A Tale of Two's and Three's

My first session back at the table after several weeks away, produced a bit of a mixed bag of results. 

This hand caused a fair degree of hilarity around the room:

This was the “problem” from my side of the table. 

With both sides vulnerable and holding:  ♠A10965 ♥85 ♦10 ♣A10872, I passed as dealer and was slightly taken aback to hear partner open with 6♦, third in hand. What (if anything) should I bid?

Well, if you assume that partner is bidding sanely, the only reasonable explanation must be that he has two two black suit voids. He presumably holds thirteen red cards but has a gap (or perhaps gaps) which cause him to hesitate to contract for thirteen tricks – he might also be worried that a more scientific approach could result in allowing the opponents to find a black suit sacrifice. Perhaps he is missing ♦K or, more likely, ♦Q and some number of small diamonds. Missing either of these key cards, it seems clear to pass.

But in fact, before you have a chance to get the green card out of your bidding box, your left hand opponent doubles!

At teams, I might have considered a redouble – the opportunity for gain (an additional 240 points, for the contract making – assuming no overtrick – against a potential additional loss of 200, would certainly be in my favour, possibly offset by the risk of the opponents running). Playing  pairs, however,  I essayed a smooth pass.

Now look at the full deal:

East’s double had little to recommend it – except that - as confirmed by Deep Finesse - the contract can be defeated. How?

Clearly a black suit lead allows declarer to ditch his two low hearts and simply concede one diamond trick. A diamond lead away from the queen leads the defence to suffer a similar fate - but consider:

a.       ♦Q lead

Close – but not good enough! Declarer wins in hand and cashes two more top diamonds and one top heart, then throws East in by leading his diamond deuce. East perforce wins the trick and now has to give the lead to dummy, allowing the pitch of the losing hearts. (If the ♦2 and ♦3 were switched between the North and East hands, East could avoid the endplay by unblocking his trumps from the top, but North could then draw all the trumps and get off lead with a small heart).

b.      ♥J lead

This is the killer! In fact declarer has to be careful not to go two down! If he wins in hand and cashes his top two trumps, for example, East unblocks with ♦9 and ♦7. He wins the third round of diamonds with ♦Q and plays back the ♦3. If declarer “carelessly” wins this, he is stranded in hand again and must lose two hearts at the end. So he must underplay his deuce!

Alternatively declarer can simply duck the opening lead of ♥J and East has no good lead to the second trick; he can always be endplayed to give dummy the lead for a pitch of the second losing heart.

Thank you to Jon Cooke for pointing this out to me. (I see from the travellers however that he and David Kendrick defended 5♦ and their opponents made twelve tricks, so sadly he did not have a chance to produce this brilliance at the table)

"Respect" or "A thing of beauty is a joy forever"

Reputations can be a dangerous thing....

Declarer, fresh from his success at the Pachabo,  played this hand well against my partner, Roger Salmon and myself, up to a point. Unfortunately a more mundane line would have worked rather better.

Holding: ♠K9 ♥A1094 ♦K109 ♣A972, North heard the bidding unfoold;

Dealer E

N- S Vulnerable

East	South	West	North
1♣	1♦	Dbl	2♣(1)
Pass	2♦	2♥	3NT(2)
Pass	Pass	Pass(3)

 

(1) Unassuming cue-bid

(2) Practical shot, can almost count nine tricks before dummy is tabled

(3) Disciplined. Shows respect for opponents - there seem to be a lot of points in this pack!

East, a sometime bridge blogger, led ♣K (king for count) and this is what declarer could see.

When declarer ducked the first trick, East followed by ♣Q, his partner following upwards to show an odd number of clubs, while North held off again, East paused for thought and then exited with a small diamond.

Opponents' hand pattern was pretty clear to declarer. West surely had five hearts and four spades for his double followed by his bid of 2H, leaving East with a likely 4-2-3-4 shape. Declarer has eight top tricks via six diamonds and two aces but needs to decide where to go for his ninth trick? A weak player might simply play a spade towards the king (having first cashed his diamonds), a slightly better player might win the diamond switch with dummy's queen and play for the defending heart honours to be split by leading ♥J from table.  However declarer looked more deeply into the hand and saw that he could still make the contract if West had started with ♥KQ and East ♠A. Either of the two earlier lines would fail if that were the case - which seemed a distinct possibility from the bidding.

Winning the diamond in hand he cashed six rounds of diamonds, West following for one round only and then discarding one club, two hearts and two spades, while East discarded two spades and a heart. Declarer could be pretty sure that this was the end situation.

                   ♠K9

                   ♥A

                   ♦None

                   ♣A9

♠??                                 ♠??

♥???                               ♥?

♦None                            ♦None

♣None                            ♣J8

                  ♠654

                  ♥J5

                  ♦None

                  ♣None

Declarer knew that East had started with ♣KQJ and ♦J - so where were his remaining points to justify the opening bid? Did he have the queens in both majors or ♠A?

If the former, he needed simply to lead a spade form the table towards his king; if the latter, he had executed a neat strip squeeze. With chances evenly balanced, he went for the "prettier" option. After  crossing to his ♥A, he cashed ♣A and threw East in by playing ♣9 to lead away from his ♠A for his ninth trick.

Except that I didn't have ♠A.

After winning ♣J, I simply played a spade to my partner's ace. His heart king won the setting trick.

The full deal:

A little unlucky perhaps - but declarer was effectively playing for me to have misdefended. Going back to trick three when I led a passive diamond - had I held neither heart honour, a heart switch from me would have been "automatic" - it could not cost the contract and it might be the only way to get partner in to lead a spade through declarer's presumed ♠K.

As it was, it seemed pretty clear to me that declarer had six diamond tricks and the club ace, together with stops in both hearts and spades. If he had held ♠A and ♥K, he would not have left me on lead to trick three, risking me playing a spade and thus generating three spade tricks to go with our two clubs and HA. True, partner might have held ♥K10, in which case a heart lead would generate tricks for the defence before declarer had established a spade trick by leading from table to his presumed ♠K. But how likely was it that declarer had bid 3NT with a  heart stop of A98x? If declarer had ♥A108x instead, leading a heart might easily result in North South making overtricks.

Moral of the story: while it is frustrating to go down in a contract when you had a chance to make it (due entirely to an opponent's misdefence), this is an occupational hazard. When working out why opponents have played the was they have, show them some respect - sometimes they even deserve it.

PS Just a small throwaway comment. When I was discarding spades on the run of the diamonds, I played the eight followed  by the two, signalling my length. In diffferent cirumstances with a spade holding headed by J108 or J109, I might have played the knave initially, to show the ten and deny the queen. Can you see how dangerous that would been on this hand? Knowing that I did not hold ♠Q, declarer would have been sure to place me with a top heart honour to justify my opening bid. And if I held a top heart honour, my partner must hold the ♠A to justify his bidding. When signalling, it is vital to recognise that you are not only signalling to partner but also to declarer.

Never a dull moment

Playing with David Kendrick could never be said to be dull. With his ready smile and easy wit, he also combines to create an atmosphere at the table when things happen....

And so it was on this board from the Eastern Counties League match against Norfolk (David in the East seat)

♠A754       ♠KJ2

♥Q72         ♥J

♦AK          ♦Q1087653

♣AK108    ♣72

Now, of course, 5♦ or 6♦ would be too mundane a spot to land with our nine card fit and three top honours.. A shame because there is a nice double squeeze which guarantees the latter contract (with South guarding the clubs and North the hearts, neither can guard spades). Anyway, there must have been a reason for the fates having dealt East the ♠J - and we found it by playing in 4♠.

This is how we got there:

1♣ (1) - 3H   -  Dbl (2)  - Pass

4♠ (3)  - Pass - Pass (4) - Pass

Some comments on the bidding:

(1) We play 4 card majors, so I could have opened 1♠ or even 2NT (20-22). I do not subscribe to the theory that opening 1♣ and then rebidding 1♠ guarantees 5+ cards in the minor, although this is certainly a playable method. Holding relatively poor spades, five quick tricks and no intermediates, I chose to start with 1♣ - also perhaps of lead directional value if we found ourselves defending.

(2) Takeout. Perhaps not everyone's choice since I could have held a weak no trump type of hand, but David is not easily shut out of auctions.

(3) Catching up. No other obvious bid since partner might well have held four spades for his double.

(4) Bidding 5♦ at this point is not really an option with a minimum hand.

North led a small diamond (an obvious singleton) at trick one. Plan the play.

The obvious first line of thought might be to play for spades to be 3-3 with North holding the queen. Perhaps not great odds, but think this through. At trick two you lead ♠A and then a spade to dummy's knave, taking a nerve-racking finesse. If this loses, you might well be going three or four off. Let's assume it wins, what next? You have to unblock the diamonds, so you next play a diamond, ruffed by North with ♠Q. North now plays a heart to his partner's top honour and a heart comes back, forcing you to ruff with dummy's ♠K. You can cash ♦Q, throwing your last heart, but on the next diamond, South ruffs in, and although you can discard a club, you will be left with a further losing club at the end - and the contract will have been defeated by a trick.

So, if the contract can't be made with spades 3-3 and the queen onside*, what if spades are 4-2?

In fact you can afford to lose two spades and a heart in this contract provided that you manage the entries carefully. If North holds the doubleton spade, as is more likely given his pre-empt, you could take the spade finesse at trick two, cash the ♠K (dropping the presumed doubleton queen), cross back to hand with a diamond (North being out of trumps cannot ruff), back to dummy by ruffing a club and then lead diamonds from the top through South. Say South ruffs the fourth round of diamonds with ♠8,  you can simply discard a heart . You are then poised with ♠A7 over South's ♠10 and cannot be denied two more spade tricks and the contract (four spades, a ruff, three diamonds and two clubs).

Even so, that spade finesse at trick two doesn't look very appealing. Playing the hand known to be shorter in length for a particular card is well against the odds, and a losing finesse is again going to see the contract going several off. Is there anything you can do, as declarer, to give yourself an extra chance?

Well, if North has a presumed 2-7-1-3 shape, he might hold both queen and knave of clubs. Do you now see how to combine your chances and maybe make the contract even if it is South who holds the ♠Q?

At tricks two and three, cash the top two clubs! If North plays ♣Q or ♣J on the second trick, you can assume that clubs are indeed favourable. So cash ♠A and lead a spade to the king, eschewing the finesse, cash ♦A, and ruff a club to leave your last club as a winner. You now lead diamonds from the top - East ruffing the fourth round with one of his trump winners, as you discard a second heart. South can draw one of your trumps and cash ♥A, but you can claim the rest with your last trump and a winning ♣10.

If after two rounds of clubs neither ♣Q nor ♣J appear, you may have to revert to playing North for ♠Qx.  That may or may not work, but at least you have given yourself the best possible chance.

The full deal (deal transposed):

* This is of course not strictly true. You can still make this contract if spades are 3-3 with the queen onside by playing back a diamond early on. Two rounds of hearts follow (ruffed in dummy), then ♦Q allowing North (West in diagram) to ruff again. At this point, following one round of trumps, declarer moves to pushing diamonds though the South.(East in diagram) hand and will eventually emerge with ten tricks. This line is however in no way jeopardised by playing off two rounds of clubs at the start. If  South (East) "helpfully" signals four card club length, one may infer that spades are 2-4, but perhaps not otherwise.