discard of an odd card says they like the suit in which they played that odd card. If they discard an even card, then they are stating that they do NOT like that suit; furthermore, many play that if the even card is a high (low) one, then they like the higher (lower) ranking suit of the two suits remaining [besides the one led and the one in which they played a card]. If your opponents say they play Lavinthal, this should imply that they play Standard when following suit, but on their first discard (and first discard only), the discard of a card in another suit says they do NOT like that suit; furthermore, if the card is a high (low) one, then they like the higher (lower) ranking suit of the two suits remaining [besides the one led and the on in which they played a card]. I don't particularly like either Odd/Even or Lavinthal, though they are quite popular. If I had to play one of them, I suppose I prefer Lavinthal. With odd/even, I often found that partner would read too much into my signal, that every card was a mandate, when sometimes there wasn't any card I could choose that would actually send no message or the message I wanted. Which brings us to another point. Whatever system you play, you shouldn't take too long to choose your card. This gives unauthorized information to your partner that your choice was not obvious. I am guilty of this, so please hold me accountable at the table! What I explained above is my understanding of the systems, stated briefly. Feel free to chime in if you think I misstated something or if you want to expand. Okay, on to the deal of the week. This week I am going to give a problem checking your partnership understanding. Many pairs in our club play the Michaels convention. When the opponents open a suit and your partnership bids that suit one level higher, it shows a two-suited hand. In particular, if the opening suit is a minor, then your bid of that suit shows both majors. What if the suit is artificial, though? Last Thursday, Gretchen opened 2D on my right, and it was alerted as "could be short." I inquired, and essentially it meant that she held 11-15 HCP and did not hold a 5-card major. It said nothing about diamonds. So, what understanding do you have with your partner here if you make a 2D bid? Would it show both majors (Michaels), or would it be natural? I held a very nice hand, but not both majors. — Q 10 6 2 K Q J 10 7 5 A K 7 I thought that a 2 Diamond bid would be natural here, so I bid it. This was alerted by partner and explained as Michaels. Oops. Partner jumped to 4 Spades. Perhaps I could sit for this, but it seems diamonds should be trump, and I correct to 5D. My LHO doubles it to end the bidding and leads a small club. Down comes dummy with as many hearts as I have spades. Q J 8 6 4 3 2 — 8 4 2 Q 9 4 — Q 10 6 2 K Q J 10 7 5 A K 7 Wow, with some lucky breaks, I can actually make this! I can win in hand with the Ace of Clubs and alternately ruff 3 hearts and 2 spades. That should leave me in dummy with this: Q J 8 6 4 -- -- Q 9 - - Q K Q J T K 7 Then I need to get back to my hand safely, I suppose with a club, and start on trumps. It would be best to lead the Ten of Diamonds here, to hopefully induce LHO to not take his Ace if he has it. (If he takes the Ace, he may shift to a club, which could be ruffed.) I'll worry about that later, though. If everything works, I may ultimately win 5 diamonds in hand, 3 heart ruffs in dummy, and 3 clubs. Alas, it is not to be; when I follow this plan and lead the Ten of Diamonds, LHO shows out!, and ultimately I lose two diamonds and a heart. Down 1, doubled, earns us -200 and one matchpoint. Q J 8 6 4 3 2 — 8 4 2 Q 9 4 K 7 5 A 10 9 A 9 8 7 5 K J 4 3 — A 9 6 3 J 10 6 5 3 8 2 — Q 10 6 2 K Q J 10 7 5 A K 7 So, the point here is to talk with your partner and come to an agreement about whether you play Michaels after an artificial opening. In this case it was 1D, but against a pair playing a big club system, it may be an artificial 1 Club bid. Some people play "systems on," which is what my partner was playing, and others play the bid is natural. Either is okay, IMO, as long as you agree.

April 21, 2011

This week we will look at an opening lead problem.  E/W are vulnerable and North is dealer.  
As East you hold:

Q 10 6 2
9
J 10 9
A J 7 5 4

The auction proceeds:

          P        P        1H
P        2D*     P        4H

The 2D bid by North was alerted as showing 3-card heart support with 10+ HCP.  What should you
lead as East?  The right lead will set the contract.

South is showing a pretty strong hand here (at least 15 points), but unfortunately you don't know
much about his distribution.  Partner will have at most 7 HCP.   It doesn't seem that the
opponent's have bid their game based on distribution, so I don't think a trump lead is called for
to cut down on ruffing.   Of course it is too early to tell, but given your shortness in trumps, 
partner may have a trump trick coming, and you can hope to take a trick in each
suit.   You just need to get your four tricks before declarer gets his.  The obvious choices are the
Jack of Diamonds  (the top of an honor sequence) and the 2 of spades (4th best).  Though
clubs are your best suit, it is not appealing here (or hardly ever, actually) to underlead an Ace.

Which is better, the Jack or the 2?  I'd be happy to hear the opinions of others on this, because
I don't think it is obvious.   Leading the Jack is a bit more passive and is less likely to give a
trick away, because you won't be finessing yourself.  The 2 has more potential for developing a
quick trick if partner holds a high honor, but you'd hate to see the spade Jack come down in dummy
with declarer holding AK!

If you chose the spade 2, the defense should prevail.  This was board 9 and here is the complete
hand.


                A 8 5
                8 7 4
                K Q 8 3
                Q 6 2
Q 10 6 2                        K J 7
9                                J 10 5 3
J 10 9                                6 4
A J 7 5 4                        10 9 8 3

                9 4 3
                A K Q 6 2
                A 7 5 2
                K

I played this hand as south and got the Jack of Diamonds lead.   Though trumps split badly, I was
able to knock out the club Ace and pitch one of my small spades on dummy's Queen.  I lost only a
club, a trump, and a spade when diamonds split 3-2.

Do you see why a spade lead was crucial?   It would knock out dummy's Ace, and then when 
West won his Ace of Clubs, the defense could cash two spades.

The previous week, Brad and I eschewed (i.e., didn't find) our heart fit, and North played 3NT,
making 3.  This is a safer contract, since even perfect defense cannot keep declarer from scoring
1 spade, 3 hearts, four diamonds, and a club.  However, it didn't score as well as 4H.

A bit later in the week I want to give a very brief explanation of some of the signaling systems
played by members of our club (standard, upside down count and attitude, odd-even,
and Lavinthal).  I agree with Paul that it is best to start with standard signals, but it still will
be helpful (as declarer) to have an understanding of the signaling used by your opponents. 
Paul already alluded to this earlier, when he pointed out how declarer could falsecard at trick
one in an attempt to keep the opponents from interpreting each other's signals.

March 31, 2011

Board 17, North deals, None vulnerable (I am South, with the following hand.) A 5 3 2 Q T 9 8 4 A 8 9 8 Partner (Rob) opens 1 diamond and RHO overcalls 2 Clubs. I have both majors, so I consider a negative double. But I have five hearts, and since it is more likely that partner has at least three hearts than that he has at least four spades, I bid 2 Hearts. Fortunately, with Rob this is a forcing bid for at least one round. If I were playing with Leah, I would need to double here, since we play negative free bids (which would mean that 2-level bids would be non-forcing, showing at most 9 HCP). Partner gives a gentle raise to 3 Hearts and I need to decide whether to go on to game. Right or wrong, I bid 4 Hearts; while my high card points are a minimum for my bid, I have two aces, good texture in the heart suit (which will help if trumps don't split), and two doubletons. LHO leads the ace of clubs and I am looking at J T 9 A K J 2 Q J T 4 6 5 A 5 3 2 Q T 9 8 4 A 8 9 8 Despite the shortage of high-card points, I like my chances. Partner's spades should be very helpful, and given that LHO has already shown the club ace, the diamond king rates to be onside. LHO continues clubs, RHO winning the second trick and shifting to a spade, which I duck: 7-2-Q-9. LHO continues spades: 6-T-K-A. Well, I have lost three tricks, but things look good now since partner's hearts are so strong. I draw trump in three rounds, go over to the good spade jack and try the diamond finesse. It wins, as expected, which gives me ten tricks. J 10 9 A K J 2 Q J 10 4 6 5 Q 6 4 K 8 7 7 6 3 5 9 6 3 2 K 7 5 A 7 4 K Q J 10 3 2 A 5 3 2 Q 10 9 8 4 A 8 9 8 At the time, I thought I benefited from RHO leading a spade at trick 3, but I guess I could always do that myself. I would have drawn just two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy, and then led the top spade. As long as RHO held at least one of the spade honors (and the diamond king), I was in good shape. If the spade finesse lost, I would return to dummy with a trump to repeat the spade finesse and the play would continue as before. This turns out to be a top, since no other pairs bid the game. Three other pairs scored 170 and another scored 140, all in 3 Hearts. One E/W pair scored 110 in 3 clubs. More Post Mortem: The strong feedback I received on this deal from other members of the club (when I sent these out as emails, before posting them all to this blog) was that I was a bit too aggressive in bidding game. Many also thought I should have made a negative double instead of bidding my five-card suit. I agree with the former statement, but not with the latter.

April 14, 2011

I'll continue this week with some defensive carding.  Suppose you hold AK in a 
suit and lead the Ace.  What does it mean if your partner plays the Jack?

If you aren't sure exactly what it means, then you are correct.  Obviously the
context is very important.  What is the contract?  What was the bidding?  What 
cards did dummy hold in the suit?  About the only thing you can be sure of is 
that partner does not (or should not) hold the Queen.  Let's look at two hands 
where this came up last week.

On Board 15, West is on lead against 3 Hearts and leads the Ace of Clubs from 
AK5. Dummy comes down with 987.  What should West do if partner plays the 
Jack of Clubs?  East/West are playing “Upside-down” attitude, which means that 
a low card is encouraging and a high card is discouraging.  (However, keeping a 
useful card should almost always take priority over signaling to partner.)  I was 
not at this table to see the auction, but based on the likely bidding sequence, it 
is not possible that the Jack of Clubs was a singleton.  It seems East probably 
has JTx(x) and wants West to switch to another suit.

[As an aside, if the contract were 3NT, might East be unblocking with the Jack 
so that West could run the clubs?  No.  If East held QJx and wanted to unblock, 
he should unblock with the Queen first (since the Jack should deny the Queen).]

On the same board, what if East played the 6 of Clubs at trick one?  Then what 
should West do? Playing upside-down attitude, if (big if) this looks like a low 
card to West, he should continue with the King.  East probably either has the 
Queen,  has a doubleton club and is looking for a ruff, or for some reason 
(based on holdings in the other suits) just doesn't want West to switch.

Now lets look at the four club suit holdings and consider East's choices.
                987
AK5                                JT6
                Q432

East is in a bit of an awkward situation here.  East would like West to switch. Two
considerations:

1. Remember, E/W are playing upside-down attitude, so East has to use a high card to discourage and a low card to encourage.
2. Dummy has 987, so if East uses the Jack to discourage, hoping to later get in to lead the Ten through declarer's Queen, it will go T-Q-K-7, and
   dummy's 8 will set up for a later trick. (Leading the 6 instead of the Ten would be better for East, to make declarer guess where the Ten was.)

My thoughts here are that East should play the 6 and hope that even though it 
is his lowest card, partner won't read it as his lowest (since 789) are in dummy, 
and will switch suits.   Then when East gets in later with a major suit King, he 
can play the Jack of Clubs, trapping declarer's Queen.  However, if East held JT2 
and declarer held Q643, then maybe East should play the Jack at trick one, 
clearly discouraging. Make declarer figure out the spades himself later. I am 
certainly open to comments on this--I don't think it is obvious.


Now look at Board 5.  My partner led the Ace of Spades against West's 2-Heart 
contract:
          A K 8
          10
          J 10 8 6 3
          K 5 3 2
10 5 4 3 2              9 7 6
K J 7                     Q 9 4 3 2
A K                       Q 9 7 4
A 9 6                     Q
          Q J
          A 8 6 5
          5 2
          J 10 8 7 4

I held QJ and carelessly played the Jack (low to show encouragement?), defying 
what I said above that the Jack denied the Queen!   Oops.  Partner probably 
played me for JTx and understandably switched suits.  If I had played Queen, 
and he trusted me, then he could have followed with a low spade, knowing that 
I would either win the Jack or ruff.  As it turned out, it didn't matter that he 
switched, as we still took three heart tricks.  We set the contract one trick, but 
did not get a good result since a couple of N/S pairs scored nine tricks in clubs.

April 7, 2011

This week I am going to write a bit about defensive signals.  Some of us use 
them a lot and some of us don't use them very much at all.  I hope that Deal 27 
from this week illustrates how essential they are to maximizing your tricks on 
defense.   East/West are defending 3D by North, with East's and South's 
holdings in hearts shown below.

             A 10 3
K Q J 6 2

Suppose East leads the King of spades, taken by North's Ace, and declarer plays 
out the AKQ of diamonds, with East and West each following to all three rounds.  
Declarer then leads a small heart, and you duck, letting dummy win the 
King.  Declarer than calls for the Heart Queen, with both partner and declarer 
following suit.  Clearly dummy has no entries outside of the heart suit, so it is 
very important you choose the right time to take your Ace.  If North just
played his last heart,  you want to take your Ace now, holding declarer to one 
heart trick.  However, if you take your Ace now and declarer still holds another 
heart, then you are possibly giving away two extra tricks.  What should you do?

It depends.  Were you watching what your partner played?  Suppose partner 
first played the 8 of hearts and then the 4.  In standard signals, playing high-
low like this shows an even number of hearts.  Therefore you know that partner 
held two hearts and declarer held three hearts, and you should hold up one 
more round.  [Playing upside-down count, partner would first play the 4 and 
then the 8 to show an even number of cards.]   However, if partner first played 
the 4 and then the 8, then that shows an odd number of hearts (namely 3), so 
declarer must have only two and you should take your Ace now.

I showed this suit in isolation to make a specific point.   On any given hand 
there may be other considerations that will affect your decision.  On this 
specific deal, it actually didn't matter when East took the Ace as long as he 
made the proper switch afterwards, because E/W could take all of their tricks 
before declarer could get in again, and declarer wouldn't have anything to pitch 
on the good hearts anyway.  North should lose one spade, two clubs, and a 
heart against reasonable defense.

On Board 17, partner and I had a misunderstanding.  My partner opened 1C as 
North, and the bidding proceeded 
 

1C   X    1S   P
2S   3H  Passout.

Q 8 2
Q 6
J 10 7 2
Q 8 7 6 
         A K 7 6 4
         10 7 5
         9 8 6
         4 3

I thought about leading my doubleton club, hoping to get a ruff, but ultimately
decided to lead my Spade Ace first to get a look at dummy.  Then, based on the 
dummy and partner's play at trick one, I would decide how to proceed.   Partner 
and I play that the lead of an Ace is asking for attitude.  Since we play upside-
down attitude, this means that a low card would mean he wants me to continue 
the suit and a high card means he wants me to switch.  Well, on the first trick 
partner plays the Spade Jack, which is obviously the highest spade he holds. 
Apparently he wants me to switch.

However, I don't need partner to tell me to switch, because if I persist with 
spades by cashing the King,  dummy's Queen will be set up.  I also know that 
partner doesn't have a doubleton spade, looking for a ruff, because he should 
have at least three spades in order to have bid them.  There is a school of 
thought that when it is obvious that a suit should not be continued, partner 
should not give an attitude signal, but should rather give a suit preference 
signal, directing the leader as to which suit to switch to. For example, if 
dummy has lots of trumps and no more cards left in the suit that was led, it 
usually isn't beneficial to continue the suit, and suit-preference signals are 
given instead.

Is that the case here?  After all, it seems clear to me not to continue spades, 
and partner knows that I know this, and I know that partner knows that I know 
this.  But, we haven't specifically talked about whether dummy holding Qxx in 
the suit lead qualifies as one of the exceptions, even if I know partner holds 
3-card support.   Drat.  I was all set to lead a club at trick 2, but now I'm not 
sure.  Dummy's clubs are Q876, and it will cost us a trick for me to lead a
club if declarer holds AJ or AJ9, because I will be giving him a free finesse which 
he might not be able to do himself (perhaps no entry to the board).  I've talked 
myself out of it, and I am going to read that remarkably high Spade Jack as suit 
preference.  In this case, the high card means he wants me to lead the higher 
ranking suit of the two suits remaining (diamonds and clubs), warning me 
against his poor club holding.  So, I play a diamond.  Partner must hold the
diamond ace, and will then return the Spade Ten to keep dummy's Spade Queen 
from setting up.  Then he will sit back and wait passively for his Club King.

        J 10 3
        9 4 2
        K 5
        A K J 10 9
Q 8 2                9 5
Q 6                  A K J 8 3
J 10 7 2             A Q 4 3
Q 8 7 6              5 2
        A K 7 6 4
        10 7 5
        9 8 6
        4 3

Wrong! Making three.  Indeed partner just wanted to tell me to switch and 
thought that it would be obvious that I should switch to clubs.  I guess the 
important lesson here is to have a clear set of criteria with partner for when you 
will deviate from giving your standard signal.  I thought this was one of those 
times and he didn't, so clearly we don't have such a set.   made the contract 
much easier for declarer by giving him the diamond finesse.  Now, declarer 
should have been able to work it out anyway to use the Heart Queen as an 
entry in order take the finesse himself (and get the same nine tricks), but I 
took away all of his guesswork. We get one match point for our -140.  Several 
E/W pairs are making diamond partials and one N/S pair went down 2 in 3 
spades.