Working Hard on the Weekend |
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Here is a part score hand, Board 15 from last Saturday (13th). South opened 1S (you may or may not agree with opening this hand), North responded 2S, and everyone passed.
The opening lead is the K♥ , which you win with the A. You appear to have three club losers, some number of possible diamond losers (anything from 1 to 3), and maybe one spade loser, depending on how you play the trump suit.
There is no reason not to draw some trumps first. Here are two questions to think about.
1. How should you play the trump suit?
2. Say you were to finesse the 10, and it loses. East returns a heart. How would you play from there.
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Answer to Question 1:
Since there is no opposition bidding, there is not a lot to guide you as to which way to take a finesse. You could also choose to just play the K and A, hoping to drop a doubleton Q.
With 8 cards in the suit, the odds favour a finesse over playing for the drop, and there is no particular reason here to do otherwise. Now, with no further information from bidding or play, and so nothing to guide the decision, there is a simple concept you can use to choose which way to finesse. Which way would help you the most with the play of the hand?
You have probably noticed there is only one sure entry to dummy, the A♠ . If we were to finesse East for the Q♠ , we would have to cross to the A, to play a low spade back. Now we have used our only sure entry. This might be a big problem later when we want to play diamonds. We will be stuck in hand.
If we finesse West for the Q, we retain our A♠ as an entry to dummy. Also, if the finesse is successful, we have just created a second entry to dummy. We then have the option to play on diamonds immediately if we choose. So it suits the play of this particular hand better to play a low spade to the 10, finessing through West.
Answer to Question 2:
When East returns a heart, you may have thought to ruff it. However there is a better play, and that is to discard a club. If you made this play, you get full marks, well done. This is called a loser on loser play.
Here is where the hand is up to now:
Dummy
♠ A5 ♥ J63 ♦ J7 ♣ J743
East leads 7♥
Hand
♠ KJ76 ♥ ♦ K984 ♣ 852
If we ruff, West will throw a low heart. Now, if we discard a club instead, look at the effect on West. Because of the J♥ in dummy, he is forced to play the Q♥ .This will now establish the J♥ as a winner in dummy (lucky we still have an entry!). It will also probably result in West switching to another suit. Imagine if he chose a diamond switch, we would be most happy with that.
Note that not ruffing the heart does not cost us a trick, as we are throwing a loser on it - we are just swapping a club loser for a heart loser.
There is another very important reason for making a loser on loser play. We all hate a 4-1 (or 5-0!!) trump break against us. Sometimes we run out of trumps, and lose control of the hand. By playing a loser on loser, and NOT RUFFING, we retain our trump length. If trumps break 4-1, we still have more trumps than our opponent. Also, the J♥ stops the opposition forcing us to ruff hearts again later, so we retain full control of the trump suit.
Loser on loser plays do come up fairly often, and if you can get out of the common habit of automatically ruffing when void of a suit, you may see opportunities you might not have noticed before.
To finish off the hand, at our table, West did not oblige by switching to a diamond, alas. The opponents between them played off the A, K and Q of clubs. As a club had already been discarded, the third round is ruffed, which now establishes the J♣ as a second winner in dummy. Drawing trumps in two more rounds ending in dummy with the A (they were 3-2), we can cash the two winning jacks, and the K♦ was successfully finessed (phew) to scrape home with 8 tricks.
So, points to remember:
1. If you have a 50-50 guess with no other information, you might as well choose the way that gives your play the most advantage.
2. When you are intending to ruff the opponents lead, have a look and see if discarding a loser is a better play instead.
P.S. Just for interest, and it is a small sample size, but on the day, 3 out of 4 tables played in 2S, and so it appears they would have opened 1S with the South hand. If you didn't open, East had an opening hand and EW successfully competed with 3H for a top score to them. |
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Last updated : 16th May 2023 10:13 ESTA |
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An Everyday Occurrence |
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A slam might come up once a session (or not even), but decisions on everyday low level hands are gaining or losing matchpoints or IMPS a dozen times a day. So let's have a look at one, a hand from the Teams event on Thursday (so it is IMP scoring, not matchpoints).
Your right hand opponent, as dealer, opens 1D. You don't have enough for an overcall, so you pass. LHO also passes. Partner in the balancing position reopens with 1H. What does this show?
The standard treatment is that it is a limited bid, showing around 8 - 13 HCP. It could possibly be made on a four card suit, but is more likely at least five. RHO passes. You bid 1S. LHO passes, and partner now bids 2C. RHO passes.
What do you bid now?
Before you click on show answer, decide what you think about each of these options: Pass, 2H, 2S, 2NT.
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* * * * * * *
The first thing to note is that, with partner limited to a maximum of 13 HCP, we are not looking for game, so our goal is to find a safe low level contract.
The second thing to note is that the hand appears likely to be a misfit. Partner hasn't raised our suit and we don't have good support for either of partner's suits. The most important rule when faced with a misfit with partner is to STOP BIDDING AS SOON AS IS PRACTICAL. I would say that in most sessions, I would see at least one hand where the opponents are bidding themselves up and up on misfitting hands and end up in some contract down two or three.
Now to the options:
2NT We have a diamond stopper, and no fit, so should we bid 2NT? In this case, definitely not. Even if partner has a maximum, we have at most around 20 HCP, so 2NT is dangerously high. Note also your hand is very poor on entries, so it is unlikely you could ever set the spade suit up (and that is really the only main asset of the hand in NT). I would guess 2NT would be two off, or worse.
2S We have a five card suit, should we rebid it to tell partner? Now, partner has already not raised spades. The other thing partner did not do is reopen with a double. This tells you they not short in diamonds (unless they have a two suited hand). If partner has a heart suit, a club suit, and a few diamonds, how many spades have they got? Probably a singleton. So you can now see rebidding your spades is another road to disaster. Anyone for playing a 5-1 fit?
Both of these bids violate the basic principle written above. (Look up, it is in ALL CAPS).
So the choice is between pass (playing in 2C) or bidding 2H. There is no real right or wrong about this choice, one will work better on some days, and the other on others. What is there to consider between the two?
2H Since it is IMPS, not matchpoints, there is no compulsion to prefer a higher scoring major suit contract. So the only advantage for bidding 2H is if partner happens to have a six card suit. However, bear in mind also it is just possible partner has only four hearts. But in any case, our heart holding of two small is basically useless in the play.
Pass There are some reasons why we may be better playing in 2C. Firstly, partner could be 5-5 shape, and clubs is our best fit. We do have more clubs than hearts. But if not, how will we go playing in a 4-3 fit?
Our trump quality of KTx is quite good. It certainly reduces the risk of being doubled if we get say a 5-1 trump break. Also, these trumps may be useful in a finesse, perhaps. We might ruff some hearts with them (the 10 also gives the option of ruffing high), and note we are ruffing in the short hand, leaving partners 4 card trump holding intact. Our spade holding is useful in protecting partner from being forced to ruff that suit and reduce their trump holding. So I would expect a 4-3 fit in clubs to generally play better then a 5-2 fit in hearts.
At the table (on Board 30), I did pass, and John played 2C. Making 8 trick, despite the 5-1 club break, which was very well done. At the other table 2H went two off (and was maybe lucky not to have been doubled), so it was a 5 imp pick up in our match.
Regardless of the result, the main point to be made is, when you can tell your hand is not fitting with partner's, and you don't have values for game, STOP BIDDING ASAP.
Cheers, Dave F
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Last updated : 29th Mar 2023 19:10 ESTA |
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(29th Mar 2023)
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What are the Chances? |
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Saturday 25th March, board 10.
5-5-3-0 distribution, with the two 5-cards suits of identical values.
What are the odds of a deal like this?
You can see my answer (and I could be very wrong - probabilities are not my strong suit) by clicking Show Answer, but have a go at working it out first, and correct me if I’m wrong with a Comment.
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The probability of a 5-5-3-0 deal is just 0.9% (Google).
Now matching the ♠ suit with a ♥ , one at a time (and working to 3 decimal places):
- Matching any ♠ with the same ♥ value is 5/13, or .385 probability (any one of 5 ♥’s out of 13 will match one of the 5-card ♠ suit)
- Matching one of the 4 remaining ♠ with the same ♥ value is 4/12, or .333 probability (only 12 ♥ to choose from, and 4 ♠‘s to match)
- Matching one of the 3 remaining ♠ with the same ♥ value is 3/11, or .273 probability (and so on…)
- Matching one of the 2 remaining ♠ with the same ♥ value is 2/10, or .200 probability
- Matching the one of the 3 remaining ♠ with the same ♥ value is 1/9, or .111 probability
Now the overall probability is the combined product: 0.9% x .385 x .333 x .273 x .200 x .111
And that comes to 0.0006993%. Or about 7 chances in 2,500 years if you play 25 hands twice a week. I’d have to triple-check that, but whatever, not for a very long time!
Let’s have your answers in comments, please 😊
Ian W. |
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Last updated : 26th Mar 2023 16:34 ESTA |
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What a Hand!! |
Show Detail | On Saturday the South players had the joy of picking up possibly the strongest playing trick hand I can remember seeing - a one loser hand! (It was Board 3)
(If you don't play Saturdays, you should come along sometimes; we get better hands).
How should you bid this hand?
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On of the basic principles of slam bidding when holding the strong hand is asking the question: "What information do I need about partner's hand?", and following that, "How will I get that information?". In this case, the answer to the first question is simple. We need to find out if partner holds the A♥ , and whether they have longer clubs or spades.
The answer to the second question is not so straightforward playing a typical Standard system. You might think it is automatic to open with 2C. Is anything wrong with that? Well, yes, a few things.
- The Strong 2C opening is notoriously poorly suited to bidding two suited hands. After your first bid has been made, partner still doesn't know either of your two suits.
- The 2C opening chews up a lot of bidding room. (This is why people play Precision or Strong Club systems. The 1C opening gives maximum space.)
- There is a fair chance the opponents could interfere with your auction. There are a lot of hearts and diamonds somewhere around the table.
- Looking further ahead in the auction, RCK Blackwood is not useful here. If partner shows one ace, you still don't know whether you have a cold grand slam or not. You need space to use control showing (cue bids).
So there are quite a lot of uncontested auctions where it may be difficult to get the required information. How will you be placed after:
- 2C - P - 2NT - P - 3S....
- 2C - P - 3D - P - 3S....
- 2C - P - 2D - P - 2S - P - 3H - P.... for example.
The opponents may make it even more difficult:
- 2C - 3D - P - P....
- 2C - 2H - P - 3H....
- 2C - 2D*- P - 4H.... * two suiter D&H
- 2C - 4D - P - P.... with their cool 0481 hand.
The 2C opening can sometimes cause real headaches.
It may be much better to open the bidding with 1S. If the auction is uncontested, after partner bids 1NT, 2D or 2H, you can bid 3C which is game forcing. Partner can now bid either of your known suits to support, and you can start cue bidding to find out about the A♥. Alternatively, if partner raises spades , you could cue bid 4C showing first round control. If partner now bids 4H, you can bid 7S. If partner bids 4D, you could use RKCB to see if they hold 2 aces, and bid the small or grand slam accordingly.
Of course, if the opponents interfere, you are now much better placed than after 2C, and can show your clubs in whatever manner is appropriate and forcing. Or give up on the grand and bid 6C. This way partner can choose the better denomination.
Is anything wrong with opening 1S? Well, it could get passed out. That would be upsetting! This is why we have the 2C opening. What do you think the chances are of the hand being passed out?
Very low. At a guess, maybe 1%. Why? Well, with your 6610 hand, there is very likely to be shape around the rest of the table too. There are 13 diamonds and 12 hearts to be split between 3 hands. And 18 HCP in your hand is not too massive. That leaves 22 HCP to be spread around. If partner has 5 or less and passes, one of the opponents is almost certain to have enough points and shape to overcall, or balance in 4th seat.
So, to sum up, your bidding system is a selection of tools to be used to exchange information, and you can always be thinking about the best way to use it. It is not all set in concrete. Yes, it's a "2C opening", but maybe that isn't the best option.
Now go back to the top of the page, and have a look at the two questions. Keep these clearly in you mind when slam bidding!
Cheers, Dave |
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Last updated : 6th Mar 2023 09:12 ESTA |
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Plan your play |
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You are declarer in 3NT on the ♥K lead.
Plan your play, then click Show Answer to check this out.
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On this deal, we see all nine of our tricks ready for the taking, but unfortunately, there are two blocked suits that need to be untangled!!
As West leads the ♥K, it knocks out our one and only heart stopper so we need to be careful on this hand.
You can hold up one or two rounds of hearts, but that won't be of any use, since we already have our nine tricks, we just need to take them in the right order.
Let's say we win the ♥A and unblock the ♠AK. We would then go to dummy with a club and cash our spade winners along with the ♦A and ♣Q, however, we would have no way back to our hand to cash the ♣A after the ♣KQ are unblocked.
Therefore, we need to tweak that plan. After winning the ♥A we should first unblock the ♣KQ. We now come back to our hand by unblocking the ♠AK, cash the ♣A and finally, cross over to dummy with the ♦A to enjoy the rest of dummy's spades!
This deal demonstrates the importance of planning ahead. Playing out the whole hand in our head before touching a single card will often pay dividends. This will prevent you from making hasty plays which you might end up regretting, and that's what will happen if you played the spades first in the example hand above.
With thanks to Andy Hung. |
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Last updated : 5th Jan 2023 16:05 ESTA |
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Reading the Opponents Lead |
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When declaring a bridge hand, whether its a suit contract or a NT contract, quite often you can use the information from you opponent’s opening lead.
How would you plan to play this hand? When you’ve made your plan, click Show Answer to see Andy Hung’s analysis.
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As we are in a suit contract now, you have to count your losers. Here you have one in spades, one in hearts, and one in diamonds. That's only three in total, and with a finessing position available in hearts and diamonds, it appears that we are in good shape! Are there any potential dangers?
Let's analyse West's ♦5 lead for a second. What do you make of this lead? Well, it must be a singleton! Yes, it's true that West might have led from ♦Kxxx (away from an honour), but take a look at the auction.
We have bid and raised diamonds, would West really lead away from ♦Kxxx? No, therefore, the lead is clearly from a singleton, so reject the diamond finesse by rising with the ♦A. What next?
You will draw trumps, but again, you must be careful. Normally when you are missing the queen in an eight-card fit, you should always take the finesse ('Eight Ever, Nine Never'), but here, you should reject the finesse and just lay down ♥AK. Why?
Imagine if you cash the ♥A, and play a heart to your ♥J and this loses to West's ♥Q. What might happen next? West wins, switches to a spade to East's ♠A, and he will then cash the ♦K and give his partner a diamond ruff - one down!
When you can see that the opening lead is from a singleton, usually it's a good idea to draw as many rounds of trumps as possible without taking any finesses. Even if the trump suit was ♥A74 opposite ♥QJ1083. Don't try to cross to your hand to lead out the ♥Q - instead, play the ♥A and another heart so you draw as many rounds of trumps as possible. |
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Last updated : 4th Sep 2022 21:49 ESTA |
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Support Doubles |
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What do you bid here? Click Show Answer for our choice…
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On this hand, you should double (a Support Double).
A support double is:
- A conventional double by the opener to show a 3-card support for responder’s suit, hoping to find partner with a 5-card suit for a 5-3 fit.
- Support doubles only apply to the opener’s re-bid after the fourth seat opponent intervenes. If this intervention is double, the opener can redouble.
Although your hand is very flat, you should still try and fight for the part-score with a support double.
Partner’s 1♠ response shows 4+♠s, so at worst in this example, partner will play in a 4-3 ♠ fit at the two level.
Thanks to Any Hung for this snippet. |
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Last updated : 7th Aug 2022 12:22 ESTA |
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Plan Your Defence |
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You are South. Partner opens a weak 2♠ (middle of the road styled preempt), East doubles, and you bid 3♠ (4♠ is probably better, but say you bid 3♠ ). West bids 4♥ and this ends the auction.
Partner leads the 6♠ (playing fourth best leads).
Plan your defence, then Show Answer to see what Andy Hung has to say.
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Partner has six spades to the king (rule of 11) so we have a spade trick and a club trick. If we want to have any hopes of defeating this contract, we must assume that partner has a trump trick.
However, one trump trick is not enough. Since dummy's diamonds are good (with our ♦ J109 dropping) and the clubs are well placed for declarer (if he has the ♣ J or ♣ Q, the finesse of the ♣ 10 will be successful), we require two trump tricks.
Thus, our only chance is to switch to a small club at trick 2! Visualising partner with the ♥ A and a doubleton club, this switch is our most likely hope of defeating this contract (that is, we first give up a club trick, and when partner gets in with the ♥ A, he can return his last club to our ♣ A so we can give him a ruff).
Partner held: ♠ K98642 ♥ A9 ♦ 753 ♣ J9
Declarer held: ♠ 3 ♥ KQ8762 ♦ 642 ♣ Q85.
Thanks to Andy Hung for this successful defence to an otherwise likely contract. |
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Last updated : 9th Jul 2022 11:57 ESTA |
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Bidding 6D |
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Here is a hand from Saturday, 25th June. Ian has asked how to get to the cold 6D contract by NS.
On the day, there were 4 different contracts at all four tables: 4S by S, 5D by N, 5H by W and 6D by N. The auction was obviously quite competitive at each table, which can sometimes make slam bidding more difficult, but on other occasions it can help. John and I got to the 6D contract, and I will give you our bidding, and some of the thinking behind the bids. There are no doubt other ways it could be bid.
After a pass by East South opened 1C. What do you think about the South hand?
11 HCP's, but a nice 11. Why? When you have honours that support each other, that makes for a stronger hand (let's say worth an extra point or two), than single honours scattered between the suits. It is also better to have the honours in your long suits, not in short suits. Note also the 9♠, which strengthens the spade suit. So we have two pretty good black suits, plus a singleton is usually nice to have. Better than having 3 small diamonds and two small hearts, for example. Certainly happy to open the bidding with this hand.
West bid 2H, which seems reasonable. Light on points for vulnerable, but you have a seven card suit and a void, so a fair trade off. Note the 4 card spade suit is a small factor against bidding, since it reduces the chances of a successful NS spade contract. You don't want to be sacrificing in 5H, say, when it turns out 4S is going off.
North bid 3D, which is forcing and seems the normal bid to make.
East bid 3H. A little conservative, but a flat hand with soft values, so certainly an option. The alternative of 4H is also reasonable given your side has at least an 11 card fit.
South bid 4D. It is important to support partner's suit, and let them know we have a fit, in a competitive auction. What about the hand itself? Is it too weak? Are we worried about bidding our 11 count opening at the four level? No! The hand has improved considerably. Our diamond holding, the weakest part of the hand originally, has just become quite valuable. Also, with partner showing values, the chances of fitting honours in the black suits has gone up. With the opponents both bidding hearts, the chances of partner having wasted values there goes down. An honour in diamonds would have been nice, oh well, but at least we have the 10.
West passes.
North jumps to 6D, bidding the slam. Why?
South has bid at the four level, with support for diamonds. It is likely they have ♦ Qxx or better, so there is a good chance of no losers in trumps. Partner opened with 1C, and the North hand has length and fitting club honours. Where are South's points? With the opponents bidding hearts, and partner avoiding 3NT, it is likely they are in the black suits. So slam is an excellent bet. A very well judged bid.
Now to the play.
Have a look at the spade suit. Notice the nine mentioned earlier, and how North's 10 fills in the gap to make an almost solid suit, missing only the Q. It gives the option of an each way finesse. Those 9s and 10s are worth keeping an eye on.
Although the odds of no trump loser is 78% (a 2-1 break), there was bad news when North played the ♦ A. Do we now need to guess which way to take the spade finesse to make the slam? Not at all. After ruffing the heart lead and playing two rounds of trumps, North played on clubs. If East ruffs the fourth round with the winning queen of trumps, they are endplayed, either leading a spade away from the queen or playing a heart for a ruff and discard, with North throwing the losing spade. So East discarded. North now played a third trump, endplaying East and giving them the same unhappy choice. Well played John!
Cheers, Dave
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Last updated : 28th Jun 2022 11:59 ESTA |
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(11th Aug 2022)
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What do you LEAD? |
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Spoiler alert: resist the temptation to show all hands until you've decided!
After the auction, here's the bidding review:
- *2♦ is fourth-suit forcing to game
- 4NT = Roman Keycard Blackwood
- *5♦ = 1 or 4 keycards
You are South. What do you lead?
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There are some clues from the auction that may guide you. Firstly, we know for certain that East (our RHO) has a 6-4 (or maybe a 5-4) ♣-♥ shape. What about West, do we know much about her hand?
One thing's for sure - West (our LHO) must have a very good hand to have immediately jumped to 4NT over 2♥ to ask for key cards. What does this mean?
Well, because we are looking at their missing key card (♣ A), and due to our strength in the red suits, we can be fairly sure that the likely reason that North jumped to 4NT is because she has a long running spade suit! And also that our partner cannot hold the ♠ A as the opponents surely won't bid a slam off two aces!
Thus, leading a diamond to try and set up a trick won't work - the declarer will just win the diamond lead, draw trumps, and utilise those spades.
Therefore to have any hope of defeating this contract, we must only go for our one and only shot: Play partner for a singleton club. Lay down that ♣ A and hope!
Show all hands now.
Today is your lucky day, as your partner is there for you with a singleton club!
This hand was from the 2016 Australian National Championship (ANC) Final. Thanks to Andy Hung for this analysis.
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Last updated : 21st Jun 2022 10:11 ESTA |
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Board 25 - Monday June 6 |
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Thanks Imogen for putting this hand up for analysis. Let's make some general points first.
1. The hand records tell us grand slam is available in clubs, spades and NT. However, that is only because on the actual hand the queen of clubs is onside. If during the bidding you determine that you are missing that important queen, it is not good strategy to bid the grand slam. You are much better off in a 100% small slam than a 50% grand slam, needing a finesse. This is because a successful small slam is usually a top or equal top board at matchpoints. You are throwing away that top score 50% of the time if you bid the grand, for little gain, since you already have an excellent score on the board. So on this hand the goal is actually to bid a small slam. On the day, 3 tables played in 4♠ and one in 3NT. Bid the small slam, you get a top.
2. Sometimes a hand suits one type of bidding system but not another. For this hand a Standard bidding system is not suited to finding the slam. Playing a Strong Club system it is quite easy. So you might feel you have not bid well because you missed a cold slam, but sometimes it is awkward with the system you are playing. I will explain why.
Considering the South hand, most people would play that it is a half or one playing trick short of a strong 2♣ opening. That means you will open it 1♠. Looking at North, 9 HCP is not usually sufficient for a 2 level response of 2♣ . This means you will respond 1NT. South will now jump rebid with 3♠, which is not improving the North hand, and they will respond 3NT. So a normal bidding sequence in Standard would be 1♠ - 1NT, 3♠ - 3NT. From here South may pass, which might garner a better score in matchpoints. The spade suit is certainly suited to running in 3NT. There is more risk playing in 3NT given the singleton diamond, so with the solid trump suit South may prefer to revert to 4♠. But it is hard to see how either player can now bid beyond game. So to sum up, the first bids of both players are just shy of a more powerful bid, which makes bidding the slam difficult.
The best chance for slam is if North bids 2♣ over 1♠. The club suit is fairly strong, with a lovely JT9 sequence, and the ten of hearts works with the jack. So it is a very good 9 count. You are a passed hand, so your 2 level bid is limited, also making it a reasonable option. On the downside, when partner opens 1♠, there is a risk the hand is a misfit, which might argue against the more aggressive bid. So it is up to your system agreements, and your judgement, whether you upgrade and bid 2C. If you do, the bidding might go: 1S - 2C, 3S - 3NT, ... Now South can bid 4C, showing the club fit and suggesting slam interest. North can bid 4♦ as a cue bid, showing the ♦A. This is perfect for the South hand, who might then bid 4NT (RKC Blackwood), to explore whether to play a small or grand slam. North responds 5H - 2 keycards but denying the ♣Q, and South can bid a slam, either 6♠ or 6♣. The spade slam scores higher at matchpoints but is at risk with a 5-1 or 6-0 spade break (a 17% chance). The club slam is safer. (Could try 6NT as well, but seems a little risky with likely only single stoppers in the red suits.) So take your pick.
If you were to open the South hand with 2♣, North will make a positive response of 3♣, and the bidding will then go along similar lines to the sequence above, and you will get to slam. But exactly 8 playing tricks is probably just under what most partnerships require for a 2C opening. Again, that is up to your system and your judgement.
Bidding the hand in Symmetric Relay, without going into the details I can tell you that South knows that the North hand has 8-11 HCP, with exactly 1345 shape, and an A and a K, by the level of bidding 3S. Very easy to then find out about the key cards and the CQ and either stop in the small slam, or bid the grand.
Cheers, Dave Faulkner
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Last updated : 8th Jun 2022 16:09 ESTA |
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1
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(13th Jun 2022)
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Bidding a Slam |
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When partner opens the bidding and you have a big hand, it is quite exciting. But how do you work out whether a slam is on, or should you just play in game?
Let's have a look at a hand from Saturday afternoon (Board 27, 14th May).
Most partnerships have some sort of strong response to partner's major suit opening. 2NT here is the Jacoby convention, which agrees hearts as trumps and is forcing to game. It asks partner to further describe their hand. Partner's 3♦ bid shows a singleton or void in diamonds.
With the possibility of a slam in mind, make up your mind on the following questions, then look at the answer.
What to Consider
1. What do you think about your trump holding?
2. What do you think about the diamond suit opposite partner's shortage?
3. What do you think about the Q of clubs?
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1. Your trump holding is poor. You have no honour and only 3 card support. This makes a trump loser quite likely. Give partner AK to 5 trumps, say, you still have a certain loser. Maybe it will be 50% on a finesse with other holdings. In addition however, you may not be able to both finesse in trumps and ruff some number of clubs.
Your 3 card holding also increases the risk of a bad trump break. If your side has 8 trumps, a 4-1 or 5-0 break will still occur about one third of the time.
Holding a fourth trump would greatly increase the strength of this hand, especially if you are chasing a slam, by countering all the negative points given above.
2. Using your bidding system to show a shortage is a powerful evaluation tool. This is why many people play splinter bids. In this case, partner showing singleton or void in diamonds is bad news. Holding a sequence of honours opposite a shortage is called duplication of values. Partner might count an extra 3 point for a singleton, while you are also counting 3 points for your king. You are in effect counting 6 points for one trick. So we can say that the king has lost value on this hand.
The other problem with partner having a diamond shortage is it may be difficult or impossible to set up the diamond suit, which may be necessary to make slam. One opponent is quite likely to have length in the suit, and you don't have many outside entries to dummy after drawing trumps.
3. The club Q is not a card we want to hold. It is virtually worthless. If partner has the A, then before ruffing a club or two, they will play it and the Q will fall under it. If the opponents have the A, the same thing will happen. It is wasted.
This is the wrong Q for us to hold. Consider the effect of swapping it for the Q♦ or the Q♥ . Wouldn't your hand go up in value significantly? If the opponents held the Q♣, would we care? So don't count anything for this card.
When you pick up your hand, and count your 14 HCPs, be prepared to reevaluate those points after a round or two of bidding. On this hand, although we have a nice hand, reevaluating tells us it has lost value, with several negative features, and that slam is unlikely unless partner has some extra values and trump length in his hand. In which case he can still bid on, you have game forced after all. So at this point bidding game is sufficient. |
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Last updated : 5th Jun 2022 08:21 ESTA |
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1
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(17th Jun 2022)
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What would you bid? #2 |
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What would you bid?
When you have decided, see the answer for the assessment of Andy Hung (Australian Teams member).
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You should jump to 4♠. Bidding 3♠ is a bit too timid here - whilst we "only have eight points", remember, partner has made a takeout double so is showing an opening hand with support for all unbid suits! Additionally our length in clubs suggests partner will likely have a singleton ♣ rather than a doubleton ♣.
Try to visualise a minimum hand from partner: ♠A854 ♥AJ52 ♦QJ73 ♣4. Opposite that hand, game is a very good prospect!
If we only bid 3♠, partner will (rightly) expect us to hold a relatively weak hand, and would therefore pass with a minimum hand. Remember, when responding to a takeout double, it is our duty to show our strength. With weak hands, we bid our suit at the cheapest level, and if we have a stronger hand, we must make a jump (or sometimes even a cue bid)!
With thanks to Andy Hung |
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Last updated : 5th Jun 2022 08:21 ESTA |
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What Would You Bid? |
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No one is vulnerable. As South you open with 1♠.
What would you bid in in response to the opponents 3♦? Compete with 3♠ After partner's support? Something else?
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It might be tempting to compete to 3♠ given that we are not vulnerable, but take a look at your hand.
All we know about partner's hand that we have an 8-card ♠ fit and we have the worst possible shape to be competing 3-over-3 (a very balanced 5332 shape).
Our Q♦ is known to be a wasted card (they bid ♦ twice), and looking at our hand, our honour cards are scattered everywhere!
Contrast this hand to one like this, even with one less HCP: ♠KQ1092 ♥65 ♦42 ♣AQJ3 where all of our points are concentrated - it makes a world of difference and by all means bid 3♠!
With all signs pointing to defence, passing 3♦ is best. If partner has an unbalanced hand and a fourth trump, then partner could compete to 3♠, but for all we know, hers may just be a defensive-oriented hand with only three ♠ trumps.
With thanks to Andy Hung. |
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Last updated : 5th Jun 2022 08:20 ESTA |
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4
Comment
(31st May 2022)
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02 May 2022 - Board 1 |
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A defensive problem for you today.
North opens 2NT, and despite your attempt to interfere, the opponents end up in 4♥ by North and you lead the ♦K, taken by declarer's ♦A.
Declarer cashes the ♥A and this is the moment where you should stop for thought and plan your defence, since it is your first chance to think after seeing dummy.
What can you do to help defeat this contract?
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North has 4 or 5 hearts, which means that partner has at least 4 hearts, and declarer may have a problem in the trump suit.
The only useful values in dummy are the singleton diamond, allowing North to ruff losing diamonds, and the club suit, possibly allowing North to discard losers.
You can't do anything about the diamond situation, but you can attempt to kill the club suit. When declarer leads the ♣K, you must duck and observe partner's length signal. If your partnership has studied Kantar's "Introduction to Defender's Play", they will play the ♣7 on this trick.
With the 9, 8 and 6 missing, you need to decide whether partner has 9-8-7 and has played low to show an odd number, or 7-6 and has played high to show an even number. When declarer leads the ♣6, however, all becomes clear, and you take this trick, locking declarer out of dummy.
Declarer cannot eat the ♠2, and partner will take the setting trick in spades.
Defence is so easy! |
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Last updated : 3rd May 2022 10:06 ESTA |
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1
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(11th Jun 2022)
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15 April 2022 - Board 23 |
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A member asked how to get to 4♥ on this deal.
A standard approach is to play responses to overcalls as forcing for one round, usually based on a 5-card suit, since advancer (overcaller's partner) is (probably) short in overcaller's suit, thus making a 5-card suit more likely.
Using this approach, West has an easy raise to 2♥, and East has enough strength to bid game.
South leads the ♦6. How would you approach the play? Can you make it if one of the opponents has all four missing trumps?
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You seem to have only one side-suit loser, the ♠A, since the small club can go on the ♦K.
You can therefore afford to lose two heart tricks, and any 2-2 or 3-1 heart break will be OK. Just play the Ace and another.
In the unlikely scenario where North has all four trumps, you will go down, as North will make three trump tricks. Since a 4-0 break in either hand is a 10% chance, the chance of North having all four trumps is 5%, and protecting against that seems worthwhile.
Therefore, the best play is a small trump towards the queen. If South has all four, playing the King or ducking won't help - you will always lose only two trumps. If South shows out, the Queen loses to North's King, and you can now lead twice through the remaining J-10-4 and lose only one more trick.
On the actual deal, the trumps are 3-1, so virtue was its own reward.
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Last updated : 18th Apr 2022 08:53 ESTA |
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4 April 2022 - Board 7 |
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This misfit deal was suggested by a member - one of many to play in a bad spade contract.
The trouble starts when (presumably) South opens 1♣ and West pre-empts in spades. What level do you think is best for West?
Many would bid 3♠ on the basis of holding a 7-card suit. This effectively pre-empts partner out of the necessary space to find a reasonable red-suit contract.
A little luckier is a 2♠ overcall. Perhaps the suit quality and the vulnerability suggest pulling in a notch? Over this, East, who has a right to think that a game may be on, will have room to bid 3♦, then 4♥ to suggest 6-5 shape, thus reaching the heart game.
Misfits are tricky!
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Last updated : 11th Apr 2022 08:37 ESTA |
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17 March 2022 - Board 10 |
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This deal is from the first round of the Autumn Teams.
South is in 6♥ (would you get there?) and West leads ♦7. Plan the play.
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The ♠2 goes on the opening lead, taken by the ♦A, and all the side suits are "in the bank".
The contract depends on playing the trumps for one loser. The correct line with this holding is to take a double finesse, just as you would with A- Q-10-x opposite x-x-x-x.
Lead a small heart and finesse the 8 unless West plays an honour. On this deal, the 8 wins the trick!
Now that you know West has both honours, return to the South hand with a spade and lead the ♥Q. You will lose one trump trick and chalk up +1430.
If East had produced the King or Jack, you would finesse against the other honour on the next round.
You chances are a bit better than 75% - excellent odds for a small slam. |
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Last updated : 22nd Mar 2022 11:34 ESTA |
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7 March 2022 - Board 1 |
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And here it is again!
If you looked at yesterday's deal, then the heart suit in today's deal would be no problem. Just lead the ♥J, and when it is covered by the ♥K and ♥A, come back to hand and finesse the ♥10.
Short and sweet.
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Last updated : 9th Mar 2022 08:10 ESTA |
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1
Comment
(13th Mar 2022)
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28 February 2022 - Board 1 |
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Today's deal involves bidding a poor slam and getting away with it by playing a suit to best advantage.
Would your partnership reach 6♣ or 6♥ on this layout?
If East decides the hand is worth a 2♣ opening, it might go 2♣ -3♦ (positive), 4♣ -4♥ , 6♥ . After all, East has a 3-loser hand.
South leads the ♠ 10. The ♣ A is going to lose a trick. How do you play the heart suit for no loser?
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There are two possibilities, both of which need the King onside.
Line 1: Lead a small heart to the Queen, and cash the Ace. If the King is onside and doubleton, you can now drop the Ten with the Jack.
Line 2: Lead the Jack, intending to run it. If North covers, take the Ace, return to the West hand and finesse the Nine.
Line 2 is better, but has only a 22% chance of success. On this deal, your luck is in.
Without the Nine in the East hand, line 2 is not available and you must play line 1, which succeeds only about 13% of the time.
These suit combinations are tricky things!
If you happen to land in 6♣ instead, things are no better. You still need to play the hearts in the same way for no loser. You can discard one heart on the third spade, but you will still have that pesky ♥9 to deal with.
... and if North doesn't cover the ♥J? You must still assume that the King is there, and thank the gods that North didn't "cover an honour with an honour", because you can now finesse the Queen and get home without worrying about the Ten. |
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Last updated : 6th Mar 2022 07:28 ESTA |
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7 February 2022 - Board 8 |
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Here is a rarity. a grand slam with a twist.
There a many ways to bid this layout. One is:
West |
East |
1NT (14 HCP and a 5-3-3-2) |
2♥ (transfer to ♠ ) |
2♠ |
4NT (RKCB) |
5♣ (1 or 4 Key Cards) |
5♦ (Do you have ♠ Q?) |
7♠ (Yes, and enough Kings) |
Pass (OK) |
North leads the ♥ 4 to the 10, Q and A. Plan the play. Be warned - it's not easy.
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We have 12 top tricks: 6 spades, 2 hearts, 3 diamonds and 1 club, so we need to find a 13th trick.
After winning ♥ A, the plan is to make an extra diamond trick by bringing down the ♦ J. Thus we take ♠ A, ♠ K (preserving entries to hand) and the trumps behave themselves.
Next, ♦ A, ♠ Q, preserving the ♥ K as a later entry, and ♦ K, ♦ Q, discarding a heart and a small club. The bad news is that the ♦ J is not coming down, and the 13th trick needs to come from somewhere else.
There is one hope: North, who started with 2 spades and 1 diamond, presumably has the heart stopper (since South would have played the J from Q-J), and the club stopper (K-Q-x and more). If so, we can ruff a diamond to hand and run all of the trumps, leading to this end position:
West |
East |
♠ --- |
♠ --- |
♥ K 8 |
♥ 10 |
♦ --- |
♦ --- |
♣ --- |
♣ J |
North can keep only 2 cards: if they are hearts, the ♣ J is good. If North has kept the ♣ K, the hearts are good. Now you can see why the ♥ K had to be preserved.
Voila! |
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Last updated : 14th Feb 2022 11:29 ESTA |
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7 February 2022 - Board 5 |
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A member requested that I look at this deal.
After North passes (would you?) and East passes, South opens 1NT (15-17). West passes and North has to consider the best way to get to some game.
This deal comes under the general category of "enough for 3NT or 4♠ if partner has the right cards, but maybe not enough for 5 of a minor".
The general strategy with these hands is to try for the major suit fit and bail out to 3♣ if partner's response to 2♣ is disappointing.
On this deal, a 2♣ response fetches 2♥ . The recommended continuation now is 3♠ , denying hearts and showing spades at a game-going level. Partner bids 4♠ and East finds the risky, but best, lead of a small diamond.
How do you play this one?
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You have 2 diamond losers on this nasty lead as well as the ♠ A. That's all you can afford.
Counting winners, you have three spade tricks by force, one diamond, and three clubs, a total of seven tricks.
One possible source of extra tricks is a ruffing finesse in hearts, pitching diamonds and hoping West has the ♥ A. If this fails, it's instant death as you will lose the heart as well as the above three tricks.
A better line could best be described as an undignified scramble: win ♦ A, club to the ♣ K, heart ruff. club to the ♣ Q, heart ruff.
Now, ♣ A to pitch a diamond. If they ruff this, you have swapped a diamond loser for a trump loser (on the ♣ A). Wonder of wonders, they both follow and your clubs are good.
Next is to drive out the ♠ A. They have no defence now. You will just lose a diamond and a heart by drawing the last trump and driving out the ♥ A.
When you have a difficult deal like this, the "Play It Again" button is your friend. |
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Last updated : 13th Feb 2022 11:54 ESTA |
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1
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(16th Feb 2022)
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4 February 2022 - Board 10 |
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After two passes, West opens 1♦ , North overcalls 1♥ , and east makes a pre-emptive raise to 3♦ . How would you continue as South?
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South appears to have two choices: 3♠ (forcing), or a responsive double, which tends to deny support for partner and suggest the unbid suits.
If South bids 3♠ . North has a right to be excited. 4♠ is the safe option; 4♦ is the exciting option. Your partnership should decide what this means. It would be nice if it promises a good hand, a fit, and slam aspirations.
If North bids 4♦ with this meaning, South should go quietly now with 4♠ . The ♦ Q figures to be worthless, and the spades are a bit tatty. North will need very good cards to continue.
If South chooses the responsive double instead, North will show the clubs. South's minimum in context will dictate raising this to 5♣, which is the second-best spot.
This deal is a good illustration of the effect of "bidding the trumps". East assumes that West has 4 diamonds (3 is very unlikely) and raises the ante, taking the maximum bidding space at reasonable risk. |
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Last updated : 9th Feb 2022 10:15 ESTA |
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28 January 2022 - Board 4 |
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This is an interesting defensive problem. A possible path to 3NT is shown.
The opening lead at every table where 3NT was reached was a heart. This suggests that North may have suppressed the heart suit over 2♦ , bidding 2NT or 3NT instead.
In any case, the lead of fourth-best from K-Q-x-x or Q-J-x-x is fairly dangerous, since it is likely to give up a cheap trick as happened here.
If the defenders are fortunate enough to hear the example auction, the percentage lead is the unbid suit, and East might try the ♣ 10. West must be careful! Taking the ♣ A and returning the club gives North the contract.
West must duck the club (giving an encouraging signal), and North wins. Now, North tries the diamonds, overtaking the Jack and finding that there are only three diamond tricks. Now North goes after the spades.
East must win the first spade and then return the precious ♣ 8 while West still has ♠ A. Now West cannot be prevented from getting the lead and taking the setting trtick in clubs.
Defense is hard!
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Last updated : 30th Jan 2022 12:52 ESTA |
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14 January 2022 - Board 21 |
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A member wonders whether it's possible to get to 6♠ on this deal.
Looking at the analysis, North can make 5♠ , and South can make 6♠ , so the first observation is that it's pretty unlilkely for South to declare a contract in Spades, and therefore 6♠ is "no go".
In practice, 4♠ was played by North at every table, but two declarers managed 12 tricks. Let's see if we can work out how.
All Easts led a club, which West presumably won. Looking at the North-South assets, there are 6 spade tricks, 1 heart trick, and 4 diamond tricks after North draws trumps, plays 3 rounds and ruffs the 4th diamond in hand. That makes 11.
It seems that the defenders who gave up 12 tricks attempted to cash a second club at trick 2. Declarer ruffs this, and now the ♣ Q is the 12th trick. This is a good example of "declarer's advantage". It's much easier to manage your assets (i.e. as declarer) if you can see 26 cards, and yet another reason (in general) to bid aggressively.
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Last updated : 17th Jan 2022 11:40 ESTA |
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1
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(18th Jan 2022)
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10 January 2022 - Board 2 |
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Here's an oddity. East-West have bid to 5♣ in a pretty direct way. Your partnership might do it differently, but all roads should lead to either 5♣ or 3NT.
The oddity is that South appears to have three tricks, the ♣ A, the ♠ K and the ♦ K, but South is end-played at trick 1! These are the ugly choices:
- Lead the ♣ A and put off the misery for one trick, or
- Lead a spade and lose the spade trick, or
- Lead a diamond and lose the diamond trick, or lastly
- Lead the ♥ K, which looks reasonable, but is also fatal: East takes the ♥ A, and eventually leads a heart from hand, building a heart trick via a ruffing finesse to discard a spade from dummy to avoid the spade loser.
Some days you're the windscreen, and some days you're the insect!
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Last updated : 17th Jan 2022 11:25 ESTA |
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1
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(15th Jan 2022)
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31 December 2021 - Board 8 |
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In the suggested auction, South cues East's suit to show a good hand with a club fit. North's heart holding suggests 3NT.
East leads ♥ Q. Over to you.
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The hearts appear to be 6-1, and the club finesse will lose to West if the ♣ K is wrong, so no holdup is necessary, since West is already out of hearts after trick 1.
Counting our tricks, we see 2 hearts, 3 diamonds, and 3 or 4 clubs. If the club finesse is wrong, there are only eight tricks.
This is one of those times when a "just in case" play, routinely made by top players and difficult for us mere mortals, is worth a try: cash the ♦ A before doing anything alse and lo! East is void.
Now, a diamond to the 10 and we have four diamond tricks. Deblock the ♦ Q next and try the ♣ Q. If it loses and West returns a spade, we need to put up the ♠ K as the only chance, since if East has that card, we are dead.
Sadly, this is real life and down we go, but the diamond play is worth remembering.
You can see the full deal by clicking "Show All Hands".
Footnote: Which spade do you think West should return? A low one to the Jack will make East nervous about cashing the Ace, since it's not obvious that the King will drop. The Queen lead is the winner this time, since West is pretty sure it's necessry to run the spade suit to beat the contract.
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Last updated : 3rd Jan 2022 07:00 ESTA |
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17 December 2021 - Board 1 |
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The search for the first entry in this feature didn't take long - It's Board 1 - a competitive battle. This deal is an illustration of the need to get in early and often.
North has 2 quick tricks and 7 losers, suggesting a 1♠ opening. If North passes, the auction will probably continue 2♥ -Pass-4♥, and now it's a bit difficult to get into the action. Better to open 1♠, thus getting in early.
East needs to show the hearts. The choices are 2♥ , which should suggest a sound overcall. 3♥ suggests a hand more like a Weak Two, so that seems more appropriate.
South's long-term winning strategy with a 10-card fit and little defense is an immediate "bid the trumps" raise to 4♠. North's opening move has paid off, since NS can make 9 tricks against best defense, a much better outcome than allowing the opponents to make 4♥.
West has a difficult decision now. 4♥ is a probable make, so West's choices are Double, Pass or 5♥. Pass is poor - If 4♥ is making, it's impossible to get enough compensation unless West doubles. Even in that case, EW would need 500, which means taking 6 tricks on defence, an unlikely prospect. With a probable spade loser and no likely red-suit losers, the question is whether EW will lose 2 club tricks. Let's say West decides that East is likely to have something in clubs (after all, where else?) and bids 5♥.
Now it's North's turn to ponder. North can see only one spade trick and the ♣ A. South's pre-empt makes a third trick for NS moot, so 5♠ is indicated. EW need to double this to protect their score.
The "par" score on this deal is 300 to EW, which this auction achieves. If you are not familiar with this concept, it is the best score that can be achieved by either side if everyone does the "right" thing. On this deal:
- NS must bid 4♠ because -100 (if doubled) is better than -420 for 4♥
- EW must then bid 5♥ because +450 is better than +100
- NS must then bid 5♠ because -300 (if doubled) is better then -450
- EW must then double because +300 is better than +100, and EW cannot make any higher contract.
You might think that this is a difficult deal, and you would be correct. This was a Nationwide Pairs deal played 107 times. The par score was achieved - once.
This is hopefully the first in a series. In later efforts, I will use a quiz format some of the time to test your bridge and generate some discussion. Feel free to (a) comment on this deal, and (b) submit deals you would like discussed in future entries.
Cheers for now,
Gary
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Last updated : 22nd Dec 2021 08:58 ESTA |
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