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Board 7: West, in second seat, must decide between opening 1S or 4S. (Definitely too strong for 3S.) The modern guide to preempting is the Rule of 2-3-4: overbid by two tricks at unfavorable vulnerability (vul vs. not), three tricks at equal, and 4 tricks at favorable (not vul vs. vul.) So the seven likely spade tricks justifies 4S; is the hand too good? The key question is the likelihood of missing slam, and that's less important at matchpoints than a team game. I'd open 1S if the side Queen were not singleton, but chose 4S on the actual hand. (Side note: when preempting in a minor, it may be wise to underbid with 3 on fairly good hands to avoid bypassing 3NT.)
East now counts his tricks: one spade, three hearts, A-AK in the minors, with the Jack of diamonds as a bonus. It seems likely that some losers can be pitched on the hearts. Counting on opener for seven tricks with both sides vulnerable, that's 14 tricks! So the only question is how many losers you have; Blackwood can make sure partner has at least one Ace, while RKCB can insure he does not have a likely trump loser. Using RKCB (regular or 1430), West replies 5S, showing two key cards plus the Queen of trumps. This means either the hearts or spades are solid, and there are plenty of tricks for either 6S or 6NT. Not everyone will bid this slam, however, and with no reason to assume opener has the Queen of diamonds, an opening diamond lead could doom 6NT. 6S is the sensible bid, scoring a solid 67% on the board. As it happens, of course, 6NT ties for a top. Give East the AQ of diamonds and 6NT would be clear.
Declarer wins any lead (I took a pointless finesse in diamonds, not sure why I thought I needed it), pulls trumps and drives out the Ace of hearts to dump his club loser.
Board 20: West opens 1D (Goren 13, adding two for the singleton spade, or Rule of 20.) This is sound if your style permits a rebid of 2D on any five card suit. East might leap to 3NT to sow a balanced 13-15, gambling partner will have help in hearts or they'll lead something else if you don't give them too many clues. However, this style "fixes" opener whenever he holds a singleton; I strongly prefer 2NT forcing, or a straightforward 2C response. You may well have slam in either minor.
After 2C, opener rebids 2D. This leaves responder with a problem -- the danger of a heart lead has increased, but responder has no second suit to bid. Since 2S would be natural and forcing (game-forcing in my methods), a jump to 3S can be used as a game-forcing "fragment", showing values in spades but not length. (Some players would "invent" a 2S call, but faking a major suit is dangerous.) West has an easy 3NT call over the descriptive 3S bid, and that should end the bidding.
I would expect West to make 10 tricks after an opening heart lead, but several declarers managed 11 or 12.
Board 22: South opens 1NT (15-17) and North smells slam with his own 16 count. With 4-5 in the majors, Stayman is a logical first step -- a 4-4 spade fit might provide an extra trick, discarding one or two minor suit losers on the long hearts. South obligingly replies 2S -- now what? Most partnerships would treat 4NT at this point as Blackwood or RKCB agreeing spades, but there's some risk of two fast club losers. Experts prefer a gadget bid to agree spades and show slam interest; I recommend "Three Other Major Slam Try". A 3H call over 2S should sound weird -- if responder wanted to bid hearts, why didn't he start with a transfer? So 3H artificially agrees spades and asks opener to cue-bid with a suitable hand. South is minimum and is unsure about his red suit Queens, but with two key cards I would cue-bid 4C. Now North can confidently proceed with 4NT and bid 6S over South's 5H reply. West has no effective lead and South has an easy time, pulling trumps in three rounds and finessing the hearts for 13 tricks.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 19th 2011
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Board 2: South opens 1NT, much to the surprise of North who is looking at x AKQxxxx Axx Kx. The first thing to note is that North wants to set hearts as trumps and then begin cue-bidding or use a key-card asking bid. The second thing to note is that many partnerships have no way for North to make a forcing bid in his suit! Standard bidding offers a simple solution: jump to 3H, a game-force with 5+ hearts. Using transfers, North could transfer and bid 4NT if not interested in slam; or transfer and bid a new suit at the three level to force to game, suggesting an unbalanced hand possibly with slam interest; or bid Stayman and then jump in his suit with 5-4 in the majors. If you play splinters, a popular treatment is that transfer-then-jump-shift is a "self splinter", showing a singleton or void in the suit jumped to. With all these agreements in place, the direct jump to 3H or 3S can be limited to a single-suited hand (5-7 card length) with slam interest and no singleton or void.
Here, North responds 2D, a transfer, then jumps to 3S to show the singleton, six or more trumps and slam interest (no reason to show the singleton if you aren't interested in slam.) South is discouraged by the wasted values (AK tight) opposite the singleton, and despite good controls signs off at 4H. North, of course, continues with 4NT, asking for Aces or Key cards; South replies 5H to show two. That accounts for 8 of South's 15-17 hcp; will the remaining 7-9 be enough to cover both small diamonds? Two Kings or a KQ combo or AQJx in clubs will obviously work. May as well bid 5NT, confirming all the Aces (or all five key cards plus the Queen of trumps), inviting grand slam and (almost incidentally) allowing partner to tell you how many Kings he has. South answers "two" with a 6H reply and North can confidently bid 7NT.
Another approach, of course, is for North to simply bid Gerber (4C), follow with the King-ask (usually 5C) which also makes it obvious there are 13 tricks. One significant difference: the Gerber King-ask, 5C, does not generally promise all the Aces; sometimes responder is simply trying to decide between six of his long suit or 6NT.
Board 17: North has an interesting 1516 hand, a shade light for an opening 1 bid and not really suitable for a preempt given the good hearts. I'd pass and hope to show my suits later. East opens 1S; West plans to bid game in spades but no immediate raise is suitable -- Jacoby 2NT should promise 4 trumps, which will help opener evaluate his hand better for slam purposes. Besides, slam might be better in diamonds or hearts, using a 4-4 as trumps and discarding losers on the long spades. The best response is a simple 2D, planning to jump in spades later, suggesting the three-card support.
East has a lovely 3S rebid, showing a powerful suit and extra values. Some authorities demand a solid suit for this bid, especially in a 2/1 Game Force style, but it seems to me 4NT can clear up whether any high trump is missing and the suit is certainly playable opposite a void. West has too much for a meek raise to 4S; better is a 4H cue-bid. How can East tell this isn't a real suit? If East had hearts he would not have skipped over them to jump in spades; there's rarely any need to introduce a new suit at the four level in the absence of enemy preemption.
The slam move encourages East ot proceed with 4NT (Blackwood or RKCB), West repleis 5H to show 2 aces, and East bids either 6S or 6NT. I think it's a fair bet West's diamonds will provide the needed 12th trick for 6NT, and that proves true today. Doesn't matter -- only one pair reached this excellent slam.
Board 2: South opens 1NT, much to the surprise of North who is looking at x AKQxxxx Axx Kx. The first thing to note is that North wants to set hearts as trumps and then begin cue-bidding or use a key-card asking bid. The second thing to note is that many partnerships have no way for North to make a forcing bid in his suit! Standard bidding offers a simple solution: jump to 3H, a game-force with 5+ hearts. Using transfers, North could transfer and bid 4NT if not interested in slam; or transfer and bid a new suit at the three level to force to game, suggesting an unbalanced hand possibly with slam interest; or bid Stayman and then jump in his suit with 5-4 in the majors. If you play splinters, a popular treatment is that transfer-then-jump-shift is a "self splinter", showing a singleton or void in the suit jumped to. With all these agreements in place, the direct jump to 3H or 3S can be limited to a single-suited hand (5-7 card length) with slam interest and no singleton or void.
Here, North responds 2D, a transfer, then jumps to 3S to show the singleton, six or more trumps and slam interest (no reason to show the singleton if you aren't interested in slam.) South is discouraged by the wasted values (AK tight) opposite the singleton, and despite good controls signs off at 4H. North, of course, continues with 4NT, asking for Aces or Key cards; South replies 5H to show two. That accounts for 8 of South's 15-17 hcp; will the remaining 7-9 be enough to cover both small diamonds? Two Kings or a KQ combo or AQJx in clubs will obviously work. May as well bid 5NT, confirming all the Aces (or all five key cards plus the Queen of trumps), inviting grand slam and (almost incidentally) allowing partner to tell you how many Kings he has. South answers "two" with a 6H reply and North can confidently bid 7NT.
Another approach, of course, is for North to simply bid Gerber (4C), follow with the King-ask (usually 5C) which also makes it obvious there are 13 tricks. One significant difference: the Gerber King-ask, 5C, does not generally promise all the Aces; sometimes responder is simply trying to decide between six of his long suit or 6NT.
Board 17: North has an interesting 1516 hand, a shade light for an opening 1 bid and not really suitable for a preempt given the good hearts. I'd pass and hope to show my suits later. East opens 1S; West plans to bid game in spades but no immediate raise is suitable -- Jacoby 2NT should promise 4 trumps, which will help opener evaluate his hand better for slam purposes. Besides, slam might be better in diamonds or hearts, using a 4-4 as trumps and discarding losers on the long spades. The best response is a simple 2D, planning to jump in spades later, suggesting the three-card support.
East has a lovely 3S rebid, showing a powerful suit and extra values. Some authorities demand a solid suit for this bid, especially in a 2/1 Game Force style, but it seems to me 4NT can clear up whether any high trump is missing and the suit is certainly playable opposite a void. West has too much for a meek raise to 4S; better is a 4H cue-bid. How can East tell this isn't a real suit? If East had hearts he would not have skipped over them to jump in spades; there's rarely any need to introduce a new suit at the four level in the absence of enemy preemption.
The slam move encourages East ot proceed with 4NT (Blackwood or RKCB), West repleis 5H to show 2 aces, and East bids either 6S or 6NT. I think it's a fair bet West's diamonds will provide the needed 12th trick for 6NT, and that proves true today. Doesn't matter -- only one pair reached this excellent slam.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 16th 2011
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Board 6: East opens 1D or 1C. The argument for 1D is that, if needed, you can rebid 2C without reversing. Often this won't be a problem; you expect partner to respond 1H and you will rebid 1S. But if partner responds 1NT, you won't be comfortable passing with that stiff heart; or perhaps South overcalls 1S and partner responds with a negative double or a forcing 2H bid. Robbed of your 1S rebid, you'll be happy to have opened 1D and be able to rebid in clubs.
Some Souths with very low standards for overclls may, in fact, bid 1S, but I suspect most passed -- neither the suit nor the hand offers any compelling reason to bid. West has an obvious strong jump shift (2H.) Opener tends to make the same rebid over a jump shift as over a simple response, merely one level higher, but should avoid bidding poor suits in a slam hunt. (Many authorities declare that jump shifter cannot have a second suit, but I do not subscribe to that theory for 2 level jumps.) 3C is better than 2S, showing where your values are. West rebids his powerful suit and East, trusting the suit is self-sufficient, shows a minimum by way of 4H. If responder doesn't like his suit that much, he should not jump and rebid it.
West continues with 4NT and East replies 5H, showing two Aces (Blackwood) or one Ace plus the King of hearts (RKCB). Blackwood bidders continue with 5NT, confirming all the Aces, and sign off in 6H over opener's negative 6C. RKCB bidder know one key card is missing; 7D is still possible, but would require a singleton heart and sufficient trumps to ruff out the King; a 4-4 fit would be too risky, requiring good luck in both suits to make 7. Best is to settle for 6H. The heart finesses is on but can't be repeated, so South scores one trick.
For those not playing strong jump shifts, West responds 1H, East rebids 1S, and now West must manufacture a forcing bid. 4NT is possible if that's simple Blackwood; many RKCB partnerships would interpret 4NT as asking about key cards for spades. In such a case West must bid 2C, Fourth Suit Artificial, then rebid his hearts -- that should be game-forcing, but will partner see it that way? The principle is that a direct 3H would've been invitational; you don't need two different ways to invite, so 2C followed by 3H is forcing. Over 2C, East shows his club values with 2NT or 3C, and West continues with 3H. Now East is apt to try 3NT, and if West bids 4NT, that sounds like a quantitative slam try, not Blackwood. What a mess! Strong jumps don't solve every slam problem, but they help by making it 100% clear the partnership is committed to at least game and by focusing attention on features useful for slam.
Board 13: North opens a sound if minimum 1H (Goren 13-count, or Rule of 20, this is a nice hand.) In olden times North would not have a rebid over 2C or 2D, but in the modern style most treat 2H as a "default" bid, not promising extra length, and the 2/1 bidder promises sufficient values for 2NT or the three level. South responds 1S and North startles him by rasing his 7 card suit! Suddenly South has visions of slam -- but the opening bid was opposite his void, and North limited his hand with the simple raise. Let's try visualizing -- South has A10xxxxx -- AQ10x 10x; slam would be cold opposite, say,
Kxxx xxxxx Kx Ax, and there's even room for some wasted values in hearts. Blackwood, however, won't tell you if partner has the clubs under control or any help in diamonds. I suggest a 3D "game try"; if opener retreats to 3S, settle for the safe 4S level. If, instead, opener bids game, South can focus attention on clubs with 5S. Five of an agreed suit can have several meanings, such as asking about suit quality, but when there is exactly one unbid suit (or the opponents have overcalled in a suit) the standard interpretation is "do you have the last suit controlled?" North, of course, would pass 5S, but here, of course, the bidding should stop at four.
West leads the Queen of clubs and East signals encouragement, then overtakes the second trick to switch to a diamond. Declarer can finesse for an overtrick, or see if the fifth heart will set up, with a possible squeeze as plan B. Ace of diamonds, trump to dummy, ruff a low heart, trump to dummy, ruff another heart, trump to dummy, cash the top hearts and pitch away three diamonds. But with 8 hearts out, the suit will split 4-4 only about 32% of the time, and the lack of an late entry to dummy rules out a squeeze, so the diamond finesse at 50% looks like a better line unless you are convinced East's switch reduces the odds he has the King.
Board 6: East opens 1D or 1C. The argument for 1D is that, if needed, you can rebid 2C without reversing. Often this won't be a problem; you expect partner to respond 1H and you will rebid 1S. But if partner responds 1NT, you won't be comfortable passing with that stiff heart; or perhaps South overcalls 1S and partner responds with a negative double or a forcing 2H bid. Robbed of your 1S rebid, you'll be happy to have opened 1D and be able to rebid in clubs.
Some Souths with very low standards for overclls may, in fact, bid 1S, but I suspect most passed -- neither the suit nor the hand offers any compelling reason to bid. West has an obvious strong jump shift (2H.) Opener tends to make the same rebid over a jump shift as over a simple response, merely one level higher, but should avoid bidding poor suits in a slam hunt. (Many authorities declare that jump shifter cannot have a second suit, but I do not subscribe to that theory for 2 level jumps.) 3C is better than 2S, showing where your values are. West rebids his powerful suit and East, trusting the suit is self-sufficient, shows a minimum by way of 4H. If responder doesn't like his suit that much, he should not jump and rebid it.
West continues with 4NT and East replies 5H, showing two Aces (Blackwood) or one Ace plus the King of hearts (RKCB). Blackwood bidders continue with 5NT, confirming all the Aces, and sign off in 6H over opener's negative 6C. RKCB bidder know one key card is missing; 7D is still possible, but would require a singleton heart and sufficient trumps to ruff out the King; a 4-4 fit would be too risky, requiring good luck in both suits to make 7. Best is to settle for 6H. The heart finesses is on but can't be repeated, so South scores one trick.
For those not playing strong jump shifts, West responds 1H, East rebids 1S, and now West must manufacture a forcing bid. 4NT is possible if that's simple Blackwood; many RKCB partnerships would interpret 4NT as asking about key cards for spades. In such a case West must bid 2C, Fourth Suit Artificial, then rebid his hearts -- that should be game-forcing, but will partner see it that way? The principle is that a direct 3H would've been invitational; you don't need two different ways to invite, so 2C followed by 3H is forcing. Over 2C, East shows his club values with 2NT or 3C, and West continues with 3H. Now East is apt to try 3NT, and if West bids 4NT, that sounds like a quantitative slam try, not Blackwood. What a mess! Strong jumps don't solve every slam problem, but they help by making it 100% clear the partnership is committed to at least game and by focusing attention on features useful for slam.
Board 13: North opens a sound if minimum 1H (Goren 13-count, or Rule of 20, this is a nice hand.) In olden times North would not have a rebid over 2C or 2D, but in the modern style most treat 2H as a "default" bid, not promising extra length, and the 2/1 bidder promises sufficient values for 2NT or the three level. South responds 1S and North startles him by rasing his 7 card suit! Suddenly South has visions of slam -- but the opening bid was opposite his void, and North limited his hand with the simple raise. Let's try visualizing -- South has A10xxxxx -- AQ10x 10x; slam would be cold opposite, say,
Kxxx xxxxx Kx Ax, and there's even room for some wasted values in hearts. Blackwood, however, won't tell you if partner has the clubs under control or any help in diamonds. I suggest a 3D "game try"; if opener retreats to 3S, settle for the safe 4S level. If, instead, opener bids game, South can focus attention on clubs with 5S. Five of an agreed suit can have several meanings, such as asking about suit quality, but when there is exactly one unbid suit (or the opponents have overcalled in a suit) the standard interpretation is "do you have the last suit controlled?" North, of course, would pass 5S, but here, of course, the bidding should stop at four.
West leads the Queen of clubs and East signals encouragement, then overtakes the second trick to switch to a diamond. Declarer can finesse for an overtrick, or see if the fifth heart will set up, with a possible squeeze as plan B. Ace of diamonds, trump to dummy, ruff a low heart, trump to dummy, ruff another heart, trump to dummy, cash the top hearts and pitch away three diamonds. But with 8 hearts out, the suit will split 4-4 only about 32% of the time, and the lack of an late entry to dummy rules out a squeeze, so the diamond finesse at 50% looks like a better line unless you are convinced East's switch reduces the odds he has the King.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, December 15th 2011
Right-click here for hands. I see I haven't posted in a while -- any body still reading this? I know you can "subscribe" to be notified when there's a new post.
Board 17: East opens 1C with a balanced 19-count. South may toss in a Michaels' cue-bid (2C, showing both majors and typically 6-10 or 16+ hcp), or overcall or pass according to style; looks like a reasonable Michaels bid to me. What's the best defense to this popular gadget? With no special agreement, the double of an artificial bid suggests length and strength in the suit; another approach is to treat this similar to bidding over a takeout double, with double of the cue-bid corresponding to a redouble over a double, showing 10+ hcp and typically a balanced hand. This "stakes a claim" to the hand and invites opener to double any bid by North where he has length. What West actually has is an unbalanced, excellent 9 count, with 5-5 shape of his own and two Aces. Another popular treatment is "Unusual over Unusual", where in response to the oppenent's two-suited bid, you use the cue-bids in their two suits to show values in the other two suits, lower = lower and higher = higher. So a 2H bid over their 2C shows a good hand with clubs, 2S shows a good hand with diamonds, and 2D or 3C would simply be competitive. One problem is that the non-vulnerable Michaels bid at this level might be based on 5-4 shape, so it's premature to completely rule out playing in one of the majors -- it's worth asking about their agreements. If 5-4 is a possibility, you may prefer to treat 2H and 2S as natural, forcing bids; or you could agree double-then-bid a major shows such hands.
Let's assume you've agreed double = strength, possibly with length in one of their suits, and Unusual over Unusual applies. West has only 9 hcp, not enough to invite 3NT opposite a balanced minimum, but excellent playing strength: 5C could be on opposite, say, xx Axxx Kx KQxx, or 6C opposite
Ax xxx KQx KQxxx. However, if East has only 3 clubs (or worse, 2, for those playing "could be short") 3C may be the limit. All in all I think I'd bid an agressive 2H cue-bid. For pairs who have not agreed Unusual over Unusual a simple 3C looks best.
North knows he has a fit in at least one major, but may not know which if South could be 5-4. North should certainly bid spades if West passes, but otherwise should stay quiet with his weak, shapeless hand. After a cue-bid or 3C, East has an obvious 3NT call -- no reason to fret over diamonds, a suit no one has mentioned. Slam seems unlikely with East's fairly balanced hand and most of his strength in South's majors.
At 3NT, East wins quickly in hearts or holds up two rounds in spades. East suspects North will have 3 clubs, but it's safe and reasonable to finesse first in diamonds. When South shows up with the K10, it's reasonable to play North for the Queen. (At a team game you might cash the AK to protect against South having 5422 shape including Qx of clubs.)
Only one pair reached the excellent club slam; East wins the first spade, cashes two top hearts to pitch his spade loser, plays two top trumps and finesses in diamonds for six; or plays North for the club Queen (based on Soth's bidding) and makes seven.
Board 21: North has 11 tricks in hand, with zero quick losers! Really, the best bridge hand I've ever seen in person. Over his 2C, South responds 2D (negative), 2D (waiting), 2D (semi-positive, where 2H would show a bust hand; this needs to be alerted) or 2H (steps, 4-6 hcp, aslo alertable.) As long as North can trust partner to honor a forcing bid, it makes sense to bid clubs so partner will know the King is a critical card. No need to do anything dramatic, 3C is 100% forcing. Remember this hand next time you're tempted to pass as responder in this sort of sequence! South bids 3S (suggesting some values) and North persists with 4C, still forcing! (It would be pointless to reserve this bid as a sign-off.) Here things get a bit murky -- would 4H suggest North's actual 5-5, or wuld it be a cue-bid in support of clubs? Experts have been known to play 2-1 "fits" on this sort of auction! When the bidding starts at the one level, I don't think new suits should be introduced at the four level; but when the bidding starts at higher levels or when enemy bids crowd the auction, I think it's sound to play "if it could be natural, it is." So South bids 4H and North either bids 6NT directly or possibly goes thorugh 4NT-5NT (the latter SHOWING all four Aces.) For Key Card bidders, what suit, if any, would 4NT ask about? Some play "none, no suit agreed", others play "last natural suit"; opener's rebid clubs probably makes more sense than either of those in this case, but it's hard to come up with a simple, foolproof rule to allow that. I suggest that when we haven't agreed on a suit, a JUMP to 4NT asks about, in order of priority (1) jump-shifter's own suit, or (2) the last naturally bid suit. When 4NT is not a jump, it asks about (1) the only suit we've bid, or (2) bidder's own suit.
If you can't be sure what partner's reply to 4NT would mean, I think 6C is the practical bid, or a somewhat risky 6NT. On heart lead vs. 6NT, cash the four diamonds (pitching hearts) and the five spades (pitching clubs) and watch the enemy discards. When West never pitches a club, is he being cagey or is he trying to protect the King? East may give the show away by pitching his "useless" clubs, or both defenders may throw away all their hearts. Otherwise declarer must decide to risk the finesse for a possible make or -200 or cash out for -100.
Board 17: East opens 1C with a balanced 19-count. South may toss in a Michaels' cue-bid (2C, showing both majors and typically 6-10 or 16+ hcp), or overcall or pass according to style; looks like a reasonable Michaels bid to me. What's the best defense to this popular gadget? With no special agreement, the double of an artificial bid suggests length and strength in the suit; another approach is to treat this similar to bidding over a takeout double, with double of the cue-bid corresponding to a redouble over a double, showing 10+ hcp and typically a balanced hand. This "stakes a claim" to the hand and invites opener to double any bid by North where he has length. What West actually has is an unbalanced, excellent 9 count, with 5-5 shape of his own and two Aces. Another popular treatment is "Unusual over Unusual", where in response to the oppenent's two-suited bid, you use the cue-bids in their two suits to show values in the other two suits, lower = lower and higher = higher. So a 2H bid over their 2C shows a good hand with clubs, 2S shows a good hand with diamonds, and 2D or 3C would simply be competitive. One problem is that the non-vulnerable Michaels bid at this level might be based on 5-4 shape, so it's premature to completely rule out playing in one of the majors -- it's worth asking about their agreements. If 5-4 is a possibility, you may prefer to treat 2H and 2S as natural, forcing bids; or you could agree double-then-bid a major shows such hands.
Let's assume you've agreed double = strength, possibly with length in one of their suits, and Unusual over Unusual applies. West has only 9 hcp, not enough to invite 3NT opposite a balanced minimum, but excellent playing strength: 5C could be on opposite, say, xx Axxx Kx KQxx, or 6C opposite
Ax xxx KQx KQxxx. However, if East has only 3 clubs (or worse, 2, for those playing "could be short") 3C may be the limit. All in all I think I'd bid an agressive 2H cue-bid. For pairs who have not agreed Unusual over Unusual a simple 3C looks best.
North knows he has a fit in at least one major, but may not know which if South could be 5-4. North should certainly bid spades if West passes, but otherwise should stay quiet with his weak, shapeless hand. After a cue-bid or 3C, East has an obvious 3NT call -- no reason to fret over diamonds, a suit no one has mentioned. Slam seems unlikely with East's fairly balanced hand and most of his strength in South's majors.
At 3NT, East wins quickly in hearts or holds up two rounds in spades. East suspects North will have 3 clubs, but it's safe and reasonable to finesse first in diamonds. When South shows up with the K10, it's reasonable to play North for the Queen. (At a team game you might cash the AK to protect against South having 5422 shape including Qx of clubs.)
Only one pair reached the excellent club slam; East wins the first spade, cashes two top hearts to pitch his spade loser, plays two top trumps and finesses in diamonds for six; or plays North for the club Queen (based on Soth's bidding) and makes seven.
Board 21: North has 11 tricks in hand, with zero quick losers! Really, the best bridge hand I've ever seen in person. Over his 2C, South responds 2D (negative), 2D (waiting), 2D (semi-positive, where 2H would show a bust hand; this needs to be alerted) or 2H (steps, 4-6 hcp, aslo alertable.) As long as North can trust partner to honor a forcing bid, it makes sense to bid clubs so partner will know the King is a critical card. No need to do anything dramatic, 3C is 100% forcing. Remember this hand next time you're tempted to pass as responder in this sort of sequence! South bids 3S (suggesting some values) and North persists with 4C, still forcing! (It would be pointless to reserve this bid as a sign-off.) Here things get a bit murky -- would 4H suggest North's actual 5-5, or wuld it be a cue-bid in support of clubs? Experts have been known to play 2-1 "fits" on this sort of auction! When the bidding starts at the one level, I don't think new suits should be introduced at the four level; but when the bidding starts at higher levels or when enemy bids crowd the auction, I think it's sound to play "if it could be natural, it is." So South bids 4H and North either bids 6NT directly or possibly goes thorugh 4NT-5NT (the latter SHOWING all four Aces.) For Key Card bidders, what suit, if any, would 4NT ask about? Some play "none, no suit agreed", others play "last natural suit"; opener's rebid clubs probably makes more sense than either of those in this case, but it's hard to come up with a simple, foolproof rule to allow that. I suggest that when we haven't agreed on a suit, a JUMP to 4NT asks about, in order of priority (1) jump-shifter's own suit, or (2) the last naturally bid suit. When 4NT is not a jump, it asks about (1) the only suit we've bid, or (2) bidder's own suit.
If you can't be sure what partner's reply to 4NT would mean, I think 6C is the practical bid, or a somewhat risky 6NT. On heart lead vs. 6NT, cash the four diamonds (pitching hearts) and the five spades (pitching clubs) and watch the enemy discards. When West never pitches a club, is he being cagey or is he trying to protect the King? East may give the show away by pitching his "useless" clubs, or both defenders may throw away all their hearts. Otherwise declarer must decide to risk the finesse for a possible make or -200 or cash out for -100.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 27th 2011
Right-click here for hands.
Board 12: West opens 1S and North overcalls 2C (or doubles.) East has four-card support, a void, and an excellent source of tricks in hearts. This is a difficult hand to value properly using point-count methods -- add 5 for the void, but how useful is the Queen of clubs? The December ACBL Bulletin has an article about losing trick count (LTC) but I consider the methods presented there to be too crude for serious use. What I generally use is George Rosenkranz's Loser-Cover Card method. An opening bid will typically have 7 losers and/or provide about 4 cover cards. Here, East can count 2 spade losers, one heart if North has either the King or Queen, no diamond losers and up to 3 clubs (A-K-ruff if partner has 3 small.) It's reasonable to hope partner has AQxxx xx xxx Axx, in which case North cannot attack clubs and the heart suit can be developed in time to pitch clubs from West's hand and then ruff them. Of course, AQxxx xx AJx xxx would put even 4S in jeopardy. East wants to support spades, leave room for slam exploration, but not take the bidding past 4S without a club cue-bid from West.
East is too strong for a direct leap to 4S; 4D as a splinter gives a fair picture. Should splinters apply in competition? I believe so, but you must have a clear rule. Normally a splinter is a "double-jump", such as 1S-4D. 2D shows diamonds, 3D is a weak or strong jump shift according to style, 4D is an odd-sounding bid not very useful in any natural sense, and modern American bidders overwhelming favor it as a singleton-showing raise, typically 11-14 hcp or somewhat less with a void.
My rule is that over competition, a bid is a splinter if (1) it would've been a splinter if the opponent had passed, and (2) it's still a jump. 1S-(2C or dbl)-4D qualifies. Be sure to discuss this with partner before trotting such a bid out at the table -- most gadget bids are OFF over competition, don't assume partner will read 4D correctly here.
Assuming 4D is clearly a splinter, West is delighted -- East should be able to ruff two diamonds, and West has an extra trump. Ideal would be a cue-bidding sequnce to make sure there aren't two fast heart losers, but 5C carries the bidding past 4NT, so I think 4NT Blackwood or RKCB is the practical bid. East replies with 1 Ace or 2 Key cards and West bids the excellent slam. North leads a high diamond, ruffed in dummy; declarer plays two rounds of trumps (ending in hand) and finesses a heart. South wins and switches to clubs, but declarer grabs the Ace, finesses again in hearts, and pitches his remaining losers on the long hearts.
Board 18: East opens 1S and West examines his "mixed bag": 9 hcp and a singleton, but no Ace and the singleton is a King. Looks like a maximum 2S raise to me, under the sound rule that you shouldn't count both high cards and short-suit values in the same suit. With the raise, East counts zero spade losers, one heart, and 2 to 4 diamonds. Contrary to the Bulletin article, it is possible to lose four tricks in one suit, and Qxxx is frequently worse than two losers. Even so, counting diamonds as 3 losers leaves only 4, and a simple raise will usually cover 2 or 3 losers. A reasonable dummy might be xxx Kxx KJx xxxx. Anything partner has in clubs, however, will be wasted. A "self-splinter" to 4C will help partner decide which cards he has are useful. Again, don't try this without discussion; just because you've agreed 1S-4C to be a splinter doesn't mean partner will understand 1S-2S-4C to be a splinter. The logic, however, is that 3C would be more or less natural and forcing; if you wanted to portray a two-suiter, you could bid 3C and then 4C. So a direct 4C is not needed to show clubs and the splinter agreement is sensible.
West loves his hand after the splinter: now the singleton King is likely to be worth a full five or six points, combining with diamond values in East's hand. West can count a likely 4 cover cards, (the two Kings, the Queen, and a diamond ruff), more than expected for a simple raise. West could bid 4NT, but I think it's generally unnecessary to risk the five level with zero Key cards. Instead, West cue-bids 4D. And here's why 4NT by West is unnecessary -- if partner has 4 key cards (or 3 plus a void as here), he should proceed to slam given any encouragement. East can simply bid 6S over 4D; 4NT doesn't really help, since the Ace of clubs is the least useful high card West could have, and grand slam is not reasonable after the simple raise. (It's cetainly possible West has AKJxx in diamonds, but 4NT won't tell you that.)
South surely leads from his QJ109xx in hearts, although it happens today that a trump lead kills the slam, since East must ruff two diamonds.
Board 12: West opens 1S and North overcalls 2C (or doubles.) East has four-card support, a void, and an excellent source of tricks in hearts. This is a difficult hand to value properly using point-count methods -- add 5 for the void, but how useful is the Queen of clubs? The December ACBL Bulletin has an article about losing trick count (LTC) but I consider the methods presented there to be too crude for serious use. What I generally use is George Rosenkranz's Loser-Cover Card method. An opening bid will typically have 7 losers and/or provide about 4 cover cards. Here, East can count 2 spade losers, one heart if North has either the King or Queen, no diamond losers and up to 3 clubs (A-K-ruff if partner has 3 small.) It's reasonable to hope partner has AQxxx xx xxx Axx, in which case North cannot attack clubs and the heart suit can be developed in time to pitch clubs from West's hand and then ruff them. Of course, AQxxx xx AJx xxx would put even 4S in jeopardy. East wants to support spades, leave room for slam exploration, but not take the bidding past 4S without a club cue-bid from West.
East is too strong for a direct leap to 4S; 4D as a splinter gives a fair picture. Should splinters apply in competition? I believe so, but you must have a clear rule. Normally a splinter is a "double-jump", such as 1S-4D. 2D shows diamonds, 3D is a weak or strong jump shift according to style, 4D is an odd-sounding bid not very useful in any natural sense, and modern American bidders overwhelming favor it as a singleton-showing raise, typically 11-14 hcp or somewhat less with a void.
My rule is that over competition, a bid is a splinter if (1) it would've been a splinter if the opponent had passed, and (2) it's still a jump. 1S-(2C or dbl)-4D qualifies. Be sure to discuss this with partner before trotting such a bid out at the table -- most gadget bids are OFF over competition, don't assume partner will read 4D correctly here.
Assuming 4D is clearly a splinter, West is delighted -- East should be able to ruff two diamonds, and West has an extra trump. Ideal would be a cue-bidding sequnce to make sure there aren't two fast heart losers, but 5C carries the bidding past 4NT, so I think 4NT Blackwood or RKCB is the practical bid. East replies with 1 Ace or 2 Key cards and West bids the excellent slam. North leads a high diamond, ruffed in dummy; declarer plays two rounds of trumps (ending in hand) and finesses a heart. South wins and switches to clubs, but declarer grabs the Ace, finesses again in hearts, and pitches his remaining losers on the long hearts.
Board 18: East opens 1S and West examines his "mixed bag": 9 hcp and a singleton, but no Ace and the singleton is a King. Looks like a maximum 2S raise to me, under the sound rule that you shouldn't count both high cards and short-suit values in the same suit. With the raise, East counts zero spade losers, one heart, and 2 to 4 diamonds. Contrary to the Bulletin article, it is possible to lose four tricks in one suit, and Qxxx is frequently worse than two losers. Even so, counting diamonds as 3 losers leaves only 4, and a simple raise will usually cover 2 or 3 losers. A reasonable dummy might be xxx Kxx KJx xxxx. Anything partner has in clubs, however, will be wasted. A "self-splinter" to 4C will help partner decide which cards he has are useful. Again, don't try this without discussion; just because you've agreed 1S-4C to be a splinter doesn't mean partner will understand 1S-2S-4C to be a splinter. The logic, however, is that 3C would be more or less natural and forcing; if you wanted to portray a two-suiter, you could bid 3C and then 4C. So a direct 4C is not needed to show clubs and the splinter agreement is sensible.
West loves his hand after the splinter: now the singleton King is likely to be worth a full five or six points, combining with diamond values in East's hand. West can count a likely 4 cover cards, (the two Kings, the Queen, and a diamond ruff), more than expected for a simple raise. West could bid 4NT, but I think it's generally unnecessary to risk the five level with zero Key cards. Instead, West cue-bids 4D. And here's why 4NT by West is unnecessary -- if partner has 4 key cards (or 3 plus a void as here), he should proceed to slam given any encouragement. East can simply bid 6S over 4D; 4NT doesn't really help, since the Ace of clubs is the least useful high card West could have, and grand slam is not reasonable after the simple raise. (It's cetainly possible West has AKJxx in diamonds, but 4NT won't tell you that.)
South surely leads from his QJ109xx in hearts, although it happens today that a trump lead kills the slam, since East must ruff two diamonds.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, November 18th 2011
Team games today and Sunday, so no hand records.
Sitting South, vulnerable against not, you pick up 9x Jxxxxx Qxxx J on board 2 in a 7 board Swiss Team match. East opens 1C, alerted and described as artifical and forcing, 16+ (Precision). You pass and West bids 2C, alrted and described as a transfer to diamonds, with game-forcing values (8+.) Partner bids 3C, which East doubles. Must be Michaels! With a huge heart fit, 4H might make or go down less than the value of their game -- but the bidding proceeds pass, pass, double, pass, pass, 4S by partner, a bid which would make no sense if partner had both majors. When the smoke clears, partner is down 5 doubled for a massive 1400 point penalty. His hand? xxxxx x Kx AQ109x .
A common mistake after learning a new gadget, such as Michaels' cue-bid, is to misapply it to inappropriate auctions. Michaels is a direct (not balancing!) cue-bid of a suit your right-hand opponent has bid naturally. It would make little sense to want to play in hearts, for example, if RHO opens 1H, showing 5 hearts and an opening hand. Eli Culbertson defined such a bid as showing a massive hand with first-round control of the enemy suit; but such hands occur rarely and experts began looking for alternative uses. The modern Michaels bid shows a 5-5 hand with the unbid major and a minor, or both majors (sometimes 5-4) over a minor suit.
Now go back to the auction -- what suit have the opponents shown? Only diamonds -- and if partner had bid 2D, would you think he wanted to play there? Of course not, and that bid could reasonably be used to show both majors, though it might be safer to simply bid 2S and discuss the "Michaels" possibility later. The essential point is that it is more important that partner have a way to show clubs, and there is no reason why 3C should not do so. (Double would also suggest clubs if you have not agreed on some other meaning, but 3C takes up more bidding room.) Of course 3C was a poor bid and, in fact, -800 would hardly have been less disastrous. But perhaps West would've bid over that double.
Along the same lines I don't know how many times I've seen confusion over the "Unusual Notrump." Just today West opened 1S, North overcalled 2H, and East bid 2NT, thinking that bid showed the minors. Nonsense! In competition, ALL notrump bids are natural except in specifically agreed sequences. After an opponent opens a suit, a direct jump to 2NT could be perfectly natural, but fascination with the Unusual Notrump lead experts to reason that they could show a strong balanced hand by double, then 2NT, so it was decided that 2NT would show the minors (or two lower unbid suits.) I think it would've been better to reserve the Unusual meaning for passed-hand 2NT bids, where an offer to play 2NT clearly makes no sense.
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Trying to keep your equilibrium after that -1400 disaster, you pick up a promising hand on board 4:
Ax AK109 AQJxx xx . Partner deals and opens 1S. You respond 2D, and partner rebids 3C, a "high reverse" promising at least 15 hcp or so. (New suits at the three level crowd the bidding and must be clearly defined in strength; with a more limited hand opener would simply rebid 2S as a "default" bid.)
Looks like slam! You bid 4NT (simple Blackwood) and partner shwos one Ace. Over 5NT, partner shows three Kings. Wow! You can count 11 tricks (assuming no opponent has 5 diamonds) but let's see -- one ace and three Kings is only 13 hcp, so partner should have another card or two for that 3C bid. 6NT would be safe, but with no first or second round loser and various long suits, you decide to gamble 7NT.
The opening lead is the Queen of hearts, and dummy appears with KQxxx xx Kx AKxx. Perhaps the spades will split 3-3, or maybe West lead from QJ doubleton:
KQxxx
xx
Kx
AKxx
Ax
AK109
AQJxx
xx
If neither spades nor hearts provides an "instant" trick 13, you can always resort to a squeeze. Let's check the conditions:
(1) You've got enough winners for all but one trick. Check -- 12 winners, need 13.
(2) You have threats in two or more suits. Check -- spades, hearts and clubs all have extra non-winners.
(3) One opponent has to guard at least two suits -- seems likely, the two of them must guard three suits.
(4) You have a long card to squeeze with -- diamonds, of course.
(5) You have an entry in a suit with a threat in the hand opposite the squeeze card -- clubs should work.
One more item will help -- try to keep threats in each hand, then you can squeeze either defender. If all threats are in the same hand, say North, you can only squeeeze one defender (West.)
Win the heart lead. Play AKQ of spades, pitching the Ten of hearts from South. Let's say West shows out on the third spade. Cash one high club, the King of diamonds, the second high heart, and then three more diamonds, pitching a club and a spade from North. Watch the discards only for the QJ of hearts, and whether East pitches a spade. If East keeps his spades and you do not see the QJ of hearts played or discarded, play the last diamond and pitch the last spade from dummy. If the nine of hearts still isn't good, cross to the high club and play the last club. It either wins or it doesn't.
The three card ending:
x
--
--
Ax
-- J
?? ?
-- --
?? ??
--
9
x
x
East may be able to keep a spade and two clubs, and pitch after dummy on the last diamond, or guard spades and hearts, but if only West can guard hearts and clubs or if East must guard all three suits the squeeze works -- or a defender may make a mistake.
Sitting South, vulnerable against not, you pick up 9x Jxxxxx Qxxx J on board 2 in a 7 board Swiss Team match. East opens 1C, alerted and described as artifical and forcing, 16+ (Precision). You pass and West bids 2C, alrted and described as a transfer to diamonds, with game-forcing values (8+.) Partner bids 3C, which East doubles. Must be Michaels! With a huge heart fit, 4H might make or go down less than the value of their game -- but the bidding proceeds pass, pass, double, pass, pass, 4S by partner, a bid which would make no sense if partner had both majors. When the smoke clears, partner is down 5 doubled for a massive 1400 point penalty. His hand? xxxxx x Kx AQ109x .
A common mistake after learning a new gadget, such as Michaels' cue-bid, is to misapply it to inappropriate auctions. Michaels is a direct (not balancing!) cue-bid of a suit your right-hand opponent has bid naturally. It would make little sense to want to play in hearts, for example, if RHO opens 1H, showing 5 hearts and an opening hand. Eli Culbertson defined such a bid as showing a massive hand with first-round control of the enemy suit; but such hands occur rarely and experts began looking for alternative uses. The modern Michaels bid shows a 5-5 hand with the unbid major and a minor, or both majors (sometimes 5-4) over a minor suit.
Now go back to the auction -- what suit have the opponents shown? Only diamonds -- and if partner had bid 2D, would you think he wanted to play there? Of course not, and that bid could reasonably be used to show both majors, though it might be safer to simply bid 2S and discuss the "Michaels" possibility later. The essential point is that it is more important that partner have a way to show clubs, and there is no reason why 3C should not do so. (Double would also suggest clubs if you have not agreed on some other meaning, but 3C takes up more bidding room.) Of course 3C was a poor bid and, in fact, -800 would hardly have been less disastrous. But perhaps West would've bid over that double.
Along the same lines I don't know how many times I've seen confusion over the "Unusual Notrump." Just today West opened 1S, North overcalled 2H, and East bid 2NT, thinking that bid showed the minors. Nonsense! In competition, ALL notrump bids are natural except in specifically agreed sequences. After an opponent opens a suit, a direct jump to 2NT could be perfectly natural, but fascination with the Unusual Notrump lead experts to reason that they could show a strong balanced hand by double, then 2NT, so it was decided that 2NT would show the minors (or two lower unbid suits.) I think it would've been better to reserve the Unusual meaning for passed-hand 2NT bids, where an offer to play 2NT clearly makes no sense.
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Trying to keep your equilibrium after that -1400 disaster, you pick up a promising hand on board 4:
Ax AK109 AQJxx xx . Partner deals and opens 1S. You respond 2D, and partner rebids 3C, a "high reverse" promising at least 15 hcp or so. (New suits at the three level crowd the bidding and must be clearly defined in strength; with a more limited hand opener would simply rebid 2S as a "default" bid.)
Looks like slam! You bid 4NT (simple Blackwood) and partner shwos one Ace. Over 5NT, partner shows three Kings. Wow! You can count 11 tricks (assuming no opponent has 5 diamonds) but let's see -- one ace and three Kings is only 13 hcp, so partner should have another card or two for that 3C bid. 6NT would be safe, but with no first or second round loser and various long suits, you decide to gamble 7NT.
The opening lead is the Queen of hearts, and dummy appears with KQxxx xx Kx AKxx. Perhaps the spades will split 3-3, or maybe West lead from QJ doubleton:
KQxxx
xx
Kx
AKxx
Ax
AK109
AQJxx
xx
If neither spades nor hearts provides an "instant" trick 13, you can always resort to a squeeze. Let's check the conditions:
(1) You've got enough winners for all but one trick. Check -- 12 winners, need 13.
(2) You have threats in two or more suits. Check -- spades, hearts and clubs all have extra non-winners.
(3) One opponent has to guard at least two suits -- seems likely, the two of them must guard three suits.
(4) You have a long card to squeeze with -- diamonds, of course.
(5) You have an entry in a suit with a threat in the hand opposite the squeeze card -- clubs should work.
One more item will help -- try to keep threats in each hand, then you can squeeze either defender. If all threats are in the same hand, say North, you can only squeeeze one defender (West.)
Win the heart lead. Play AKQ of spades, pitching the Ten of hearts from South. Let's say West shows out on the third spade. Cash one high club, the King of diamonds, the second high heart, and then three more diamonds, pitching a club and a spade from North. Watch the discards only for the QJ of hearts, and whether East pitches a spade. If East keeps his spades and you do not see the QJ of hearts played or discarded, play the last diamond and pitch the last spade from dummy. If the nine of hearts still isn't good, cross to the high club and play the last club. It either wins or it doesn't.
The three card ending:
x
--
--
Ax
-- J
?? ?
-- --
?? ??
--
9
x
x
East may be able to keep a spade and two clubs, and pitch after dummy on the last diamond, or guard spades and hearts, but if only West can guard hearts and clubs or if East must guard all three suits the squeeze works -- or a defender may make a mistake.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sunday, November 13th 2011
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Board 10: East opens 1C and West has an obvious strong jump to 2S. East raises to 3S and West can either show club support (4C) or cue-bid his diamond control (4D), hoping in either case East has control of hearts. Since West has solid spades and only Qxxx in clubs 4D looks best. East continues with 4NT; if this RKCB West replies 5C (0 or 3 key cards.) Missing one key card, slam will be poor if the Queen of trumps is also missing, so East bids 5D to ask about the Queen. West replies with 5S (second step = yes) or 5NT (yes, but no side King) and East ends the bidding at 6S.
For those playing weak jump responses "not in competition" (be sure to alert) West must begin with 1S, which East raises. Blackwood is not recommended with two small losers in a side suit, but West absolutely must not make a bid partner might pass. Experts would bid 3C, an apparent game invitation but forcing by agreement; but in a casual partnership there's too much risk East may pass. Four clubs would be natural and an obvious slam try; otherwise West might try 3D, which at first appears to be a game try but transforms into an "advance cue-bid" when West continues over East's sign-off or game bid. As a practical matter, 4NT may be the practical bid, hoping East has a heart control or the enemy guesses to lead the wrong suit. At a team game I'd recommend 4C.
North should lead the King of diamonds and slam has no play; on any other lead a heart can be established to pitch the diamond loser. Note that 6C makes easily: win the lead, pull trumps, and pitch a diamond on the long spade. This is a common theme in bridge columns and textbooks, where the 4-4 fit produces an extra trick, but note well the conditions: two solid suits, a side suit with the Ace and a loser which can be pitched on the 5-4 or 5-3 suit. There is rarely any advantage in playing a part-score in a 4-4 rather than 5-4 fit. Here, East's clubs were quite strong but West's support seemed marginal, and the matchpoint scoring suggest playing in the major.
Board 21: West opens 1NT (15-17) after three passes, East checks for a spade fit via Stayman 2C and bids 3NT over West's 2H reply. North's hearts are strong enough to lead despite the known length in West's hand. West counts a minimum of two winners in each suit, with extra chances in spades (3-3 fit or the Ace popping up in front of dummy) and diamonds (3-2 split or stiff Ace with North.) Since West must lose the lead twice, it is correct to hold up at trick one: the hearts will be dangerous only if North has at least 5, so holding up once insures South will not be able to continue the suit later. Winning the second heart, West leads toward the spades first; South wins and switches to clubs. Now West leads toward dummy's diamond honors; North wins sooner or later but neither hearts nor clubs can be established in time for the defense. As it happens an opening club lead would doom 3NT but that would be a shot in the dark. (Yours truly neglected to hold up in hearts -- oops!)
Board 25: East opens 1H. Though strong enough for a jump shift, it's sound practice not to have a side suit for any three-level strong jump, and West can easily develop his hand with a 2D response followed by spades. For those who don't play 2/1 forcing to game, it's a sound principle that when responder makes a 2/1 bid and later bids a major suit he could've bid at the one level, he has game-forcing values. It's also a sound principle to bid your longest suit first with good hands; bidding spades first on this sort of hand will miss many a good slam.
Over 2D, East should not rebid 3C -- a new suit at the three level, known as a "high reverse", should promise extra values (about 15+ hcp) and be forcing to game. Responder cannot bid sensibly if he must guess whether 3C is a shapely 11 count or a powerful 18. Likewise, 3D must be defined in range, and if it does not show extras, how would opener show a good hand with diamond support? Mel Colchamiro talks about "default" rebids in November's Bridge Bulletin; with a minimum, opener must bid something below 2 of his suit (no such bid available after 1H-2D) or have an agreement that 2H or 2NT is the default rebid. I've always played 2H as the default, not promising any extra length. This allows all other rebids to be clear-cut.
So I recommend 1H-2D; 2H-2S; 2NT-? West's 2S rebid establishes a game force, and West thinks slam is likely, but 6NT might be a stretch opposite East's presumed 11-14. West therefore continues with 3D, and East should raise -- if all West wanted were game, he could've raised to 3NT. Now West bids 4NT with confidence; East reveals one ace or key card; which slam? It may be possible to establish East's hearts with one or two ruffs (picture AKxxx, which would be consistent with the bidding), so I'd pick 6D. As it happens diamonds split badly and barring a double-dummy first-round finesse, 6D has no play.
Several pairs landed at 6NT which has excellent chances: the diamonds may come in or the Queen of hearts may be finessable. No luck today.
Board 10: East opens 1C and West has an obvious strong jump to 2S. East raises to 3S and West can either show club support (4C) or cue-bid his diamond control (4D), hoping in either case East has control of hearts. Since West has solid spades and only Qxxx in clubs 4D looks best. East continues with 4NT; if this RKCB West replies 5C (0 or 3 key cards.) Missing one key card, slam will be poor if the Queen of trumps is also missing, so East bids 5D to ask about the Queen. West replies with 5S (second step = yes) or 5NT (yes, but no side King) and East ends the bidding at 6S.
For those playing weak jump responses "not in competition" (be sure to alert) West must begin with 1S, which East raises. Blackwood is not recommended with two small losers in a side suit, but West absolutely must not make a bid partner might pass. Experts would bid 3C, an apparent game invitation but forcing by agreement; but in a casual partnership there's too much risk East may pass. Four clubs would be natural and an obvious slam try; otherwise West might try 3D, which at first appears to be a game try but transforms into an "advance cue-bid" when West continues over East's sign-off or game bid. As a practical matter, 4NT may be the practical bid, hoping East has a heart control or the enemy guesses to lead the wrong suit. At a team game I'd recommend 4C.
North should lead the King of diamonds and slam has no play; on any other lead a heart can be established to pitch the diamond loser. Note that 6C makes easily: win the lead, pull trumps, and pitch a diamond on the long spade. This is a common theme in bridge columns and textbooks, where the 4-4 fit produces an extra trick, but note well the conditions: two solid suits, a side suit with the Ace and a loser which can be pitched on the 5-4 or 5-3 suit. There is rarely any advantage in playing a part-score in a 4-4 rather than 5-4 fit. Here, East's clubs were quite strong but West's support seemed marginal, and the matchpoint scoring suggest playing in the major.
Board 21: West opens 1NT (15-17) after three passes, East checks for a spade fit via Stayman 2C and bids 3NT over West's 2H reply. North's hearts are strong enough to lead despite the known length in West's hand. West counts a minimum of two winners in each suit, with extra chances in spades (3-3 fit or the Ace popping up in front of dummy) and diamonds (3-2 split or stiff Ace with North.) Since West must lose the lead twice, it is correct to hold up at trick one: the hearts will be dangerous only if North has at least 5, so holding up once insures South will not be able to continue the suit later. Winning the second heart, West leads toward the spades first; South wins and switches to clubs. Now West leads toward dummy's diamond honors; North wins sooner or later but neither hearts nor clubs can be established in time for the defense. As it happens an opening club lead would doom 3NT but that would be a shot in the dark. (Yours truly neglected to hold up in hearts -- oops!)
Board 25: East opens 1H. Though strong enough for a jump shift, it's sound practice not to have a side suit for any three-level strong jump, and West can easily develop his hand with a 2D response followed by spades. For those who don't play 2/1 forcing to game, it's a sound principle that when responder makes a 2/1 bid and later bids a major suit he could've bid at the one level, he has game-forcing values. It's also a sound principle to bid your longest suit first with good hands; bidding spades first on this sort of hand will miss many a good slam.
Over 2D, East should not rebid 3C -- a new suit at the three level, known as a "high reverse", should promise extra values (about 15+ hcp) and be forcing to game. Responder cannot bid sensibly if he must guess whether 3C is a shapely 11 count or a powerful 18. Likewise, 3D must be defined in range, and if it does not show extras, how would opener show a good hand with diamond support? Mel Colchamiro talks about "default" rebids in November's Bridge Bulletin; with a minimum, opener must bid something below 2 of his suit (no such bid available after 1H-2D) or have an agreement that 2H or 2NT is the default rebid. I've always played 2H as the default, not promising any extra length. This allows all other rebids to be clear-cut.
So I recommend 1H-2D; 2H-2S; 2NT-? West's 2S rebid establishes a game force, and West thinks slam is likely, but 6NT might be a stretch opposite East's presumed 11-14. West therefore continues with 3D, and East should raise -- if all West wanted were game, he could've raised to 3NT. Now West bids 4NT with confidence; East reveals one ace or key card; which slam? It may be possible to establish East's hearts with one or two ruffs (picture AKxxx, which would be consistent with the bidding), so I'd pick 6D. As it happens diamonds split badly and barring a double-dummy first-round finesse, 6D has no play.
Several pairs landed at 6NT which has excellent chances: the diamonds may come in or the Queen of hearts may be finessable. No luck today.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sunday, November 6th 2011
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Board 4: North opens 1NT (15-17). East might interfere with more concentrated values, but his actual hand looks good for passing and leading a diamond against notrump. South transfers to spades; West glacnes at the vulnerability before passing. North accepts the transfer and East prudently passes again. After South passes, West can risk 3C -- partner is marked with some values and West is short in spades. North has a flat minimum, but all but one his points are outside clubs and he has excellent AQxx support for spades. 3S could work out badly if partner is broke but seems a reasonable risk at matchpoints. This should end the bidding -- E/W succeeded in pushing N/S to the undesirable three level, no reason to risk -200 or worse with another call.
East should think twice before leading clubs -- West declined the chance to overcall 3C, so all East can expect is length, not great strength in the suit. Expecting his red suit honors to be well-placed over the strong hand, East starts with a low trump. This "pickles" West's King but no lead was clearly safe. Declarer could, of course, have reached dummy with the Ace of clubs to take the finesse himself. Instead, declarer captures West's King, crosses to the Jack of spades, and finesses in diamonds. East wins and must break a new suit or gamble partner has the 10 of diamonds -- is it time for clubs? I'd guess West does not have the Ace and King, and declarer appears to have shown the AQ of spades and AQ of diamonds -- he simply can't have the AQ of hearts, also. A low heart allows the defense to collect three fast winners. Fortunately for declarer, East must still guess which minor suit to lead, and hoping for two club honors seems safer than hoping West has the 10 of diamonds. Declarer captures East's Queen and returns another club to set up a discard for the third diamond. North may regret minus 100 for 3S but a kind partner will point out that West could make 3C if he sets up diamonds before tackling trumps.
Board 8: West passes and North may pass or open 2H according to taste. I prefer a slightly better suit in first or second seat with minimum hands, but A109xxx isn't terrible and I suspect 2H (not vulnerable) was the popular choice. East's hand looks like a favorite to make 4S, but partner might have a singleton or void in hearts and slam might be on opposite, say, xxxx x KQxx xxxx. I hate making a takeout double with a singleton in a side suit, let alone a void, but East can reasonably expect to bid spades over any level of club bid by partner and there is no obvious alternative way to portray a strong hand. South bids 3C to direct the lead, and West competes with 3D despite only 5 hcp. Afer this free bid, East should be able to jump to 3S and trust partner not to pass, but I think I'd bid 4S and discuss it later. This should end the auction.
South leads a high club and East should plan the hand before reflexively ruffing -- he has several hearts to dispose of. One can be pitched on a diamond and he can lead through North for another; competent defenders won't allow a ruff with dummy's lone trump. But if South leads a trump it's into East's AKJ -- why not pitch a heart at trick one? South will help declarer with a spade or heart switch, and can't hurt him with any lead. South persists with a second club, East ruffs and simply plays AK and a low trump. It's often a good idea to leave the master trump out, but here declarer wants to cash three diamonds without interruption and then lead up to the King of hearts for 10 tricks.
Perhaps East should ruff at trick one -- if North grabs his Ace of hearts later, South's Queen can be squished and declarer makes 5. I don't see a reasonable line that allows East to finesse in trumps.
Board 4: North opens 1NT (15-17). East might interfere with more concentrated values, but his actual hand looks good for passing and leading a diamond against notrump. South transfers to spades; West glacnes at the vulnerability before passing. North accepts the transfer and East prudently passes again. After South passes, West can risk 3C -- partner is marked with some values and West is short in spades. North has a flat minimum, but all but one his points are outside clubs and he has excellent AQxx support for spades. 3S could work out badly if partner is broke but seems a reasonable risk at matchpoints. This should end the bidding -- E/W succeeded in pushing N/S to the undesirable three level, no reason to risk -200 or worse with another call.
East should think twice before leading clubs -- West declined the chance to overcall 3C, so all East can expect is length, not great strength in the suit. Expecting his red suit honors to be well-placed over the strong hand, East starts with a low trump. This "pickles" West's King but no lead was clearly safe. Declarer could, of course, have reached dummy with the Ace of clubs to take the finesse himself. Instead, declarer captures West's King, crosses to the Jack of spades, and finesses in diamonds. East wins and must break a new suit or gamble partner has the 10 of diamonds -- is it time for clubs? I'd guess West does not have the Ace and King, and declarer appears to have shown the AQ of spades and AQ of diamonds -- he simply can't have the AQ of hearts, also. A low heart allows the defense to collect three fast winners. Fortunately for declarer, East must still guess which minor suit to lead, and hoping for two club honors seems safer than hoping West has the 10 of diamonds. Declarer captures East's Queen and returns another club to set up a discard for the third diamond. North may regret minus 100 for 3S but a kind partner will point out that West could make 3C if he sets up diamonds before tackling trumps.
Board 8: West passes and North may pass or open 2H according to taste. I prefer a slightly better suit in first or second seat with minimum hands, but A109xxx isn't terrible and I suspect 2H (not vulnerable) was the popular choice. East's hand looks like a favorite to make 4S, but partner might have a singleton or void in hearts and slam might be on opposite, say, xxxx x KQxx xxxx. I hate making a takeout double with a singleton in a side suit, let alone a void, but East can reasonably expect to bid spades over any level of club bid by partner and there is no obvious alternative way to portray a strong hand. South bids 3C to direct the lead, and West competes with 3D despite only 5 hcp. Afer this free bid, East should be able to jump to 3S and trust partner not to pass, but I think I'd bid 4S and discuss it later. This should end the auction.
South leads a high club and East should plan the hand before reflexively ruffing -- he has several hearts to dispose of. One can be pitched on a diamond and he can lead through North for another; competent defenders won't allow a ruff with dummy's lone trump. But if South leads a trump it's into East's AKJ -- why not pitch a heart at trick one? South will help declarer with a spade or heart switch, and can't hurt him with any lead. South persists with a second club, East ruffs and simply plays AK and a low trump. It's often a good idea to leave the master trump out, but here declarer wants to cash three diamonds without interruption and then lead up to the King of hearts for 10 tricks.
Perhaps East should ruff at trick one -- if North grabs his Ace of hearts later, South's Queen can be squished and declarer makes 5. I don't see a reasonable line that allows East to finesse in trumps.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Friday, November 4th 2011
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Board 3: East opens 1S, South overcalls 2H, West passes in tempo, and East should re-open with a double -- it isn't winnig bridge to pass such an overcall with a small doubleton in the enemy suit. West passes again, converting the double to penalties. North should simply pass, trusting the AK of clubs will prove useful; with a suit like KQJxxx(s), it might be reasonable to try clubs, since North's hand would not be useful to partner. Against 2H doubled, the defense cashes three spades (West pitching a club) and East should switch to the nine of trumps, leading through declarer. Declarer may as well cover with the ten; West wins the Jack and switches to a low diamond (partner must have something outside spades for his opening bid.) Declarer capture East's King, takes two clubs, and should lead toward the J9 of diamonds. West wins and exits with a low trump, but South can cash the last diamond and lead the Queen of trumps to end-play West, finishing down one doubled for a good score.
Actually, North ought to open 3C -- when you have a good "weak two" in a suit you don't play weak twos (clubs, and for some pairs diamonds) it's a good idea to open a 3 bid not vulnerable (or even vulnerable, if the suit is very sound.) Should East overcall 3S? Ron Klinger suggests 8 hcp for a 1 level overcall, and 2 additional hcp per level, so East has sufficient strength to overcall at the three level; he also suggests a "suit quality test": add the number of trumps and turmp honors, the result should be at least equal to the level of your overcall. East has 5 trumps headed by 3 honors, one short of the 9 suit quality points recommended. What's more, you should have a better hand when vulnerable. However, he has extra strength and AKQ is a suit that screams "bid me", so a 3S overcall would probably be the popular choice and not egregiously wrong. The Queen in North's suit. however, suggests defending rather than declaring, and as it happens 3S has no play. E/W should collect 3 spades, a diamond and a trump for +50.
Board 10: South opens 1C and North responds 2H (strong) or 1H (if 2H would be weak.) South raises either bid and North might begin cue-bidding, but really may as well proceed with 4NT, Blackwood or RKCB. South reveals one Ace or two key cards missing the Queen of trumps, and North settles for 6H. With no particular clue, North may play to drop the Queen, or try the old stand-by of leading the Jack from dummy (hoping East will cover), overtaking and finessing West. Good defenders should avouid giving the show away; East certainly should not cover from Qxx since partner cannot have enough trumps to promote the ten even in the unlikely event he has it; likewise, East should play low from Qx, and try not to smirk when declarer loses the return finesse. It's important as defender to anticipate when you should or should not cover an honor and be able to play either way in tempo. As a diamond loser cannot be avoided, declarers who misguess trumps will go down one.
The best slam is actually 6 clubs, and at a team game, North should offer clubs as an alternative. A possible auction might be 1C-2H; 3H-4NT; 5H-6C; pass, but only if the partnership agrees that game and slam bids in previously bid suits are meant as choice of contract, not cue-bids. 6C making will be a fine score at IMPs; at matchpoints, it earns an average, while 6H shoots for top or bottom. With clubs as trumps, a diamond can be pitched on the 5th heart.
Board 11: West opens 1C, North overcalls 1D, East bids 1S and South should raise diamonds preemptively. With neither vulnerable a straight jump to 5D is reasonable on the expected 5-5 fit and excellent prospects of ruffing out South's heart losers -- 5-5 shape improves greatly with each additional trump in partner's hand. The puts West to a guess, but Marty Bergen counels optimism with a void and West bids 6D, forcing 6S suggesting the void in case partner wants to bid 7. The stiff, onside King of trumps makes it easy to score 13 tricks: 5 spades, 4 hearts 2 clubs, and either 2 diamond ruffs or one ruff and setting up the fifth club.
Board 27: South opens 1NT (15-17) and North can "do the math", leaping straight to 6NT on the combined 33-35 hcp. Might there be a grand slam? North can count 5 losers and it's certainly possible for South to cover all 5 with 15 hcp; let's try visualizing. South might have Axx AKx Kxx Kxxx, but that's a tip-top maximum. Unlikley, perhaps, but a Gerber sequence would uncover it. Otherwise, I think 13 tricks would require two solid suits, so Gerber is probably the simplest approach. South comes up one King short and so 6NT is the proper landing place. However, the spade suit provides a full four tricks.
Board 3: East opens 1S, South overcalls 2H, West passes in tempo, and East should re-open with a double -- it isn't winnig bridge to pass such an overcall with a small doubleton in the enemy suit. West passes again, converting the double to penalties. North should simply pass, trusting the AK of clubs will prove useful; with a suit like KQJxxx(s), it might be reasonable to try clubs, since North's hand would not be useful to partner. Against 2H doubled, the defense cashes three spades (West pitching a club) and East should switch to the nine of trumps, leading through declarer. Declarer may as well cover with the ten; West wins the Jack and switches to a low diamond (partner must have something outside spades for his opening bid.) Declarer capture East's King, takes two clubs, and should lead toward the J9 of diamonds. West wins and exits with a low trump, but South can cash the last diamond and lead the Queen of trumps to end-play West, finishing down one doubled for a good score.
Actually, North ought to open 3C -- when you have a good "weak two" in a suit you don't play weak twos (clubs, and for some pairs diamonds) it's a good idea to open a 3 bid not vulnerable (or even vulnerable, if the suit is very sound.) Should East overcall 3S? Ron Klinger suggests 8 hcp for a 1 level overcall, and 2 additional hcp per level, so East has sufficient strength to overcall at the three level; he also suggests a "suit quality test": add the number of trumps and turmp honors, the result should be at least equal to the level of your overcall. East has 5 trumps headed by 3 honors, one short of the 9 suit quality points recommended. What's more, you should have a better hand when vulnerable. However, he has extra strength and AKQ is a suit that screams "bid me", so a 3S overcall would probably be the popular choice and not egregiously wrong. The Queen in North's suit. however, suggests defending rather than declaring, and as it happens 3S has no play. E/W should collect 3 spades, a diamond and a trump for +50.
Board 10: South opens 1C and North responds 2H (strong) or 1H (if 2H would be weak.) South raises either bid and North might begin cue-bidding, but really may as well proceed with 4NT, Blackwood or RKCB. South reveals one Ace or two key cards missing the Queen of trumps, and North settles for 6H. With no particular clue, North may play to drop the Queen, or try the old stand-by of leading the Jack from dummy (hoping East will cover), overtaking and finessing West. Good defenders should avouid giving the show away; East certainly should not cover from Qxx since partner cannot have enough trumps to promote the ten even in the unlikely event he has it; likewise, East should play low from Qx, and try not to smirk when declarer loses the return finesse. It's important as defender to anticipate when you should or should not cover an honor and be able to play either way in tempo. As a diamond loser cannot be avoided, declarers who misguess trumps will go down one.
The best slam is actually 6 clubs, and at a team game, North should offer clubs as an alternative. A possible auction might be 1C-2H; 3H-4NT; 5H-6C; pass, but only if the partnership agrees that game and slam bids in previously bid suits are meant as choice of contract, not cue-bids. 6C making will be a fine score at IMPs; at matchpoints, it earns an average, while 6H shoots for top or bottom. With clubs as trumps, a diamond can be pitched on the 5th heart.
Board 11: West opens 1C, North overcalls 1D, East bids 1S and South should raise diamonds preemptively. With neither vulnerable a straight jump to 5D is reasonable on the expected 5-5 fit and excellent prospects of ruffing out South's heart losers -- 5-5 shape improves greatly with each additional trump in partner's hand. The puts West to a guess, but Marty Bergen counels optimism with a void and West bids 6D, forcing 6S suggesting the void in case partner wants to bid 7. The stiff, onside King of trumps makes it easy to score 13 tricks: 5 spades, 4 hearts 2 clubs, and either 2 diamond ruffs or one ruff and setting up the fifth club.
Board 27: South opens 1NT (15-17) and North can "do the math", leaping straight to 6NT on the combined 33-35 hcp. Might there be a grand slam? North can count 5 losers and it's certainly possible for South to cover all 5 with 15 hcp; let's try visualizing. South might have Axx AKx Kxx Kxxx, but that's a tip-top maximum. Unlikley, perhaps, but a Gerber sequence would uncover it. Otherwise, I think 13 tricks would require two solid suits, so Gerber is probably the simplest approach. South comes up one King short and so 6NT is the proper landing place. However, the spade suit provides a full four tricks.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21st 2011
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Board 1: North opens 1H on K10x AQ10xx xx A9x. East may pass or bid a weak 2S on A9876x xx Jxx xx; my standard for a weak jump overcall is essentially the same as a weak two opening and this does not qualify. It isn't that I don't think such a bid can gain; but I think it's more important to jump with, say, AQJxxx and a side King, and too wide a range can pose insoluble problems for partner. Opposite a passed hand, I'd be more inclined to jump.
South has a monster: Jx KJ9 AKQx KQJx. The only question is "which slam?" Although hearts should be fine as trumps, might a 4-4 minor fit provide an extra trick for a grand slam? Probably not in this case: you'd need partner to have three Aces and the Queen of hearts, which would produce 13 tricks at notrump. If you had a side suit like Axx or AKxx, it might be useful to make another suit trumps and pitch losers on the hearts.
A straight jump to 4NT is a fairly practical bid here. There's a slight chance of two quick spade losers, but there's also the chance they fail to lead spades. 6NT, however, may play better from partner's side if he holds Kx(x) of spades, so a temporizing bid of 2D has some merit. All in all, though, I think 4NT directly over 1H is the simplest approach, aiming for 6H. Partner's reply shows 2 Aces or 2 key card + the Queen, and 6H makes easily.
Over a 2S jump, South cannot ignore the sapde problem; best is a 3S support-showing cue-bid. North bids 4H and South continues with 5D, a control cue-bid. North has control of both clubs and spades and has no trouble bidding 6H. When partner goes beyond game to make a slam try, don't worrry about overall strength, the only issue is controls.
Board 1: North opens 1H on K10x AQ10xx xx A9x. East may pass or bid a weak 2S on A9876x xx Jxx xx; my standard for a weak jump overcall is essentially the same as a weak two opening and this does not qualify. It isn't that I don't think such a bid can gain; but I think it's more important to jump with, say, AQJxxx and a side King, and too wide a range can pose insoluble problems for partner. Opposite a passed hand, I'd be more inclined to jump.
South has a monster: Jx KJ9 AKQx KQJx. The only question is "which slam?" Although hearts should be fine as trumps, might a 4-4 minor fit provide an extra trick for a grand slam? Probably not in this case: you'd need partner to have three Aces and the Queen of hearts, which would produce 13 tricks at notrump. If you had a side suit like Axx or AKxx, it might be useful to make another suit trumps and pitch losers on the hearts.
A straight jump to 4NT is a fairly practical bid here. There's a slight chance of two quick spade losers, but there's also the chance they fail to lead spades. 6NT, however, may play better from partner's side if he holds Kx(x) of spades, so a temporizing bid of 2D has some merit. All in all, though, I think 4NT directly over 1H is the simplest approach, aiming for 6H. Partner's reply shows 2 Aces or 2 key card + the Queen, and 6H makes easily.
Over a 2S jump, South cannot ignore the sapde problem; best is a 3S support-showing cue-bid. North bids 4H and South continues with 5D, a control cue-bid. North has control of both clubs and spades and has no trouble bidding 6H. When partner goes beyond game to make a slam try, don't worrry about overall strength, the only issue is controls.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday, October 16th 2011
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Board 6: East opens 1S and West, after deducting a point for no Ace and thinking pessimistically about his singleton in partner's suit, nevertheless has enough for a standard 2H response. East has excellent support, shape and controls; by point count, he can add 3 for the singleton club when raising partner with 4 trumps. 18+ partners 11+ totals at least 29, not enough to drive to slam but definitely interested. Visualizing, slam can make opposite as little as x Kxxxx KQx xxxx if the diamonds can provide 3 tricks and the trumps at least 8 on a crossruff. However, it's difficult for partner to show a singleton in your suit or to know it's an asset, not a liability, when you have Axxxx rather than KQxxx or such.
Agreements are important here: East must not make a bid short of game that partner might pass, but a simple jump to 4H hardly does justice to this powerhouse. One possibility is a splinter jump (4C), but this hand is perhaps too strong for that. A key understanding is that after a standard 2/1 response, a new suit by opener is forcing and a new suit at the three level is game-forcing. Opener can therefore rebid 3D, showing extra strength, and support hearts later. However, nothing will get West excited with his aceless minimum, but his excellent trump spots allow for an early claim: lead a club early, cash three diamond winners (else South can discard diamonds on spades and later ruff a winner) and then claim a crossruff with the eight highest trumps.
Board 9: North opens a maximum 1NT and South replies with Stayman 2C (not a transfer.) South can raise either major to game; if North replies 2D, South forces to game by rebidding 3H (or 3S, for Smolen bidders, not a gadget I recommend.) North obliges with 2S and South can think slam with his excellent controls and the heart suit as a source of discards. Adding 3 for the singleton along with 4 trumps, South's hand is worth at least 16. Visualizing, KQxx AJx xxx Kxx would give a near lock for 12 tricks and that's only 13 hcp. South can blast into 4NT (Blackwood or Key Card) or employ a gadget bid such as 4D (splinter) or 3H ("Three other major slam try.") The splinter looks like a good description; North's AK is somewhat wasted, but he has excellent controls and maximum values and can proceed with 4NT. Playing Key Card, South replies 5H (2 Key Cards without the Queen) and North settles for 6S.
East leads the Queen of clubs and North wins, plays the two top trumps, and leaving the high trump out, cashes the high diamonds and hearts, pitching a club from each hand; he would ruff a heart if needed to set up the long card in the suit. East will eventually score his trump Queen but North has plenty of tricks even without the favorable heart split. 6NT makes on this layout but would fail on a normal 4-2 heat split.
Board 6: East opens 1S and West, after deducting a point for no Ace and thinking pessimistically about his singleton in partner's suit, nevertheless has enough for a standard 2H response. East has excellent support, shape and controls; by point count, he can add 3 for the singleton club when raising partner with 4 trumps. 18+ partners 11+ totals at least 29, not enough to drive to slam but definitely interested. Visualizing, slam can make opposite as little as x Kxxxx KQx xxxx if the diamonds can provide 3 tricks and the trumps at least 8 on a crossruff. However, it's difficult for partner to show a singleton in your suit or to know it's an asset, not a liability, when you have Axxxx rather than KQxxx or such.
Agreements are important here: East must not make a bid short of game that partner might pass, but a simple jump to 4H hardly does justice to this powerhouse. One possibility is a splinter jump (4C), but this hand is perhaps too strong for that. A key understanding is that after a standard 2/1 response, a new suit by opener is forcing and a new suit at the three level is game-forcing. Opener can therefore rebid 3D, showing extra strength, and support hearts later. However, nothing will get West excited with his aceless minimum, but his excellent trump spots allow for an early claim: lead a club early, cash three diamond winners (else South can discard diamonds on spades and later ruff a winner) and then claim a crossruff with the eight highest trumps.
Board 9: North opens a maximum 1NT and South replies with Stayman 2C (not a transfer.) South can raise either major to game; if North replies 2D, South forces to game by rebidding 3H (or 3S, for Smolen bidders, not a gadget I recommend.) North obliges with 2S and South can think slam with his excellent controls and the heart suit as a source of discards. Adding 3 for the singleton along with 4 trumps, South's hand is worth at least 16. Visualizing, KQxx AJx xxx Kxx would give a near lock for 12 tricks and that's only 13 hcp. South can blast into 4NT (Blackwood or Key Card) or employ a gadget bid such as 4D (splinter) or 3H ("Three other major slam try.") The splinter looks like a good description; North's AK is somewhat wasted, but he has excellent controls and maximum values and can proceed with 4NT. Playing Key Card, South replies 5H (2 Key Cards without the Queen) and North settles for 6S.
East leads the Queen of clubs and North wins, plays the two top trumps, and leaving the high trump out, cashes the high diamonds and hearts, pitching a club from each hand; he would ruff a heart if needed to set up the long card in the suit. East will eventually score his trump Queen but North has plenty of tricks even without the favorable heart split. 6NT makes on this layout but would fail on a normal 4-2 heat split.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Friday, October 14th 2011
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Board 14: East opens 1H on xx AQJ10xx AJx xx and West looks at Kxx xxx K AKQJxx. 6 clubs tricks and two Kings looks like at least 8 tricks, plenty enough for slam with a fit for partner; but West is short on "prime" cards (Aces and the King/Queen of trumps.) An immediate leap to 4NT (RKCB) will tell West everything he needs to know about slam, but could easily be down one if partner is missing, say, an Ace and two trump losers, or the spade King is under the enemy Ace. West should want to suggest slam below game level, and a strong jump to 3C is perfect. Opener should certainly drive to slam holding four key cards or three plus the Queen of trumps.
East has a minimum but a strong suit and good values in diamonds; a three level jump shift should not have a side four card suit, so East's most useful rebid is 3D, showing a concentration of values (5+ hcp in the suit.) This will assure partner the suit is stopped (for notrump) and controlled for slam (does not have two quick losers.) West revels his heart support with 3H over 3D; lacking a spade control, and having made one constructive rebid, East simply raises to 4H, which should end the bidding. As it happens 6C or 6NT by West are makeable, but only because the King of hearts is finessable. A slam requiring a finesse in a key suit is not a good bet.
Many bidders play 2/1 game force with weak jump shifts, so West would respond 2C. The game-force leaves room for slam exploration, but suufers from some ambiguity about responder's goal. East rebids the good hearts (no need to invent a diamond bid here) and West raises to three. East might simply bid 4H at this point, but West is unlimited and it would be better to give him another chance to make a slam try below game. A popular method is "Serious 3NT", where 3NT after agreeing on a major shows the values for slam, while a cue-bid instead merely shows a control with no extra strength. On that basis East can rebid 4D, showing his diamond control but limited values. Personally, I prefer the opposite agreement: a cue-bid shows serious intent, while a "Courtesy 3NT" shows a willingness to cooperate if partner cue-bids. (It seems wrong to me to give the defenders the benefit of further describing opener's hand when neither partner is interested in slam.) East bids 3NT on that basis and West can assume he does not have 4 "prime" cards and so signs off at 4H.
If West were to bid simple Blackwood at some point, he'll find one Ace missing and won't know the full situation in hearts. In that case, West should proceeed to slam, but 6NT is safer than 6H, to protect West's King of spades. If the hearts come in there will be plenty of tricks.
Board 14: East opens 1H on xx AQJ10xx AJx xx and West looks at Kxx xxx K AKQJxx. 6 clubs tricks and two Kings looks like at least 8 tricks, plenty enough for slam with a fit for partner; but West is short on "prime" cards (Aces and the King/Queen of trumps.) An immediate leap to 4NT (RKCB) will tell West everything he needs to know about slam, but could easily be down one if partner is missing, say, an Ace and two trump losers, or the spade King is under the enemy Ace. West should want to suggest slam below game level, and a strong jump to 3C is perfect. Opener should certainly drive to slam holding four key cards or three plus the Queen of trumps.
East has a minimum but a strong suit and good values in diamonds; a three level jump shift should not have a side four card suit, so East's most useful rebid is 3D, showing a concentration of values (5+ hcp in the suit.) This will assure partner the suit is stopped (for notrump) and controlled for slam (does not have two quick losers.) West revels his heart support with 3H over 3D; lacking a spade control, and having made one constructive rebid, East simply raises to 4H, which should end the bidding. As it happens 6C or 6NT by West are makeable, but only because the King of hearts is finessable. A slam requiring a finesse in a key suit is not a good bet.
Many bidders play 2/1 game force with weak jump shifts, so West would respond 2C. The game-force leaves room for slam exploration, but suufers from some ambiguity about responder's goal. East rebids the good hearts (no need to invent a diamond bid here) and West raises to three. East might simply bid 4H at this point, but West is unlimited and it would be better to give him another chance to make a slam try below game. A popular method is "Serious 3NT", where 3NT after agreeing on a major shows the values for slam, while a cue-bid instead merely shows a control with no extra strength. On that basis East can rebid 4D, showing his diamond control but limited values. Personally, I prefer the opposite agreement: a cue-bid shows serious intent, while a "Courtesy 3NT" shows a willingness to cooperate if partner cue-bids. (It seems wrong to me to give the defenders the benefit of further describing opener's hand when neither partner is interested in slam.) East bids 3NT on that basis and West can assume he does not have 4 "prime" cards and so signs off at 4H.
If West were to bid simple Blackwood at some point, he'll find one Ace missing and won't know the full situation in hearts. In that case, West should proceeed to slam, but 6NT is safer than 6H, to protect West's King of spades. If the hearts come in there will be plenty of tricks.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday, October 6th 2011
Been busy, hadn't posted in a while. Right-click here for hands.
Board 3: A reasonable N/S auction might start 1C-1H; 1S-3D (game-forcing, at least 5-5); South has 16 hcp but the hands don't appear to fit well, so 3NT-4H; all pass. Three pairs reached slam, I assume North must have been more aggressively. North counts about 4.5 losers and partner opened, but the club and spade bids suggest mostly wasted values.
Board 10: East opens 1C or 1D on Axx Jx Axxx KQxx and West responds in hearts with
KJ AK987 Jx A1097. West should be thinking slam if East has good clubs and controls, or support for hearts. The simplest approach is a strong jump shift: 1C-2H; 2NT-3C; 3D-3H; 3S-4NT; 5C (0 or 3)-5D (Q ask); positive reply (5S if playing no/yes replies; playing "Specific Kings" East would bid 5NT to deny the trump Queen, since 5C is not available; here East bids 6C to confirm the Queen.) Note that East can visualize slam opposite as little as xx AKQxx xx Axxx, a rather light hand for a jump shift, so East might well jump to 4NT over 3C.
For those playing weak jump shifts, West must begin with 1H; and if East opens 1D West's is not quite worth a strong jump anyway. Possible auction: 1D-1H; 1NT-2C (artificial, the New Minor Forcing gadget); what now for East? NMF promises 5+ in respoinder's major and game invitational values; East has a maximum 14 hcp for his 1NT rebid, so he should drive to game. 3C seems to be the best description: no 3 card heart support, no 4 card spade suit, no 5 card diamond suit and only one spade stopper. West can picture the 3244 shape but it seems a bit much to hope partner has such excellent cards for slam. I'd sign off at 3NT.
As it happens, 6C (and 4H, which we stumbled into) falls prey to the horrid 5-1 heart split while nine or more tricks are easily available at notrump, but this is a slam I'd want to bid.
Board 3: A reasonable N/S auction might start 1C-1H; 1S-3D (game-forcing, at least 5-5); South has 16 hcp but the hands don't appear to fit well, so 3NT-4H; all pass. Three pairs reached slam, I assume North must have been more aggressively. North counts about 4.5 losers and partner opened, but the club and spade bids suggest mostly wasted values.
Board 10: East opens 1C or 1D on Axx Jx Axxx KQxx and West responds in hearts with
KJ AK987 Jx A1097. West should be thinking slam if East has good clubs and controls, or support for hearts. The simplest approach is a strong jump shift: 1C-2H; 2NT-3C; 3D-3H; 3S-4NT; 5C (0 or 3)-5D (Q ask); positive reply (5S if playing no/yes replies; playing "Specific Kings" East would bid 5NT to deny the trump Queen, since 5C is not available; here East bids 6C to confirm the Queen.) Note that East can visualize slam opposite as little as xx AKQxx xx Axxx, a rather light hand for a jump shift, so East might well jump to 4NT over 3C.
For those playing weak jump shifts, West must begin with 1H; and if East opens 1D West's is not quite worth a strong jump anyway. Possible auction: 1D-1H; 1NT-2C (artificial, the New Minor Forcing gadget); what now for East? NMF promises 5+ in respoinder's major and game invitational values; East has a maximum 14 hcp for his 1NT rebid, so he should drive to game. 3C seems to be the best description: no 3 card heart support, no 4 card spade suit, no 5 card diamond suit and only one spade stopper. West can picture the 3244 shape but it seems a bit much to hope partner has such excellent cards for slam. I'd sign off at 3NT.
As it happens, 6C (and 4H, which we stumbled into) falls prey to the horrid 5-1 heart split while nine or more tricks are easily available at notrump, but this is a slam I'd want to bid.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 25th 2011
No hand records for Swiss teams.
No one bid a slam in any of our 28 boards, but two hands had potential:
Board 22: West picks up KJ AK AKJ10xx A10 and hears passes from East and South. Two clubs looks right, planning to rebid either in the diamond suit or notrump. East responds with x Q10xxx 9xxx Qxx. This qualifies for 2D negative (0-7), waiting (0+) or semi-positive (4+) or a "Steps" 2H response (4-6). (Some play 2D promises an Ace or King, so they would bid 2H = bust.) After a negative or waiting 2D or 2H, I think West must leap to 3NT -- too much chance of missing game if you rebid 3D (the bidding may miss 3NT) or 2NT (not forcing.) This is likely to end the bidding.
After a forward-going 2D (4+) or 2H (4-6), West can rebid 2NT, an unlimited bid over these game-forcing responses. Stayman and transfers are on since the first two bids were artificial, so East shows the hearts with a 3D transfer. West bids 3H as requested and East must rebid 3NT despite the spade singleton --can't afford to carry the bidding any higher. From West's perspective, slam requires no diamond loser and two more tricks from partner; East's actual hand is excellent but without the big diamond fit 12 tricks are unlikely and passing 3NT looks reasonable, especially vulnerable at IMPs. If West does decide to invite slam, how? 4D is certainly a slam try, but it is apt to sound like a cue-bid in support of hearts, since West originally bid notrump. That leaves a simple 4NT raise as a quantitative slam try, which East is sure to pass with only two Queens and no knowledge of the big diamond fit.
What if West bids diamonds rather than notrump? 2C-2D (4+); 3D-? Should East raise or bid his hearts? I'd vote for the raise, particularly at IMPs where +600 or +920 at diamonds is no great loss compared to +620 or +980 at hearts. Now West can be optimistic about slam and bid 4NT followed by 6D when partner shows zero key cards or Aces.
Board 24: West picks up A10xx AKJ10xx Ax A as dealer, no one vulnerable. Game and slam chances look lively, and a strong 2C looks like a good start. You might not be passed out at 1H but I think it would be hard to portray a hand of this power after that opening. East holds x Q9xx xxx Q10xxx and responds in the same style as #22: 2D negative (0-7), waiting (0+), semi-positive (4+), or 2H steps (4-6) or bust (no Ace or King.) Over any 2D response West bids 2H and East raises. It is a key principle here that, when raising, East should bid 4H with zero controls: no ace, King or singleton. So East's 3H promises at least one control (the singeton spade on today's hand.)
West can assume no heart loser and one or two high card winners, but that does not appear to cover his four potential no-trump losers. With all the key cards, partner is not likely to cue-bid, but West may as well bid 3S to at least suggest slam. East cannot be sure how much the stiff spade is worth and likely retreats to 4H. West can try 5C -- perhaps East has the King of diamonds to cue-bid. No such luck, and East's 5H likely ends the bidding.
To reach slam, I think East must show West his singleton, such as with a splinter raise. After 2C-2D; 2H, East cannot have a very good spade suit (he would've responded 2S initially) and any raged suit can simply be bid and rebid, so a jump to 3S ought logically be a raise, so the splinter interpretation is reasonable -- but don't try this without prior discussion! Is East's hand worth 3S? I'm tempted to say no with bare minimum values and no Ace or King, but splinters can be most useful on minimal hands which could be worth a couple of extra tricks if partner can use the ruffing value.
Afer 2C-2D; 2H-3S, West trots out 4NT followed by 5NT simply to inform partner he has all the key cards or Aces, but East reveals zero Kings and the biddnig ends at 6H. Declarer counts nine tricks plus two spade ruffs; he can try for a third ruff or set up a long club for his 12th trick. I set up a club (the King fell on the third round of the suit) but on the layout give here it looks simple enough to ruff three times: win the diamond lead, Ace of spades, ruff a spade low, club to hand, ruff a spade high, trump to hand, ruff a spade high, ruff a club high, pull trumps and concede a diamond. I was able to make all 13 tricks (Ace of sapdes, two ruffs, six trumps, Ace of diamonds and three club tricks) at 4H for a not very important 1 IMP gain.
No one bid a slam in any of our 28 boards, but two hands had potential:
Board 22: West picks up KJ AK AKJ10xx A10 and hears passes from East and South. Two clubs looks right, planning to rebid either in the diamond suit or notrump. East responds with x Q10xxx 9xxx Qxx. This qualifies for 2D negative (0-7), waiting (0+) or semi-positive (4+) or a "Steps" 2H response (4-6). (Some play 2D promises an Ace or King, so they would bid 2H = bust.) After a negative or waiting 2D or 2H, I think West must leap to 3NT -- too much chance of missing game if you rebid 3D (the bidding may miss 3NT) or 2NT (not forcing.) This is likely to end the bidding.
After a forward-going 2D (4+) or 2H (4-6), West can rebid 2NT, an unlimited bid over these game-forcing responses. Stayman and transfers are on since the first two bids were artificial, so East shows the hearts with a 3D transfer. West bids 3H as requested and East must rebid 3NT despite the spade singleton --can't afford to carry the bidding any higher. From West's perspective, slam requires no diamond loser and two more tricks from partner; East's actual hand is excellent but without the big diamond fit 12 tricks are unlikely and passing 3NT looks reasonable, especially vulnerable at IMPs. If West does decide to invite slam, how? 4D is certainly a slam try, but it is apt to sound like a cue-bid in support of hearts, since West originally bid notrump. That leaves a simple 4NT raise as a quantitative slam try, which East is sure to pass with only two Queens and no knowledge of the big diamond fit.
What if West bids diamonds rather than notrump? 2C-2D (4+); 3D-? Should East raise or bid his hearts? I'd vote for the raise, particularly at IMPs where +600 or +920 at diamonds is no great loss compared to +620 or +980 at hearts. Now West can be optimistic about slam and bid 4NT followed by 6D when partner shows zero key cards or Aces.
Board 24: West picks up A10xx AKJ10xx Ax A as dealer, no one vulnerable. Game and slam chances look lively, and a strong 2C looks like a good start. You might not be passed out at 1H but I think it would be hard to portray a hand of this power after that opening. East holds x Q9xx xxx Q10xxx and responds in the same style as #22: 2D negative (0-7), waiting (0+), semi-positive (4+), or 2H steps (4-6) or bust (no Ace or King.) Over any 2D response West bids 2H and East raises. It is a key principle here that, when raising, East should bid 4H with zero controls: no ace, King or singleton. So East's 3H promises at least one control (the singeton spade on today's hand.)
West can assume no heart loser and one or two high card winners, but that does not appear to cover his four potential no-trump losers. With all the key cards, partner is not likely to cue-bid, but West may as well bid 3S to at least suggest slam. East cannot be sure how much the stiff spade is worth and likely retreats to 4H. West can try 5C -- perhaps East has the King of diamonds to cue-bid. No such luck, and East's 5H likely ends the bidding.
To reach slam, I think East must show West his singleton, such as with a splinter raise. After 2C-2D; 2H, East cannot have a very good spade suit (he would've responded 2S initially) and any raged suit can simply be bid and rebid, so a jump to 3S ought logically be a raise, so the splinter interpretation is reasonable -- but don't try this without prior discussion! Is East's hand worth 3S? I'm tempted to say no with bare minimum values and no Ace or King, but splinters can be most useful on minimal hands which could be worth a couple of extra tricks if partner can use the ruffing value.
Afer 2C-2D; 2H-3S, West trots out 4NT followed by 5NT simply to inform partner he has all the key cards or Aces, but East reveals zero Kings and the biddnig ends at 6H. Declarer counts nine tricks plus two spade ruffs; he can try for a third ruff or set up a long club for his 12th trick. I set up a club (the King fell on the third round of the suit) but on the layout give here it looks simple enough to ruff three times: win the diamond lead, Ace of spades, ruff a spade low, club to hand, ruff a spade high, trump to hand, ruff a spade high, ruff a club high, pull trumps and concede a diamond. I was able to make all 13 tricks (Ace of sapdes, two ruffs, six trumps, Ace of diamonds and three club tricks) at 4H for a not very important 1 IMP gain.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23rd 2011
Right-click here for hands.
Board 3: East has a huge 5260 hand: what to open in 4th seat? With 18 hcp, the odds of being passed out at the one level are fairly low; if partner can't respond, one of the opponents is likely to bid. Diamonds are the best suit and the hand is certainly strong enough to bid and rebid spades later. Would it be easier to reach slam with a 2C opening? A likely auction might be 2C-2D; 3D-3NT; 4S -- does that suggest 5-6? I'm not sure, so I think I'd try opening 1D. South overcalls 2C, West passes, North raises to 3C -- opposite a passed hand, there's little risk of partner overbidding and the raise helps blockade East. A leap to 4S, however, should clearly suggest the powerful 5-6 shape (at least 5-5 for a jump shift opposite a passing partner, and longer diamonds since East bid the lower ranking suit first.) Holding an Ace and tolerance for both suits, West can pass or take a preference back to diamonds. In general, it's wrong for the shorter trump hand to insist on a non-fit (5-2 or 4-3) when there is a known fit. It's fine to suggest playing in a major, but the decision should be left to the one with the trump length, who will have a better idea how solid the suit is. Here West may suspect spades is a good spot but as partner could've opened spades with good spades and indifferent diaonds, I think it's safest to return to the known fit, 5D. East does not have enough information to bid further.
In the play, East expects to lose a club and a spade or possibly a diamond, hopefully not both. In fact both suits split well and East rolls up +620; as it happens spades would score +680, but slam would be a poor bet.
Board 4: North opens 1C in second seat, and East's suit is too weak for a vulnerable preempt. South responds 1H. North counts 7 likely winners and several plus values; if the clubs run or partner can provide some help in whatever suit they lead 3NT looks like a good bet. Note that this is the normal type of hand for a 3NT rebid -- with 18 or 19 balanced, North would rebid 2NT; with more, North would open 2NT or 2C. So North's 3NT suggests long, strong clubs and at least 7.5 tricks. South can expect to add at least 4 tricks and should invite slam in case North has extras. 4NT here should be invitational, and if not 4C should be a clear slam try (it would be silly to run from a game to a part-score) but in many partnerships South can expect 4NT to be taken as Blackwood. Still, there's probably some play for 12 trick if partner has at least two Aces. As North, I'd pass 4NT (only 6 clubs and 3NT was a bit of a stretch) but would react favorably to 4C with 3 Aces and the Queen of trumps: a possible sequence might be 1C-1H; 3NT-4C; 4D-4H (cue-bids); 4NT-1 ace or 2 key card reply; 6C or 6NT-all pass. If South bids 4NT as Blackwood, North replies 5S (3 Aces) and South should bid 6C -- the trump suit may be needed to set up hearts for 12 tricks.
North can win a spade lead and set the hearts up with a losing finesse. A diamond lead is trickier -- perhaps West doubled 4D for a lead. This dooms 6NT but 6C can be made by ruffing a heart before pulling the last trump. Should declarer try the ruff or finesse? A 3-3 split is about a 36% chance; in half of those cases the finesse also works, so we can say the ruff gains 18% (Qxx offside.) If East has Qxxx, the finesse wins and declarer can ruff a heart, return to dummy with the King of trumps, and pitch two diamonds; I make the odds of East having Qxxx about 16%. Hmm, the ruff also gains when West has Qx, another 8%, so it looks like ruffing is the better play. A singleton Queen or Qx with East will be obvious in any case, so overall the ruff looks like a better than 50% chance.
Board 3: East has a huge 5260 hand: what to open in 4th seat? With 18 hcp, the odds of being passed out at the one level are fairly low; if partner can't respond, one of the opponents is likely to bid. Diamonds are the best suit and the hand is certainly strong enough to bid and rebid spades later. Would it be easier to reach slam with a 2C opening? A likely auction might be 2C-2D; 3D-3NT; 4S -- does that suggest 5-6? I'm not sure, so I think I'd try opening 1D. South overcalls 2C, West passes, North raises to 3C -- opposite a passed hand, there's little risk of partner overbidding and the raise helps blockade East. A leap to 4S, however, should clearly suggest the powerful 5-6 shape (at least 5-5 for a jump shift opposite a passing partner, and longer diamonds since East bid the lower ranking suit first.) Holding an Ace and tolerance for both suits, West can pass or take a preference back to diamonds. In general, it's wrong for the shorter trump hand to insist on a non-fit (5-2 or 4-3) when there is a known fit. It's fine to suggest playing in a major, but the decision should be left to the one with the trump length, who will have a better idea how solid the suit is. Here West may suspect spades is a good spot but as partner could've opened spades with good spades and indifferent diaonds, I think it's safest to return to the known fit, 5D. East does not have enough information to bid further.
In the play, East expects to lose a club and a spade or possibly a diamond, hopefully not both. In fact both suits split well and East rolls up +620; as it happens spades would score +680, but slam would be a poor bet.
Board 4: North opens 1C in second seat, and East's suit is too weak for a vulnerable preempt. South responds 1H. North counts 7 likely winners and several plus values; if the clubs run or partner can provide some help in whatever suit they lead 3NT looks like a good bet. Note that this is the normal type of hand for a 3NT rebid -- with 18 or 19 balanced, North would rebid 2NT; with more, North would open 2NT or 2C. So North's 3NT suggests long, strong clubs and at least 7.5 tricks. South can expect to add at least 4 tricks and should invite slam in case North has extras. 4NT here should be invitational, and if not 4C should be a clear slam try (it would be silly to run from a game to a part-score) but in many partnerships South can expect 4NT to be taken as Blackwood. Still, there's probably some play for 12 trick if partner has at least two Aces. As North, I'd pass 4NT (only 6 clubs and 3NT was a bit of a stretch) but would react favorably to 4C with 3 Aces and the Queen of trumps: a possible sequence might be 1C-1H; 3NT-4C; 4D-4H (cue-bids); 4NT-1 ace or 2 key card reply; 6C or 6NT-all pass. If South bids 4NT as Blackwood, North replies 5S (3 Aces) and South should bid 6C -- the trump suit may be needed to set up hearts for 12 tricks.
North can win a spade lead and set the hearts up with a losing finesse. A diamond lead is trickier -- perhaps West doubled 4D for a lead. This dooms 6NT but 6C can be made by ruffing a heart before pulling the last trump. Should declarer try the ruff or finesse? A 3-3 split is about a 36% chance; in half of those cases the finesse also works, so we can say the ruff gains 18% (Qxx offside.) If East has Qxxx, the finesse wins and declarer can ruff a heart, return to dummy with the King of trumps, and pitch two diamonds; I make the odds of East having Qxxx about 16%. Hmm, the ruff also gains when West has Qx, another 8%, so it looks like ruffing is the better play. A singleton Queen or Qx with East will be obvious in any case, so overall the ruff looks like a better than 50% chance.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22nd 2011
Right-click here for hands.
Board 15: Roman Key Card Blackwood should keep N/S out of slam, missing an Ace and the King of hearts. An auction like 1H-2C; 4H-4NT; 5D-5H; all pass would be reasonable, where 5D shows 1 or 4 key cards. Slam makes if declarer guesses to drop the stiff King, but there is no obvious reason to make that play.
On lead, West should not consider a club -- if partner has anything there, he'll get it sooner or later. The threat is that a side winner may go away on dummy's clubs. Since East rates to have few values, underleading diamonds is risky. The ten of spades has some hope of helping to set up a trick, and a good chance of not giving anything away. As it happens, the defense collects two spades, and East shifts to a diamond at trick three. Declarer then tries the trump finesse and finishes down one. On a foolish club lead, the defense should still prevail sicne West can find the spade shift after winning the King of hearts -- but declarer might try a safety play, reasoning that he must keep West off lead. Going up with the Ace allows declarer to run the table.
Can the risky five level be avoided? Perhaps South's jump to 4H should deny as many as three key cards or two plus the Queen. With that understanding, North has no reason to disturb 4H.
Board 21: East opens 1C and West shows a balanced 13-15 hcp with a standard 2NT (forcing) or that modern abomination, a direct leap to 3NT. Either way, East counts 8 tricks and expects opener to provide 4 more; it seems unlikely a trump suit will add anything so East jumps straight to 6NT. West wins the lead, tests clubs, and then cashes the Ace of diamonds, one high heart (that may have been the lead) and three spades before running all the clubs, pitching diamonds from his hand. South shuold guard diamonds while North guards hearts; a defensive slip allows declarer to take all 13 tricks.
Board 15: Roman Key Card Blackwood should keep N/S out of slam, missing an Ace and the King of hearts. An auction like 1H-2C; 4H-4NT; 5D-5H; all pass would be reasonable, where 5D shows 1 or 4 key cards. Slam makes if declarer guesses to drop the stiff King, but there is no obvious reason to make that play.
On lead, West should not consider a club -- if partner has anything there, he'll get it sooner or later. The threat is that a side winner may go away on dummy's clubs. Since East rates to have few values, underleading diamonds is risky. The ten of spades has some hope of helping to set up a trick, and a good chance of not giving anything away. As it happens, the defense collects two spades, and East shifts to a diamond at trick three. Declarer then tries the trump finesse and finishes down one. On a foolish club lead, the defense should still prevail sicne West can find the spade shift after winning the King of hearts -- but declarer might try a safety play, reasoning that he must keep West off lead. Going up with the Ace allows declarer to run the table.
Can the risky five level be avoided? Perhaps South's jump to 4H should deny as many as three key cards or two plus the Queen. With that understanding, North has no reason to disturb 4H.
Board 21: East opens 1C and West shows a balanced 13-15 hcp with a standard 2NT (forcing) or that modern abomination, a direct leap to 3NT. Either way, East counts 8 tricks and expects opener to provide 4 more; it seems unlikely a trump suit will add anything so East jumps straight to 6NT. West wins the lead, tests clubs, and then cashes the Ace of diamonds, one high heart (that may have been the lead) and three spades before running all the clubs, pitching diamonds from his hand. South shuold guard diamonds while North guards hearts; a defensive slip allows declarer to take all 13 tricks.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, September 18th 2011
Right-click here for hands.
No slams bid today. Best of the lot was Board 7:
West is too strong for any preempt, and does not have enough high cards or trick to justify 2C. West opens 1S and rebids 4S over practically any bid by anyone -- in this case, partner's 2H. East suspects hearts might play better, but his suit is broken and it won't pay to argue over suits. As it happens, 6H or 6NT makes on the heart finesse while West must lose a trump trick to North, but +650 is the normal result here. Even playing 2/1 Game Force, I don't see a rational way to play in hearts - West has an 8-card major suit fit all by himself. 1S-2H; 2S(!)-3D; 3S-3NT; I can't see West passing 3NT or supporting hearts without bidding the spades one more time. Slam depends not only on avoiding spades but also on a heart finesse and no voids for the defenders, so it's less than 50%.
Board 10: Some might open 2D on South's Jack-high suit, but I expect most Wests opened 1C after two passes. East responds 1H and West rebids either 1S or 1NT. Normally I would recommend looking for the 4-4 fit: if East has 4 spades along with 4 hearts, he must have a doubleton in one of the minors; but on this particular hand West has a double stopper in both red suits and may prefer not to mention 9xxx in spades. Over 1NT, should East raise? I wouldn't -- playing 15-17 notrumps, West's 1NT rebid suggests 12-14 points, and 12 is much more likely than 14. You can't have 26 hcp and 25 is unlikely -- why volunteer for 2NT with such poor prospects for game? Only 1 pair stopped at 1NT, however, and that by a cautious East who must've rebid 1NT over West's 1S.
The double-dummy analyzer says nine tricks can be made, but no pair managed more than eight. Against 1C-1H; 1NT-all pass, North leads a low spade. South wins the Queen and returns a diamond. Declarer has no reason to suspect the stiff King, so West plays low and North wins his King. North may as well continue spades as break a new suit, and declarer ends with 2 tricks in each suit for +120. Nine tricks requires employing the Rabbi's Rule: when the King is singleton, play for it to drop.
No slams bid today. Best of the lot was Board 7:
West is too strong for any preempt, and does not have enough high cards or trick to justify 2C. West opens 1S and rebids 4S over practically any bid by anyone -- in this case, partner's 2H. East suspects hearts might play better, but his suit is broken and it won't pay to argue over suits. As it happens, 6H or 6NT makes on the heart finesse while West must lose a trump trick to North, but +650 is the normal result here. Even playing 2/1 Game Force, I don't see a rational way to play in hearts - West has an 8-card major suit fit all by himself. 1S-2H; 2S(!)-3D; 3S-3NT; I can't see West passing 3NT or supporting hearts without bidding the spades one more time. Slam depends not only on avoiding spades but also on a heart finesse and no voids for the defenders, so it's less than 50%.
Board 10: Some might open 2D on South's Jack-high suit, but I expect most Wests opened 1C after two passes. East responds 1H and West rebids either 1S or 1NT. Normally I would recommend looking for the 4-4 fit: if East has 4 spades along with 4 hearts, he must have a doubleton in one of the minors; but on this particular hand West has a double stopper in both red suits and may prefer not to mention 9xxx in spades. Over 1NT, should East raise? I wouldn't -- playing 15-17 notrumps, West's 1NT rebid suggests 12-14 points, and 12 is much more likely than 14. You can't have 26 hcp and 25 is unlikely -- why volunteer for 2NT with such poor prospects for game? Only 1 pair stopped at 1NT, however, and that by a cautious East who must've rebid 1NT over West's 1S.
The double-dummy analyzer says nine tricks can be made, but no pair managed more than eight. Against 1C-1H; 1NT-all pass, North leads a low spade. South wins the Queen and returns a diamond. Declarer has no reason to suspect the stiff King, so West plays low and North wins his King. North may as well continue spades as break a new suit, and declarer ends with 2 tricks in each suit for +120. Nine tricks requires employing the Rabbi's Rule: when the King is singleton, play for it to drop.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sunday, September 4th 2011
No hand records again.
Board 1: North opens 1H holding QJxx AKxxx Ax Ax; South responds 1S. North has fantastic cards -- QJ in partner's suit, four quick tricks outside, control of all suits and a source of tricks. Basic count would be 18 hcp + 1 for the 5 card suit + 2 for the 2 doubletons when raising partner with four trumps = 21; another approach is to figure North can cover 7 of South's losers: 5 with high cards, another with a long heart, and one more ruffing in a minor, and North's Aces may promote some cards for South. That sounds like slam; visualizing, South might have AKxxx xx xxx xxx, but unless hearts split 3-3 there would be two minor suit losers. So North should force to game but leave it to partner to carry the bidding any higher. Four spades gives a reasonable description of North's hand; the failure to splinter (4C or 4D) suggests no singleton, so North must have a lot of high cards.
South likes his hand on this bidding: AK10xx QJ 10x J109x . The QJ in partner's suit are excellent, the trumps are likely to come in without loss (either a 2-2 split or partner having the Queen), diamonds or clubs can be pitched on hearts, but does partner have the minors under control? With no splinter, partner should have at least 18 hcp, but it is possible to be missing two Aces or the AK in one of the minors. With no room below game to cue-bid, and no side controls to cue-bid anyway, I think the practical approach is to check on Aces or Key cards with 4NT and bid slam unless two are missing. Do not bid 4NT and "chicken out" at 5S if an ace is missing "because we might have two quick losers." You may not, or they may not find the right lead. Today, North shows 3 Aces, 5S over Blackwood, 5C (0 or 3) using RKCB, or 5D (0 or 3) using "1430" responses. South can ask about Kings or the trump Queen, but it is difficult to construct a grand-slam worthy hand for North that would not open 2C, so South may simply bid 6S.
Five spades, five hearts and two Aces makes for an easy 12 tricks.
Board 8: North opens 1D with AKQx Kxx K9xxx x and South responds 1S. North can add 3 for the (small) singleton when raising partner with four trumps, so North is well worth a jump raise (3S.) South, holding J10xxx A10xx AQJ x, counts 12 high cards points, none wasted, and one or two more for shape; opposite partner's 17-19 is there enough for slam? The total is unlikely to reach 33, but suit slams can sometimes be made with less if the cards fit right. Try visualizing: AKQx x Kxxxx xxx makes for an easy 12 tricks, and is well below jump-raise strength. The hand looks perfect for RKCB, so South bids 4NT and North replies 5S, 2 Key Cards plus the Queen of trumps. With five of the six "prime" cards (4 Aces plus KQ of trumps) South bids the excellent slam.
Oops -- over North's 1D, East preempts in clubs. How high? Not vulnerable with 7 sure tricks and essentially no defense, I'd blast 5C. East does not want to defend against four of a major, make 'em guess at the five level. Now what does South do? He cannot picture slam opposite a minimum opener and does not want to bid a crummy 5 card suit at the five level, so double appears to be the only rational choice. North must either pull to 5S, hoping spades or diamonds will be playable, or pass and hope for a good penalty. The defense collects 5 tricks for +500, better than a game but less than the value of the slam.
If East bids only 3 clubs, South can bid 3S freely, and North is worth a 4C cue-bid, which may lead to slam. If East bids 4C, South may double ("do something" at this level), West should raise to 5C, North tries 5S and South may pass or bid slam.When preempting it pays to maximize the pressure on the opponents, taking into account how many tricks you expect to make and what they can make if partner doesn't provide any help. 4C is the "book" bid here with KQJ9xxxx, and either 4C or 5C may keep N/S out of slam.
Board 9: North as dealer holds KQJx x Kxxxxx Qx; I open a lot of shapely 11 counts but with no Ace and the unguarded Queen I'd pass this one. (I'd open KQJx x KQxxxx xx with little pause for thought.) South opens 1H in third seat with 10x AK987 AQ9 AJ8. North has an awkward hand -- partner may pass 2D, but responding 1S may bury the long suit. (A jump response with a misfit for partner is not an option.) I'd bid 1S and cross my fingers the hand doesn't belong in diamonds. South rebids 2NT, suggesting 17-19 hcp and now North can be sure there is a diamond fit, and probably enough strength for slam, but South will need all four Aces or three plus the Queen of diamonds. Either is possible in light of the strong rebid, but can North safely inquire? 4NT would be an invitational raise of notrump ("quantitative slam try") but that means 4C is Gerber. North won't find out about the Queen of diamonds that way, but it's a souind policy not to avoid bidding slam when you cannot ask about Queen -- it is likely that partner has it or it may drop or be finessable. South counts carefully -- Gerber doesn't come up often -- 4D = 0, 4H = 1, 4S = 2, 4NT = 3, that's the right bid. Or just remember Gerber responses are one level lower but one denomination higher than Blackwood. Over 4NT North might leap to 6D, but a little though makes it seem likely that if the diamond suit comes in, 6NT will make, and perhaps spaes and hearts will provide enough tricks if diamonds don't. Three spades, two hearts, six diamonds and a club makes an easy 12 tricks.
Board 1: North opens 1H holding QJxx AKxxx Ax Ax; South responds 1S. North has fantastic cards -- QJ in partner's suit, four quick tricks outside, control of all suits and a source of tricks. Basic count would be 18 hcp + 1 for the 5 card suit + 2 for the 2 doubletons when raising partner with four trumps = 21; another approach is to figure North can cover 7 of South's losers: 5 with high cards, another with a long heart, and one more ruffing in a minor, and North's Aces may promote some cards for South. That sounds like slam; visualizing, South might have AKxxx xx xxx xxx, but unless hearts split 3-3 there would be two minor suit losers. So North should force to game but leave it to partner to carry the bidding any higher. Four spades gives a reasonable description of North's hand; the failure to splinter (4C or 4D) suggests no singleton, so North must have a lot of high cards.
South likes his hand on this bidding: AK10xx QJ 10x J109x . The QJ in partner's suit are excellent, the trumps are likely to come in without loss (either a 2-2 split or partner having the Queen), diamonds or clubs can be pitched on hearts, but does partner have the minors under control? With no splinter, partner should have at least 18 hcp, but it is possible to be missing two Aces or the AK in one of the minors. With no room below game to cue-bid, and no side controls to cue-bid anyway, I think the practical approach is to check on Aces or Key cards with 4NT and bid slam unless two are missing. Do not bid 4NT and "chicken out" at 5S if an ace is missing "because we might have two quick losers." You may not, or they may not find the right lead. Today, North shows 3 Aces, 5S over Blackwood, 5C (0 or 3) using RKCB, or 5D (0 or 3) using "1430" responses. South can ask about Kings or the trump Queen, but it is difficult to construct a grand-slam worthy hand for North that would not open 2C, so South may simply bid 6S.
Five spades, five hearts and two Aces makes for an easy 12 tricks.
Board 8: North opens 1D with AKQx Kxx K9xxx x and South responds 1S. North can add 3 for the (small) singleton when raising partner with four trumps, so North is well worth a jump raise (3S.) South, holding J10xxx A10xx AQJ x, counts 12 high cards points, none wasted, and one or two more for shape; opposite partner's 17-19 is there enough for slam? The total is unlikely to reach 33, but suit slams can sometimes be made with less if the cards fit right. Try visualizing: AKQx x Kxxxx xxx makes for an easy 12 tricks, and is well below jump-raise strength. The hand looks perfect for RKCB, so South bids 4NT and North replies 5S, 2 Key Cards plus the Queen of trumps. With five of the six "prime" cards (4 Aces plus KQ of trumps) South bids the excellent slam.
Oops -- over North's 1D, East preempts in clubs. How high? Not vulnerable with 7 sure tricks and essentially no defense, I'd blast 5C. East does not want to defend against four of a major, make 'em guess at the five level. Now what does South do? He cannot picture slam opposite a minimum opener and does not want to bid a crummy 5 card suit at the five level, so double appears to be the only rational choice. North must either pull to 5S, hoping spades or diamonds will be playable, or pass and hope for a good penalty. The defense collects 5 tricks for +500, better than a game but less than the value of the slam.
If East bids only 3 clubs, South can bid 3S freely, and North is worth a 4C cue-bid, which may lead to slam. If East bids 4C, South may double ("do something" at this level), West should raise to 5C, North tries 5S and South may pass or bid slam.When preempting it pays to maximize the pressure on the opponents, taking into account how many tricks you expect to make and what they can make if partner doesn't provide any help. 4C is the "book" bid here with KQJ9xxxx, and either 4C or 5C may keep N/S out of slam.
Board 9: North as dealer holds KQJx x Kxxxxx Qx; I open a lot of shapely 11 counts but with no Ace and the unguarded Queen I'd pass this one. (I'd open KQJx x KQxxxx xx with little pause for thought.) South opens 1H in third seat with 10x AK987 AQ9 AJ8. North has an awkward hand -- partner may pass 2D, but responding 1S may bury the long suit. (A jump response with a misfit for partner is not an option.) I'd bid 1S and cross my fingers the hand doesn't belong in diamonds. South rebids 2NT, suggesting 17-19 hcp and now North can be sure there is a diamond fit, and probably enough strength for slam, but South will need all four Aces or three plus the Queen of diamonds. Either is possible in light of the strong rebid, but can North safely inquire? 4NT would be an invitational raise of notrump ("quantitative slam try") but that means 4C is Gerber. North won't find out about the Queen of diamonds that way, but it's a souind policy not to avoid bidding slam when you cannot ask about Queen -- it is likely that partner has it or it may drop or be finessable. South counts carefully -- Gerber doesn't come up often -- 4D = 0, 4H = 1, 4S = 2, 4NT = 3, that's the right bid. Or just remember Gerber responses are one level lower but one denomination higher than Blackwood. Over 4NT North might leap to 6D, but a little though makes it seem likely that if the diamond suit comes in, 6NT will make, and perhaps spaes and hearts will provide enough tricks if diamonds don't. Three spades, two hearts, six diamonds and a club makes an easy 12 tricks.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Friday, September 2nd 2011
Results not available online at the time of blogging
Board 3: West opens 1S with A10xxx 10xx A109 Ax, East responds 2H with J AQ9xx KQJxx KJ . Two hearts over two spades promises a five-card suit; with only four, responder should use 1NT forcing or bid a minor suit, possibly a 3 card club suit (with 3433 shape, planning to support sapdes or raise hearts.). Opener will certainly rebid in hearts if he has four. So opener knows a 5-3 major fit exists; but it is important to clarify opener's strength. Standard bidders may simply raise to 3H with a minimum and leap to 4H with extras, while 2/1 Game Force bidders may reverse those bids, but either way leaping to 4H eliminates any chance of investigating slam below the game level. My style is treat the immediate raise to 3H as showing extras, about 15 hcp (whether or not 2H was forcing to game.) Here opener rebids his suit to limit his values -- this does not promise extra length in the recommended style -- planning to bid 3H next round. Responder continues with 3D, creating a game force. (Responder with only 11 or so points must rebid 2NT, 3H or 3S to limit his hand.) Opener bids 3H, which does not necessarily promise 3 card support, it might be a doubleton where opener lacks a club stopper to bid 3NT.
Whether or not hearts is the best trump suit, responder's only interest is in how many of the three missing Aces and the King of hearts opener holds. This would be an ideal hand for Roman Key Card Blackwood, but is the five level safe? Opener needs three key cards for slam, and two for comfort at the five level; unfortunately, it is not hard to picture a hand like AKQxxx xxx xx Qx where even 4 hearts may be in jeopardy. That would be quite unlucky, but hoping for three key cards when opener has limited his values may be asking for too much good luck. A reasonable compromise is to make a slam try below game, and trust that opener, looking at three key cards, will carry on. Four diamonds describes responder's shape but is not a clear slam try; four clubs is, and this illustrates why it is important not to restrict cue-bdding to first-round controls. I mentally "borrow" the trump key-card to justify such a cue-bid; if partner bids 4NT he won't go overboard.
So, 1S-2H; 2S-3D; 3H-4C, and in fact opener has the desired three key cards and drives to slam after checking on key cards. Missing the KJ of trumps, odds are about 75% one of two finesses will work; today, however, South holds both trump honors, and it so happens playing the Ace and a low trump would succeed. Down one, but this is a slam that definitely should be bid. Six diamonds offers more solid trumps but depnds in the end on the same play in hearts.
Board 8: West opens 1C with a juicy 18 count, AQx xxx AJx AKxx . East should be thinking slam with K9x AKQ98x Qxx J ; even the stiff Jack may be useful to set up spade or diamond discards. For me this an obvious strong jump shift, 2H. West need not rush to raise hearts with 3 small; and as 2H forces to game, West can show his shape with 2NT, planning to drive to slam in any case. East rebids hearts and now West comes to life with 4NT. Playing RKCB, East's 5S shows two Key Cards plus the Queen of trumps, and West confirms all six "prime" cards (4 Aces + KQ of trumps) with 5NT. East either shows one outside King (5D) or, playing "specific Kings" style, bids 6H since he cannot show the spade King below 6H, and cannot be sure 6NT is a safe alternative. I don't think either player can count 13 tricks; West may choose 6NT or may opt for 6S hoping the trump suit produces an overtrick.
I expect most East responded only 1H, either from system (Weak Jump Shifts) or, well, whatever. West leaps to 2NT, revealing his 18 count, and now East can anticipate a grand slam -- 33 hcp plus the long, solid heart suit. 4C (Gerber, a jump over notrump) confirms West's three Aces and the follow up shows one King; East can count 2 spades, 6 hearts, and AK A in the minors for 11 tricks, but that's only 15 hcp of 18 for opener, so East can choose 6NT or 7H. The field often misses even laydown small slams, so I think I'd settle for 6NT rather than risk a zero at 7H. Bid grand slams only when you can count at least 13 tricks.
Board 10: I like to open good suits, and East's AQ10xxx is tempting, but vulnerable I expect most passed for lack of a seven card suit. South opens 1D and North responds with an up-the-line 1H. The spade fit comes to light when opener rebids 1S and North raises -- how high? North has 13 hcp including his stiff King; it is reasonable to count either 3 points for the kIng or 3 for raising partner with a singleton and four trumps, though North's poor trumps are a worry. Try visualizing: can we construct a balanced 12 point hand that makes game a virtual laydown? Can we do it with less? Picture AKxx xx KQxxx xx, you would expect to lose a trump, a heart and a club, needing only a 3-2 trump split, and if trumps don't split the heart finesse might work. Delete the Queen of diamonds and you would need both red suits to split or one good split and the heart finesse, fair odds but not great. A key insight is that it's hard for the King of clubs to be useful even if partner has the Ace or Queen -- pitching one heart or one diamond from North's hand won't help much.
Point-count suggests raising to game (perhaps with a 4C splinter, doulbed by East for a lead) but visualizing suggests an invitational jump to 3S. Over 4S South surely drives to slam, checking on Aces or Key Cards with 4NT. Over 3S South may settle for game, or make a natural slam try bid of 4D. North cooperates with a 4H cue-bid and South may pause at 4S or continue with 4NT.
If East does open 3C, South doubles and North cue-bids 4C, asking doubler to pick a major for game. South may suspect a slam but should allow that partner may be stretching for game, as 3H or 3S would not promise any values in response to the double. I would not expect to reach slam after 3C.
Against 4S or 6S, the defense likely cashes one club and exits with a heart or trump; declarer pulls trumps and attempts to locate the Queen of diamonds. Cashing three rounds of hearts reveals East's singleton, leaving more "empty spaces" for him to hold the diamond Queen, and a successful finesse lands the slam. With the J-10 divided, declarer cannot afford the ploy of leading the Jack and overtaking if West fails to cover.
Board 27: South opens 2C with KJ AKx A9xx AK98. North may bid 2D "waiting", 2D "semi-positive" (where 2H would be a bust), 3NT (10-12 hcp, balanced) or 2NT ("Steps" 10-12) according to style. Asssuming 2D, South rebids 2NT; North could leap to 6NT but might there be a grand slam or might 6S give a better chance for an overtrick? Looking at A9xx 10x KQJx Qxx, North counts 7 losers and it is reasonable to hope South can cover all 7 with his announced 22 hcp (using the guideline of 3 points = 1 trick.) The spades are a bit weak for slam, but opener is almost certain to have help. Let's say North uses Stayman; South bids 3D (no 4 card major) or 3NT (no 4 or 5 card major, playing Puppet.) Now there's a high probability of a fit in diamonds, but most partnerships do not have a defined way to look for a minor suit fit. A good stab would be 5NT -- as 4NT would be inviting 6, 5NT forces to 6, invites 7, and leaves room for opener to bid a minor suit. 2C-2D; 2NT-3C; 3D-5NT; 6C-6D; 7D is a possible path to grand slam, but with "only" 34 hcp I'd settle for a simple 6NT over South's reply to Stayman. A 3-3 club split provides the 12th trick at 6NT or the 13th in a diamond slam.
Board 3: West opens 1S with A10xxx 10xx A109 Ax, East responds 2H with J AQ9xx KQJxx KJ . Two hearts over two spades promises a five-card suit; with only four, responder should use 1NT forcing or bid a minor suit, possibly a 3 card club suit (with 3433 shape, planning to support sapdes or raise hearts.). Opener will certainly rebid in hearts if he has four. So opener knows a 5-3 major fit exists; but it is important to clarify opener's strength. Standard bidders may simply raise to 3H with a minimum and leap to 4H with extras, while 2/1 Game Force bidders may reverse those bids, but either way leaping to 4H eliminates any chance of investigating slam below the game level. My style is treat the immediate raise to 3H as showing extras, about 15 hcp (whether or not 2H was forcing to game.) Here opener rebids his suit to limit his values -- this does not promise extra length in the recommended style -- planning to bid 3H next round. Responder continues with 3D, creating a game force. (Responder with only 11 or so points must rebid 2NT, 3H or 3S to limit his hand.) Opener bids 3H, which does not necessarily promise 3 card support, it might be a doubleton where opener lacks a club stopper to bid 3NT.
Whether or not hearts is the best trump suit, responder's only interest is in how many of the three missing Aces and the King of hearts opener holds. This would be an ideal hand for Roman Key Card Blackwood, but is the five level safe? Opener needs three key cards for slam, and two for comfort at the five level; unfortunately, it is not hard to picture a hand like AKQxxx xxx xx Qx where even 4 hearts may be in jeopardy. That would be quite unlucky, but hoping for three key cards when opener has limited his values may be asking for too much good luck. A reasonable compromise is to make a slam try below game, and trust that opener, looking at three key cards, will carry on. Four diamonds describes responder's shape but is not a clear slam try; four clubs is, and this illustrates why it is important not to restrict cue-bdding to first-round controls. I mentally "borrow" the trump key-card to justify such a cue-bid; if partner bids 4NT he won't go overboard.
So, 1S-2H; 2S-3D; 3H-4C, and in fact opener has the desired three key cards and drives to slam after checking on key cards. Missing the KJ of trumps, odds are about 75% one of two finesses will work; today, however, South holds both trump honors, and it so happens playing the Ace and a low trump would succeed. Down one, but this is a slam that definitely should be bid. Six diamonds offers more solid trumps but depnds in the end on the same play in hearts.
Board 8: West opens 1C with a juicy 18 count, AQx xxx AJx AKxx . East should be thinking slam with K9x AKQ98x Qxx J ; even the stiff Jack may be useful to set up spade or diamond discards. For me this an obvious strong jump shift, 2H. West need not rush to raise hearts with 3 small; and as 2H forces to game, West can show his shape with 2NT, planning to drive to slam in any case. East rebids hearts and now West comes to life with 4NT. Playing RKCB, East's 5S shows two Key Cards plus the Queen of trumps, and West confirms all six "prime" cards (4 Aces + KQ of trumps) with 5NT. East either shows one outside King (5D) or, playing "specific Kings" style, bids 6H since he cannot show the spade King below 6H, and cannot be sure 6NT is a safe alternative. I don't think either player can count 13 tricks; West may choose 6NT or may opt for 6S hoping the trump suit produces an overtrick.
I expect most East responded only 1H, either from system (Weak Jump Shifts) or, well, whatever. West leaps to 2NT, revealing his 18 count, and now East can anticipate a grand slam -- 33 hcp plus the long, solid heart suit. 4C (Gerber, a jump over notrump) confirms West's three Aces and the follow up shows one King; East can count 2 spades, 6 hearts, and AK A in the minors for 11 tricks, but that's only 15 hcp of 18 for opener, so East can choose 6NT or 7H. The field often misses even laydown small slams, so I think I'd settle for 6NT rather than risk a zero at 7H. Bid grand slams only when you can count at least 13 tricks.
Board 10: I like to open good suits, and East's AQ10xxx is tempting, but vulnerable I expect most passed for lack of a seven card suit. South opens 1D and North responds with an up-the-line 1H. The spade fit comes to light when opener rebids 1S and North raises -- how high? North has 13 hcp including his stiff King; it is reasonable to count either 3 points for the kIng or 3 for raising partner with a singleton and four trumps, though North's poor trumps are a worry. Try visualizing: can we construct a balanced 12 point hand that makes game a virtual laydown? Can we do it with less? Picture AKxx xx KQxxx xx, you would expect to lose a trump, a heart and a club, needing only a 3-2 trump split, and if trumps don't split the heart finesse might work. Delete the Queen of diamonds and you would need both red suits to split or one good split and the heart finesse, fair odds but not great. A key insight is that it's hard for the King of clubs to be useful even if partner has the Ace or Queen -- pitching one heart or one diamond from North's hand won't help much.
Point-count suggests raising to game (perhaps with a 4C splinter, doulbed by East for a lead) but visualizing suggests an invitational jump to 3S. Over 4S South surely drives to slam, checking on Aces or Key Cards with 4NT. Over 3S South may settle for game, or make a natural slam try bid of 4D. North cooperates with a 4H cue-bid and South may pause at 4S or continue with 4NT.
If East does open 3C, South doubles and North cue-bids 4C, asking doubler to pick a major for game. South may suspect a slam but should allow that partner may be stretching for game, as 3H or 3S would not promise any values in response to the double. I would not expect to reach slam after 3C.
Against 4S or 6S, the defense likely cashes one club and exits with a heart or trump; declarer pulls trumps and attempts to locate the Queen of diamonds. Cashing three rounds of hearts reveals East's singleton, leaving more "empty spaces" for him to hold the diamond Queen, and a successful finesse lands the slam. With the J-10 divided, declarer cannot afford the ploy of leading the Jack and overtaking if West fails to cover.
Board 27: South opens 2C with KJ AKx A9xx AK98. North may bid 2D "waiting", 2D "semi-positive" (where 2H would be a bust), 3NT (10-12 hcp, balanced) or 2NT ("Steps" 10-12) according to style. Asssuming 2D, South rebids 2NT; North could leap to 6NT but might there be a grand slam or might 6S give a better chance for an overtrick? Looking at A9xx 10x KQJx Qxx, North counts 7 losers and it is reasonable to hope South can cover all 7 with his announced 22 hcp (using the guideline of 3 points = 1 trick.) The spades are a bit weak for slam, but opener is almost certain to have help. Let's say North uses Stayman; South bids 3D (no 4 card major) or 3NT (no 4 or 5 card major, playing Puppet.) Now there's a high probability of a fit in diamonds, but most partnerships do not have a defined way to look for a minor suit fit. A good stab would be 5NT -- as 4NT would be inviting 6, 5NT forces to 6, invites 7, and leaves room for opener to bid a minor suit. 2C-2D; 2NT-3C; 3D-5NT; 6C-6D; 7D is a possible path to grand slam, but with "only" 34 hcp I'd settle for a simple 6NT over South's reply to Stayman. A 3-3 club split provides the 12th trick at 6NT or the 13th in a diamond slam.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 28th 2011
Right-click here for hands.
First, a hand from the Bridge Bulletin (September 2011) Bidding Box:
#2: Both East players opened 2NT with KJ AK97 A4 AJ874, both Wests transferred holding
Q10975 J54 82 KQ6 and rebid 3NT, both Easts naturally passing. There's some chance They won't find a diamond lead, so 3NT is not competely hopeless, but it is clearly bad. I don't like straining to open 2NT with such an off-shape hand: east can open 1C and has an easy 1H rebid over 1D or 2H over anything else. However, most pairs lack good agreements over opener's reverse so 2NT may be the practical opening.
A good way to organize your bidding after opener's reverse is to use lebensohl: any 3 level bid by responder shows enough for game (opener will have 17+, so 8 hcp is enough.) Weaker responding hands bid something at the two level, with 2NT used as a request for opener to bid 3C. Responder generally plans to pass 3C or correct to 3 of another suit.
Responder can rebid his major with any 5 card suit, weak or strong; the reverse promises the values for 2NT and so oepner will not pass 2S. However, here it will work better for responder to simply support clubs:
1C-1S; 2H-3C, establishing the fit and game force. But with a minor suit fit, we want to try to play 3nT or perhaps a 7 card major fit before committing to the five level with only 8 trumps.
Opener has a diamond stopper but Ax is shaky -- you can't hold up twice, and so if partner has xx or xxx you'll need 9 fast tricks to make 3NT. Better is for opener to try and get responder to bid 3NT, using the 4th suit forcing gadget: 3D. Responder has no help there, however; having shown club support respondeer can show his toelrance for hearts, 3H. A 4-3 fit might play well since responder can ruff the third round of diamonds in the short trump hand. Opener's hearts may be OK for game, but he can show his good spade doubleton with 3S. This must be a doubleton since with 3 card support he would've bid 3S a round earlier. Now responder can raise with his good spade spots and the best contract is reached:
1C-1S;2H-3C;3D-3H;3S-4S . A delicate auction; 4H and 5C are also reasonable spots, and chances are you'd have a lot of company if you reached 3NT.
The given Bridge Bulletin auction is silly: after 1C-1S; 2H-2S, opener rebids 3C which is NOT FORCING. Not a sensible call with 20 hcp. Again, opener could bid 3D as an artificial force:
1C-1S; 2H-2S; 3D-4C; 4S or 5C, pass.
Back to our club hands:
Board 1: North opens 1S on a powerful 5-5 hand, just a bit light for 2C with this shape. South has 8 hcp (ignoring the stiff Jack), 3 card support, a singleton, and a good club suit. The hand rates to be worth 10 or 11 points in support, just on the edge between a simple raise and a game-invitational sequence.Visualizing opener with something like AKQxx xxx xx Kxx, game is not quite a laydown, you'll need a normal trump split and no over-ruff on the third round of diamonds. Playing standard where 2C is not forcing to game, it would be reasonable to bid 2C and then support spades. 2/1 game force bidders would have to bid 1NT and then 3S, which does not describe the hand very well, so I think I'd settle for 2S, eager to accept any invitation.
Over 2S, North coudl bid game, but it wouldn't be hard for partner to cover 3 losers and make slam. North bids 3H, which at this point sounds like a game try. South accepts by leaping to 4S, and now North can reasonably proceed with 4NT, bidding 6S after South repleis with one Ace or Key Card. (North could check on Kings, but South's hand is limited and grand slam would be a stretch.)
The auction does not help East find a lead -- anyting could blow a trick. Guessing that anything partner has in trumps is a dead duck anyway, East tries a low spade. There aren't enough trumps in dummy to ruff out the hearts, so declarer might try an set up hearts with a finesse and some ruffs, or might concede a heart and take a club finesse to try and pitch his losing diamond. I think a reasonable line would be to win the trump, lead a low heart to the Jack, win the trump return, and try to pitch two diamonds on the AQ of hearts. If the player with 3 trumps has at least 3 hearts declarer can then ruff his diamond loser with dummy's last trump. Unfortunately East has the 9 of sapdes and only two hearts so that line fails, as does the club finesse. 6S is makeable double-dummy but I don't see a winning line that I would take at the table.
Board 24: West opens 2C, planning a notrump rebid with his 24 hcp. East should respond 2S, natural and slam-positive. Bidding 2D "waiting" on a hand like this is a great way to miss good slams. ("Steps" bidders, of course, respond 2NT artificially to show 10-12 hcp.) West rebids 2NT as planned, and East rebids the strong spades.. West can count 12 tricks opposite AQxxxx and so leaps to 4NT; East replies with 1 Ace or Key Card (5D, or 5C playing "1430" style.) Key card bidders can bid the next suit (5H or 5D) to ask about the Queen of trumps, and East replies "yes" with either the second step method (5NT over 5H) or 6C to show that King along with the trump Queen. The King of clubs is enough for West to bid 6NT, otherwise the pair should land in 6S. Five pairs reached 6S or 6NT.
South on lead may cash his Ace for an average board. If North is on lead, perhaps South was able to double 5D for a lead. Declarer wraps up 13 tricks on any other lead.
Board 30: South opens 1H; North intends to support eharts but his hand is not suitable for any immediate raise: 4H shows fewer points and more shape, Jacoby 2NT promises 4 trumps. With only 3 card support spades may be better, and in any case bidding them will help opener judge slam prospects. Over 1S opener might jump to 2NT to show his 18 hcp, treating the singleton King in partner's suit as equivalent to a doubleton; otherwise opener must bid a hefty 2C. This might be passed but responder will typically take a preference back to hearts on a doubleton, giving opener another bid. Since Q109 might not stop diamonds even once, I think I'd settle for 2C, although the strong hearts may justify a game-forcing 3C jump.
Over 2C, responder could simply bid 4H, but 2C may conceal a powerful hand. Responder can create a game force with 3D, the fourth suit, planning to support hearts the next round. Opener rebids 2NT, responder 3H, and opener is worth 4NT since responder has shown opening bid values. The 3 Ace reply delights opener, but 5NT reveals no King and opener signs off at 6H.
West should not want to help set up dummy's spades or declarer's clubs, nor underlead a King versus a slam; perhaps a trump lead won't cost a trick. Declarer counts 2 spades, 5 hearts, 1 diamond and 2 clubs for 10 tricks; if clubs split 4-3, declarer can ruff one club low and another high before pulling trumps. Another possibility is to ruff out the Queen of spades, but this requires finding Qx or Qxx and declarer would still need another trick. Can declarer combine his chances? Win the trump in hand, cash the King of spades, cash the two high clubs, ruff a club low. If this get over-ruffed East may not have a third trump to return and may have to help declarer with a spade or diamond lead. Today the clubs behave and declarer retunrs to hand with a spade ruff, ruffs the 4th club high, ruff another spade (all his trumps in hand are high), pulls trumps and claims his diamond and spade Aces from dummy.
First, a hand from the Bridge Bulletin (September 2011) Bidding Box:
#2: Both East players opened 2NT with KJ AK97 A4 AJ874, both Wests transferred holding
Q10975 J54 82 KQ6 and rebid 3NT, both Easts naturally passing. There's some chance They won't find a diamond lead, so 3NT is not competely hopeless, but it is clearly bad. I don't like straining to open 2NT with such an off-shape hand: east can open 1C and has an easy 1H rebid over 1D or 2H over anything else. However, most pairs lack good agreements over opener's reverse so 2NT may be the practical opening.
A good way to organize your bidding after opener's reverse is to use lebensohl: any 3 level bid by responder shows enough for game (opener will have 17+, so 8 hcp is enough.) Weaker responding hands bid something at the two level, with 2NT used as a request for opener to bid 3C. Responder generally plans to pass 3C or correct to 3 of another suit.
Responder can rebid his major with any 5 card suit, weak or strong; the reverse promises the values for 2NT and so oepner will not pass 2S. However, here it will work better for responder to simply support clubs:
1C-1S; 2H-3C, establishing the fit and game force. But with a minor suit fit, we want to try to play 3nT or perhaps a 7 card major fit before committing to the five level with only 8 trumps.
Opener has a diamond stopper but Ax is shaky -- you can't hold up twice, and so if partner has xx or xxx you'll need 9 fast tricks to make 3NT. Better is for opener to try and get responder to bid 3NT, using the 4th suit forcing gadget: 3D. Responder has no help there, however; having shown club support respondeer can show his toelrance for hearts, 3H. A 4-3 fit might play well since responder can ruff the third round of diamonds in the short trump hand. Opener's hearts may be OK for game, but he can show his good spade doubleton with 3S. This must be a doubleton since with 3 card support he would've bid 3S a round earlier. Now responder can raise with his good spade spots and the best contract is reached:
1C-1S;2H-3C;3D-3H;3S-4S . A delicate auction; 4H and 5C are also reasonable spots, and chances are you'd have a lot of company if you reached 3NT.
The given Bridge Bulletin auction is silly: after 1C-1S; 2H-2S, opener rebids 3C which is NOT FORCING. Not a sensible call with 20 hcp. Again, opener could bid 3D as an artificial force:
1C-1S; 2H-2S; 3D-4C; 4S or 5C, pass.
Back to our club hands:
Board 1: North opens 1S on a powerful 5-5 hand, just a bit light for 2C with this shape. South has 8 hcp (ignoring the stiff Jack), 3 card support, a singleton, and a good club suit. The hand rates to be worth 10 or 11 points in support, just on the edge between a simple raise and a game-invitational sequence.Visualizing opener with something like AKQxx xxx xx Kxx, game is not quite a laydown, you'll need a normal trump split and no over-ruff on the third round of diamonds. Playing standard where 2C is not forcing to game, it would be reasonable to bid 2C and then support spades. 2/1 game force bidders would have to bid 1NT and then 3S, which does not describe the hand very well, so I think I'd settle for 2S, eager to accept any invitation.
Over 2S, North coudl bid game, but it wouldn't be hard for partner to cover 3 losers and make slam. North bids 3H, which at this point sounds like a game try. South accepts by leaping to 4S, and now North can reasonably proceed with 4NT, bidding 6S after South repleis with one Ace or Key Card. (North could check on Kings, but South's hand is limited and grand slam would be a stretch.)
The auction does not help East find a lead -- anyting could blow a trick. Guessing that anything partner has in trumps is a dead duck anyway, East tries a low spade. There aren't enough trumps in dummy to ruff out the hearts, so declarer might try an set up hearts with a finesse and some ruffs, or might concede a heart and take a club finesse to try and pitch his losing diamond. I think a reasonable line would be to win the trump, lead a low heart to the Jack, win the trump return, and try to pitch two diamonds on the AQ of hearts. If the player with 3 trumps has at least 3 hearts declarer can then ruff his diamond loser with dummy's last trump. Unfortunately East has the 9 of sapdes and only two hearts so that line fails, as does the club finesse. 6S is makeable double-dummy but I don't see a winning line that I would take at the table.
Board 24: West opens 2C, planning a notrump rebid with his 24 hcp. East should respond 2S, natural and slam-positive. Bidding 2D "waiting" on a hand like this is a great way to miss good slams. ("Steps" bidders, of course, respond 2NT artificially to show 10-12 hcp.) West rebids 2NT as planned, and East rebids the strong spades.. West can count 12 tricks opposite AQxxxx and so leaps to 4NT; East replies with 1 Ace or Key Card (5D, or 5C playing "1430" style.) Key card bidders can bid the next suit (5H or 5D) to ask about the Queen of trumps, and East replies "yes" with either the second step method (5NT over 5H) or 6C to show that King along with the trump Queen. The King of clubs is enough for West to bid 6NT, otherwise the pair should land in 6S. Five pairs reached 6S or 6NT.
South on lead may cash his Ace for an average board. If North is on lead, perhaps South was able to double 5D for a lead. Declarer wraps up 13 tricks on any other lead.
Board 30: South opens 1H; North intends to support eharts but his hand is not suitable for any immediate raise: 4H shows fewer points and more shape, Jacoby 2NT promises 4 trumps. With only 3 card support spades may be better, and in any case bidding them will help opener judge slam prospects. Over 1S opener might jump to 2NT to show his 18 hcp, treating the singleton King in partner's suit as equivalent to a doubleton; otherwise opener must bid a hefty 2C. This might be passed but responder will typically take a preference back to hearts on a doubleton, giving opener another bid. Since Q109 might not stop diamonds even once, I think I'd settle for 2C, although the strong hearts may justify a game-forcing 3C jump.
Over 2C, responder could simply bid 4H, but 2C may conceal a powerful hand. Responder can create a game force with 3D, the fourth suit, planning to support hearts the next round. Opener rebids 2NT, responder 3H, and opener is worth 4NT since responder has shown opening bid values. The 3 Ace reply delights opener, but 5NT reveals no King and opener signs off at 6H.
West should not want to help set up dummy's spades or declarer's clubs, nor underlead a King versus a slam; perhaps a trump lead won't cost a trick. Declarer counts 2 spades, 5 hearts, 1 diamond and 2 clubs for 10 tricks; if clubs split 4-3, declarer can ruff one club low and another high before pulling trumps. Another possibility is to ruff out the Queen of spades, but this requires finding Qx or Qxx and declarer would still need another trick. Can declarer combine his chances? Win the trump in hand, cash the King of spades, cash the two high clubs, ruff a club low. If this get over-ruffed East may not have a third trump to return and may have to help declarer with a spade or diamond lead. Today the clubs behave and declarer retunrs to hand with a spade ruff, ruffs the 4th club high, ruff another spade (all his trumps in hand are high), pulls trumps and claims his diamond and spade Aces from dummy.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19th 2011
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Board 8: North opens 1D; East chooses between 1H and 2H. I like the mild preempt with the good suit (AJ109xx is better than KQxxxx.) Odds are E/W have a heart fit and no one has a spade fit; if anyone does, it is likely that hearts will play as well as spades for E/W, and of course the suit would be breaking badly for N/S, so hearts can be viewed here as the "Master Suit." Don't try to get cute with a Michaels cue-bid, bid hearts and ignore spades unless partner happens to bid them.
The 2H jump freezes South out of the bidding, though he suspects a good fit in one or both minors. West raises to 3H based on his good support; it is generally correct to raise a 2 bid to 3 with three trumps, especially ones as good as KQx. North doubles for takeout, and South chooses 4C or 5C. The heart bids suggest partner has no more than a singleton, and partner's bidding suggests he can cover some of SOuth's diamond and club losers, so I'd take a stab at 5C. If you choose 4C it should be with the intention of doubling 4H, not changing your mind and bidding 5C the second round.
North has excellent controls but as South made no bid on the first round I would assume 5C may be a stretch, so 5C ends the bidding. Luck in both minors makes for 12 tricks, which would score a top -- no need to bid the slam as few pairs found their way to a club contract. (6D makes double-dummy but is more difficult in practice due to the bad trump split.)
Board 10: East opens 1S, West raises to two. I'd ount Eat's hand as 4 1/2 losers -- the fourth heart may be a problem -- and a simple raise typically delivers 2 or 3 cover cards; with 3 1/2, West would make a limit raise. On point-count West counts 18 hcp + 1 for each doubleton + 1 for the five card suit after the raise; 21 + partner's 6-10 does not add up to slam, so I would expect 4S to end the bidding. What about 3NT? East's hand is full of fast winners and low-card losers; partner may be able to trump a heart, so I would not consider 3NT as East. Although it is true +630 outscores +620, many players overlook the fact that +650 or +680 outscores +630 or + 660; having a trump suit will usually deliver an extra trick.
+680 was, in fact, the top score, and three pairs actually bid slam. How should East play? On the likely King of diamonds lead, East counts 5 spades, 3 hearts, and two minor suit Aces for 10 obvious tricks; the lead suggests a second diamond toward dummy will score the Jack, Either a 3-3 heart or diamond split (or in fact simply dropping the 10 of diamonds) may provide a 12th trick. The AQ of hearts provide easy entries to reach the diamonds, so declarer wins the lead, cashes one high trump, low to the Jack of spades (to avoid blocking the suit if it breaks 4-1), trump back to hand, low diamond toward dummy's Jack. If South pays attention to the spot cards, he'll realize that grabbing the Queen gives declarer two more diamond tricks, since partner's 10 must fall. +680 is a top for E/W, and +650 earns 6/9 matchpoints.
Board 12: West opens 1H and North leaps in spades with his solid eight-card suit -- how high? At our table NOrth chose 4S and I'd do the same -- if partner fails to provide a trick perhaps E/W have a slam. They do, in fact, but not one they're likely to bid. East could stretch a negative double of 3S -- he's well prepared for anything partner bids -- but 4S is passed around to West. With three Aces, I figured partner might provide one trick, or two North has a side void; +500 seemed more likely than -790. Doubling yields the desired +500 as North takes only his 8 trumps. Several Easts apparently pulled to 5D, and one pair bid 6.
Board 13: East has a good 1C opener despite only 11 hcp (including a jack doubleton); the good suit and 2 1/2 quick tricks make for a sound opening. Look at it this way -- the AK K will please partner at any contract (defending or declaring), and the clubs should provide a good source of tricks.
West plans his auction -- many would automatically respond in the major, but West does not want to rebid in notrump with a small doubleton in hearts. 1D is the most flexible response, avoids giving the impression of five cards in spades (which spades-then-diamonds would suggest), aims toward partner playing notrump if he has hearts stopped, and will sometimes result in a good 6D contract. With game-going values, it's usually best to bid your suits in natural order (up-the-line with 4 card suits, down-the-line with five) especially when the natural response is also your best suit. The spades won't go away -- West can easily bid them at any level.
East rebids clubs, West continues with 2S: not necessarily a suit since opener skipped over them, but clearly forcing and essentially asking partner to bid notrump with a heart stopper. East cannot bid notrump and simply repeats the clubs. West takes a shot at 5C, figuring on at most 2 heart losers.
The defense cashes two hearts and switches to a diamond or trump. Declarer counts only 10 winners: 6 trumps and two AK's. There's no finesse or suit that can be established for the needed 11th trick. This has all the earmarks of a squeeze hand -- nothing else to try! Typically, declarer needs a squeeze card (the long trump), an enty to the hand opposite (diamonds or spades), and more than one threat (again, diamonds and spades could provide a trick if a defender fails to keep enough length.) It usually helps if declarer has lost all but one trick (the two hearts took care of that) and can ensure only one defender can guard at least one of the suits. The diamonds must divide 4-3 or worse, so if declarer plays two rounds of diamonds and ruffs a third, only one defender can guard that suit. Now, if that defender happens to be South and also has the QJ of spades, he can't guard both suits. It won't work today, but defenders don't always keep the right cards and two declarers managed 11 tricks at clubs. East should pull trumps, cash AK of diamnds and ruff a diamond, cash the King of spades and play his remaining trumps, watching for the QJ10 of diamonds to fall or be discarded. If the nine doesn't set up, declarer pitches it on the last trump and crosses to dummy with the spade. Sometimes that last card is good, and in any case it's better than no chance at all. On defense, North must keep spades while South keeps diamonds.
Board 8: North opens 1D; East chooses between 1H and 2H. I like the mild preempt with the good suit (AJ109xx is better than KQxxxx.) Odds are E/W have a heart fit and no one has a spade fit; if anyone does, it is likely that hearts will play as well as spades for E/W, and of course the suit would be breaking badly for N/S, so hearts can be viewed here as the "Master Suit." Don't try to get cute with a Michaels cue-bid, bid hearts and ignore spades unless partner happens to bid them.
The 2H jump freezes South out of the bidding, though he suspects a good fit in one or both minors. West raises to 3H based on his good support; it is generally correct to raise a 2 bid to 3 with three trumps, especially ones as good as KQx. North doubles for takeout, and South chooses 4C or 5C. The heart bids suggest partner has no more than a singleton, and partner's bidding suggests he can cover some of SOuth's diamond and club losers, so I'd take a stab at 5C. If you choose 4C it should be with the intention of doubling 4H, not changing your mind and bidding 5C the second round.
North has excellent controls but as South made no bid on the first round I would assume 5C may be a stretch, so 5C ends the bidding. Luck in both minors makes for 12 tricks, which would score a top -- no need to bid the slam as few pairs found their way to a club contract. (6D makes double-dummy but is more difficult in practice due to the bad trump split.)
Board 10: East opens 1S, West raises to two. I'd ount Eat's hand as 4 1/2 losers -- the fourth heart may be a problem -- and a simple raise typically delivers 2 or 3 cover cards; with 3 1/2, West would make a limit raise. On point-count West counts 18 hcp + 1 for each doubleton + 1 for the five card suit after the raise; 21 + partner's 6-10 does not add up to slam, so I would expect 4S to end the bidding. What about 3NT? East's hand is full of fast winners and low-card losers; partner may be able to trump a heart, so I would not consider 3NT as East. Although it is true +630 outscores +620, many players overlook the fact that +650 or +680 outscores +630 or + 660; having a trump suit will usually deliver an extra trick.
+680 was, in fact, the top score, and three pairs actually bid slam. How should East play? On the likely King of diamonds lead, East counts 5 spades, 3 hearts, and two minor suit Aces for 10 obvious tricks; the lead suggests a second diamond toward dummy will score the Jack, Either a 3-3 heart or diamond split (or in fact simply dropping the 10 of diamonds) may provide a 12th trick. The AQ of hearts provide easy entries to reach the diamonds, so declarer wins the lead, cashes one high trump, low to the Jack of spades (to avoid blocking the suit if it breaks 4-1), trump back to hand, low diamond toward dummy's Jack. If South pays attention to the spot cards, he'll realize that grabbing the Queen gives declarer two more diamond tricks, since partner's 10 must fall. +680 is a top for E/W, and +650 earns 6/9 matchpoints.
Board 12: West opens 1H and North leaps in spades with his solid eight-card suit -- how high? At our table NOrth chose 4S and I'd do the same -- if partner fails to provide a trick perhaps E/W have a slam. They do, in fact, but not one they're likely to bid. East could stretch a negative double of 3S -- he's well prepared for anything partner bids -- but 4S is passed around to West. With three Aces, I figured partner might provide one trick, or two North has a side void; +500 seemed more likely than -790. Doubling yields the desired +500 as North takes only his 8 trumps. Several Easts apparently pulled to 5D, and one pair bid 6.
Board 13: East has a good 1C opener despite only 11 hcp (including a jack doubleton); the good suit and 2 1/2 quick tricks make for a sound opening. Look at it this way -- the AK K will please partner at any contract (defending or declaring), and the clubs should provide a good source of tricks.
West plans his auction -- many would automatically respond in the major, but West does not want to rebid in notrump with a small doubleton in hearts. 1D is the most flexible response, avoids giving the impression of five cards in spades (which spades-then-diamonds would suggest), aims toward partner playing notrump if he has hearts stopped, and will sometimes result in a good 6D contract. With game-going values, it's usually best to bid your suits in natural order (up-the-line with 4 card suits, down-the-line with five) especially when the natural response is also your best suit. The spades won't go away -- West can easily bid them at any level.
East rebids clubs, West continues with 2S: not necessarily a suit since opener skipped over them, but clearly forcing and essentially asking partner to bid notrump with a heart stopper. East cannot bid notrump and simply repeats the clubs. West takes a shot at 5C, figuring on at most 2 heart losers.
The defense cashes two hearts and switches to a diamond or trump. Declarer counts only 10 winners: 6 trumps and two AK's. There's no finesse or suit that can be established for the needed 11th trick. This has all the earmarks of a squeeze hand -- nothing else to try! Typically, declarer needs a squeeze card (the long trump), an enty to the hand opposite (diamonds or spades), and more than one threat (again, diamonds and spades could provide a trick if a defender fails to keep enough length.) It usually helps if declarer has lost all but one trick (the two hearts took care of that) and can ensure only one defender can guard at least one of the suits. The diamonds must divide 4-3 or worse, so if declarer plays two rounds of diamonds and ruffs a third, only one defender can guard that suit. Now, if that defender happens to be South and also has the QJ of spades, he can't guard both suits. It won't work today, but defenders don't always keep the right cards and two declarers managed 11 tricks at clubs. East should pull trumps, cash AK of diamnds and ruff a diamond, cash the King of spades and play his remaining trumps, watching for the QJ10 of diamonds to fall or be discarded. If the nine doesn't set up, declarer pitches it on the last trump and crosses to dummy with the spade. Sometimes that last card is good, and in any case it's better than no chance at all. On defense, North must keep spades while South keeps diamonds.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Wednesday, August 17th 2011
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Board 3: South opens a maximum 15-17 1NT. West considers a leap to 3C, but vulnerable vs. not settles for 2C. North counts six losers, and at 3 points a trick partner may well provide 5 cover cads, so slam is a distinct possiblilty. It is somewhat unlikely that hearts will provide more tricks than spades; you won't need ruffs to set up the spade suit, and there are few minor suit losers to pitch, so North can simply force to game with 3S. (To check on a heart fit North could bid 3C, cue-bidding the overcaller's suit as Stayman, and follow with 3S if South replies 3D.) South has a spade fit and excellent controls, and so bids 4C as a slam try "on the way" to 4S. (Having opened 1NT, South would not be arguing about the trump suit at the four level; with only 2 spades South would retreat to 3NT.) North cue-bids 4H, confirming more than mere game interest, and South proceeds with 4NT, with the bidding ending in 6S. Declarer counts 6 spade winners, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds and a club, one trick short; running the Queen of hearts doesn't gain even if West covers. To score another heart trick, play low toward the Jack or even the Queen, preserving chances to drop the ten or pick up a singleton or doubleton King. It may be possible to ruff four times in hand, but that requires taking two heart winners before pulling trumps, which seems to require good luck in hearts anyway. I'd win the club lead and try a low heart to the Jack immediately; East wins and returns another club. North ruffs, spade to dummy (seeing the bad break), finish pulling trumps, then Queen and Ace of hearts. Hearts split 3-3 to provide declarer's 12th trick.
Board 5: North opens 1H, and East has enough to overcall 2D. West thinks slam, but the Kx of hearts looks exposed; perhaps partner can support spades? A 2S bid is risky if it isn't forcing; experts favor a 3S "fit jump", but my usual style is a simple 2S forcing. East rebids 2NT to show his stopper, which relieves West's concern about the Kx of hearts (whether East has the Ace or Qxx), so West can leap to 4D. An earlier 4D would've been preemptive in most styles, but the delayed sequence should be seen as a forcing slam try. East cue-bids 4H and West continues with 4NT, landing in 6D. East pulls trumps in one round and ruffs a heart and a club in dummy for an easy 12 tricks and a top board.
Board 19: South can open 1S or 1NT; with 5 in one major and only 2 in the other, I generally open the major, but 1NT will often work well. (This is especially true with exactly 16 hcp: passing 1NT may catch partner with 10, while raising to 2NT may find him with 6.) Over 1S, West overcalls his good club suit. North has five trumps and two doubletons -- not classic, but 4S at this vulnerability seems worthwhile.
East was hoping to show his good hearts before supporting West's clubs, but 4S makes that impossible. The ehart suit and spade singleton rate to be useful to partner, so East tries 5C, which should end the bidding. 12 tricks are easy when the club suit splits 3-2. A misguided 5S call from South risks chasing E/W into a slam.
Board 3: South opens a maximum 15-17 1NT. West considers a leap to 3C, but vulnerable vs. not settles for 2C. North counts six losers, and at 3 points a trick partner may well provide 5 cover cads, so slam is a distinct possiblilty. It is somewhat unlikely that hearts will provide more tricks than spades; you won't need ruffs to set up the spade suit, and there are few minor suit losers to pitch, so North can simply force to game with 3S. (To check on a heart fit North could bid 3C, cue-bidding the overcaller's suit as Stayman, and follow with 3S if South replies 3D.) South has a spade fit and excellent controls, and so bids 4C as a slam try "on the way" to 4S. (Having opened 1NT, South would not be arguing about the trump suit at the four level; with only 2 spades South would retreat to 3NT.) North cue-bids 4H, confirming more than mere game interest, and South proceeds with 4NT, with the bidding ending in 6S. Declarer counts 6 spade winners, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds and a club, one trick short; running the Queen of hearts doesn't gain even if West covers. To score another heart trick, play low toward the Jack or even the Queen, preserving chances to drop the ten or pick up a singleton or doubleton King. It may be possible to ruff four times in hand, but that requires taking two heart winners before pulling trumps, which seems to require good luck in hearts anyway. I'd win the club lead and try a low heart to the Jack immediately; East wins and returns another club. North ruffs, spade to dummy (seeing the bad break), finish pulling trumps, then Queen and Ace of hearts. Hearts split 3-3 to provide declarer's 12th trick.
Board 5: North opens 1H, and East has enough to overcall 2D. West thinks slam, but the Kx of hearts looks exposed; perhaps partner can support spades? A 2S bid is risky if it isn't forcing; experts favor a 3S "fit jump", but my usual style is a simple 2S forcing. East rebids 2NT to show his stopper, which relieves West's concern about the Kx of hearts (whether East has the Ace or Qxx), so West can leap to 4D. An earlier 4D would've been preemptive in most styles, but the delayed sequence should be seen as a forcing slam try. East cue-bids 4H and West continues with 4NT, landing in 6D. East pulls trumps in one round and ruffs a heart and a club in dummy for an easy 12 tricks and a top board.
Board 19: South can open 1S or 1NT; with 5 in one major and only 2 in the other, I generally open the major, but 1NT will often work well. (This is especially true with exactly 16 hcp: passing 1NT may catch partner with 10, while raising to 2NT may find him with 6.) Over 1S, West overcalls his good club suit. North has five trumps and two doubletons -- not classic, but 4S at this vulnerability seems worthwhile.
East was hoping to show his good hearts before supporting West's clubs, but 4S makes that impossible. The ehart suit and spade singleton rate to be useful to partner, so East tries 5C, which should end the bidding. 12 tricks are easy when the club suit splits 3-2. A misguided 5S call from South risks chasing E/W into a slam.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14th 2011
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Board 10: East opens 2NT (20-21); West transfers to spades and then bids 3NT. I have a strong preference for treating this sequence not as "Which game would you like to play, partner?" but instead as "Please bid 4S if you have three of them." Otherwise, what is responder to do with a five card major and a singleton? East dutifully bids 4S; West can add 1 point for the long suit (or doubleton) butthe total falls short of the usual 33 point target for slam. Try visualizing: can you construct a 20 point hand that would make 6S a laydown? Best would be a double-fit with diamonds: Jxx Ax AKQJx Axx looks like an easy 12 tricks, and that's only 19 hcp. Unfortunately, there's no room to invite slam below game, and one can just as easily construct hands where slam has no play, and in fact the five level is risky: xxx Qxx AKQxx AKQ, for example, has adequate key cards but the defense may take the first 3 heart tricks -- but declarer may take all 13 tricks on different lead. 2NT has a reputation as a "slam killer" since it crowds the bidding. 4NT here will keep you out of a slam missing two Aces (or key cards) but tells you nothing about the prospects for 12 tricks. I'd pass. As it happens two finesses work and clubs split 3-3, so declarer takes all 13 tricks at spades or notrump. Don't feel like you should've bid this one.
Board 14: West opens 1NT after two passes, though a few players might downgrade the KQ doubleon and open 1C instead. In general I do not recommend such adjustments for notrump bidding -- points in short suits tend to provide stoppers. North overcalls 2S. What should East do with 11 points but no spade stopper? (East should deduct for no aces but can add something back for the five-card suit.) I suspect 3NT would be the near-unaminous choice of any expert bidding panel -- the strong notrumper usually has a stopper in the overcaller's suit. For those playing lebensohl, 3NT explicitly denies a stopper, with the alternate sequence 2NT-then-3NT used to show a stopper. West does, in fact, have the expected stopper, but one low spade establishes North's suit and West cannot develop 9 tricks without losing the lead. Declarer can choose to knock aout the Ace of hearts and finish with 7 tricks, or lose to the Queen of diamonds and score only 6. Such disasters aren't enjoyable but keep in mind the game bonus: exchange either of West's Queens for the Queen of diamonds, or give East the Jack of spades and nine tricks would be easy. That's bridge.
Board 16: West opens 1C and North tosses in a weak 2S bid at the favorable vulnerability. East doubles (negative, showing hearts); South does not have a classic raise (only 2 trumps) and should probably give partner some leeway at this vulnerability. West rebids his clubs (or passes of South's 3S) and East ends the aucton at 3NT. Axx is a good stopper to have against a weak two bid, since you can hold up twice if needed to exhaust South's spades -- then losing a trick to South will not be fatal. Good luck in both red suits allows 11 tricks at notrump or 12 at clubs -- another slam not worth bidding.
Board 20: West opens 1C; vulnerable, I would expect North to pass, but I'm sure some jumped to 2S. East smells slam but can reasonably start with 1H. West's hand almost qualifies as a Bridge World Death Hand (strong hand, strong suit, 3 card support for partner) but with only 15 hcp including a stiff Ace I'd settle for a simple 2C rebid, eager to drive to game if partner invites. East bids 3D; as 2D would be forcing (many play it artificially, an extension of the New Minor Frocing gadget, but natural or artificial it is forcing) the jump shows 5-5 shape and game-forcing values. West bids 3H to show belated (3-card) support, and East continues with 4C. Some would read this as a simple cueb-id, others would say it shows East's pattern, suggesting a fitting honor and the shortness in spades; either way East's hand qualifies. In any case 4C is a clear slam try, and West proceeds with 4NT. Playing Roman Key Card Blackwood, East shows 3 key cards (5C = 0 or 3, or 5D using the "1430" variation); West can rule out zero on East's previous bidding and counts 5 heart tricks, at least 5 clubs (might need a ruff if East has the stiff ace or the suit break 4-1), two side Aces and one diamond ruff totals 13 tricks, so West can bid 7H. The only reason to bid 5NT would be in an attempt to get to 7NT, but 7H may have better chances and I wouldn't expect many pairs to bid either grand. In fact, only 2 pairs bid even a small slam.
Board 10: East opens 2NT (20-21); West transfers to spades and then bids 3NT. I have a strong preference for treating this sequence not as "Which game would you like to play, partner?" but instead as "Please bid 4S if you have three of them." Otherwise, what is responder to do with a five card major and a singleton? East dutifully bids 4S; West can add 1 point for the long suit (or doubleton) butthe total falls short of the usual 33 point target for slam. Try visualizing: can you construct a 20 point hand that would make 6S a laydown? Best would be a double-fit with diamonds: Jxx Ax AKQJx Axx looks like an easy 12 tricks, and that's only 19 hcp. Unfortunately, there's no room to invite slam below game, and one can just as easily construct hands where slam has no play, and in fact the five level is risky: xxx Qxx AKQxx AKQ, for example, has adequate key cards but the defense may take the first 3 heart tricks -- but declarer may take all 13 tricks on different lead. 2NT has a reputation as a "slam killer" since it crowds the bidding. 4NT here will keep you out of a slam missing two Aces (or key cards) but tells you nothing about the prospects for 12 tricks. I'd pass. As it happens two finesses work and clubs split 3-3, so declarer takes all 13 tricks at spades or notrump. Don't feel like you should've bid this one.
Board 14: West opens 1NT after two passes, though a few players might downgrade the KQ doubleon and open 1C instead. In general I do not recommend such adjustments for notrump bidding -- points in short suits tend to provide stoppers. North overcalls 2S. What should East do with 11 points but no spade stopper? (East should deduct for no aces but can add something back for the five-card suit.) I suspect 3NT would be the near-unaminous choice of any expert bidding panel -- the strong notrumper usually has a stopper in the overcaller's suit. For those playing lebensohl, 3NT explicitly denies a stopper, with the alternate sequence 2NT-then-3NT used to show a stopper. West does, in fact, have the expected stopper, but one low spade establishes North's suit and West cannot develop 9 tricks without losing the lead. Declarer can choose to knock aout the Ace of hearts and finish with 7 tricks, or lose to the Queen of diamonds and score only 6. Such disasters aren't enjoyable but keep in mind the game bonus: exchange either of West's Queens for the Queen of diamonds, or give East the Jack of spades and nine tricks would be easy. That's bridge.
Board 16: West opens 1C and North tosses in a weak 2S bid at the favorable vulnerability. East doubles (negative, showing hearts); South does not have a classic raise (only 2 trumps) and should probably give partner some leeway at this vulnerability. West rebids his clubs (or passes of South's 3S) and East ends the aucton at 3NT. Axx is a good stopper to have against a weak two bid, since you can hold up twice if needed to exhaust South's spades -- then losing a trick to South will not be fatal. Good luck in both red suits allows 11 tricks at notrump or 12 at clubs -- another slam not worth bidding.
Board 20: West opens 1C; vulnerable, I would expect North to pass, but I'm sure some jumped to 2S. East smells slam but can reasonably start with 1H. West's hand almost qualifies as a Bridge World Death Hand (strong hand, strong suit, 3 card support for partner) but with only 15 hcp including a stiff Ace I'd settle for a simple 2C rebid, eager to drive to game if partner invites. East bids 3D; as 2D would be forcing (many play it artificially, an extension of the New Minor Frocing gadget, but natural or artificial it is forcing) the jump shows 5-5 shape and game-forcing values. West bids 3H to show belated (3-card) support, and East continues with 4C. Some would read this as a simple cueb-id, others would say it shows East's pattern, suggesting a fitting honor and the shortness in spades; either way East's hand qualifies. In any case 4C is a clear slam try, and West proceeds with 4NT. Playing Roman Key Card Blackwood, East shows 3 key cards (5C = 0 or 3, or 5D using the "1430" variation); West can rule out zero on East's previous bidding and counts 5 heart tricks, at least 5 clubs (might need a ruff if East has the stiff ace or the suit break 4-1), two side Aces and one diamond ruff totals 13 tricks, so West can bid 7H. The only reason to bid 5NT would be in an attempt to get to 7NT, but 7H may have better chances and I wouldn't expect many pairs to bid either grand. In fact, only 2 pairs bid even a small slam.
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