Had another hand with a difficult forcing pass situation last night in the IMPS Game. Vul vs Not, you hold the following hand, xx AKQxxxx Ax xx and open 1H in first seat. This goes 2D by partner (you are playing 2/1 and this is a full forcing 2D, 3D would be a limited hand with Diamonds). This now goes 2S on your right, and you jump to 4H to (hopefully) show solid Hearts. This now goes 4S on your left, P, P back to you.
First, I think this is clearly a forcing pass situation. You were in a game forcing auction where the opps interfered and then bid on over a game bid. Partner then passed the bid over your game, so I think it is a forcing auction. Now, what is your hand worth. Personally, I think you have an absolute maximum with great cards for your previous bidding. You have the 7th Heart, and the A of Diamonds. For this reason, I would bid 5D with this hand. The 2 losers in each black suit are a worry, but what does partner have to make a forcing pass if you have solid Hearts and that A of Diamonds?
At the table, partner doubled with this hand, stating he had a lot of defense. Not sure I agree with that, and I think we had a disagreement mostly about what the forcing pass meant and entailed. I think it strongly suggests bidding on with a hand that is suitable, basically a hand that probably would have bid again without the opponent’s interference. Partner thought it was a hand that was unsure what to do over the opponents bid. The problem with that interpretation is that there is no way to intelligently bid if that is what you have. If you have the agreement that it always shows a willingness to bid on, but requires a fitting hand, then partner can feel free to safely bid whenever these situations come up. With the other agreement, you are basically going to double on every hand, so what is the purpose.
The actual hand is kind of funny, partner held AT T KT98xxx AKJ, a good hand with bad Diamonds and unsure what to do. I passed the 4S doubled, but we lost 1 trick and only got the hand for +500, not the +800 we can get. Declarer was void in Diamonds, so all slams have the 4-0 Diamond break to content with. Turns out the best place to play the hand is 7NT, since my RHO has the Diamonds and the Club Q, so there is an automatic squeeze for trick 13. At the other table, my RHO did not bid 4S, so my hand was able to bid that, and over the 5D cue-bid, raised to 6D. a contract sort of doomed to failure on the 4-0 trump break, except a funny thing happened to the defense. After a Spade lead and 2 rounds of Hearts pitching the Spade loser, declarer cashed the A of Diamonds to find out the bad news, then instead of trying a legitimate line to make the contract ,either the Q of Hearts to pitch the Club loser, or such, played 3 rounds of Clubs ruffing on board, and played the Q of Hearts now. Our partners, fearing a pitch of a Diamond on this, ruffed it, allowing the slam to make when the second trump trick now vanished. Counting can not be overstated!
Back to the main part of the discussion, what does a forcing pass mean to your partnership, and what do you expect when partner bids on vs doubles?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Chicken at the 5 Level
Had an extremely interesting hand this week at the Team Game, both from my point of view and my opponents. All Vul, I picked up 953 KQ98 KQT95 A. My RHO opened 2S (alerted) showing 5+ Spades, and a second 5+ card suit, with less than an opening bid. This presents a problem, since if I double, and bid Diamonds over a Club bid from partner, I have shown a lot better hand than I have. And overcalling Diamonds, may lose the Heart suit. At the table, I passed, hoping partner could balance, but after the fact, I feel that overcalling 3D is the lesser of all evils, since at least it gets me involved in the auction with less later guessing. Sigh, pre-empts are there for a reason.
LHO now jumped to 4S, which went P – P to me. This has raised the level of the problem, but actually given me some great information. What I know so far, I assume LHO has 4 Spades for the Vul 4S bid, and I assume he does not have a great hand, he did not ask about his partners second suit. So this leaves me with partner having a few values, and a highly probable stiff Spade. Since I have the KQ in each red suit, the values partner has are either Clubs, a little unlikely since RHO is almost certain to have them and thus (I hope) something in them, or Aces. Since a singleton Spade, 1 Red A, and a red suit fit leaves me with 2 losers on the hand, I bid 4N as TO with 2 suits. This went P, 5D by partner, P back to me, confirming that RHO’s second suit has to be Clubs as well as giving me a place to play. . Not wanting to do the full crazy man play, I passed and the problem reverted to my LHO.
His hand was A984 J2 74 KJ974. At this point in the auction, he is certain that the opps have a Diamond fit, and that his partner probably has Clubs to go with Spades, although that is not certain. But it does point to a probable 2 suited fit by both sides, and that the opps each have a probable singleton in a black suit, so are odds on to make 5D. Backing this judgment, he now bid 5S over 5D, passing the baton to the 5D bidder.
His hand was interesting, x Axxxx AJxxx xx, the question now becomes, should he bid, pass, or double over the 5S bid. Is a pass forcing in this auction, since who is sacrificing here? And what did partner have for the 4N bid. First, I think the pass should be forcing here, it follows standard rules. The opps pre-empted on the hand, and your side voluntarily bid a game, over which the opps bid again in their pre-empt suit. Even if the method of getting to the game was unusual, nonetheless, you did freely bid a game after a pre-empt. Now, do you have enough to pass is the next question. To answer that, what should partner expect from you on this hand. 1 A and the short Spade are probable’s, so is the presence of the second A and the 5-5 enough extras to pass? I think it is a judgment call and really tough in this kind of competitive auction. It turns out that our side can make 6 of either red suit, but after the 2S and 4S bids, that is going to be hard to get to. I would expect it would take superb judgment from a very experienced pair, and even then the final contract would be in doubt till dummy came down. As is, this hand doubled 5S, ending the auction, and beat it -2 for +500, and a 5 IMP loss on the hand.
All in all, a very interesting hand, with pretty good judgment all around. And the opps get full marks for playing a system that allowed them to generate a small swing in their favor with the close possibility of a large swing.
LHO now jumped to 4S, which went P – P to me. This has raised the level of the problem, but actually given me some great information. What I know so far, I assume LHO has 4 Spades for the Vul 4S bid, and I assume he does not have a great hand, he did not ask about his partners second suit. So this leaves me with partner having a few values, and a highly probable stiff Spade. Since I have the KQ in each red suit, the values partner has are either Clubs, a little unlikely since RHO is almost certain to have them and thus (I hope) something in them, or Aces. Since a singleton Spade, 1 Red A, and a red suit fit leaves me with 2 losers on the hand, I bid 4N as TO with 2 suits. This went P, 5D by partner, P back to me, confirming that RHO’s second suit has to be Clubs as well as giving me a place to play. . Not wanting to do the full crazy man play, I passed and the problem reverted to my LHO.
His hand was A984 J2 74 KJ974. At this point in the auction, he is certain that the opps have a Diamond fit, and that his partner probably has Clubs to go with Spades, although that is not certain. But it does point to a probable 2 suited fit by both sides, and that the opps each have a probable singleton in a black suit, so are odds on to make 5D. Backing this judgment, he now bid 5S over 5D, passing the baton to the 5D bidder.
His hand was interesting, x Axxxx AJxxx xx, the question now becomes, should he bid, pass, or double over the 5S bid. Is a pass forcing in this auction, since who is sacrificing here? And what did partner have for the 4N bid. First, I think the pass should be forcing here, it follows standard rules. The opps pre-empted on the hand, and your side voluntarily bid a game, over which the opps bid again in their pre-empt suit. Even if the method of getting to the game was unusual, nonetheless, you did freely bid a game after a pre-empt. Now, do you have enough to pass is the next question. To answer that, what should partner expect from you on this hand. 1 A and the short Spade are probable’s, so is the presence of the second A and the 5-5 enough extras to pass? I think it is a judgment call and really tough in this kind of competitive auction. It turns out that our side can make 6 of either red suit, but after the 2S and 4S bids, that is going to be hard to get to. I would expect it would take superb judgment from a very experienced pair, and even then the final contract would be in doubt till dummy came down. As is, this hand doubled 5S, ending the auction, and beat it -2 for +500, and a 5 IMP loss on the hand.
All in all, a very interesting hand, with pretty good judgment all around. And the opps get full marks for playing a system that allowed them to generate a small swing in their favor with the close possibility of a large swing.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Swiss Fun
Just finished our local sectional tournament and there were a bunch of interesting hands that came up.
The first was during the KO's and is an exercise in adjusting the worth of a hand during an auction. You start with a very nice hand, AKQJ KQ95 AJ93 7 and open 1D in first seat (sometimes 5 card majors without a strong Roman bid can be interesting). This goes 1H on your left, P, P back to you. My hand has already started downhill, but still too strong to give up on. I thought the choices were an overstrength 1S and a flawed double. I decided to double, hoping I could survive the expected 2C call from partner with 2N. However, over the double, partner bid 1S, passed back to me.
At this time, my hand is decidedly overvalued with the Spade cards and positional Hearts. I actually thought about passing here, since partner having Spades on this auction and passing 1H was a strong warning. But after a little thought, pass was too pessimistic, and I bid 2S. I do not like anything stronger, and I think 2S in this auction should actually show a pretty good hand. Of course, partner was not getting away with any forward movement, she was going to be in game then But knowing that, she passed 2S.
The play was not that interesting, the opps slipped 1 trick and let partner make 3, the limit of the hand is actually 2S. Partner had a balanced hand, xxxx xxx Qx xxxx, with no spot cards. The opening lead went to the Heart A and the Heart return got ruffed, but the opps erred by signaling for and receiving a Diamond return, allowing partner to win and pull trumps, then they ducked the K of Diamonds when partner led a low Diamond off board.
At the other table, on the same start to the hand, my hand decided they had to have a great hand and raised 1S directly to 4S. This was not doubled, but they found the defense to beat it 2 tricks, for a small pickup.
Next few hands occurred during the swiss teams.
In the first match, I picked up this interesting hand, K KQ953 A98653 7 and decided to open 1H in first seat, to avoid a lot of bidding problems later. The opps were silent and over partners 1S, I bid 2D. Partner now bid 3C (4SF) and I bid 3D, figuring the smallest lie was about shape, rather than start a Diamond and lie about strength. Partner bid 4D over this. We had agreed that over explicit fits, 4 of a minor was BW in the minor, and I thought it should apply here, but we had not talked about this type of auction as an explicit fit (we did later and agreed on it), so I jumped to 6D, hoping for K fourth of Diamonds and any 2 Aces (partner can not have 3 Hearts on this auction). Partner was a good partner, putting down that exact hand, without the 3rd A, so 6D made easily for an 11 Imp win, the opps stopped in 3N at the other table. I do like partners 3C and 4D bids, he had primary support and Aces.
The next hand is from the same match, my LHO held this hand. Jxx AKQ Qx AQJxx Vul vs Not, and opened 1C in second seat. This went 2H on her right, Pass by partner, 3H on her left. After some thought, she doubled 3H, and her partner went 4D, which she passed. Her partner lost 3 Spade tricks and 1 Diamond trick for down 1, but they were cold for a Vul 3N, since her partner had Kxx of Clubs and the A of Diamonds, and the opps can only take 4 Spade tricks, if they lead them. At the table, she stated after the hand she was worried about the Spade suit, so did not bid 3N over 3H. BTW, my partner stated he went into full panic mode after P 1C and he held a Q, so he bid 2H at terrorist vulnerability (white vs red), hoping to make it hard for them to bid a slam.
Next was a difficult problem our opponents had from another match. You hold the following hand with no one vul, A3 AQJT5 K4 AKJ3 and open 2C after a pass on your right. Partner responds 2D showing some values (but no good suit), and over your 2H bid, raises to 3H. At the table, this person now bid 4N and after finding 1 KC, settled in 6H. The opening lead was a small Spade, and dummy put down Jx xxx Ax Qxxxxx. When the K of Hearts was onside but 4th, it was not possible to make the hand in 6H, but as can be seen, 6C is makeable.
At the table after the match was over, we were discussing this hand and thought that if the strong hand bid 4C over 3H, then bid 4N over either 4D or 4H by the other hand, the weaker hand should bid 6C to offer a choice of contracts. The problem with this is that it gives up on 7, and requires partner to have the good Clubs and not solid Hearts, so there is a problem in Hearts. I think standard bidders will always have a problem with this hand, I am sure a relay system that finds out partner has 3 Hearts and 6 Clubs will be able to get to 6C, but most people do not play that sophisticated of a system. At the other table, they play control responses, so the weaker hand bid 2H (not something I like), which now went 3H – 4H – Pass.
Next hand, you hold KJ9752 AQ K62 AT with no one vul, and hear partner open 1D. You bid 1S and partner bids 1N, showing a strong NT (15-17). You are now going to play in at least 6S on this hand, the question is, should you try for 7 with an upper limit of 34 on the hand. The 6th Spade and the fact partner opened 1D are plus factors, while the flat hand opposite flat hand with 6-8 HCP missing are negative factors. I eventually just bid 6S on the hand, since I was not sure how I can KC to find out about both the Q of Diamonds and Spades. In retrospect, I do not like my bid, since something like AQ Kxx AQxxx xxx, a minimum, gives me excellent play for the grand on almost any lead. The question is, how to find out about both Q’s without going past 6S. I don’t have any foolproof methods at this time. If I can force partner to KC in one of the suits, in theory he will be looking at the Q’s, and can decide. To do that, I will have to set Spades as trump (2D-?-2S) and then start cue-bidding. I suppose that has the best chance. On this hand, I was lucky, and it did not matter. Partner held AQ Kxx Axxxxx QJ. The 3rd Diamond was in the same hand as the K of Clubs, so the show up squeeze worked to make 7. At the other table, partners hand jumped to 3D over 1S, and they subsequently did bid the grand, but in Diamonds, where they had a trump loser, so we luckily won a bunch of IMPS.
The final slam decision I had was with J3 KQJ95 Q6 A942 all Vul. Partner opened 1S, and with the opps silent throughout, I bid 2H (GF). Partner now bid 3D, which we play does not show extras, but will not be a bad opener. I did not like the lack of fits, and bid 3N to slow the auction down and give a possible out. But partner bid 4D over that, showing the serious 2 suiter. I bid 4S over that, since my hand has been going downhill this entire auction, and partner made 1 more move with 5S (!) Now, A, what is that, and B, is my hand worth anything.
I finally decided that he was asking for stuff basically in his 2 suits, with maybe some consideration for A’s outside. The problem was, if he was going on because of my 2H call to start, say with 1 or 2 Hearts, I did not have the A in that suit. But I did have the A of the probable suit to be led, and I had a card in each of his suits, so this was presenting itself as a real problem. I finally decided that this looked a lot like a 4 or 6 hand, where it might be on a hook, and if so, I did not want to be in no-man’s land, so took the crazy push to 6S. As expected, the opening lead was a Club, allowing partner to pitch his singleton Heart on the A, and take the Diamond hook. When this was onside, he cashed the A of Spades, dropping the Q, and claimed. His hand was AKTxxxx x AJT98 ---. Not a slam of beauty, but it was a lucky day all around, and this was another in our favour.
All in all, we bid or defended 6 slams over the course of 54 boards, a fairly high percentage, and wound up with a slam swing in our favour on every one. Some of them were not that deserving, but they were interesting boards.
The first was during the KO's and is an exercise in adjusting the worth of a hand during an auction. You start with a very nice hand, AKQJ KQ95 AJ93 7 and open 1D in first seat (sometimes 5 card majors without a strong Roman bid can be interesting). This goes 1H on your left, P, P back to you. My hand has already started downhill, but still too strong to give up on. I thought the choices were an overstrength 1S and a flawed double. I decided to double, hoping I could survive the expected 2C call from partner with 2N. However, over the double, partner bid 1S, passed back to me.
At this time, my hand is decidedly overvalued with the Spade cards and positional Hearts. I actually thought about passing here, since partner having Spades on this auction and passing 1H was a strong warning. But after a little thought, pass was too pessimistic, and I bid 2S. I do not like anything stronger, and I think 2S in this auction should actually show a pretty good hand. Of course, partner was not getting away with any forward movement, she was going to be in game then But knowing that, she passed 2S.
The play was not that interesting, the opps slipped 1 trick and let partner make 3, the limit of the hand is actually 2S. Partner had a balanced hand, xxxx xxx Qx xxxx, with no spot cards. The opening lead went to the Heart A and the Heart return got ruffed, but the opps erred by signaling for and receiving a Diamond return, allowing partner to win and pull trumps, then they ducked the K of Diamonds when partner led a low Diamond off board.
At the other table, on the same start to the hand, my hand decided they had to have a great hand and raised 1S directly to 4S. This was not doubled, but they found the defense to beat it 2 tricks, for a small pickup.
Next few hands occurred during the swiss teams.
In the first match, I picked up this interesting hand, K KQ953 A98653 7 and decided to open 1H in first seat, to avoid a lot of bidding problems later. The opps were silent and over partners 1S, I bid 2D. Partner now bid 3C (4SF) and I bid 3D, figuring the smallest lie was about shape, rather than start a Diamond and lie about strength. Partner bid 4D over this. We had agreed that over explicit fits, 4 of a minor was BW in the minor, and I thought it should apply here, but we had not talked about this type of auction as an explicit fit (we did later and agreed on it), so I jumped to 6D, hoping for K fourth of Diamonds and any 2 Aces (partner can not have 3 Hearts on this auction). Partner was a good partner, putting down that exact hand, without the 3rd A, so 6D made easily for an 11 Imp win, the opps stopped in 3N at the other table. I do like partners 3C and 4D bids, he had primary support and Aces.
The next hand is from the same match, my LHO held this hand. Jxx AKQ Qx AQJxx Vul vs Not, and opened 1C in second seat. This went 2H on her right, Pass by partner, 3H on her left. After some thought, she doubled 3H, and her partner went 4D, which she passed. Her partner lost 3 Spade tricks and 1 Diamond trick for down 1, but they were cold for a Vul 3N, since her partner had Kxx of Clubs and the A of Diamonds, and the opps can only take 4 Spade tricks, if they lead them. At the table, she stated after the hand she was worried about the Spade suit, so did not bid 3N over 3H. BTW, my partner stated he went into full panic mode after P 1C and he held a Q, so he bid 2H at terrorist vulnerability (white vs red), hoping to make it hard for them to bid a slam.
Next was a difficult problem our opponents had from another match. You hold the following hand with no one vul, A3 AQJT5 K4 AKJ3 and open 2C after a pass on your right. Partner responds 2D showing some values (but no good suit), and over your 2H bid, raises to 3H. At the table, this person now bid 4N and after finding 1 KC, settled in 6H. The opening lead was a small Spade, and dummy put down Jx xxx Ax Qxxxxx. When the K of Hearts was onside but 4th, it was not possible to make the hand in 6H, but as can be seen, 6C is makeable.
At the table after the match was over, we were discussing this hand and thought that if the strong hand bid 4C over 3H, then bid 4N over either 4D or 4H by the other hand, the weaker hand should bid 6C to offer a choice of contracts. The problem with this is that it gives up on 7, and requires partner to have the good Clubs and not solid Hearts, so there is a problem in Hearts. I think standard bidders will always have a problem with this hand, I am sure a relay system that finds out partner has 3 Hearts and 6 Clubs will be able to get to 6C, but most people do not play that sophisticated of a system. At the other table, they play control responses, so the weaker hand bid 2H (not something I like), which now went 3H – 4H – Pass.
Next hand, you hold KJ9752 AQ K62 AT with no one vul, and hear partner open 1D. You bid 1S and partner bids 1N, showing a strong NT (15-17). You are now going to play in at least 6S on this hand, the question is, should you try for 7 with an upper limit of 34 on the hand. The 6th Spade and the fact partner opened 1D are plus factors, while the flat hand opposite flat hand with 6-8 HCP missing are negative factors. I eventually just bid 6S on the hand, since I was not sure how I can KC to find out about both the Q of Diamonds and Spades. In retrospect, I do not like my bid, since something like AQ Kxx AQxxx xxx, a minimum, gives me excellent play for the grand on almost any lead. The question is, how to find out about both Q’s without going past 6S. I don’t have any foolproof methods at this time. If I can force partner to KC in one of the suits, in theory he will be looking at the Q’s, and can decide. To do that, I will have to set Spades as trump (2D-?-2S) and then start cue-bidding. I suppose that has the best chance. On this hand, I was lucky, and it did not matter. Partner held AQ Kxx Axxxxx QJ. The 3rd Diamond was in the same hand as the K of Clubs, so the show up squeeze worked to make 7. At the other table, partners hand jumped to 3D over 1S, and they subsequently did bid the grand, but in Diamonds, where they had a trump loser, so we luckily won a bunch of IMPS.
The final slam decision I had was with J3 KQJ95 Q6 A942 all Vul. Partner opened 1S, and with the opps silent throughout, I bid 2H (GF). Partner now bid 3D, which we play does not show extras, but will not be a bad opener. I did not like the lack of fits, and bid 3N to slow the auction down and give a possible out. But partner bid 4D over that, showing the serious 2 suiter. I bid 4S over that, since my hand has been going downhill this entire auction, and partner made 1 more move with 5S (!) Now, A, what is that, and B, is my hand worth anything.
I finally decided that he was asking for stuff basically in his 2 suits, with maybe some consideration for A’s outside. The problem was, if he was going on because of my 2H call to start, say with 1 or 2 Hearts, I did not have the A in that suit. But I did have the A of the probable suit to be led, and I had a card in each of his suits, so this was presenting itself as a real problem. I finally decided that this looked a lot like a 4 or 6 hand, where it might be on a hook, and if so, I did not want to be in no-man’s land, so took the crazy push to 6S. As expected, the opening lead was a Club, allowing partner to pitch his singleton Heart on the A, and take the Diamond hook. When this was onside, he cashed the A of Spades, dropping the Q, and claimed. His hand was AKTxxxx x AJT98 ---. Not a slam of beauty, but it was a lucky day all around, and this was another in our favour.
All in all, we bid or defended 6 slams over the course of 54 boards, a fairly high percentage, and wound up with a slam swing in our favour on every one. Some of them were not that deserving, but they were interesting boards.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
How Good
This hand came up playing in a P/U team match this weekend. No one vul, you pick up A32 AQ7642 A K87 and open 1H in first seat. Partner bids 2C over this, and you decide to jump to 3H, over which partner bids 4H, now what?
First, I think I would have bid 2H over 2C, I want to see what partner is going to do, but over 4H, the question is, do you bid again. I think the answer has to be yes, you have every control in the deck, and partner made the 2/1 in the suit you wanted it in, Clubs. Any kind of decent Club suit, with the K of Hearts and 1 or 2 backers, has to give you good play for slam. Opposite a hand like xxx Kxx xx Axxxx, you will not have play on a Spade lead, but even opposite that, you would have play on a Diamond lead, and that is about worst case.
At our table, this hand passed over the 4H bid, and his partner put down Qxx Kxx QTx AQJx, for a claimer 6. Not sure what that hand was supposed to do different over 3H, since looking at 2 quick losers in each side suit with a flat hand, needs a very good hand from partner to make a slam. And with that good of a hand, the other hand should be going on.
At the other table, the auction was funny, but worked out for them, and they will consider themselves great bidders. On the same auction, the 2C hand bid 4N over the 3H bid, then bid 6H. Since it turned out everything worked, it made, but I think the 4N/6H bids are losing bids in the long run.
First, I think I would have bid 2H over 2C, I want to see what partner is going to do, but over 4H, the question is, do you bid again. I think the answer has to be yes, you have every control in the deck, and partner made the 2/1 in the suit you wanted it in, Clubs. Any kind of decent Club suit, with the K of Hearts and 1 or 2 backers, has to give you good play for slam. Opposite a hand like xxx Kxx xx Axxxx, you will not have play on a Spade lead, but even opposite that, you would have play on a Diamond lead, and that is about worst case.
At our table, this hand passed over the 4H bid, and his partner put down Qxx Kxx QTx AQJx, for a claimer 6. Not sure what that hand was supposed to do different over 3H, since looking at 2 quick losers in each side suit with a flat hand, needs a very good hand from partner to make a slam. And with that good of a hand, the other hand should be going on.
At the other table, the auction was funny, but worked out for them, and they will consider themselves great bidders. On the same auction, the 2C hand bid 4N over the 3H bid, then bid 6H. Since it turned out everything worked, it made, but I think the 4N/6H bids are losing bids in the long run.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
An Unusual Ruff
Playing in our weekly IMPS League Wed Night, I had a situation come up that I think is unique in my too long bridge history. I opened 1 of a major (not a psyche), wound up playing in the other major, and scored a ruff of the first major in my hand as the contract going trick.
With no one Vul, I picked up this hand in 3rd seat, K432 AQ87 Q42 85 and heard it go 2 passes to me. I don’t normally like to open that light, even in 3rd seat, but wanted to get in the majors if possible, so opened 1H. This went 2D on my left (so much for even holding a bad opener) and partner made a neg double, passed back to me. I had an easy 2S bid, which partner raised to 3S, ending the auction. The opening lead was the Q of Spades (ouch) and this dummy appeared, A875 953 K2 QJT4, not bad, but this is still going to need some work. I actually agree with 3S by pard, since I do not tend to open light in third seat, he has a good hand, it was my problem for doing it this time.
I won the K of Spades in my hand, did not want to duck in case that was a singleton, and led a Club out of my hand. LHO won the K of Clubs, while RHO played the 2, and continued with the 10 of Spades to the A on board, RHO following. I continued the Q of Clubs off board and LHO won the A (Nice Hand) and led out the J of Spades, RHO pitching a Diamond. Finally, LHO exited a Club to board, RHO following. I pitched my 2 little Hearts on the 2 Clubs, hooked the Heart (LHO at least did not have that card as well) and claimed, giving up a Diamond to the A to LHO and ruffing the losing Heart on board in my hand, after having opened 1H.
The other nice hand was a great defense by my partner. I held K98 QT52 K983 64 all Vul and heard it go a Strong (15-17) NT on my left, passed to me. Not liking total suicide bids, I asked partner to lead, and got the 4 of Spades (3 and 5). Dummy tracked with QJ6 J843 75 K752 and declarer put up the Q of Spades, covered by the K and A. Declarer played a med Club to the K and back to the 10 and Partners J, after some thought, partner played the 10 of Spades, which held the trick. Next, partner led the 2 of Spades to the J on Board, declarer also following. When Declarer now played a small Club off board, I played a small Diamond (lavinthal), indicating a preference for a Heart switch. This went to the Q and partners A, and partner cashed the 13th Spade, with all 3 of us pitching small Hearts. Now partner made a great play of the K of Hearts, which declarer won with the A, and led his remaining small Club to the 7 on board, partner pitching a small Heart while I threw a second Diamond. When declarer came off board with a little Diamond, I flew with the K and declarer won the A (not wanting to be endplayed into playing Hearts from my side). A small Diamond went to my partners Q, and I claimed the last 2 tricks with the QT of Hearts over the J, for down 1.
With no one Vul, I picked up this hand in 3rd seat, K432 AQ87 Q42 85 and heard it go 2 passes to me. I don’t normally like to open that light, even in 3rd seat, but wanted to get in the majors if possible, so opened 1H. This went 2D on my left (so much for even holding a bad opener) and partner made a neg double, passed back to me. I had an easy 2S bid, which partner raised to 3S, ending the auction. The opening lead was the Q of Spades (ouch) and this dummy appeared, A875 953 K2 QJT4, not bad, but this is still going to need some work. I actually agree with 3S by pard, since I do not tend to open light in third seat, he has a good hand, it was my problem for doing it this time.
I won the K of Spades in my hand, did not want to duck in case that was a singleton, and led a Club out of my hand. LHO won the K of Clubs, while RHO played the 2, and continued with the 10 of Spades to the A on board, RHO following. I continued the Q of Clubs off board and LHO won the A (Nice Hand) and led out the J of Spades, RHO pitching a Diamond. Finally, LHO exited a Club to board, RHO following. I pitched my 2 little Hearts on the 2 Clubs, hooked the Heart (LHO at least did not have that card as well) and claimed, giving up a Diamond to the A to LHO and ruffing the losing Heart on board in my hand, after having opened 1H.
The other nice hand was a great defense by my partner. I held K98 QT52 K983 64 all Vul and heard it go a Strong (15-17) NT on my left, passed to me. Not liking total suicide bids, I asked partner to lead, and got the 4 of Spades (3 and 5). Dummy tracked with QJ6 J843 75 K752 and declarer put up the Q of Spades, covered by the K and A. Declarer played a med Club to the K and back to the 10 and Partners J, after some thought, partner played the 10 of Spades, which held the trick. Next, partner led the 2 of Spades to the J on Board, declarer also following. When Declarer now played a small Club off board, I played a small Diamond (lavinthal), indicating a preference for a Heart switch. This went to the Q and partners A, and partner cashed the 13th Spade, with all 3 of us pitching small Hearts. Now partner made a great play of the K of Hearts, which declarer won with the A, and led his remaining small Club to the 7 on board, partner pitching a small Heart while I threw a second Diamond. When declarer came off board with a little Diamond, I flew with the K and declarer won the A (not wanting to be endplayed into playing Hearts from my side). A small Diamond went to my partners Q, and I claimed the last 2 tricks with the QT of Hearts over the J, for down 1.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Teams Action
Playing with a good partner in a team game on BBO, had the following 2 interesting hands come up. First, you pick up 983 A AKJT753 J3, All Vul, and open 1D in first seat. This goes P and pard jumps to 4S, P back to you, so now what.
I know this is a sign-off in Spades, but I have an awful good hand in support of Spades, basically a 2 loser hand. If partner has AK 7th of Spades and a singleton Club, then slam is a pretty good option. So the question is, do you proceed forward and if so, how. Answering the second and easier question first, if I am going to bid, I would bid 5H over 4S. This has to be a cue-bid in support of Spades, else why introduce a new suit at the 5 level, and would let partner decide somewhat intelligently based on his Club holding (I hope). That is, if it is read correctly, I have played in these kind of less than elegant contracts at the 5 level before.
But back to the first part of the question, should I bid on. I think this is the tougher question and is based on how much you really trust partners bid. I think the bid should show solid or semi-solid Spades, and no control in any outside suits, basically 2+ losers in each. Otherwise there is no intelligent way for partner to bid. If that is the case, I should not bid on, since I do not have control of all outside suits, and my 5H bid would pinpoint the problem to the opps. After some anguish, I did pass at the table, and the opening lead was a Club, the opps cashing 2 Clubs winners and partner claiming right after with AKQJxxx xxx x xx, about what he should have.
The second hand, you hold QT62 AQ K7 A7432 No one Vul, and hear it go P – P – 2S to you. I thought the options here were P and 2N, I did not plan on doubling and hear partner jump in Hearts, or bid 3C on that suit. P is probably the better call on this hand, if partner can not act, you will stay out of the trouble you might get into over 2N, and if partner has enough to act over 2N, he will balance with a Double on many hands. With all that, I decided to bid 2N anyways, and partner raised this to 3N, ending the auction. The opening lead was the Q of Clubs, and partner put down a nice hand K KTxxx Q9xx Kxx, looks like passing 2S would have definitely worked well, but we are in 3N.
I played low on the Q of Clubs, planning on ducking it to start, and RHO played the 9 of Clubs on it. Wanting to help them a little with their signalling, I played the 4 of Clubs, and LHO continued the J of Clubs. I played the K on that, and RHO surprised me by also following, giving me 4 Club tricks to start. Communications were going to be interesting on this hand since most values and tricks were in short suits, so I decided to start unblocking with the K of Spades, figuring if RHO won the A, any shift would be good. Sure enough, he won and played a low Diamond. That got me up to trick 8 with no problems, but I needed to work out number 9 now, the K of Hearts could provide it, but communication was going to be a problem. This is where I did not do well on the hand. I need to try and force a late entry to dummy, so I should rise with the K of Diamonds, hoping that LHO wins it. If he returns a Diamond, I am back to the same position, but any other return leaves me with 9 tricks now.
LHO inserted the 10 of Diamonds, and I won the Q, even though in retrospect it is probably better to duck this. Now I was on board and decided to see what the opps would pitch on the Clubs, so I ran the 3 Club tricks, pitching 2 Hearts from board, and coming down to this position and needing 4 more tricks.
---
KTx
9xx
---
QTx
AQ
K
---
LHO had pitched a Spade and a Heart on the Clubs, while RHO pitched 2 Spades and a Heart. I assumed now that LHO was down to Jxx of Hearts and AJx of Diamonds, while RHO maintained Jxx of Spades with 1 Heart and 2 Diamonds. Playing for that, I cashed the 2 Hearts, the J did not appear and RHO pitched a Spade, then the Q of Spades, on which LHO threw a Diamond, and finally the K of Diamonds. All was going well until RHO won the A of Diamonds (oops), cashed the J of Spades and exited a Diamond. The lack of the K of Diamonds play should have cost me, but LHO, in a fit of sleepiness and generosity, threw the J of Diamonds on the J of Spades instead of the J of Hearts, and let the 9 of Diamonds score the last trick for making.
Partly OK played, but not thinking on the nice small Diamond return by RHO when in with the A of Spades should have cost me. I kept assuming that LHO had the A of Diamonds and was on his way to being endplayed, but there is still no reason not to play the K of Diamonds and start to find out. On this hand, when it wins, I have a better assumption of the correct position of the Diamonds, and can easily end-play RHO for trick 9 by ducking a Diamond after cashing out.
I know this is a sign-off in Spades, but I have an awful good hand in support of Spades, basically a 2 loser hand. If partner has AK 7th of Spades and a singleton Club, then slam is a pretty good option. So the question is, do you proceed forward and if so, how. Answering the second and easier question first, if I am going to bid, I would bid 5H over 4S. This has to be a cue-bid in support of Spades, else why introduce a new suit at the 5 level, and would let partner decide somewhat intelligently based on his Club holding (I hope). That is, if it is read correctly, I have played in these kind of less than elegant contracts at the 5 level before.
But back to the first part of the question, should I bid on. I think this is the tougher question and is based on how much you really trust partners bid. I think the bid should show solid or semi-solid Spades, and no control in any outside suits, basically 2+ losers in each. Otherwise there is no intelligent way for partner to bid. If that is the case, I should not bid on, since I do not have control of all outside suits, and my 5H bid would pinpoint the problem to the opps. After some anguish, I did pass at the table, and the opening lead was a Club, the opps cashing 2 Clubs winners and partner claiming right after with AKQJxxx xxx x xx, about what he should have.
The second hand, you hold QT62 AQ K7 A7432 No one Vul, and hear it go P – P – 2S to you. I thought the options here were P and 2N, I did not plan on doubling and hear partner jump in Hearts, or bid 3C on that suit. P is probably the better call on this hand, if partner can not act, you will stay out of the trouble you might get into over 2N, and if partner has enough to act over 2N, he will balance with a Double on many hands. With all that, I decided to bid 2N anyways, and partner raised this to 3N, ending the auction. The opening lead was the Q of Clubs, and partner put down a nice hand K KTxxx Q9xx Kxx, looks like passing 2S would have definitely worked well, but we are in 3N.
I played low on the Q of Clubs, planning on ducking it to start, and RHO played the 9 of Clubs on it. Wanting to help them a little with their signalling, I played the 4 of Clubs, and LHO continued the J of Clubs. I played the K on that, and RHO surprised me by also following, giving me 4 Club tricks to start. Communications were going to be interesting on this hand since most values and tricks were in short suits, so I decided to start unblocking with the K of Spades, figuring if RHO won the A, any shift would be good. Sure enough, he won and played a low Diamond. That got me up to trick 8 with no problems, but I needed to work out number 9 now, the K of Hearts could provide it, but communication was going to be a problem. This is where I did not do well on the hand. I need to try and force a late entry to dummy, so I should rise with the K of Diamonds, hoping that LHO wins it. If he returns a Diamond, I am back to the same position, but any other return leaves me with 9 tricks now.
LHO inserted the 10 of Diamonds, and I won the Q, even though in retrospect it is probably better to duck this. Now I was on board and decided to see what the opps would pitch on the Clubs, so I ran the 3 Club tricks, pitching 2 Hearts from board, and coming down to this position and needing 4 more tricks.
---
KTx
9xx
---
QTx
AQ
K
---
LHO had pitched a Spade and a Heart on the Clubs, while RHO pitched 2 Spades and a Heart. I assumed now that LHO was down to Jxx of Hearts and AJx of Diamonds, while RHO maintained Jxx of Spades with 1 Heart and 2 Diamonds. Playing for that, I cashed the 2 Hearts, the J did not appear and RHO pitched a Spade, then the Q of Spades, on which LHO threw a Diamond, and finally the K of Diamonds. All was going well until RHO won the A of Diamonds (oops), cashed the J of Spades and exited a Diamond. The lack of the K of Diamonds play should have cost me, but LHO, in a fit of sleepiness and generosity, threw the J of Diamonds on the J of Spades instead of the J of Hearts, and let the 9 of Diamonds score the last trick for making.
Partly OK played, but not thinking on the nice small Diamond return by RHO when in with the A of Spades should have cost me. I kept assuming that LHO had the A of Diamonds and was on his way to being endplayed, but there is still no reason not to play the K of Diamonds and start to find out. On this hand, when it wins, I have a better assumption of the correct position of the Diamonds, and can easily end-play RHO for trick 9 by ducking a Diamond after cashing out.
Friday, March 19, 2010
A Proper Expert
Playing with a new person from Canada in a pick up game last night, I got reminded that the term ‘Expert’ is vastly overused on BBO. This lady describes herself as Advanced on her Bio, but she was far more of a pleasure to play with and way mode advanced than a lot of Experts I have played with, I hope I get the chance to have another game with her.
The board that most impressed me was a tough contract I placed her in, that she handled very well. (I only overbid a little, honest) I held the following hand, with no one vul, AT86 AJ953 AQ95 --- and heard partner open 1D in first seat, a definite good start. I bid 1H and partner bid 1N, so I reversed into 2S, trying to create a forcing auction, and partner jumped to 3N, I assumed showing a min, with at least some wastage in Clubs, and probably somewhere around a 2254 or 3244 type hand. I persisted with 4D, and partner bid 4S, which I hoped and assumed was encouraging, so ended the auction with a jump to 6D. The 4S bid and lack of any Club bids were the encouraging things partner had done. Now all my advanced level partner (I had looked previously) had to do was make the contract I had dumped her in.
The opening lead was a small Diamond, and she held QJx Kx KT8x QTxx, a min, but some nice cards in our 3 suits, and the non-Club lead actually helps the timing now. She let the Diamond ride to the 8 in her hand and set about on the side suits immediately, not pulling trump as I feared she might. The Q of Spades lost to the K on her right, and a Diamond came back to the J and boards A. She now played a Heart to the K and back to the A (I assumed to ruff 1-2 Hearts, rather than try to guess the Q), and the Q dropped on her right. Ruff a Heart high, pull the last trump, and claim. I thought her timing on a tough hand was excellent and congratulated her on her timing and line of play on the hand. At the other table, the auction started the same, except after 2S, the other hand bid 2N, my hand bid 3D, and the other hand jumped to 6D (!). This caused my hand to start thinking, and he went on to 7D, down 1.
The next hand, partner held KQTx QJxx Jx Axx and over 1D – 1H by the opponents, came in with a 1S bid, that bought the hand. The opening lead was the 10 of Hearts and dummy came down with 98x xxx A10xxx Jx. The AK of Hearts were cashed on her right, and a third Heart ruffed by LHO. LHO cashed the A of Spades, and switched to the K of Clubs. She allowed this to hold, won the Q of Clubs with the A, and ruffed a Club on board. Now when she played a Spade to her K, LHO showed out, leaving her with these cards, QT Q Jx --opposite 9 – Atxx -- with the lead in her hand, for a fun ending. She played the J of Diamonds letting it ride, losing to the Q, but now when a Club came back, she lost control of the hand and went down 1. I told her after, if she cashed the Q of Hearts, A of Diamonds, and exited a Diamond, she must win the last 2 tricks to make the hand exactly, sort of a trump coupe aided by the opps.
Another point that I hound on, but it is important, you can get a pretty good inferential count on this hand at this point. You know that RHO has 4 Hearts and 4 Spades, and RHO opened 1D with 9 cards in the minors. If LHO has 2 Diamonds, then RHO opened 1D with 4 Diamonds and 5 Good Clubs, not impossible, but more probable that Clubs are 4-4, making RHO either 4414 or possibly 4405. In either case, you need to get your A of Diamonds before it is not available.
The board that most impressed me was a tough contract I placed her in, that she handled very well. (I only overbid a little, honest) I held the following hand, with no one vul, AT86 AJ953 AQ95 --- and heard partner open 1D in first seat, a definite good start. I bid 1H and partner bid 1N, so I reversed into 2S, trying to create a forcing auction, and partner jumped to 3N, I assumed showing a min, with at least some wastage in Clubs, and probably somewhere around a 2254 or 3244 type hand. I persisted with 4D, and partner bid 4S, which I hoped and assumed was encouraging, so ended the auction with a jump to 6D. The 4S bid and lack of any Club bids were the encouraging things partner had done. Now all my advanced level partner (I had looked previously) had to do was make the contract I had dumped her in.
The opening lead was a small Diamond, and she held QJx Kx KT8x QTxx, a min, but some nice cards in our 3 suits, and the non-Club lead actually helps the timing now. She let the Diamond ride to the 8 in her hand and set about on the side suits immediately, not pulling trump as I feared she might. The Q of Spades lost to the K on her right, and a Diamond came back to the J and boards A. She now played a Heart to the K and back to the A (I assumed to ruff 1-2 Hearts, rather than try to guess the Q), and the Q dropped on her right. Ruff a Heart high, pull the last trump, and claim. I thought her timing on a tough hand was excellent and congratulated her on her timing and line of play on the hand. At the other table, the auction started the same, except after 2S, the other hand bid 2N, my hand bid 3D, and the other hand jumped to 6D (!). This caused my hand to start thinking, and he went on to 7D, down 1.
The next hand, partner held KQTx QJxx Jx Axx and over 1D – 1H by the opponents, came in with a 1S bid, that bought the hand. The opening lead was the 10 of Hearts and dummy came down with 98x xxx A10xxx Jx. The AK of Hearts were cashed on her right, and a third Heart ruffed by LHO. LHO cashed the A of Spades, and switched to the K of Clubs. She allowed this to hold, won the Q of Clubs with the A, and ruffed a Club on board. Now when she played a Spade to her K, LHO showed out, leaving her with these cards, QT Q Jx --opposite 9 – Atxx -- with the lead in her hand, for a fun ending. She played the J of Diamonds letting it ride, losing to the Q, but now when a Club came back, she lost control of the hand and went down 1. I told her after, if she cashed the Q of Hearts, A of Diamonds, and exited a Diamond, she must win the last 2 tricks to make the hand exactly, sort of a trump coupe aided by the opps.
Another point that I hound on, but it is important, you can get a pretty good inferential count on this hand at this point. You know that RHO has 4 Hearts and 4 Spades, and RHO opened 1D with 9 cards in the minors. If LHO has 2 Diamonds, then RHO opened 1D with 4 Diamonds and 5 Good Clubs, not impossible, but more probable that Clubs are 4-4, making RHO either 4414 or possibly 4405. In either case, you need to get your A of Diamonds before it is not available.
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