Recap Of 7/31/2019 28 Board IMP Individual

We had 8 double digit swings today.  Bidding choices played a large role in most of the deals, but leads, play of the hand and defense were heavily involved in 3 of the hands.

Before getting into the blog, I would like to give a shout-out to Ed Nagy and Gary Soules (regular players in the game, but they play on Monday, not Wednesday so they did not play yesterday) – they finished 2nd in the recently completed LM Pairs in Las Vegas.   And, while I’m at it, a (very) long  delayed recognition to Cris Barrere and Mark Ralph who won the Sr. Swiss last summer in Atlanta (and finished 13th in Las Vegas this year in the same event) – both Cris and Mark played yesterday.  Congratulations to all 4.

Here, one partnership was using “Kokish game tries” after 1M-2M.  One step up asks responder to bid a suit in which he would accept a game try (or 3M to say there is no suit where he would accept, 4M to say I have a maximum raise and accept with any suit).  If opener bids any higher, they are showing shortness and making a game try – partner to evaluate game prospects in light of that shortness.  That pair, as shown, bid their diamond shortness and responder, with a possibly wasted value in the ♦K just signed off in 3♥.  At the other table, opener felt the best “game try” was the old fashioned game try: bid game and try to make it.

After winning the opening spade lead with the ♠10, our declarer cashed the ♥A and noticed the fall of the ♥Q from North.  If South held the remaining ♥K10, the 3 level could be in jeopardy.  Declarer played no further trump, but played the ♦Q.  North won the ♦A and shifted to a club which South won with the ♣A.  Another club was won with the ♣K and a club ruff brought down the ♣Q, so declarer could simply play hearts and when they broke 2-2, declarer was up to 10 tricks, losing a heart, and the 2 outstanding aces.  Even though the spade suit was there, after the opening lead, for lots of tricks, untangling those tricks with limited/no dummy entries was rather futile, so declarer’s 10 tricks only included 2 spade tricks.

I don’t have the details of the play/defense at the other table, but our teammates scored 10 tricks as well, but since they bid the game, they were +620 and we were -170 to win 10 IMPs. 

Unless declarer floats the ♠10 to lose a spade trick to the ♠Q, or gets to dummy to lead a club to the ♣J, it seems 10 tricks will automatically be scored with most reasonable lines of play.

At my table, East, the dealer, saw a hand rich in aces and kings, so they opened 2NT despite holding “only” 19 HCP (and no 5 card suit).  Many players play that, after hearing a favorable response to Stayman, bid the other major to confirm that they like the one that opener responded and have at least some interest in exploring slam.  Our E-W opponents then cue bid their way to the excellent slam (on a finesse for 7 with 12 tricks quite likely if trump split and nothing terrible happens in spades).  At the other table, the 2NT jump rebid promised a similar hand (18-19 HCP, balanced)  but that was enough of a difference such that neither hand developed slam interest with our teammates subsiding in the 4♥ game.  With the heart finesse losing, 12 tricks was the limit, but with trumps splitting, it was easy to ruff the spades good and reenter dummy with a ruff to score up the slam.  We were -1430 while our teammates were +680, lose 13 IMPs.

What about that 2NT opening bid?  K&R evaluates it at 19.75, so the hand rich in aces and kings, lacking queens, is closer to 20 than it is to 19.  Clearly the decision to open 2NT (rather than rebid 2NT) was the driving force to reach the excellent slam.

http://www.jeff-goldsmith.org/cgi-bin/knr.cgi?hand=a8+aj75+k72+ak54

The same auction arrived at the same contract at both tables, but when my partner received a club lead, they correctly assumed that the opening leader did not have the ♣A, and they soon had 10 tricks (3+4+2+1). 

A diamond, a heart and a club had to be lost.  If spades break 3-3, you can reach 10 tricks without the club guess.  But, after the opening ♠J lead at the other table, declarer did not find the hoped for 3-3 spade split, so a club trick must be found to reach 10 tricks.  Sometimes a discovery play can aid in locating who has the ♣A and who has the ♣Q.  If East has both, you can’t go wrong.  If West has both, there is no winning play.  If they are split…you must choose.  About all declarer can discover on this hand is that West held the ♥KJ – is that enough to place the ♣A in the East hand?  It is truly a guess (without an opening club lead), so at the other table, declarer guessed to go up with dummy’s ♣K losing 2 red tricks and 2 club tricks for down 1.  That made our teammates score +50 to go with our +420, win 10 IMPs.

What about that lead?  I did not run it through Lead Captain, but I think David Bird would approve.  The doubleton ♠Jx is a safer lead than from ♣Qxx(xxx), since you may (and here you do) eliminate a guess for declarer on the club lead.  What about the club guess?  I think, on a spade lead, the club guess is strictly a guess, nothing to go on.

North, as the dealer, vulnerable, had to decide what to open.  At my table North started with 4♥ and that quickly ended the auction.  Should South explore further?  Slam could certainly fail if a black AQ were over either ♠/♣Kx.  The heart fillers that South has will certainly be welcomed by North (not to mention the diamond tricks), but is that enough?  It depends upon partnership style (this is a somewhat regular partnership), but eventually South decided to not move towards slam.  When I failed to cash the ♣A at trick 1, diamonds were established and declarer easily scored all 13 tricks.

At the other table, as you see from the auction above, North started with 1♥.  Once South supported hearts, slam interest was established and the N-S pair reached the heart slam.  Clearly, 6NT by South is where you would like to be with these N-S cards (in order to protect the ♣K from the opening lead), but South can’t be certain that North’s hearts are 7 long (to reach 12 tricks in NT, since it isn’t possible to ruff the diamonds good in NT!).  When East started with the ♣A, the danger was over and 12 tricks were easy.  That made our teammates +1430 compared with our -710 meant 12 IMPs for our side.

What about the opening preempt?  First seat preempts, especially at the 4 level, can be devastating to the opponents.  You are only preempting 1 partner, but 2 opponents.  But, preempts can be a double edged sword, taking partner out of the auction when you would like them involved.  Clearly this is not a 3♥ preempt, so the choice is to go high (4♥) or go low (1♥).  With partner having such useful cards, this deal worked best to start low.  On another deal, the preempt might have had greater success.

What about “transfers”?  Many play that when North opens 4♥ it is played (by the opponents) as a transfer to 4♠ – that is, when North opens 4♥ East (or West) is supposed to bid 4♠.  I almost did!  That would have been catastrophic, either pushing them into slam, or going for a very large number (1100).  I didn’t want to excite partner, and I thought partner would still have time to act if moving over 4♥ is the right action for E-W.

Once more, the identical auction at both tables resulted in the same contract, but different opening leads.  I reasoned that North might be 5=2=0=6 with 2 heart losers that might be discarded on diamonds unless hearts were cashed immediately, so I started with the ♥A.  Partner gave a suit preference signal for diamonds and I foolishly led my 5th best diamond (why not play the ♦J?!?!? to make certain declarer plays a high diamond from dummy).  Declarer played low on my ♦2 lead and partner was forced to play the ♦A.  When a club came back, declarer, banking on a 3-2 trump split, simply played the ♣A, cashed the ♠AK and led to the ♠Q.  With trump out, there were 5 top red tricks to cash in dummy, so all of the club losers could be discarded, declarer scoring 11 tricks.  Had I played a high diamond, declarer would still have 10 tricks, so with that start to the defense (and spades splitting), there was no way to defeat the contract.

The player holding my hand at the other table heard the same bidding, but selected a trump for their opening lead.  Declarer won in hand and, in hindsight, could not see anything wrong with leading a heart at trick 2 (seems right to me).  If East wins, 3 heart discards are established in dummy (and the defense must immediately cash a diamond trick or the diamond loser will be discarded on hearts).  If West wins the heart lead, only 2 heart discards are established, but the defense must now cash their diamond trick or lose it.  West did not have the ♥A, but if they did, once they won that trick, they would have to cash the ♦A (on air) or lead to East’s ♦A.  Whoever has the ♦A, the ♦KQ will both remain for 2 more discards.  Counting tricks (if trump split 3-2), declarer would have 5 trumps, at least 4 red winners in dummy, and the ♣A for at least 10 tricks.  I don’t know if the trump lead (reducing club ruffs in dummy) got declarer’s mind on club ruffs to establish his club suit, but in any case, declarer led a small club at trick 2 and subsequently the defense had 4 tricks and declarer was down 1.

Another option for the defense is to duck the ♥A, losing the heart trick but depriving declarer of 3 discards.  That defense seems to have no future, because declarer can just lose a diamond and 2 clubs.

If clubs had been 3-2 and East held 4 trumps, the line of play chosen (small club at trick 2) would be the way to make the hand, since you can ruff the 3rd club high and still have the ♠AKJ to draw trump (ruffing a red card low to reach your hand, draw trump and claim).  Perhaps leading the ♣A at trick 2 is a better way to pursue this attack.  When the ♣K falls, revisit your options (abandon hope of 3-2 clubs and revert to hearts – you will likely still only lose 3 tricks).  On this deal, a small club at trick 2 didn’t work.  We were -650 and our teammates were -100, lose 13 IMPs.

I had a ‘normal’ weak jump overcall of 3♦ (favorable vulnerability but I think this hand has enough playing strength even with unfavorable vulnerability).  But, I decided a 4♦ bid might create more problems for the opponents (either push them into a heart contract that would fail on the bad trump split or get the auction high enough fast enough that they don’t venture into hearts).  Had the opponents reached 4♥ over my preempt, I’m guessing my partner would have taken out insurance to reach a 5♦ “save” (possibly bidding a lead directing 5♣ along the way in case the opponents persisted to 5♥).  But, no “save” was necessary since my bid ended the auction.  On top of that, partner held a magical hand that allowed 10 tricks in diamonds!  When my opponents never led trump, I could ruff 2 spade losers in dummy to score a total of 8 diamond tricks and 2 clubs for 10 total tricks, +130.

At the other table, needing 11 tricks in 5♦ (not possible unless the ♣QJ were with East) the opening lead of the ♥K was ruffed and declarer switched to spades (needing spade ruffs in dummy).  East hopped up with the ♠Q and led trump.  When declarer led spades again, West won and led another trump, so only 1 spade ruff was going to be possible.  The power of the ♣1098 meant that 3 tricks could be available in clubs (finesse twice) to reach 10 tricks.  Declarer finessed on the first club lead (required to find 11 tricks), losing to the ♣J.   But they opted to play the ♣AK on the second and third rounds of clubs, so that left a spade to lose in the end for down 2.  Our teammates were +300 and our +130 provided 10 IMPs.

Every once in awhile a hand comes up where I played sooooooo poorly that I really don’t want to put it in the blog for public consumption.  To date (I’ve been doing this blog for 6 1/2 years), I have resisted the temptation (that is, all of my bad hands have been published for all to see).  Today I am tempted again (to leave out this hand).  But, there are two lessons in this hand worthy of viewing, so here goes…

The auction at the other table quickly arrived at 3NT and there were 9 easy tricks after the club lead.  Declarer took their 9 tricks and that was that.

I wasn’t sure what partner’s 3♣ bid was asking, but I correctly concluded that he only held 4 spades, had game values, and possibly wanted to hear me bid NT if I had a club stopper.  Of course I didn’t, but I had a sufficiently robust heart suit that I proceeded to 4♥ (thinking a 6-1 fit will play better than the 4-3 spade fit).  Partner’s ♥Q was a welcome sight.  It looked like I could easily score 3+6+1+0 and make my contract as long as trumps were not 6-0 or 5-1.  I ducked the opening club lead and ruffed a club at trick 2.  I led to the ♥Q and had to return to hand to finish drawing trump.  The obvious (and only sure way) to reach my hand was a spade to the ♠K.  But, not just any old spade – due to holding both the ♠9 and ♠8, I could (and did) lead the ♠J to the ♠K and later, I would have the ♠9 that I could lead (playing the ♠8 underneath the ♠9) and retain the lead in hand for a third spade lead.

When trump were 4-2, I had to lead 3 more rounds of hearts to fully extract the opponents trumps.  Discards from dummy were awkward, so I decided to throw away 3 diamonds.  Now I led the ♠9, which won.  I had budgeted to lose 1 spade, 1 diamond and 1 club – 10 tricks.  Perfect.  But wait!  I haven’t lost a spade.  I can make 11 tricks if I take 1 more spade finesse!?!?!!??!  Mark Ralph, sitting North, knew 100% from the bidding that I had 3 spades, and watching me carefully unblock the ♠J, could see that I was set up for the sucker play of him ducking my ♠9.  Obviously, on the third round of spades I can simply win the ♠A (spurning the finesse) and get my 10 tricks.  When the ♠Q drops, I have 11 tricks – an undeserved overtrick.  But, I wasn’t counting tricks (when you are in a vulnerable game – it is always good to count tricks…when you have all you need, TAKE THEM!).  I finessed the ♠10 on the third spade lead and my 10 sure tricks dropped to 9 when I only scored 2 total spade tricks.  Down 1.  Taking a finesse for the overtrick is simply losing bridge.  Nice play by Mark to find the duck of the ♠Q, but terrible play by me to fall for it.

We were -100 and our teammates were -600.  Instead of winning 2 IMPs (by playing the ♠A), we lost 12 IMPs.  Sorry teammates.

Defensive lesson – if you can see declarer has a 100% certain line for his contract if you take one action, look for another action that may lead him down a losing path.  Declarer lesson – when you have your contract made, make it.  When will I ever learn?

At my table, West looked at his hand and saw a 1♣ opening bid.  When I responded 1♠ he rebid 1NT.  I have heard players tell their partner to ‘never’ rebid 1NT with a singleton.  Personally, I have found that (rebidding 1NT with a singleton in partner’s suit) to be the least of evils on many hands and I like my partner’s choice on this hand.  I really don’t like starting with 1♦ and rebidding 2♣.  Partner will expect 9-10 cards in the minors with that start, not 8.  Anyway, I had a balanced game hand so I had an easy raise to 3NT.  No opening lead appeals, so North decided to try the unbid major which turned out to be declarer’s strongest suit.  Knocking out the ♣A provides 8 top tricks and when North shifted to diamonds after winning the ♣A, declarer was up to 9 tricks (1+4+1+3).  South won the ♦A and returned the ♦J as declarer won the ♦K and North pitched the ♦Q (unblocking hopefully).  In the end, South discarded down to a singleton ♠K, hoping that declarer would take the ‘obvious’ spade finesse and that diamonds would cash for the setting tricks.  Unlike my play on the prior hand, declarer did not finesse in spades, so they had 11 tricks when the ♠K went under the ♠A.

At the other table, West, looking at their robust heart suit, albeit 4 long, decided that 1♥ was the best way to start the bidding.  Soon E-W were in the heart game.  Double dummy, no lead or defense can defeat 4♥, but the declarer needs their guessing shoes on.  Sorry, but I don’t know the defense nor line of declarer play, but when the dust settled, declarer had only found 9 tricks and ended up down 1.  Since North has no entry to provide a second club ruff, the defense has trouble finding 4 tricks, double dummy.  So, with the ♦A onside, and solving the 2-way guess for the ♠K (finesse or ruffing finesse), declarer can manage 10 tricks against any defense.  3NT, proved to be a much easier contract than the 4-3 heart fit.   With our teammates beating 4♥ for +50 and our +460, we were able to win 11 IMPs.