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Hand Analyses 14th November, 2007
North’s Double was a Support Double, showing 3 of Partner’s Hearts. East’s 3♠ was preemptive, and a rather poor bid in our opinion, considering all those defensive values. We are delighted to report that it got what it deserved when South found a matchpoint Double. You may well ask “What exactly is a matchpoint Double?” Well, if Ambrose Bierce had been a bridge player he might have come up with a definition such as “A Double which draws comfort from Partner’s legendary sense of humor on those occasions when the final result is -530 or -670” Put plainly, a matchpoint Double is no sure thing.
Against 3♠ doubled, North leads the A♣, then shifts to a trump. South wins the Ace, continues trumps, later wins the A♥, and plays a third round of trumps. Now all that Declarer can manage is 4 trumps, a Heart ruff, and two Diamonds, for down two. No legendary sense of humor required on this one.
Over 3♠, South did well not to stretch out a 4♥ bid, that contract is doomed to be down at least one trick. Both the red Kings are obligingly on-side but the bad breaks in Hearts and Clubs will be Declarer’s undoing.
Adventurous bidding by West, but not unreasonable, and 7♠ is cold when East puts down a suitable hand. But, perhaps, West had reason to think that Partner’s hand would be suitable, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz.
Squeeze Addendum Anyone for the matchpoint-inspired contract of 7NT? There are 12 top tricks and the only hope for a 13th is through a squeeze. There are actually 6 possible squeezes. Care to identify them? Here goes: A. North is squeezed in Hearts and Diamonds B. South is squeezed in Hearts and Diamonds C. North is squeezed in the minors D. South is squeezed in the minors E. South is squeezed in Hearts and Clubs F. Double squeeze (North in Hearts+Diamonds and South in Hearts+Clubs) It’s also possible that North or South are squeezed in all three suits, if one of them holds 5+ Clubs, 4+ Diamonds and the KQ♥, but we’ll ignore those as they eventually reduce to one of the above. And one squeeze that is not listed above is a Heart-Club squeeze against North, that won’t work because she would have both the menaces sitting over Declarer’s holdings and would be discarding after Declarer.
Let’s say that North leads the K♥ against 7NT. That marks North with the Q♥ and we can say goodbye to Squeezes B, E, and F. All that is required to pull off the squeeze is to win the opening lead, cash one high Diamond (in case a singleton Jack is out there), unblock the Q♣, then run the Spades and cash the two remaining Club winners. These will be Declarer’s and Dummy’s last three cards: Declarer Dummy ♠ ♠ ♥ J ♥ ♦ T ♦ KQ6 ♣ 6 ♣ Did the squeeze work? How will you know? It’s pretty simple, all that is required is to watch out for the Q♥, of course, and to count the Clubs played: - If South has both the minors she will either have pitched her Clubs by now setting up Declarer’s Club spot, or else she will have pitched a Diamond, setting up Dummy’s suit. - If North was squeezed in the minors she will have suffered a similar fate, only more so because she also has the Q♥ to conserve. - If North was squeezed in Diamonds and Hearts, the Q♥ will have appeared by now, or else North will have pitched a Diamond. So, the keys to making 7NT after the K♥ opening lead were simply to unblock the Q♣, cash the black suit winners, and count the number of Clubs played. Not too difficult, eh?
West has a good hand, but not good enough for a jump rebid to 3♣, nor is it good enough to try for slam after East shows game-invitational values with three Hearts.
Playing in 4♥, West must guess the Diamond suit to make 11 tricks. That will be easy enough if North decides on a Diamond opening lead, because Declarer will assume that North has not underled the Ace. If North’s opening lead is a less informative trump, then it won’t be so clear. Trumps will be drawn, and then a Diamond should be led immediately, there’s nothing to be learned from playing the other suits first, that will just help the defense get a count on the hand. Better to lead the Diamond right away, putting North to the test, and hoping that, with the Ace, he will jump up for fear that Declarer has a singleton Diamond. When North plays low, Declarer will reason that she might have hopped with the Ace if she had it, and will usually guess to finesse the Jack.
Here we have one of the most convoluted auctions ever to appear on the Wednesday Game site, even though the bidding never gets beyond 2♣. We doubt that the featured auction will ever be repeated, but just for the heck of it let’s look at a few of the bids: - North’s Double of 1♠: As a passed hand with 10 HCP’s and both the unbid suits, North apparently felt justified in competing for the part-score. Perhaps we are influenced by the result, but we question the wisdom of this bid, vulnerable with such a quacky hand. - East’s Redouble: A Support Redouble, showing exactly 3 cards in support of Partner. - North’s 1NT: Clearly North cannot defend 1♠ redoubled, nor does she want to pick one of the two unbid suits. She’d rather South did that, so she temporizes with 1NT. - West’s Double of 1NT: “We’ve got them now!” - North’s Pass of 1NT doubled: Again, deferring to Partner. - South’s Redouble: South also defers to Partner. - North’s 2♣: N-S are finally dragged, kicking and screaming, into their 4-3 fit.
The long-winded sequence is quite informative, and, even before Dummy goes down, East can determine with some certainty that Partner’s shape is precisely 4-3-3-3 (at least if he believes the N-S bidding). How so? Here’s the logic: - North deferred to Partner on the choice of suit, surely her Clubs and Hearts are of equal length, no doubt 4 cards in each. - South was similarly reluctant to pick a suit, no doubt she also has equal length in Clubs and Hearts. Let’s say she is 3-3 or 4-4 in those suits. - If South is 4-4 in Clubs and Hearts, then West must be 4-2-5-2 or 5-2-4-2, and would not be defending 2♣ with such a hand. So, South must both be 3-3 in Clubs and Hearts, and therefore, by extension, so must West. - How many Spades does West have? East has shown 3 Spades, and it seems unlikely that West would be doubling 2♣ with only 3 Clubs and with an 8-card Spade fit available. So, surely, he is 4-3-3-3.
Having deduced that 4-3-3-3 shape, East will know that his side has no ruffs coming, and that a trump lead is most promising. Down only one (thanks to the lucky Heart situation), but that’s still +200 and a good board for E-W.
East’s 2♣ was Michaels, and South’s 2♥ showed Club support (and at least invitational values), the so-called “Unusual vs Unusual” convention (or at least a variation of it).
3NT has no real chance of success. Let’s say that East leads a Heart, won by Declarer’s Ace. Declarer can play a Spade towards Dummy for her 8th trick, but that’s as many as she’ll get. The good news for N-S is that 3NT down one is an excellent sacrifice against 3♥ making!
Of course, 3♥ making +140 is not going to happen in real life, but 3♥ doubled for +530 is a definite possibility. For example, over East’s 2♣ South might try a natural 2NT, West might venture 3♥, which could be doubled by North or by South. There’s a Spade, two Hearts, and a Club to be lost, but that’s it. And even the Club might go away if North finds the unfortunate opening lead of a Diamond.
North’s Double showed at least one of the majors, and did not guarantee both. But when Partner showed Spades North was in an awkward spot. We’d say that 3♦ was a definite underbid, as there are some minimum hands for South where game will be have a good play. Then again, if we bid 3♣ and Partner bids 3NT, there will be many South hands with extras where 3NT has no play. This being matchpoints, perhaps a tame 3♦ is the percentage bid. It certainly is the winner on the actual deal, making 10 tricks.
Play Problem When we first analyzed this deal, we mistakenly had West as the dealer. This gave rise to a completely different auction, one in which East might well end up in 3♠ doubled, a contract which presented an instructive Play Problem. Rather than waste all that analysis, to say nothing of a good problem, we’ve worked out a way that, with East as dealer, 3♠ doubled might conceivably be reached. Follow the link for the problem.
Over 2♣ East must have been sorely tempted not even to bother mentioning his Hearts. After all, with 4 Hearts likely in the South hand, it was unlikely that 4♥ would be the right contract. West would need 4-card Heart support for 4♥ to make, because, if E-W have only a 5-3 Heart fit, a forcing Club attack would lead to loss of trump control for Declarer.
Playing in 4♥, with a 5-4 fit, the forcing game holds no terrors for Declarer. He ruffs the second round of trumps and plays on trumps. South does best to duck two rounds of trumps, in which case Declarer cannot afford a third round (South will win and lead a Club), instead he can retain by control by running the Spades.
If East takes the practical course of ignoring his Hearts (over 2♣ we’d suggest 3♠, which East will raise to 4♠) he will end up in a contract that can be beaten with a Heart ruff (or, improbably, even two Heart ruffs), but in practice it won’t be. South will have no reason to give her Partner a Heart ruff, she’ll lead a Club to North’s King and that will be the end of the defense, making 10 tricks.
North made a DONT Double (showing a one-suiter) and, as E-W were playing “systems on” in this situation, 2♥ was a transfer to Spades.
4♠ is not a success. There are two Heart losers, and Declarer’s best chance to avoid two trump losers is an “intra-finesse”. He leads a trump towards his J84, planning to finesse the Eight. If this forces the King or Queen from North, then he will run the Jack on the second round, hoping that South started with Tx. Neat play by Declarer, except that it doesn’t work on the lie of the cards and Declarer is down one.
It’s hard to see E-W getting to the making 3NT, so we’d expect 4♠ down one to be pretty much a universal result.
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