Recap Of 8/7/2019 28 Board IMP Individual

There were six hands with double digit swings, most of which involved bidding judgment (remarkably, on 4 of the 6 hands, it was the opening bid that got things started down a different path).  Other opportunities were available on defense and declarer play for substantially different results, so the judgment in bidding wasn’t the only factor determining who won the board.

Before getting into the hands, I want to honor Bruce Noda (he lived too far away to ever play in this game).  Tomorrow (Friday, 8/9) there will be a memorial service where many from the Bay Area will gather to celebrate what a great bridge player he was, but an even finer outstanding gentleman.  The bridge world lost a great one.  On page 12 in the attached Bulletin from Las Vegas there is a tribute to Bruce in case you missed it last month:

https://cdn.acbl.org/nabc/2019/02/bulletins/db5.pdf

 

 

What do you open in 3rd seat, both vulnerable?  Traditionally, I have only deployed bidding a 4 card major in 3rd/4th seat when I have less than an opening bid, so I didn’t consider 1♥ and thought nothing of opening 1♦.  After partner responded 1♠, it was time to rebid 1NT.  South, who passed over my 1♦ opening, doubled 1NT – showing hearts and clubs (although some play this hand to be strong with diamonds, not suitable for bidding 1NT the first time, but essentially, the double is penalty when they double at their second opportunity).  Anyway, what South had was hearts and clubs, the two unbid suits.  His partner had spades and diamonds.  So, rather than struggle to declare a marginal fit, North opted to defend and pass the takeout double, converting it to a penalty double – if 1NTX makes, at least they aren’t doubled into game.  On this deal, that strategy worked very well.

At the other table, the player holding my cards judged to open 1♥ and rebid 1NT after the 1♠ response.  Here, South had no convenient action, so 1NT was passed out.  Both tables were trying to find 7 tricks in NT, but the stakes were (much) higher at my table since I was doubled.

Double dummy, there are a variety of ways to reach 5 tricks (and probably single dummy too).  When I lamented to my teammates that I was down 3, -800, our teammates acknowledged that they slipped a trick – they could have had 300.  However, I could have been down 2 if I judged the timing better than I did.  That would have been -500 vs. teammates +200 (and kept this miserable deal out of the blog).  Alas, I only scored 4 tricks, -800 vs. +200 to lose 12 IMPs.

What happened?  Scoring 7 tricks as declarer was never remotely possible on this deal.  Part of my problem, as declarer, was trying to scope out my objective – how many tricks are possible?  Where is the ♠A, where is the ♦A, where are the ♥KQ?  I didn’t know it at the time, but this deal was all about making 4 tricks, as declarer, or 5 for -800 or -500.  I ducked the opening club in dummy and won the ♣A at trick 1.  I am still on track for 5 tricks, and I can choose to lead a club or a diamond at trick 2 to reach that total.  I tried a club and when South played the ♣9, I ducked (now I’m on track for 4 tricks).  But South continued with ♣K and another club to the ♣Q (I’m back on track for 5 tricks, since South had to shift to hearts (not obvious) rather than set up their clubs), but the only play available to me after winning the ♣Q (to reach 5 tricks) is to play a top diamond – that play didn’t cross my mind.  I led a heart, so now back to 4 tricks as the best possible result.  North covered with the ♥Q so I won the ♥A (my 3rd trick).  I led a diamond to the ♦K and ♦A and back came a spade, ducked to the ♠J.  South could cash a high club, high spade and high heart, and then lead a diamond.  I could win the ♦Q (4th trick), but North had the last 2 tricks (high spade and high diamond to beat dummy’s spade and diamond).  In all, I lost 3+1+2+3.  I only won 0+1+1+2.  While there were numerous obscure routes to 5 tricks, the easiest single dummy is to fly the ♣Q at trick 1 and play hearts while I still have the ♣A as an entry to my hearts and a diamond as an entry for a repeated heart finesse.

I have a choice to win the ♣Q at trick 1, trick 2, or trick 4.  After winning the ♣Q at trick 1, I can reach 5 tricks by playing a heart or a high diamond.  But, if I wait until trick 2 or 4 to win the ♣Q, the only way to score 5 tricks is to immediately play a high diamond.  I was still hoping the ♦A was onside, so I was never finding that play.

Probably a more normal single dummy route to 5 tricks is to win the ♣A and play a diamond at trick 2.  I think that is what the declarer did at the other table, and North ducked, retaining the ♦AJ over the remaining honor in dummy.  If that is how the defense plays, switching to hearts should eventually find 5 tricks for declarer.  This seems like a better line than what I tried.

So, neither the play nor defense was double dummy.  We went back and forth – 5 tricks available for declarer, no 4 tricks, no 5, no 4, no…until finally, I was down 3, -800.

Summary: opening 1♥ on this hand blocked South out of the bidding.  But I’m not taking a charge for  being at fault for opening 1♦ – should I?  What do you open with the East hand in 3rd seat?  

So, both tables played 1NT with the defense having play for 8/9 tricks, so while I hate -800, I’m not sure that the right play on this deal (to reach 5 tricks for declarer) was the right play overall.  I was hoping for 6-7 tricks.  What a way to start the day.

 

 

The first 6 calls were the same at both tables.  I got lots of support from both partner and opponents for my error on this hand (I’ve written before about “never” save at IMPs).  Of course that (“never save”) is an exaggeration, but still, that advice would have served me well here.  It was a phantom “save” (which is where the “rule” comes from – it is VERY expensive to choose to go down when the opponents were going down).  Still, the bidding sounded like they were bidding 4♥ with confidence, so it felt (to me) like time to save.  The player with my hand heard the exact same bidding and (wisely) chose to pass and defend.

Defending 4♥ the defense has an automatic spade, diamond and 2 trump tricks for down 1.  Defending 5♣ the defense has an automatic trick in every suit, down 2.  So, there was nothing happening for the lead, defense or declarer play, the hand was decided in the bidding judgment.  Our teammates were -100 and we were -500, lose 12 IMPs.

 

 

Even though the same contract was played at both tables, the route to arrive in 3NT was sufficiently different to alter the result.  I LOVE to bid 2♦ over 1♣ at every chance I get, since it simply makes a far more difficult auction than if I pass or bid 1♦.  After pass or 1♦ by East, North has an easy time bidding their 4 card major or whatever else they may have, but over 2♦ North often ends up with an awkward negative double (as they did here) followed by an auction that continues to be awkward.  It is pretty rare that bidding a suit headed by the Q9 becomes an effective lead director, but here the diamond bid which generated the diamond lead made things difficult for declarer.  Declarer can still score 9 tricks, even with the diamond lead, but (I think) to do so requires, possibly, some double dummy play. 

At our table, the lead of the ♥7 gave declarer some extra chances (although he isn’t home free).  With hearts behaving and the black aces knocked out, declarer has a pretty straight forward 8 tricks (1+4+2+1), but he has to find a second black trick to reach 9.  He won a high heart in dummy and then led a spade to the ♠K which won.  When he continued spades, East split his spade honors and after West won their ♠A, they led a small diamond to the ♦J.  Now declarer could power out the remaining high spade in order to establish the ♠9 and eventually get a club trick as well, so he ended up with 2+4+3+1 for 10 tricks and +630.

After the heart lead, using double dummy play, declarer “always” has 10 tricks, but in double dummy play, the defense should not split the ♠J10 on the second spade lead and declarer needs to play the ♠8, allowing the ♠A to catch air, promoting the ♠Q for a trick.  Then, passive defense (not a diamond) could have led to an eventual spade endplay against East to score 2 club tricks.  In all, after the heart lead, declarer can score 2+4+2+2, double dummy.

It is much better (for North-South) for South to declare NT, allowing protection for the ♦J4 on opening lead.  When South is declarer, only a club lead can hold declarer to 9 tricks, double dummy.  However, East was on lead at both tables and the diamond lead certainly presents a greater challenge for declarer.  To make 9 tricks, after East leads a diamond, there are a number of options, but many/most involve looking at all 52 cards.  To make, North should duck the first trick, but they don’t have to.  They should attack spades from dummy (but they don’t have to).  Essentially, the declarer needs to guess that the entry to the diamond suit is the ♠A and that the ♠A is doubleton.  Why would you “guess” that?  Well, your spade spots (missing ♠J10) are markedly better than clubs (missing ♣J1098).  So, it may be possible to generate a second spade trick by dropping a doubleton ♠J or ♠10 even if you do not find a doubleton ♠A.  But, double dummy, there are all sorts of lines that allow declarer to bring in 9 tricks.  The 9th trick has to come from scoring a second black trick by working out the location of the black aces and the shape (assuming 4-2, who has 4 and who has 2?).  Here the preempt helps (especially if you learn early that hearts are 3-3) – West has 3=6 in the red suits and therefore a doubleton in both black suits (of course they still could be 3-1 or 4-0 in the black suits).  On top of that, you have to guess which ace West holds.  Not an easy hand – I give credit to the 2♦ bid that ensured North would declare NT and that East would lead a diamond, the toughest start to the defense.

The closest thing to a ‘single dummy’ play to make the contract after a diamond lead would be: duck the diamond lead, win the diamond continuation, cross to dummy in hearts, lead a spade to ♠K, followed by a spade to ♠8.  On this lie of the cards, that brings you 9 tricks.  This comes with no guarantees, but a reasonable line of play assuming a 6 card diamond suit with West.

 

 

More bidding judgment issues going on at both tables.  After the dealer passed at our table, it seemed like we had a totally straightforward auction.  Partner (North) opened 1♣ followed by a takeout double, nothing to bid by my hand (South) and a strength showing cue bid by West.  North then ended proceedings with the jump to 5♣ which was doubled.  Perhaps, East-West may be more tempted to bid higher if North started with 5♣ but that could cause us to miss a totally cold 3NT when 5♣ is going down?  Declarer started (and ended) with 9 tricks when the defense, of course, led a trump to kill the heart ruff after cashing a high diamond.  Still, we thought we parred the hand, nothing happened.  Little did we know what was happening at the other table.

For starters, West opened the bidding.  The “rule” of 20 sometimes includes a requirement for 2 quick tricks, or at least that the points you have are working.  The ♦Q5 and ♣J5 would seem to value as 3 non-working points.  Another problem with the opening bid is that there is no convenient rebid.  This opening bid had disastrous consequences later in the hand.  After the 1♥ opening bid, North looked at their hand and saw 9 tricks on a heart lead and bid 3NT (the opponents may have 10 tricks to take on a non-heart lead, but worry about that later).  East had plenty of values to raise partner’s heart suit to game and all of a sudden my hand (South hand with 2 points) decided to enter the auction with 4♠.  North corrected to 5♣, but East continued on to 5♥ which North elected to double, ending the auction.  With clubs splitting 2=2, the declarer had no chance. 

In summary, both North players arrived in 5♣ after an initial lower action, but at the table where West opened the bidding, East competed to the 5 level where the other table decided to defend and take the plus score.  There was nothing to the leads, play or defense.  So, since my team declared at both tables, we were -300 and -200, lose 11 IMPs.

 

Wow, what a difference an opening bid makes!  Once more bidding judgment decides the board.  Often, the minimum HCP for a reverse starts at 16, but I think the rules change (a lot) when you are 5=6, especially, when both are majors.  Opening 1♥ and then bidding 2♠ shows considerable strength, but the East hand does have considerable playing strength – able to score 10 tricks opposite a nearly worthless dummy with the right lead.  In addition, letting partner in on the secret, when you are 6-5, regarding which suit is 6 long and which suit is 5 long can pay huge dividends, so I think Bruce’s decision to open 1♥ wasn’t just right on this deal, it was the right bid for this hand no matter how it turned out.

At the other table, the decision to open 1♠ (so that they could avoid being forced to reverse later in the auction) ended up losing the heart suit entirely, both for bidding and for lead direction.  But, it certainly seems reasonable/mandatory for East to come in with a 2♥ bid over North’s 2♣ Stayman  bid, even if North is ostensibly looking for a 4-4 fit, it could be (and was) that 2♣ is the only invite available (since a direct raise to 2NT would have had a different meaning).  The North-South pair bounced into 3NT and ‘all’ they needed was no heart lead plus a diamond finesse.  No problem.  2+0+6+1 produced 9 tricks and -600 for our teammates.  A heart bid at some point (after failing to open 1♥) would either keep the opponents out of 3NT or else allow an easy defeat on a heart lead.  At the table, after each double digit swing, I ask for the auction at the other table.  I think/hope I got the auction right but it seems very strange for East to never introduce hearts.

One comment that shouldn’t need stating, but I’ll state it anyway.  Declarer can make 11 tricks in NT (without the heart lead) via the club finesse.  But finessing in clubs is beyond crazy.  When the diamond finesse is necessary and sufficient to bring in 9 tricks (and likely to work given the opening bid), the correct club play is to the ♣A, providing the necessary entry to finesse in diamonds, the critical suit.

Meanwhile, at my table, after the 1♥ opening bid, partner has a routine 2♦ overcall which I raised to 3♦.  Bruce now came in with 3♠ which West converted to 4♥.  To make 10 tricks in hearts, ‘all’ that was needed was the opening lead of a high spade, 2-2 hearts and no entry to the North hand to lead diamonds through the ♦K2.  No problem after the ♠A opening lead – the defense no longer has an answer.  Declarer could establish spades, pitch dummy’s diamonds on spades, and then ruff a diamond and lose a diamond at the end, losing 2 spades and a diamond for 10 tricks.  Because of the lie of the spade suit, without the helpful opening lead, declarer has no play.  Since they don’t possess the ♠10, it is not possible to establish spades without ruffing a spade at which point it will no longer be possible to ruff a diamond in dummy because dummy’s trumps are gone.  So, a double game swing, losing -420 and -600 to lose 14 IMPs.  Wow!  At both tables, a different opening lead defeats the game.  However, had we defeated 4♥ we still lose 11 IMPs if the vulnerable 3NT comes home.

Prior to the lead, partner (South) could see 3 likely tricks (for sure his spades were not going away), so one more trick could achieve defeat.  If I have a spade ruff coming, it is likely the ruff will only happen if he starts with spades at trick 1.  Still, you rarely get rich cashing the AK of a long side suit bid by declarer.  A passive heart or club would have resulted in 4 tricks for the defense.  But what about the bidding?  Should North-South have kept bidding (North did raise diamonds)?  Clearly the answer is yes if they are going to allow 4♥ to make.  The same transportation problems that provided difficulty for the defense vs. 4♥ is there playing 5♦.  There is no entry to the North hand to take the diamond finesse.  If South tries to get to dummy in clubs, East will ruff.  So, playing diamonds, North-South will always lose 2 hearts and a diamond.

 

 

Finally, on the last hand of the day, we saw the South player at my table pass out the deal in 4th seat, perhaps using “Pearson points” (Pearson points = total HCP plus total spades – if you reach 15, open the hand).  This “rule” was devised to deal with hands you might not otherwise open.  Here, since you have a decent hand, it proved worth while opening in spite of coming up short on Pearson points.  At the other table, South did open 1♦.  Being vulnerable, both North-South hands were appropriately aggressive in the auction and reached the 4♥ game.  Now to make it.  Double dummy, it cannot be defeated!  In spite of those miserable heart spots.

The opening ♠J went to the ♠A and declarer put his singleton diamond on the table.  East can grab the ♦A, but then, given how the diamond suit was distributed, 1 ruff would establish the diamond suit (if declarer could draw trump).  To draw trump, declarer would have to assume one opponent held a doubleton high honor and then guess which opponent had that doubleton high honor.  By leading through that hand (East in this case) on the first lead of trump and then ducking the next round, trump can be drawn.  In the actual play, East ducked the ♦A at trick 2 and declarer won the ♦K.  Then a diamond ruff, club to ♣A, diamond ruff, ♠K (pitching dummy’s low club), spade ruff, club ♣K, and a diamond was led off dummy.  West decided to ruff in with the ♥9 which was overruffed with the ♥J.  If, instead of ruffing, West decides to hold onto their heart length and pitch either the ♣2 or ♠Q, declarer must next lead the suit that West did not discard to reach 10 tricks.  As it was, at this point nine tricks had been played and declarer had won them all.  When declarer led a spade, dummy could ruff while both opponents followed.  This was declarer’s 10th trick.  In fact, if declarer had known clubs were 3-3, they could have scored 11 tricks once the ♦A was ducked!  Even in the end position, spades were all gone, diamonds were all gone and the opponents each held 2 hearts and 1 club, so declarer could have led a trump from dummy and STILL score the ♣Q at trick 13 for 11 tricks!?!?!?!  But, declarer led the established diamond, West discarded their club, North ruffed and East overruffed with the ♥A and West had the ♥K10 over the ♥Q to score the last 3 tricks for the defense.  

Still, that was 10 tricks in 4♥ for +620 while we had passed the hand out, win 12 IMPs.

I have had a flurry of games with the associated blogs in the past few days.  Now there will be a long break as my wife and I cruise for much of the next 6 weeks.  Have a great rest of the summer.