Recap Of 6/19/2019 28 Board IMP Individual

Bidding judgment determined all 4 of today’s swing hands.

First the bidding at my table:  I certainly usually take the opportunity, when in third seat, to make some sort of reasonable noise rather than passing and letting fourth seat take the first bid of the hand after seeing 3 passes – especially when not vulnerable vs. vulnerable opponents as it was here.  Given that philosophy, I was never going to pass.  My question, as East, was whether to open 1♠ or 2♠.  Preempts often present problems, but sometimes the presumed strength shown by an opening 1 bid can deflect the opponents from their best spot.  I flipped a coin and opened 2♠.  South has a routine (if flawed) double – flawed since partner expects to see 4 of a major when the other major is doubled.  Still sometimes you have to double spades when you only hold 3 hearts.  My partner, over the double, had a routine bump to 3♠ to continue to block the opponents bidding, and it was now up to North.  They didn’t have the greatest hand, but still with some nice shape including two aces, 5 trump and a singleton, they didn’t want to miss their vulnerable game, so they tried 4♥ which ended the bidding.

At the other table, South got to open in fourth seat after seeing 3 passes.  They started with 1♣ and West, who had passed originally, decided that they had enough strength and shape, as a passed hand, to make a takeout double.  The double can be an excellent way to enter the auction and compete for the partscore, but it can also backfire by telling the opponents how to play the hand.  North bid their heart suit, East showed spades, South showed 3 card heart support and East passed.  North thought (and so do I) that they only had enough values to invite game, so they jumped to 3♥.  Finally South, concerned about a possibly worthless K, decided they didn’t have enough  to go on to game, so they languished at the 3 level.

Looking only at the NS cards, this doesn’t look like a game you want to be in (when the ♠A is behind the ♠K).  But, on the lie of the cards, there are always 10 tricks due to the well placed club honors (♣K10 with East).  On this deal, declarer has two routes to 10 tricks – bring in the hearts and clubs with no losers, losing 3 spade tricks.  Or, more naturally, ruff a spade in dummy creating a heart loser, and then bring in clubs for no losers.  When the ♠Q opening lead was ducked, I continued at trick 2 with the ♠2 suggesting to partner that after they won the ♠A, a club return was safer than anything else (and hoping they had some spots to allow an eventual trick in clubs).  Declarer won the ♣Q over my ♣10, cashed the ♥K, finessed ♥J, ruffed their spade, crossed to the ♦A, cashed the ♥A and then led the ♣9, taking a finesse against my ♣K.  When that held, the only trick left for the defense was a power trump trick.  At the other table, after West’s takeout double of 1♣, North started clubs themselves by leading the ♣J and later finessing against the ♣10 for the same 10 tricks, but with no game bid, we were -620 while our teammates were +170, lose 10 IMPs.

Back to the bidding – might NS have missed their game if I pass instead of opening 2♠?  If I open 1♠, will they miss game?  Did the passed hand double by West (at the other table) prevent NS from reaching game?  As noted, this is not a great game to be in once the ♠A is over the ♠K, but it has the advantage of being vulnerable and unbeatable.

Wow, what a hand, what a result.  Lots of different bidding choices showed up here.  Playing 5 card majors, everyone in the East seat opens 1♣.  South might have opened a minor themselves, but really they have nothing to bid over 1♣, so they pass.  West can bid up the line (my choice of 1♦) or bypass the diamonds and show their 4 card major (the choice at the other table).  North passes and East has a choice for their rebid: start showing their 4 majors (which I would do), or show their balanced hand and point range with 1NT (which was my partner’s choice).  Now, even though I considered this hand worth an opening bid, I wasn’t ready to force to game with no known fit.  I could bid 2♥ (which would be a game force, since it is a reverse by responder), raise to 2NT inviting game there, or show an invitational hand with 4 hearts which was my choice.  When partner raised, I decided I had enough for game and continued to 4 which was passed around to South who entered the auction for the first time with a (Lightner) double, suggesting a club lead would be a good start to the defense.  With all of the prior passes by South, I was a bit shocked at the double and didn’t know how to interpret it – what cards did he hold besides strong clubs?

Next let’s look at the bidding at the other table.  As mentioned before, the West player with my hand responded 1♥ which his partner raised to 2♥.  South now doubled, since they had a classic 4=1=4=4 takeout double of 2♥ – they couldn’t bid the first time due to their length/strength in clubs, but when they heard the raise to 2♥, they could show their shape and values via a takeout double.  West, with a reasonable hand thought they had a chance to make 2♥ so they redoubled to let partner know that the hand belonged to EW.  Maybe partner raised with only 3 card heart support and the best EW result would be defending whatever contract NS landed in.  North, given a choice of clubs, diamonds and spades had a clear preference for clubs, but decided to pass.  However, if South’s double was simply a takeout of the other two unbid suits (clubs having been bid do not count as an option), then North has very little to choose between spades and diamonds.  If EW stop off to defend 3♣X, down 1 is the best they can achieve for +100, so they will do better by bidding more if NS do bid clubs.  Anyway, East has no reason to bid over 2♥XX, and it was now up to South.  South would like to re-redouble asking partner to please chose a suit, but since that bid is not allowed, they had to start choosing suits themselves, or assume that partner knows best and wants to defend 2♥XX.  So South passed and 2♥XX was the final contract.  Clearly North needed to take a view that clubs were part of the takeout and bid clubs, or else South needed to take a view that North has nothing worthwhile in diamonds or spades, so maybe clubs will be the best spot.  Both North and South cannot afford to pass – someone must bid clubs.

I often point out areas that you should definitely discuss and be in sync with  partner and the lesson on this hand involves passing the business redouble (a support redouble and a SOS redouble involve different decisions).  There are only two possible messages sent by the pass, and only one can be what partner intended:

1. I have nothing to say, no preference for your suggested suits, so you choose
2. I think they are in trouble and I want to sit for and defend this redoubled contract 

So, be sure to know your partner’s intentions.

Now, on to the play of the hand.  The declarer at the other table knew where the heart length/shortness was located.  I knew it was possible that when South finally doubled when we got to 4♥ that the double was due to shortness that would create a challenge to a hand that could only invite game.  Perhaps, on an auction that sounded more powerful, they would not have doubled.  Still, if the opponents are going down 2+ tricks, doubles can pay handsomely and the cost, if the opponents make it, is not that great as long as there are no overtricks.  In any case, South judged that there would be problems and doubled.  I knew they had good clubs, but I had an answer for that problem with my singleton ♣A.  I could win the first club lead and ruff the rest, so no problem.  My problem was how to find 10 tricks.  I needed to establish diamonds (or find successful finesses in spades and hearts).  I needed to lead diamonds from dummy (twice), and since I felt South had hearts, I started with a heart to the ♥K and a diamond up, disappointed to lose to the ♦K in North.   They continued clubs which I ruffed, then a spade to the ♠A and another diamond to the ♦A.  South continued with their remaining high club, forcing me to ruff again.  Double dummy, the best I could ever do was to win 9 tricks, and I was still on track for 9 tricks at this point (in spite of getting hearts wrong) if I continued with the ♦J.  When I continued, with a small diamond ruffed in dummy (establishing diamonds), North was able to discard their remaining spade and I was running out of tricks.  I could cross to my ♥A and now lead the ♦J, but North could ruff small, allowing my ♥J to score, but then I had no trumps and they still had the ♥Q and good clubs (so I never got to enjoy my ♠K).

The way I played it, if South had held 3 hearts to the ♥Q, they would have the only outstanding trump, they would have to follow to my ♦J lead and then it didn’t matter what they did on my last diamond, since I would discard both losing spades on the diamonds.  At trick 12, I would have the ♠K and ♥J in dummy, and the only trick that South could score in the last 4 cards would have been their high trump.  But, that wasn’t how the cards lay.

You would think, if you KNOW that South is short in hearts and North is long in hearts, that the play might be much easier.  I have tried lots of options (playing the hand double dummy on my computer, including starting hearts with a small heart to the 6 – truly a double dummy play), and scoring 9 tricks is still not so easy against best defense!  I don’t know how the play/defense went at the other table.  In any case, the declarer playing 2♥XX managed to score 9 tricks.  The overtrick for making 9 tricks instead of 8 in a 2♥ contract is, of course, 30 points.  However, redoubled vulnerable overtricks payout 400 points!  Plus the game bonus, plus, plus plus.  Bottom line, our teammates were -1240 while we were -300 to lose 17 IMPs!

Here, there was pretty simple bidding with the same 3 (pretty automatic) bids to start the auction at both tables. However, some players would consider South too strong for a weak 2 bid and open 1♥.  At the other table, those 3 bids ended the auction.  However, in 4th seat, I had no prospects of defense against 4♥ so I did what partner asked me to do with his takeout double – I bid my best suit.  South, with 2 aces providing much better defense than they might have had for a weak 2 opening bid, might have doubled, saving a couple of IMPs (but if the opponents have a heart void, it would reduce his defense to 1 trick, so the penalty double isn’t exactly automatic).  The play in 4♥ was straightforward, with 10 winners and 3 losers.  The play in 5♣ was also straightforward, with 3 aces to lose, but 10 tricks after that.  So, we were -100 while our teammates were +620, win 11 IMPs.

After 2 passes, how do you open the South hand.  Some might see a good hand with clubs and start with 1♣.  Counting a point for both the 5th and 6th club, your 18 HCP can get up to 20 points and start with 2NT (which is what happened at the other table).  At my table, they play ‘gambling 3NT a la Meckwell’ in 1st/2nd seat which shows a long solid minor with an outside ace or king.   But, in 3rd seat, a 3NT opening bid is … ‘tactical’ – as you can see, as West, I had great interest in just what was shown by the 3NT opening bid.  I had no clue what was right.  The opponents have no obligation to describe their hand, only their systemic agreements about what bids mean.  I was told it shows a good hand that is not confined to the restrictions of ‘one ace or king outside’ that applies to a first or second seat opening.

So, what does West do over 2NT?  Over 3NT?  I think whatever system you play over 1NT should also be played over 2NT.  Why not?  It doesn’t come up often, but since you have a system available, it seems you should use it.  If, over 1NT, 2♣ would show majors, then bid 3♣ over 2NT; if 2♦ shows majors over 1NT, then bid 3♦ over 2NT.  Anyway, the player with my hand, noting the vulnerability, elected to pass over 2NT and after a heart lead, the defense cashed 5 heart tricks.  Then a spade continuation allowed declarer to knock out the J and score the rest of the tricks for down 1.

Since 3NT opening bids can be all sorts of hands, I don’t think continuing the philosophy of using the same system over 2NT that you use over 1NT can be extended to include 3NT opening bids.  I briefly considered bidding 4♣ as a surrogate for Michaels – hoping that partner would not take 4♣ as natural and would bid their best major.  So, if partner held 5 hearts and no spades, my 4♠ call would not have been a success.  Eventually I decided upon the safety of the extra trump with spades being trump and, using 6-5 come alive mentality, bid 4♠.  I bought a fantastic dummy, with partner’s spade spots filling in my gaps and ♥Q9 allowing me to establish hearts (and if someone overruffs hearts on the third round, they are using one of the 2 natural trump tricks they have.  When hearts proved to be 3=3, it was time to draw trump and claim…well, not so quickly.  I still held 5 trump, but when I led the ♠10 off of dummy and South played low, I had to choose whether to play the ♠K (assuming South held the ♠A) or duck the ♠10 (assuming South had the ♠Q).  What did South hold to open 3NT?  What did North hold to double 4♠?  I was still thinking more ‘gambling 3NT’ than power.  I needed to play the ♠K (to make the hand, double dummy), but ducked the ♠10, losing to the ♠Q.  Now, the defense has the upper hand, but only if they continue tapping me out in clubs to make me lose control of the hand.  I still have 4 trump, but the tap  after winning the ♠Q reduces me to 3, and when I knock out the ♠A I’m down to 2 trump.  One more club tap (after winning the ♠A) leaves me with 1 trump to draw the last trump, but then I must establish my diamond trick and when the opponents win the ♦A, they can cash a club at trick 13 while I follow suit with my winning diamond.  However, North continued with a diamond after winning their ♠Q and I was back in control.

So, I was lucky to catch such a great dummy and lucky to misguess spades and still survive.  It seems that when I ignore 6-5 come alive advice, I regret it.  The trouble with using any sort of simulation to determine the wisdom/foolishness of bidding over 3NT depends upon defining a very vague notion of just what do you expect the 3NT bidder to hold.  I didn’t know during the bidding and I didn’t know during the play.  If North and East (both passed hands) exchanged their hands (so that the North hand was my partner and the East hand became the North hand), I would lose only 1 spade instead of 2, but I would also lose a heart and 2 diamonds.  Still, that would be a good save against the 9 tricks NS could score in their 3NT contract.  Warning: just because the 4♠ bid worked on the actual deal and the modified deal with North and East switching hands, it is not an attempt at proving it was a good bid, the right bid, …  Note also that getting partner to choose a major would likely result in an unsuccessful heart contract.

By my judgment, it is impossible to determine the ‘right’ bid in these situations.  Certainly some would view 4♠ as foolish, all would view the result as lucky, but, it turned out, my bid worked, scoring +790 while our teammates were -50 to score 12 IMPs.