...in Round 3, 2014 Gold Cup (48 boards)

by Steve Burton

In our recent match v. Mossop (+ Simpson, Price, J & J Hackett, Rees 6th. seed) our Squad was Graham Clay, Tony Clark, Michael Fletcher, Roger New and myself (Steve Burton).

The following was one of many excitements.  

	Board 16 EW Vul Dlr West	♠ Q x ♥ Q 9 x x x x ♦ - ♣ Q 10 9 x x
	♠ x x ♥ A ♦ K 9 8 x x ♣ A K x x x		♠ A K 10 x x x ♥ 10 x ♦ A Q J x ♣ x
		♠ J 9 x ♥ K J x x ♦ 10 x x x ♣ J x

Auction:

Absolutely right!

In the replay, Tony Clark, playing with Graham Clay overcalled 1D with the more obvious 2NT [two lowest unbid suits] and the Hackett twins bid their way to 6S : -1430 when TC did not Lightner X, giving the defence (what defence?) a chance, after a fast auction, and fearing 7D, maybe.

However 7H X is cheaper than small slams, and 7D is 'chuck it at a wall', so X of 6S stands to gain 1300 or flatten the board, 'sacking' in 7D IF....... the opponents bid 7H ! If not we gain 1240.

And the moral........like it says in the books, in big hands at teams, always bid one more if not sure, particularly at favourable vulnerability.

...playing with Phil Williams in the London League

The play is in three scenes from the second act ; In the first act we were -17 imps mainly due to an over exuberant grand slam and despite psyching the oppo. out of a vul. game [I did mention murky].

I sat South in all three scenes.

SCENE 1 : A dubious line.

E/W vul. dealer North.

West played 4S with A9xx/Q10x/AKJx/Jx and East(dummy) put down KJxx/KJx/Q/Q109xx.after P P P 1S*-3S-4S, all pass. * E/W were playing 12-14 NT.

North(Phil W.) lead 8D from :- Q/9xxx/98xxx/Axx. and South(me) held a [typical !] 1087x/A87/87x/Kxx.

Our declarer also playing 4S from West, same lead played to draw trumps intending to finesse JS (c.34% ?) and ended down one when AS dropped the Q, leaving South with a trump winner. Their West played off KS intending to cash AS,probably, he thought, leaving QS at large; thence to discarding dummy's Hearts on AKJ Diamonds. However on most layouts the defence can probably take a high Club in the hand with QS, draw two trumps for one and force dummy in Hearts, not necessarily in that order. This restricts declarer to 4 Spades,4 Diamonds and 1 Heart : down one.

Of course, in practice he felled QS, then forced out AH and took the marked Spade finesse to land +620: +13 imps to the men in black hats.

Can YOU, reader, calculate the success %age of his line ? It is quite tricky and depends on the positions of A Hearts and A,K Clubs. Also note that if South held all the key honours he would have opened third in hand.

The opposition line has upsides, notably when South holds Qx Spades or North single Q Spades - about 16.3%.

Any analysis will be welcome on steveburton.pines@yahoo.co.uk

SCENE 2 A little Knowledge is a dangerous.........!

Game All, Dealer South. The Auction was the same in both rooms : !NT P 3NT all pass.

I was South and held KQ109/Ax/K102/7xxx, the 8 Clubs was lead in both rooms, and North tabled AJx/xxx/A8653K10.

Phew, at least we have avoided a Heart lead. So up with K Clubs, dropping the Q from East : it looks like the lead is from AJ98xx [as indeed it was]. I played a Diamond to the K and once again the Q fell. With 11 'vacant places' in East + 6 spaces in West's hand, it seems right to return to dummy with a Spade and lead up to 10 Diamonds. If you play off the A Diamonds and East has J974, the defence will restrict you to 8 tricks :- 4 spades,1 Heart,2Diamonds,1 Club before getting to cash Heart and Club winners.Unfortunately West produced J Diamonds and cashed his Clubs for down two : -200.

Meanwhile, back at the funny farm, the Club K felled the Q and their declarer took A then K of Diamonds, emerging with +660 for a gain of 13 imps. Note that, as before, if East has Jack to four Diamonds, South is booked for two off. An infuriating 26 imps swing against the practitioners of 'restricted choice'.

And so to SCENE 3 : the Empire strikes back!
Of course we were now down in the 24 board match, chasing points when the following arose with your correspondent sitting South, as before.
N/S were vul. and North opened 4 Spades, pass from East [I sensed reluctantly] and, holding Qx/Qxxx/AK109xxx/void, I decided to cue......5 Hearts, pass, 6 Spades, Double.
East lead K Clubs and North who held AKJ98xxx/xx/void/xxx quickly wrapped up 1660. A trump or Heart lead restricts declarer to 11 tricks. Amongst other goodies, East held A,K,Q Clubs and one top Heart honour.
Best wishes to all my bridge friends, Steve Burton.

7th July 2012

I only had an eight count

by Phil Jones

At the club, I often hear ‘I only had 8 points there was nothing I could do’, or something similar.

Well, playing in the Portland Pairs a few years ago, my partner held an 8 count and held the key card to beat the opponents 4H contract. Would you believe she held 7 3 doubleton?

Dealer South
Love All
	NS Vul Dlr East	♠ K 9 ♥ J 10 9 6 ♦ A K 8 7 ♣ Q 10 6
	♠ 10 6 5 2 ♥ 7 3 ♦ J 9 6 5 ♣ A K 3		♠ 7 4 3 ♥ A Q 8 ♦ 10 2 ♣ J 9 8 5 2
		♠ A Q J 8 ♥ K 5 4 2 ♦ Q 4 3 ♣ 7 4

The auction:

My partner started well by cashing the ace & king of clubs and finding nothing else attractive continued a third. Whilst declarer was considering her next move I was also thinking about the heart position. I had a nice holding over dummy with AQ8 over J1096. If partner had the H7 then just maybe…….

Declarer eventually led the HJ and I jumped up with the ace and promptly continued another club: Yes I know that’s a ruff & discard but see what happens. Declarer cannot ruff high otherwise I get the HQ so she discards. This permits partner to ruff with the H7 and dummy has to over-ruff with the H9. This leaves me with the HQ8 sitting over the H106 in dummy and we’ve beaten the contract.

Well held partner! What a fantastic 8 HCP.

2nd July 2011

Playing at Ardingley (Sussex) in July last year the following hand presented a genuine chance for an unusual squeeze play: the criss-cross.

Ardingly, 18th July 2010
Swiss Teams - Session 1 - Board 18
	NS Vul Dlr East	♠ Q 8 7 6 4 3 2 ♥ K 10 2 ♦ Q 10 ♣ 8
	♠ 9 ♥ A Q 6 3 ♦ K 4 3 ♣ K Q J 9 5		♠ A 5 ♥ 9 7 ♦ J 8 7 6 2 ♣ 10 7 6 2
		♠ K J 10 ♥ J 8 5 4 ♦ A 9 5 ♣ A 4 3

The auction:

The opening lead was the ♥9 to the ace, then ♣J switch to dummy’s ace.

♠J to East’s ace and a club return, ruffed by declarer.

A trump to dummy and a club ruff, followed by a trump to dummy and a hook of the heart 10 left:

		♠ Q 8 ♥ K ♦ Q 10 ♣
	♠   ♥ Q 6 ♦ K 4 ♣ K		♠   ♥   ♦ J 8 7 6 ♣ 10
		♠   ♥ J 8 ♦ A 9 5 ♣

So we have a heart winner opposite the menace of the ♥J, the diamond winner opposite the menace of the ♦Q and west holds both the ♥Q & ♦K. Two more trumps discarding diamonds from dummy gets you to this position with West still to play:

		♠   ♥ K ♦ Q 10 ♣
	♠   ♥ Q 6 ♦ K 4 ♣		♠   ♥   ♦ J 8 7 ♣
		♠   ♥ J 8 ♦ A ♣

If he parts with the ♦4 I will cash the ♦A return to the ♥K and cash ♦Q. If he parts with the ♥6 I can cash the ♥K, cross to the ♦A and take the ♥J for the last trick.

There is a warning on this hand. I claimed on the criss-cross with 6 cards still to play and my opponent was good enough to see the squeeze coming and conceded. BUT, a criss-cross requires declarer to ‘know’ where the cards are and to ‘know’ that the squeezee has unguarded a particular card, so if declarer isn’t watching very carefully he may go wrong. I would suggest never conceding a criss-cross claim.

	N/S Vul Dlr South	♠ 8 6 4 2 ♥ 10 6 ♦ K Q J 8 5 2 ♣ 7
	♠ 5 ♥ K Q J 9 8 5 4 2 ♦ - ♣ Q J 6 4		♠ Q 9 7 ♥ A 7 3 ♦ 10 4 3 ♣ A 9 8 2
		♠ A K J 10 3 ♥ - ♦ A 9 7 6 ♣ K 10 5 3

Bidding Room 1:

Mike Prior did well to ruff the QH lead play AS then KC to the A, ruff the H return in hand before ruffing one Club in Dummy to take the S finesse and claim with six D's, five S's + one C ruff on the board. I trust we can see why KC is better than 3C at trick three. I was in what many regard as my best place : dummy!

The other room featured a really impressive bidding from both defenders.

Bidding Room 2:

(a) Phil always preempts to the limit.
(b) Lead directing oportunities like this are often missed.
(c) A Lightner Dble from the defender on lead.

The play was soon over after a C lead and a D ruff. +1530 to the good guys!

I hope this 'Old Chestnut' is not too tired!   Steve Burton.

Board 7, Friday, 13th March 2009

By Kay Preddy

	All Vul Dlr South	♠ J 3 ♥ Q 10 8 7 6 ♦ K J 8 7 ♣ A 3
	♠ 10 7 6 4 ♥ K 5 2 ♦ 3 ♣ K Q 8 7 2		♠ 9 ♥ 9 4 3 ♦ 10 9 5 4 2 ♣ 10 9 5 4
		♠ A K Q 8 5 2 ♥ A J ♦ A Q 6 ♣ J 6

North is declarer in 6NT and receives the lead of a small diamond. There are 12 tricks on top. A squeeze will work to make 7. Cash the 10 tricks in diamonds and spades to come down to:

		♠   ♥ Q 10 ♦     ♣ A
	♠   ♥ K 5 ♦   ♣ K Q		Immaterial
	Oh, dear!	♠   ♥ A ♦   ♣ J 6

Poor old West cannot keep both hearts and clubs protected. In these situations North normally has to guess what each player has come down to but in this instances North probably doesn’t need to guess because both West's clubs are high. If West discards a high C, North can cash the AC, go to dummy and claim; if West keeps the two clubs then North should revert to cashing the Heart A then returning to hand with the Club Ace and now the heart Q will be good. Of course West could be devious and throw a high club keeping:

Now North will probably get it wrong but that is almost beyond expert play.

East would have suffered the same fate if he had held both the clubs and hearts.

An undeserved bad result.....or taking your second chance

by Kay Preddy

		♠   4 3 ♥   A Q 4 2 ♦   8 3 ♣   A 9 8 5 3
	♠   K Q J 10 6 2 ♥   ♦   10 9 5 ♣   K 6 4 2		♠   9 7 5 ♥   K 9 7 5 3 ♦   K 6 2 ♣   J 10
		♠   A 8 ♥   J 10 8 6 ♦   A Q J 7 4 ♣   Q 7

Here is an interesting hand from the duplicate last Friday (20th June). I was playing with Norman and East-West were Campbell and Jan Scoones. I apologise belatedly to them for giving them an undeserved bad result.

Sitting South I opened a strong NT (yeah well it was a good 14 points and I am told that Qx is very good for playing No trump hands). However the next hand passed (do you know what to do had he bid 2S; we would play 3S shows 4H and no spade stop), and partner (Norman Selway) bid 2C, I bid 2H and Norman bids 4. As W ponders his lead and partner puts down dummy I worry slightly that I don’t have my opening strength and my hearts are almost as bad as they could be. West led the KS, of course, and is looks like there might be a loser in each suit but there easily might not if either the heart or diamond finesses work. I feel pleased with myself for getting to a good 24 point game. I win the AS and advance the 10H – West ponders for a while and throws a S. Now I worry that I have 2H losers, a spade loser, a club loser and maybe a diamond loser. From looking that I had done well it now looks like the game is going to go 1 or 2 down. But I spot an opportunity: up with the A, diamond finesse, club to the A, diamond finesse, AD throwing a spade and rough a spade then a club to the Q which West per force must win. You have 7 tricks and have reached this position:

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

West is helpless: he played a spade and I ruffed with the 2H throwing a diamond from hand, then called for a C; poor East had to ruff, I over-ruff, play a diamond and ruff with the Q. Whatever East does she can only win one Heart – the King. Final result 4H +1.

by Kay Preddy
(Smith Cup, 16 February 2008)
 

	All Vul Dlr South	♠   A Q 9 5 3 ♥   A 8 2 ♦   7 6 2 ♣   9 3
	♠   10 4 ♥   J 10 7 6 4 3 ♦   A 9 8 ♣   K 4		♠   K J 7 2 ♥   K ♦   K Q ♣   A Q J 7 5 2
		♠   8 6 ♥   Q 9 5 ♦   J 10 5 3 2 ♣   10 8 6

I love this type of hand.

Against us (Kay Preddy and Chris Wall), Mary Kendall opened a weak 2H and Bob had to decide what game to bid. He chose 4H but knew that 3NT might have been better. (What a husband eh: For most husbands it's no choice especially when the choice is close; I can play the hand or my wife can play the hand - I play the hand!!!).

North led the club 9 and Mary could immediately see that 3NT would have been a piece of cake but 4H might be tricky. Mary won in hand and did very well to play a spade immediately; North won the A and played a second club. Mary won in dummy and played heart K. North had to decide what to do and after some thought ducked.

Now Mary played spade K and another spade and the focus is on South but he doesn't know it. It looked like he could harmlessly throw a club but see what happens. Mary ruffs the spade and plays JH; North takes the A and plays another S. Now to beat this contract South must ruff with the QH and play a club (if he has any left!) to promote North's lowly 8H. Now isn't that pretty.

Congratulations to the two pairs who beat this contract - I hope the defence went along the line suggested.

BIG GUNS AGAINST LITTLE GUNS
or Fighting Lazer Beams with Sticks

by Marian Hunt

This hand is from an Arnold Cup match in Feb 2008 between two Farnborough teams.

Big Guns sitting E/W, Little Guns N/S.

	Dlr West	♠   J x ♥   A K Q J ♦   A x ♣   A 9 x x x
	♠   A Q x x x x ♥   x x x ♦   Q x x ♣   x		♠   10 x ♥   x x x ♦  J 10 x x ♣  K Q 8 x
		♠   K x x ♥   x x x ♦   K x x x ♣   J 10 x

In the front room declarer was a Big Gun. Contract 3NT.
Spade lead J from dummy held the trick.
OK eight tricks on top where's the ninth trick coming from?
Played AKQJ hearts. Spotted 8♣  discard from RHO and reasoned that LHO had singleton club.
Played A Clubs and AK diamonds and put LHO in on the Q diamonds for the end play.

In the back room declarer was ME!
Smoothly played to one off.

At the inquest grovelling apologies by me to my team didn't find that line.
My LHO remarked laconically wouldn't have worked against me. He had already seen that the Q diamonds has to be thrown under the King to avoid the endplay.
 

by Kay Preddy

Imagine how a reckless driver feels like after he has taught his mother to drive, she passes the driving test and thinks it normal to drive like her son and does. I don't want to feel like that so, please, don't copy my bidding. I over-bid with weak hands (and sometimes strong ones). I do however have a forgiving and understanding partner who can play the dummy quite well! (Though sometimes I have to be as forgiving and understanding as he is).

Hand 9 from the Rayner Trophy is a typical example of my over-bidding.

	EW Vul Dlr North	♠ 10 8 7 6 ♥ 7 3 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ A 7 3 2
	♠ 5 2 ♥ A J 9 6 4 2 ♦ 7 5 2 ♣ K 10		♠ A K ♥ Q 8 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ Q J 9 8 6 5
		♠ Q J 9 4 3 ♥ K 10 5 ♦ J 10 8 4 ♣ 4

E/W were vulnerable and N/S non-vulnerable. The bidding was:

I found that I was declarer and the one compensation was that I didn't have to show my hand (though Norman will work it out pretty quickly - but, heh, he hasn't got annoyed with me all evening yet!). As he puts dummy down Norman mutters about not going too many off. Oh dear, my heart sinks a bit more.

Predictably I received a club lead though I didn't expect the actual card, the club King. As I inspected dummy my heart rose a bit: they definitely have a game and if all goes wrong there are only 6 losers AND the H Ace looks to be on-side. (West can't have much and he has already shown the club K). Things are looking up. I play the Club Ace and follow with a low spade from dummy. The spade K comes quickly from East and the spade 5 from West. Hmmm - looks like the spades are AKx with East and a singleton with West. A club comes back which I ruff. Now I have to think a bit: if East has AKx then another spade and the predictably club returns will cut me off from my diamond trick if the heart king is off-side (now looking a bit more likely). Now things are looking a bit riskier. However I shrug my shoulders and play the diamond J risking a rough. It goes round to the diamond Q and the heart Q is played. Now I know the A H is off-side but play my K just in case - as I thought it lost and a D came back. (Oh no, I thought, a diamond rough will follow, I will be 4 down, I will get a bottom and Norman will give me that look! I should have played a spade instead of that diamond J at trick 3.) The D Ace wins and I sink into depression - but joy another club which I rough. I play another trump and eventually lose 2D, 2H and 2S for 3 down.

by Phil Jones

	NS Vul Dlr North	♠  Q J 10 5 4 2 ♥  A K Q ♦  K Q J ♣  9
	♠ 6 ♥ 10 9 6 2 ♦ A 5 2 ♣ 7 6 5 4 3		♠ K 3 ♥ 8 7 5 3 ♦ 10 9 7 6 ♣ J 10 8
		♠ A 9 8 7 ♥ J 4 ♦ 8 4 3 ♣ A K Q 2

This hand from the KO teams qualifying on 5th January led to a number of swings and makes me wonder how other pairs bid the hand. The bidding at our table was:

Christine found the normal opening bid and my 3NT showed a raise to game with no singleton or void. Christine could see that the only important cards were the AK of spades and the minor suit aces, so used Roman Key Card Blackwood to find out about those cards. 5H from me showed 2 of those cards without the Q of spades. Should Christine bid the slam or not?

She knew that she was missing either 2 cashing aces, or one ace and the king of trumps. Knowing I had a relatively balanced hand and that if it was two aces missing they would be unlikely to ‘go away’ she thought about the odds. The possibilities for the missing cards are:

(1) ♠ A & ♠ K;
(2) ♣ A & ♠ A;
(3) ♣ A & ♦ A;
(4) ♦ A & ♠ A;
(5) ♣ A & ♠ K; or
(6) ♦ A & ♠ K.

In cases 1, 2, 3 and 4 the contract will fail, almost certainly, because you will be unlikely to have useful discards to avoid the two cashing aces and the ace & king of trumps are not likely to crash. Cases 5 & 6 need the trump K onside for a finesse. So, the slam will fail on top tricks 4 out of 6 times and half of the remainder; a total of 5/6ths (83%) of the time.

Is a 17% success rate good enough to bid the slam? What if I’m wrong when bidding it?

The Argument

If I bid the slam and it makes I get 1430 points if it goes off I lose 100. If I don’t and 12 tricks are there I get 680 and if there are only 11, I get 650.

If I bid the slam and it fails it costs me the 650 I could have made plus the 100 penalty, for a total of 750; If I don’t and it makes it costs me the 750 points slam bonus. An even chance in bidding slam. So if the vulnerable slam is better than a 50% chance it should be bid.

But hold it! This is imps not aggregate; does that make a difference? Those 750 points figures represent 11 imps whenever my choice is the wrong one, if my opponents do the right thing. This doesn’t change the ratio which remains 50-50.

17 % is not good enough!

So all who bid the slam can count themselves very lucky to have had a double figure IMP swing in

by John Hunter

Here's a hand from last Wednesday's pairs. I was North playing with Mark Howarth.
 

	NS Vul Dlr South	♠ A J 6 4 ♥ A ♦ K 6 4 ♣ A 8 5 4 3
	♠ K ♥ K 10 8 3 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ K J10 7 2		♠ Q 10 9 7 3 2 ♥ 9 6 4 ♦ 10 9 3 ♣ Q
		♠ 8 5 ♥ Q J 7 5 2 ♦ J 8 7 5 ♣ 9 6

After a bidding sequence in which North, if he could be trusted to know what he was doing,
had shown spades (or at least spade tolerance), East (Ann Mitchell, playing with Don) declared
Two Spades and partner found the only lead to give the defence a chance, a low diamond,
ducked to my king. With vague hopes of coming to a heart ruff I cashed the major suit aces and
played a second diamond. Declarer played a club off the table and I missed my last chance to
do anything useful by ducking and declarer made eight tricks.

Looking at the sheet later, Deep Finesse confirmed that East makes eight tricks, and also confirmed
my partner's good lead by noting that West would make nine tricks. But it suddenly struck me in the
car going home: what if early on I play ace and another club, and then, when I win the trump ace,
play a third club? Declarer has a choice of plays. If she ruffs with the seven the contract succeeds
whenever North has the eight; if she ruffs with the ten the contract succeeds whenever North has the
jack, except when North has four spades to AJ8. So the right (but losing) play is to ruff with the seven.

It's an infuriating game, isn't it?