|
Youth Pairs - Session 2 - 5th July, 2008
Here are the Hand Analyses from the evening session, with links to related articles and Bridgeopedia archives from previous Wednesday Games. For example, on Board 3, Declarer has to overcome some entry problems. Next to the text for that board you will see a link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Entry Management”>> which links to hands with a similar theme.
Those who would like to test their bidding skills can follow the link to the Bidding Quiz, which contains 20 bidding problems from this afternoon's hands.
Against 3NT, South leads a low Heart and Declarer will win this one in Dummy in order to take the Club finesse. Of course, the trick can be won with the Ace or the Queen, does it matter which? On this hand probably not, but it’s a good Declarer habit to make the play which reveals less to the defenders. If the Ace is played, both defenders will notice the failure to take the Heart finesse and will conclude that the K♥ is likely to be with Declarer. And if Declarer takes a bogus finesse and plays the Queen? When the Queen holds, South won’t be fooled, but North will be completely in the dark about who holds the King.
On to Trick Two. The lead is in Dummy and it is time to play on Clubs. This suit combination is always good for at least 3 tricks, and it will be 4 tricks if North has Kx or Kxx. But, if North has Kxxx it will be only 3 tricks because the defense has the vital spot cards. Provided that North withholds the King until it can cover Dummy’s Queen, her humble Eight will take the 4th round of the suit. Finally, suppose that North has the singleton King. Now there are 4 tricks, but only if a low Club is played from Dummy on the first round of the suit.
Does that mean Declarer should play a low Club from Dummy at Trick Two? Not necessarily, there a couple of other considerations. First, imagine South with Kxx. A low Club is played from the board and the Jack is finessed. A tricky South will duck (smoothly, of course), forcing Declarer to waste a Heart stop when he returns to the board for a repeat (and this time unsuccessful) finesse. Playing the Q♣ on the first round of the suit avoids that problem.
The second reason why it might be a good idea to lead the Q♣ at Trick Two is that North might not cover! To understand why, suppose, that South has the singleton Ace instead of the singleton Nine. Now North’s covering of Dummy’s Queen would be disastrous, crashing the King and the Ace on the same trick! So remember that next time you have this situation: Dummy Declarer Q543 JT92 Be sure to play the first round from Dummy, and play the Queen, maybe the defense will crash their honors!
Back to Board 1. Say that Declarer decides to lead the Q♣ at Trick Two, and that North guesses right and covers with the King. When the Clubs break 4-1 Declarer can count only 8 tricks and the 9th comes in when the A♦ turns out to be in front of the King.
With 4-4 in the minors South chose to open 1♣. Others will insist that it is preferable to open those 4-4 minor hands 1♦. Who is right? 99% of the time, it’s really not that important, take your pick. For what it’s worth we like to bid the suit we want led, and on this hand either minor could qualify.
And, what’s that other 1% all about? Picture yourself with 1=4=4=4 distribution with 15-17 HCP’s. You open 1♣, Partner bids 1♠ and, oops, you have no rebid. You are too good for a 1NT rebid, not good enough for 2NT, and the wrong shape for a reverse into 2♥. Yes, you goofed when you opened 1♣, you would have done better to open 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣ if Partner responds 1♠. Interesting, perhaps, but not relevant to this particular hand.
Back to the actual auction. After West’s 1♠ overcall, North’s 2♠ cue-bid showed invitational values (or better) and Club support. True, North has only 9 HCP’s but that singleton in the enemy suit surely counts for something. Remember, if we use the cue-bid to show the good hands with support, then that frees up a jump to 3♣ for preemptive purposes.
Let’s give credit to East for showing his Spade support at the 3-level. Only 6 HCP’s and not much in the way of distribution, but E-W are non-vulnerable with at least a 9-card fit and nothing terrible is likely to happen. Bear in mind too that East also had a cue-bid at his disposal. With Spades and a better hand he could bid 3♣, so West should not get overly excited by that 3♠, it doesn’t promise much.
As it happens, West does get excited and goes to game. And rightly so, he has a terrific hand … lovely 6-4 shape, a void, and reason to believe that East’s expected shortness will cover at least one of the Club losers.
The play in 4♠ is simple, 10 tricks are always there. E-W should expect a good matchpoint score for +420, many pairs will miss this 18-point game.
In this auction, E-W were playing a 2/1 style of bidding whereby 2♣ opposite the 1♠ opening would have been game-forcing. That being the case, East’s hand was not quite good enough for 2♣ so he bid the “Forcing No Trump” instead. Playing more of a “Standard American” style, the auction would probably go: 1♠ 2♣, 3♠ 3NT.
Should South have got into the auction? Perhaps, she is non-vulnerable with a 7-card suit. Then again, the suit is lousy, and some players have an aversion to making 3-level preempts with an outside Ace. And there is also that chunky 4-card major to consider, so our own choice would be not to open 3♦. But that’s just our opinion, go crazy and step out with 3♦ if you really must.
Anyway, let’s assume that 3NT by East is the final contract, and that South leads a Diamond. Where should Declarer win that trick? That’s a tough question, there are transportation issues on this deal. For example, Declarer might decide to win the first trick in Dummy, saving that K♦ as a later entry to hand. This play would be a precaution against 4-1 Clubs, but now when the defense gets in with the J♣, they will knock out Dummy’s A♥, leaving the third Diamond trick stranded for lack of entries to the board. Alternatively, Declarer might win the first trick in hand with the K♦, and find himself cut off from the long Clubs if the suit is 4-1.
The suggested line is to win the K♦ and play on Hearts first. The A♥ is cashed, and a trick conceded to the K♥. Now, if the defense neglects to shift to Spades, there are 12 tricks if the Clubs break. But with that 5-0 break it is 10 tricks whether they find the Spade shift or not, Declarer scoring 3 Hearts, 3 Diamonds, and 4 Clubs. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Entry Management”>>
Opposite North’s Takeout Double, South was not quite good enough to compete to the 3-level, and North was not quite good enough for a second Double. This was just as well for N-S, they have no fit and would have been in dire straits at the 3-level.
On lead against 2♠, North might reasonably start out with the K♥. Reasonable, maybe, but also catastrophic for the defense! Declarer wins the Ace, and leads back the J♥ for a so-called ruffing finesse. Let’s say that North covers the J♥ with the Queen, which is ruffed on the board. Now, a Club to the Ace, the 9♥ is cashed, and a 4th round of Hearts is ruffed on the board with the Queen, South being unable to overruff. Let’s suppose that Declarer next leads a Diamond and somehow guesses the suit correctly, jumping up with the King. Now a Spade is won by North’s Ace, the Club return is ruffed, two more rounds of trumps are played (how nice that the Ten is doubleton!). After this line of play Declarer winds up with a whopping 11 tricks!
“Is this an easy game or what?” thinks Declarer as he writes down +200, perhaps not realizing that he made two errors in that line of play. Firstly, he went against the odds when he played South for the A♦. The bidding tells Declarer that the majority of the points are with North, so if South has a Diamond honor it is more likely to be the Queen.
And the other error? That will become clear when we see what happens if Declarer misguesses the Diamonds (or if, as is quite likely, North has both missing honors and there is no winning guess). North wins the Diamond, and Declarer ruffs the Club return. Now a Spade to Dummy’s King and North craftily ducks! Back to hand with a Club ruff, another Spade is won by North, and another Club comes back. Declarer has lost trump control and is held to 9 tricks. Nice Spade duck! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Smooth Ducks”>>
So, the second error was playing on Diamonds at all. Having received a favorable opening Heart lead, Declarer should not be too greedy. After taking the second Heart ruff he should play a Spade and not a Diamond. That retains trump control, scoring 10 tricks and beating all those who didn’t get a Heart opening lead.
When we hold 5-5 distribution, we open the higher-ranking suit. However, there was a time when it was actively debated whether to make an exception if the long suits were Clubs and Spades. It seems that the 1♠ bidders have now won that debate, though there are still a few pockets of resistance out there. The most compelling argument for not opening these hands with 1♣ is that we’ll be somewhat unhappy if Partner responds 1NT and we have a minimum hand. In that case, we cannot reverse to 2♠ (that would show substantial extras), and so we’ll have to sheepishly table a dummy with an undisclosed 5-card major. Not good!
So, East opens 1♠ and rebids 2♣. Now, there are two very good reasons why South should give a so-called “false preference” to 2♠: Reason 1 West has some values and game is still not out of the question if East has some extras. That false preference to 2♠ (instead of passing 2♣) gives East a chance to bid again. Reason 2 Even if Clubs are a better fit, there’s a good chance that Spades will score better. So it is on the actual hand, where the 5-2 Spade fit is good for 9 tricks and +140, whereas the 5-3 Clubs are worth 10 tricks but only +130.
The modern game emphasizes the majors, and there’s a common bridge saying that “the minors are for children”. Well, considering the nature of this event, let’s rephrase that and say that minors are now for infants.
For those players who are still in an aforementioned “pocket of resistance” let’s look at what happens if East opens his hand 1♣. West responds 1♥, East rebids 1♠, and West will probably bid 1NT, notwithstanding the lack of a stopper in the unbid suit. East cannot show a 5th Spade without also showing a much better hand than he actually has. But he can show a 5th Club, so 2♣ will be the final contract. Goodbye Spade suit, hello bad result.
After West’s 1NT, do you think that the East hand is good enough to invite to game? If the 1NT bid shows 15-17 then most players will invite with a reasonable 8-count, and will insist on game with a good 9-count or better. East has an 8-count, but it’s mediocre at best, we certainly would not fault East if he passed 1NT.
Anyway, West declines the invitation, and the precarious 3♥ is reached. When the time comes, how do you play the Diamond suit? Assuming that the necessary entries are available, the correct play is low to the Jack, and then back to Dummy for the lead of another low Diamond. This play protects against South having a doubleton King and is rewarded on the actual board. It would be wrong to lead the Q♦ from the board, as South will cover with the King, holding Declarer to 3 tricks in the suit (North’s mighty Nine sets up). >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Combinations”>>
However, the play in the Diamond suit becomes moot if, as likely, North’s opening lead is a Diamond (nothing else looks appetizing, does it?). Here’s how the play might start: Diamond to the King and Ace A♥ is cashed T♥ is cashed, getting the 4-1 news Now, Declarer must play a Club, trying to set up a Club trick while Dummy still has a trump to look after an enemy Spade attack. When the A♣ is onside it’s 9 tricks.
Finally, if East is less ambitious and passes 1NT, North leads a Club won by South’s Queen, then a Spade switch and it’s 7 tricks for the defense. Or maybe, after East’s pass of 1NT, South will get into the action and end up declaring 2♠, perhaps doubled by East. The play will be complicated, but South can probably scrape up 8 tricks for a top board.
Oops! After opening 1♣ and getting that 1♠ response, West is left with no suitable rebid. What would be your choice now? Nothing really appeals. Not 1NT, that shows 12-14, nor 2NT which is 18-19. Of the other possibilities, 2♣ seems wrong with 16 HCP’s, 3♣ would show the extra strength but is usually made with a 6-card suit, and 2♥ would be a reverse and an overbid. We suppose that most Wests would make the 2♥ overbid, and now an easily excitable Partner might get carried away and take the bidding all the way to slam in Clubs. That will be down one.
When West opened 1♣ he was guilty of not planning his rebid, he did not stop to think what he would do if Partner responded 1♠ (see also Board 2). If he had anticipated that he might well have opened 1NT instead of 1♣. Sure, 1NT is a tad off-shape with that 4-5 distribution, but even so it looks like the practical bid to us. Now E-W will have a smooth and effortless auction to 3NT: 1NT 2♣, 2♥ 3NT The simple route to the best spot!
After that auction, North leads a Diamond and Declarer can count 9 top tricks. Hearts is the obvious place to look for more and there are two ways to get a second Heart trick: Either finesse the Ten hoping that the Jack is with North Or lead towards the Queen hoping that the King is with South.
Looking at the diagram you can see that both plays are destined to succeed. But one of the two lines is clearly superior. North is the “danger hand” because Declarer fears a Spade shift from North through Dummy’s King. So, keeping North off lead is the way to go, and finessing the T♥ is the correct play. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Avoidance Play”>>
But there’s a trap, let’s watch the drama unfold as Declarer innocently stumbles into it: Diamond lead to Declarer’s King T♥ is finessed, to South’s King Heart is returned to Dummy’s Ace The three top Clubs are cashed
At this point West is entitled to utter his second “Oops!” of the hand. Do you see the mess that he has gotten himself into? Yes, Declarer has 10 winners but cannot untangle all of them. The only way to score the third Diamond is to cash the second honor in hand and then cross to Dummy’s 8♣ to get to the A♦. That gets three Diamond tricks alright, but now the Q♥ and the 5th Club are left stranded in Declarer’s hand.
The solution is to cash a second Diamond at Trick Two, before finessing the T♥. Now, South returns a Heart to Dummy’s Ace, the A♦ is cashed, then the Clubs and the Q♥. That’s 10 tricks in the bag, and the defense takes whatever is left. Well done, all those Wests who found that farsighted Diamond play at Trick Two! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Entry Management”>>
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
