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Hand Analyses 22nd November, 2006
West will no doubt lead a Club, notwithstanding that 1♣ opening by North. South wins, loses the Spade finesse, and the defense cashes 4 Clubs. A Heart shift, Dummy’s Ace wins the trick, and now Declarer can count 5 sure tricks. It’s reasonable to expect the Diamond King to be on-side, and that will be 6 tricks. Should she double-hook the Diamonds, or play for Spades 3-3? She cannot test the Spades first, that would leave her with insufficient entries to take two Diamond finesses. We would double hook the Diamonds based on the bidding, but, as it happens, both plans work and Declarer makes 7 tricks either way.
Back to the bidding. Do you approve of that 1♣ opening bid? We could take it or leave it ourselves. A square 12-count does not pass the Rule of Twenty, but on the other hand North does have two Aces and two Tens. Consider us ambivalent. Having said that, 1♣ turns out to be the winner on the actual hand, allowing N-S to go plus … if North passes, the deal will likely be passed out.
To preempt or not to preempt? The vulnerability says “Preempt!”. But the hand-type is hardly perfect (outside strength, crummy suit). As on Board 1, we are having a Hamlet moment, forgive our indecision. We really wouldn’t argue with an East Pass, nor with a 3♥ bid, so choose your own poison. But, let us say, most decisively, that we don’t think that this would be a problem at any other vulnerability, we would just pass.
In the featured auction that 4♦ was a Texas Transfer.
East’s agonizing will achieve nothing, because either way E-W will declare 4♥. But it could be played from either side. If North is on lead, she will no doubt start with the A♠, after which a simple Spade ruffing finesse nets 12 tricks. But, suppose that South is on lead and she somewhat randomly starts with a Diamond. Now, it’s 13 tricks for Declarer! Yes, North is caught in a Progressive Squeeze … Declarer has 11 top tricks, but North is squeezed in 3 suits on the run of the trumps. Dummy wins the opening Diamond lead, and cashes 7 Hearts. Ouch for North! She must come down to 5 cards and all variations lead to North being squeezed out of not just one, but two tricks. Making 7!
Time for a reality check! That Progressive Squeeze is pure fantasy, of course. If the Spade honors are split, and likewise the Club honors, then this line of play is good for just 11 tricks. The realistic line of play after the Diamond opening lead is to draw trumps, pitch a Spade on the Diamonds, concede a Club, and ruff the third round of Clubs on the board. How mundane, the Progressive Squeeze was much more fun!
If East makes the normal enough lead of a 4th best Spade then things will not go well for the defense! Dummy’s Jack wins the first trick, and now Declarer calls for the J♥. West will surely cover, won by Declarer’s Ace. Now, Declarer needs two more entries to the board to pick up the Hearts, but that can only be achieved by overtaking a Diamond honor at the risk of compressing the Diamond winners down to three. We’d risk it anyway, and everything works out just fine when the Diamonds break, and the Hearts come in for one loser. The sequence of plays for 12 tricks is: Spade won by the Jack J♥ covered by the Queen and Ace Cash K♦ Diamond to the Jack Advance the Diamond Eight, won by West’s King Club back, won by Declarer’s Ace K♦, overtaken by the Ace, the Ten fortuitously dropping Cash the 13th Diamond Finesse the Heart. +490 for a top board.
System Note: Those N-S pairs who play Puppet Stayman over 2NT openings will be able to find their 5-3 Heart fit. See the Bidding Quiz.
East reasonably decided that his hand was not quite good enough for a limit raise, no doubt deterred by his square distribution. But when 3♣ came back around his extra trump induced to bid one more time.
Defending 3♠, N-S have their 4 Aces and the only chance for a 5th trick is via a Heart ruff. North will no doubt lead her Partner’s Club suit, and the Ace will take Dummy’s King. South lays down the A♥ (denying the King), Declarer plays the Jack, and North must find a helpful signal. Her first priority is to warn Partner against trying to give her a Club ruff, and that means not playing the Four … this discouraging card will persuade Partner that a Club ruff is indeed required. So, North must encourage Hearts, say with the Seven, even though she has no interest in the suit. South shifts to a Diamond, but not a low one … that would imply a high honor (in this case the Queen), and might persuade North to continue the suit … so she shifts to the 7♦, and now surely North will win the Ace and give Partner the Heart ruff. In fact, even if South did have the Q♦, she would lie about it, just to make sure that a Heart comes back.
The above defense may not seem terribly difficult, and indeed it is not, provided that the defense has sound carding agreements: - Even if, on opening lead against suits, our agreement is to lead Ace from AK, from Trick Two onwards we lead the King from AK. - When our opening lead will be read by Partner as a singleton or doubleton, and when Partner then lays down a high card in another suit, a discouraging card says “Give me my ruff!”. A high card doesn’t mean “I like this suit”, it means “There is no ruff”. - When shifting to a side-suit where we hold nothing but low cards it’s usually right to play one of the higher ones (second highest, for example) to clarify the situation for Partner.
Bergen Note: Yes, playing Bergen, East will show a constructive raise, via a 3♣ bid (though some partnerships use 3♦ for that purpose). South can double 3♣ for the lead, of course.
Obscure System Note: Bidding over their 1♠ 2♠ auction is extremely dangerous, far more so than bidding over a Weak 2♠, for example. LHO is lurking behind us with opening values and may well have extras. Bidding 3♣ in this situation is not only dangerous, it doesn’t make for a constructive auction … how is North supposed to know whether we have the actual hand or something somewhat stronger that might make game a possibility? One more observation … 2NT in this situation shows a strong No Trump kind of hand (with Spades stopped, of course), and this treatment seems risky and not particularly useful.
Where is all this leading us? An obscure (but, in our view, highly sensible) agreement would be to use 2NT here as a Lebensohl-type bid. It tells Partner to bid 3♣, after which Partner will place the contract somewhere at the 3-level … in such a sequence Partner is warned against over-exuberance, we are merely competing. But, if we have a stronger hand (perhaps the one in the above deal with the K♣ additional) we bid 3♣ directly. The treatment can also be used over 1♥ 2♥.
At IMPs, with North’s hand, we would invite to game (via 3♥) like a shot, all the more so given the vulnerability. At matchpoints it’s somewhat less obvious and there is a lot to be said for passing out 2♥.
If you, as North, were one of the aggressive bidders who invited game with 3♥, then you will be thankful when your esteemed Partner finds the winning line of play to make 9 tricks. To see how she saves your bacon, please see Play Problem # 93.
E-W missed an excellent Heart slam, and West must have been sorely tempted to bid it. But give some credit to North for that 4♠ bid, she was bidding one more than she usually would based on the favorable vulnerability. See how easy the auction would be for E-W if North bid only 3♠:
West North East South 1♣ 1♠ 2♥ 3♠ 4♥ 4♠ 4NT Pass 5♥ Pass 6♥ Pass Pass Pass
Here’s another possible variation that may occur at some tables:
West North East South 1♣ 1♠ 2♥ 4♠ 5♥ 5♠ ??
Do you and your Partner have any Forcing Pass agreements? If you do, then no doubt this is a situation where, over 5♠, West’s Pass would be a Forcing Pass. West can pass safe in the knowledge that Partner is obliged to take another call, and must either bid or double. For more on this, please see the Bidding Quiz, and also visit the System Library where we have just added an article on the subject.
A good passed hand Double by South gets her side into the auction. Against 2♥, East might reasonably lead a Diamond or the K♣. If his choice is the K♣, Declarer must duck the first round if he is to prevent West from getting a Club ruff. This fine play allows Declarer to make 9 tricks. Well, almost. East can hold Declarer to 8 tricks by shifting to the Q♠ at Trick Two (or leading the Q♠ on the go), in order to organize a Spade ruff, but that is dangerous-looking and far from obvious. If the opening lead is a Diamond, Declarer also makes 9 tricks as follows: Diamond won by the Ace Heart to the King Diamond won by West Club shift, which Dummy must duck Now the Club ruff is averted, as before.
Some players prefer to have a stronger suit for their Weak Twos, but we don’t have a real problem with the North bid, given the fillers in the suit. It certainly worked well enough on the actual auction, shutting out the opponents.
On most lines of play 2♥ will be down one, but it is just possible that the defense might let this one slip through. For example, suppose that East leads a Club … Declarer plays the Jack, the play most likely to encourage a continuation. West wins, and must shift to a Diamond to beat the contract. He really should find the shift, but if he fails to do so, Declarer can use his 3 Dummy entries for black suit ruffs, with the QT9 of trumps left for a natural 4th trump trick, and 8 tricks altogether.
We don’t have any problem rebidding 1NT with a singleton in Responder’s suit, but this does not seem like the right hand for such a bid, given the fact that North has neither of the unbid suits stopped. Does South’s 2♦ bid look a little odd? It’s New Minor Forcing, a convention which is just as useful in this situation as it is after Opener rebids 1NT.
Against 4♠, West will probably lead the K♦ which blows a trick for the defense. Declarer wines the Ace, and leads a Diamond right back. Now, one of the Hearts disappears on the third round of Diamonds, and Declarer winds up with 11 tricks. West’s alternative lead would be a Club and that holds Declarer to 10 tricks.
How about 3NT? It’s hard to see how this contract can be played from the right side (by South), and played from the North side with a Diamond lead it is a rather poor contract. Declarer does not have the entries to establish the Spades and enjoy them, and with the Clubs misbehaving it will surely be down at least two with normal play.
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