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| Board 20 |
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It was teams this week and 16 teams was a good turnout. Team is about bidding and making your games, defeating the opponents games and avoiding dubious slams.
You as East hold this very promising hand -
S AQJ108
H
D 7
C AQJ1065
Image your surprise when partner deals and opens 1spade , what to do
I guess the natural reaction is to bid 4NT as key card blackwood.
Partner responds 5C to show 0 or 3 key cards. As an opening with no key cards is not possible we know partner holds the KS,AH and AD so our only interest is the KC.
Ii
How can we find out about it?
Suppose we bid 5NT for Kings. On this hand partner shows 2 kings. Most of the time one of them will be the KC. If not partner may have a singleton club or the finesse might win so we bid 7S. As those who remember the hand will know today is not a lucky day as the KC is missing and the finesse loses.
Some Wests will open 1D and raise to 3S if we respond 1S. If we respond 2C West will bid 2NT and then raise our 3S to 4S. In each case we will continue with 4NT and we in the same position as if West opens 1S.
So how do we avoid bidding a 50/50 grand slam?
In modern key card blackwood the responses are -
5C 0 or 3
5D 1 or 4
Although some players invert these - check with your partner.
5H 2 or 5 without the Queen of trumps.
5S 2 or 5 with the Queen of trumps.
Over the responses of 5C or 5D which do not specify about the Q of trumps the lowest bid asks about it and also outside Kings.
Over any response 5NT asks for Kings but in a new way. Rather than by number you bid the lowest suit in which you hold the King. On our hand responder can bid 6D to deny the KC and to show the KD. We would know that the KC was missing and settle for 6S.
This type of system is complicated and needs discussion and works best when spades are agreed as there is more room available. An improvement would be to use as the lowest available bid to ask for kings but the meaning of all the responses would need to be agreed.
So how did we bid the hand?
Georgia was West and would open 1NT = 15-17.
I would transfer to spades with 2H.
With a super maximum and 4 spades Georgia would break the transfer.
I would bid key card blackwood and get a 5C response. As we don't play any asks for specific Kings I would have bid 7S and gone down this time.
Luckily for us this was one of the boards we skipped.
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| Board 8 |
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We finish the year with another slam hand, as bidding and making a slam is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. On board 8, North has a routine weak NT opening and South with a strong hand with two weakish 5 card majors has an interesting choice of responses, which partially depends on the system in use. I think that a normal approach would be to start with a transfer to Spades with the intention of continuing with 3 Hearts - for some players this shows 5/5 distribution as hands with 5/4 in the majors would use Stayman and then follow with a jump to 3 of the long suit if partner denies a major. As an aside, there is a convention called Smolen which is widely played in America, where responder jumps in the 4 card suit to achieve the effect of transferring the contract to the 1NT opener. This is particularly sensible when playing strong NTs.
Returning to the hand, in response to the transfer to Spades the North hand should not break the transfer (in my opinion) with a 4333 shape and so bids 2 Spades . As planned, South continues with 3 Hearts to show the second suit. Some would play this as forcing to game whilst for us it is only invitational and the bidding can stop if opener bids 3 Spades. It is very important to know your system here as, if 3 Hearts is game forcing, 3 Spades by opener should be a stronger bid than using up space by jumping to 4 Spades. However, if the sequence is only invitational plus opener would need to jump to 4 spades with a good hand to ensure that game is reached.
On the actual hand, North should wake up to the fact that his hand has greatly improved. He holds decent 4 card support for Spades, a superb holding in support of partners Hearts and an outside Ace, all very positive features. To alert partner to this fact, North cuebids 4 Clubs, an unusual action which tells partner that the opening hand is good for a possible slam. There is a problem now as South does not know which suit is agreed. Without an interest in slam South could sign off in 4 Hearts and expect partner to convert to spades if necessary.
As South has a strong hand and now knows that North has a good fit he could just jump to 6 Hearts for a choice of slams. However, should opener have the SKQ, HKQ, CA a grand slam could be makeable so jumping to the six level is premature. So South cuebids the Diamond Ace, expecting partner to now tell him which suit is agreed. When North bids 4 Spades to set trumps South continues with 4NT as Keycard Blackwood. The response shows that a keycard is missing so 6 Spades becomes the final contact.
If the game was either rubber bridge or teams in which making the contract is very important and overtricks relatively unimportant the declarer would probably win the Diamond lead and play Ace and another Spade claiming 12 tricks when the trumps split 2-2. This approach minimises the danger of conceding a ruff in a side suit if breaks are very bad. In pairs it is important to try for the overtrick if the trump situation is fortunate, so declarer should cross to dummy by overtaking a Club honour with the Ace to take the Spade finesse. When the SQ is covered by the King it is normal to play for the suit to split 2-2 and so we drop the S10 and make 13 tricks. The chance of a 2-2 split is 40% whilst a 3-1 is 50% but the chance of a particular player having 3 cards is only half of the 3-1 splits and thus 25% making playing for the drop a clear favourite.
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| Board 7 - 9.12.13 |
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It was Christmas party night this week. The food and company was excellent but the turnout was disappointing. The scoring was aggregate making games and slams even more important than usual.
To bid slams with any degree of certainty there needs to be accurate bidding at lower levels as shown by today's hand. South with a balanced 19 count is not good enough to open 2NT so chooses 1 Diamond. After West passes North should make the practical bid of 4 Hearts. This sort of response to an opening 1 bid should look like a textbook 4 of a major opener, so a good 7 card suit and little else. With the high cards promised by the opening bid the contract should have a good chance of success.
After the 4H response it is easy for South to envision a slam counting 7 probable heart tricks to go with 3 clubs and 2 aces for 12 in total. There is even a diamond finesse in reserve. So 4NT as Keycard Blackwood is the obvious continuation. North bids 5 hearts to show 2 keycards without the queen of hearts.
Now South can count a sure 12 tricks and should look for a grand slam and bid 5NT. He does not expect partner to have a king but it does no harm to check. As well as asking for kings the 5NT bid announces that all aces are held and suggests a grand slam. Normally the responding hand will show the number of kings but he is allowed to jump to 7 with extra tricks.
On this hand North has shown 7 good hearts and in response to 4NT has revealed the Heart Ace and King. On the actual hand North has an eighth heart which is an extra winner so he should jump to 7 Hearts and South converts to 7NT which is completely lay down. Sequences like this are only possible with decent understandings and partnership trust.
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| Board 19 - 2.12.13 |
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Most players use negative doubles these days. Once upon a time they were called sputniks which dates the original idea very well. In the past, if your partner opened and the next hand overcalled, a double was for penalties, saying that the overcaller was in trouble. Today, a double asks partner to bid something intelligent, with strong emphasis on any unbid major suit.
So, what do you do when you have a penalty double? It is no good to double and hope partner gets the message as he will bid something which is not what you want. So, you pass (smoothly.....) on the expectation that partner will reopen with a double on any hand that would have passed a penalty double. Board 19 is a good example. After South passes and West opens his nice hand with 1 Spade, North has to decide whether to overcall. He has a reasonable 6 card suit and an opening hand, so I would choose to bid 2 Hearts, especially as I am not vulnerable.
Now, East knows that he would like to defend 2 Hearts doubled, expecting a good penalty, and no expectation of making a game. So East passes in tempo, and hopes for a reopening double from his partner. South passes, and West has the ideal hand for a double - extra strength and support for all unbid suits. No-one has anything to add, so the final contract is 2 Hearts doubled. Normal sensible defence will get it 4 down for +800 - better than a game. At one table, it only went down 500 but that was still a good score for East/West as several played in partscores, and 7 pairs conceded either 300 or 400. With both 3NT and 5 Diamonds makeable, it is hard to see how this was achieved, but it was a nice present for the North/South pairs.
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| Board 14 - 2.12.13 |
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Board 14 was another example of not being able to double for penalties and therefore passing and waiting for partner to double. West held -
S Q107
H A53
D J7
C AJ875
and heard partner open 1 Diamond and the next hand overcall 2 Clubs. The vulnerability was love all, so it seemed that the penalty available against 2 Clubs is probably greater than bidding and making 3NT. So West passed intending to pas the reopening double. East held -
S AJ5
H 942
D AKQ10832
C -
and knows partner must have a penalty double of Clubs, as nothing else explains why the bidding as stopped so quickly. So should we double? I would say no, as our hand is all about Diamonds and the penalty in 2 Clubs will probably be inadequate. At our table this hand reopened with 2 Diamonds (although I would have bid 3). The next hand tried again with 2 Hearts and West doubled. This shows a decent hand with Clubs and some defence to Hearts so is a penalty suggestion. Our East removed it again to 3 Diamonds which seems a huge underbid to me. West was about to bid 3NT when the overcaller tried again with 4 Clubs. West's double was worth 500 - better than any game but not as good as the pair who tried 6NT and found the SK with the weak hand to give 12 tricks. I am sure that they wouldn't have bid it without the S10!
Once upon a time, bidding was much more simple than today in that a double of an overcall was penalty and partner would normally pass. Today we pass for penalties with all the resulting complications and doubles are takeout which is also more complicated. I can still remember the first board of my first ever match when I opened and they overcalled 2 Hearts. My partner's double netted us 2300, still the largest penalty I have achieved and life was easier then.
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| Board 4 - 18.11.13 |
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Easy Bidding?
Is it difficult to bid a grand slam? Sometimes it is very difficult but not always. Board 4 is an example of how good agreements can make bidding very simple.
North has a balanced 18 count and opens 1 of a red suit depending on partnership understandings. My preference is for 1D whatever the system you are playing.
In response South has a 17 count with a reasonable 7 card major. In my opinion, a jump shift response shows about a 16 count with a decent 6 card suit. Maybe slightly less if the suit is strong. The South hand is near enough to this description so it is a jump shift to 2 spades.
Now North has it easy. He knows partner has 6 spades to the king and probably the jack as well with a strong hand. so he jumps to 4NT as Keycard Blackwood as the number of keycards is the main item of importance.
The response of 5C shows 0 or 3 which must be 3 as South has shown a strong hand.
So North can count tricks. There must be at least 6 tricks in spades, plus his ace of hearts, plus the known 2 minor suit aces in dummy with his king/queen of diamonds and king of clubs for a total of 12 tricks on top. As partner has promised a strong hand and has only shown the spade king, diamond ace and club ace he must have more so we bid 7NT and be certain we are going to make it.
When dummy comes down we can count 7spades, 3hearts, 3diamonds and 2 clubs for a total of 15 tricks on top. Should we have bid higher?
The board was played 18 times and only 3 pairs managed to reach 7NT. Most of the rest stayed in a small slam and those who bid in no-trumps were well above average. If you lucky enough to hold these sort of hands, getting a good score is not so tough.
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| PLAY PROBLEMS - 21.10.13. |
I have talked often about bidding, so today we will look at some play problems from Monday evening. The ability to maximise your tricks without risking your contract will ensure good scores on a consistent basis. It might be easier to follow if you open the Brunton website in a second window and get up a copy of the entire deals. So let's look at some hands :-
Board 1 our opponents reached 5C by West on the following hands :-
S Q6 S A53
H Q H J1073
D J742 D AK108
C AKQ1075 C J8
The lead is the S10, you play low and the King wins. A heart switch is won by the Ace and a small diamond led through the AK. A count of tricks shows 2 in spades, 2 in diamonds and 6 in clubs for a total of 10 and we need 11. The diamond finesse is a possibility and so is the ruffing finesse in hearts. Which is better?
Well, trying to drop the DQ before trying the hearts is much better, but we do not have enough entries to do that so a decision is required. The better option is obvious when you think about it. If the opening leader had the HAK he would have led one, so lead the HJ from dummy, and discard if next hand does not cover. Result, 5C made and it feels good until the traveller is opened and everyone else is in 3NT making plenty of tricks so we still get a near bottom.
Keen players will spot that South failed to find a very tough defence by winning the SK and switching to the HK. Now if declarer tries the ruffing finesse in hearts he will be very sad to see North win the HA for 1 down.
Board 6 and this time West is declarer in 4H with :-
S K875 S AQ3
H KQ87432 H 65
D 6 D AQ3
C K C Q9832
The opening lead is the SJ. A count of losers this time shows 1 or more in hearts and 1 in clubs with a possible loser in the fourth spade. As we need to play the hearts from dummy, we win the SA and lead a heart to the king which wins. If we are gambling we could now finesse the DQ hoping to discard the club loser and pick up the hearts and spades for only 1 loser and make 12 tricks. If it loses,, the defence can cash the CA and make a heart to hold us to 10 tricks. Alternatively, we could aim for 11 tricks by leading the CK to establish the queen to throw the fourth spade. Either way we need to get to dummy to lead another round of hearts in case South holds the AJx This route leads to 11 tricks just losing the AC and the AH.
Returning to the gambler who leads a diamond to the queen which holds; we cashes the AD to discard the CK and leads a heart to pick up the trump suit with only one loser. Now there is the spade suit to deal with. When you lead a second spade North plays the S10 and you win the queen. Now some of you may have heard of the principle of restricted choice. it applies to a situation where a player may have two touching cards such as the S10 and S9 in this example. The presumption is that when he plays one of them that he does not hold the other. So, in this case, the play of the S10 makes it odds on that he does not hold the S9. So we lead a spade to the S8 and make 12 tricks.
Very keen players will notice that if West cashes all his trumps coming down to a 3 card ending where he holds SK87 and dummy holds SQ3 CQ then what does South keep? If it includes the CA then he only has 2 spades and if he keeps all the spades then the CQ is a winner. This is an example of a Simple Squeeze. (and yes, there are lots of other squeezes to tell you about some other time)
Lastly, a problem for South who reaches an aggressive 4H on Board 12 after East has overcalled a weak 2S to see:-
S QJ
H KQ7
D K1097
C Q963
S K97
H 1098432
D 83
C AK
The opening lead is S6 to the SA and another spade won with the Q in dummy. There are 3 aces to lose with the possibility of a second heart or diamond loser, so some good fortune is needed. How to play it?
Let's start by assuming that East holds the DA. Can we make it - West will certainly have the HA in that case. We would have to cash the CAK and then get back to dummy to play the CQ to discard a diamond. When we try to do that in hearts West can rise with the Ace and switch to diamonds for 1 down. So to avoid that we could ruff the SK in dummy to cash the CQ. There are 2 problems with this line, we might now lose 2 trump tricks as dummy is down to KQ doubleton, or West can ruff the SK with the HA and play a diamond. There is also a fair chance that East might ruff a club with the HJ.
Having spent time thinking, we decide that West will need to have the DA and our only problem is the trumps. So we play a club to hand and a heart to the king losing to the ace. Our East returned a club so we win and play another heart on which West plays small. There is one heart left and it is the jack, who has it? Well, we all know that when we have 9 of a suit that the odds favour a 2-2 break so we should play the other top honour, or should we? There is another theory called vacant spaces. We know West started with 2 spades and East with 6 spades. Therefore there are 11 chances to 7 that West holds the HJ so we should finesse. It loses and we go 1 down, so much for the odds. But did we play correctly?
Yes, we played the odds but missed a very practical play. Before playing a second trump, lead the SK. We know that West will ruff it and now there is only one trump left so the HJ will drop. Contract made.
So the contract is cold? Well, a top player sitting West will wonder why we are playing the SK knowing I will ruff, especially when there is nothing useful to discard from dummy. So he will discard on the KS and I will finesse in trumps for 1 down after all.
Well, there is more to it that that. East knows that he might be able to defeat the contract with his HJ if his partner has the decency to hold the 8,9 or 10 of trumps. He should play a spade when he wins the HA hoping his partner can ruff high enough to dislodge the other top heart from dummy thus promoting the HJ. This is totally necessary if partner started with the H8,9 or 10 as there is no finesse position and they will both fall on the second round. This time partner doesn't hold the necessary card and, as before, needs not to ruff the spade. Declarer is now back to the heart guess but should work out what was going on and get the trumps right to make the contract. Bridge can be a complicated game.
For the record, our opponents went off in the first two hands and Georgia made 4H on the third one. When things go well they go well - or so it seems
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| ALL ABOUT WEAK 2'S - 14.10.13. |
Do you play weak 2s? Most of us do although some play Multi 2D to show a weak 2 in a major or strong hands. When the weak 2 was first invented it was supposed to be like an opening pre-empt but with one fewer card in your suit.So you would open 3S with KQJxxxx in spades but 2S with one fewer spade.Over the years opening pre-empts have become weaker and some players open weak 2s on poor suits, or even only a 5 card suit with varying success.
This Monday there were a large number of potential weak 2s and we will see how they fared and how well the the opponents dealt with them.
On Board 1 I held as North first in hand not vulnerable -
S 732
H AQ9754
D 102
C QJ
Although the hand is not a classic weak 2 it looks a very reasonable choice. The next two players passed and West had to decide what to do holding -
S AKJ10
H 2
D J8
C A109742.
At our table he bid 3C which was passed out making 10 tricks. I believe that there were several reasons to make a takeout double of 2H. Firstly he held 4 spades and doesn't want to miss a major suit fit, secondly it is possible that partner has a heart stack and can pass for penalties. The fact that South has not raised hearts increases the chance that partner has several of them. If you double, partner will pass, as he held 5 decent hearts and you get a penalty of 500 which is larger than the lucky 3NT that can be made.
On board 13 I was still North and again was first in hand but vulnerable and held -
S AQ9874
H 104
D J8
C 983.
I think this is ok for an opening 2S especially as the spade spots are good. The next hand doubled for takeout and Georgia with only 1 spade and 7 hearts decided to run to hearts.Our method for this is to redouble to ask partner to bid the next suit and then she could bid her hearts. Our opponents rightly decided to bid on but got too high and went off.
Board 14 was weird. First in hand, our opponent as East held -
S KJ10754
H 6
D Q1086
C 54.
To me this is an ideal weak 2 especially as it was not vulnerable and I know some players who would open 3S. To open 2S should get your side to 4S which can be made with careful declarer play.Our East passed and Georgia held -
S Q2
H J109752
D J7
C 76.
Whilst I might push it and open 2H if not vulnerable and 1st in hand so there are two opponents to inconvenience and only one partner, I would certainly pass 2nd in hand. Well, Georgia didn't pay her entry fee (and mine!) to sit there and pass so 2H it was.The next hand doubled and I had a 16 count with a heart fit so bid 2NT for range. She showed a minimum so I bid 3H to play.East finally joined in with 3S. When it came back to me I was tempted to either double or bid 4H but in the end settled for a pass.If I had doubled the contract would have made and if I tried 4H I guess East would bid 4S and might have made it.
Just to show I also have a sense of humour we have board 17 where again I was 1st in hand not vulnerable with -
S K9865
H 9
D K10964
C J10
Well by now you know that I like to make weak 2s quite freely when 1st in hand not vulnerable so 2S was my bid. - not exactly classic. East passed and Georgia raised me to 4S with 4 spades to the queen and a balanced 9 count. (she did this using the Law of Total Tricks, which says, holding 10 major cards between the hands, raise to 4 ie try to make 10 tricks) West had a big hand and doubled for penalties. I managed 9 tricks for -100 with East/West cold for 4H so the operation was a success this time. (the Law of Total Tricks isn't always accurate but was on this hand, we could make 9, they could make 10 with their 10 card fit)
Then for the hand of the night - board 20 - when West held 1st in hand but vulnerable -
S AJ10642
H 5
D 765
C 1092
Would you open? I guess I would and my opponent was like minded so 2S it was. The next two hands passed it to Georgia with a distributional hand -
S -
H KJ8763
D ADJ83
C A6
What would you do? Well we play Leaping Michaels in this position. A bid of 4 of a minor shows that suit and the other major (so hearts here) at least 5/5 and strong. So this is the perfect bid? Well perhaps not if you take my earlier advice about reopening with a takeout double in this sort of situation.She decided the descriptive bid was best so 4D it was. This found me with a most unsuitable hand -
S KQ987
H Q
D 94
C KQ874
The problem with conventions is you need to know what happens next and we have never discussed it. I didn't fancy 4H on a singleton or 5D on 2 small so tried 4NT to play - perhaps. From then on we were on different pages and finished in 6D down 2. Meanwhile look what happens if you double 2S. The penalty in in 4 figures.
Had we managed to do that, we would have won the Steve Ray Cup instead of coming 2nd.....
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| 26.08.13 |
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Steve is once again!! On holiday so it befalls to me to step into his shoes and find a ‘hand of the week’
Most experienced players have ‘gadgets’ they use when opponents have the ‘audacity’ to interfere with their bidding! One common theme of today’s players is to try and disrupt the bidding after a 1 NT opening.
What to do after intervention over opening NT? S dealer Vul: E/W
Auction: South will pass and West if playing a weak NT will open 1NT
The action that North takes will depend on the defence they are playing, most partnerships will have a way of expressing this hand type, Kelsey, Asptro, for instance. At our table I could have bid 2D to show the majors but chose a bid of 2H and East passed.
Should East bid? In my opinion - Yes. By using a conventional bid called Lebensohl one can easily describe your hand type.
2NT = artificial transfer bid, forcing opener to bid3C, after which responder may pass or sign off in three of his real suit.
3 of a new suit is therefore natural and forcing
On the given hand South will almost certainly bid 3H over 2NT and it would be totally inadvisable for West to now bid 4Clubs, as partner could have a much weaker hand for his bid of 2NT.
The success of this contract is by no means certain and good defence will certainly result in a plus score for E/W
East leads singleton Diamond – West wins with the Ace and now should ‘tell’ East what suit to play back, therefore returning his lowest card (2d) to indicate an entry in clubs, East ruffs and plays back the CQ – West wins with the Ace, noting the fall of the King by declarer, West should now play back his highest diamond and East after ruffing should return a Spade to the Ace and on the subsequent diamond return must make is heart king.
So, in defence E/W make 6 tricks for a +65% score
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| 19.08.13. |
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I am grateful to Don for this week's hand. He is the hero of the hand, having bid and made a grand slam and scored a joint top on the board, but did he deserve it?
Once upon a time, the West hand could be described by opening an Acol 2H - it being a hand of power and strength with probable 8+ playing tricks, backed by high cards. In more modern times it has been normal to use a response in the next suit as negative, allowing the opener to rebid 2NT to show a second suit of spades and still stop in 3H if responder is completely broke.
Today, many pairs play three weak 2's hence Don's choice of 1H opening. Liz made the normal response of 1S and Don rebid 4C as a cuebid, to show a very strong raise of spades with a club control. Now the focus was on Liz with the East hand. Don had shown a hand worth game, even opposite a very weak response and she had 2 aces and a king, although the value of the diamond honours was not as certain as if they were in hearts or spades. Rightly she cuebid her DA to await developments. Don then cuebid his HA and Liz returned to 4S to say she had no further interest at this point - perhaps slightly cowardly. Don continued with Keycard Blackwood and discovered 2 aces opposite.
So, having discovered that partner has at least 4 spades and 2 aces, with some limited slam interest, what to do now? It really comes down to something of a guess, as what becomes important is how many spades partner holds and also how many hearts, as the more hearts that Liz has, the greater chance of the suit running for 6 tricks. There are some inferences about the number of spades in the East hand. With 5 spades and 2 aces it would have been cowardly to try to sign off in 4S and with 6 cards in spades, to try to stop in 4S would be completely wrong. Don took a very optimistic view in jumping to 7S. He was counting on making 6 heart tricks, 2 minor suit aces and 5 spade tricks, 4 tricks when drawing trumps and a diamond ruff in his hand. For this to work, he needed spades to break 3-2 ( Although some 4-1 breaks could be overcome or partner might have the SJ) and hearts to break well.
This time he was right, as 13 tricks were makeable without using partners DK. the books say that the odds for a grand slam should be at least 75% so was he within the odds? If the grand slam had needed both spades and hearts to break 3-2 that is about 68%x68% ie about 45% so clearly inferior. However, the extra trick in the form of the DK probably means that only one of the suits needs to break well moving the odds much closer to 75%.
So did he do right? he scored 27mps out of 28 for making 7S. If he had settled for 6S +1 he would have scored 18 out of 28 which is about 65%. He wondered if he might have tried 7NT which is cold and would have given all 28 out of 28 this time but is well against the odds. You decide for yourself.
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| 12.08.13. |
This week there were many balanced hands and I can't find any one interesting hand to report. So this week I will look at the hardest part of bridge as far as I am concerned - the opening lead. If any player can find the correct lead on a regular basis they will prove hard to beat. I try very hard to consider the bidding before deciding on my lead but don't claim any great success rate. The decision as to whether to make an aggressive lead or what looks to be a safe lead is tough. My natural inclination is to make safe leads but it is far from clear that it is a winning policy.
So here are some problems to consider before looking at the hands on the website :-
1. S-/HK109/D87532/J10543 The bidding 1C-1S-4D(Splinter)-4S Your lead?
2. SQJ83/H732/DJ98/CJ53 The bidding 1NT-2H(transfer)-2S-2NT This time?
3. SK75/HQ7/DQ1084/CK875 The bidding 1H-2H-2NT-4H This is a difficult choice.
4. SKQ7/H73/DQ532/CJ986 The bidding1D-1H-4C(Splinter) - 4H Partner would double 4C with a good holding so you lead?
5. SKQ/H8543/DAJ73/CJ52 The bidding 1S-3S-4S Another tough choice.
The answers :-these hands are from Monday night. The hand numbers are given so you can see them from the hand copies.
1. Hand 2 - The clubs and spades don't break but the diamonds look good for declarer as partner didn't double 4D. I chose to lead a heart from the king. Declarer fearing that it was a singleton played the ace and made 10 tricks. On any other lead declarer should take the red suit finesses to make 11 or possibly 12 tricks if he can negotiate the trumps for 1 loser.
2. Hand 3 - This is a easier one. With 5 spades on your left you should not lead the suit. Any other lead will beat the contract. A heart lead is harmless while either minor is a great success. Personally I would lead a top of nothing 7H as the lead of the smallest from 3 to the jack in either minor might confuse partner who would expect a 4 card suit.
3. Hand 5 - This is the type of hand that separates the winners and the losers. A spade lead leaves declarer needing to play the trumps correctly to make the contract. A heart lead solves the trump problem but holds the contract to 10 tricks. A diamond lead gives the contract and will result in 11 tricks for declarer and a bottom for you. A club lead could allow declarer to guess to play the queen and then guess the trumps for 11 tricks. I do not usually lead from kings so would misguess the clubs for 10 tricks only. If I had been on lead I would have lead a diamond and suffered.
4. Hand 7 - At my table I got the SK lead and made 11 tricks for a top. A diamond lead is not indicated and would not be a success. A club lead is harmless leaving declarer stuck in dummy and short of entries to play spades. It is tough to make 10 tricks from here. That is rather fortunate and the better and more obvious lead of a trump has the same effect and must be the best choice.
5. Hand 20 - The winning choice is a club or the ace of diamonds and then a club. As we tend to non-aggressive leads Georgia chose a heart lead which picked up my king and allowed 11 tricks for a poor score.
How did you do?
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| 05.08.13. |
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I have never seen such a strange set of scores. With only 25 pairs at the club we played a Mitchel movement with the last two rounds being arrow-switched. When you look at the results the first ten pairs all played East/West for most of the rounds. Only one North/South pair finished above average - well done Mary and Mark - and North/South pairs filled eleven of the bottom twelve places, all very odd.
This week's hand is board 21 an easy grand slam for North/South with 15 top tricks in either major and for those who were thinking also in NTs. it is a test of your methods and evaluation.
Our bidding is shown above and features some partnership agreements. We play 5 card majors and I opened the obvious 1 Heart. Georgia knew that slam was quite possible and responded 2 Spades to show her strong hand and 6 card suit. My rebid of 2NT over a jump-shift is a partnership agreement , it is the normal choice unless we have a second 5 card suit to bid or a strong opening suit to rebid. We do not raise the responders suit to leave extra room in a crowded auction. The advantage of this approach comes clear when Georgia could bid 3 Hearts to support my suit and then I could bid 3 Spades to reveal my spade fit and leave room for a cue bid in clubs which was the main worry for slam. Georgia was able to cuebid with 4C and I launched into 4NT which is keycard blackwood for us.
As I discussed in a previous article it is important to have an agreement about which suit is the agreed trump suit in keycard auctions.If a suit has been bid and raised then that is the agreed suit otherwise it is the last bid suit before the 4NT bid. In this auction we had bid and raised both hearts and spades and our agreement is that we count as keycards the kings of both agreed suits. On that basis Georgia responded 5 Hearts to show 2 or 5 keycards without any queens of agreed suits. I could calculate that a hand that had made a jump-shift could not only hold 2 keycards and therefore must hold 5 which were known to be SAK. HAK and CA. A count of tricks made 5+ in spades, 6 in hearts and the aces of diamonds and clubs. That made at least 13 tricks without the DK. hence the choice of 7NT. This is doubly correct as it scores most and there is no risk of a ruff at trick one. With 15 tricks the play was very brief.
On reviewing the traveller I see that our result got us the top and one other pair reached 7 of a major. One pair missed slam entirely and the other eight pairs were about average for bidding to 6 of a major.
Playing standard acol how should the bidding go? The 1 Heart opening will be totally standard, now for the response, I say that 2 Spades is correct to reveal the strong hand and good suit and to allow a bid of 3 Hearts on the next round to show support and slam interest. If you play weak jump responses I would suggest that it is a bad method for slam bidding. If you start with 1 Spade what do you bid next if partner bids 2 Clubs or 2 Diamonds? A jump to 3 Hearts is invitational and not forcing so you are totally stuck for an intelligent bid.
After 1H-2S opener should not do anything but to raise to 3S to show the fit. Now cuebids take over as neither player is in a position to bid blackwood due to lack of a control in a minor suit. So South cues 4C and North cues 4D. If you play that cuebids on the first round promise the ace that it vey helpful on this hand. North now knows he is facing a strong hand with good Spades and controls in Clubs and Hearts and can use keycard blackwood with Spades agreed. South responds 5 Diamonds to show 1 or 4 keycards. As he has made a strong jump-shift it cannot be only one so he is know to hold SAK/HA/CA.
Now we can think about a grand slam as at worst it is on the heart finesse so we try 5NT for kings. Some pairs have sophisticated agreements to show not only how many kings are held but also which ones. they would bid 6H to show the HK - ideal. On this hand playing normal responses South could respond 6D to show one king apart from spades which was already been shown. This would be of little help to North who is not really interested in the KC. he could still hope that South has the correct king or the heart finesse works or could settle for 6 Spades.
However in a partnership who trust each other the 5NT bid promises that all keycards are held and that the trumps (spades in this case) are solid and invites partner to jump to a grand slam if he can or else show the number of kings held. On this hand South should realise that the HK is vital and jump to a grand slam. If he is really thinking he would jump to 7NT expecting two running suits and the minor suit aces. Not easy but very satisfying when it goes right.
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| 29.07.13. |
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There were many hands this week where sensible bidding, good play or careful defence would result in a good matchpoint score. Board 6 was one such board.
South has a normal 1C opening and North has a decent 5/5 in the majors, but is short of the values to insist on a game contract. In order to show both suits conveniently, North should start with 1S. South has a choice of rebids - either 1NT to show a balanced hand or 2H to show reversing values. In modern Acol, it is normal to play a rebid of 1NT to show 15-17 and a jump to 2NT as 18-19. This scheme is better than the traditional rebids,1NT=15/16 2NT=17/18 3NT=19 as it avoids the space consuming jump to 3NT which can leave responder in a difficult situation. For example SAJxxx/HQxxx/DQxx/Cx after the sequence 1D-1S-3NT. It is quite possible that 3NT is the best contract but if opener has 3 spades then 4S is likely to be best, If opener had 4 hearts then 4H or even 6H will be best and it could be a hand to play in diamonds if opener has weak clubs and there is no room to explore. Much better is 1D-1S-2NT-3H as the start to the bidding.
Meanwhile, on this board I believe South should not rebid 1NT but 2H, a reverse. This bid promises extra values, say 16+, as it forces responder to the 3 level if he prefers clubs to hearts even if very weak. It also shows longer clubs than hearts. Now North knows that the values for game are present and can jump to 4H. He may feel that 4H is something of an underbid with such strong support. However, the singleton in partners' first bid suit and a losing doubleton in the unbid suit suggest caution. If the minor suits were reversed, a splinter bid of 4D would be clearcut. The 4H bid ends the bidding as opener has no extra values.
West is on lead and has to make a decision. On this hand a diamond lead gathers the first 2 tricks holding the contract to 11. It is not normal to lead an unsupported ace or lead away from an ace against a suit contract except at high levels. So Georgia chose to lead the 9 of spades against 4H. Now, how should declarer play? there are 2 losing diamonds only so making 11 tricks should be easy but it is pairs and overtricks are valuable.
The lead looks like a doubleton or singleton, so hoping that the spades break 3-3 looks against the odds; ok, what about the clubs? Suppose we win the spade Ace and cross to hand in trumps to check that they are not 4-0. Everyone follows, so we play clubs, first the ace and then the queen with the intention of discarding a diamond from dummy if it is not covered. This means we will only lose a club and a diamond even if East holds the KC.
On this hand, there is no reason for West to cover so the QC will win the trick. Now we draw another round of trumps, noting that they break 2-2. It is now time to return to clubs. As we know that West has the king, we play the jack to force a cover. On a good day, the 10 will drop from East setting up our 8 and 7. This time, East shows out so we know where the 10 is located. We cash the KS and ruff a spade in hand, spotting that they were not 3-3 originally. We play the 8C and ruff the 10 from West and return to hand by ruffing another spade with our last trump, setting up the fifth spade in dummy. We cash the 7C and discard the other diamond from dummy. Now with 2 tricks left to play dummy has the last trump and the last spade so we make all 13 tricks and West is left wishing she had speculated with the lead of the ace of diamonds.
So 4H making 13 tricks is the result of normal bidding, a normal lead and good declarer play but how many matchpoints would it produce? The hand was played 15 times. One N/S pair overbid to 6H with 2 diamond losers but managed to make all 13 tricks for a top. Perhaps this West should have lead the ace against a slam especially with such a good club holding over declarer. One N/S pair scored 13 tricks in 4H for a near top, 2 more managed 12 tricks and another 3 made only 11 tricks but still scored well above average. This was because 5 pairs only managed 10 tricks which is a poor effort and 3 pairs went minus, presumably in 3NT or 6H. I believe that 4H is such an obvious contract to reach that any pair that did not manage
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| Playing Trump Suit - 15.07.13. |
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We were not at the club this week so thanks to Don for this hand. Hand 24.
In the bidding, 2S and 3C were alerted.
The auction started with a routine pass by West and 1H from North. Now the spotlight is on East with a weak hand with six spades and a void heart. It seems near certain that N/S have the values for game and a very probable 8+ card fit in hearts. At love all it is possible that there is a cheap save in spades against the N/S game contract of 4H. So East needs to bid spades, but how many? Well, 3S shows a weak hand but partner will expect a 7 card suit and might make a losing decision. So that leaves 2S if playing weak jump overcalls, or else 1S, although partner will expect more in high cards for this bid. Our East chose a 1S overcall.
This left South with an easy bid of 2S to show a strong raise in hearts. The auction comes to West who must be surprised to hold a near opening bid of 11 points. A count of points around the table reveals North has 11+ to open and South has 10+ for the cuebid so East is known to have a weak overcall. Given this information to bid 2NT as our West player chose is clearly wrong and only succeeded to giving extra information to N/S. Probably West should pass smoothly, although a double of 2S is possible. In my opinion, the double should show a 3 card spade fit which would encourage East to bid on over 3 or 4 hearts which is not what West wants.
The auction finished with a 3C trial bid by North and an acceptance of game by South with 12 points and a good fit in Hearts. As is often the case the play decides who wins the matchpoints on the board.
On this hand, the defence is not really relevant as it is the decision of North, the declarer, as to how to play the trumps that is very important. In the absence of information from the bidding, it would be quite normal to start trumps by playing the ace hoping for an honour to drop of for an honour to appear from East when you play a second round towards the queen. the only time there are two trump losers is when West has KJx or KJxx This time declarer is unlucky although careful play will mean that the only losers are 2 hearts and 1 spade to make 10 tricks.
At our table the 2NT bid by West telegraphed the heart position allowing declarer to pick up the heart suit for 1 loser but first ruffing his 3rd spade in dummy with the queen and then leading hearts through West to make 11 tricks.
When you look at the traveller, making 4H by N/S was an average whilst the overtrick was worth a near top. Two declarers conceded 50 presumably by going down in 4H for a bottom.
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| 01.07.13. |
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After the succession of strong balanced hands of recent weeks this week was more mundane with many weak NT openings. I have chosen a hand that involves straight forward defence to hold down the number of overtricks in a lay-down game contract for North-South. At our table Georgia was first in hand at Green (The technical term for not-vulnerable against vulnerable opponents). She chose to open with a weak 2 spades despite having only 5 card suit. The favourable vulnerability and the strength of the suit and the presence of a side 4 card minor helped sway her decision. This time the opposition has nothing to say and I chose a simple raise to game rather than start asking about her range with a 2NT enquiry bid. I expected to make 4 spades even opposite a minimum and felt slam was unlikely to be good. Such bidding avoids giving away information and sometimes the next hand may feel that it is being robbed and bid something and concede a huge penalty. 4 spades was passed out and easily made 11 tricks when Georgia twice led trumps from dummy to pick up the jack and then played ace, king and another club to set up the suit for 1 loser. That was 450 for us and 17 match points out of 28. 8 other pairs equalled our score and 1 played 4 spades making only 10 tricks giving all 28 points to east/west. The other 6 pairs reached the inferior contract of 3NT and the obvious heart lead from East knocks out the side entry to dummy's spades. Normal play would be for declarer to cross to the ace of clubs to lead a spade to the king, ducked by West. It is then sensible to return to hand with the king of clubs (helping set that suit up) to play a second spade. East has to play the jack of spades saving declarer a guess in the suit. declarer covers with the queen and west should duck again as he can see that his partner would not play the jack unless forced to do so and therefore the last spade is with declarer. This second duck kills the spade suit for lack of an entry and declarer is forced to clear his club trick for fear that he goes down in 3NT. East wins the jack of clubs and plays a second heart to dislodge the ace. Now declarer has 9 tricks - 2 spades/2 hearts/2 diamonds and 3 clubs. At the table this result would be a complete top for East/West as last night 2 sets of defenders conceded 11 tricks for 460 and no matchpoints and 4 others allowed 10 tricks for 430 and a poor score for North/South.
It is true that East could have helped his partner by petering his spades to show a doubleton. It would have been bad play however as declarer could have just continued spades to drive out the ace rather than having to use up an entry to his hand in order to lead a second spade towards the dummy. |
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