Recap Of 11/13/2019 28 Board IMP Individual

Only 4 double digit swings today with a different theme than usual.  One was a slam decision, one was a part score ‘battle’ that ended poorly when the same team declared at both tables with neither contract successful, but the other two were a different theme than normal.  For both of these hands, the defense was able to defeat the contract at one table, while the other table had a critical shift in the middle of the hand that allowed declarer to make the contract.

Here both tables arrived in a reasonable 3NT with 26 HCP and stoppers in every suit, but at our table East declared with South on lead, while our teammates had West declare with North on lead.  With East holding the minor suit tenaces (and West having no tenaces), it proved better for East to declare.  Three out of four hands at the table are 4-3-3-3 which make it quite challenging (for both sides) to find their necessary tricks. 

The cards are sufficiently friendly that, at my table, South must lead a heart at trick 1 or else declarer, if they play accurately, can make the hand (albeit some amount of double dummy play required).  Many years ago, I believe from the game of whist, a ‘rule’ was established: “4th from longest and strongest.”  For the opening lead on this hand, in my opinion, a minor suit looks very wrong, but either major might work (as I said, on this deal, only a heart lead beats it, double dummy).  South reasonably chose the ♠9 for the opening lead.  To make the contract against best defense, declarer must duck the first trick, or else win trick 1 and continue  spades (establishing their 8th trick) .  Any other continuation provides an opportunity for 5 tricks for the defense.  At the table, East won the first trick and led a heart, ducking South’s ♥J.  Now, to defeat the contract, South must continue a major, but at the table they shifted to a diamond at trick 3 which brought declarer’s trick total to 8.  Now, when declarer ducks a spade, they have their 9 tricks (3+1+3+2).  If South had continued with a major suit after winning the ♥J, declarer could/should be defeated.  Since I had to hold onto my 4th heart, I had to let go of a club on the 13th spade.  South let go of a club on the 13th spade and another club on the third round of hearts, so declarer found 10 tricks, making us -430.

Looking at all of the hands, it is easy to see some of the successful defensive options.  I should point out that the defense is not all that easy for South.  Yes, they can get out with a major as they win the first heart trick.  But, when their majors run out, they need North to take them off the end play by playing the ♥K (crocodile coup if a small heart is led from dummy) on the ♥Q.  If I had held the ♦J instead of the ♣J, the diamond switch would have worked wonders.  I cannot overtake in hearts the first time hearts are led (at trick 2) and still beat the hand – South must be allowed to win at that point and continue a major suit.

Our teammates, playing from the other side with West as declarer, had a more challenging path to 9 tricks.  Here, if North leads a small club or diamond or small heart, the defense should find 5 tricks.  An opening spade lead by North puts declarer on a potential path to 9 tricks – the same opportunity that our East declarer had after the spade lead by South at our table.  The actual heart lead left declarer with no options.  South won the first 2 tricks with the ♥J and ♥Q, and then North won trick 3 with the ♠J.  But, by ducking a spade, declarer is up to 8 tricks (9 if hearts split 3-3, or the diamond finesse works).  After North’s ♠J held trick 3, North led a diamond and declarer finessed the ♦J, losing to the ♦Q.  So the defense won the first 4 tricks and still had a club to come for down 1, -50 to go with our -430, lose 10 IMPs.

Here, the first 8 calls were the same at both tables.  As North, I felt I had too much playing strength to stop in game.  Partner did make a free bid at the 2 level, and I suspect partner has very few HCP in spades and I know they have zero HCP in clubs.  If partner has the ♥AK and ♦KQ, 7♦ will be cold.  If he has just the ♥A and ♦K (he did), 6♦ should have play.  And if he only has the ♥K and the ♦Q (what was he doing bidding 2♥ on a 5 count?!), there is still a chance (with some finesses) that 12 tricks can be found.  So, it seemed worth a shot.  Bidding the slam prompted West to save in 6♠ which did save them a few IMPs vs. the slam that was going to make.  But when slam wasn’t bid at the other table, we were still able to pick up 10 IMPs, +1100 vs. -620.  There was nothing to the play at either table, with 5 top tricks to cash on defense vs. 6♠, and 12 tricks to cash on offense in 5/6♦.

A slightly different auction resulted in both tables playing 4♠ with the same ♦A lead at trick 1 followed by the lead of the ♦3 which was ruffed by West at trick 2.  The ♦3 looks like a suit preference for clubs (it was), but my partner cashed the ♣A prior to leading another club at trick 4.  That was 3 tricks for the defense and a heart still had to be lost, for down 1.  At the other table, West tried the effect of under leading the ♣A, so declarer was able to not lose any club tricks and with just the 1 heart loser remaining, that meant 10 tricks were scored for +420 and +50 to win 10 IMPs.

Here both sides have 20 HCP – whose hand is it?  Both sides have stoppers in every suit.  But, there aren’t a lot of tricks nor places to play.  There were many questions of bidding judgment that created problems all around.

• Should North open the bidding in second seat with their 3 quick tricks (but 4-3-3-3 and 11 HCP)?  One did, one didn’t.
• If North passes, and East opens 1♣ does South have a vulnerable 1♠ overcall?
• If South does overcall, how does North handle their hand (strong in the context of having passed)?
• If North redoubles (whatever it might mean after 1♣-1♠-X) and West bids 1NT-P-P – now what?  A penalty double by North in this position would work well to push the board, but is that even feasible?  Could partner read it – a passed hand now trying to penalty double 1NT when all partner did was overcall?
• Almost all partnerships that play in this game have a rule: if partner forces the bidding to a certain level and strain, whether the next hand bids or not, returning to the level/strain that was forced shows the weakest hand possible (that is, I could bid 2♠ over 1NT to show a weak overcall whereas pass would show a stronger hand).  Does that ‘rule’ apply here?  I didn’t think so.  Anyway, this is a useful rule that all should have some agreement about what subsequent bidding shows.
• After passing as dealer, does West have a reason to enter the auction (vulnerable) showing their 5-5 in the red suits after North opens 1♣ and South bids 1♠?  West thought so when that auction occurred at the other table.
• Once North opened the bidding at the other table, South had their doubling shoes on, making a penalty double of both 1NT and 2♦.  Double dummy, both contracts are down.  Those 40 point part scores provide some of the safest penalty doubles in bridge, since, even if you allow it to make, that still leaves them short of game.

For what it is worth, I don’t have a strong opinion about any of the questions posed above – do you?  Each is a tough bidding judgment decision.  Clearly, on this deal, I can answer each question with clarity, since I can see all of the cards.  But, for a different layout of the cards, different answers will prove effective.  I certainly did not have to overcall 1♠.  I like bidding the boss suit whenever I can, since it can move the opponents to the 2 level sooner than they might want to (and, here, they don’t want to play at any level).  Anyway, when my partner did not open I did overcall 1♠ and partner (quite reasonably) felt they had some ground to make up at their next turn to bid to show their values.  As you see, we arrived in 3♠ and I needed to play/guess way better than I did to find 8 tricks (that were available double dummy).  I had to duck the opening club lead (I did), and when East shifted to a heart at trick 2, I had to go up with the ♥K (but, instead I played a small heart, allowing another club lead by West).  The heart return was almost forced (spades, diamonds and clubs are unattractive and partner implied hearts).  After West won the ♥Q, the second club lead crippled my hand.  I won the ♣A, then played a spade to the ♠A and a spade to the ♠10.  East won and started playing clubs.  I needed to discard my ♥KJ on clubs to hold it to down 2.  When I ruffed the club, I was down 3!  I only scored 3 spades 2 diamonds and a club.  Going back to trick 2, had I gone up with the ♥K, I am MUCH better placed because West never gets on lead and the power of the ♣A109 remaining in dummy provides protection against being tapped out.  East has no effective leads – all suits help declarer.  Since it was a third seat opening bid, I was clueless about how much playing strength to attribute to the East hand.  In short, I got the heart suit way wrong.  But, whether I played for down 1, down 2 or down 3 barely changed the IMP result.

Meanwhile, our teammates at the other table were competing for the partscore with the East-West cards.  With no fit (a 7-card fit in 3 suits), they had no place to play.  Double dummy, 1NT by East (which was doubled) is down 2 and 2♦ by West is down only 1.  But, in the play, West only found 6 tricks, so they were down 2.  South (Gary M) made some excellent decisions to start doubling the vulnerable opponents rather than bidding onward.  When the dust cleared, our teammates ended in 2♦X down 2 for -500 and I was -300, losing 13 IMPs on a partscore hand.  Pretty amazing. 

Bridge is a bidders game and it seems that, more often than not, success goes to those who are bidding aggressively.  This was a hand where the more you bid, the more trouble you got yourself into.  Every once in awhile, your hand records that you pick up after playing a duplicate game will show a very short list of makeable contracts, double dummy.  Here, as the cards were dealt, N-S can make 1NT or 2♠ and E-W can make 1♦.  Neither side can make a club or heart contract.