12.22.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:28 am by Administrator
The other night, I was playing on-line with a regular partner who is fairly good, but occasionally has gaps in her knowledge base that surprise me.
We had the following auction:
Partner Me
1H 2C
2H 3H
4H 4N
5C 5H
The auction seems straightforward. Partner has an opening hand with at least 5 hearts, from the first bid. I have an opening hand (at least 12 HCP, not a shapely 10-11 HCP hand or a bad 12 HCP) with at least 4 clubs, probably 5 or more. Partner’s 2H rebid strongly implies (but doesn’t guaranty) 6 hearts. My 3H bid strongly implies extra values with at least 2 hearts, confirming a heart fit. If partner was rebidding a 5-card suit under pressure, partner might next bid 3NT, but she bid 4H, which confirms at least a six-card suit. I now ask for keycards in hearts, i.e., the number of aces and the K of hearts. Her response shows 1 or 4 keycards (we play the 1430 variant of RKC Blackwood), so missing a keycard and having only minimal values for slam exploration (I’ll show you the actual hands shortly), I bid 5H, to play.
Virtually all strong players also show a useful void when playing RKC. With 1 or more keycards and a useful void, they will bid the void at the 6-level with an odd number of keycards (generally 1 or 3, if it is 5, something is amiss somewhere) if the void is lower in rank than the trump suit, and they bid 6 of the agreed upon trump suit if the void is higher ranking than the trump suit (again, if the void is in trump, something is very seriously amiss). Furthermore, with an even number of keycards (usually 2, but occasionally 4) and a useful void, the proper bid is 5NT. In this hand, partner had a void that might be useful, although it is arguable.
The hands are as follows:
Partner: S: KT9 H: QJ8543 D: AK64 C: —-
Me: S: A73 H: K96 D: Q7 C: AKT54
Now, there are a significant number of people who would believe that a club void in this auction would not seem useful. Under some circumstances, I might agree. However, in this auction, I have shown extra values by bidding 3H instead of jumping to 4H. I have shown a significant hand by asking for keycards after partner attempts to sign off at 4H. Therefore, partner should assume I either have a hand with 2-3 hearts and about 18-19 HCP, maybe more, or a very good 16+ HCP with 3 hearts. I can’t have 4+ hearts or I would have bid 2NT over the 1H opening bid. In any case, I am not deterred by partner’s potentially very minimum hand. Partner could easily have 11 HCP with a 6-card suit and a semi-balanced hand, and I am still looking for 6-7H. Partner has 13 HCP, all of which are worth their full value in this auction (frequently queens and jacks are devalued, but here, they are in the trump suit, and based on the auction, I should have either the A or K of hearts, or both, making these cards in partner’s hand worth their full weight. Partner has the KT9 in a side suit. The king should be worth its full value, and T’s and 9’s are generally worth more than the value traditionally placed on them, especially when they are joined by other honors in the suit. On this auction, I should have 5 clubs and 3 hearts (or significant extra values), leaving me 5 cards in spades and diamonds. I also should not have a suit with 2 losers in it, unless I have enough other cards to make the 5-level safe. Since she is looking at the AK of diamonds, she knows I either have diamond shortness or I have control cards in the other 3 suits. I almost have to have the A of spades, the A and/or K of hearts, no more than 2 diamonds (or perhaps QJx, but I am not likely to take that risk), and the A of clubs. As this adds up to 11-15 HCP, at most, I have to have more in my hand on this auction. If I have both heart honors, then I might have the K or Q of clubs or the Q of diamonds or the Q of spades, at a minimum. If I have only 1 of the heart honors, I must have at least 2, if not 3 of the missing unaccounted for honors in the side suits. Adding all these things up, the six-level should be safe (if not, it is my fault for asking for keycards, not hers, and she should assume I have not lost my mind – although some of my partners would argue I lost it long ago). Therefore, she can safely bid 6C, giving me all the available information. Note that if her heart suit was worse than it is or she did not have 3 side control cards, committing to the 6-level would be treacherous. But with the quality of her hand and the fact that I have indicated substantial extras, some in HCP and some in either shape, suit texture, or HCP or combination thereof, 6C is the best response to my 4NT bid.
Knowing that we are off 1 keycard and that partner has a club void, I can be comfortable in 6H and not concerned about missing 7H. I know that we have a 9-card trimp fit (or better), which will yield at least 5 heart tricks (perhaps 6 natural hearts if she has the AQ, but I will assume 5 natural hearts), 2 club tricks is 7, at least 1 spade is 8, at least 1 diamond is 9, at least 2 more tricks combining kings that she must have with my cards, and either a diamond ruff (ruffing the 3rd diamond if necessary) or another trick in her hand, combining her honors with mine. This adds up to 12 tricks. One of these tricks might require a finesse, which makes this at worst, a 50% slam.
Looking at the layout, it appears the slam is cold, if played correctly. We have 5 hearts, 3 diamonds, 2 clubs, and 2 spades. This can be accomplished regardless of the heart split, assuming declarer plays it properly. Since we were playing imp pairs and we weren’t in slam, my partner had room for error, and unfortunately, she found it. If the hearts are 2-2 or 3-1, it does not matter how you play the heart suit, all you lose is the A. However, if the hearts are 4-0, you need to be careful. You are missing the A and T of hearts. If they are both in the same hand, you need to be able to finesse for the T. If you cash the king or play low to the king, you may have to lose the ten of hearts if the ATxx are in one hand. Therefore, play the Q or J of hearts first. If the hearts break at least 3-1, you can claim. If the hearts are 4-0, you now have to finesse for the T of hearts. You still have a finessing position both ways if you play the Q or J first, but you only have the finessing position 1 way if you play the K first. So with this holding, it is always right to play the Q or J of hearts first. My partner played the K first and made only 5 because the hearts broke 4-0 and she could no longer finesse for the T.
Debate on this, especially the bidding is welcome.
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10.31.09
Posted in Defense, Opening Leads, Preempts at 6:02 am by Administrator
I had an interesting hand today. The auction really should have been quite standard and probably was at virtually every table. The key difference at the various tables was probably the defense.
I picked up the following hand, with nobody vulnerable:
Kx x x KJ98xxxxx
Everyone probably opened this hand 5 clubs in first seat, and the hand was probably passed out. After all, there is an old bridge adage — what do you call a 9 card suit? – Trump!! A 5-level opener should generally be a hand with an 8-9 card minor and about 8 tricks in the hand, perhaps 9 if vulnerable, and less than opening values. The hand probably has little defensive value, if any. For those who play traditional gambling 3NT opening bids, the suit should not be a solid 8-card minor.
The hand above fits this definition. I held a 9-card broken minor suit (not a bad suit, but not solid) and a doubleton king on the side. The side king was of questionable defensive value. I looked at the hand and figured I had 1, possibly 2 club losers and possibly a spade loser. This amounted to approximately 8 tricks, so I opened 5 clubs. If my club suit was stronger, say KQJxxxxxx with a side king, I might have opened 1 club, but with the broken suit, 5 clubs was the right call.
The opening lead was the A of clubs. I will come back to the opening lead shortly. Dummy hits with the following hand:
ATx AKxx KQTxxx —
A very good dummy. My partner gave careful thought to raising me to 6C, but she trusted me to have about 8 tricks and a club suit with at least 1 loser in it. Therefore, in order to make 6C, I would have to either have the A of diamonds (which I should not have for the non-vulnerable 5C opening) or a diamond void (possible to have but impossible for her to rely on or to discover without committing us to 6 clubs). Her pass was clearly the correct bid. If she had the A of diamonds instead of the KQ, then she should raise to 6 clubs, hoping I only had 1 club loser.
Back to the opening lead. My LHO (left hand opponent) lead the A of clubs from the following hand:
Jxxxx Qxxx Jxx A
I might have the exact holdings in the majors off a little bit, but she did not hold the QJ in either major. In any case, the A of clubs is almost certainly the right lead. It is hard for her to know which major suit (or diamonds for that matter) is the best lead, but leading the A of clubs on this auction will rarely give away a trick and will give her the opportunity to look at dummy and find the best shift. Well, she looked at dummy and shifted to a low spade!!!! I nearly fell out of my chair!!! After that great opening lead and looking at dummy, she found one of the two suits that she could shift to and let me make the contract. Upon the spade shift, I won the A of spades in dummy, played the A and K of hearts, pitching my losing diamond on the second heart. I now trumped a diamond to get to my hand, played the K of clubs and found the bad news — the clubs were 3-1 and I had to lose the Q of clubs. So I made my contract.
Looking at dummy, if my LHO trusted me to have 8 or 9 clubs and probably no outside ace, she clearly should have switched to a diamond at trick 2. My RHO (right hand opponent) would now win her ace and eventually would get the Q of clubs (as I do not have enough transportation to set up a trump coup to capture the Q of clubs – with 9 clubs, I simply have too many clubs to use up in order to set up a trump coup).
About half the players were in 5C, making 5, and half went down 1 trick. Basically, if the opening lead was a major, the declarer can pitch away the diamond loser on the second heart before drawing trump, and therefore make the contract. No person on opening lead in their right mind would find the lead of a diamond from Jxx on this auction. However, if someone did lead a diamond at trick one, that person would defeat the contract. However, I believe the best lead was the A of clubs, followed by a diamond switch.
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10.24.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:17 am by Administrator
My partner and I were playing in a team game today and I picked up the following hand:
AKxx K AQxx Axxx
A nice 20 HCP with a 4-4-4-1 shape and singleton K. I was in fourth seat and was trying to decide whether to open the hand 2NT when my partner opens the auction 1H!!! Surprise #1. Okay, so I bid 1S, waiting for the expected 2H rebid. Well, partner’s next bid is 4D – a splinter in support of spades!! Surprises #2 & #3 – partner has a fit and a good enough hand to splinter when I have promised only 5-6 HCP. So I ask for key cards by bidding 4NT and partner shows me 1 or 4 key cards by bidding 5C. Okay, no surprise here. So I asked for the Q of spades by bidding 5D. Partner now bids 6C, showing the Q of spades and the K of clubs. So I bid 7S (if this were matchpoints, I might have bid 7NT, but 7S is clearly a safer contract). Now the surprise was on my partner’s face.
My partner’s hand was:
QJTx AJ9xxx — Kxx
Obviously, her splinter was based on shape, not high cards, but it was a good call – even with a minimum hand, there would be a reasonable play for game, depending on my shape.
If felt it was a very elegant auction to find a cold grand slam. The opponents led a trump at trick 1. I took it in dummy, cashed the K of hearts in my hand, led a club to the king and trumped a heart high. The Q and T of hearts fell on my left on the first two heart tricks so now the hearts were set up. I pulled the trump, ending on dummy (they broke 3-2, but I could handle a 4-1 split at this point – if the split were 5-0 I am never making this contract). If the spades split, I can make the contract even the hearts break with the QTxx in one hand.
At the other table, the opponents, through an odd auction landed in 7NT!! This works because the hearts break the way they did. At IMPs, this would be a pushed board; however, our teammates doubled, so we lost 7 imps even though we were in a vulnerable grand slam, making. That was the worst suprise.
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10.02.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:42 pm by Administrator
Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. I am in the process of updating my website. It will soon be carrying articles on bidding, specific bidding conventions, declarer play, and defensive play issues. There will also be weekly quizzes on bidding and declarer play. This should take me another 1-2 weeks to get the first group of articles written and posted and the site redesigned. By then, I should be geared up to update this blog and the website regularly.
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09.25.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:35 pm by Administrator
First, I would like to apologize for my extended absence. My original intent was to write an article almost daily. I got sick for about a week, let the blog go, and never got back to it. Well, I’m baaaaaaack!!!
Today, I had a hand that had some interesting bidding issues, which I will discuss. The play and defense should have been routine and the board should have been flat; however, the defenders made a fatal error.
First, the auction went as follows:
North East South West
2C Pass 2D Pass
2NT Pass 3C Pass
3D Pass 3NT Pass
4NT Pass 6NT All Pass
The 2C was, of course, artificial and forcing, showing either 22+ HCP or 8 1/2 or 9 tricks or better.
2D was a positive response, promising an A, K or 2 Q’s.
2NT showed 22+ HCP (no upper limit – I will talk about this more later)
3C was Puppet Stayman, asking for a 4- or 5-card major.
3D denied a 5-card major but promised at least 1 4-card major
3NT was to play.
4NT said “Partner, I have something extra here, either a long suit as a source of tricks or extra values, probably 24/25+ HCP, do you have an excuse to go to 6NT?” (essentially, a quantitative raise).
6NT was to play, accepting the invitation.
When I show the full deal below, I will explain the pluses, minuses, and alternatives of this auction. First, I want to focus on the play of the hand.
East led J of clubs and dummy came down with the following hand:
QJ52 T73 954 AK4
(Yes, South’s 3NT call was much too conservative).
West holds the following cards:
874 QJ6 J86 9753
Before any other card is played, what are the key cards in West’s hand likely to be? Probably the QJ of hearts and perhaps, only perhaps, the 9 of clubs.
The play proceeds as follows:
Declarer ducks the club to his hand and wins it with the Q. Declarer then plays 4 rounds of spades starting with the AK in his hand and ending up with the QJ in dummy. Declarer had 4 spades, as did dummy. West must discard once on the spades, so a diamond discard probably won’t hurt. A club discard is also possible, but, just in case, save the club for now. East discarded 2 diamonds on the spades. Declarer now plays the AKQ of diamonds from his hand with East discarding 2 hearts on the last two spades, and West must now discard on the Q of diamonds. East threw a heart. West knows that declarer has started with 4 spades and 3 diamonds, if she has been counting. This means that North either is 3-3 in hearts and clubs, 4-2 in hearts and clubs, or 4-2 in clubs and hearts. If North has 4 clubs, North can pick up West’s 9 of clubs by finessing if necessary (it means that East led the J from JT or Jx doubleton. If North started with 3 clubs, it does not help West to protect clubs because the 9 will never be good, and if North started with 2 clubs, the 9 will never be good. Therefore, West should discard a club. At the table, West discarded the 6 of hearts. Declarer now played a club to the dummy and the last club, discarding a heart. East and West both followed to the clubs. Dummy was left with the T73 of hearts, while west held the QJ of hearts and the 9 of clubs. Declarer now led a heart to the A and then played the K. All the opponents’ hearts fell and North’s last heart was good. In this case, West had the information necessary to keep declarer from making 7NT. West should have worked out that the club was not necessary to protect and should have protected her hearts.
The full deal was as follows:
North:
AKT9
AK82
AKQ
Q8
West East
874 63
QJ6 954
J86 T732
9753 JT62
South
QJ52
T73
954
AK4
This hand highlights the usefulness of Kokish relays over 2C openings, but that is the subject of another article. Playing Kokish, a series of relay bids would be used after the 2D response to show that North had the big 25-27 HCP hand. My partner and I are going to start using Kokish, probably the next time we play.
Using the methods that we had, there were flaws in the process. The first several bids were correct on each side:
2C – 2D
2NT- 3C
3D -
Partner, with a 4333 hand, decided not to look for the 4-4 fit. She felt that if I had a 5-card major, the major might be better. I can accept that decision. However, 3NT is a gross underbid. She has 10 HCP and I have at least 22 HCP. She needs to make an invitational call, probably 4NT, after which I will bid 6NT. A better action on her part would be to bid 3H after my 3D bid, showing 4 spades and denying 4 hearts. With my extra values, I will bid 3S (with a minimum of 22 HCP, I would jump to 4S – I want to save bidding room with the stronger hand). Now she can bid 5NT, which says partner, pick your slam. Now, I can decide between 6NT or 6S. If I had 27+ HCP, I would probably opt for the grand slam.
In any case, we found our slam, and the opponents let us make an overtrick.
Well, that’s all for now folks. Have a good night.
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06.14.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:20 pm by Administrator
Sorry about my absence for the last week. I promise to be more regular in the future.
Here is a hand that left me a bit dumbfounded, not the hand itself, but the results at other tables. I picked up the following hand (sorry I don’t have all the spot cards, I don’t have my hand record with me):
Not vul. v. Vul.
S: x
H: AT9x
D: AKQJTx
C: Kx
A very nice hand.
Partner opens 4C!!! Normally, I hate it when partner preempts and I have a good hand, but sometimes it makes placing the contract much easier, as it does in this case. After my partner’s preempt, my RHO overcalls 4S.
Decision time. There are 3 choices – bid double, bid 5C or bid 6C (pass is not a rational option holding my hand). Let’s examine the possibilities. If I double, how many tricks will I probably take. I should get 1 heart trick, maybe even 2, 2-3 diamond tricks, and if we are very lucky, 1 club trick. Best case scenario is we get 6 tricks for 800, worst case is probably 3 tricks, for their making the contract.
So how many tricks can we take in clubs. Well, first, I have to examine my partner’s sanity. What kind of hand would she open 4C. At this vulnerability, partner should have an 8-card suit with 7 tricks in her hand (maybe even 8). In theory, partner could have 8 clubs to the Q and a side ace, but that is not likely, since RHO bid 4S vulnerable. RHO probably has the AKxxxxx of spades or better. Therefore, in order for partner to have her bid, she should have the ATxxxxxx or better in clubs and probably very little on the side. Assuming this, we should have 8 club tricks, at least 5 diamond tricks and the A of hearts, for 14 tricks. How many losers do we have? Well, we have one spade loser off the top – however, once we lose the spade, it is unlikely we have any more losers. If partner’s trumps are AT9xxxxx, she might have a problem. If her clubs are AQxxxxxx and the clubs are 2-1, the contract should be cold and if her clubs are AQJxxxxx, the contract is cold unless LHO is able to trump an initial diamond lead or diamond switch at trick 2 after the A of spades is cashed (not a likely scenario). When you combine the odds related to trump breaks, the diamond suit split, and the ability to get to declarer’s hand, the odds of making 6C are in excess of 70% if the defense leads a spade and continues a spade, and much higher on any other line of defense.
Therefore, the bid should be 6C, for plus 920 or 940, which is what I bid. The opening lead was the K of hearts, at which point partner pulled trump and scored 8 clubs, 6 diamonds and 1 heart, i.e., more tricks than were available – making 7 for 940.
So did anyone else score 920 or 940? No!!? One pair was in 7C doubled, down 1. Several people doubled 4S and 5S for 500 or 800, and a number were in 5C making 7.
What would you have done?
By the way, partner had the AQJTxxxx of clubs and nothing else (without the hand record, I cannot recall the distribution of the other 3 suits, but it is a clear 4C opening at any vulnerability in my opinion.
It is important to realize that some players will open at the 4-level at this vulnerability with very bad hands, perhaps as bad as QJTxxxxx and nothing else, or even a worse suit with one side card. That is usually asking for trouble because partner never knows what to do. Such preempts often preempt partner more than the opponents.
Comments anyone?
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06.11.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:21 pm by Administrator
I will try to write up a hand a little later tonight. However, just one or two notes.
First, I received a suggestion that I comment on director calls/rulings. I think it is an excellent idea – that is to comment on my own rulings and calls I receive as a director. Obviously, I will not attempt to second-guess another director’s ruling.
Second, I just looked at last night’s post, and found that the hand diagrams got shoved together. I am going to try to figure out how to clean this up, even if I have to change the template for the blog. But I am working on it.
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06.06.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:15 am by Administrator
It’s been a long day and it’s late, so I probably won’t ramble too much tonight. I played 2 sessions today (I know, what else is new??), with some interesting hands both sessions. Without the hand records in front of me, I don’t have a lot of specifics, but a couple of issues worth discussing.
This afternoon, my opponents bid a vulnerable 5C in competition, and my partner, with a decent hand, doubled for penalties. Well, they made their contract. The double gave us a clear bottom board. At imps, the double would have cost us 4 imps, but at matchpoints, we went from an average to a bottom. Some people did not find game, others were in 4S making 5, and one or two others were in 5C making 5. The issue is whether partner should double. Some general information on the auction. We are vulnerable, they are not. The bidding went something like this:
Partner (South) West Me (North) East
1D 2C 3C* 4C
4D 5C Pass Pass
Dbl All pass
*Limit Raise or Better
My limit raise was questionable. It was 9 soft HCP with 6 diamonds to the QJ. No aces. My shape was 2-3-6-2, if I remember correctly. Tomorrow, I will have the hand record available and I will discuss the pitfalls of my bidding.
Anyway, partner failed to take one of the most important steps when deciding whether to double a contract, something that most players neglect to do. She failed to do a cost-benefit analysis. How much do you stand to gain by doubling and defeating the contract versus how much do you stand to lose if they make their doubled contract. In this case, it looked like the double was close, and we could beat the contract at most one trick. The opponents were not vulnerable. We might gain a few matchpoints if we beat the contract, but probably only a few matchpoints. However, if declarer makes the contract, we stand to lose a lot 4-9 matchpoints, a lot more than we stand to gain. Therefore, is it worth a tight double. Probably not. Change the scenario just a little: instead of unfavorable vulnerability (we are vulnerable, they are not), assume favorable vulnerability (we are not vul, they are). Now the cost-benefit analysis changes. We can probably make a part-score, but not game. We stand to gain a great deal by beating the contract just 1 trick – 200 versus our 130, while at unfavorable vulnerability, we look to gain 100 versus 130. Probably not worth the close double. So in the modified example, we stand to gain a great deal (probably the same 4-9 matchpoints we stand to lose against the double making). Therefore, the double would be better.
I know this makes little sense without a hand in front of you. I will post the full hand tomorrow, and we can discuss the issue further. I am simply not coherent enough at the moment to write this out properly.
Tonight was the first session of the world simultaneous pairs, always a fun event. We had 7 tables at the club. One pair did exceedingly well (as of a few minutes ago, 81 in the world). The results at our club matchpointed much better across the world than they did at the club. All 7 of our North-Souths are in the top half world-wide field. For example, we were tied for 4/5 north south at the club with under 48%. However, world-wide, we have 55.48%, so far, for #648 out of nearly 3100 pairs. All I can say is that this is a wild game.
Well, hopefully tomorrow I will be coherent and I will have my hand records so I can post some hands to discuss.
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06.04.09
Posted in 7-Card Fits, Jump Rebids, Preempts at 12:54 am by Administrator
Two interesting hand from this afternoon. The first hand I call “To Save or Not To Save . . . That is the Question”.
You pick up the following hand, not vul v. vul:
S: 86
H: 94
D: A964
C: K8765
Not a great hand but reasonable support for a minor suit or NT (if partner has the majors). Anyway, the bidding proceeds as follows:
Partner RHO You LHO
3C Dbl ?
I chose 5C! If partner opens 3C at this vulnerability, partner could have real garbage. He may have one defensive trick, probably in clubs (which in this case is meaningless on defense). He should a 7-card suit, which means we are only missing one club. Therefore he probably has the AQJxxxx of clubs. If he is missing the Ace of clubs, then he might have an outside A or K. In any case, we have no defensive club tricks since one of the opponents is void in clubs. I have one diamond trick. Partner might have one trick on the side, but not likely. Therefore, the opponents can almost certainly make 5 of a major, and quite possibly 6. I want to keep them guessing, so I preempted to the 5-level, hoping that they will double. I am prepared to go to 6C if necessary, but I hope it is not necessary. I was concerned that they might make 6S, but there is a reasonable chance that they will not bid it, and if they do, partner could easily have a slow trick (a side queen) or a singleton diamond, meaning that they cannot make 6S. Was I right in bidding 5C?
The answer is NO!! I should have bid 6C!!! This makes their decision even more difficult. When I bid 5C, I gave them too much bidding room . They could bid 5D, 5H, 5S, double or bid at the 6-level. By bidding 6C, I have taken an additional level away from them. Now, the only real choice is double or bid 6S (or another unbid suit, which may or may not work).
So the auction went as such:
Partner RHO You LHO
3C 3S 5C 5S
Pass Pass 6C Dbl
All Pass
I feel it should have gone:
Partner RHO You LHO
3C 3S 6C Dbl or 6S
All Pass
The full deal was:
Me (North)
S: 86
H: 94
D: A964
C: K8765
West East
S: AKQJ54 S: T32
H: T872 H: AK63
D: T2 D: KQJ853
C: T C: Void
Partner(South)
S: 97
H: QJ4
D: 7
C: AQJ9432
Actually, partner is a bit good for his 3C opening, but his QJ4 of hearts may as well be three small cards, so no harm in this case.
As it turns out, with proper defense, the opponents make 5S, not 6S, for 650, but 6C doubled only goes down 3, for 500. Once we bid 6C, the opponents can do no better than an average minus result (we got 8.5 out of 12 matchpoints for minus 500).
If they bid 6S, I see only one line of defense to beat the contract. I know we have no club tricks and partner should have no quick defensive tricks outside clubs, so I have to hope that partner has a singleton diamond. Therefore, I must lead the A of diamonds (I hate leading aces against slams, but sometimes it is necessary to minimize damage or to beat a contract), and then a second diamond, hoping partner has only one. The odds are not great, but this is probably my best shot. In this case, it pays off. Partner ruffs the second diamond, holding this to 5S (or down 1 in 6S).
Please feel free to post any comments.
The second hand, I call “But I Only Have One Trump for You, Partner”.
My partner’s hand is as follows:
S: 764
H: Q
D: AJT75
C: QJT8
So the auction went as such:
Partner RHO Me LHO
Pass Pass 1H Pass
1NT* Pass 3H All pass
*Forcing for 1 round, 5-11 HCP
We made 6, but could be held to 4. Should partner have passed my 3H bid?
The answer is clearly no. Partner should take another bid. I have announced approximately 15-17 or 18- HCP and a 6-card suit. Partner has a hefty 10 HCP, though no clear fit for me (and no knowledge as to whether I have a fit for one of his minors). What should partner do?
3NT is a treacherous bid. I do not have to have any useful spade cards, and we could lose 5+ spades off the top. I have jammed the auction a bit too much to comfortable find a minor suit game, but that was probably intentional. What kind of hand do I have? As noted above, I have approximately 15-17 or 18- HCP and a 6-card suit. For my jump to 3H, I either have a very good heart suit (at least AK9xxx, no Q, since partner has it) with at least 15 HCP, or a broken suit, something like AJ9xxx or KJ9xxx) with at least 16 HCP. Anything less than these two types of hands do not merit a jump to 3H. If my suit is a good suit, that Q is a huge card. It means I should have at least 5, if not 6 heart tricks, assuming a 6-card heart suit, plus at least 7-8 HCP on the side (should be useful cards, not soft values, otherwise I probably would not jump to 3H). If my suit is broken, that Q is still a big card, filling in my suit. Plus, I must have more side values if my suit is broken. In either case, we have game values and at least a 7-card fit (at least 6-1). I believe this is worth a 4H bid.
It is important to note that if you had a small singleton heart (say the J or smaller), then 3NT might be a better call. If my trump suit is broken, I can pull 3NT to 4H, as a broken trump suit might play better in a suit contract than in NT. If my suit is solid, it might produce the same tricks in either contract.
The full deal was:
Me (North)
S: 32
H: AKT985
D: KQ2
C: K9
West East
S: KT98 S: AQJ5
H: J62 H: 743
D: 983 D: 64
C: A32 C: 7654
Partner(South)
S: 764
H: Q
D: AJT75
C: QJT8
4H is cold on any defense (losing 2 spades and the A of clubs), but no trump can be held to 2 (losing 4 spades and the A of clubs).
Any comments?
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06.02.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:05 pm by Administrator
Welcome, everyone. My name is Michael Blaher, a long-time bridge teacher and club director. The main purposes of this blog are education and discussion on bridge, the ideal game for obsessive-compulsive personalities. Most of my posts will have to do with a particular hand I encountered during the day. Some are bidding issues, some declarer play problems, and others defensive play problems. Many will be a combination of the three. Other posts may have to do with specific issues rather than specific hands which arise. You are welcome to comment on these posts (please keep the comments relevant, clean and non-inflammatory).
I will attempt to post almost every day, but, as we all know, that is often hard to do.
I don’t have a hand or issue for today, but hopefully, tomorrow.
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