http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/ Steve's Games - LiveJournal.com Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:15:46 GMT LiveJournal / LiveJournal.com stevesgames personal http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14703.html Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:15:46 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14703.html <pre> PLAYS I WISH I HAD MADE by Stephen Rzewski Following are two hands that came my way in a team match at the Gatlinburg Regional which I failed to get right at the table. They are difficult problems, but not impossible. See if you would have fared better. (1)The first is a play problem. You are South, with the auction shown: North ♠ KQ2 ♥ 74 ♦ QJ763 ♣ K32 South ♠ A109863 ♥ Q83 ♦ A2 ♣ Q7 W N E S 1♥ P P 1♠ P 2♥ dbl 4♠ (all pass) West leads the ace and king of hearts, East following low-high. West then shifts to the jack of spades. How would you proceed (be specific)? (2)The next hand is a defensive problem. You are East, behind the dummy: North ♠ J109842 ♥ 5 ♦ K102 ♣ K74 East ♠ 3 ♥ AKQ2 ♦ J9863 ♣ AJ10 E S W N 1♦ 1♠ P 4♠ (all pass) West leads the ace of diamonds, on which you discourage. Partner shifts to the 8 of clubs, implying that she does not have the queen. This puts you in something of a quandary: if by some chance partner’s ace of diamonds was a singleton, it would be correct to win this trick so as to give her a diamond ruff. But if it should turn out that partner has another diamond, then you will need two club tricks to beat the contract, and playing the ace would be wrong. You decide to opt for the latter case and put in the 10, declarer winning the queen. Declarer then plays the ace and king of spades, partner following twice, and indicating that declarer overcalled on a 4-card suit. Then come three more spades, ending in the dummy, partner discarding two small hearts and a club. You follow to the first spade, but must then make four discards. Which cards do you throw away? ********************************* Answers: (1)At trick #3, you must play a spade honor from dummy and overtake with the ace in your hand! Next, lead your low club toward the dummy. The full deal: North ♠ KQ2 ♥ 74 ♦ QJ763 ♣ K32 West East ♠ J ♠ 754 ♥ AK1062 ♥ J95 ♦ K105 ♦ 984 ♣ A984 ♣ J1065 South ♠ A109863 ♥ Q83 ♦ A2 ♣ Q7 On your play of the low club, West will be caught in a “Morton’s Fork” dilemma (see previous column with that title). If he goes up with the ace, he will return either a heart or club, which you will win in your hand. If he returns a heart, unblock the queen of clubs, then play two rounds of trumps, ending in the dummy, and discard your diamond loser on the king of clubs, having no further problems. If West ducks the ace of clubs, win the king and play dummy’s low spade to your hand (you can now see the need for the first spade plays, since if you had not unblocked one of dummy’s honors earlier, you would have no convenient way to get back to your hand at this point). Then play the queen of hearts, discarding a club from dummy, and exit with a club, putting West on lead with the following cards left: ♠ K ♥ --- ♦ QJ763 ♣ --- ♠ --- ♠ 7 ♥ 10 ♥ --- ♦ K105 ♦ 984 ♣ 98 ♣ J10 ♠ 9863 ♥ --- ♦ A2 ♣ --- With a trump still in dummy and the hearts and clubs eliminated from the N-S hands. West is endplayed, having to either give you a free diamond finesse, or a ruff in dummy and sluff of your low diamond, should he play either a heart or a club. (2)On the defensive problem, you may discard one diamond only, then throw away your ace, king, and queen of hearts! The full deal: North ♠ J109842 ♥ 5 ♦ K102 ♣ K74 West East ♠76 ♠ 3 ♥J87643 ♥ AKQ2 ♦ A ♦ J9863 ♣ 8653 ♣ AJ10 South ♠ AKQ5 ♥ 109 ♦ Q754 ♣ Q92 From your standpoint, if partner did in fact start with a singleton ace of diamonds, then declarer has four, and you must keep equal length with him in that suit, lest his 4th diamond become good for the game-going trick (partner should help you here by making an early discard of a diamond, if she has one). So you must discard three hearts. Look what will happen on the actual layout if you come down to a stiff honor in that suit. Leaving one trump in dummy, declarer will test the diamonds by playing the king, then the 10 (which you will cover) to his queen. Knowing that you have a high diamond left, he will ruff his small diamond with dummy’s last trump, then lead a heart. Forced to win that trick, you will now be endplayed in clubs and obliged to concede a trick to dummy’s king. So you must simply throw all of your heart honors away and hope for partner to hold the jack, so that in the end she will get in with that card and play a 2nd club through the dummy. It appears that your side can make 11 tricks in hearts, but it is difficult to bid 5H over the opponents’ 4S, unless either your hand elected to open 1H, or if partner made an understrength negative double over South’s overcall.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14703.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14468.html Sat, 09 Feb 2008 04:14:19 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14468.html <pre> The Greedy Overtrick (IV) Playing in a matchpoint contest at your local club, you pick up: ♠ --- ♥ AJ8652 ♦ A1095 ♣ A42 You are vulnerable, the opponents not, and partner, who is the dealer, passes. RHO opens 1♠. You overcall 2♥, LHO passes, and partner raises to 4♥, which is passed all around. LHO leads the ♠10, and you now face the following play problem: ♠ AJ7654 ♥ K1074 ♦ J3 ♣ 5 ♠ ----- ♥ AJ8652 ♦ A1095 ♣ A42 It looks as though you have missed a reasonable slam, since there are layouts that may well offer 12 tricks. However, slam is unlikely to be bid when there are so many high-card points missing, so you should assume that the contract figures to be the normal one reached at most, if not all the other tables. If you are going to outscore the other declarers, it will have to be on the basis of overtricks. If the hearts are divided 2-1, you can draw two rounds of trumps, ruff your two small clubs in dummy, discard a diamond on the ace of spades, and take a double finesse in diamonds. As the opening bidder, RHO is a heavy favorite to hold at least one diamond honor, so this line appears to have a good chance to produce 12 tricks. If you look deeper, though, you might see an additional extra chance, giving you an ultimate pig line that could result in bringing in all 13….. On first glance, dummy’s spades look too anemic to amount to anything, especially with RHO bidding the suit and promising at least 5-card length. However, if RHO has only five spades, and LHO has led from either 10-9 or 10-8 doubleton, dummy’s spade spots may be worth more than one might initially think. To begin with, there is no need to play the ace of spades at trick #1. Instead, cover the 10 with the jack. This will force RHO to play the queen, which you will ruff. You now play the ace of hearts, and breathe a little sigh of relief as both opponents follow, RHO showing the queen. Next comes a heart to dummy’s 10 to draw the last trump, RHO discarding the king of clubs to show a solid sequence. Now you play the ace of spades, on which RHO plays the 2, you discard a low diamond, and LHO—bless his soul— contributes the hoped-for 8-spot. The position is now, with the lead in dummy: ♠ 7654 ♥ K7 ♦ J3 ♣ 5 (RHO) ♠ K93 ♥ --- ♦ K72 ♣ QJ10 ♠ --- ♥ J865 ♦ A109 ♣ A42 Dummy’s spade spots have suddenly become powerful enough to take two ruffing finesses through RHO’s remaining high spades. Lead the 7, intending to discard a diamond if next hand plays low. When he covers with the 9 instead, ruff in hand, then play the ace of clubs and ruff a club back to dummy. Now lead another spade, forcing RHO to cover with the king, which you ruff again. Dummy’s lowly 5-4 of spades are now established. Ruff your last club in dummy, play those good spades, and away go your two low diamonds, scoring +710. The full deal: ♠ AJ7654 ♥ K1074 ♦ J3 ♣ 5 ♠ 108 ♠ KQ932 ♥ 93 ♥ Q ♦ Q864 ♦ K72 ♣ 98763 ♣ KQJ10 ♠ ---- ♥ AJ8652 ♦ A1095 ♣ A42</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14468.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14295.html Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:05:39 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14295.html <pre> THE GREEDY OVERTRICK (III) by Stephen Rzewski matchpoints vul: none North ♠ Q109652 ♥ A82 ♦ 84 ♣ A2 South ♠ AK743 ♥ 6 ♦ A9653 ♣ 54 bidding: S W N E 1♠ 4♥ 4♠ (all pass) opening lead: ♥K Today's deal, from a local club game, once again illustrates our repeated theme: the contract appears to be normal and will make easily, with just two apparent losers. Not one to settle for a tired average of +450, can you delve more deeply and find the path to +480, earning yourself a top in the process? Trumps are 2-0, with West being void. Plan the play. **************************** The complete deal: ♠ Q109652 ♥ A82 ♦ 84 ♣ A2 ♠ ----- ♠ J8 ♥ KQJ10973 ♥ 54 ♦ J7 ♦ KQ102 ♣ KQ108 ♣ J9863 ♠ AK743 ♥ 6 ♦ A9653 ♣ 54 For some reason, even many experienced players seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the possibility of setting up a long-suit winner. Having escaped a club lead, you have the opportunity to establish your 5th diamond for a club discard from dummy, as long as the diamonds split no worse than 4-2. Win the ace of hearts, draw two rounds of trumps, leaving one high trump in your hand, then duck a diamond. If a heart is returned, ruff in your hand, play the ace and another diamond, ruffing in dummy. When West shows out, ruff dummy's last heart to get back to your hand for a 4th diamond play, again ruffing in dummy, and establishing the long diamond in your hand. Now lead a trump to your ace, play your last diamond and discard dummy's small club, scoring up 12 tricks.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/14295.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13882.html Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:47:18 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13882.html <pre> ONE GOOD COUP DESERVES ANOTHER by Stephen Rzewski IMPs vul: N-S ♠ A7 ♥ 653 ♦ 842 ♣ KQJ104 ♠ K1095 ♠ 863 ♥ KQ1094 ♥ 82 ♦ 93 ♦ QJ1076 ♣ 83 ♣ A92 ♠ QJ42 ♥ AJ7 ♦ AK5 ♣ 765 bidding: S W N E 1NT 2♦* 2♠ P 2NT P 3NT (all pass) opening lead: ♥Q In today's deal, both defense and declarer engaged in a series of thrusts and parries before one side could ultimately prevail. The bidding and opening lead may warrant some explanation: West's somewhat aggressive 2♦ overcall conven- tionally promised both majors. North's 2♠ call was a cue-bid showing game interest with a stop in that suit. The lead of the queen from the combination of KQ109 asks partner to play the jack if he has it; failing that, to give count. Accordingly, East signaled with the 8. South saw the need to hold up the ace of hearts at trick #1. In order to make his contract, he has to establish club tricks. Assuming that West holds all the missing major-suit honors, there is no danger on the hand if he also holds the ace of clubs. But if declarer wins the first trick and it turns out that East holds the ace, that defender will lead a heart through declarer's J-x, and the defense will run four more heart tricks. The hold-up with AJx when both missing honors can be placed on the left is called a "Bath Coup", named from the long-ago days of whist and having some connection with the place of that name in England. It is actually a simple maneuver which comes up frequently in both notrump and suited play. Its effect is to prevent the defense from continuing the suit without giving up a 2nd winner for declarer. Since it typically forces the defense to play on other suits, declarer may not want to make this play if he fears a shift to something else. West contemplated what to do next. It seemed to him that if declarer held the ace of clubs, he was likely to fulfill his contract, so he hypothetically placed that card in his partner's hand. It might be possible for the defense to duck early club leads and isolate the long cards in the dummy, but the ace of spades would still be there for a late entry. West therefore decided that it might be advisable to play on spades. It would do no good to lead a low spade if declarer held the queen, so West played the king (!) of spades at trick #2. This sacrifice of an unsupported honor, the intent of which is to kill an entry to dummy, is known as a "Merrimac Coup". In this particular case, it resulted in giving declarer three spade tricks instead of two, but the investment may come back by possibly depriving declarer of at least two of the long clubs. South won with the ace (it would do no good to duck, since West would just lead a 2nd spade) and then played the king and queen of clubs. As one would expect with good defenders, West played high-low in clubs, indicating a doubleton, and East recognized the need to hold up his ace of clubs for two rounds, leaving the following cards: ♠ 7 ♥ 65 ♦ 842 ♣ J104 ♠ 1095 ♠ 86 ♥ K1094 ♥ 2 ♦ 93 ♦ QJ1076 ♣ ---- ♣ A ♠ QJ4 ♥ AJ ♦ AK5 ♣ 7 South has scored the ace of spades and two clubs, and he has five more top winners. It now looks as though he is headed for down one. But declarer had one more trick up his sleeve: he knew that West would not have made his two-suited overcall without at least nine cards in the major suits, and since he had followed to both club leads, he could not have more than two diamonds. So South executed a play known as the "Dentist Coup" by playing the ace and king of diamonds, thereby extracting West's potential exit cards in that suit. He then cashed the queen and jack of spades and exited with his last spade. West was in with the 10, and with nothing left in his hand but hearts, he was endplayed and forced to lead into South's ace-jack tenace, enabling declarer to score the game-going trick with the jack of hearts after all.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13882.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13584.html Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:53:45 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13584.html <pre> THE GREEDY OVERTRICK (II) by Stephen Rzewski Matchpoints ♠ K ♥ KQ108 ♦ A72 ♣ AK1064 ♠ 87532 ♥ AJ942 ♦ 6 ♣ 83 bidding: N E S W 1♣ P 1♥ 2♦ 4♥ (all pass) opening lead: ♦K This deal came up at a local club game, slightly amended. With such poor spades and a weak hand overall, South decided to show his better suit, thinking that he may get only one opportunity to bid, and he might not want to play spades anyway unless partner could bid them. Just as in our previous example on this subject, the contract is normal and will undoubtedly be the one played at most tables. In order to achieve a good matchpoint result, it may be necessary to bring in overtricks that might be missed by the rest of the field. How would you plan the play? When a hand is two-suited, it is usually good strategy for declarer to try to establish his second suit, ruffing leads of that suit in the dummy, if necessary. Ruffing in the hand with shorter trump length (typically dummy) usually gains tricks as well, since the greater trump length in declarer's hand is maintained in the process. In this case, however, declarer's spades are so poor and difficult to establish that it is better to work on the superior club suit and make dummy the master hand. Since the most likely club division is 4-2, one may have to ruff clubs twice in order to make the 5th club good. There is a further advantage in making dummy the master hand: since declarer's hand has a singleton diamond, both of dummy's small diamonds can also be ruffed out. The technique of ruffing in the long hand to the point where dummy's trump length eventually exceeds that of declarer's is known as "reversing the dummy". For this type of play to be successful, one needs: (1) trumps in the short hand which are strong enough to eventually draw the opponents' trumps (assuming that trumps will need to be drawn), (2) a number of ruffs to be available in the long hand, which will result in a total net gain of tricks, and (3) sufficient entries to the short hand needed to execute those maneuvers. In this example, you may want to take as many as four minor-suit ruffs in your hand, and you will therefore need to delay the drawing of trumps and make maximum use of dummy's entries. Accordingly, win the opening lead with the ace of diamonds and ruff a diamond immediately. Next play a club to the king, ruff dummy's last diamond, and then play a second club to dummy's ace. Both opponents follow to this trick, leaving: ♠ K ♥ KQ108 ♦ ---- ♣ 1064 ♠ 87532 ♥ AJ4 ♦ ---- ♣ ---- Now lead a third round of clubs from dummy. On the actual hand, East will follow with the jack, and you should take care to ruff high to prevent a possible overruff, which proves to be necessary, as West shows out, discarding a diamond. Now lead your low trump to dummy, and when both opponents follow, you are assured of twelve tricks. Lead a 4th round of clubs next; East will play the queen as you ruff with your last trump in hand, the ace. Dummy's 5th club is now good. At this point, simply exit with a spade, conceding that trick, then ruff the continuation and draw the remaining trumps with the KQ in dummy. The full deal: ♠ K ♥ KQ108 ♦ A72 ♣ AK1064 ♠ AQJ4 ♠ 1096 ♥ 7 ♥ 653 ♦ KQJ1093 ♦ 854 ♣ 97 ♣ QJ52 ♠ 87532 ♥ AJ942 ♦ 6 ♣ 83 As one might expect, the majority of scores on this deal were +620 and +650; only two pairs found the dummy reversal and tied for top with +680.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13584.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13154.html Tue, 15 May 2007 02:08:20 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13154.html <pre> DEPT. OF DEFENSE by Stephen Rzewski Problem #1: matchpoints North vul: none (dummy) ♠ J1082 ♥ 1097 ♦ AK9 ♣ Q64 West (you) ♠ K65 ♥ J5 ♦ 1076 ♣ AK873 bidding: W N E S pass pass 1♦ 1♥ 2♣ 2♥ (all pass) You start with the ace-king of clubs, partner following first with the jack, then the 10. You continue with the 8 of clubs (asking for a spade return). Partner ruffs with the 8 of hearts and dutifully returns the 9 of spades. Declarer pauses for a moment, then follows low, as you win with the king. Now what? ***************************** Problem #2: North (dummy) ♠ Q972 ♥ 865 ♦ K94 ♣ AK4 West (you) ♠ 543 ♥ QJ10 ♦ J86 ♣ J976 bidding: S W N E 1NT pass 2♣ pass 2♠ pass 4♠ (all pass) (1NT = 15-17 hcp) You lead the queen of hearts, and upon seeing dummy, reflect that in North’s place you would have eschewed Stayman and bid 3NT directly with the flat distribution. Partner signals encouragement with the 7, as declarer wins the ace. Declarer then draws trumps with the ace, king, and jack from his hand, partner following twice before discarding the deuce of hearts. Declarer then plays the ace-king of clubs and a low club to his queen, everyone following. Then he exits with a heart; you play the 10, and partner overtakes with the king before playing a 3rd heart to your jack, once again everyone following suit. What do you now play, looking at: ♠ Q ♥ --- ♦ K94 ♣ --- ♠ --- ♥ --- ♦ J86 ♣ J ************************** Problem #1: ♠ J1082 ♥ 1097 ♦ AK9 ♣ Q64 ♠ K65 ♠ Q94 ♥ J5 ♥ KQ8 ♦ 1076 ♦ QJ832 ♣ AK873 ♣ J10 ♠ A73 ♥ A6432 ♦ 54 ♣ 952 You should lead your lowest club, asking partner to ruff as high as he can, so as to achieve an “uppercut” and promote your jack of hearts. Partner figures to have two trumps remaining after the club ruff; if he holds either K-x or Q-x, declarer will be able to pick up the remaining trumps unless you make this play now. At this point, you are perhaps not being so optimistic about setting the contract, but it is matchpoints, and overtricks can be very significant in this kind of situation. As it is, partner’s trump holding is stronger than you anticipated, and your play results in scoring two more trump tricks instead of one, since if declarer gets in quickly, he can play ace of hearts and another, bringing down your remaining trumps together and scoring up his contract. Result: down one instead. Problem #2: ♠ Q972 ♥ 865 ♦ K94 ♣ AK4 ♠ 543 ♠ 108 ♥ QJ10 ♥ K742 ♦ J86 ♦ A1032 ♣ J976 ♣ 1032 ♠ AKJ6 ♥ A93 ♦ Q75 ♣ Q85 Playing the jack of clubs in the end position will give declarer a ruff-and-sluff, so you must break the diamond suit, but you must do so with extreme caution. Declarer has shown up so far with 14 high-card points, so you know precisely that he holds the queen of diamonds and partner holds the ace. If declarer has the 10, the party is over, so place that card in your partner’s hand as well. If you lead the 6, declarer will play low from dummy, and your partner will have to put up the 10 to force the queen. Declarer can now lead low to the 9 and force partner’s ace, losing only one trick in the suit. If you start with the jack, declarer may go wrong if he plays you for the 10, but if he reads the position, he can put up dummy’s queen. Partner can win the ace, but he will be endplayed by having to lead away from the 10 to dummy’s 9. It is critical that you lead the 8 of diamonds, the only choice that is foolproof. If the 9 is played from dummy, partner will cover with the 10, declarer winning the queen. If the 7 is played next, you must cover with the jack: the king and ace will be played over those cards, and your 6 will become the setting trick! For those of you who recall our previous column entitled “Surrounding Play”, you will see that the lead of the 8 is a play of that type, as declarer’s 7 is effectively surrounded and captured by your J-6.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13154.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13013.html Thu, 10 May 2007 20:14:45 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13013.html <pre> Double-Dummy Problem North ♠ 3 ♥ AK7 ♦ KJ1065 ♣ KJ86 West East ♠ A92 ♠ Q5 ♥ J10654 ♥ 9832 ♦ A72 ♦ 983 ♣ 102 ♣ A974 South ♠ KJ108764 ♥ Q ♦ Q4 ♣ Q53 South is to play the contract of 4♠ with the opening lead of the ♣10. In a “double-dummy” problem, the reader is allowed to look at all four hands and find a solution which requires optimal play by both sides, declarer and defenders. In this case, you are to decide whether you would prefer to declare or defend, which essentially means: do you think that the best line of play by declarer will necessarily result in fulfilling the contract, or do the opponents have defensive plays that must inevitably result in defeat of the same? When you believe you have arrived at a solution, it is advisable to look more deeply. Check and see if the opposing side has a counter-play that may have to send you back to the drawing board. If you get stuck, start reading below, where you will find the answer revealed in a Socratic-like fashion in increasing stages. ******************************************* On the surface, it looks as though the contract should make fairly easily. Suppose East wins the ace of clubs and returns another. Declarer wins in dummy, leads a spade and finesses the 10. West wins the ace (if he ducks instead, declarer plays the king of spades next to smother the queen), but can do declarer no harm, who eventually will lose only the three outstanding aces. So what can the defenders do to make declarer’s life more difficult? For the defense to have any chance, East must duck the ace of clubs at trick #1. (As an aside, this is a good play to remember generally, when you suspect that partner may have led from a doubleton, and you have no side entry). Ducking the ace maintains a link with West, who, upon gaining the lead with either of his aces, will play a 2nd club. East will then win the ace and give his partner a club ruff for the setting trick. Can declarer do anything to avoid the ruff? Declarer can avoid the ruff if he can get rid of his clubs. If dummy had another fast entry, one could play off the queen of hearts, then discard two clubs on the ace-king in dummy. As it is, if he cashes the queen of hearts and then tries to reach dummy with a diamond, West will seize the ace and play a second club as before, so that won’t work Will it help declarer to overtake the queen of hearts in dummy and discard one club on the remaining heart honor? This will reduce declarer to one club, the same length as West, but the weak trump spots will prove to be an Achilles’ heel. After playing two hearts, declarer can lead a spade and finesse the 10. West will win the ace, and before leading a 2nd club to his partner, will likely show good technique by cashing the ace of diamonds before the mice can get at it. Now in with the ace of clubs, East will play a 3rd club, which will then sink declarer: if he ruffs low, West will overruff with the 9 for the setting trick; if declarer ruffs instead with the jack, he will survive for the moment, but West will simply discard, and the 9 of spades will be promoted in the process and eventually score. So discarding just one club simply won’t work. Is declarer therefore doomed, or does he have a way of getting around the trump promotion? Try instead the effect of overtaking the queen of hearts with the king, discarding a club on the ace, then playing dummy’s low heart and.... discarding the last club from the closed hand! This “loser-on-loser” play trades a club loser for a heart loser. If East wins and plays a 2nd club now, declarer can afford to ruff low, because West still has a club in his hand, and the trump promotion will be avoided. Declarer will still have a slow entry to dummy via the diamonds to make the trump lead to the 10, and West will not be able to get to his partner for another club play. So it appears to be correct to choose playing the hand over defending after all. .....or is it? (better look again) Suppose the defender who wins the third heart (on which declarer discarded a club) continues by playing a 4th round of hearts. Declarer must ruff in his hand, as he has to preserve the spade in dummy for a trump lead through East. Now when he leads a diamond to reach dummy, West will grab his ace and play... his last heart! East will cooperate by ruffing with the queen of spades (this play of a high trump to create a trump promotion in the opposite hand is called an “uppercut”; see our previous column entitled “Missed Opportunity”). Once again, the 9 of spades will ultimately provide the setting trick. If you elected to defend—but only because you foresaw all of the above—take a long, sweeping bow. My thanks to Bud Biswas for forwarding this intriguing deal to my good friend Jeff Lehman, who passed it along to me. Bud informs me that he found the problem in a book written by Dr. Andrew Diosy, a Hungarian doctor who is living (or used to live) in Canada. Many double-dummy problems are less practical than this one, because they often are of a more puzzle- like nature, with peculiar card layouts and solutions involving plays that would be unrealistic to find at the table. This deal, though, is more instructive in that it contains possible plays that occur with some frequency, and which are often missed by the average player. Note particularly: (1) the duck of the ace of clubs at the first trick; (2) the loser-on-loser play to avoid the ruff and sever communication between the defenders, (3) the possible trump promotion by leading a suit through declarer’s hand in which both declarer and LHO are void, and (4) the uppercut. The trump position especially is one to study and remember: x A9x Qx KJ10xxxx Just one last point: suppose that, even before any trumps were played at all, East had the opportunity to lead a side suit in which both South and West were void. If South were to ruff with the 10 or jack, West must resist the impulse to overruff with the ace and discard instead, in order to promote his 9.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/13013.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12754.html Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:18:01 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12754.html <pre> Department of Defense (IV) by Stephen Rzewski North (dummy) ♠A1064 ♥A972 ♦K109 ♣Q2 West (you) ♠J92 ♥J103 ♦874 ♣AK63 bidding: N E S W 1♦ P 1♥ P 2♥ (all pass) Recently, a defensive problem involving a particular card combination came my way, which you will see from time to time, so it is worth confining to memory. You start the defense with the ace and king of clubs, partner playing low-high and declarer contributing the jack on the second round. You switch to a diamond. Partner shows up with the ace and queen, so he wins two more tricks and exits with a third diamond, declaring winning the jack. A heart is played to dummy’s ace, partner following with the queen. A second heart goes to declarer’s king, who then throws you in with a third heart, partner discarding clubs on the last two tricks. What do you now play, looking at: ♠A1064 ♥9 ♦ --- ♣ --- ♠J92 ♥ --- ♦ --- ♣ 63 Declarer appears to have three spades and two trumps left in his hand. You will have to break the spade suit, as a club play now will give declarer a ruff-and-sluff. If partner has the king of spades, you will always get one more trick, so the relevant case is when partner has the queen and declarer the king. You might get away with leading the deuce, if partner has the 8-spot and puts in that card if declarer calls for a low card from dummy. However, if it turns out that declarer has the 8, he will either win the trick cheaply with that card, or if partner puts up the queen, declarer will then have a finessing position over your jack with dummy’s A-10. Suppose you lead the 9, trying to get partner to withhold the queen unless dummy’s 10 is played. If you do that, and declarer turns out to have good spots (8-7), the play will go: 10, queen, king, and he will now be able to run those spot cards through you and pick up your jack. The play that covers all the bases is to start with the JACK. This renders declarer helpless. If he plays dummy’s ace, followed by the 10, you will always score the 9, provided that partner covers the 10 with the queen. The full deal: ♠A1064 ♥A972 ♦K109 ♣Q2 ♠J92 ♠Q53 ♥J103 ♥Q ♦874 ♦AQ65 ♣AK63 ♣109875 ♠K87 ♥K8654 ♦J32 ♣J4</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12754.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12350.html Sat, 13 Jan 2007 15:11:45 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12350.html <pre> THE GREEDY OVERTRICK by Stephen Rzewski matchpoints neither vul dlr: North North ♠A74 ♥A962 ♦Q62 ♣A65 South ♠5 ♥K10873 ♦AJ9 ♣KQ82 bidding: N E S W 1♣ 2♠ 3♥ P 4♥ (all pass) opening lead: ♠2 One of the most important areas of matchpoint play that can help generate winning games is the matter of overtricks. This is especially true when it becomes apparent that a normal contract has been reached which figures to make easily. Declarer may easily become complacent and inattentive and miss an opportunity to make a precious overtrick, which could turn an average result into a top. Likewise, a defender can similarly lose concentration and allow declarer an extra trick to which he is not entitled, converting an average into a bottom. One such play on a 26-board session can easily affect one’s score by about two percentage points, a considerable gain at matchpoints. In today’s deal, which occurred at a recent club game, the bidding and contract appear routine, and are likely to be the same at all tables. What would be your general line of play? If the trumps are 2-2, twelve tricks will be easy. If the clubs should divide 3-3, one of dummy’s diamonds can be discarded on the 13th club, and the diamond finesse can be taken for all thirteen tricks. If the clubs do not split evenly, there are still some possible ways to finesse the diamonds so as to avoid a loser in that suit. With East pre-empting in spades, however, he figures to have shortness somewhere, so some suits will undoubtedly split unevenly. To begin, how should one play the hearts? It is better to start the play of trumps with the king rather than with dummy’s ace. If the hearts are not 2-2, the length is more likely to be with West. If East should play an honor on the first lead, the percentage line on the second trump play would be to play West for honor-third and finesse dummy’s 9, in accordance with the Law of Restricted Choice. Because there may be an endplay possibility on the hand, one should use the opportunity of being in dummy at the first trick to ruff a spade before touching trumps. Then at trick #3, play the king of hearts. Both opponents follow low, and when you lead a second trump to dummy’s ace, West plays the jack and East shows out, discarding a spade. So you will have one sure trump loser. Now lead dummy’s last spade and ruff in hand, West following. With the following cards remaining, how would you now proceed? ♠ --- ♥96 ♦Q62 ♣A65 ♠ --- ♥8 ♦AJ9 ♣KQ82 It behooves one to count the hand as you play, as the best continuation may depend on the opponents’ distribution. East should have six spades for his weak jump overcall and has followed to one heart; so he has six cards in the minors. Suppose you were to test the clubs and find them to be 4-2, with length in the East hand. That would give him two diamonds. In that case, your best play to avoid a diamond loser and score twelve tricks would be to hope that he started with exactly K-x doubleton. You should accordingly lead a low diamond from dummy, finesse the jack, and if it holds, play the ace next to drop the king. If instead it should turn out that West holds four clubs, that would leave East with two, and that hand would therefore have four diamonds. In that case, your only play for the second overtrick would be to hope that he started with K10xx. Holding the AJ9, you should plan on taking two diamond finesses through East, first leading the queen, and if that card is covered, winning the ace and getting back to dummy to finesse the 9. The ace of clubs and a ruff of the 4th club will provide the necessary entries. The odds of this play succeeding are small, but are essentially on the house, since there is no danger of losing any additional trick if the double-finesse fails. (It is somewhat better to start with the queen rather than low to the 9, since a careless East might make a mistake and fail to cover the queen with Kxxx). To be in the best position to make your choice of plays, first play the king and queen of clubs, then low to the ace on the third round so as to end up in dummy (if West should ruff in, he will be obliged to play a diamond, since he will have no other suit left, which presents you with no danger). As it turns out, the clubs do split 3-3. So how should you play the diamonds now? The answer is: don’t touch the diamonds at all! Instead, lead a trump to West, resulting in an endplay. He will be obliged to lead a diamond into your tenace holding. You will now be able to discard a diamond from dummy on your good 13th club and ruff your last diamond in dummy. Making twelve tricks for a well-earned top. The full deal: ♠A74 ♥A962 ♦Q62 ♣A65 ♠1062 ♠KQJ983 ♥QJ4 ♥5 ♦K1073 ♦854 ♣973 ♣J104 ♠5 ♥K10873 ♦AJ9 ♣KQ82</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12350.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12272.html Sun, 31 Dec 2006 03:47:18 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12272.html <pre> FORCED ENTRY by Stephen Rzewski dlr: West vul: both North ♠J987 ♥K52 ♦K3 ♣K973 West East ♠4 ♠AQ653 ♥AQJ107 ♥984 ♦10652 ♦9874 ♣AQ5 ♣2 South ♠ K102 ♥ 63 ♦ AQJ ♣ J10864 bidding: W N E S 1♥ P 2♥ P P dbl P 3♣ (all pass) opening lead: ♠ 4 Today’s hand came up in a club game many years ago. I was seated East. The bidding is shown as it occurred. North’s reopening double is questionable without better diamond support, but the opponents fell on their feet when South found the 9-card club fit. My partner and I, each with a singleton, were obviously cowardly lions that day and should have taken the push to 3♥--- but in that case I would not have this bridge tale to relate, one of my all-time favorites. My partner, Harry Kaufmann of North Bennington, VT, led his singleton spade. I won the ace and returned the 5♠, trying to show by a middle card a lack of enthusiasm for either a heart or diamond play back. South made the right play in spades by putting in the 10, as West ruffed and contemplated what to do next. He knew that if I had the AQ of spades, I couldn’t have much else, and with all those kings onside for the opponents, it looked as though they were destined to fulfill their contract. But, in accordance with the old saw, “Necessity is the Mother of invention”, my partner found an ingenious way to set the hand. Even looking at all four hands, do you see how he managed to do so? At trick #3, West led the queen of hearts! As we were playing Bergen raises, the play of the queen was unlikely to cost, since I nearly always showed exactly three-card support for my single raise during the auction, leaving declarer with two. Declarer called for dummy’s king. It took me a moment to figure out what my partner was up to, and I signaled with the 9, attempting to show the highest of touching cards of a sequence and therefore implying the 8. After winning the heart in dummy, declarer came to his hand with a diamond in order to lead a club up to the king. But West rose with the ace, and, in a demonstration of faith in my previous play, he led his lowest heart, the 7, enabling me to overtake with the 8 so that I could provide him with a second spade ruff. Down one.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/12272.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11927.html Mon, 04 Dec 2006 02:14:05 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11927.html <pre> MORTON’S FORK North ♠KJ2 ♥543 ♦KQ53 ♣A43 South ♠A9876 ♥AKQ972 ♦J2 ♣ ----- bidding: S W N E 1♥ P 2♦ P 2♠ P 3♥ P 3♠ P 4♣ P 5♥ P 6♥ (all pass) opening lead: a low club Today’s play problem came up at a recent club game. Suppose you find yourself in a heart slam, with a possible auction shown. South’s 5♥ call was intended to show a very strong trump suit, and North, figuring that declarer could not lose more than one minor-suit trick, hoped that his spades were good enough to solidify his partner’s second suit. How would you plan the play (trumps are 3-1)? * * * * * * The full deal: ♠KJ2 ♥543 ♦KQ53 ♣A43 ♠53 ♠Q104 ♥8 ♥J106 ♦A1096 ♦874 ♣Q108762 ♣KJ95 ♠A9876 ♥AKQ972 ♦J2 ♣ ----- If you draw trumps and drive out the ace of diamonds, the contract would seem to depend on finessing against the queen of spades, as you will always get two discards from dummy’s ace of clubs and extra diamond honor for your two small spades. There is also a possible squeeze -–which does not exist on the actual layout-–if LHO had started with length in both diamonds and spades. However, there is a significant extra chance if you are careful: DON’T play dummy’s ace of clubs at trick #1. Instead, play a low club and ruff in your hand (as an aside, it would be good technique to ruff with the 7, just in case the trumps are 2-2, in which case that lowly deuce might provide you with a needed entry to the dummy at some later point). Now draw three rounds of trumps and lead a LOW diamond from hand—-not the jack. If LHO has the ace of diamonds, he will have a choice of ways to let you win: if he plays the ace, you will be able to score two diamond discards, thus enabling you to throw away all three of your low spades and avoid the spade finesse altogether. And if he ducks the ace, you will win the trick with one of dummy’s honors, then discard your diamond loser on the ace of clubs. Now you will only need to play the spade suit in a way to avoid the loss of two tricks there, which is a very high-percentage proposition. With this combination: KJ2 A9876 the standard safety play if you can afford the loss of one trick is to start with the king, then lead low from the opposite hand up to the J-x; however, that can not be done unless there are sufficient entries to both hands, a luxury you do not have on the actual hand. In this particular case, your best play is to lead low to the jack to start. You will probably go down when this loses to a singleton queen, but you will make the hand whenever the spades are 3-2, or all other 4-1 splits, such as when either opponent starts with Q10xx. If that hand should be RHO, LHO will show out on the second spade play to dummy’s king, and you will be able to lead from the dummy and take the marked finesse through RHO’s 10-x. The play of the low diamond from J-x toward dummy is called a “Morton’s Fork” coup. The name is derived from Cardinal Morton, Chancellor under King Henry VII of England, who raised money for the king’s coffers by taxing the merchants. If those merchants lived an ostentatiously lavish lifestyle, Morton felt that he could tax them with a heavy hand, since they obviously could afford to pay. And if others of the time lived an outwardly frugal lifestyle, he figured they must be saving and amassing wealth, and so concluded that they could equally afford to pay. So however you lived, you were doomed to be impaled on “Morton’s Fork.” The play of the same name in bridge is used to describe the lead through a defender’s honor ---- in this case, the ace of diamonds ---- whereby the defender loses whether he wins or ducks the trick, essentially a “damned if you do / damned if you don’t” choice. Notice that it is essential to resist the impulse to play dummy’s ace of clubs at the first trick. If you play the ace early, you will be forced to take an immediate discard of a diamond or a spade. Leaving the ace in dummy affords you the flexibility of deciding how best to use that discard later in the hand, depending on the ensuing play. There is one further point worth mentioning: if there had been additional entries to dummy, you could execute the Morton’s Fork against either opponent. In fact, since the placement of the ace of diamonds is a guess, you might be inclined to play RHO for that card, on the basis that many players in the opposite hand, when on opening lead against a slam, will tend to lead an ace if they have one. To illustrate the point, let’s place the queen of trumps in the dummy in exchange for one of the spots, and have the trumps divide 2-2, so that the deuce of hearts also allows an additional entry to dummy. If you as declarer decided to play RHO for the diamond ace, you would ruff the club with the 7, play the ace and queen of trumps (saving that deuce), ending in the dummy, and play a low diamond toward the closed hand. RHO, if holding the ace of diamonds, would face the same dilemma as the one described earlier. If he were to duck and the jack held the trick, you could lead a spade to the king, discard your low diamond on the ace of clubs, ruff a minor-suit card to get to your hand, and lead up to the jack of spades. If LHO showed out, the jack would force the queen, and you would still have a trump entry to dummy to take the remaining spade play through the 10. On the actual hand, you would have gone wrong, as the jack of diamonds would lose to the ace, and you would have to fall back on the spade finesse, resulting in down one. Sometimes it’s better not to have an option.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11927.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11745.html Mon, 04 Dec 2006 01:45:32 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11745.html <pre> The following hands came my way at a recent Regional tournament in Daytona Beach. These hands are much more ordinary and routine than those usually shown on this site, and perhaps might not even be considered column-worthy by many. Still, some readers may find them interesting enough, so I offer them for whatever value they may have. Comments are welcome. In a pairs game, with neither side vul, I pick up as dealer: ♠ --- ♥ AKQJ4 ♦ KQ863 ♣ KQ7 I open 1♥, LHO overcalls 1♠, my partner raises to 2♥, and RHO jumps to 4♠. What call would you make? I reasoned that partner had to have an ace and perhaps even a working jack or two, since there are very few other high-card points out there that could be in her hand. Of course, if she happened to hold the spade ace or other honor wastage in spades, that would be bad luck, but the bidding suggests otherwise. So I chance 6♥. The opening lead, somewhat to my relief, was the ace of spades, but partner’s dummy was: ♠Q64 ♥1072 ♦975 ♣A865 ♠ --- ♥AKQJ4 ♦KQ863 ♣KQ7 Some may elect not to raise to 2♥ with her hand, having flat distribution and the queen of spades, which is likely to be a wasted value, but I don’t object, in spite of my disappointment. The odds are against my making this, but I have been in worse contracts. I have a chance if the red suits break evenly and the ace of diamonds is on my right. I ruff the opening lead with the jack of hearts, then continue with the ace and king. I am happy to see both opponents follow; so I lead my low heart to dummy’s 10, drawing the last trump and giving me access to dummy so as to play a diamond. RHO follows low and I put up my king, which holds. So I play my low club to dummy’s ace to lead a second diamond. RHO plays the ace, and LHO follows suit, so I can claim 12 tricks now. A lucky hand: I estimate this favorable layout to be about a 20% chance. The only point here is to take care to ruff the opening lead high, so that you can use the 10 of hearts as an additional entry to make two diamond leads. If you were careless and ruffed the opening lead low, you would have only one entry to dummy, in which case, you would use it to make one diamond lead, then lead a low card back, hoping for RHO to have started specifically with a doubleton A-x, making an already poor prospect considerably worse. The remaining hands come from Bracket I team events. In a Compact KO match, I pick up this hand, in 4th seat: ♠ AQJ4 ♥ AKJ6 ♦ AQJ8 ♣ 5 This hand type, the strong 3-suiter, is very difficult to bid in standard methods. Either you start with an opening bid of 1♦ or a strong and artificial 2♣. I suspect that most players would bid 2♣, not being able to stomach the thought of hearing 1♦ get passed out. The 2♣ call, however, has several disadvantages: (1) you have used more than a level of bidding without yet naming any of your suits—-and you have three of them which you would like to name, (2) rebidding suits naturally after 2♣ - 2♦ implies 5-card length, which you do not have, and (3) partner won’t introduce new suits after a sequence like 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ unless he holds 5-card length himself, making it very difficult to find a 4-4 fit. On the other hand, if you open 1♦ and partner can dredge up a response, or if the opponents overcall or pre-empt, you will probably be able to make sensible follow-ups. If the bidding does go 1♦ - all pass, and it turns out that you do have a game, hopefully you will have sympathetic teammates. Players who use Precision or other strong 1♣ systems will have an advantage here. Anyone out there with further suggestions, at least for those who want to stick with standard methods? However, I was somewhat relieved not to have this problem, since my RHO opened 1♣ in third position, giving me an easy takeout double. My LHO bid a pre-emptive 3♣, and my partner surprised me somewhat by calling 4♣, showing a willingness to play game, probably looking for me to choose a major. As an aside, we had played a KO match against this same pair earlier in the week, and on one deal they had talked me out of a slam by taking several bids on weak hands, and the memory of that experience was still fresh. So even if my partner may be pushing a little, I am going to bid a slam here, and since my suits are virtually equal, I throw the ball back at her with 5♣. The full auction was, with everyone bidding clubs at some point: P - P - 1♣ - dbl 3♣ - 4♣ - P - 5♣ P - 5♠ - P - 6♠ Partner’s hand was: ♠ K10762 ♥ 109543 ♦ 6 ♣ A4 The queen of hearts came down doubleton on her left, so 13 tricks were easy, and the board was a push. Do you think we should have bid the grand slam? Then later in the same event, but against a different team, I pick up in 3rd seat, with nobody vul: ♠ 74 ♥ A109763 ♦ AJ42 ♣ J My partner as dealer opens 4NT. I alert this call, and explain to my opponents that partner has a two-suited hand with both minors and great distribution, typically 6-6 (I’m not a strong advocate of this treatment, but my partner likes it, and I go along). My RHO passes. I decide to take the risk that my partner’s possible singleton is either a heart, or that maybe I’ll get a heart lead and be able to discard her losing spade, if she has one. So I call 6♦. This is passed out, my LHO leads the king of hearts, and the dummy comes down: ♠ --- ♥5 ♦KQ10763 ♣Q87642 ♠74 ♥A109763 ♦AJ42 ♣J Prospects look fairly good. I will need to set up the club suit, and since the likely split is 4-2, I may need to ruff three times in my hand, possibly using high trumps to prevent an overruff. I don’t think I can afford to test trumps at this point, because if I play one high trump and then a club, that hand may win and play a second trump, limiting me to just two club ruffs. So after winning the ace of hearts, RHO playing the 8, I play the jack of clubs at trick #2. LHO wins the king and plays an insidious small heart, putting me at a crossroads: should I ruff low, or can I afford to spare one of dummy’s high trumps? What would you have done in my place? The odds of a 5-1 heart split are very low, but seem enhanced with the opening lead and continuation, and I would hate to go down at this point by ruffing low and getting overruffed. Against that possibility, I could afford to ruff high if either the diamonds divided 2-1 or the clubs 3-3, which offers a very high combined chance. So I play dummy’s 10 of diamonds, and I’m a bit regretful to see RHO follow with the jack of hearts. I lead a club and ruff low, both opponents following, ruff a spade low in dummy, play a third club and ruff high, LHO showing out. Another spade ruff and a 4th club, ruffed with the ace. Now I lead the last (low) diamond from my hand, and… LHO shows out. Rats! RHO has to get a trump trick now with his 98x. Figuring that I just lost the match, I forget the pre-emptive effect that the 4NT call had on the opponents, the full deal being: ♠ --- ♥5 ♦KQ10763 ♣Q87642 ♠J1096532 ♠AKQ8 ♥KQ42 ♥J8 ♦ --- ♦985 ♣K9 ♣A1053 ♠74 ♥A109763 ♦AJ42 ♣J At the other table, my partner’s hand did not open, and the bidding started: pass - 1♣ - 2♥ - 2♠ 3♦ Our hands competed to 5♦, our teammates bid to 5♠ and the opponents decided to let them play it there, making 12 tricks for +480 and a substantial gain on the board. Maybe that 4NT call isn’t such a bad method after all. In a 3-way match of a Compact KO, I hold, with both vul: ♠ AQ65 ♥ AK87 ♦ K2 ♣ 1052 My partner opens 1♣, I respond 1♥, and my partner raises to 2♥. How would you continue? This hand feels too good not to make a slam try, with all its controls and concentrated high-card strength. My partner and I have recently decided to adopt 2NT as an asking bid here, after opener has raised a major, a treatment which seems to be gaining favor with many players. It is especially useful where partnerships have an agreed style for opener to frequently raise responder’s major with 3-card support. Opener responds: 3♣ with minimum values and 3-card support, 3♦ = 3-card support, maximum values, 3♥ = 4-card support, minimum 3♠ = 4-card support, maximum. The method is most useful when making game tries, but also can work when you feel you are in the slam zone. in cases such as this one. My partner responds 3♠ to my inquiry, the best hand possible, so after checking for key-cards to find that we are only missing the queen of trump, I bid 6♥. LHO leads the 9♣, and dummy shows: ♠72 ♥J1092 ♦A86 ♣AKQ3 ♠AQ65 ♥AK87 ♦K2 ♣1052 This looks reasonably good. If the king of spades is onside, I can ruff my small spades with dummy’s high trumps and can even stand being overruffed with the queen of trumps. And if the king of spades loses, I still have chances if the queen of hearts is onside, provided RHO has four spades. Well, you can guess that both cards were offside and I went down. I wouldn’t mind this bit of bad luck normally—-but the effect is severe. The slam was not bid at the other table, so we lose 13 IMPs on the board instead of gaining 12 (had the slam made), and we lose the 6-board match by -24 instead of winning by +1: a 25-IMP swing. I know that I am supposed to disdain matchpoints and embrace IMPs, but the effect of one card offside on this type of hand at this form of scoring seems highly punitive. In a matchpoint event, I might be able to make this up on the next hand by scoring an overtrick on a partscore, but this results in a huge deficit at IMPs, especially in a short match. But then fortune comes our way after all: this match was part of a three-way round, we win our second match—-by all of +1---and it turns out that the third team lost both of its matches. So we advance to the next round, in spite of our net negative -23 IMPs. This somehow doesn’t feel right either, but having endured my share of bad luck, I am happy to accept the good, when it comes. On another hand, still IMPs and both vul, I hold in 4th seat: ♠ 6 ♥ AQ9763 ♦ AJ952 ♣ 3 LHO and my partner pass, and RHO opens a 15-17 1NT. This is certainly a hand where you want to be playing a method of showing a two-suiter. My partner and I play Cappelletti, so I bid 2♥, showing that suit, plus a minor. LHO bids a non-forcing 2♠, which is passed back to me. I decide to continue bidding with 3♦, LHO passes, and my partner shows interest and surprises me a bit by bidding 4♥, which is passed out. The opening lead is a low diamond, and dummy comes down: ♠ K752 ♥ K8 ♦ Q107 ♣ K972 ♠ 6 ♥ AQ9763 ♦ AJ952 ♣ 3 This hand is remarkably similar to one that was presented in one of our earlier columns, and illustrates how to evaluate hands with 6-5 distribution. One should tend to bid these hands fairly aggressively, if the honor cards are located in the long suits, and especially if the honors provide good working combinations, along with good intermediates. My partner figured that I was likely to have either extra shape or extra values when I continued bidding by myself to the 3-level, vulnerable, and guessed that I was likely to be 6-5. As a supporting hand, she figured that her red honors—-notice even the importance of the lowly 10 of diamonds on this hand—-had to be worth their weight in gold, even though her black kings could probably be put in the trash. A good decision on her part. As an aside: for those of you who like to read up on bridge theory of hand evaluation, I highly recommend Mike Lawrence’s “I Fought the Law…”, which presents a rebuttal of the Law of Total Tricks and offers instead a method of predicting the trick-taking power of a hand by measuring two different factors, which he calls the “Short-Suit Total” and “Working Points”. The numerous examples may feel tedious at times, but I found the arguments to be strong and compelling. As to the play: the diamond lead was probably a singleton, so I put up the queen to entice RHO to cover, but he didn’t bite and correctly played low. I have only two black losers, so I can afford to give up the king of diamonds, as long as the hearts don’t split 4-1, in which case I would lose a heart. But LHO wouldn’t lead a stiff diamond unless he had some trumps, so I decide that can’t be the case. I therefore play the top hearts, and they do turn out to split 3-2, so I just give up the king of diamonds and settle for ten tricks, the full hand being: ♠K752 ♥K8 ♦Q107 ♣K972 ♠QJ843 ♠A109 ♥1052 ♥J4 ♦6 ♦K843 ♣10865 ♣AQJ4 ♠6 ♥AQ9763 ♦AJ952 ♣3 It is not a good idea to lead a singleton on opening lead into a suit bid by declarer, especially if the bidding suggests that partner might have finessable strength in that suit. Would declarer have possibly gone down if LHO had led a spade? Probably not. Declarer would ruff the second spade, and could start by playing the ace of trumps, then low to the king. If LHO showed out here, declarer would know he would be losing a trump trick, and would therefore take the diamond finesse. Once both opponents follow to two heart leads, declarer can play it safe by ruffing a spade, drawing the last trump, and just give up the king of diamonds. I believe this would even be right at matchpoints, because you would have to figure that you would be scoring well by just getting to game and would therefore want to protect that score, rather than risk going for a top. If on the diamond lead, you decided to get greedy, play only two trumps, ending in the dummy, so as to repeat the diamond finesse, you would go down. RHO would refuse to cover as before, LHO would ruff, and the defense would play on black suits, forcing you to eventually play diamonds out of your hand, to lose the setting trick there. The tournament, scheduled in early November, lasts a full week. The weather is very pleasant at that time of year, the ocean temperature is quite tolerable for swimming, and you can walk for miles on one of the most beautiful beaches I have experienced. You might want to consider going. See you there next year?</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11745.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11514.html Mon, 31 Jul 2006 01:46:44 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11514.html <pre> TEST YOUR PLAY (V) by Stephen Rzewski matchpoints vul: N-S dealer: N North ♠A1053 ♥A3 ♦A109 ♣Q865 South ♠KQJ742 ♥J10 ♦8 ♣AK92 bidding: N E S W 1♣ 2NT 3♠ 5♦ 5♠ P 6♠ (all pass opening lead: ♦2 Today's deal came from a recent STAC tournament. The opponents' hands have been modified to make a more suitable problem. Plan the play. * * * * * * * North ♠ A1053 ♥ A3 ♦ A109 ♣ Q865 West East ♠ 96 ♠ 8 ♥ Q65 ♥ K98742 ♦ Q632 ♦ KJ754 ♣ J1073 ♣ 4 South ♠ KQJ742 ♥ J10 ♦ 8 ♣ AK92 There is a heart loser you can do nothing about, and there is no further problem if the clubs divide 3-2, so you should assume they will split 4-1 or worse, which is quite likely, given East’s “Unusual 2NT” call, showing great length in the red suits. If West has four clubs which include the J-10, an endplay can be executed in the following manner: win the ace of diamonds, ruff a diamond high in the South hand, draw trumps with the king and ace of spades. Then ruff dummy’s last diamond (a third round of trumps can be played should they prove to divide 3-0). Now comes the key play: play one high club honor from the South hand, followed by the ace of hearts. The position at that point will be: North ♠ 105 ♥ 3 ♦ ---- ♣ Q86 West East ♠ ---- ♠ ---- ♥ Q6 ♥ K987 ♦ Q ♦ J7 ♣ J107 ♣ ---- South ♠ Q7 ♥ J ♦ ---- ♣ K92 Now simply exit with a heart. If East wins the trick, he will be forced to give you a ruff-and-sluff of your club loser. If West wins, unless he does the same, he will be forced to return a club. If he plays the jack or 10, let this come around to your king, and you will have a finessing position against his remaining honor-7. It is essential to play one high club before exiting with the heart, or else East can win the trick and exit with his singleton club. If your club holding were weaker still, such that you were missing the J-10-9, the contract could still be made along the same lines, provided that East’s singleton happened to be one of those cards.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11514.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11116.html Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:15:57 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11116.html <pre> A SURE THING by Stephen Rzewski IMPs vul: none North ♠ K973 ♥ A6 ♦ J764 ♣ K107 South ♠ AJ865 ♥ 3 ♦ K52 ♣ AQJ6 bidding: S W N E 1♠ 3♥ 4♠ (all pass) opening lead: ♥ Q Today’s hand came up in a Swiss teams event at a local club. Declarer won the heart lead in dummy, then played the king of spades, on which both opponents followed with low spot cards. When a low spade was played next, East followed with the 10. Should declarer now finesse the jack or instead play for the drop of the queen by going up with the ace? Why? (take no credit unless you give the correct reasoning) * * * * * * The full deal: North ♠ K973 ♥ A6 ♦ J764 ♣ K107 West East ♠ 4 ♠ Q102 ♥ QJ109874 ♥ K52 ♦ A83 ♦ Q109 ♣ 98 ♣ 5432 South ♠ AJ865 ♥ 3 ♦ K52 ♣ AQJ6 At the table, declarer successfully finessed the jack of trumps, rejecting the old adage of “eight ever, nine never”, which suggests that when missing five cards including the queen, one should finesse, but instead play for the drop when missing only four cards. Later in the play, declarer led a diamond to his king and lost three tricks with the unlucky layout in that suit, but at least fulfilled his contract. So why did declarer take the finesse? It is true that in a vacuum the odds favor playing for the drop, but the mathematical advantage for that choice is slight, and if there are other factors to take into account, one should consider the alternative play. Here there is the matter of West’s pre-empt, which shows great length in hearts, normally a 7-card suit, increasing the chances of his holding a singleton spade. The queen of spades is not a relevant card in the bidding, as West would probably be just as inclined to make the same pre-empt if he held Q-x of spades as well as a small singleton. But with 8 of West’s cards inferentially known (7 hearts + 1 spade played), that leaves only five cards in his hand that could be the queen of spades. Whereas only five of East’s cards are known (2 spades played + 3 presumed hearts), there are 8 cards in his hand which could be the queen. That leaves much more room in East’s hand to hold the queen, indicating that the finesse is a distinct favorite. Nevertheless, in the context of the complete deal, declarer should have played for the drop. The finesse might be a good calculated risk at matchpoints, where overtricks can bring heavy premiums, especially in normal contracts like this one, but at IMPs scoring, making the contract has the highest priority. If declarer had played the ace of spades at the critical juncture, and the queen had dropped, the contract would have been assured. But what if West had then shown out, as in the actual layout? Declarer would then have a sure line of play as follows: a club to dummy to then lead and ruff out dummy’s remaining heart**, followed by the play of the remaining club winners. Then a trump is led, putting East on lead, who will have to break the diamond suit (or play his last heart, which would give declarer a fatal ruff and sluff). As long as declarer plays a low diamond from his hand when East leads low, he can not be deprived of a diamond winner, no matter how the honors in the suit are distributed. So going up with the ace of spades is a heads-you-win, tails- you-win play. No need to resort to guesswork when a sure thing is available. **An afterthought: my good friend, Michael Klein pointed out that declarer could improve his technique by ruffing dummy’s small heart at trick #2, before touching trumps. This would provide for the case where a defender with the third trump and a club void, probably West, with something like: ♠ Q10x ♥QJ10xxxx ♦ Axx ♣ --- might be able to ruff in and exit safely with a heart before dummy’s heart could be removed, forcing declarer to break and guess the diamond suit himself. It is also worthy to note that there is a standard safety play with this card combination of starting the play of the spades with the ace rather than the king, which one might consider at this form of scoring. This play guards against the possibility of a 4-0 trump split in either hand, and ensures the loss of no more than one trump trick. However, since LHO is highly unlikely to hold four spades along with the presumed 7-card heart suit, the initial play of the king in this case will likely work out just as well.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/11116.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10939.html Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:36:57 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10939.html <pre> REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY by Stephen Rzewski Often during the play of the hand, the defense will be in a quandary as to which suit it should be attacking. Sometimes when declarer plays on a particular suit, a defender may assume that it is contrary to his side’s interest to continue on that suit and may therefore shift to another. This is a natural and logical human reaction, which is frequently correct, but occasionally declarer can exploit this tendency to his own advantage. Playing in a Regional Open Swiss against one of the top pairs in New England, I pick up: ♠ 973 ♥ AK10852 ♦ J106 ♣ A Neither side is vulnerable, and I am in 4th seat. The dealer passes, as does my partner, and RHO opens 3♣. I have an easy overcall of 3♥, and my partner raises me to game. The bidding has been: P P 3♣ 3♥ P 4♥ (all pass) LHO leads a small club, and the dummy proves to be a huge disappointment: ♠ J64 ♥ QJ93 ♦ 832 ♣ KQ4 ♠ 972 ♥ AK10852 ♦ J106 ♣ A Who would have guessed all that duplication in clubs? Well, at least they didn’t annihilate me right off by cashing their six winners in diamonds and spades. I can throw two of my losers on the king and queen of clubs, but that still leaves me one down. It is tempting to simply concede that result and save some time and anguish, but even when facing what looks like a hopeless situation, one should always look deeply for any chance, no matter how slight, especially since there are teammates involved. Is there any way I can actually bring home this dreadful contract? Interestingly, I probably can infer more about the lie of the honor cards in the two weak suits than the opponents can about each other’s holding. For instance, if LHO had a holding such as AK in either, he would likely have led one in preference to a club. That would mark my RHO as a favorite to hold at least one high honor in each of those suits. Since he has club length, he will have shortness in one or more suits outside of clubs. Obviously, if I am to make this contract, I will need some mistakes from the defense, but a small ray of hope is beginning to show itself. After winning the club lead, I play the ace of hearts, everyone following, then lead a low heart to the queen. On this trick LHO follows, and RHO discards the jack of clubs, which is probably intended to show strength in spades. I now cash the two high clubs, discarding low spades, on which both opponents follow. So RHO had only six clubs to the J10 for his pre-empt. This is not all that surprising, since many players make tactical pre-empts in third seat which will depart significantly from the normal sound textbook pre-empts. At this point, I lead a diamond from dummy, deliberately playing the suit I fear most. RHO plays low—I now have to hope, among other things, that he started with a doubleton honor—and since I want to give the impression of strength, I play the jack from my hand. LHO wins the queen, and thinks for a bit. Eventually, he makes the play I am hoping for: he puts the ace of spades on the table, and continues with a spade to his partner’s queen. I ruff this in hand, lead a heart to dummy’s jack, then lead dummy’s last spade and ruff in my hand, leaving: ♠ ---- ♥ 9 ♦ 83 ♣ ---- ♠ ---- ♠ 5 ♥ ---- ♥ ---- ♦ A97 ♦ K ♣ ---- ♣ 10 ♠ ---- ♥ K ♦ 106 ♣ ---- Now I simply lead the low diamond out of my hand, and the defense is snookered. If LHO plays low and allows his partner to win the king, that hand will be end-played into giving me a ruff and sluff. And if LHO attempts a “crocodile coup” by playing the ace to swallow his partner’s king, my 10 will be established. Obviously, RHO made a serious error when he failed to play the king of diamonds on the first lead of the suit, not anticipating the end position. LHO might also have saved the day by heeding his partner’s earlier signal and underleading the ace of spades, so that his partner could win the trick and unblock his king of diamonds. Luckily for declarer, LHO had to follow to both hearts, since if he held the singleton, he would have undoubtedly signaled with a high diamond on his first discard, making it easy for his partner to unblock the king. The full deal: ♠ J64 ♥ QJ93 ♦ 832 ♣ KQ4 ♠ A108 ♠ KQ53 ♥ 64 ♥ 7 ♦ AQ975 ♦ K4 ♣ 875 ♣ J109632 ♠ 972 ♥ AK10852 ♦ J106 ♣ A At the other table, third hand opened only 1♣, my hand overcalled 1♥ and was given a single raise to 2♥ by his partner. This became the final contract, with the same club lead. When the dummy came down, declarer decided to simply claim nine tricks, a bit smugly, as our teammates reported, since he felt he had stolen the contract, as the defense could have set him off the top.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10939.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10579.html Fri, 31 Mar 2006 14:48:44 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10579.html <pre> THE SQUIRM FACTOR by Stephen Rzewski Today’s deal came up at a Regional tournament many years ago. My partner and I, along with two good friends, had just lost an early round of a Knock-Out team event, and we decided to all go out together to seek nourishment, lick our wounds, and try to re-energize for the upcoming events. A topic of conversation over dinner addressed the problem of trying to read our opponents’ cards during the play of the hand. One of our teammates, to whom I shall refer as Peter, offered a tip when faced with a two-way guess for a missing queen: run a long suit, if possible, and watch for an early discard. Often the person making the first discard in that suit will be less likely to hold the critical missing card, as he would have only small cards there with nothing to protect, and can more easily throw one away. This principle is not conclusive where a player has extra length in the suit (such as Qxxxx), but often an inferential count on the hand will be available and provide further clues. After the meal was concluded, the four of us decided to enter the pairs event of that evening, as no team event was available. As fate would have it, the four of us bought entries in opposite directions, such that late in the session, we sat down against each other as opponents. On the 2nd board of the round, I picked up: ♠A74 ♥Q842 ♦5 ♣K10752 Peter, seated on my right, opened 1NT (15-17), and the auction continued 1NT P 2♣ P 2♦ P 3NT (all pass) I led my 4th-best club, and the following dummy came down: ♠ K863 ♥ AJ93 ♦ QJ2 ♣ 98 ♠ A74 ♥ Q842 ♦ 5 ♣ K10752 My club lead hit paydirt. Partner produced the jack, declarer ducking, then came the queen from partner, declarer winning the ace. Feeling somewhat smug, I settled in to wait for the eventual spade lead, on which I would pounce with the ace to cash my good clubs. At trick #3, declarer led a low diamond to dummy’s jack, which held the trick, followed by the queen. Partner’s first two diamond spots indicated that he held an even number, which meant that declarer had a five-card suit to run. Suddenly I realized that I was going to have to produce a number of discards—four, in fact. Before continuing, decide how you, reader, would have selected the next four cards in your hand to throw away, holding at this point: ♠A74 ♥Q842 ♦--- ♣ K107 Declarer was almost sure to have the king of hearts, and my queen was finessable in front of dummy’s A-J. I could throw two spades away easily, but on the 4th and 5th diamonds, I would have to choose between hearts or clubs. Peter was a good declarer, and I knew he would be watching all of our cards carefully, looking for clues. If I started discarding my good clubs, that would be revealing to him. Why would I throw away potential winners, unless I were protecting some other holding, and what else could that be other than the queen of hearts? Furthermore, if I discarded even one club, Peter could well figure that I would now not have enough club winners to set him, and he could simply lead a spade, establishing his 9th trick there without having to take the heart finesse. No, I realized that my only chance was to unguard the queen of hearts. If Peter did not hold the 10 of hearts, he was probably going to finesse me for the queen anyway. Whatever I was going to do, I had to make my decision quickly. If I started acting tentatively about my choice of discards, hesitating and squirming uncomfortably, that would be a giveaway. I also could hear Peter’s remark made at dinner in the back of my mind, which he probably didn’t even remember. I felt a bit guilty about turning his own advice against him, but all’s fair in love and war. So at my first opportunity, I threw the 8 of hearts, in tempo. Peter turned to my partner and asked about our carding agreements. “Our carding is upside-down, count and attitude.” was the reply. This meant that in theory the discard of the 8, a high spot-card, signaled discouragement for that suit. On the next two diamonds, I discarded first the 4, then the 7 of spades, an encouraging signal, to show that I had the ace. On the 5th diamond —in for a penny, in for a pound—I threw the 2 of hearts without pause, coming down to Q-4. Partner, bless his soul, discarded a spade on the 5th diamond, keeping both of his small hearts. Then came a heart to the ace, and a low heart back from dummy. My remaining cards were: ♠ A ♥Q ♣K107. Peter went into a long study, which must have lasted a full minute. Had I thrown the heart too early, making the bluff obvious? I was dying inside, but knew my partner and I had to appear completely dispassionate and stone-faced. Finally, Peter produced the 10, and I faced my hand and claimed the remainder, for down two. The full deal: ♠ K863 ♥ AJ93 ♦ QJ2 ♣ 98 ♠ A74 ♠ J95 ♥ Q842 ♥ 65 ♦ 5 ♦ 9874 ♣ K10752 ♣ QJ43 ♠ Q102 ♥ K107 ♦ AK1063 ♣ A6 In retrospect, pitching the 8 of hearts first might have looked suspicious, and maybe I should have started my discards with a low spade. But had I discarded a club and kept three hearts, declarer would almost surely have gotten it right, especially since it is more natural to finesse the hearts through me, picking up the entire suit whenever I would have started with four and ending up with ten tricks. Or, at the very least, he would have led a spade instead and ensured nine tricks. The point of this article is that when defending, one must try to anticipate how the play of the hand will unfold and have one’s counterplays worked out in advance. Although I had not done so here, a good time to project the play and defense is at the first trick, while declarer is making his plan, so that one’s mind is already made up when the critical moments occur. If one waits until the play has to be made, the squirm factor will often give away the show. (As a footnote: I’m sure every reader of this column understands that it is highly unethical to feign hesitancy and pretend that one has a problem during the play when in fact no problem exists).</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10579.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10407.html Tue, 20 Dec 2005 05:32:36 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10407.html <pre> OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE by Stephen Rzewski To win matchpoint events, one must play well, make few mistakes, and hope for some luck. Besides receiving some outright “gifts” from opponents, good luck can occasionally befall players who find themselves in poor, anti-percentage contracts, whether by result of a bidding misunderstanding, or by aggressive overbidding. When faced with the prospect of playing what seems like a hopeless contract, it is essential to keep one’s head and look for a favorable lie of the cards that will enable you to bring the requisite tricks home, no matter how improbable. And conversely, when luck similarly smiles upon the opponents, one has to learn to philosophically accept what may seem like the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune—and move on to the next hand. On the last round of a two-session Sectional open pairs, where I sense that we might be in contention, I pick up: ♠ Q76 ♥ A76432 ♦ AK7 ♣ A With neither side vulnerable, my LHO opens 1NT (14-17), and my partner overcalls 2♣. In our methods, that call shows clubs and a five-card major, which I can infer from my hand must be spades. With a spade fit and all those controls, I have what looks like a great hand. I bid 2NT, which we use as an asking bid, and partner answers 3C, which is his weakest action, indicating a bad hand without disclosing which major he holds. Still, it is hard for me to imagine a holding where we do not have some kind of play for game, so I bid 4♠, which is passed out (in retrospect, my 2NT inquiry was probably a pointless exercise). LHO leads the ♦Q, and there is some hilarity when the dummy appears, as I see that partner really meant his 3♣ call: ♠ 109432 ♥ J9 ♦ 2 ♣ J10982 ♠ Q76 ♥ A76432 ♦ AK7 ♣ A Unfortunately, it looks as though we will be heading for an untimely minus score, as it will take some miraculous holding or bad defense for me to make this contract. It looks like my best play is to take my side winners and try to scramble as many ruffs as I can, and hope for the best. So I win the diamond lead and start by playing my singleton ♣A, to lay the groundwork for scoring club ruffs in my hand. It is a good thing that I am paying attention, as my often inattentive eyes catch sight of the queen on my left. Wait a minute. To find out if that is a true card, I lead my low diamond, ruff in dummy, and play a 2nd club, ruffing in my hand. As if answering a prayer, the king of clubs does in fact come down on the table. Instead of proceeding with my first idea of crossruffing, I change tactics by leading the queen of spades: LHO pauses, then plays low, as RHO produces the ace. He then leads a heart. I play the ace, followed by the king of diamonds so as to discard dummy’s losing heart, then cross my fingers as I play a second spade. I am almost afraid to look, as LHO wins the jack, and RHO…. follows suit! The dummy has only good clubs and two trumps against LHO’s lone remaining king. If he leads a red card, I simply ruff and lead good clubs, the last trump giving me control. Making +420. Actually, I have to confess to having made a subtle error in the play: at the table, after winning the diamond lead, I made the mistake of playing the second high diamond and pitching a heart from dummy immediately. This could have led to trouble when RHO won the ace of spades, as he could have defeated me by playing a 4th diamond, which would have made the hand unmanageable. In fact, he saved me by playing a heart. To be fair, from his point of view, I might have had a heart loser, which could go away if his diamond play resulted in giving me a ruff and sluff. Of course, if the defense had led a trump on opening lead and drawn three rounds, they would have enjoyed a club winner and defeated the contract, and I would have had no story to tell. The complete deal: ♠ 109432 ♥ J9 ♦ 2 ♣ J10982 ♠ KJ8 ♠ A5 ♥ Q85 ♥ K10 ♦ QJ654 ♦ 10983 ♣ KQ ♣ 76543 ♠ Q76 ♥ A76432 ♦ AK7 ♣ A Just to show that the universe has its way of balancing out, following is a hand from a Regional tournament in Saratoga, last Spring, on which I was a defender:: ♠ 74 ♥ AK64 ♦ J852 ♣ 852 ♠ AK3 ♥ Q52 ♦ AK3 ♣ AQJ4 At our table, the opponents who bid this hand had two misunder- standings: in answer to South’s strong 2♣ opening, North responded positively in hearts, showing a good five-card suit, when he held only four. Then later in a Blackwood auction, North responded 6♣ to 5NT, which South thought showed the king of that suit. Based on those two pieces of misinformation, South bid what seemed like a reasonable 7NT. The opening lead was a spade, which declarer won in hand. Well, to make this hand, declarer needed the king of clubs onside (it was), two entries to dummy to take and repeat the club finesse (the two high hearts), clubs and hearts to both split 3-3 so as to make the long card in each suit (they did), and the most outrageous of all, the queen of diamonds to come down doubleton so as to score the jack for the 13th trick (down she came). For this undeservedly bad result (known in the parlance as a “fix”) to befall us, I calculate the probability to be less than 1%**. On a hand where no other pair, quite reasonably, was even in a small slam, I think this was perhaps the roundest zero I have ever experienced. Nonetheless, when the last card was played, all FOUR players at the table burst into laughter. ** Amend that to around 2%, as I failed to take certain possibilities into account in my estimate. See "comment" below, by my good friend, Michael Klein.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10407.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10140.html Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:51:58 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10140.html <pre> ASSESSING THE CONTRACT by Stephen Rzewski Unlike IMPs or rubber bridge, where small differences in scores generally have slight meaning, in matchpoint events, any difference, no matter how small, can have a great effect on the matchpoint outcome. For example, if the normal contract on a particular hand is a major-suit game yielding +420, and declarer is instead playing 3NT achieving +400 or +430 instead, the small difference in the numbers can have major consequences, probably resulting in a score significantly below or above average, perhaps even a bottom or a top (for one such example, check one of our previous columns, entitled “Moysian Fit”). When the dummy appears, it always behooves declarer to assess the contract, not just from the perspective of his chances of fulfilling it, but especially insofar as it is the likely one, or not, to be played at other tables. If the contract is unusual, and possibly resulting in scores different from the typical contract, declarer must focus on outscoring the probable result in the normal contract, sometimes even taking desperate measures to do so, lest he be outscored by the rest of the field. Playing in a pairs game at a Sectional tournament, I pick up: ♠ K9642 ♥ KQ1082 ♦ 87 ♣ 6 Neither side is vulnerable, and my partner opens with 1♣. The opponents are silent, and I respond 1♠. Partner rebids 2♦, a “reverse” showing extra values, and a two-suited hand with longer clubs than diamonds. I would like to show the heart suit now, as there is some chance that partner has a 3-card major-suit fragment, but unfortunately for me on this hand, we have agreed that 2♥ is an artificial bid, showing weakness and a desire to get out in a partscore. If I jump in hearts, we may get into trouble, as the meaning of that bid is undiscussed. I decide to take the direct route to 3NT, since with this misfit, it may prove to be the best contract anyway. Besides, by concealing the hearts, I may encourage the defense to lead that suit at some point. That ends the auction, which has been: (partner) (me) 1♣ P 1♠ P 2♦ P 3NT (all pass) The opening lead is the deuce of diamonds, and I see: ♠ A103 ♥ 9 ♦ AQJ4 ♣ AK1043 ♠ K9642 ♥ KQ1082 ♦ 87 ♣ 6 Well, so much for my clever thinking. I expect that most of the field will be in 4♠. Those declarers will be able to avoid a potential diamond loser by taking a fast club discard. If the spades split normally (3-2), they will make 4 or 5, depending on how many hearts they lose. Playing in 3NT, I am forced to finesse the jack of diamonds, and my fears are proved right when RHO produces the king. However, he elects to lead back the 3 of hearts, the play I was hoping for. It may be right to play low here, hoping for the jack to be on my right, but that doesn’t feel best. If I am wrong and lose a trick to the jack now, I will almost surely be held to only 9 tricks, which figures to be a disastrous result (+400 as compared to at least +420 in spades). And even if I am correct, and the ace wins, LHO may be reluctant to continue the suit, as I would appear to him to have a strong heart holding. Since I want to appear weak and therefore encourage more heart plays, I go up with the king. LHO does in fact win the ace and leads back the 4. I discard a club from dummy, and RHO thinks briefly before putting up the hoped-for jack. I win and play a third heart, just to verify that the suit is running, and both opponents follow. The following cards remain: ♠ A103 ♥ ----- ♦ AQ4 ♣ AK10 ♠ K9642 ♥ 82 ♦ 7 ♣ 6 Just as an aside, I have the sense that my opponents are relatively inexperienced and do not have good lead and carding habits. Holding in fact J753, it might have been better for RHO to have begun the suit with a high spot rather than the 3 with such a weak holding. Also, LHO, with A64, should return the 6 and not the 4. This may still have been difficult for his partner to read, but either play might have enabled them to avoid continuing the suit, or at the very least, helped RHO to avoid the play of putting up the jack on the 2nd lead. My position has improved considerably, as I have lost only two tricks so far, and I now have eight winners remaining. Still, I can envision that many declarers in 4♠ may elect to pass the 9 of hearts to the ace, ruff a heart, and make +450, so +430 may not be enough. Is there any way I might be able to take the rest? Whenever declarer has all the remaining tricks but one, he should always look for an opportunity to develop a squeeze. Actually, there are a few squeeze chances in this case. For instance, either opponent may be squeezed if he started with four or more diamonds and three or more spades. In addition, there is a slight chance of a positional squeeze on LHO if he began life with four diamonds and a club holding that includes the Q-J. I can actually take a line of play that will include both cases, and they seem like reasonable chances to play for. In order to do so, I must play the top clubs, then the ace of spades and another to my king. Both opponents follow to the spade plays, RHO with the queen. I now play the 8 of hearts from my hand, discarding dummy’s spade (optionally, the 8 of hearts could have been played before the clubs), leaving: ♠ ----- ♥ ----- ♦ AQ4 ♣ 10 (LHO) ♠ J ♥ ----- ♦ 952 ♣ ---- ♠ 96 ♥ 2 ♦ 7 ♣ ----- When I lead the good heart, LHO, who in fact started with both the spade and diamond length, has no safe play. If he throws the jack of spades, my spades will be good, and if he discards a diamond, I will throw dummy’s club and lead a diamond to dummy to run that suit. The same play would have worked had the spade and diamond length happened to be with RHO, making the squeeze “automatic”. These plays all proved to be necessary, as several declarers had in fact scored +450, and there were also a couple of +460s, with whom the top was shared. The full deal: ♠ A103 ♥ 9 ♦ AQJ4 ♣ AK1043 ♠ J75 ♠ Q8 ♥ A64 ♥ J753 ♦ 10952 ♦ K63 ♣ J85 ♣ Q972 ♠ K9642 ♥ KQ1082 ♦ 87 ♣ 6 As an afterthought, the reader may have noticed that there is an additional squeeze chance, which does not work on the actual lie of the cards, but which would be correct on a slightly different layout. If declarer had reason to believe that the diamond length was with LHO, and the spade length was on the right, he could play for a double squeeze. To illustrate this case, exchange the ♠5 with the ♣2 in the above diagram. Now at the mid-point of the hand, where the cards had come down to: ♠ A103 ♥ ----- ♦ AQ4 ♣ AK10 ♠ K9642 ♥ 82 ♦ 7 ♣ 6 Declarer, to play for the double squeeze, must play the high diamonds early, then the ace and king of spades, ending in his hand, then the 4th heart (this card could have been played earlier), discarding dummy’s last spade, coming down to: ♠ ----- ♥ ----- ♦ 4 ♣ AK10 ♠ ----- ♠ Q ♥ ----- ♥ ----- ♦ 9 ♦ ----- ♣ J85 ♣ Q97 ♠ 96 ♥ 2 ♦ ----- ♣ 6 Declarer now leads the last heart. LHO must keep the ♦9 to prevent the ♦4 in dummy from becoming a good card, so he discards a club. Declarer now throws dummy’s ♦ 4, and RHO, forced to hold the ♠Q to prevent declarer’s spades from becoming winners, also must let go a club. With both opponents down to two clubs each, the ♣10 in dummy takes the last trick. This play is called a “double squeeze”, because it operates on both opponents, in turn. So why did declarer opt for the first squeeze type and not the second? The odds probably favor the chosen line somewhat, but the choice of plays just amounted to a good guess, basically.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/10140.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9786.html Sun, 04 Dec 2005 15:40:14 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9786.html <pre> ARTISTIC ENDING by Stephen Rzewski Some of the better plays one sees at the table occur on hands where the result, good or bad, has already been determined. For example, declarer successfully executes a double squeeze in a slam, but only to go down one trick instead of two. Good players sometimes respectfully jest that “style points” should be awarded for such plays. In today’s hand, from an IMPs event at a Regional tournament, declarer managed to bring about an endplay for an overtrick, where he had already earned a decent score simply by going plus and making his contract: North ♠ AK2 ♥ KQJ96 ♦ 9 ♣ KJ43 West East ♠ Q108 ♠ J7 ♥ 8 ♥ A105432 ♦ AKJ86 ♦ 2 ♣ A1087 ♣ Q965 South ♠ 96543 ♥ 7 ♦ Q107543 ♣ 2 bidding: W N E S 1♦ dbl 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ dbl P 2♠ P P P opening lead: ♥ 8 The bidding is shown as it occurred. As a matter of style, some players might overcall 1♥ with the North hand, then subsequently follow through with a takeout double; this sequence would show the five-card suit, extra values, and a willingness to play other strains. South, with 6-5 shape, ventured a free 1♠ call in spite of his weakness, then pulled his partner’s second double with nothing to contribute to the defense. East might actually have bid on to 3♣, which seems likely to make, but was inhibited from doing so because of North’s double on the previous round. The jack of hearts was played from dummy at the first trick, East winning the ace. East’s best return is probably a diamond at this point (a club return might also result in a successful defense). If West can read his partner’s singleton, he can cash the ace of clubs and return a low diamond. The hand will now become unmanageable for declarer, and he will ultimately be defeated. However, East instead returned a heart at trick #2. South pitched his losing club as West ruffed with a natural trump trick. West cashed the king of diamonds, but couldn’t read his partner’s deuce as a singleton, and unsure as to how to proceed, played a trump. Declarer cleared the enemy trumps with the ace and king, leaving: North ♠ 2 ♥ KQ9 ♦ --- ♣ KJ93 West East ♠ --- ♠ --- ♥ --- ♥ 10432 ♦ AJ86 ♦ --- ♣ A1087 ♣ Q965 South ♠ 965 ♥ --- ♦ Q10754 ♣ --- South was now assured of making his contract, since he had two tricks in the bank, two heart winners in dummy and was destined to score his remaining four trumps individually. Do you see how he managed a sequence of plays that resulted in his gaining an overtrick? * * * * * * * South cashed dummy’s two high hearts, then played a third heart, covered by East and ruffed in declarer’s hand. Declarer then led the 10 of diamonds (actually, any diamond will do). West covered with the jack, but instead of ruffing with dummy’s last trump, declarer called for a club, allowing West to win the trick and putting that player on lead in the following position: North ♠ 2 ♥ --- ♦ --- ♣ KJ9 West East ♠ --- ♠ --- ♥ --- ♥ 4 ♦ A8 ♦ --- ♣ A10 ♣ Q96 South ♠ 96 ♥ --- ♦ Q7 ♣ --- West pondered her position for a full minute, looking for a way out; there was none. If she played the ace of diamonds, South would ruff in dummy, and the queen would be established. Similarly, playing the ace of clubs would establish dummy’s king, as South would ruff in his hand. If she played a low diamond, South would simply let that come around to the queen. Eventually, she found the best play of a low club, but South, reading the position, put up dummy’s king, discarding a diamond from his hand, and took the remainder with ruffs.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9786.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9675.html Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:14:26 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9675.html <pre> DEPT. OF DEFENSE (II) by Stephen Rzewski vul: N-S matchpoints North (dummy) ♠ 10 ♥ J754 ♦ A10962 ♣ 753 West (you) ♠ Q982 ♥ K9 ♦ 875 ♣ J642 bidding: N E S W P 1♦ 1♠ P P dbl redbl 1NT P P 2♠ (all pass) Trick #1: you lead ♦5, 9, jack from partner, king from declarer. #2: declarer leads ♥3, you play the king, 4, deuce. #3: you continue with ♥9, 5, 10 from partner, 6. #4: partner leads ♥Q, 8, you discard a diamond, 7. #5: partner leads ♥A, declarer ruffs with ♠J … ? How do you defend from this point? * * * * * * * The full deal: North ♠ 10 ♥ J754 ♦ A10962 ♣ 753 West East ♠ Q982 ♠ 64 ♥ K9 ♥ AQ102 ♦ 875 ♦ QJ43 ♣ J642 ♣ K109 South ♠ AKJ753 ♥ 863 ♦ K ♣ AQ8 Don’t overruff declarer’s ♠J! Look what happens if you do: declarer will now have an entry to the dummy (♠10), which will enable him to get a club discard on the ace of diamonds. He will then be able to take the club finesse and draw your remaining trumps with the ace and king, to score up 9 tricks. If you discard instead of overruffing, you will not only deprive declarer of access to dummy, but you will score two trump tricks instead of one. Discarding effectively promotes your 9-8 of trumps to a second winner. At the table, West discarded a diamond at trick #5. Declarer led a low spade from his hand, hoping for West to duck. West, understanding declarer’s problem, went up with the queen and led back the 9 of spades, trying to avoid the play of a minor suit. Declarer did his best by winning the ace and king of trumps, then threw West back on lead with a small trump to the 8. West now had to break clubs, finessing his partner’s king, but South still had to concede a slow club loser to West’s jack for down one. Refusing to ruff with the queen of trumps at the critical point in the hand resulted in a two-trick gain for the defense. There is one point about the auction worth mentioning: one of the incentives for East’s re-opening double is to provide for the case where West might have a penalty pass of 1Sx. When South redoubles, a pass by West should still indicate a willingness to defend that contract; otherwise, if South were in trouble, he might be able to get the opponents to rescue him and pull the double by bluffing with a redouble. Therefore, if West does not want to defend, he must bid. Obviously, South would have done better to double 1NT instead of bidding 2♠, but these situations are often difficult to judge, as West might well have had the 10 of spades, and his partner, North, could have been broke.</pre> http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9675.html public http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9086.html Sun, 11 Sep 2005 03:41:59 GMT http://stevesgames.livejournal.com/9086.html <pre> TEST YOUR PLAY (III) by Stephen Rzewski IMPs