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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”>>
By the way, South was right not to support Partner on this hand, it seems unlikely that Hearts will play any better than No Trump, as there are no ruffing values in the South hand. So, South prefers No Trump, the better-scoring contract if the same number of tricks are to be made.
Against 4NT, let’s say that East leads a Club. Which one? From this holding, it’s customary to lead the Ten, top of an “interior sequence”. South has 9 top tricks, and the best chance of extras is in the Heart suit. So Declarer wins the opening Club lead somewhere or other, cashes A♥, and leads a low heart towards the Queen. The good news is that the K♥ is onside, so the Q♥ is the 10th trick. The bad news is that the Heart suit is 4-1, and that means that the enemy Clubs will be set up before the Hearts. No matter, an 11th trick is available when the Diamond suit breaks 3-3. +460 will be a good result for N-S, beating those pairs that made the mistake of declaring a Heart contract.
But, amazingly, the double dummy analyzer, Deep Finesse, tells us that it’s possible for 12 tricks to be made in Hearts! How is that possible, you might ask, surely West is going to score two Heart tricks for the defense. Well, there is a way, though not one that would make sense in live play, this line is purely double dummy. Watch closely! Suppose that a Club is led. Now, two Clubs are cashed, a Club is ruffed, the Spades are cashed, then the top three Diamonds. This is the end position:
South now leads the 13th Diamond and West is done for. Whether he ruffs high, low or middling, he will come to just one trick. And, yes, if East is on opening lead he can break up the end-play by leading a Heart at Trick One!
A spirited auction, as would be expected when the two sides have an 11-card and 12-card fit, and when all four hands have a short suit.
South’s 3♦ was preemptive, with a stronger Diamond raise (game-invitational or better) she would have cue-bid 3♣.
Let’s look at the North hand next. She could see that E-W surely had game somewhere, after all where were the N-S defensive tricks coming from? The A♥ is one, probably no Diamond tricks (it looks like N-S have a 12-card fit), and South is presumed to have little or no defense for her preempt. Looking just at the North hand, we’d say that slam for E-W is quite likely. If North believes that, what should she bid? 4♦ would give the opponents too much space, 5♦ would be the least that North should do, and there’s a lot to be said for leaping directly to 6♦ putting the opponents to the guess. Perhaps the winning bid here depends on the opponents. The less experienced they are the more likely North is to get away with bidding just 5♦. Against really tough opponents it would be more appropriate to go straight to 6♦.
6♦ doubled will be down 4 for -800, so if N-S are to get a good board they must hope that lots of E-W pairs are playing in 6♣. Even 6♠ would make with just a 5-2 fit, but we doubt that many pairs will bid that.
Against 3NT, South leads a low Heart, which is run around to Declarer’s Queen. Now the hand is a piece of cake, Declarer can score a Spade, 3 Hearts, 4 Diamonds, and, with the aid of a finesse, 3 Clubs. That’s 11 tricks with no chance for more.
Suppose that South happily hits upon the opening lead of a Spade. Now things are not so comfortable for Declarer. He will duck a couple of Spades, win the Ace, cross to the A♦ and, with fingers crossed, will take the Heart finesse. When that works, there are 10 tricks for the taking. And, with South known to be out of Spades, it is completely safe for Declarer to take the Club finesse, scoring up the same 11 tricks as before.
Is anyone really stoked about this deal? No, we didn’t think so, there’s nothing much to the auction, and nothing much to the play, either. 11 tricks and +450 for E-W.
In our humble opinion N-S conducted a highly practical auction here. First, is it OK for North to raise Responder’s Hearts with 3-card support? Yes, even though South might have only 4 Hearts, there is nothing wrong with raising to 2♥ holding, for example, 1=3=5=4 and a minimum opening bid. With a Spade ruff or two in the short hand that 4-3 fit is likely to play quite well. However, a jump raise requires 4-card support, so with such a good hand North must look elsewhere for his rebid. North chooses 3♣, a game-forcing “jump shift”, showing an unbalanced hand with around 18 HCP’s or more. But the bid is more about playing strength than about HCP’s and North’s 17 points are quite enough, considering the lovely 6-4 shape and the Spade void.
After 3♣, South can smell slam. But which slam? 6NT could be the way to go … maybe 6♣ if North is 5-5 in the minors … or perhaps 6♥ if North has a 3-card fit. Uncertain of where things are headed, South bids 3♠, the fourth suit. Bids of the fourth suit are rarely natural, and in this case South’s goal was to learn more from Partner, not to suggest Spades as a place to play. Now, when North shows Heart support, South leaps to slam, if only to prove that not all slam auctions need to go through Blackwood. South also decided not to try for a grand slam, a sensible choice considering that North would need exactly the right cards, including the ♥AKQ, as well as good minor suit holdings. Many bad results have been achieved by playing Partner for the perfect cards, painful experience tells us that he rarely has that magic hand.
6♥ is a fine contract. Assuming that West leads a Spade, what’s your plan? Try looking at it from the point of view of making South’s hand high … the Spades are already high, there might be a Heart loser, there’s no Diamond loser and one Club loser. In other words, two potential losers, one in Hearts and the other in Clubs.
The solution in Hearts is to take the finesse, that will either work or it won’t. And the Club loser can be discarded if the Diamonds are established with the aid of a ruff or two. So, the plan is: Win the opening Spade lead Draw trumps (finessing) Cash K♦ then A♦ Ruff a Diamond Cross to Dummy with a Club Pitch the Club loser on a Diamond
One more point. If the Diamonds break 4-1 it will be necessary to ruff twice in order to establish the suit and fortunately Dummy has sufficient entries (in Clubs) to make this possible. The above line of play is not difficult provided that it is planned out in advance. That means thinking before playing from Dummy at Trick One, it’s sometimes too late at Trick Two!
Despite that lovely Club holding, West is advised to double here rather than to overcall 2♣. He has decent support for all of the unbid suits and the main risk of overcalling with this hand is that a Heart fit may be lost. It’s usually better to offer Partner a choice, and it’s also a good idea to keep the majors in the picture.
So, armed with that excellent advice, West doubles and East ends up declaring 3♦. South leads the A♠ and, having got a look at West’s Dummy, it might be a natural reaction to shift to trumps at Trick Two, trying to cut down on the ruffs in Dummy. But that does not achieve much, because now the play goes like this: A♠ opening lead Trump shift won by North’s K♦ Trump won by Dummy’s Ten Heart to the Ace Spade ruff Heart ruff Draw the last trump Run the Clubs That’s 11 tricks … 4 trumps, a ruff in the short hand, 5 Clubs, and the A♥.
The defense does no better if they persevere with Spades, trying to weaken Dummy’s trump holding: A♠ opening lead Another Spade ruffed in Dummy Heart to the Ace Diamond to the Ten and Ace Spade ruffed on the board Heart ruff Trumps are drawn Clubs are run Again it’s 11 tricks.
If West winds up playing in Clubs, Declarer must lose a Spade and a Diamond, there’s no escaping that. But where are his tricks coming from? 5 trumps, 4 Diamonds and the A♥. That’s 10, where’s the 11th? Yes, a Heart ruff is available. When planning the play of a suit contract be sure to realize that it is a ruff in the “short hand” (the hand with fewer trumps) that adds to the trick total. Ruffing Spades in the long hand does not create extra tricks, those long trumps are already winners.
Now, here’s an interesting hand! After Partner’s 1♥ opening and South’s 1♠ overcall, what’s your choice as West? The hand is very weak, the shape is blah, but there is that 5-card support, so passing is out of the question. A preempt is called for, and we suggest that 3♥ and 4♥ both be used preemptively in this situation. With support and a better hand (game-invitational or better) West would cue-bid the opponent’s Spade suit. So, the question is whether West should preempt with 3♥ or 4♥. With a known 10-card fit (at least) some would leap to 4♥, applying maximum pressure to North. But the hand is shapeless and our own preference is for a mere 3♥.
Let’s assume that West selects 3♥ and move on to North. She certainly has enough for game, but bidding just 4♠ would be rather feeble, North should be wondering about the possibility of slam. We suggest 4♥ here, showing a “real” 4♠ bid. If North had simply bid a direct 4♠ she would be saying something more like “I have Spade support, I am too good merely to compete with 3♠, I sure hope that 4♠ makes”.
East sees little defense to 4♠. There’s the A♦, possibly a Heart trick, and slim prospects for more. So, East applies further pressure by pushing on to 5♥.
South was right to bid 5♠, she has an extra Spade, good minor suit controls, and no wastage in Hearts (opposite expected shortness). And North’s 6♠ was prompted by good trumps, and that lovely void in the enemy suit. Well bid!
Should East have sacrificed in 7♥? Not a good idea, 7♥ doubled costs 800, more than the N-S game. Minus 800 will likely be a bad score, anyway, so E-W’s best hope for a good board is that they can somehow beat the slam.
West’s opening lead is the J♥. Now what? Back on Board 12 we mentioned that one way to look at things was to figure out how to make the long hand high. What would that take? The Spades are already high The Hearts can be ruffed (or maybe one can be pitched on a Diamond) In Diamonds the Ace must be lost There’s a 3rd round Club loser and the only way to avoid that is to pitch it on a Diamond.
With that in mind it’s a short step to arriving at this line of play: Heart lead ruffed with the Ace Draw just one round of trumps Diamond to the King Diamond to East’s Ace Diamond ruffed by Declarer’s 9 Draw trumps Cross to Dummy’s K♣ Pitch losers on the two Diamonds
Note the importance of not drawing all the trumps immediately. It is necessary to knock out the A♦ while Dummy still has a trump left, in order to handle a Heart continuation. And there was no point in going after a second Heart ruff in Dummy, as Dummy’s Diamonds would be able to look after the second Heart loser (as well as the Club loser). >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Trump Control”>>
North’s hand is not good enough to open in 1st or 2nd seat, but opposite a passed hand there is some latitude and many would bid 1♦ here. If North does so, it seems likely that South will end up in a Club part-score.
Against 3♣, West leads the Heart Four to East’s Ace. Looking at just North’s Dummy and the East hand, what can you deduce from the opening lead? Clearly it is not a doubleton, West led the Four and both the lower cards are in view in the North and East hands. Could the lead be from a 3-card (or longer) suit? Unlikely, because with that many West would probably have supported Hearts at some point. Yes, Partner has led a singleton so we’ll return a Heart for Partner to ruff. Back comes a Diamond as the defense seeks another Heart ruff, but that doesn’t work when South ruffs the Diamond. Now, A♣ and lose a Club, and eventually Declarer is able to pick up the Spades for just one loser when both the King and Queen are with West. Making 9 tricks.
You might think that North inadvertently did E-W a favor by opening 1♦. Without that bid, E-W might well have found their 4-4 Diamond fit and competed to 3♦, surely a contract that will be derailed by the ugly 5-0 trump break. Not so! Suppose that South is on lead and starts out with the Q♥. Because there is a shortage of side-suit tricks, the obvious way to play the hand is along cross-ruff lines: A♥ wins the first trick Heart ruff Club to the Queen and South’s Ace Spade to North’s Ace Trump return won in Dummy Q♠ is cashed K♣ is cashed Club ruff Heart ruff Now Declarer has 7 tricks with ♦AQ over the King for two more. Making 9 tricks despite the 5-0 trump break! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Cross Ruffing”>>
At his second turn, East’s hand, with its strong holding in the unbid suit, cries out for a No Trump bid. Here are the ranges in this situation: 1NT 6-10 2NT 11-12 3NT 13-15 So, it’s an obvious 2NT bid, showing game-invitational values, and West readily bids the game.
We have no idea what South is supposed to lead against 3NT, all the choices look quite unpleasant. South’s best suit has been bid on her right, so we suppose that we would lead a Spade or a Diamond. But either way, we’d expect 11 tricks … 9 on top, plus a Heart finesse, plus another trick in one of the black suits.
Back to the bidding. Did any Wests open with 1NT instead of 1♦? We would certainly be tempted, though perhaps we shouldn’t admit that in public. One of the reasons (excuses, if you prefer) for opening an off-shape 1NT is that it sometimes solves a rebid problem, but we cannot use that one here because if we open 1♦ there is a 1♠ rebid available. Anyway, suppose that West does indeed open a slightly off-center 1NT. The auction will go 1NT 2♣, 2♠ 3NT, after which North will no doubt start out by leading a low Club. The ensuing play turns out to be a thing of great beauty. First, when North leads that Club Two, won by South’s Queen, Declarer can assume that the K♣ is likely to be with North. Why? Because, against No Trump contracts, many players lead top-of-nothing or second highest from worthless holdings, and the Club Two is clearly not that. With that assumption let’s now enjoy some exotic card play: ♣ to the Q, Declarer unblocks J!! Spade shift won by the Ace Diamond to the Ace J♦ is cashed Q♥ is led, winning the trick Heart to the Ace The Diamonds are rattled off Here is the end-position, with one Diamond still to be rattled.
Counting the impending successful Club finesse, Declarer has 11 tricks. But a 12th magically materializes when the last Diamond is cashed! What should North pitch? Not a Club that would be instant surrender, allowing Declarer to score three Club tricks. So North pitches a Spade, after which Dummy pitches a Club. South is under no pressure yet and can safely pitch a Club. Now the long-delayed Club finesse is taken and then the A♣ cashed. What are South’s last two cards? One must be the K♥ to guard against Dummy’s J♥, so South is forced to pitch a Spade. But that’s no good, either, now the Q♠ and J♠ fall under the King and Declarer’s 9♠ scores the 12th trick! It’s called a Non-Simultaneous Double Squeeze and you read about it here first.
Note that key play at Trick One. If West doesn’t unblock the J♣ he won’t have the necessary communications later in the play to pull off the squeeze. Also, South could have put an end to the squeeze by returning a Club at Trick Two (North must play low), destroying the communications once again. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Double Squeezes”>>
As we saw on the previous board, Responder’s range for a 3NT bid here is 13-15, which is exactly what South has. That 3NT bid also denies a 4-card major, the general rule being to explore a major suit fit before settling upon No Trump.
Let’s say that West leads a Heart. Declarer wins that and makes the percentage play in Clubs which is to take the finesse. But this time the percentages betray Declarer and the doubleton Q♣ takes a trick. East can now hold Declarer to 9 tricks by shifting to a Diamond. If he returns West’s Hearts then Declarer will have enough time to set up 10 tricks.
An opening Spade lead might have worked better for the defense. Dummy plays low and the K♠ wins the trick. Now a Diamond shift causes some problems for Declarer. West takes Declarer’s K♦ with the Ace and returns a Diamond to Declarer’s Queen. The Club finesse loses, and the defense gets a 4th trick with another Diamond. Holding 3NT to 9 tricks will be a fine result for E-W.
Any thoughts on West’s opening bid of 1♣? Only 10 HCP’s and a square hand to boot, but, as we mentioned on Board 15, in third seat opposite a passed hand, the standards can be dropped a little. But that’s not to say that we open light in third seat just for the sake of opening light. Opening bids should have a purpose whichever seat we are in, and here the purpose is to steer Partner to the right opening lead if E-W end up on defense.
Over to East. Let’s assume that 3♣ (over 1♥) would be preemptive and that the 2♥ cue-bid would show a stronger raise. “Strong” here means “game-invitational or better”, except that East is a passed hand so we can forget about the “or better” part of that. Our own choice would be to cue-bid, no doubt others would prefer to preempt.
After the 2♥ cue-bid, South doubled to show some Heart values and 3♥ became the final contract. It turns out that even 4♥ is a pretty decent contract. There are two Clubs to be lost, so Declarer must avoid losing a trick in both Hearts and Diamonds. When both suits turn out badly, North gives thanks that her side stayed low and went plus 140.
Would you open 3♣ with that South hand? It’s not such a wonderful suit but White vs Red it often pays to get in there and create some mayhem. Opposite that 3♣ opening who could blame North for taking a shot at 6♣? A sensible bid, we’d say, 6♣ might well be cold and if not it might well get home on a Diamond finesse.
As West, what do you lead against this Club slam? We asked our old friend Dr Goodlead this question and he thought that it was a no-brainer. “A Heart, of course! Against slams we must attack, and, anyway, the A♥ is likely to be on our left, so the lead is less dangerous than it might appear at first sight” Right on, Doctor, now Declarer needs the Diamond finesse, and when that loses it is down one. On any other lead, Declarer gets two bites at the apple … first he leads towards the K♠ and when the A♠ is with East, the Diamond finesse becomes unnecessary. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Opening Leads vs Suits”>>
Would you open the West hand 1♣? Sure you would! Only 10 HCP’s but it passes the Rule of Twenty and the hand has no wasted values, everything is working. And we always love those 6-4 hands, somehow they just seem to play rather well.
Next, let’s look at the West rebid of 2♣. Why not 2♥? That would be a Reverse and would show a much better hand.
Finally, the spotlight is on East. That 1♠ response was a no-brainer, but what would you do the second time around? Partner’s Club rebid usually shows a 6-card suit and a hand that was not good enough for a jump rebid of 3♣. Let’s say that West’s upper range (for 2♣) is about 15 HCP’s, and probably a pretty rotten 15 at that. So E-W might conceivably be able to make game. Should East make a game-try here (with 2NT or 3♣)? We wouldn’t, though we admit that it might well be the winning course of action. But, tomorrow in the Team game, you really need to do something, in that form of scoring it’s a cardinal sin to miss a vulnerable game.
Playing in Clubs, West has 9 tricks most of the time. North has an obvious J♦ opening lead, won by Dummy’s Ace. Now Declarer draws trumps, concedes a couple of Hearts and ends up with 9 tricks. The defense can do a trick better if North finds a Spade lead, won by South, followed by a Heart shift and a Heart ruff. Somewhat improbable.
On the Convention Card, in the “Simple Overcall” section, there is a spot for the HCP range, for which we suggest “9-18”. There is also the text “(usually)” next to this range, and we would say that the South hand comes into the “usually” category. It’s only 7 HCP’s (and vulnerable, too) but who would not want to throw in a Diamond bid here in order to get Partner off to the right lead?
East’s 2♥ was a so-called “reverse” showing extra values, usually around 17+ HCP’s, though (as usual) fewer points are permissible if offset by extra distribution, such as 6-4 or 6-5 in the two bid suits. In this set of 36 deals there are 4 instances where a player cue-bids the opponents’ suit for the purpose of showing values (game-invitational or better) and a fit with Partner. This highly sensible treatment allows the direct raises of Partner’s suit to be competitive or preemptive in nature. In this auction, it is East who cue-bids the enemy suit. Is this more of the same? Actually, it’s not, because E-W have already agreed Clubs. If 3♦ is not fit-showing then what does it mean? Here, the obvious use for the cue-bid is to ask Partner whether he has the Diamonds stopped. If so, West will be able to bid 3NT. Could 3♦ not be used to show a Diamond stopper? No, with that hand East would simply bid 3NT himself.
Note how the E-W pair explores 3NT as a possible contract in preference to committing to a minor suit game. 3NT will usually score better than 5♣ or 5♦, at least if overtricks are involved. This hand is a case in point. E-W make 10 tricks in 3NT for +430, whereas playing in Clubs it’s 11 tricks for +400. In this set of 36 boards, there were 17 game contracts that were reached in our sample auctions. Of those 17 games, 7 were played in a major, 10 in No Trump, and none in a minor. A telling statistic!
Playing in 3NT, North dutifully leads Partner’s Diamond suit and Declarer is held to 10 tricks, However, if South does not make that featherweight lead-directing overcall, North might well not find the Diamond lead, and now Declarer has the time to set up an 11th trick in Hearts. Opening leads are difficult, perhaps the toughest part of the game. So it’s worth getting into the habit of doing whatever we can do in the bidding to help out Partner. In the long run (and also on this hand) this will pay dividends.
East’s cue-bid of 3♦ showed a hand which was too good for a direct raise to 2♥, and South’s Double of that cue-bid showed something in Diamonds.
Next, look at the West hand. Partner has invited game and West has only 13 HCP’s. Does that mean that he should decline the invitation and sign off in 3♥? No, of course not! West has some distributional values with that 5-5 shape and it is clear to go to game with this hand. There is also no point whatsoever in bidding Clubs along the way. The hand will be played in game and in Hearts, and bidding those Clubs along the way would be a bad case of TMI, as Partner doesn’t need to know about them, and the opponents can only gain from the extra information.
Against 4♥, North has the standout lead of a Club. If Partner has the A♣ then North gets her ruff. If that doesn’t work, then North will grab her A♥ on the first round of trumps, and lead a Diamond, hoping to reach Partner’s A♦ as another way to get that ruff. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Opening Leads vs Suits”>>
Here’s a fascinating part-score battle, replete with a hair-raising balancing 2♠ from West and a highly speculative penalty double by East. Before we go any further, let’s say that, while both of these bids may be OK in a Pairs game, they would be highly dangerous in tomorrow’s Team game. Remember, in the Pairs game it’s the frequency of the gain that is important and the occasional terrible board (such as doubling the opponents into a making game) is less costly. But, in a Team game, it’s the size of the disaster that loses matches, so those hair-trigger part-score doubles are to be avoided. See also Board 34.
First, let’s look at that 2♠ balance. It may see pretty bizarre with only a 4-card suit, but not really. West does not want to sell out at the two-level and is merely trying to push the opponents up a level. He cannot double, that would likely bring forth a 3♦ bid from Partner, so he tries 2♠, knowing that he can always run to 3♣ if he hears a vicious Double from the opponents. Now, from East’s point of view. Partner has balanced with 2♠, and East has a pretty good hand. Should he try for game? Absolutely not! When Partner balances like that, having passed originally, he is merely trying to push the opponents up one level, to where E-W have a better chance of setting the contract. When Partner balances we must not punish him.
So, East passes and South rises to the bait by pushing on to 3♥. Not unreasonable given that singleton, but East lowers the boom and it’s a 500 penalty when at one point it looked as if South would play in a cozy 2♥ contract.
South’s 1♠ bid showed at least a 5-card suit, with only 4 she would have made a Negative Double. South later invited game and North declined with her minimum. It turns out that the N-S hands fit together quite well and that the Spade game is on a trump finesse. When that finesse works it’s bad news for all those N-S pairs who stopped short of game.
After South’s raise to 2♠ North can take this one to game. Should she bid Hearts along the way? No, as we saw on Board 22, there’s such a thing as TMI, and once North knows where the hand belongs she goes there without delay. Bidding Hearts only helps the enemy. We’ve already seen (Board 21) that in some auctions it pays to tip off Partner to the right opening lead because, if he is anything like us, he is likely to make the wrong lead unless he’s given some help. By the same token, when we are in control of the auction and headed towards game (or slam), and when we know what will be the final contract, we don’t mess around, we just go there directly. Why help the opponents?
On lead against 4♠, East might well try his singleton Heart, an unfortunate choice. Dummy’s Ten forces West’s Jack and Declarer wins the trick. Now the A♣ is cashed, then over to the K♠, a Diamond loser is pitched on the K♣, and when the Q♠ pops up on the second round of trumps it is 12 tricks.
Would you be tempted to preempt 3♠ with that East hand? Not a good idea, in our opinion, we think that this hand is good value for a 1♠ opening bid. It passes the Rule of Twenty and there are no wasted values, so no reason to preempt with this one, at least not in 1st seat. But in 3rd seat, opposite a passed hand we would preempt, now, with the hand likely to belong to the opponents, there is more to be gained from disruptive bidding.
Of course, once East has opened, West visualizes slam and it’s merely a question of which one. When East bids Spades three times it seems likely that that will be the best suit.
We managed to get three-quarters of the way through the second session of the Youth Pairs without needing to touch upon the subject of Blackwood. We knew it was too good to last, and now we find ourselves plunging head-first into the world of Roman Key Card.
A Brief History of Blackwood Back in the mists of time Easley Blackwood created his famous convention, using a bid of 4NT to ask for Aces. The responses were intuitive enough, 5♣ for none, 5♦ for one, all the way up to 5NT to show four.
Then, in the name of efficiency, someone said “Let’s give the 5♣ response a double meaning, it can show 0 or 4, surely it’s not possible that there would ever be any ambiguity” A French pair, playing in the World Championships, later demolished this theory by getting into a grand slam missing all four Aces.
Nonetheless, in the name of further efficiency, it occurred to a clever Italian that there would probably be no ambiguity if the responses were tightened up further and if 5♣ showed “0 or 3” and 5♦ showed “1 or 4”. He also had the bright idea of including the King of trumps into the responses, a 5th Ace if you will. That left Benito with: 5♣ 0 or 3 Key Cards 5♦ 1 or 4 Key Cards 5♥ 2 or 5 Key Cards
Yes, the “five Aces” were dubbed Key Cards, and the next challenge was how to use the idle 5♠ response. As the Queen of trumps is also a useful card, Benito further tinkered with the responses and came up with what is now known as Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB): 5♣ 0 or 3 5♦ 1 or 4 5♥ 2 or 5 without trump Queen 5♠ 2 or 5 with trump Queen
This was a huge improvement over plain vanilla Ace-asking Blackwood, and it’s no coincidence that virtually all tournament players now use RKCB. But the tinkering with the responses was not quite over, alas. An American, who clearly had far too much time on his hands, came up with some mind-numbing logic which suggested that it would be beneficial to switch the 5♣ and 5♦ responses. We’ll spare you the gory details, but the version of RKCB that is most commonly played nowadays uses these so-called “1430” responses: 5♣ 1 or 4 5♦ 0 or 3 5♥ 2 or 5 without trump Queen 5♠ 2 or 5 with trump Queen
We recommend that you jump on the RKCB bandwagon, but when you do be sure that you and Partner are playing the same version of responses, we have seen numerous disasters where one partner is using 1430 while the other is using 3014. So beware!
The history lesson is over, back to the actual hand. West’s 4NT was Roman Key Card with the trump suit assumed to be the last bid suit in the absence of explicit suit agreement. As E-W were using 1430, the 5♣ response showed 1 or 4. Now West knew that there was a Key Card missing so he gave up on the grand slam and settled for 6♠.
Against 6♠, as South, what would be your opening lead? As a general rule we avoid leading unsupported Aces, too often it blows a trick or loses a tempo for the defense. But here we confess that we’d lay down the A♣ at Trick One before the mice get at it. The E-W bidding suggests that there may be an abundance of tricks and that, if the A♣ is not grabbed immediately, Declarer’s Club losers might go on Dummy’s Hearts. But, it turns out that the A♣ lead makes life easy for Declarer and it’s 12 tricks without breaking a sweat.
However, suppose that South is clever enough to find the more challenging opening lead of a trump. Now how would you play 6♠? There are 11 tricks for sure (counting one Club), where is the 12th coming from? Declarer wins the trump lead on the board with the Ace and then follows this sequence of plays to maximize his chances: - At Trick Two, he leads a low Club, if the A♣ is with North then it’s 12 tricks - If the A♣ is with South she may not be able to return a trump, in which case a Club ruff is the 12th trick. - If the A♣ is with South and she can return a trump, then trumps are drawn and Declarer tries for the 12th by cashing AK♥ and ruffing a Heart, hoping that the Queen will come down in three rounds. - When that also fails then Declarer must resort to the Diamond finesse, and it is that last chance which eventually provides the 12th trick on the actual hand. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Combining Chances”>>
On other boards we have stressed the importance of seeking a major suit fit before settling on No Trump, so why did East twice neglect to show his Spades? Firstly, that 2♣ bid did not deny 4 Spades, when we have a strong hand we can afford to show our long suit first. Secondly, when West raises Clubs it is fair to assume that he does not have 4 Spades, if he did he would surely have rebid 2♠. That being the case, there was no point in East bidding the Spades, he simply went straight to the obvious 3NT contract.
Against 3NT South will probably lead the T♥. Declarer has no reason to go against the odds, so will play A♣ and K♣, playing for the drop and thereby losing a trick to the Q♣. The defense continues Hearts at which point Declarer can count 8 tricks. The 9th comes from the Spade suit and Declarer plays on Spades early while he still has some communications via the Club suit. If he cashes the Clubs first and then plays Spades, then, by the time the Spade is set up, his hand will not have an entry to enjoy that Spade.
The genie is out of the bottle, and here we have another Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) auction (read Board 26 if you have not already done so).
As usual with a 5-5 hand, North opens the higher-ranking suit. With all those extra values North is good enough for a jump shift rebid to 3♦. This is game-forcing (see also Board 12).
South knows that her side has an 8-card Heart fit and with Partner showing 18+ HCP’s it’s highly likely that slam can be made, maybe even 7♥. Does this mean that she should use her new RKCB toy? No! A cornerstone of RKCB is that both partners need to know what is the agreed trump suit (remember that the trump King and Queen feature in the responses). Before launching into RKCB, South must tell North that Hearts are trumps, hence that 3♥ bid. There is no danger of this being passed, the auction is already game-forcing. A quick aside: “If South had bid 4NT directly over 3♦ what would be the presumed trump suit?” The answer is Diamonds, when there is no specifically agreed trump suit it is presumed to be the last suit bid.
Anyway, after 3♥, North bids 4♣. What does that mean? It shows something in Clubs (usually the Ace) and does nothing to change the fact that Hearts are still trumps, it’s merely cooperating in a Heart slam auction.
Finally, South trots out RKCB with that 4NT bid, and North’s 5♣ says “1 or 4 Key Cards” (1430 responses). Now, South knows that the partnership holds all 5 Key Cards, but wouldn’t it be nice if South could find out about the Q♥? Well, she can! After a 5♣ or 5♦ response to RKCB, the cheapest non-signoff is used to ask for the Queen of trumps. So South bids 5♦ (not an attempt to play in Diamonds as Hearts have been agreed). If North did not have the Q♥ he would bid 5♥, but with that card she jumps to 6♥.
At this point, South can count 13 tricks. Two Spades, 5 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs adds up to 11. And the other two tricks? They will come from Diamond ruffs in the short hand. Even as she is bidding 7♥, South can visualize the play of the hand: Trump lead won by Declarer K♦ and A♦ are cashed Diamond ruffed high Club to the Ace Another Diamond ruffed high A♠ and a Spade ruff Draw trumps and claim 13 tricks
Of course, if the Diamonds had been 3-3 then the second ruff would be unnecessary. And if they are 5-1? Unlucky, that will be down one!
Because N-S are playing a 5-card major style, once in a while they must open a 3-card minor suit, as did South on this hand. Then, when North responds 1♥, South, with her 4-card support and 18 HCP’s, can do no less than bid the game. To review South’s Heart raises after 1♣ 1♥: 2♥ 12-14 HCP’s, could be 3- card support 3♥ 15-17, 4-card support 4♥ 18-19, 4-card support
In the play of 4♥, Declarer will have two guesses to make, one in Hearts and one in Diamonds, and she’ll have precious little to guide her. Well, maybe East will give her some help by leading a low Diamond at Trick One. That takes away the Diamond guess, at least if Declarer can rely upon East not to underlead an Ace against a suit contract. As for finding the J♥, it’s anybody’s guess, good luck with that one! By the end of the hand Declarer will have scored 9 or 10 or 11 tricks depending upon her guessing skills in the red suits.
At his second turn, East could have raised Diamonds, but, as we have seen, it’s advisable to pursue the major fit before agreeing a minor. So, East tries 1♠, after which West has an obvious 1NT rebid showing 6-10 HCP’s.
At this point East wants to make a game-invitational bid and his most descriptive way of doing that is to jump to 3♦. This bid is not forcing, but it does show extra values. Furthermore, it says that East is three-suited with Heart shortness, in case a Diamond contract will play better than No trump.
As it happens, West is at the top end of his range for the 1NT bid, and his fairly robust Heart holding (that Ten is useful!) suggests 3NT is the place to be.
West was right to play in 3NT rather than 5♦, at least if North starts out with a Heart lead, that’s an easy 10 tricks for Declarer. But a low Spade opening lead to North’s Queen, and a Heart shift will hold Declarer to 9 tricks.
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