When you are playing with an exhuberant partner, many interesting things can happen, especially if you are not shy yourself. This hand came up last night at our IMPS League, playing against a young but good team. I held 653 K86432 6 K97 with everyone vul. Partner opened 1D in first seat and RHO bid 2C. I decided that I wasn't missing much unless partner bid again, and I didn't like coming in with a bad suit and effective 3 count.
This went P on my left, and partner re-opened with a double. This can quite often be a strong NT, since we play a weak NT system. RHO passed, and I decided I now liked my hand, so jumped to 4H, ending the auction. The opening lead was the A of Clubs, and a somewhat dissapointing dummy came down.
Partner was certainly feeling as energetic as I was on this board, but we are here and at least the Club lead was helpful. If the A of Spades is onside, there is not that much to worry about with this aggresive game. Just not sure it is when the A and another Club get led, and LHO could not take a call.
First order of business is to win the second Club, and play a Heart to the A and another to the K. RHO started with the stiff J, and pitched a Club on the 2nd Heart. Now, ruff a Club to board to eliminate that suit as LHO sheds a Spade, then off board with a small Diamond, since I do not have the spot cards to lead up to it. RHO wins the J of Diamonds, then thinks for a minute and returns the A of Diamonds. I ruff this and play a Spade to the K and RHO's A, then win the J of Spades return on board. Play the Q of Diamonds, ruff the K when it appears, Heart to board for a Spade pitch on the 10 of Diamonds, and claim 10 tricks.
As I told RHO later, he probably needs to count out my hand and realize that the J of Spades out when in with the J of Diamonds destroys my communication, and can not really cost. Anyways, they did not find this bid at the other table, so that became a 10 IMP pickup, instead of a 6 IMP loss. Partner said after the hand he thought I must be waiting with a penalty pass for a reopening double, so wanted to oblige me.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
A Routine 24 Imp Swing
Had a truly wild hand this week in a practice match on BBO. Our opps at our table did really well to score the max possible on the hand, or so we thought. Turns out our partners at the other table had us totally covered, even if we got a magic plus score, we were not going to cover their score :)
Here is the hand from our table
My partner was a bit exuberant with the S hand, yes, E overcalled 1D not 1H, we assume it was a mis-click, but he did not ask for an undo. The negative double deserved to have me jump in Hearts, but the opps did. It served to get us to Spades.
When E pulled the double of 4S (which was going to be hard to make but had some chances if guess most things right) to 5H, and his partner re-doubled, the play was not very exciting. We were quickly minus 1200 on the board, and did not figure this could be good. Little did we know.
Here is the other table however :)
The auction needs a little explanation, 2D was multi, usually a weak 2 in a major, 3C showed an overcall in Clubs, limited, and E thought the opps could make anything they wanted, so he jumped to 6H, which he thought was pass or correct. We were still losing a bunch of IMPS on this, but when it came back to him Doubled, he thought partner had decided it was to play, not pass or correct, so he decided to make his own correction, assuming partner would now put him in their suit. W decided he had made his choice, and he had the Q of Spades, so since it sounded like partner was walking the dog, he sat the Double, as did E. The hand did not play well in 6S Doubled. I think they can hold it to 2 tricks, but holding it to 3 worked out well.
The +1200 at one table and +2900 at the other works out to 24 IMPS, not a record, but a healthy portion of one. We managed to win on the other boards, but that proved a little difficult to overcome.
At least everyone had a good laugh.
Here is the hand from our table
My partner was a bit exuberant with the S hand, yes, E overcalled 1D not 1H, we assume it was a mis-click, but he did not ask for an undo. The negative double deserved to have me jump in Hearts, but the opps did. It served to get us to Spades.
When E pulled the double of 4S (which was going to be hard to make but had some chances if guess most things right) to 5H, and his partner re-doubled, the play was not very exciting. We were quickly minus 1200 on the board, and did not figure this could be good. Little did we know.
Here is the other table however :)
The auction needs a little explanation, 2D was multi, usually a weak 2 in a major, 3C showed an overcall in Clubs, limited, and E thought the opps could make anything they wanted, so he jumped to 6H, which he thought was pass or correct. We were still losing a bunch of IMPS on this, but when it came back to him Doubled, he thought partner had decided it was to play, not pass or correct, so he decided to make his own correction, assuming partner would now put him in their suit. W decided he had made his choice, and he had the Q of Spades, so since it sounded like partner was walking the dog, he sat the Double, as did E. The hand did not play well in 6S Doubled. I think they can hold it to 2 tricks, but holding it to 3 worked out well.
The +1200 at one table and +2900 at the other works out to 24 IMPS, not a record, but a healthy portion of one. We managed to win on the other boards, but that proved a little difficult to overcome.
At least everyone had a good laugh.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
More Fun Slam Hands
Had 2 more interesting slam hands this week. The first occurred at our weekly IMPS League match. I picked up the following hand with everyone VUL, QT97 --- AJ975 Q964 and heard partner open 1D, with RHO overcalling 1H. I wanted to get the Spades in along with the Diamond support, so I made a slightly offshape Fit Jump with 2S. This went Double on my left (alerted as showing a Heart Honour), and 4C by partner. We play most jumps like this as splinters, so that certainly improved my hand. However, even with the announced double fit and lack of quick losers, my hand was still pretty min. RHO doubled 4C, and I cue-bid 4H anyways, since nothing I had heard so far was too bad. LHO doubled this again, and partner bid 4S. RHO passed, and I attempted to sign off in 5D. LHO (who should have probably done this earlier), not bid 5H, and partner bid 5S over that. RHO passed, and with partner bidding freely again, I thought slam should have some play. However, forgetting the golden rule that you need lots of trumps if you are planning a cross-ruff, I bid 6C to allow partner to take a choice. He chose 6S, ending the auction.
N E S W
1D 1H 2S DBL
4C DBL 4H DBL
4S P 5D 5H
5S P 6C P
6S P P P
The opening lead was the K of Hearts and this dummy tracked.
AK73 943 KQT86 10
QT97 --- AJ975 Q964
The good news is I wasn’t down off the top, the bad news is I had a lot of work to do for that 12th trick. Even if I was able to ruff the 3 Hearts in my hand, I was not sure how I was going to get back to dummy to pull trumps, under the assumption that they were 3-2. Finally, deciding I needed some help from the opps on this, I led a Club towards the dummy at trick 2. LHO stepped up with the J of Clubs and obliged by leading a 2nd Heart back for me to ruff. Finally seeing some light, I ruffed this, played a Diamond to board as both followed, ruffed the last Heart, cashed the Q of Spades, ruffed a Club to board, and claimed as the Spades were 3-2.
They could not quite match this at the other table, so we won 12 IMPS. Would have been a lot easier if I had just bid 6D over 5S. That is pretty easy to make. My LHO was not thinking about my problem on defense though. If she just returns almost anything but a Heart after winning the J of Clubs, my timing is shot on the hand, and I am not sure there is much I can do at that point.
The next hand comes from the Sun Aft MP game at our local club. Playing with a regular partner, Vul vs NV opps, I picked up the following nice hand, AKJ42 --- AQ63 AK83, these Heart voids seem a common theme. My RHO started the proceedings with a 3H bid, and I bid 4H, not really wanting partner to pass 3H Doubled when I had no Heart to lead. LHO bid 5H, partner doubled, and P back to me. The Double here should show some values, but not enough to bid over 5H. We did not really play it as pure penalty. So I decided that we should play in a slam, and why should I guess wrong. I bid 5N, and partner converted this to 6D, ending the auction.
The opening lead was the A Hearts, and this is what partner saw.
AKJ42 --- AQ63 AK83
985 K95 KT52 J74
There is hope on the contract, and it looks like 6D is better than 6S, will just have to see if can be made and how it scores. The opening lead was ruffed and the AQ of Diamonds cashed. RHO played the 47 and LHO followed with the 9 before pitching a small Heart. So problems.
Talking about it after, we decided that the best line seemed to be to cash the AK of Spades now. Anytime they were 3-2, the hand was cold. And anytime the Q of Spades came down singleton or doubleton, the hand was cold or making 7. Also, on this line, you could afford to cash the K Hearts to pitch the Club losers, without having to worry.
Partner actually played the last 2 rounds of Diamonds then took the Spade hook, losing to the doubleton Q. Fortunately, that person led a Heart back, so the slam still make. It turns out it was always going to make, since the Q Clubs was also doubleton, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a scary moment or 2 when the Spade hook lost.
N E S W
1D 1H 2S DBL
4C DBL 4H DBL
4S P 5D 5H
5S P 6C P
6S P P P
The opening lead was the K of Hearts and this dummy tracked.
AK73 943 KQT86 10
QT97 --- AJ975 Q964
The good news is I wasn’t down off the top, the bad news is I had a lot of work to do for that 12th trick. Even if I was able to ruff the 3 Hearts in my hand, I was not sure how I was going to get back to dummy to pull trumps, under the assumption that they were 3-2. Finally, deciding I needed some help from the opps on this, I led a Club towards the dummy at trick 2. LHO stepped up with the J of Clubs and obliged by leading a 2nd Heart back for me to ruff. Finally seeing some light, I ruffed this, played a Diamond to board as both followed, ruffed the last Heart, cashed the Q of Spades, ruffed a Club to board, and claimed as the Spades were 3-2.
They could not quite match this at the other table, so we won 12 IMPS. Would have been a lot easier if I had just bid 6D over 5S. That is pretty easy to make. My LHO was not thinking about my problem on defense though. If she just returns almost anything but a Heart after winning the J of Clubs, my timing is shot on the hand, and I am not sure there is much I can do at that point.
The next hand comes from the Sun Aft MP game at our local club. Playing with a regular partner, Vul vs NV opps, I picked up the following nice hand, AKJ42 --- AQ63 AK83, these Heart voids seem a common theme. My RHO started the proceedings with a 3H bid, and I bid 4H, not really wanting partner to pass 3H Doubled when I had no Heart to lead. LHO bid 5H, partner doubled, and P back to me. The Double here should show some values, but not enough to bid over 5H. We did not really play it as pure penalty. So I decided that we should play in a slam, and why should I guess wrong. I bid 5N, and partner converted this to 6D, ending the auction.
The opening lead was the A Hearts, and this is what partner saw.
AKJ42 --- AQ63 AK83
985 K95 KT52 J74
There is hope on the contract, and it looks like 6D is better than 6S, will just have to see if can be made and how it scores. The opening lead was ruffed and the AQ of Diamonds cashed. RHO played the 47 and LHO followed with the 9 before pitching a small Heart. So problems.
Talking about it after, we decided that the best line seemed to be to cash the AK of Spades now. Anytime they were 3-2, the hand was cold. And anytime the Q of Spades came down singleton or doubleton, the hand was cold or making 7. Also, on this line, you could afford to cash the K Hearts to pitch the Club losers, without having to worry.
Partner actually played the last 2 rounds of Diamonds then took the Spade hook, losing to the doubleton Q. Fortunately, that person led a Heart back, so the slam still make. It turns out it was always going to make, since the Q Clubs was also doubleton, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a scary moment or 2 when the Spade hook lost.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Couple of Slam Decisions
Got a couple of interesting slam hands from the last 2 weekends for everyone to consider.
The first, Playing IMPS with no one vul, you open 1S in first seat with KQ9764 853 AQ4 6, and partner bids 2H over this. You raise to 3H, and then bid 4D over partners 4C call. Partner now bids 4N (RKC), you bid 5C showing 1, and partner now bids 5D, asking about the Q. Without it, you bid 5H, partner bids 5S, you show your second round Club control with 6C, and partner bids 6D. So now what. Here is the full auction.
You Partner
1S 2H
3H 4C
4D 4N
5C 5D
5H 5S
6C 6D
?
First, what does partner have? He has to have all the KC’s and the Q of Trump to be interested in going past 6H, which he obviously is. So what is a possible hand, something like Ax AKQxx xxx Axx, assuming partner does not have 3 Spades. Is that enough for this auction, or does he need 1 more card. And finally, opposite that, is it a good grand? If partner has a 6th Heart, then the grand is better, but opposite that hand, you need a couple of Club ruffs, and hope you have no Heart loser. And even opposite that hand, if Spades and Hearts do not behave, there is no late entry to the Spades on a supposed Diamond lead.
With needing both suits splitting, that hand will not produce a grand that fits into the correct odds. If you need a board or a good swing, then it is probably worth bidding, but I am not sure I would want to be there without something else. Almost wish you had bid 2S instead of 3H over the 2H bid. Assuming you bid 6H, partner will subside.
Partners hand was AT AKQ64 83 AKJ7, and with Hearts splitting 3-2 and no Club overruffs coming, the hand made 7.
The next hand is again at IMPS, and happened during our final playdowns for the CNTC within our unit. Vul vs Not, you pick up KQ9 AQ865 AJ3 Q7. Partner deals and opens 1C, and then bids 2C over your 1H bid. You want to create a force, and find out about Heart Support, so bid 2D, and partner raises that to 3D. So now what?
Specific bids here are 4D is RKC, and 4N is quantitative.
At the table, this hand bid 4N quantitative, and partner bid 5D over that. This hand now bid 6N, ending the auction. The 2 hands are:
J2 4 KQ95 AJT986
KQ9 AQ865 AJ3 Q7
6N went down 1 when Clubs were 4-1 onside, so the K could not be picked up. The interesting part of the hand is that 6C can make on the trump coupe, assuming you ruff a Heart early. This is a matter of good technique, so hopefully would have been done, but we will never know. During the discussion afterwards, we made the point that if this hand was going to go to a slam over 5D, then 6C is the better bid, since the balanced part of the hand was already shown. This would have led to the makeable slam, and tested my declarer play.
The first, Playing IMPS with no one vul, you open 1S in first seat with KQ9764 853 AQ4 6, and partner bids 2H over this. You raise to 3H, and then bid 4D over partners 4C call. Partner now bids 4N (RKC), you bid 5C showing 1, and partner now bids 5D, asking about the Q. Without it, you bid 5H, partner bids 5S, you show your second round Club control with 6C, and partner bids 6D. So now what. Here is the full auction.
You Partner
1S 2H
3H 4C
4D 4N
5C 5D
5H 5S
6C 6D
?
First, what does partner have? He has to have all the KC’s and the Q of Trump to be interested in going past 6H, which he obviously is. So what is a possible hand, something like Ax AKQxx xxx Axx, assuming partner does not have 3 Spades. Is that enough for this auction, or does he need 1 more card. And finally, opposite that, is it a good grand? If partner has a 6th Heart, then the grand is better, but opposite that hand, you need a couple of Club ruffs, and hope you have no Heart loser. And even opposite that hand, if Spades and Hearts do not behave, there is no late entry to the Spades on a supposed Diamond lead.
With needing both suits splitting, that hand will not produce a grand that fits into the correct odds. If you need a board or a good swing, then it is probably worth bidding, but I am not sure I would want to be there without something else. Almost wish you had bid 2S instead of 3H over the 2H bid. Assuming you bid 6H, partner will subside.
Partners hand was AT AKQ64 83 AKJ7, and with Hearts splitting 3-2 and no Club overruffs coming, the hand made 7.
The next hand is again at IMPS, and happened during our final playdowns for the CNTC within our unit. Vul vs Not, you pick up KQ9 AQ865 AJ3 Q7. Partner deals and opens 1C, and then bids 2C over your 1H bid. You want to create a force, and find out about Heart Support, so bid 2D, and partner raises that to 3D. So now what?
Specific bids here are 4D is RKC, and 4N is quantitative.
At the table, this hand bid 4N quantitative, and partner bid 5D over that. This hand now bid 6N, ending the auction. The 2 hands are:
J2 4 KQ95 AJT986
KQ9 AQ865 AJ3 Q7
6N went down 1 when Clubs were 4-1 onside, so the K could not be picked up. The interesting part of the hand is that 6C can make on the trump coupe, assuming you ruff a Heart early. This is a matter of good technique, so hopefully would have been done, but we will never know. During the discussion afterwards, we made the point that if this hand was going to go to a slam over 5D, then 6C is the better bid, since the balanced part of the hand was already shown. This would have led to the makeable slam, and tested my declarer play.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Ignoring those 4-4 Major Fits
Had a very interesting hand in the Swiss Teams at our recent Sectional. All Vul, I picked up T74 KJ86 AKQ K98. Playing a 12-14 1NT, I opened 1C in first seat, and with the opponents silent throughout, bid 1N (15-17) over partners 1H bid. If I had a doubleton on the hand, I would raise partner first, but with the 4333 shape, wanted to emphasize the flat shape. Partner now raised this directly to 3N, not bothering to do any of our Stayman auctions. This tends to imply a very flat hand, so after some thought, I decided I would accept partners rath for never supporting her suit with this holding, and play the hand in 3N.
The opening lead was the 3 of Spades (3rd and 5th), and partner put down AK5 AT74 654 T62. That was certainly a flat hand, and it looked like there were going to be enough problems taking 9 tricks, no matter 10, unless I could locate the Q of Hearts. Here are the 2 hands with the lead of the 3 of Spades.
AK5 AT74 654 T62
T74 KJ86 AKQ K98
Basically, if you can pick up the Q of Hearts, you have 9 tricks, with backup possibilities in Spades and Clubs for a 9th trick. From the lead, LHO could have 5 Spades, but it is slightly more likely that this is 3rd best since the 2 is missing. Also, the Spade honours are likely to be split, since LHO did not lead the Q or J. Ducking this with the AK on board will almost certainly lose to one of the missing Q or J on your right, and expose your K of Clubs to immediate danger, so it looks like you have to win this on board. And as stated before, picking up the Q of Hearts means 9 tricks, wherever the A of Clubs is.
After winning the A of Spades, with RHO signaling encouragement, I played the A of Hearts off board, RHO following with the 3 and LHO with the 9. When I led the 7 of Hearts off board, RHO now echo’d with the 2 of Hearts. They play upside down count signals, so if these are honest cards, it shows 3 Hearts, tending to leave LHO with the Q9 of Hearts (with 9x, it is a standard false card, but not sure LHO would make that play). Is there any reason for RHO to give honest count? First, he does not know I have 4 Hearts, I never did raise partner, so if he is playing his partner for 3 or 4, especially 4, then giving an honest count is more important. But if I have only 2 Hearts, why would I start with the A, and if I have 3, then there is no way for his partner to get the Hearts wrong. A clear case of Spy vs Spy. After some though, I played the K of Hearts, dropping the Q9 offside, and when the A of Clubs was onside, made 4.
I had actually been hoping for the A of Clubs to be offside when I dropped the Q of Hearts, as that effectively made it impossible to make 4H. Turns out, they bid 4H at the other table, but did not get the Hearts correct. When something else went wrong for them, not sure what. they went down 2, for a 13 IMP pickup for us.
The opening lead was the 3 of Spades (3rd and 5th), and partner put down AK5 AT74 654 T62. That was certainly a flat hand, and it looked like there were going to be enough problems taking 9 tricks, no matter 10, unless I could locate the Q of Hearts. Here are the 2 hands with the lead of the 3 of Spades.
AK5 AT74 654 T62
T74 KJ86 AKQ K98
Basically, if you can pick up the Q of Hearts, you have 9 tricks, with backup possibilities in Spades and Clubs for a 9th trick. From the lead, LHO could have 5 Spades, but it is slightly more likely that this is 3rd best since the 2 is missing. Also, the Spade honours are likely to be split, since LHO did not lead the Q or J. Ducking this with the AK on board will almost certainly lose to one of the missing Q or J on your right, and expose your K of Clubs to immediate danger, so it looks like you have to win this on board. And as stated before, picking up the Q of Hearts means 9 tricks, wherever the A of Clubs is.
After winning the A of Spades, with RHO signaling encouragement, I played the A of Hearts off board, RHO following with the 3 and LHO with the 9. When I led the 7 of Hearts off board, RHO now echo’d with the 2 of Hearts. They play upside down count signals, so if these are honest cards, it shows 3 Hearts, tending to leave LHO with the Q9 of Hearts (with 9x, it is a standard false card, but not sure LHO would make that play). Is there any reason for RHO to give honest count? First, he does not know I have 4 Hearts, I never did raise partner, so if he is playing his partner for 3 or 4, especially 4, then giving an honest count is more important. But if I have only 2 Hearts, why would I start with the A, and if I have 3, then there is no way for his partner to get the Hearts wrong. A clear case of Spy vs Spy. After some though, I played the K of Hearts, dropping the Q9 offside, and when the A of Clubs was onside, made 4.
I had actually been hoping for the A of Clubs to be offside when I dropped the Q of Hearts, as that effectively made it impossible to make 4H. Turns out, they bid 4H at the other table, but did not get the Hearts correct. When something else went wrong for them, not sure what. they went down 2, for a 13 IMP pickup for us.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Less than Optimal Slam Bidding
Playing in our weekly IMPS League the other night, we had a couple of slam hands that we brought back less than optimal results on.
On the first hand, I held 83 9873 AJ65 AQ4 with All VUL, and passed in first seat. Partner opened 1S in third seat, with the opponents silent throughout. I bid 1N forcing, and partner now jumped to 3S. This is where I made a very lazy bid, with an absolute maximum for my original pass, I should make a forward going cue-bid of 4C here. That gives us a good shot at getting to the cold slam in Spades. Instead I just raised to 4S, end playing partner into being forced to Pass with Jxx of Clubs in her hand. 4S can be made on a lot worse holding, and partner can not really go on over it. Partner held AKQJxx Ax K Jxx, and the entry to the A of Diamonds for the Heart pitch can never really be attacked early enough. The only thing that can beat 6S is the lead of a singleton Club.
The opponents at the other table opened a weak NT with my hand, and now the other hand had no trouble driving to a slam for a 12 IMP loss.
The next hand, my partner held this nice hand, Vul vs Not, --- A72 AKJ75 QT876 and heard it go 1D by partner, 1H on her right. She had the options of bidding 3C, fit showing, or 2C, natural and forcing, and chose the latter, which I do like. There is going to be time to get the Diamonds in later, but you want to know how partner feels about Clubs. LHO now jumped to 3H (Pre-emptive) and partner bid 4C freely. RHO passed, and she now bid 4H, which went Pass, 5C by partner, Pass back to her. This is actually good news, since partner was not able to make a Spade cue-bid of any type, and is marked with Heart shortness, her hand has improved on the auction. At this point, she bid 6C, missing the best bid available of 5N (Grand Slam Force). Her LHO now bid 6H, which was doubled by partner and passed back to her. She sat this, and we collected +1100 on the board when I could not read her for having a void in Spades on the hand. I wound up with 1 Spade trick instead of 2 ruffs.
Turns out her RHO had overcalled 1H with also having AJxx in Spades, so it was not easy to get right. My hand was QT73 4 QT62 AKJ4. I have a minimum, but after 2C by partner and 3H weak on my right, my Clubs and singleton Heart make my hand too good not to bid freely to 4C. 7C is pretty easy on the board, and if they take the sack in 7H, it is now easier to picture first round Spade control of some type in partners hand, and lead Spades when in with the Clubs, getting us up to a possible +1700 score. At the other table, our partner did not overcall 1D with 1H, so the auction was a quick 1D-6D, making 7, for a 7 IMP loss.
On the first hand, I held 83 9873 AJ65 AQ4 with All VUL, and passed in first seat. Partner opened 1S in third seat, with the opponents silent throughout. I bid 1N forcing, and partner now jumped to 3S. This is where I made a very lazy bid, with an absolute maximum for my original pass, I should make a forward going cue-bid of 4C here. That gives us a good shot at getting to the cold slam in Spades. Instead I just raised to 4S, end playing partner into being forced to Pass with Jxx of Clubs in her hand. 4S can be made on a lot worse holding, and partner can not really go on over it. Partner held AKQJxx Ax K Jxx, and the entry to the A of Diamonds for the Heart pitch can never really be attacked early enough. The only thing that can beat 6S is the lead of a singleton Club.
The opponents at the other table opened a weak NT with my hand, and now the other hand had no trouble driving to a slam for a 12 IMP loss.
The next hand, my partner held this nice hand, Vul vs Not, --- A72 AKJ75 QT876 and heard it go 1D by partner, 1H on her right. She had the options of bidding 3C, fit showing, or 2C, natural and forcing, and chose the latter, which I do like. There is going to be time to get the Diamonds in later, but you want to know how partner feels about Clubs. LHO now jumped to 3H (Pre-emptive) and partner bid 4C freely. RHO passed, and she now bid 4H, which went Pass, 5C by partner, Pass back to her. This is actually good news, since partner was not able to make a Spade cue-bid of any type, and is marked with Heart shortness, her hand has improved on the auction. At this point, she bid 6C, missing the best bid available of 5N (Grand Slam Force). Her LHO now bid 6H, which was doubled by partner and passed back to her. She sat this, and we collected +1100 on the board when I could not read her for having a void in Spades on the hand. I wound up with 1 Spade trick instead of 2 ruffs.
Turns out her RHO had overcalled 1H with also having AJxx in Spades, so it was not easy to get right. My hand was QT73 4 QT62 AKJ4. I have a minimum, but after 2C by partner and 3H weak on my right, my Clubs and singleton Heart make my hand too good not to bid freely to 4C. 7C is pretty easy on the board, and if they take the sack in 7H, it is now easier to picture first round Spade control of some type in partners hand, and lead Spades when in with the Clubs, getting us up to a possible +1700 score. At the other table, our partner did not overcall 1D with 1H, so the auction was a quick 1D-6D, making 7, for a 7 IMP loss.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Interesting Play Problem
Playing in the Swiss Teams at our recent local Sectional, had this hand come up. No one Vul, you hold JT7 4 K9643 J973 and hear it go 2H on your right, you Pass, 4H on your left, Double by partner, and then Pass on your right. I finally decided that this was not a double to leave in, and since partner did not bid 4S himself, I was not that interested in the bad Moysian, even with the stiff Heart in my hand, so I bid 5D, ending the auction.
The opening lead was the A of Hearts, and this is the dummy I got, AK97 6 AJT8 AT62. All I had to do was bring Diamonds in for no losers and compress 3 possible black suit losers into 1, nothing to it. LHO won the Heart while RHO contributed the 8 of Hearts (std count and attitude), and then switched to the 8 of Spades. How do you plan the play?
AK97 6 AJT8 AT62
JT8 4 K9643 J973
First thing to decide is how the Spades are sitting such that you can bring that suit in for no losers. Since you must lose at least 1 Club, you can not afford any Spade losers. If the 8 of Spades is to be believed, then the Q is on your right with the 2H bid, but a little local knowledge tells you that LHO is quite willing to play a dishonest card to try and get to you. And since a Spade was almost a required shift, the actual card means little.
What do we know about the hand so far, Hearts are probably 5-6, as indicated by the bidding and play to trick 1. If Diamonds are 3-1, then you can pick them up, but that might leave RHO too many Black cards to be safe. 1 nice thing about the spot cards in Spades, if you can pick up the Q, you can pitch a Club on the 4th Spade, then split honours in Clubs will allow you to get a forced ruff and sluff to make the hand.
Due to the Spade spots, I think the best line of play is to take the Spade hook at trick 2, and assuming it wins, plan to pull trumps, and run the Spades pitching a Club, before going A and out a Club. This will work any time the Spade Q is onside, and the Clubs are 3-2 with split honours. There are also a few variations available as the play develops, or if Clubs go 4-1 with a stiff honour.
The problem is I decided to delay my Spade decision on the hand, and won the first round with the A. I now played a Diamond to the K and a Diamond back to the A, with the Q appearing on my left on the 2nd round, Diamonds being 2-2. But that left me on board with only 1 hand entry in Diamonds. If I was playing Clubs off board, I now needed Hx on my right, and that coupled with the 6 Hearts and 2 Diamonds he was (mostly) known to hold, meant he held 3 Spades, and I needed the Spade hook now. So hoping for the best, I led a little Club off board, losing to the K on my left. A Spade came back, and I played low, getting some good and bad news. The good news was that the Q was not on my right, the bad news was that RHO showed out on the Spade, meaning he held 4 Clubs to the Q to start, and I was going down on the hand, whereas my first line of play would have worked if I had hooked the Spade at trick 2. So much for delaying decisions, but it was a nice return of the 8 of Spades by LHO that made me think the hand out too deeply. Here is the full hand, turns out with all the singletons, we can beat 4H 1 trick, only because 2 Diamonds cash, but we have to get to them early.
At the other table, they started with the same auction, except my hand decided to pull to 4S with the singleton Heart. The bad Spade split meant they could not pull trump and retain control, so wound up down 2 on the hand, we won 1 IMP, but had a chance for a lot more.
The opening lead was the A of Hearts, and this is the dummy I got, AK97 6 AJT8 AT62. All I had to do was bring Diamonds in for no losers and compress 3 possible black suit losers into 1, nothing to it. LHO won the Heart while RHO contributed the 8 of Hearts (std count and attitude), and then switched to the 8 of Spades. How do you plan the play?
AK97 6 AJT8 AT62
JT8 4 K9643 J973
First thing to decide is how the Spades are sitting such that you can bring that suit in for no losers. Since you must lose at least 1 Club, you can not afford any Spade losers. If the 8 of Spades is to be believed, then the Q is on your right with the 2H bid, but a little local knowledge tells you that LHO is quite willing to play a dishonest card to try and get to you. And since a Spade was almost a required shift, the actual card means little.
What do we know about the hand so far, Hearts are probably 5-6, as indicated by the bidding and play to trick 1. If Diamonds are 3-1, then you can pick them up, but that might leave RHO too many Black cards to be safe. 1 nice thing about the spot cards in Spades, if you can pick up the Q, you can pitch a Club on the 4th Spade, then split honours in Clubs will allow you to get a forced ruff and sluff to make the hand.
Due to the Spade spots, I think the best line of play is to take the Spade hook at trick 2, and assuming it wins, plan to pull trumps, and run the Spades pitching a Club, before going A and out a Club. This will work any time the Spade Q is onside, and the Clubs are 3-2 with split honours. There are also a few variations available as the play develops, or if Clubs go 4-1 with a stiff honour.
The problem is I decided to delay my Spade decision on the hand, and won the first round with the A. I now played a Diamond to the K and a Diamond back to the A, with the Q appearing on my left on the 2nd round, Diamonds being 2-2. But that left me on board with only 1 hand entry in Diamonds. If I was playing Clubs off board, I now needed Hx on my right, and that coupled with the 6 Hearts and 2 Diamonds he was (mostly) known to hold, meant he held 3 Spades, and I needed the Spade hook now. So hoping for the best, I led a little Club off board, losing to the K on my left. A Spade came back, and I played low, getting some good and bad news. The good news was that the Q was not on my right, the bad news was that RHO showed out on the Spade, meaning he held 4 Clubs to the Q to start, and I was going down on the hand, whereas my first line of play would have worked if I had hooked the Spade at trick 2. So much for delaying decisions, but it was a nice return of the 8 of Spades by LHO that made me think the hand out too deeply. Here is the full hand, turns out with all the singletons, we can beat 4H 1 trick, only because 2 Diamonds cash, but we have to get to them early.
| ♠ AK97 ♥ 6 ♦ AJT8 ♣ AT62 | ||
| ♠ Q8532 ♥ AJ973 ♦ Q2 ♣ K | ♠ 4 ♥ KQT852 ♦ 75 ♣ Q854 | |
| ♠ JT6 ♥ 4 ♦ K9643 ♣ J973 |
At the other table, they started with the same auction, except my hand decided to pull to 4S with the singleton Heart. The bad Spade split meant they could not pull trump and retain control, so wound up down 2 on the hand, we won 1 IMP, but had a chance for a lot more.
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