Recap Of 4/27/2015 28 Board IMP Individual

I’m gone all of May, so we had our ‘May’ game on 4/27,  There were four big swings.

First up was a game that didn’t get bid by our teammates.  After opening the bidding with the obvious 1♥, West must find a rebid over the forcing 2♣.  Our teammates rebid the anemic heart suit and the auction died in 3♥, just making for +140.  At my table, Ed noticed the strong club support (♣AK), but since clubs were not suitable for a raise with a doubleton, he invented a 2♦ rebid to await developments.  Manfred, Ed’s partner, took note of his spade stopper and bid the NT game.  When clubs behaved, there were 11 top tricks (1+1+3+6), and when partner got involved in a pseudo squeeze (making no IMP difference), declarer ended up with 12 tricks for -690, lose 11 IMPs.

This next hand illustrates the luck of the game.  With no firm agreements available, our teammates took a shot and bid to the cold (on a finesse) grand.  The IMP odds don’t suggest trying this.  Here, if the finesse loses, you are down 6, -600, lose 18 IMPs against the diamond slam bid and made at my table.  Nevertheless, the team that ‘won’ the auction (got to the best contract) still paid out 13 IMPs when the NT grand came home.  Perhaps I was a bit cautious with my pass over 3♦.  6-6 hands can play very well, but the doubled vulnerable undertricks can add up pretty fast.  Here 6♥ is a ‘good’ save over 6♦ since it only goes for -1100.  But, if you somehow prod them into the grand slam, now you have to take the more expensive save of 7♥ for -1400.  The small slam in diamonds is the more prudent contract, but some days…

I think I was way too cautious on this hand.  I can’t blame partner for missing this red game.   You know what they say – “Never bring back a red 170 to compare.”  I bid a timid 3♠ which ended the auction.  But, I felt rewarded when it looked like I could lose 1+0+1+2 – 10 tricks looked challenging unless the ♣A is onside.  The ♣A wasn’t onside.  The defense at my table made the only play to allow me to score 10 tricks.  I hoped our teammates might provide the defense to defeat 4♠ if game was bid at the other table.  But the same defense led to the same 10 tricks.  The play vs. 3♠ and 4♠ went exactly the same.  East led the ♥Q, declarer won the ♥A, then the ♥K, followed by a heart ruff/over ruff.  At this point it seems as though West can see declarer will be hard pressed to enter dummy to take a diamond finesse.  I can’t construct a hand for declarer where the spade lead by West at trick 4 gives declarer the contract, but a diamond play at trick 4 is the necessary card for West to lead at trick 4 to beat the contract.  There may be such a hand, but I’m not seeing it.  In any case, both tables led a diamond at trick 4, declarer took the obvious finesse, drew trumps and lost the 2 club tricks for 10 total tricks.

True, if declarer holds ♣Qx (Or singleton ♣Q or ♣J10 and guesses correctly), you will be forced to lead diamonds later (or allow him the dummy entry so he can lead diamonds later).  But, there is no need to lead diamonds now, and with the actual ♣Jx held by declarer, declarer has no way to ever get to dummy to take a diamond finesse unless you allow him to take it by leading diamonds after the overruff at trick 3.

An interesting side note – if declarer foresees the potential heart overruff.  At trick 2 declarer can take the diamond finesse, using the only sure entry that he has to dummy (after winning the ♥A at trick 1).  But this line loses when diamonds are 4-1 (28.3%), while protecting against 6-2 hearts (17.1%).  So, while it is the only sure way to make this particular hand as the cards lie, the diamond finesse at trick 2 may not be the best play for 10 tricks.

Bottom line +170 vs. -620, lose 10 IMPs.

Here the bidding is screwed up.  Editing the blog has proved challenging to me (no way to remove a bidding chart and start over, and no way to add lines to the bidding once it is posted).  So, missing at my table is a final double by me of the 5♣ contract.

Here we have yet another red game bid at one table and not bid at the other.  I doubled the final contract based on…beats me!  Well, the auction seemed slow/strained like they were trying to get to 3NT but couldn’t do it, so I hoped the 5 level might be seriously too high.  Or at least down 1.  11 tricks were there for both tables when the ♦Q was in the slot.  My double only cost 2 IMPs since game wasn’t bid by our teammates.  -750 vs. +150, lose 12 IMPs.