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.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
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.
♠ 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.
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!
♠ 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
♥ 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 |
| ♠ 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!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Three Slams
Most of my partners know that I am relatively aggressive at bidding slams, and playing with a very good partner (but one whom I have only played twice with before) in Charlottesville recently, I (North) had a chance to bid and make three slams. It didn't quite happen that way.
#1. On our fourth board of the day, I picked up this hand in third chair after partner opened 1Heart. I did nothing out of the ordinary here, other than perhaps make a slightly aggressive 2/1 game forcing response of 2D. (This bid may not have worked out too well if partner opened a flattish 12-count or an 11-count with six hearts.)
852
3
AQJ86
AJ32
The auction was brief: 1H-2D-3D-3NT-6D.
The opponents led a spade; I tried the trump finesse, which lost, but diamonds split (if they didn't I can still make the contract if hearts are 4-3) and I was subsequently able to throw one club loser on dummy's hearts and ruff two other clubs. Partner gets all the credit for bidding the slam. Only two pairs out of 17 did so.
KT62
KQ53
AK74
7
So, we missed this excellent slam of 6S, though it was only bid and made by three other pairs. Four pairs went down in 6 Spades, somehow. They must not have saved a small trump in dummy in order to reach their hand to try the diamond finesse after hearts didn't split.
#3. This is the one I really botched.
QJ32
AK962
T
AQ8
Partner opened 1D and I responded 1H. Partner now bid 1NT, showing a minimum hand. Now, contrary to what some think, this does not necessarily deny four spades. Partner could have four spades with a balanced hand, and wants to tell me that as soon as possible. If he were unbalanced (say with five diamonds and four spades, then he would indeed bid 1S here).
My choices are to reverse into 2S, which would be a game forcing bid, or bide my time with a New Minor Forcing bid of 2C (forcing for one round). In the latter case, partner would show me his 3-card support for hearts if he has it. Partner knows that if I am 4-4 in the majors, then I would revert to NT and should then realize that if I didn't care about his 3-card heart support, then I must have had four spades, and he could then bid 3S... However, there are a couple of problems with this. First of all, it is almost always better to play in a 4-4 fit than a 5-3 fit, and if partner actually has three hearts opposite my five hearts, I don't want to risk him passing my 2NT rebid (with a minimum hand) when we could actually have a double fit in the majors. Even more importantly, my hand is strong enough to force game and I should let partner know about that right away. A 2S bid will show five hearts and four spades with at least 13 HCP.
So, I bid 2S and partner jumps to 4S. This is a signoff bid. Partner is showing a hand that is either 4-2-4-3 or 4-3-4-2, with probably at most 13 HCP. His initial rebid of NT limited his opening to a minimum and the jump to 4S says he has a minimum minimum, really.
Not to be deterred, I pressed on with Blackwood and when I found out he had two keycards, I bid 6S.
The opponents lead the Jack of Hearts, which sure looks like a singleton. Accordingly, I win in hand and play a small spade to the Ace and then a small one back to hand. This will keep the opponents from getting a heart ruff when East only has two trumps and West has the spade King. Evenso, finessing for the spade King isn't likely to work anyway, as even if East did have the King I would still lose a trump trick to the Ten, unless East specifically held doubleton KT.
Well, West jumps up with the Spade King on the second round and does not return a heart! This is good news. It means that either he has the third trump himself or has not worked out that the Heart Jack was singleton. Rather West returned a small club. Now, I am not taking this finesse...I doubt West is giving me a free one. So, I take the Ace.
So far so good. I'd rather not talk about the rest of the hand in detail. I drew trumps, ran the hearts pitching a club from dummy and came down to this, with the lead in North.
2
T
Q8
4
AQJ
I need to find the King of Diamonds and can take the normal finesse or a ruffing finesse. I lead the Ten of Diamonds and despite a slight hesitation from East play the Ace and lead back the Queen. Wrong!
Now, why did I say I butchered the hand, if it came down to a guess for the Diamond King? Well, as partner pointed out afterwards, West had nonchalantly tossed two diamonds earlier, seeming to not have a care in the world; she did not seem to be concerned about having to protect her King of Diamonds. Also, I should have taken advantage of East's hesitation when I led the Diamond Ten. At the time, I thought "No one ever hesitates when actually holding the King...you put it on the table as fast as possible! He must be trying to deceive me." But, if this were the case, I probably could have called the director later for illegal hesitation.
Surprisingly we still scored 25% of the matchpoints. Several pairs were in the hopeless 6H contract. Several others went down in 6S, though it is likely that they played the spades wrong or lost the club finesse. I doubt anyone tried diamonds the way I did!
#1. On our fourth board of the day, I picked up this hand in third chair after partner opened 1Heart. I did nothing out of the ordinary here, other than perhaps make a slightly aggressive 2/1 game forcing response of 2D. (This bid may not have worked out too well if partner opened a flattish 12-count or an 11-count with six hearts.)
8523AQJ86AJ32The auction was brief: 1H-2D-3D-3NT-6D.
The opponents led a spade; I tried the trump finesse, which lost, but diamonds split (if they didn't I can still make the contract if hearts are 4-3) and I was subsequently able to throw one club loser on dummy's hearts and ruff two other clubs. Partner gets all the credit for bidding the slam. Only two pairs out of 17 did so.
| Board 23 Dlr: S Vul: All | 8523AQJ86AJ32 | |
| J73Q9443KQ987 | T964JT62K9T64 | |
| AKQAK875T7525 |
#2. A few rounds later partner opened 1 Spade, and I held this wonderful hand:
KT62KQ53AK747We certainly have a game here, and very well could have a slam. I have three possible bids: Jacoby 2NT, Splinter, or a game-forcing bid of 2D or 2H.
I quickly rule out 2D or 2H. While I do sometimes make 2/1 game forcing responses when only holding four cards in a suit, that is usually because I don't have some other more descriptive bid available, which is not the case here. If I bid 2NT, partner will immediately let me know whether he has a short suit (by bidding that suit at the three level), another 5-card suit (bidding it at the four level), or his general hand strength (4S, 3NT, 3S will show increasingly stronger hands). Depending on what partner bids, this could be very helpful information, but I decide to tell partner about my hand instead. By bidding 4C immediately, he knows I have game forcing values and shortness in clubs. After my 4C bid, though, partner signs off in 4S, and I mistakenly pass.
I say 'mistakenly' not just because 6S turns out to be a great contract but because my hand is worth another shot even after partner signs off. One of the club experts said it best afterwards: "Splinters should be used only with a 10-12 point hand, or with a hand that is strong enough to explore slam even if partner signs off." This makes a lot of sense, as the other hands are better suited for Jacoby. Playing it this way, if I splinter and make another bid over partner's ostensible sign off bid of 4S, he knows I have a very good hand (probably 18+ playing points, which my hand had).
So, it would not have hurt me to use Blackwood over his 4S bid. If he had 3 keycards or his actual holding of 2 Aces with the Queen of trump, then I bid the slam. If not, I have enough strength that we should be safe in 5 spades.
| Board 2 Dlr: E Vul: N-S | KT62KQ53AK747 | |
| 87J9Q652AT983 | J9T74283KJ654 | |
| AQ543A86JT9Q2 |
#3. This is the one I really botched.
QJ32AK962TAQ8Partner opened 1D and I responded 1H. Partner now bid 1NT, showing a minimum hand. Now, contrary to what some think, this does not necessarily deny four spades. Partner could have four spades with a balanced hand, and wants to tell me that as soon as possible. If he were unbalanced (say with five diamonds and four spades, then he would indeed bid 1S here).
My choices are to reverse into 2S, which would be a game forcing bid, or bide my time with a New Minor Forcing bid of 2C (forcing for one round). In the latter case, partner would show me his 3-card support for hearts if he has it. Partner knows that if I am 4-4 in the majors, then I would revert to NT and should then realize that if I didn't care about his 3-card heart support, then I must have had four spades, and he could then bid 3S... However, there are a couple of problems with this. First of all, it is almost always better to play in a 4-4 fit than a 5-3 fit, and if partner actually has three hearts opposite my five hearts, I don't want to risk him passing my 2NT rebid (with a minimum hand) when we could actually have a double fit in the majors. Even more importantly, my hand is strong enough to force game and I should let partner know about that right away. A 2S bid will show five hearts and four spades with at least 13 HCP.
So, I bid 2S and partner jumps to 4S. This is a signoff bid. Partner is showing a hand that is either 4-2-4-3 or 4-3-4-2, with probably at most 13 HCP. His initial rebid of NT limited his opening to a minimum and the jump to 4S says he has a minimum minimum, really.
Not to be deterred, I pressed on with Blackwood and when I found out he had two keycards, I bid 6S.
| Board 6 Dlr: E Vul: E-W | QJ32AK962TAQ8 | |
| K8875983JT742 | T76J4K6542K96 | |
| A954QT3AQJ753 |
The opponents lead the Jack of Hearts, which sure looks like a singleton. Accordingly, I win in hand and play a small spade to the Ace and then a small one back to hand. This will keep the opponents from getting a heart ruff when East only has two trumps and West has the spade King. Evenso, finessing for the spade King isn't likely to work anyway, as even if East did have the King I would still lose a trump trick to the Ten, unless East specifically held doubleton KT.
Well, West jumps up with the Spade King on the second round and does not return a heart! This is good news. It means that either he has the third trump himself or has not worked out that the Heart Jack was singleton. Rather West returned a small club. Now, I am not taking this finesse...I doubt West is giving me a free one. So, I take the Ace.
So far so good. I'd rather not talk about the rest of the hand in detail. I drew trumps, ran the hearts pitching a club from dummy and came down to this, with the lead in North.
2TQ84AQJI need to find the King of Diamonds and can take the normal finesse or a ruffing finesse. I lead the Ten of Diamonds and despite a slight hesitation from East play the Ace and lead back the Queen. Wrong!
Now, why did I say I butchered the hand, if it came down to a guess for the Diamond King? Well, as partner pointed out afterwards, West had nonchalantly tossed two diamonds earlier, seeming to not have a care in the world; she did not seem to be concerned about having to protect her King of Diamonds. Also, I should have taken advantage of East's hesitation when I led the Diamond Ten. At the time, I thought "No one ever hesitates when actually holding the King...you put it on the table as fast as possible! He must be trying to deceive me." But, if this were the case, I probably could have called the director later for illegal hesitation.
Surprisingly we still scored 25% of the matchpoints. Several pairs were in the hopeless 6H contract. Several others went down in 6S, though it is likely that they played the spades wrong or lost the club finesse. I doubt anyone tried diamonds the way I did!
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