Recap Of 6/11/2018 28 Board IMP Individual

There were eight double digit swings in our last game, but the cause of the swings was quite varied.  Some were caused by bidding judgment, others declarer play, opening leads, and bidding confusion that comes with unfamiliar partnerships.  Here we go.

This hand was all about bidding, nothing much happening in the play.  I know, from past discussion that Gary, my partner on this hand, has extremely high standards for opening a weak two bid.  He wants to hold 2 of the top 3 honors plus an outside A or K – otherwise he passes.  Still, I thought ‘everybody’ plays that jumps after an initial pass show a fit (on this hand, 2♥ would show a good 5 card heart suit along with 4 card club support, invitational values).  In practice, Gary was simply making a weak 2♥ jump saying he had a hand unsuitable for an initial weak 2♥ bid.  In this case, I had an easy 3♠ bid  at my second turn (over 3♦) that could possibly find out that partner was not trying to support my clubs.  I don’t know where that would have led, but it could have led to someplace better than our hopeless final contract of 5♣.  So, I would classify this (my failure to offer 3♠) as strictly a bidding error rather than bidding judgment or bidding misunderstanding.  The other table also did not open a weak 2♥.  But my opening bid involved bidding judgment.  When faced with a 6-5 opening hand, I tend to follow The Bridge World standard – open the 6 card suit unless it is the lower suit, adjacent to the 5 card suit, and unsuitable for a reverse.  Here, I could open clubs and bid spades.  At the other table, after my hand chose the spade opening bid, it allowed the players to easily reach the 4♠ contract.  I still like starting with 1♣ but ‘assuming’ partner has a fit is super dangerous, especially with no prior discussion.  There is no reason for my unilateral 5♣ bid when 3♠ was available.

Double dummy, there are 9 tricks in clubs (losing 2 trumps and 2 aces) – which was my result, down 2.  Double dummy there are 9 tricks in hearts, since the opponents can kill any diamond ruff and score their 3 top diamonds to go with the trump ace.  In spades, on the other hand, with hearts so friendly, 11 tricks are possible – simply lose the two red aces, draw trump and claim.  Playing more safely, the actual declarer scored 10 tricks in spades for +620 to go with my -200, lose 13 IMPs.  

After the same auction at both tables, one South player chose (successfully) to ignore partner’s spade suit and lead the ♦3, 4th from longest and strongest.  This had the effect of establishing diamond winners for the defense.  At my table, partner led my ‘suit’ the ♠8.  This had the effect of eventually establishing declarer’s ♠5 as a power finesse against my ♠6! and providing 9 easy tricks for declarer (4+1+1+3).  Actually, instead of shifting to diamonds after winning the ♣K , I shifted to hearts.  That allowed declarer to score a heart trick too, getting him up to 10 tricks.

At the other table, after (routinely) ducking two rounds of diamonds, declarer noticed the power of the spade spots, but first played a top spade, hoping to drop a singleton ♠Q or ♠10.  When, instead, the ♠8 came down, declarer had lost the opportunity to score the ♠5.  Had declarer started with the ♠9 and let it ride if not covered, he also had 9 tricks available, but that is a hard play to find.  So he had to rely upon the club finesse to reach 9 tricks.  When the club finesse failed, 9 tricks were no longer possible, down 1.  So, our teammates were -100 to go with our -630 to lose 12 IMPs.

The auction had a similar start at both tables, but one South player, concerned about the play in spades holding ♥Qxx, the suit bid by his RHO, thought that 3NT might play better than 4♠.  With the cards so friendly, both contracts should work fine, but that is not how it worked out.

Playing 3NT, East decided to try the ♣Q, hoping to hit partner’s suit.  He did, but with no entries, partner’s clubs were not of much use.  Declarer was able to score 5+2+1+2 for 10 tricks, +630.  At my table, playing 4♠, partner had opportunities.  Many years ago, I read/learned that JT9 sequences are incredibly undervalued (worth much more than the 1 point scored using 4-3-2-1 evaluation).  JT9 can turn Qxxx from an unlikely trick into 2 sure tricks; JT9 can turn Kxx from a possible trick into 1 certain trick while two tricks possible; JT9 can turn Axx from 1 sure trick into a 75% play for 2 tricks.

On this hand (playing 4♠) while drawing trumps, declarer could have used one entry to dummy to lead ♣JT9.  If covered, they have a second club winner on which they can discard a losing diamond.  If not covered, they will find out the ♣K is with West, leaving East with, most likely, every remaining high card.  Plus, if the club lead is not covered, they could later play the ♣A and see if a doubleton ♣Q comes down (it does), again providing a discard for a losing diamond.  Or declarer could simply hope the ♦Q is with the opening bidder and finesse the ♦J.

Here, the actual declarer play was to draw trump, cash the ♣A and lead another club.  When East won with the ♣Q, they played a small diamond which was ducked to the ♦10, losing a heart, a club and 2 diamonds for down 1.  So, we were -100 to go with -630, lose 12 IMPs.

We had the same auction at both tables. The opening trump lead made the difference.  After the trump lead, the defense had no chance, allowing 10 tricks for our teammates, while my heart opening lead required declarer to guess the location of the ♣A.  I led the ♥5 (third best) which was won in dummy with the ♥A, declarer tried a club to the ♣J.  When I won the ♣Q and returned a heart, we had two aces remaining and an established heart (with the ♦A for an entry) for down 1, +50.

The trump lead at the other table could have allowed declarer to draw trump and simply lead clubs from hand, forcing the establishment of the ♣10 for a heart discard while he still maintained control of the heart suit.  Our team’s declarer at the other table considered that line of play, but the actual play varied from that.  Declarer played only 2 rounds of trump and then, concerned about diamond blockage, led a diamond to dummy (♦QJ).  When that won, he followed with a club finesse to the ♣J and ♣Q.  Then they led a club to partner’s ♣A who then led his last trump.  Now it was easy to cross to dummy to take the heart pitch on the ♣10.  That brought the game home, +420 to go with our +50, win 10 IMPs.

If hearts aren’t led at trick 1, the defense can’t get to 4 tricks.  If hearts are led at trick 1, declarer must guess to play the ♣K on the first club lead to reach 10 tricks.  Our opponent did not.

The auction had an identical start at both tables with the first call by each player the same.  Once the opponents double us in NT, a runout is often advised.  My runout of choice with regular partners is to redouble with all one suited hands (asking partner to bid 2♣ which is pass or correct), and to bid a suit showing that suit and a higher one for 2 suited hands.  Using that structure, I would bid 2♦ and partner, fearful that my other suit is hearts, would likely pass.  However, I was not playing with a regular partner and even though we could discuss our runouts at the table, I opted to not add that confusion to the mix, so I simply passed and hoped for the best.  Passing allows us to stay at the one level and 1NTX may be our ‘least bad’ spot?  I did have honors in 3 suits for play in NT.  Nothing suggests we could find our way into (our best spot) 2♠.

Double dummy, we are down 3 in 1NT, while if we can find our way to a spade contract, 7 tricks are available for down 1.  I’m not sure what runout would allow us to arrive in 2♠, nor am I sure that we could achieve double dummy play for down 1, but 7 tricks do appear likely if we could play in spades.  

At the other table, the East hand did not attempt a runout, but when passed back to the West hand, they went from the frying pan to the fire by bidding 2♣.  That was quickly doubled and that ended the auction.  Double dummy play can only achieve 4 tricks for declarer, and that is what he got for -800.

Meanwhile, playing 1NTX, the start was the 4th best heart.  Clearly that is the best lead when holding no entry, but with the ♣K a likely entry, it turns out that starting with the top hearts will be more effective.  Declarer’s ♥Qx will fall under the ♥AK, establishing partner’s ♥J (and partner can return a club to your ♣K to cash the remaining hearts).  On the run of hearts, declarer can keep their club winners at the expense of shortening themselves in spades/diamonds, so 4 tricks is the best they can do against best defense – down 3.

Note:  if you start with “top hearts” it is critical to have a partnership understanding of the “power lead.”  Traditionally, the power lead asking for unblock or count has been the lead of the ace, but my current favorite is the king for the power lead.  The reason is that from Ax or Axx, you may take a stab at leading the ace in that suit vs. NT, hoping to see partner’s attitude requesting you to continue or shift (but you sure don’t want them unblocking their honors!).  But with Kx or Kxx in an unknown unbid suit, you are quite unlikely to start with the king.  Thus, using this system: A=attitude; K=count/unblock.  Be sure to know what your partner plays.

But, back to our table, the opening lead of the 4th best allowed partner to score their ♥Q at trick 1.  At trick 2 declarer tried the ♦J won by the ♦K and hearts were continued and cashed.  The first discard by South was the ♣10, but declarer discarded the ♣QJ and after cashing the hearts, North exited with a club, allowing declarer to score their ♣A9.  They eventually scored a spade trick to go with a heart, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs for 6 tricks, down 1, -100.  With our partners scoring +800, we netted 12 IMPs on the board.

Note there is no makeable game for N-S, so intervening with 1NT proved quite costly at one table, but not the other, even though not vulnerable against vulnerable opponents.  I would always overcall 1♦ with 1NT when holding the West cards.  Since both tables made the 1NT overcall, yet a large IMP loss occurred, you can blame the defense to 1NTX, or you can blame the runout to 2♣X.  But the defense could have been right, the 2♣ runout could have been right (sometimes the opponents mistakenly start bidding, taking you off the hook).  Bridge doesn’t come with a lot of guarantees.  The trouble with runouts, there are countless millions of hands that partner could hold for the bidding thus far, but you need to find the right contract for this hand, the one that they do hold!

Lots of bidding issues with this next hand, but at the end of the day, it is really a simple problem.  I had only played 4 previous hands with this partner (in my lifetime), so we didn’t really have a lot of solid agreements, just play bridge.  Still, I will discuss some potential bidding items.

The first fundamental question – is the North hand an opening bid?  Since it fails the rule of 20, I would not open, but it was opened 1♥ at the other table.  Their auction proceeded to 5♥ and miraculously stopped there.

After opening 1NT and partner does a Jacoby transfer into a suit where you are holding 4-5 trumps, what agreements do you have about ‘super accept?’  Some play only jump to 3 of the major with 4+ trump and a maximum HCP for the 1NT opener.  Some have a system for showing 3 trump with maximum HCP values.  My current system with most partnerships includes a simple accept (bid 2♥) with any 2-3 cards, bid 1 step higher with a maximum and 4+ trump support and a doubleton somewhere (in this case 2♠), bid 2 steps higher with a maximum and 4-3-3-3 (in this case 2NT), and accept the transfer at the 3 level with 4+ trump but less than the maximum HCP.   And, what do you do over interference?  And what do you do over lead directing doubles (does taking action promise a stopper in the indicated suit, do you continue to use the same system)?  It is amazing to me how often, playing with new partners and filling out convention cards, how simple little conventions (such as Jacoby transfers) have a staggering number of necessary followup questions that require discussion (but what if…?).  This discussion rarely happens except in very experienced partnerships with lots of bidding notes.  And then, once the notes are made, of course, you must remember what you discussed/agreed!

Anyway, all of that aside (and undiscussed with this partner), I jumped to 3♥ after partner’s transfer.  Of course partner has promised no values, but I’m hopeful that, with the jump, they will have game interest.  Partner did have game interest, and cue bid 4♣ over my 3♥ bid.  That, unjustifiably, got me interested in slam?!?  Partner is a passed hand!  What was I thinking?  What “perfect” passed hand could offer good play (better than a finesse) for slam.  Given enough years, you may be able to find one, but odds are very strong that if partner has the hoped for key cards (♥Q and both missing aces) they cannot have any other useful stuff to provide good play for slam (well, a singleton diamond starts to give hope, but partner didn’t have that).  Still, I went ahead and asked for key cards (note here that another useful convention ‘1 over key card’ (where 4♠ is the key card ask for hearts) allows partner to respond showing “2 with the Q” and not force slam).  But we were not playing ‘1 over key card’ so I bid 4NT and then 6♥ over the 5♠ reply.  With a sure diamond loser, I had to avoid any spade or club loser (this requires dropping an honor or taking two finesses).

So, playing 6♥, I won the diamond lead with the ♦A and returned a diamond.  Since there was no way to avoid a diamond loser, I returned a diamond at trick 2 (maybe they would break a black suit for me?) and they returned a diamond which I ruffed.  This stripped diamonds from both hands so that, if I ever lost another trick, I couldn’t go down 2 – not that it mattered, since the IMPs lost for down 1 and down 2 are the same. 

I drew trump in 2 rounds, ending in dummy and led the ♠10.  I had not decided what I was doing, but my RHO popped with the ♠K, so I won the ♠A.  Now, due to the power of the ♠98 the contract is cold…if I could just look into their hands to find the ♠J (or if I bothered cashing the ♣AK prior to worrying about the ♠J).  If RHO holds the ♠J, simply enter dummy, finesse against the ♠J, and pitch the losing club on the ♠Q.  If LHO holds the ♠J, simply cash the ♠A and lead the ♠9 for a ruffing finesse.  If they cover, the ♠8 is established to pitch the losing club.  If they don’t cover, I can pitch the club as the ♠9 wins the trick and come to 12 tricks.  Also, I could try to first cash the ♣AK and, if the ♣Q falls, I don’t even have to worry about who has the ♠J, I am home with 12 tricks.  Or, I could cash the ♠Q and ruff a spade, winning whenever the ♠J had initially been only  3 long regardless of who held it.  I have taught many classes on ‘maximize your chances’ – that is, if you are getting ready to take a finesse for your contract but have a side AK that you could cash that would possibly drop a doubleton Q, DO IT!!!!  If the Q drops, the finesse you were about to take is not necessary.  Don’t even think about it – the bonus for making far exceeds whatever problems happen if the Q does not fall.

Lots of choices in spades.  Is this a coin toss?  Play for split honors?  (as noted above, whatever you may decide about spades, you should simply cash the ♣AK as basic routine fundamental technique prior to making your spade play – I didn’t.  Very very sad play.)  East probably has diamond length to justify their double of 2♦ (and therefore possibly spade shortness).  As a defender, when holding KJx(x) and it appears that declarer is about to double finesse with the 10, playing me for holding both honors, I have often played the K on the first finesse, hoping to dissuade him from taking the double finesse later.  On that basis, I was obsessed with the fact that I ‘knew’ where the ♠J was and carelessly didn’t bother to play clubs first.  I played to finesse East for the ♠J.  Wrong.  Doubly wrong.  Down 1, -50 to go with our teammates -450, lose 11 IMPs.

Note to self:  There are a lot of IMPs at stake when playing slams.  Even when in a poor slam, a nearly hopeless slam, give it best play.  You might just make it.

Here I am again in an extremely poor slam, requiring 2 key cards to be located favorably on top of requiring trump to be 3-3.  Trump were 3-3, so now all I needed was West to hold the ♠K10 and I would be home.  When West showed out on the first spade lead, I could simply duck, down 1 after pitching my losing club on the ♦A.

As noted in the bidding above, I was expecting/hoping that partner held 5 spades with a hand that would respond 3♦ or 3♥ to my jump shift, allowing me to then bid 3♠ showing my 3 card support.  Instead, partner raised my clubs and I was in a precarious position.  I hoped to be able to get out and play 4♥ or, if necessary, 5♣.  The heart split made 4♥ easy and the club split made 5♣ unlikely (it can make, but declarer must play for the 4-1 club split which they would be unlikely to do).  5NT was clearly ‘pick a slam’ but there was no slam to pick!  I had messed up the bidding with my decision to jump shift rather than a simple jump to 3♥.  I think I held a little extra for the 3♥ rebid, but there is nothing wrong with holding a little extra.  I did not have the right hand for the jump shift and paid for it when partner raised clubs and then took me to slam.

At the other table, a more sensible 3♥ rebid arrived in an excellent 3NT contract (or North could have raised to 4♥ which would also be excellent unless hearts were 5-1 with a singleton small heart).  Still, there is work to be done in 3NT – do you look for tricks in clubs, hearts or spades?  If suits are splitting poorly (spades and clubs sure did), even reaching 9 tricks could possibly be problematic (if you lead and lose the ♠J finesse, you are looking at 8 top tricks (2+2+2+2).  Still, you need 9. 

At this table, the ♦Q lead went to the singleton ♦K in dummy (while partner played the ♦9 announcing (via upside down carding) no interest and, specifically, denying the ♦10.  Declarer ran the ♠J at trick 2, losing to the ♠K and East continued with a diamond into declarer’s ♦A10, providing the 9th trick.  I think, at this point, declarer just claimed their 9 tricks and went on to the next hand.  That left our teammates -400 to go with our -50, lose 10 IMPs.

As you can see from the bidding, after West failed to open as dealer, radically different auctions occurred.  As the cards lie, 4♥ cannot be beaten.  But after a 1♥-2♥ start, North, who has an extra heart but a lot of losers, is not prepared to compete higher over the surprising 3NT call.  And South, who has a maximum 2♥ raise, but lots of minor suit losers, is not prepared to compete over 4♦.  As a result, EW were able to play 4♦ undoubled, losing a trick in every suit for down 1.

In our auction, as noted, I upgraded my hand based on my spade suit (after hearing the negative double on my right) to treat the hand as 10-11 invitational vs. 6-9.  So, I showed invitational values via the 2♦ cue bid.  With a minimum opening bid, West had nothing to say and partner has an easy raise to game opposite an invitational hand.

Does West have an opening bid?  Often, the side that makes the first bid in an auction has a large advantage.  Here, the delayed action of 3NT claimed the advantage and stole the hand.  Nice bid Gary!  In 4♥ we were +620 while our teammates were -50 to gain 11 needed IMPs after my two miserable failed slams in the last round of the day.