Becker's Bridge Blog

Borderline BAM Decisions--Updated

2011-12-16T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here are two similar hands that came up in Seattle--how would you handle each situation? Each is rotated to make you South.

1. Dealer South, N/S game
KTx
KQx
AKx
QTxx
You open 1NT, checked around to RHO who bids 2D showing the majors. LHO removes to 2S and partner doubles, passed to you.

2. Dealer East, E/W Game
Qx
AKJx
Q98
KJxx
East opens 1H, you overcall 1NT, passed back to East who bids 2D. This is passed to partner, who doubles. Back to you again.

After some debate I am still torn, but the only 2 real options in each case are pass and 2NT. Jonathan's point about partner having other options with more takeout-oriented hands is a good one. Also important to note in BAM/matchpoints, the opponents have jockeyed you out of your best-scoring partial, so you need to consider how any action you take may compare to what you may be able to score in 1NT.

What were the table results? Well, I regret to say that the first hand was the last of our qualifying effort in the Open BAM Teams event and I had a blind spot, bidding 3 Clubs. My RHO had a borderline balance (our teammate passed out 1NT for -150) and partner had a maximum pass with just enough to beat 2 Spades 2 tricks. Passing would have won the board and 2NT would have saved a half, but 3 Clubs lost it. As it turned out, a win on that board would have qualified us for the final. The second was from the 2nd semifinal session of the Reisinger Teams and this time I passed and led a trump. Unfortunately dummy was pretty good with 3 trump, a stiff heart and an ace...declarer (he had AKJxx of trump) emerged with an overtrick. Worse, 2nt was on our way. Our teammates played in the same contract on the same auction, but took a safe line to make 2 on a club lead. Another loss, but hopefully some experience gained!

Catching up--A Hand From Seattle

2011-12-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately my postings have been few and far between this year. I've probably been playing as much bridge as usual but haven't had as much free time to chronicle it, spending old free time working on my real job and planning my wedding for September. This year has featured perhaps more bridge excitement than most, including a trip to Tangier, Morocco for high-stakes rubber play! Hopefully over the next few months I will get a chance to catch up and, of course, add some new experiences. First, a nice defense by my partner Howard Liu from the first qualifying session of the Reisinger Teams at the Seattle NABC.

First in hand he held: 3 K98 Jxxxx KJxx
He passed and heard this uncontested auction starting on his left: 1 Spade-2 Clubs-2 Hearts-2 Notrump-3 Spades-4 Clubs-6 Spades.
I led the 9 of diamonds and this dummy appeared:
J4
T2
AKTx
AQxxx
Declarer won the ace, dropping the queen from his hand and played a low heart from the dummy, finessing the queen successfully. Now he cashed the ace of hearts, Howard following with the king! Declarer played a third heart, I followed suit with the Jack and declarer began thinking. Finally he ruffed low and had a near claim for making his slam--his hand was:
KQ987xx
AQxxx
Q
void
If he had ruffed with the jack, my ATx of trump would have been promoted into two tricks. I'm inclined to think that declarer would have gone wrong if he had timed the play "better." He could have discarded two losing hearts from his hand on dummy's extra minor suit winners before taking the heart finesse. Now in a similar position to the one he actually arrived at, he would be in much better shape, as he could ruff with the jack and make against most 2-2 trump splits (barring an unlikely promotion if the jack was over-ruffed). Unfortunately in the actual position, if declarer ruffed with the jack and suffered an over-ruff, the contract would be sunk as he would have no entry to dummy and thus no place to park his heart losers! Apparently he decided it was better to give Howard credit for making a nice play than to play for 2-2 trump with the ace in my hand. A pity, but still a fine effort by my partner.

7-5 Come Alive?--Updated

2011-05-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Most have probably forgotten this hand as well, but here is the conclusion. At the table I held the 7-5 hand and, while my high card strength was considerably underweight for my bidding, my defense was actually quite good--two sure tricks and a side void. Partner's double here was clearly the "I doubt they can make it" variety, and with no certain fit, I decided not to argue. My partner had Qx xxxxxx AQJx x and we defeated the contract two tricks on the ace of clubs lead. One hand doesn't prove much, but overall I thought we judged this one pretty well.

I may never again have the chance to contemplate defending a 3-level partial with a good 7-5 hand, but I faced this situation on Friday evening as South, 4th in hand with only E-W vulnerable:
Axxxx
void
x
AJ9xxxx
Surprisingly, the auction started quietly with two passes to my RHO, who opened 1 Diamond. I overcalled 2 Clubs, LHO made a negative double, partner passed and RHO bid 2 Diamonds. I bid 2 Spades, LHO competed to 3 Diamonds and partner doubled. What now?

Play 4 Spades--Updated

2011-05-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

At long last, an update on this hand.

I believe that the line suggested in the comments is best--the key play is discarding from dummy at trick one. Now you can play a club up and decide the later play, taking tricks/discards on the clubs or playing on cross-ruff lines depending on how the opponents defend. Not a particularly difficult hand, but often it is right in this position to ruff preserving the ace to stop a later assault in this suit--I don't think that is right here because the third spade in dummy represents an "entry" of sorts to the long clubs. No guarantees on this hand (the suggested line worked on the lie of the cards, lho holding the ace-fourth of clubs) but it is a good example to remind us that there isn't a "rule" that will cover every situation in the play of the cards.

Suppose you hold this hand in 3rd seat:
KJTxx
AT8x
Jxx
x

Everyone has something to say: partner opens 1 Club, RHO overcalls 1 Heart, you bid 1 Spade and LHO cuebids 2 Spades. Now partner bids 3 Diamonds, you try 3 Notrump and partner corrects to 4 Spades. LHO leads a small heart...do you ruff or discard from dummy and what is your general plan?
A87
void
Axxx
KQJxxx

KJTxx
AT8x
Jxx
x

Problems From Louisville--Updated

2011-04-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

I played four days at the recent NABC in Louisville with my friend Dr. Mohan. We played in the North American Pair event and the IMP Pair, failing to distinguish ourselves in either. A couple of interesting problems did come up--see what you think of these.
1) Matchpoints
Qxx
Kx
Ax
KQ9xxx
RHO deals and opens 2 Hearts, weak. You overcall 3 Clubs and partner responds 3 Spades. Your call?

This hand is quite a bit more suitable than some that you might hold for play in spades. At the table I was considering that many times a 4 Spade bid would be based on just a doubleton trump. I doubted that my partner would move over a simple 4 Spades with AK-sixth and the ace of clubs. Against that the hand is missing the ace of clubs and is basically a minimum for the initial action (the 3 Club overcall). I decided to cuebid 4 Hearts on the way, perhaps a mild overbid. My partner and I weren't on the same page here and he drove to a hopeless slam.

2) IMPs
KTx
Tx
AJxx
Qxxx
Partner opens 1 Club, which could be a doubleton if 4-4-3-2. RHO overcalls 1 Heart. You?

We play normal negative doubles, where a 1 Spade bid would promise 5 of them. The obvious choices seem to be Pass, 2 Clubs, and Double (despite the lack of the fourth spade). I think that pass is clearly wrong...Partner will often be passing out 1 Heart with some marginal 3 card holdings in the suit--in other words, hands that we should definitely be competing on. If I had held length in hearts with similar overall values passing would have much more appeal...if Partner chose to pass it out, I would expect to beat the contract. So the question became a choice between 2 Clubs and Double. Either could work but I figured 1NT could well be our best spot and 2 Spades was unlikely to be a disaster if we ended up there (we could also conceivably end in 1 Spade). I doubled, LHO raised to 2 Hearts and Partner bid 2 Spades, ending the auction. This went one down one on fairly normal play...2 Hearts was beatable double dummy but in practice would probably have made. It was basically a wash in terms of IMPs.

3) IMPs
QT9xxx
x
Ax
AKJx
Game all--You open 1 Spade, LHO overcalls 2 Hearts, Partner bids 4 Spades and RHO is there with 5 Hearts. What's your call?

This was the most dynamic hand of the tournament for me and I have determined that it was a situation that poker players call a "cooler". Bidding 5 Spades seems pretty normal and has been by far the majority choice of people I've polled. On this hand bidding vs doubling represented a difference of no less than 1000 points (5SX-1 vs 5Hx-3). My partner's hand was:
Axxxx
Qx
xxxxx
x
The 5 Heart bidder was 2-4-2-5 with the queen of clubs and the overcaller had AK of hearts, so after a club lead the defense takes the first 4 tricks and then plays a 4th club for an uppercut. Instead I was down 1 doubled in 5 Spades for a double-digit loss.

In retrospect, should I have gotten this right? Does partner rate to have a minor suit singleton for bidding 4 Spades red? If he has one, we will likely get at least 500 from 5 Hearts while prospects in 5 Spades are uncertain.

4) IMPs
AKxxx
A
AKJxx
AJ
You open 2 Clubs, partner bids 2 Diamonds (semi-positive). You bid 2 Spades and partner bids 3 Spades. What's your call/plan for the rest of the auction?

I'm not proud of how I bid this one, and perhaps the answer is that we needed better machinery. The 3 Spade bid promised just scattered values (likely a king somewhere) and any 3 trump and 3NT by me would have been undiscussed. I was unsure of how to get the information that I needed so I ended up bidding Blackwood, hoping to find the trump queen (with 4 trump Partner would have shown the queen). If he had it i could make a generic king ask/grand slam try of 5NT ...when he didn't have it I signed off in 5 Spades, figuring we likely needed 3-2 trump and something good to happen in the minors. I failed to take into account that 4-1 trump could also put me in jeopardy at the 5-level, which could be another argument for driving more aggressively towards slam and hoping for good breaks. Anyway, partner's hand was:
xxx
Kxxxx
Tx
KQx
Trump were 3-2 and diamonds were 3-3, so 12 tricks could be made. Unfortunately the field bid this one and we lost around 8 IMPs.

Another Close Call

2010-12-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

I returned yesterday from Orlando after another heartbreaking exit from the Reisinger Teams. My squad ended day 1 with 23.5 wins in 48 boards, which was half a board from qualification for the semifinal.

My favorite hand from the day came against the Diamond squad, one of the pre-tournament favorites. I held:
x
A8x
AT8x
AJTxx
and opened the bidding with 1 Club. My partner responded 1 Spade and I rebid 1 Notrump, ending the auction. My LHO led the 3 of hearts and this dummy came down:
A9xx
KT2
Jxx
Kxx
It looks percentage to play small from dummy, playing the opening leader for honor-9 instead of Queen-Jack, so I did, which fetched the nine from RHO. I won the ace and played on clubs, one to the king and another to the jack, both following. I was up to 9 tricks so I led a low diamond toward dummy, the jack losing to the queen. My RHO returned the queen of hearts which I won in dummy with the king. That left:
A9xx
T
xx
x

x
x
AT8
Axx
I started running my club winners, and my LHO's discards were coming slower with each round. Eventually he discarded spades each time, 2 low ones and the jack. I was pretty confident that he had started with 4-4-3-2 distribution at this point, so all that was left was to play my spade to the ace (LHO followed with the king) and the ten of hearts, which endplayed him to lead into my diamond tenace for 10 tricks. The defense was tough to find...he had to pitch one of his hearts and then follow to the spade with the king, leaving himself a smaller spade as an exit after winning the ten of hearts. The board was a win when the declarer in the same contract at the other table finessed clubs in the other direction and ended with only 8 tricks.

It was an enjoyable trip but was frustrating from a results standpoint...hopefully next year will bring more success at the table.

Slams in Lake Geneva Part 2

2010-11-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Buoyed by the success of the previous hand, Dan and I faced another slam opportunity. I picked up: KTx Tx AT9 AKxxx and heard him open a 15-17 1NT.

Using standard methods, you have 3 main options. The simplest is a direct 3NT--pessimistic, but nothing is perfect. Also you could try an invitational 4NT. Finally you can take the scientific route, starting with a club transfer. If your partner doesn't super-accept, you can bid 3NT, which should show a mild slam invite, albeit usually with 6 clubs (with less you wouldn't bother with the transfer). Over the super-acceptance you have to bid 4NT--a 3NT bid here would be based on good clubs and invitational values...something like xx xxx Jx KQTxxx.

Our pre-game discussions gave me a fourth option here. I could bid 4 Spades as a lighter balanced slam invitation (4NT would be more encouraging). Since my hand provides help in all the suits, I decided to choose this course rather than showing clubs. Dan jumped to 6 Hearts and I corrected to 6NT. This worked out well...partner had:
A9x AQ9xx Kx QJx
He made all the tricks on a friendly layout, which gave us a slam swing.

Slams in Lake Geneva Part 1

2010-11-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend at the regional in Lake Geneva, WI. It was my first time off from work since the summer national and the more relaxed bridge setting provided some much needed r&r. I played the Thursday-Friday knockout with Dan Zagorin, Joe Stokes and Cheri Bjerken. Dan and I had a couple of interesting slam-type hands come up. On the first I held:
x AQxx Jxxx Axxx

I heard Dan open 1 Club--I responded 1 Heart and was raised to 4. How do you approach the bidding from here?

It seems that slam will usually be pretty good. Opposite the wrong hand, we could suffer a diamond ruff and go down in 5...on balance I figured that this hand was at least worth one move so I cuebid 5 Clubs. Partner cooperated with 5 Diamonds and I bid the slam. Actually the play was much more amusing.

LHO led a low trump and I saw:
Kxxx KJxx AK KQ9

There are a few options but it seems right to win in hand to lead a spade up--with the ace onside we can make 12 tricks with the help of 2 spade ruffs in hand. I tried this line but RHO won the king of spades with the ace and returned a spade after some consideration. This presented the extra option of trying to ruff 3 spades in my hand after which I wouldn't have to rely on 3-3 clubs. I decided to trust my opponent to have played back a trump if it was necessary, so I ruffed, crossed to dummy with a diamond and ruffed another spade. When I cashed the queen of hearts, both followed and I winced slightly. Fortunately all was still well--I returned to dummy with a club, drew the last trump, cashed the other high diamond and then the final trump--this would catch RHO in a minor suit squeeze if she happened to hold the queen of diamonds along with club length (remember to play the high diamond first, though, so that you can see your opponent's discard before you have to make a critical one of your own). Clubs were 3-3 all along so we chalked up our slam.

Catching Up...

2010-10-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Regrettably I wasn't able to attend the World Championships that are currently concluding in Philadelphia. Congrats to John Diamond, Brian Platnick, Fred Gitleman, Brad Moss, Eric Greco and Geoff Hampson, winners of the main event! They bested an incredibly strong field of well over 100 teams.

Actually after a flurry of cards in early September I haven't played much. The last month or so I've been focusing more on the Northwestern football Saturdays and some home renovations. The most notable accomplishment from the flurry was a qualification for the North American Pair, to be contested at the March NABC in Louisville. My partner, Sangarapil Mohan, and I finished 3rd in the district. The first and second place pairs receive funding from the ACBL to attend the national event--as third place finishers we are invited to compete but will pay for the trip ourselves (my usual pro-quo for nationals anyway). Congrats to Nik Demirev-Ralph Katz and David Yang-Xiaodong Shi, our district's first two pairs.

The field was a particularly strong one, so Mohan and I were very happy to place so well. I recall several interesting hands, but a lot of the finer details are escaping me (as usual, I have lost track of my hand records). Here is one that we got lucky on...any suggestions for a better auction are welcome.
A
AKJxxx
xxx
AK

KTxxxx
void
AQxxx
xx
Our auction, starting with the North hand, was 2C-2S-3H-3S-4S-5D-6C-6S-P
This was not a great contract but it had the virtue of keeping the diamond tenace protected, which proved crucial. Spades were 3-3 and hearts 4-3, so the play was pretty easy--I won the club lead, ruffed 2 hearts while drawing trumps and hoping for the best...the other high club was left as an entry to the hearts once the spade loser was punched out.

More concerning is the bidding...I took a number of dubious actions, the first being the 2 Spade response, ostensibly showing 2 of the top 3 honors. I thought that this hand would be tough to describe without starting with a positive response. Over my partner's 3 Hearts, 4 Diamonds seems normal, but is it certain to be interpreted correctly? These days introducing minors naturally at the 4-level is not in style...how do you show a good raise to 4 Hearts here? Anyway, I further muddied the waters with 3 Spades and could certainly have passed 4 Spades as well...but things worked out. On the same hand Katz opened only 1 Heart on the North cards and the pair still reached 6 Spades, so perhaps it isn't so easy to stop short of slam.

The Right Time?

2010-08-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Suppose you pick up this hand in 4th seat:
Jxxx AJ98x A54 x
LHO starts the auction with 1 Spade, partner passes and RHO responds 1 Notrump. You make a dubious 2 Heart overcall which is followed by 2 passes. Now RHO reopens with 3 Clubs and is promptly raised to 5 by the opener. What do you lead?

I generally don't have a great flair for the dramatic on opening lead, but this hand seemed worthy of some thought. I figured that the opening bidder would be prepared for a heart lead considering his aggressive raise, so apparently our best hope was to make 2 tricks in diamonds to go with my ace of hearts. My best chance was to find the king of diamonds in my partner's hand, in which case it didn't matter which diamond i led...however, if partner didn't have the king of diamonds, LHO was a big favorite to hold it on this auction (RHO should have a good club suit and something less than 10 HCP). My analysis pretty much ended there and I managed to lead my 4 of diamonds reasonably in tempo. I have to admit that my heart started pounding when i saw the dummy:
AQTxx
Kx
KJ
Kxxx
Declarer took quite a while to play to trick one...I'm still not sure if he was suspicious or just taking his time examining his assets, but finally he played the jack. My partner took the queen and returned a diamond to my ace. I cashed the ace of hearts and continued a heart for a one-trick set. Actually if I had played my third diamond we would likely have scored another trick, for declarer's hand was a surprising:
void
Qx
Txxxxx
AQ98x
His choice of 3 Clubs instead of 3 Diamonds seems a bit odd but isn't crazy and this time it led to a pretty good contract. I'm confident that he would have gotten the diamond right if I hadn't led it right away because I had overcalled.

In fact, I had a small extra edge in coming up with the lead--I was playing last night at the local club where the bidding in general isn't precise enough to locate good minor suit games. My goal was to beat the contract, and it seemed likely that the underlead, if wrong, would cost at most an overtrick. Sure enough, our opponents were the only pair in game!

Which Strain?--Updated

2010-08-12T19:47:00.001-07:00

As promised, here is one interesting hand from the recent NABC in New Orleans. It comes from the swiss teams--you are vul vs not and partner opens 1 Heart.
A9xx
K
9xxx
A9xx
The auction begins simply enough--with the opponents silent, you respond 1 Spade, partner bids 2 Diamonds and you bid 3 Diamonds. Now partner bids 3 Spades. Apparently he has a good shapely hand, but is there a range? Could he be 2-5-4-2 without a club stop? And, perhaps more importantly, what do you bid now?

--------
Thanks for all of the comments on this hand. I was planning on updating sooner, but figured I'd let you guys run with it for a while. As stated, I faced this problem in the Swiss. I made a poor bid of 4 spades that had a happy ending when I managed to emerge with 10 tricks. One thing that I did consider that was not brought up in the comments was that hearts could still easily be the right strain. Our stiff king is actually quite a fine holding. My 4 spade bid amounted to a guess, and a bad one, as the comments indicate--although we can control the first round of clubs and will be able to ruff the second round in the shorter trump hand, our trump are not the robust type that you like to have to play a 4-3 fit...not to mention the possibility that partner is 2-5-5-1.

In the postmortem my partner suggested the 4 Club cuebid. Assuming you are willing to give up on notrump at this point (I know that Kenny is!), the cuebid stands out. My partner thinks that 4 Clubs says, "I have a good hand but am not sure where to go with it yet." Over 4 Clubs, partner has an easy 4 Heart bid--his hand actually was: JT7 AQJxxx AQxx void.

To finish the story, 4 Spades needed some luck, including the diamond finesse. We gained an imp on this one when the other table played in 3nt with 9 toppers when the hearts split 4-2...the opposing declarer didn't take the diamond finesse and was duly punished.

Intuitive Bid

2010-08-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Alice and I arrived back in Chicago yesterday morning exhausted from a long weekend of partying in New Orleans. It was a great time, though the partying went better than the bridge for the most part...I'll try to post a few hands in the next few days. I was planning an afternoon sleeping my way out of the daze and then a relaxing dinner/cards night with friends including Dan Wilderman, who is visiting from New York. The sleeping part of that plan was put aside when I heard from Dan that he and Kenny were planning on playing the afternoon game at the local club--Alice and I decided to join in the fun and soon found ourselves sitting North-South at table 3!

Alice has still played less than 10 rounds of duplicate and our convention card includes nothing more than 16-18 notrumps, Stayman, and forcing double-raises. You might imagine my trepidation, then, when I held this hand in 3rd seat with none vul and faced a challenging auction:
AJ9x
Jx
K9
KJ98x
The opponents were silent throughout. I opened 1 Club and Alice responded 2 Diamonds. We had not discussed passed hand jump shifts so I tried to imagine what she had--I came up with a maximum pass with an excellent diamond suit. Going on this assumption, I had a few options--I could pass if I thought we were high enough, I could raise diamonds, or I could mention my spades. I figured that my hand was minimum, but the king of diamonds was likely to be a big card, so I wanted to keep bidding and decided to bid 2 Spades on the way. Alice bid a prompt 4 Spades and again I was concerned, mostly because I thought that I had overbid. LHO led a low heart and Alice produced this fine dummy:
KQT
xx
AJTxxx
Qx
I was delighted to be in the only game contract with a legitimate chance! Normal splits led to making 4--the only +420 in our direction. I was proud of Alice's evaluation of her cards on this one--she could tell that they were all pulling full weight. Well done partner!

Light Negative Doubles

2010-07-20T15:53:00.001-07:00

A couple of hands came up while I was playing online last night that presented opportunities to make light negative doubles of a preemptive bid. Are these long-run winning tactics or is it better to "stay fixed" with these hands? Some style is certainly involved, with the daring, gambling type of player favoring the double while the conservative passes without much thought. Here are the 2 hands and situations. Assume neither vul and you are 3rd to act.

QJxx
Kxxx
Qx
xxx
Partner opens 1 Diamond, RHO overcalls 3 Clubs.

QJxx
Qxxx
x
Qxxx
Partner opens 1 Club, RHO overcalls 3 Diamonds.

Too Much Info

2010-06-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

Our team emerged from the recent International Team Trial event without distinction, but at least built some experience playing against some of the country's best players. As you all know, the event is concluding as I write, with some 50 boards yet to be played in the final between the Diamond and Fleishcer squads. Congratulations to my friends on the Weinstein team which defeated the powerful Meltzer and Welland squads on their way to a spot in the semifinal. Well done!

The event actually started well for our team--we won our first match and followed with two close matches, putting us above average at the first break. Unfortunately things headed south from there. Here's one hand from the second match where I broke one of my own hard rules--don't give away too much information in the bidding. I held this hand:
Kx
AQxx
KT9xx
Jx
I opened 1 Diamond, heard a game-forcing 2 Clubs from my partner and rebid 2 Diamonds. He raised to 3 Diamonds...your call?

On the auction it isn't totally clear yet what the "right" contract is. One thing that is clear to me now is that making a lot of bids with this so-so minimum, semi-balanced hand is asking for trouble. A practical 3 Notrump bid here doesn't neccessarily end the auction--partner already knows that I have a fair hand with 5 diamonds. At the table, I chose to show my hearts and the wheels started to fall off. The player to my left, who happened to be ACBL hall-of-famer Peter Weichsel, doubled. This came back around to me and now, belatedly, I bid the obvious 3 Notrump. Weichsel found a killing spade lead from Qxx instead of leading from his KJxxx of hearts. We lost 11 IMPs on the hand and the match by 3. (As a side, I've been re-reading Zia's book "Bridge my Way" this weekend and I'm sure he would suggest an occasional 3 Heart bid on my hand if my major suit holdings were reversed--see Chapter 5)

All in all the team trials were a good experience and one that hopefully I will be repeating with more success in future years.

After 2 Way New Minor Forcing

2010-05-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

This hand caused me a problem at the regional in Lake Geneva. Playing IMPs I held
Tx
KJx
AQJxx
Qxx
I opened 1 Diamond, my partner responded 1 Spade and I rebid 1 Notrump. Now my partner bid 2 Diamonds showing some game-forcing hand. This is a nice convention because it allows you to pass information back and forth at a conveniently low level to decide on a strain for your game, or perhaps to investigate slam. Still, you can't be lazy with your bids here. This is apparently a very simple situation, but what do you bid at your 3rd turn?

I didn't think much about this one beyond the fact that I held 5 diamonds to the ace-queen-jack and hadn't shown them yet. So 3 Diamonds it was. I failed to imagine my partner's possible problem on this auction...over 3 Diamonds, his 3 Heart bid looks natural here and 3 Spades is definitely natural, so space is suddenly at a premium. Forced into a guess, my partner reasonably went with 5 Diamonds holding Qxxx x Kxxx AKJx. This was a silly contract, down off the top with 3 Notrump cold on most layouts and difficult to defend on the layouts where it is beatable. What was the problem?

On the theory of game before slam, my hand looks very well-suited to notrump play. I have slow honors in both of the unbid suits and really don't want to play diamonds unless my partner suggests it (and insists on it over my 3 Heart continuation). I now believe that I should have continued with 2 Notrump over 2 Diamonds--the auction is still low enough that we can reach diamonds if that is where the hand belongs. I thought this was an interesting problem because it is so easy to get lazy during these auctions--even when it looks like you have plenty of space, you have to imagine partner's problems and make sure you are making the most descriptive, economical bid.

Hero in 3NT?

2010-03-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

I faced this hand today in our District GNT event:
Tx
xx
KQ9
AQTxxx

Q87x
AQ
Axxxx
Jx
My partner opened 1 Club in first seat, I responded 1 Diamond and West overcalled 1 Spade. My partner made a support double, passed to me. Now 3 Notrump, what else? West led an attitude spade deuce to East's jack. Think about your line of play before you read on.

Assuming a normal 3-2 diamond spit, you have 8 tricks ready to take. One option is to duck the lead--now if spades are continued, the defenders will not have communication even if the club finesse loses and you will have 9 tricks. An alert East can shift to a heart, though, through your ace-queen and if that hook is off, you are back to relying on the club finesse. The right play both technically and psychologically is to win the queen of spades and run the diamond suit. Assuming the suit divides 3-2, West will come under some pressure and you may well be able to read the position from the way he discards. In fact the hand is cold if West has the king of hearts and few defenders can blank a king in tempo--eventually you will be able to cash 7 winners, stripping West of safe exit cards and throw him in with a spade to lead away from the king of hearts. Was I the hero of this hand? Sad to say, no...this came up towards the end of a 2 day 90-board marathon and my radars weren't close to being ready for the situation. Seeing stars by this point, I seemed to think that my remaining stiff ten in dummy and 87x in my hand would suffice for a second spade stopper. I won the lead and took the club hook for a swift down 1. The hero of this hand was Jeff Schuett, the declarer for our opponents. He played the hand as described for a well-earned 10 imp swing. Well done!

Opportunity in the Auction

2010-02-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

I enjoy finding opportunities to use free bids to introduce both a fit and another important feature of my hand. One came up this weekend in a sectional pair game. My partner opened a red/white 3 Hearts in 3rd seat. My RHO overcalled 3 Spades. My hand was:
xx
J9x
AQTx
Qxxx
I was comfortable competing to 4 Hearts with these cards, but it would be a gross shot in the dark to act over the 4 Spade bid that I was sure would come on my left. It looked clear to me that 4 Diamonds was the call, both helping partner evaluate his cards and possibly to help us on defense later. LHO did indeed bid 4 Spades, which ended the auction. I led a heart to partner's ace and he promptly returned a diamond into a dummy of:
QJTxx
x
xx
KJTxx
I cashed my 2 diamonds and we eventually conceded the rest, -420. I lamented that we had missed a rare bird, the red on white save. Partner's hand was:
x
AQTxxxx
J9xx
x
Sacrificing would have netted -200 or +50 if the opponents had competed further. In the recap, though, we scored 28/38 for -420. Apparently many had returned their singleton club after winning the first trick with the ace of hearts, allowing declarer to hold his diamond losers to 1. I was pleased with the result and am glad to get rewarded for making bids like this that have several ways to win and very little to lose. It's a standout if you think about it, but it is very easy to lazily bid 4 Hearts at the table.

Wolff Signoff After 2NT Rebid

2010-01-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

A friend from Chicago recently asked me to post notes on the system that I use with Joe after a 2NT rebid. Transfers are popular these days, but I've had decent success with this, so here it:

applies after 1m-1M-2NT start, not after 1H-1S-2NT or 1C-1D-2NT
3C=relay to 3D (usually some slam try but could be to play 3 diamonds)
After opener accepts the relay, responder's bids:
3 of bid major=6+ suit, slam try
3 of OM=slam try in minor not opened
3NT=slam try in opener's minor

3D=checkback for majors (opener bids hearts first)

3 of bid major=signoff, 6 card suit

3 of OM:
over original 1S=5-5 or 6-5 forcing
over original 1H=4/5 forcing, slammish--partner cues clubs with good hand for hearts and diamonds with good hand for spades

No Cigar Follow-Up

2009-12-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

I made a new post for this in case any new readers would like to read the problems first before seeing what happened. Thanks again for the comments...I was relieved to see that my table actions received a decent amount of support. See what you think of the results.

On Board 9 I held AK9x Axx xxx KQx and faced an invitational 3 spade bid in a Stayman sequence. I'm not sure why I was gun-shy on this one...usually it is my style to go for game in close situations. Arguing for bidding, my cards are all prime and well-located. The hand isn't "max" but rates to play better than many 17 counts on this auction. Arguing against is the minimum distribution. For whatever reason I passed...as Joe mentioned in the comments, game was pretty good. He had xxxx KJx Ax Jxxx. I got a club lead to the ace, trump split 3-2 and I had no problem taking 10 tricks. The board was doubly painful, though, because we had a chance to win it at both tables. Our teammates lost their way defending a notrump partial at the other table, also allowing 10 tricks. Pipped!

On Board 14 with Kxx AKQx Axx Kxx i opened 1 Club in 2nd seat, got a 1 Diamond overcall, a preemptive 3 Club raise and 3 Diamonds from RHO. I doubled (scary, as Weinstein pointed out). My partner sat for it, which was scarier, and then they made the contract, which took the cake. Partner had to find a trump lead from T98x xxx J QJxxx to beat it. It was a tough break, but I think the disciplined pass is really the way to go at these colors...our teammates had a nice result here, scoring 110 in 3 diamonds (undoubled of course).

On Board 20 I was caught speeding again...with xxx AKQJxxx x xx I overcalled 4 Hearts with both vul after my RHO's 3rd seat 1 Diamond opening. This was passed out. Partner had a smattering of values including the ace of spades and 2 trump. Unfortunately there was no play for a 9th trick and I was -200. My hand overcalled 3 hearts and played there down 1 at the other table.

Board 22 was interesting. I held Qx QT QJxx QT9xx and had the final decision about sacrificing over 5 Spades. Normally I would pass this one out instantly...trust me, all the reasons in the comments were going through my head. Still I felt like I had a decent amount of table feel--something was telling me that bidding was right. My RHO was one of the most solid citizens I knew in the world of bridge and he hesitated forever over 5 spades...I knew he was too disciplined to bid a slam on the auction and that his eventual pass was inevitable, but the fact that he was thinking so long made me nearly certain that 5 spades was making. Finally I passed, deciding bidding was too much of a position. My partner led a top club--dummy was JTxxxx AKxxx x x. Partner cased the diamond ace and exited. Til near the end I held out hope that there was a heart loser, but alas declarer had 4 small hearts and eventually scored up his game. We had 10 tricks available in clubs...this result was a push, and I don't think I did anything wrong, but will resolve to trust my instincts and table feel when the decision looks close.

Finally, Board 24. This one was embarassing, but I'm still not sure what really should have happened. I led the king of spades from AKxx KJx x 9xxxx against 3nt on the given auction and saw: 6 QTxxx Kxx K8xx. Any attention to cashing out/holding in overtricks was immediately replaced by the necessity to beat the contract. My partner followed with an encouraging 9. It looked normal to continue a low spade, which I did--partner won the queen and played a 3rd spade to my ace. I didn't know this for certain, but we had just set up declarer's 9th trick. I had to find a heart shift now to get our 5 tops and failed to do it. Declarer's hand was JTxx xx AQJx AQJ. Our teammates again came through with a reasonable +120 on this board, but they understandably couldn't cover -400. I was thinking that perhaps my lead had made it more difficult for us to cash our tricks--maybe I should have stuck with a 4th-best club. More likely it is a combination of bad luck and my own defensive slip later--it was certainly possible to find the heart shift.

No Cigar

2009-12-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back from another enjoyable trip to nationals...the most exciting moments and ulitimately my biggest regrets came from my team's one day in the main event, the Reisinger Teams. It is scored by point-a-board--in other words, you score one point for beating your opponents' score on a hand, a half for tying and 0 for scoring worse. We played 26 boards in the afternoon and evening and ended up dead average with 26/52. Unfortunately we came on the wrong side of the tiebreaker format and were sent to the showers...2 of 7 teams with our score advanced. This is my favorite event of the year, and it would have been a great experience to advance to the 2nd day, but I guess there is always the next bridge tournament. Here are a few hands from the 2nd session for you to ponder. You hold the same South cards that I had.

Bd 9:
AK9x
Axx
xxx
KQx
The auction starts with two passes to you--you open 1NT, partner staymans and bids 3 spades over you 2 spade reply. Do you go?

Bd 14:
none vul
Kxx
AKQx
Axx
Kxx
You open 1 Club in 2nd seat. LHO overcalls 1 Diamond, partner raises to 3 Clubs (weak) and RHO bids 3 Diamonds. You?

Bd 20
Both Vul
xxx
AKQJxxx
x
xx
RHO opens 1 Diamond in 3rd seat. How many hearts do you bid?

Bd 22
E-W Vul
Qx
QT
QJxx
QT9xx
LHO opens 1 Spade in 3rd seat. Partner overcalls 2 Clubs and RHO bids 4 Clubs (splinter). You double (do you?), LHO passes, partner bids 5 Clubs, RHO bids 5 Hearts, you pass, LHO bids 5 Spades, partner passes and RHO takes 2 minutes to pass. Do you sacrifice?

Bd 24
AKxx
KJx
x
9xxxx
RHO opens 1NT, LHO transfers with 2 Diamonds. RHO bids 2 Hearts, LHO 3 Clubs and RHO 3NT. What do you lead?

Your Call?--Updated

2009-11-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

Red on white you hold in 1st seat: x x AK98x AQxxxx. You open?

I chose 1 Diamond...this hand is plenty for a reverse if you could be guaranteed a fit, but life is not always great with hands like these, and until you get some good news from partner, my experience tells me to start cautiously. The auction did not develop particularly well for me. LHO overcalled 1 Heart, partner bid 1 Spade and RHO jumped to 4 Hearts. You have your 10 seconds, but must act then or you could put your partner in a tight position at his next turn...what's your call?

Thanks guys...no traps on this one, Mojo--it looks relatively obvious to bid 5 Clubs, and in retrospect I agree with that bid. I was about to do it at the table but in my 10 seconds of waiting after the skip bid I talked myself out of it. Bidding can certainly be wrong...often you will turn a plus position into a minus one and it would be nice to hear some input from partner--his range of hands is enormous at this point. Also sometimes even if you can make, partner will correct, blissfully unaware that clubs is your 6-bagger. One problem with the pass comes when partner does show signs of life with a double. Now you got the input you wanted but it's back to you and can you really bid just 5 Clubs now? Wouldn't you do that with xx x AQJxx KJTxx? You've endplayed yourself into a guess--my guess might have been 6 clubs but if the hand is good enough to bid a slam when partner reopens with a double, it should be good enough to bid 5 Clubs now. Also if you've made up your mind that you are never passing a double (and with 6-5, who really would?), there is no way you are going to get them on this auction if they are stepping way out of line. So you are drawing a bit thin with a pass...you can play 4 hearts undoubled, possibly 5 diamonds, or a slam (if that is your choice over partner's double). And that's without considering what you may do if partner bids 4 spades. I hadn't seen this situation before and certainly wasn't capable of all of this analysis within 10 seconds--actually i only got as far as the point about partner correcting to diamonds when it was wrong. So I made the 2nd best bid, pass. Fortunately it was in tempo and my partner brought a smile back to my face by reopening not with a double, but with an aggressive 6 diamonds. His hand was AKxxx Axx QT9x x. The play was as easy as it looks...I made 12 tricks for a major swing against 5 diamonds at the other table. One possible moral--in some of these tough situations, if you don't know exactly what to do, at least do it in tempo!

Gambling at the 4-Level--Updated

2009-10-26T19:28:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what my fascination is with high-level bidding decisions. I guess part of it could be an overall love for excitement, gambling, and adventure, which all play their parts when your bidding space is sparse. I just got back from Lake Geneva--it was a fun weekend and generally successful tournament. I got some solid practice time in with my partners for the upcoming NABC in San Diego. Hopefully this will be the first of a few posts about the tournament.

I'll do this one in the form of a poll...what do you like on this auction?
Love all-
xx
QTxxxx
x
AQxx

Ax
AKxx
xx
KT9xx

The above hands are North and South respectively. West opens 4 Diamonds (natural) in front of the North hand. The scoring is IMPs and here are your options for entering the auction (I'll let you know my own opinions later, which could certainly change...actually i don't think any of these choices are insane, so please don't feel bashful about stating your opinion!)
a) North should overcall 4 Hearts.
b) If North passes, South should balance with 4 Hearts
c) If North passes, South should balance with a double
d) Everyone should pass--the preempt worked this time
Let me know what you think...if you choose a, let me know if you would also agree with b or c! This is fun. I must be sick :).

Thanks for the comments. Situations like this don't pop up all that often, but my general experience has told me that it's right on hands like these to bid aggressively with distribution. That is why, though most of you seem to shudder at the thought of overcalling with the north cards in this example, I personally don't think overcalling is that bad. In fact, throw in the jack of hearts and jack of clubs and I would call the hand a sound minimum 4 heart overcall. The reason I think bidding with distribution is important is that often your partner will have some kind of decent balanced hand, perhaps with 3 of the enemy suit and have no safe-looking action available. Picture Axx Axx Axx Kxxx. I would feel very nervous bidding over a 4 level preempt with this, even in balancing seat...opposite the north hand with the two jacks thrown in, you will be odds on to make 6 hearts, and opposite the actual north hand 4 hearts would be a very resonable contract. The consequence of this line of thinking is that as partner of the overcaller in this type of situation you have to give a lot of leeway. It's a little bit analagous to responding to a 3rd seat opening...be careful not to hang your partner for acting aggressively. If a slam is there, you know that the other table may well face the same difficulty and guesses in the bidding. Indeed on this hand getting to game would have been plenty. At my table I help the 2-4-2-5 hand and faced the auction 4d-p-4s-?. I should probably have doubled, but I passed...we set it 3 for what looked like a horrible result. We gained 3 imps when the auction was 4d-p-p-p at the other table.

Rebid Problem/Possible Solution--Updated

2009-09-20T22:43:00.001-07:00

You hold:
AKQJ9
ATxxx
K
xx

You open 1 Spade, partner responds 1NT and you bid?

Well, I bid 2 Hearts as well and we did miss a cold game this time. Partner had: x xx AQJTx J9xxx. One of the biggest problems I've had with standard bidding is this exact situation--opener's simple rebid in a new suit has a very wide range. One possible solution is the Gazzilli convention. Stacy Jacobs has a nice write up on her blog here:http://stacyjacobs.com/system-notes/major-suit-openings/. Basically a 2 Club rebid on this auction could be arificial, encompassing your jumpshift hands but also the problem-range hands. It starts around a good 16 points and responder's 2 Diamonds is a relay, game-forcing if opener has 16+. Our auction on the given hand would go-1S-1NT-2C*-2D**-3H***-3NT
*-Gazzilli--either semi-natural or 16+
**-8+ points any (gameforcing opposite 16+)
***-16+, 5-5 majors

Too Strong?

2009-08-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

I kibitzed this hand during the Bermuda Bowl round robin USA2 vs Norway match--dealer held:
Q9x
KQJxx
AQ
KTx

How good is this holding and what's your approach?

Close One?

2009-08-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Vul vs not you hold:
A
Kxxxx
AJx
KQxx
You open 1 Heart in 3rd seat and LHO leaps to 4 Spades, passed back to you. Do you act?

Part 3--Updated

2009-07-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

This was my favorite hand of the tournament--it is a great hand on a lot of different levels.
Vul vs not you hold:
Axx
ATx
KJxx
AKx
As you sit counting your points, RHO opens 1 Spade in front of you. You double, LHO passes and partner bids 2 Clubs. RHO rebids 2 Spades and it is your call. A case can be made for 2NT, but I think another double is a standout, and that is what you do :). LHO passes again and partner bids 3 Clubs. This is passed to LHO who looks anguished and eventually bids 3 Spades, which becomes the final contract. This is a multiple-part problem--first, though, what is your opening lead?

I felt like I had some table feel on this one...my LHO had passed all too happily over each of the doubles, but when 3 Clubs was passed back to him, he looked like he had a real problem. I had a strong hunch that he had an awkward hand with modest spade support and club shortness, so I decided to lead a trump. I thought about a small one like some of you suggested, but ended up leading the ace, prepared with apologies if my partner had the stiff king. I knew that I had struck gold when this dummy hit:
32
Kxxxx
Axxxxx
void
I wasn't hard-pressed to get another trump on the table--my partner followed suit both times. Declarer drew the last trump, my partner throwing the six of clubs. Then he led the jack of hearts. Consider what you'd do now.

I won the ace of hearts (partner played small) and cashed the king of clubs, my partner following with the jack and declarer with the deuce. Now I tried to imagine declarer's distribution. It seemed consistent with everything that had happened for declarer to have 6-2-1-4 shape and if that was the case, I could beat the contract for sure by playing back the king of diamonds. After one final re-count, I decided this was definitely the best move, and gave it a shot, hoping for down 1, but really hoping to see declarer's stiff queen fall on this trick. I got one out of two--partner followed with the ten and declarer with his small singleton. When the dust settled the contract was down 1 and I felt like Garozzo, even if only for a few moments :). Declarer's hand: KQJTxx QJ x Qxxx

So, on this one--if you led the ace of trump and shifted to diamonds after winning the first heart, you get +50 and 90%. Sorry--I know how unlikely that is, but I have to trumpet an occasional success story. Any other defense is -140 but you still get an above average score because many bought the contract your way in notrump and went down multiple tricks.

Part 2--Updated

2009-07-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

At game all you hold:
KQJ2
875
QJx
xxx
The auction begins with a pass on your right, you pass, and LHO opens 2NT (20-21). RHO transfers to spades and bids 3NT, which becomes the final contract. Your parner leads the queen of hearts and this is what you see:
98754
9
T9x
KJxx
------KQJ2
------875
------QJx
------xxx
Declarer wins the lead with the ace and thinks for about 2 minutes. Hopefully you were thinking too, because next declarer plays the ace of diamonds and a small one. You are in with the jack--what do you return?

Thanks for the comments, guys. Perhaps thg is right about this being a suit-preference situation, but it may be a little obscure, especially in a new partnership or one that doesn't play regularly. Absent that agreement, we are left to our own devices to figure the hand out, and I think Weinstein hit the nail on the head. Assuming partner's hearts are Q-J-Ten, a low spade return is only wrong when declarer has both the ace and ten of spades. So, in my best Kelsey impersonation, if you returned a low spade, you achieve a satisfying down one and 90% of the matchpoints. If you did anything else, you are -600 for a 30% board. At the table I got this one right though I admit that I didn't have all of the reasons worked out. It took me a long time to find the play, so it was nice when the hand was over 2 seconds after :).

Declarer's hand: Tx AKxx AKxx AQ9

The Tough Game: Part 1--Updated

2009-07-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a full week at nationals. The tournament continues through the weekend...my college buddy committed the indiscretion of scheduling his wedding this Saturday so I had to come back and fulfill my role as groomsman. I feel like the guy doesn't even know me :)... In all seriousness, I got enough bridge in and got to play some incredibly interesting hands. I'll share three of them in succession here and will use Hugh Kelsey's framework from his fantastic series of books on matchplay--first I'll leave the problem for you and then later I'll post the results (matcpoints) depending on how you bid, played, or defended. Good luck!

Hand 1, love all
You hold:
x
AJT9x
Kxxx
QTx
and choose to open a frisky 1 Heart. Your partner responds 1NT, semi-forcing, you bid 2 Diamonds and he bids 3 Hearts...do you bid game?

Whatever you do is passed out.

JT7x
653
Axx
AKx

x
AJT9x
Kxxx
QTx

West leads a 4th best deuce of spades, you play the seven from dummy and East wins the ace. He returns the 3 of spades. Plan the play.

I don't have a lot of insight about the bidding, except to say that what started as a very borderline opening hand has grown in the presence of a fit. Opposite a 4-trump invitational raise I would consider it a mistake not to bid game. Opposite this 3 card raise, passing seems normal, but if your game needs some momentum, this may be the time to take a shot. On to the play!

If you are in game, you can make against a diamond or club lead with a normal 3-2 trump break and the honors split as long as diamonds are 3-3. Eventually you will duck a diamond and the long diamond becomes your 10th trick. This spade lead upsets your timing--you are about to be forced and will need to lose the lead twice more before your tricks are established--once by losing a trump and again when you duck a diamond. That's once more than you can afford and you'll end up getting tapped and losing a spade trick. On the bright side, the early play suggests a different line--it looks as if spades are 4-4 with LHO starting with Kxxx and RHO AQxx. If this is the case, you can pitch a diamond on this spade and then use your established ruffing finesse to dispose of your other diamond loser. You have just enough entries to pull all of this off--so you'll end up with 1 spade trick, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds and 3 clubs.

The matchpoints were particularly unkind on this hand because the diamonds were 3-3 all along and the spade lead put you to the test. If you bid game and made it, you earned a 90% score and your game got the shot in the arm it needed. No matchpoints if you went down. If you stayed in the partial, you needed to take 10 tricks to earn slightly above average--9 tricks are worth only a 15% score. At the table I was in 3 hearts and missed this line completely--in fact I wasted the ten of spades at trick one and had no chance for 10 tricks. I'm guessing diamond and club leads were common at other tables...I am glad it happened because otherwise I never would have noticed how interesting the hand is.

5-Level Agreements?

2009-06-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a situation that is not all that uncommmon, but caused a bit of a stir at our online table recently. Each of the four players involved had different opinions of what 5-level bids should mean in this sequence:
1S-1NT*-3C-4S**-?
*-forcing
**-the 3 card limit raise

What agreements to you play here? How would you handle this hand (the one actually held at the table)?
KQxxx
void
Axx
AKQxx

From Champaign--Updated

2009-05-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a quick trek to Champaign for the regional there--we had a fun squad but unfortunately never quite got things rolling. Here was one interesting declarer play problem:
T9
ATxx
A7xx
AKx

K8x
Kx
QJ8x
Q9xx
The bidding is a bit different because of the system you are playing--the north hand deals and east-west pass throughout after the initial overcall.
1C*-(1S)-1NT**-2C***-2D****-3NT
*15-20 pts any shape
**9-11 balanced
***Stayman
****No major
West leads a standard deuce of spades and East plays the Jack. You duck and when East continues with the Queen, your King holds, West following. What now?

Nine tricks could be there with a diamond finesse and a 3-3 club split or a miracle in diamonds, but from the carding it looks like the spades are 5-3. The opps can't cash more than 4 immediate tricks if that is the case, so the best line is to give up the 3rd spade now, cutting the defense's communication. You will make when West has King-third of diamonds because he'll be squeezed if East cashes out the suit (if not, clubs were 3-3 all along) and you can set up dummy's 4th diamond otherwise. The other two hands were:
xxx----AQJxx
QTx---Jxxx
KTx---9x
Jxxx---Tx

AKQ--A Bad Holding?

2009-05-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

How bad can a holding of AKQ in a suit be? My dad and I do at least one Bridge World Challenge the Champs set each time I'm home...since it was Mother's Day this weekend, we got another opportunity to shine this afternoon. We play Precision with a 14-16 Notrump. Two problems:

1) Jxxxx xxx Ax AKQ
Partner opens 1D (11-16, could be short if 11-13 balanced). You respond 1 Spade and partner bids 4 Clubs (a club void and spade support). What do you bid?

2) Ax Ax KT9xxx Axx
What is your opening bid? You can choose from 1 Club (strong), 1 Diamond (explained above), and 1 Notrump (14-16).

2 From Lake Geneva--Updated

2009-05-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago my college friend and bridge partner Jason Rosenfeld came into town from Boston for a weekend of bridge playing. We went out to the regional in Lake Geneva for Saturday and Sunday--here are a couple of problems.

game all

AT98xxx

void

xxx

Qxx

RHO opens a weak 2 Hearts in first postion. What's your approach with this hand?

Sorry for the late follow-up. I think I made a mistake when I posted the defensive problem--I have to confirm with Howard--hopefully I will have more on that later. I am interested to discuss the bidding problem though. I felt uncomfortable overcalling on the first round thinking it was too much of a distortion. I also felt very uncomfortable keeping silent. I decided to apply Jonathan's approach, hoping my partner would read me for this kind of hand. So I passed and LHO bid 2NT. Jason passed and RHO bid 3 Diamonds, alerted and desribed as a "medium hand." Undeterred, I entered with 3 Spades. My LHO thought briefly and doubled, which ended the auction. Jason's hand was a fantastic Qx AKTxx x KJTxx and I was pretty much cold. Plus 730 went well with our teammates' +200 against 4Sx at the other table (my opposite number overcalled 2 Spades). In retrospect I like the way I handled this one--of course the result didn't have to be this great, but I think it gave us a decent shot at figuring out what was going on in this tough auction.

And a defensive problem from my friend Howard Liu in one of the other Saturday knockout matches:

xxxx

K543

x

Txxx

------xxx

------A87

------Txxx

------AJx

The auction, with your side passing throughout, is: 1H on your left-3H preemptive-4H

Partner leads a 3rd-5th deuce of diamonds to your ten and declarer's queen. Declarer plays a heart to the king...your move.

Almost...

2009-04-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was a near-gem from last night's club game in Elmhurst--I was playing with Kenny Zuckerberg. I was third in hand--Kenny dealt and passed and RHO opened a 12-14 notrump which became the final contract. I led a low spade...this is what I saw:
-------Ax
-------Tx
-------8xxx
-------AQTxx
KTxxx
KTx
QJx
Kx
My lead ran to Kenny's jack and declarer's queen. Declarer led the jack of clubs, covered and won in dummy. Declarer continued with the queen of clubs and the ten, Kenny following. Declarer pitched a heart and i did the same. Kenny won the next club, declarer shedding a spade and me a diamond. Dummy won the spade continuation and declarer cashed her last club (her 6th trick), pitching another diamond from her hand as I blanked the king of hearts. She duly took the finesse into my king and I cashed out but in the 3 card ending declarer, pitching behind Kenny who came down to AT of diamonds, threw the ace of hearts from her hand and made the last trick with the king of diamonds. What if I hadn't blanked the king of hearts, throwing a diamond instead? Now, assuming declarer took the heart finesse, when I cashed out, we would have caught her in a legitimate squeeze--here is the 3 card ending--

-
J
AT
-
---- -
---- A
---- K9
---- -
x
T
Q
-
My hand is South in the diagram with dummy's cards immaterial. On the last spade, Kenny would have pitched his heart and declarer would have been bamboozled.

I took a couple of liberties with the spot cards to make the squeeze work (we were actually short a couple of tens to pull it off in real life)...but here is the hypothetical full deal:

------Ax
------87
------8653
------AQT53
KT742-------J95
KT3----------J654
QJ4-----------AT
K7------------9862
------Q86
------AQ95
------K972
------J4

Too Tough...

2009-03-23T09:26:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a quick weekend at nationals. I had high hopes for a good showing in the swiss teams, but they were dashed by a non-qualifying first day effort. These two hands from our second round match were kind of typical of the day--
Jxx
AJx
Axx
ATxx

Axx
KQTxx
x
KQxx
My partner and I had a nice auction to 6 Clubs--uncontested it was 1H-2C-3D*-3H-3S-4D-4H-5NT**-6C *=splinter **=choice of slams
After the spade lead my partner cashed the king queen of clubs finding jack-fourth offside and eventually conceded down two. At the other table our opponents bid only game in hearts.

Then this two hands later:
AKx
9xxx
xxx
JTx

QJx
AQT
void
KQxxxxx
I shifted the directions on this one so we were sitting East-West. My partner opened 1 Diamond, South overcalled 2 Clubs, I bid 2 Diamonds. North and East passed and South doubled. North responded 3 Diamonds, South bid 4 Clubs and North bid (gag) 6 Clubs. I'll add that North is a top-ranking expert player...his luck was certainly in this time as both the king and jack of hearts were with the opening bidder...gin. So we got blitzed in that match and never made it back to average. There's always Washington, DC.

2 Problems from GNT Weekend

2009-03-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of problems that came up for me yesterday in GNT qualifying--
game all, I held
xx Axxxxx Axx xx
RHO passed as dealer, I passed and LHO opened 1 Diamond. Partner overcalled 2 Clubs, RHO made a negative double and I tried 2 Hearts. Now LHO bid 2 Spades and partner bid 2 Notrump passed to me. My bid is?

xxx
xx
xx
AQJTxx

KJx
KJ98
AT8x
Kx
I opened the south hand 1 Notrump and partner raised to game. LHO led the 2 of hearts to RHO's queen. Eight tricks are in view but you need nine--how do you plan the play?

Nice Treatment

2009-03-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

I have been kibitzing a bit of the Yeh Brothers Championship team event on BBO the last few days...once again it is staggering seeing the results you can generate from very solid agreements that can only come from a lot of partnership discussion and experience. It is more evidence of how difficult it can be for some of us with full-time jobs to compete at the top levels with professionals who devote so much time to system refinement. Here is one of the more useful tools that I just picked up from watching the final. It is a very easy understanding to add to your bag of tricks, and i think it gives a decided advantage over standard methods. The pair using the aggreement was Drijver/Brink of the Netherlands.

After a 1NT opening and a 4-level transfer, they play a double as takeout of the reponder's suit instead of as a general lead/direct or sacrifice try in the transfer suit. This adds quite a bit of safety since partner can cooperate after the notrump opener completes the tranfer but doesn't have to...as in the case where you wait for opener to accept the transfer and then reopen with a double. The method is particularly useful at favorable vulnerability, which was the case on this hand--Brink held:
void
T98xx
AKxx
Qxxx
Fredin of Sweden opened a strong 1NT and Fellenius jumped to 4 Diamonds, a spade transfer in their methods. Brink doubled and Fredin completed the tranfer...but Drijver held a suitable:
Qxx
Kxx
xx
KJxxx
and showed excellent judgement in bidding 5 Clubs. The Swedes had a likely 100 penalty coming for defeating the contract one trick doubled, but reasonably elected to try 5 Spades. Unluckily for them, ten tricks was their limit and the Dutch earned a major swing. Without the agreement, Brink would have had to pass 4 Diamonds and face 4 Spades on the next round...now doubling isn't nearly as safe as you could end up going for a large number or losing redoubled overtricks. Well done--great players have their methods down for these big tournaments and are opportunistic about putting them to use!

These methods could extend to doubles of two-level transfers as well and also to doubles of the drury 2 Clubs.

All the Aces

2009-01-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Early on in my bridge-playing career I gained an appreciation for the power of aces. Four of them in the same hand is "worth" a lot more than 16 points, so when I have that hand and balanced shape, I try my best not to open 1NT. I got a chance to test out the theory this weekend--3rd in hand both white I held:
Axx
Ax
Axx
AT9xx
After two passes I opened 1 Club, not certain what I would do on the next round but knowing that i didn't want to open a strong notrump. Sure enough, I hit the jackpot on this one--LHO doubled and partner bid 4 diamonds, a fit-showing jump. Now I had an easy drive to at least 6 clubs. Partner's hand was:
xxx
void
KQJxxx
QJxx
After a heart lead I banged down the ace of clubs, dropping the stiff king for +940. Though I would likely have gone down on a spade lead, this was a great slam. Maybe we could have reached it after a notrump opening, but this made things much easier.

After a Jump Shift...

2009-01-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

My partner and I bid these cards today at rubber bridge:
AKJ9x
A
ATxx
QTx

Tx
Jxxx
x
AKJxxx

Uncontested the auction went:
1S-1NT*-3D-3S-4S-P
*=forcing
how should we bid to this excellent slam? What is 4C over 3D, and should South bid that? And what about 4C over the 3S preference? Is that a cuebid or a fragment?

Jim Linhart

2009-01-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

I was sad to hear about Jim Linhart's passing on the ACBL site last week. Unfortunately I didn't know him personally until this last nationals in Boston. On one of the (many) days that I was out of the national events I played with Helen Raleigh and we picked up Jim and Romanian junior Marius Agica as teammates for the knockout. We were decided underdogs in the first round to Carolyn Lynch's powerful squad that would later win the Open Swiss Teams.

Both of our pairings were first-time partnerships with Jim and Marius being quite an odd one...Jim had 53 years on the kid. While Helen and I had some first-time troubles at our table, it seemd that Jim and Marius were rocks. After a dismal set, Helen and I figured that we trailed by 20 IMPs at the half...we were up by 2. Actually my favorite line from Jim came during the first half comparisons--as often happens with me, it took a few re-addings to arrive at the correct margin. After one of my errors "cost" us 3 IMPs, Jim deadpanned, "Stop checking." Sadly, order was restored in the second half, though again we had our chances...we lost the match by 6. Jim, though clearly a fierce competitor, was far from discouraged by the result--rather, he asked what was on schedule for the evening's bridge events--we'd keep our team together and hopefully do better in a side game! This guy, at 72, seemed to have the same enthusiasm for the game that I had in my early 20s when a trip to nationals for me was akin to a kid visiting a candy store. It was great getting to meet this giant of the game (figuratively and literally--he stood about six and a half feet tall) even if it was just for a day.

Bidding After a Negative Double

2008-12-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

This was a hand I kibitzed from the Reisinger final in Boston:
Both vul:
Kx
KJxx
AT
Txxxx
Partner opens the bidding with 1 Spade and RHO overcalls 2 Clubs. You make a negative double (right?), LHO passes and partner bids 2 Hearts, passed to you. Pretty simple situation--what do you do?

Your Lead

2008-12-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

Jason and I defended a hand in Boston that was interesting from the perspective of both defenders. Sadly, it was in one of the regional knockouts and not the Blue Ribbon final. Maybe next year. After polling several people, I decided it is most interesting as a lead problem. Take my cards as West here:
N/S game
KJxxx
xx
Qx
Axxx
South, the dealer, opens 3 Hearts and is raised to 4 by his partner. What is your lead and why?

Hopefully I'll get a few more posts from the tournament up in the coming days and weeks.

Pass or Pull Revisited

2008-09-22T17:06:00.001-07:00

In what has become a recurring theme, here's another controversial hand!

2nd seat none vul you hold
Jx
xxxxx
KTxx
Ax
After two passes, the action starts. LHO opens 1 Club, partner overcalls 4 Spades and RHO bids 5 Clubs. This is passed back to your partner who reopens with a double. What range of hands does he have? More importantly, what do you call now?

Is There a Middle Ground?

2008-09-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

I held this hand, vul vs not as dealer at rubber bridge tonight:
void
763
AJxxx
QT9xx
After 2 passes my partner opened 1 Heart, RHO overcalled 3 Spades and I didn't think too long before bidding 4 Hearts. My partner played it well and made and we continued playing but for some reason the hand struck me as interesting. Say you held this hand and partner opened 1 Heart, passed to you. What's your approach? What about if RHO overcalls only 1 Spade? What if you make one of your minor suit spot cards another small trump--how does that change things?

Another 6-Level (Mis) Adventure

2008-09-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished playing a full weekend of bridge--so much for one of our last beautiful weekends of summer weather here in Chicago! Here's my favorite hand from today's Swiss, once again more for the humorous side of it than the result (as you will see).
I held 2nd seat favorable:
AJTxx
Ax
AKxxx
9
I opened 1 Spade of course and our unobstructed 2/1 auction continued:
2C-2D-2NT-3D-3S-3NT-4NT-?
I could hardly have a better hand so I was for sure driving to slam...I still didn't know where to play though. How good were partner's spades? And could diamonds still be in the picture? I bid 5NT, accepting the slam push and asking partner to choose. He bid 6 Clubs, which i wasn't expecting... Now, though, I started to envision him with something like AKQJx of clubs and Kxx of hearts...if the opponents didn't lead trump, maybe the heart ruff could be a vital extra trick! Sick, I know, but I passed. Alas we went down because of a 6-1 trump break. And 6 Spades or 6NT would have made. At least it's a story--it isn't often that you voluntarily play a 6 card fit at the slam level. Partner's hand:
Kx
KQxx
xx
AKQxx

Great Hand

2008-08-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting hand from Jason that could lead to some good discussion. you are red vs white in 2nd seat with:
Qxx
AK9xxx
xxx
x
RHO opens 3 clubs, you pass and LHO ups the ante to 5 clubs, which partner doubles. Pass to you.

3-Card Major

2008-08-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

Since my recent trip to the Las Vegas NABC was not a great success as a whole, and usually I post disaster hands more often than triumphant ones, I figure it is okay to report this small victory, one of my favorite hands from the tournament. I was playing the weekend Swiss with an occasional partner. We play precision with very few agreements, generally trying to keep things simple. Anyway, I was dealt 3rd in hand white v red,
T9x
Ax
AKxx
Txxx
and heard my partner open 1 Diamond--either diamonds or any balanced 13-15 hand. RHO passed and I had to decide quickly so that it didn't look like I had a problem--my choices were a game-forcing 2 Clubs, 2 Diamonds, which showed 5 of them and 11 plus points, and a natural invitational 2NT. Mulling over these quickly, I responded 1 Spade and awaited developments. LHO overcalled 2 Hearts and partner doubled, showing 3 card support (it looked like at least we'd be able to avoid playing a spade contract now). Before I got a chance to choose my next brilliant call, RHO bid 3 Hearts. I felt like a double should just be cards here, showing some good hand, not really penalty-oriented (pretty much what I had). Since I knew that my partner and I were not on firm ground on this auction, though, I decided to pass and await developments (again). Sure enough, LHO bid 4 Hearts, passed back to me. This time I whacked it. We collected 800--the other hands were
-----KJx
-----J
-----JTxx
-----AKQxx
AQxx-------xxx
KTxxxx----Q9xx
xx----------Qxx
x-----------Jxx
We were on for 6 of a minor but at the other table our counterparts bid to 3nt and took 10 tricks--a 9 IMP win for us. The victim declarer, a well-known expert, was mumbling after the hand about the atrocity of bidding 1 Spade on Ten third and then passing 3 Hearts with Ace-King, Ace. I'm sure he was right, none of my actions were a thing of beauty, but having it work on this occasion was satisfaction enough for me. In fact maybe I could have mumbled something about bidding game on that lot!

Bidding after 1NT-X

2008-08-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I think one area that few partnerships have discussed in much detail is bidding after their side has doubled 1 Notrump for penalty--either the opening bid or an overcall. I believe that standard practice says that all subsequent doubles of runouts are for penalties, but usually the discussion ends there. What does a pass show on this auction:

1NT(1)-x-2h(2)-?

(1)-12-14

(2)-to play

Sometimes the right spot will be defending 2 Hearts undoubled, but that seems to be a pretty narrow area to shoot for. Some kind of structure involving forcing passes has to be the right idea. My favorite method involves forcing passes and value showing, optional-type doubles. So the passes are consistent with holding a penalty double of the bid suit, intending to pass partner's double if he produces one. Direct bids at the two-level show a smattering of values and are not forcing. Two Notrump is Lebensohl and 3-level suits are game-forcing. When responder (to the original penalty double, that is) has a bust or near-bust, he passes, bids the next step after the second double, and hopes to land on his feet somewhere. Passing and removing the double to a major at the 2-level (on an auction like 1NT-X-2c-p-p-X-p-?) shows values and a real suit but is not quite game-forcing. If the opps bid to the 3-level, forcing passes are off. I read about this system in Barry Rigal's "Precision in the 90s." I guess the most important thing is to have some kind of discussion as to what bids mean after doubling 1NT--anything is better than guessing.

How Much?

2008-07-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

You have
AKxx
9xx
JTx
Kxx
Only you are vulnerable and RHO opens 1D in first position. This is passed around to your partner who reopens with a double. What do you bid?

Watch Your Entries

2008-07-13T00:03:00.001-07:00

Take a look at this hand from a tournament I just played in the Chicago area.
AT98
Kxx
Kxxxx
x

KQJ53
QTx
void
9xxxx
I was South and the bidding went 1D-p-1H to me. I bid 1S, opener passed and my partner bid 4S, doubled by RHO. LHO led a small heart to the jack and Queen. LHO won, played a heart to RHO's ace, ruffed the heart return and exited a trump, RHO following. Plan the play from here.

Monster

2008-06-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

You pick up this monster hand:
K
AKQJxx
AQTx
Ax
You are in 4th position, vul vs not and while you are admiring your collection, LHO opens 4 Spades which is quickly passed to you. What do you bid?

Act or No?

2008-06-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been debating this hand and situation with a few friends--you hold, white v red at matchpoints:
QTxxx
x
Ax
KTxxx

The dealer opens 1 Heart on your left, partner passes and your RHO bids 4 Hearts. Do you bid? If so, what do you bid? What do you do at different vulnerabilities? Change the scoring to IMPs or rubber bridge and does your agenda differ? Similar situation--what if you held this hand and your RHO opened 4 Hearts in from of you? Tough problems, I doubt there is a clearcut right answer but I am interested in opinions!

A Few Words About Chip Reese

2008-05-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

Stepping away from bridge talk for a moment, I'd like to post briefly about poker champion Chip Reese. Somehow I missed the headlines that he passed away last December at the age of 56 and only learned the news today while reading Gus Hansen's new poker book, "Every Hand Revealed," for which Reese wrote the foreword. After learning of his death, I have quickly caught myself up, reading eulogies online.

Reese's career in poker spanned from his college days at Dartmouth through the poker boom which made his and those of many of his fellow professionals' household names. It is now a part of poker lore that during the summer after graduation from college, before proceeding on to business school, he travelled to Las Vegas for a weekend trip and never left. He spent the next 30-plus years playing in the biggest cash games in town, winning millions of dollars, and somehow endearing himself to the very people he was competing against. Poker, like bridge, is a fiercely competitive game...unlike bridge it is often played for large amounts of money, even more reason to bring out negative energy. It is remarkable that a common refrain among people remembering him was--"no one ever had a bad word to say about Chip." Reese was respected as one of the very best players and people around. Barry Greenstein noted that he was always there for his children--he would leave a poker game regardless of how he was doing to attend his son's little league contest.

My favorite Reese stories stem from his being often oblivious to things he cared little about or had no time for, a trait that I share with him. A Alvarez relates it in his book, "The Biggest Game in Town." 'The degree to which Reese fails to think about these things is famous around town. He is rumored to have lost, in his own house, every piece of jewelry he ever owned, and for a period to have paid without question a monthly water bill of over two thousand dollars. After some time, the water company discovered that the pipe supplying his house had broken and was flooding the area for acres around. Reese himself had not noticed.' Some may see in these words the picture of a nut with no regard for money and no understanding of the world around him. I see them as evidence that he had the singular ability to focus on what was important to him and disregard all else. He used this focus to become both a great poker player and a great family man. Good enough for me! RIP Chip.

Fourth Suit After a Reverse

2008-05-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

One of my friends recently sent me an email with this hand:
Axxx Kxx 9x Kxxx
His partner opened 1 Diamond, he responded 1 Spade and his partner rebid 2 Hearts. What do you do with this hand? What methods do you like to play in this situation?

My favorite methods after a reverse include the Lebensohl convention where a bid of 2NT is artificial, generally leading to a sign-off in one of opener's suits at the 3-level. A rebid of responder's suit at the 2 level shows at least 5 card length, is ambiguous in strength and forces for one round. Then direct 3-level bids in opener's suits are forward-going, game forcing. A 3NT bid should show a fair hand with no fit--on the given auction, something along the lines of KQTx xxx xx KQTx. I suppose that Lebensohl followed by 3NT should show something as well...maybe a doubtful 3 No bid like KTxx Qxx xx KJxx--I don't think that I've discussed that in any of my partnerships though. Getting even more off of firm ground, what does the 4th suit mean? I guess absent any discussion it is natural--certainly possible. Give responder Qxxx Qx xx AKxxx and that meaning works pretty well. To me that hand is too infrequent--call the 4th suit a game-force not quite fitting with a textbook bid--a hand that needs more information about opener's hand. That seems to fit for the example hand--with two very useful cards for partner (contrast this hand, with the ace of spades and king of hearts, to the example hand which was worth only a direct 3NT) but no known 8 card fit, you can start with 3 Clubs. In this instance you'll get a 3 Diamond rebid from partner and know at a reasonably low level that he is 6-4 and will at least be better placed to evaluate best game/slam prospects. Partner's hand was:
Kx AQxx KQJxxx A

Slams at the Club

2008-05-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

Kenny and I played the last couple of weekends at the bridge club on Sheridan Road. We didn't distinguish ourselves that much, but did manage to bid a good grand slam each time, which at least keeps you coming back (kind of like the one decent golf shot you hit every round). Our auctions were pretty decent, so I figured I'd post em.

AJTx
KQxxx
void
KTxx

xx
Axx
Axx
AQJxx
our auction, starting with Kenny as North, 1H-2C-3D(1)-3H-3S-4C-4D-4NT-5NT(2)-6D(3)-7C
1-splinter raise of clubs; 2-2 keycards with a void; 3-grand slam try/queen ask
As you can see, 7 clubs is a great spot-just horrible splits will beat it (incredibly, it is a much more likely make than even 6 Hearts!). Next question-which suit is trump for Keycard Blackwood? I'm open to opinions on this. Anyone? Actually I thought it was clubs and Kenny thought hearts, but fortunately the answer was the same regardless. Six diamonds is the only forcing bid left and kenny and I both agreed that regardless of which suit was trump for Blackwood, it asked about the quality of his hearts (basically I need to find out if the hearts are a source of tricks). Kenny, the good partner he is, put it all together and bid the club grand.

The second one is from today's effort:
AKJTx
KT9
Axx
Ax

x
AJxxxxx
KQT9
x
this auction was simpler and again started with Kenny, North; 2NT(1)-4D(2)-4H-4NT-5C(3)-7NT
1-20-21; 2-Texas; 3-4 keycards for hearts
As long as you have the normal agreement that Texas followed by 4NT is Blackwood (Jacoby followed by 4NT should be quantitative), this hand is pretty easy to bid. When I found out all the keycards were there I was bidding a grand and if he couldnt pick up hearts, 7H would be down as well, so I went for the higher scoring strain. At IMPS you'd have to stick to hearts because of the possible extra undertricks if hearts don't come in. By the way--hearts were 3-0 but Kenny picked them up!

Hanging In

2008-04-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

Jason and I had been going through a rough 2nd half of our quarterfinal match when this deal arrived. We had already played a cold grand slam in game, bid to a 30 point no play 6NT and doubled our opponents off in 3 Clubs--just made. Fortunately we weren't rattled into forgetting our carding methods on this hand.
E-W game, W dealer
------KQxx
------xxx
------x
------Axxxx
xx----------xxx
ATxx-------KQxx
AJx---------KTxxxx
Txxx--------void
------AJxx
------Jx
------Qxx
------KQJx
The Bidding was:
P-P-P-1C(1)-P-1D(2)-2D-2S-3D-4S-all Pass
(1)-could be any balanced hand outside the strong NT range
(2)-simply denies a 5 card major
I led the ace of diamonds--on opening lead we have the agreement that a low card asks specifically for a shift to the suit that looks obvious from dummy--often 3 to an honor but here, hearts. A higher spot would suggest a continuation or trump shift and an unusual honor asks for the other suit. Jason duly played the king of diamonds and we got two ruffs to go with the 3 top tricks after my ten of clubs shift. The defense wasn't that hard and of course any pair who has discussed the situation ought to get it right, but it definitely felt good leading the club and knowing the ruff was going to happen. You may have already noticed that our result was not so hot on this hand. In fact, at the other table our opponents made 5 Hearts doubled! Fortunately this hand was the only blemish on our teammates' card for the round and we managed to advance (albeit on kind of a technicality--since there were only two brackets in play our bracket was handicapped and we were getting 11.25 IMPs from our unfortunate opponents who beat us by 11. sorry guys!) . If we'd let our guard down, certainly possible the way things were going for us, we may have let 4 Spades make and wouldn't have moved on.

High Level Disaster

2008-04-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

I just got home from 4 days playing with jason at the regional in Lake Geneva. In the final of the Friday Saturday knockout we got the chance to test our skills against one of the world's best pairs, Cezary Balicki and Adam Zmudzimski of Poland. On this swing hand, the last one of the first set, we were playing against their sponsor and Garey Hayden.
EW Game:
--------Axxx
--------x
--------Jxx
--------Axxxx
xx--------------KJx
AQJxxxxxx----Kxx
x---------------Axx
x---------------Jxx
--------QTx
--------void
--------KQTxxx
--------KQxx
I opened the south hand 1 diamond, which was limited and could have been any balanced 13-16 hand. Hayden overcalled 4 Hearts, Jason doubled (cards), the sponsor passed and I removed to 4NT. Jason bid 5 Clubs and the sponsor took 5 Hearts. Now what? At the table I passed (forcing?) and Jason whacked it. Hayden eventually played to the king of spades for +850. Only Ace of diamonds, diamond ruff beats 6 Clubs...the contract at the other table was 5 Clubs making 6 on the same auction minus the 5 Heart bid.

I have talked to a number of players and have heard differing opinions on who should have done what. Was I to blame for not bidding over 5 Hearts with my void? Or ought North to bid again? Or was it all just bad luck?

Anyway, we lost the match but Jason and I gained some good experience playing against the Poles in the second half. We were hoping to get one more shot at them in the Swiss today but things never came together for us and we wallowed below average (they won it going away). There were some other interesting deals--I'll get a few more up in the next couple of days. On the bright side we only bid 1 slam missing 2 cashing aces this tournament. Improvement!

Another Precision 2 Club Auction

2008-04-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

I had this auction today with Jason Rosenfeld--
Axxx
Ax
x
Axxxxx

KTx
KQxxx
Axx
xx
Our auction, starting with Jason's (North's) hand was:
2C (1)-2D(2)-2S(3)-2NT(4)-3C-P
(1) Precision
(2) Relay
(3) 4 Spades, could have only 5 good Clubs
(4) Non-forcing. I could (should?) have bid 3 Hearts, game-forcing

It turned out that there wasn't much to the play--hearts makes with overtricks, 5 clubs makes and even 3nt makes because hearts were 3-3. I think that with my good spades and reasonable club fit that my last pass was a mistake, but I also didn't figure I would be facing 3 aces. I know that some people play that the precision 2 club opening promises 6 of them--that could maybe have made this auction easier. After partner bids 2 Spades I know he is 6-4 and may feel more comfortable forcing game with my partial fits. On the actual auction I did find out that he was 6-4 but also got the message that he had minimal high-cards, which influenced me staying low. Moral I guess is that if you can make a descriptive bid that may cause you to overreach, go ahead and do it in the interest of having a good constructive auction. Next time I'll go ahead and force with 3 hearts with this hand--i'll want partner declaring notrump anyway if his diamonds are something like Qx.

Appreciating Your Values

2008-04-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

My dad and I had this (almost) good auction to 5 Clubs today. The only problem was that I forgot to bid 5 Clubs at the end of it.
Kxxx
void
Axx
KQxxxx

AQx
T9xx
Q9
Jxxx
2 C(1)-2D(2)-2S(3)-3C(4)-3D-3S-4C-P
1-precision
2-relay
3-4 spades, could have only 5 clubs (albeit a good suit)
4-non-forcing

By the end of the auction I should know that my values are all working and that 5 Clubs will have a good play. Partner's 4 Club bid was conservative but it gave me a chance to get out with heart wastage. I guess I need to make mistakes like this one every now and then to keep myself on my toes for the future.

Side Game Backwash

2008-03-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

Undaunted by relegation to the side one day bracketed KO after missing the IMP Pair final, Jason and I took on a team of friends from Chicago in the first round. This hand came up early on in the match:

KJTx

AQJx

A

J9xx

xx

xxx

K98xx

T6xx

we reached 3 clubs played by Jason (South) via Precision 2 Diamonds-3 Clubs. West got off to the unfortunate lead of the club ace crashing his partner's queen. A trump continuation went to the king and East switched to a diamond. Jason won in dummy and played the king of spades. East won the ace and returned another diamond. Jason won the king pitching a heart and played another spade to the jack. East won again and continued diamonds, Jason ruffing with the jack. he cashed his spade ten pitching a heart and led the last spade in this position:
-----8
-----AQJ
-----none
-----9
none
Kxx
Q
7
-----none
-----x
-----98
-----T6
He ruffed with the ten and West had no good discard! A heart would allow Jason to finesse in hearts, draw trump and enjoy the last two hearts. A diamond would let him play winners through West, and an underruff lets him take the heart finesse and crossruff. I think that this ending is called a backwash squeeze, so-named in the Ottlik/Kelsey classic "Adventures in Cardplay." If Jason had taken a heart finesse before establishing his spade trick, it looks like he would have made 3 with less fanfare since the eventual spade ruff provides the entry to take a second heart finesse, but then there would be no story.
West's full hand was:
xxx
Kxx
Qxxxx
A7x

Back From Nationals

2008-03-17T11:25:00.001-07:00

I just got back from the NABC in Detroit. It was a good time, but not a rousing success from a bridge standpoint. My partner Jason Rosenfeld and I arrived with high aspirations to play the IMP Pair and the Weekend Open Swiss but didn't qualify for the second day of either. We started out rusty--we play a strong club system that we used to be able to work on a lot when we were both in the Chicago area--Jason is another Northwestern guy but has since moved back home to Boston. Maybe some of the strain of remembering our old stuff caused some of our defensive mishaps in the early going that really cost us. I have a number of interesting hands to write up...here is one based mostly on being opportunistic at IMPs and taking inferences from the bidding. Second in hand I held:
AQ9
987
QJxx
ATx
Neither vul, RHO opened a precision 1 Diamond which was passed around to Jason who reopened with one heart. RHO bid 1 Notrump, which showed a balanced 16 points or so in their methods (supposedly the initial pass by responder denied a bust and showed diamond tolerance). Anyway i could contest this and doubled, which must show a hand like this. LHO bid a very slow 2 Clubs which was passed back to me. I bid 2 Hearts passed back to the opener who bid 3 Clubs! This i could barely believe, but I knew I had to act in tempo and, feeling i had already shown my hand, I passed. Three Clubs undoubled became the final contract and we beat it two tricks after a small slip in defense...(the opponents had only a 4-4 fit). The +100 was a small loss on the board as we could have made 140 or 170 in hearts. Moral of the story to me is this: when an opp0rtunity arises and the conditions look right, be ready to pounce. If I had doubled and we had defended correctly we would have scored 500 and eventually made the IMP Pair final after all. In this case there was a great argument for the double...I had a good hand with both the ace and ten of clubs, partner had reopend, our fit was not outstanding and the opponents didn't appear to be on firm ground with their bids. Hopefully I'll be ready next time! More hands to come.

GNT Weekend

2008-03-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

Qualifying for our district in the GNTs was this past weekend and my team of underdogs created a bit of a stir by making the final of the championship bracket. We finally ran out of steam and lost in the final. Congratulations to Jeff Miller, Doc Mohan, David Yang, and Xiaodong Shi, who played fantastically throughout the event and will be great reps for our district at nationals.

It was an enjoyable run for our squad...while it was a little disappointing to come close and not win, it was great experience and a neat opportunity to play against the best competition in the area. Thanks go out to my partner Jonathan Weinstein and our teammates Kenny Zuckerberg and Bill Drewett. Here are two of my favorite hands--both were slams that my partner and I bid that were not reached at the other table.

x
Qxx
AKQxx
KJxx

KJx
AKxx
Jxxx
Ax
On this one I opened the South hand with 1 Notrump and Jonathan bid 2 Notrump, a diamond transfer. Since I didn't have a top honor in diamonds I just accepted the transfer with 3 Diamonds (I had the option of bidding 3 Clubs showing good diamonds). Jonathan bid 3 Spades promising shortness. At this point I felt that my hand was worth a move despite the spade wastage because I had 4 trump and 3 great cards in the round suits. I bid 4 Clubs hoping it would be a cue-bid for diamonds...Jonathan may not have been sure what I meant by this because he jumped to 6 Clubs. Fortunately the diamonds are higher ranking, so I could bid them at the 6 level and close out the auction. There were no problems in the play when West led the ace of spades, so we chalked up our slam.

xxx
Kxx
KT9xx
JT

AKQxxx
x
AJx
AQx
This one I had to open the bidding as South and could decide between 1 Spade and 2 Clubs, our forcing opening. I felt that the controls justified the 2 Club opening and went with that. Jonathan responded 2 Hearts, which shows 2 controls (ace=2, king=1) in our system. RHO doubled this bid as a lead director and I showed my spades. Jonathan raised, I bid 4 Clubs and he bid 4 Diamonds. At this point I actually figured that his controls were the king of clubs and king of diamonds, so slam was at worst on the diamond finesse. With just the king of diamonds and king of hearts and little distribution he may not have cue-bid because he would have already shown his hand with the two heart bid. Anyway, I bid 6 Spades straight away and bought this dummy. Trump were 2-2 and I played West successfully for the queen of diamonds to make 6. Thinking further about partner's 4 Diamond bid, the hand he held (with a nice diamond suit along with the king) or one with the king of hearts and king-queen of diamonds would also be good 4 Diamond bids, and any of those hands make the slam little or no worse than an even money proposition. Nice bid partner!

Two From the Home Game

2008-02-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in quite a while, partly because I haven't been playing much so nothing very new has come up. That should be changing over the next couple of months with another NABC right around the corner. A few bridge players braved the cold yesterday to travel out to the Chicago suburbs for the latest edition of the home game. Here are a couple of deals that I found interesting:
The first is a bidding problem. You are fourth in hand vul vs not with:
KJxx
xx
KJ87
KQx
LHO opens 1 Spades and partner bids 2 Spades (Michaels) and RHO passes. What do you do now and what is your plan for the rest of the auction? You can suggest whatever methods you like.

The second is a play problem--

AK2
K84
AKT92
93

986
AQ63
96
AKJ5
you bid to 6 Notrump--something like 1c-1d-1nt-4nt-5h-6nt and get the 7 of hearts lead from West. Suppose you win in hand and run the 9 of diamonds and it holds. What is your plan from here? Alternatively, what if the 9 of diamonds is covered by an honor on your left?

Defending Against the Best

2008-01-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

My friend Jason recently witnessed this hand played on BBO--South was none other than the Italian maestro Benito Garozzo...his opponents were on their toes during this hand and deserve some props!

-------J85

-------9

-------K43

-------T98762

AT73-----------42

A7--------------QT8652

T8765----------92

KQ-------------A54

--------KQ96

--------KJ43

--------AQJ

--------J7

West dealt and opened 1 Diamond, East responded 1 Heart, and South (Garozzo) overcalled 1 Spade. This was passed back to East who bid 2 Hearts and North accepted the push to 2 Spades, which became the final contract.

The defense started with the king and queen of clubs followed by a diamond shift. Garozzo won in dummy and played a heart to the jack and ace. West continued diamonds and declarer won, cashed the king of hearts and ruffed a heart low, West pitching a diamond. Next came a club ruffed with the queen, West shedding another diamond. Another heart ruff was declarer's 6th trick and led to this 4 card ending:

------J

------none

------none

------986

AT73-------42

none--------Q8

none--------none

none--------none

------K96

------none

------Q

------none

Garozzo led the jack of spades from dummy. East followed with the deuce and West carefully unblocked the 7! Now when declarer continued with a club, East could ruff with the 4, letting west underruff with the 3 and win the last 2 tricks with a defensive trump coup. Well done! East had to preserve his 4 spot of trumps and West his 3--otherwise West would be hopelessly endplayed.

By the way, I just started reading Pietro Forquet's classic "Bridge With the Blue Team" and I highly recommend it. It features many more Garozzo hands, most of which feature a more satisfying conclusion for him :).

What does this double show?

2008-01-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

Playing IMPs with a random partner and random opponents (online) I held 2nd seat red/white:
Q87x
9x
KTx
AJxx
RHO passed, I passed and the auction continued 1 Spade, 2 Hearts, 2 Spades to me. Do you bid? I wanted to bid but couldn't think of anything that appealed, so I passed. The auction continued Pass, Double, Pass back to me. Question--what hand do you expect from partner for reopening here, and what is your action?

Still a "Young" Bridge Player

2007-12-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

For some reason sitting at breakfast today, one of the last mornings in '07, I started thinking about how many times I have heard from an opponent upon arriving at a table, "It's nice to see young people playing bridge." In my early years of playing I heard it so often that, while I smiled politely each time, I was still a little annoyed by the un-originality of the comment. Well, I turn 30 in early '08, and as my grey hairs add up, I'm starting to wonder how many times I'll hear that again. It isn't annoying anymore. While I'm no longer that young in mainstream life, I am confident that I have at least a couple of more years of being called a "kid" at the bridge table. And that feels all right! Happy '08 everybody.

Cue-Bidding Philosophy

2007-12-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

Socrates--guest lecturer. :) Actually this was the title of an email my friend Jason just sent to me. He included this hand:
AKxxxx
Qx
Kxx
Qx
He opened 1 Spade, his partner responded 2 Notrump (game-forcing spade raise) and he bid 3 Notrump, which showed no shortness and some extra values, but not as many as a 3 Spade bid. Now his partner bid 4 Clubs. What should he call?

My general style on showing 2nd round controls has always been case by case--do it when it feels right or I can't stomach signing off because I haven't shown enough with my previous bidding (or when responding after partner has opened 2 Clubs and is likely to hold the ace in the suit I'm cue-bidding). Any suggestions out there for concrete times to show 2nd round controls when bidding towards a slam?

Killing D

2007-12-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Season's greetings! Since this time of year always brings to mind bridge books (my favored form of Christmas present), I thought I would include a hand from one of the books I have been reading recently. It is Hugh Kelsey's sequel to the famous "Killing Defense at Bridge" aptly named "More Killing Defense at Bridge." You are East and hear the following auction:
S--------------N
1 D----------- 2C
2NT(15-16)---3NT
Your partner leads the deuce of hearts and you see:
QJ8x
K63
T
KQJ7x
-----T9x
-----AT8x
-----KJ9xx
-----x
Declarer wins your ten with the queen and plays a spade to the queen and another to his king and partner's ace. partner returns the jack of hearts to the king and your ace, declarer following with the 4. How do you continue?

Matchpoint Dilema

2007-12-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

Playing matchpoints last weekend with my friend Carl i held this unimpressive collection:
Q9x
JT
xxxx
QTxx
We play a 12-15 1NT opening and inverted minors. Carl opened 1 Diamond red in 2nd seat and it went pass to me. What would you do?

Pass seems obvious but really with the two tens, the nine and 4 diamonds I felt that my hand was pretty decent and would play okay opposite partner's likely 16-18 notrump and of course if partner was unbalanced I didn't think he'd be disappointed with my diamond support. Fortunately I had started thinking about all of these possibilities before the auction started and was able to respond 1 Spade in tempo. I figured I would survive as long as partner didnt have a really strong hand with 4 spades. Anyway, partner's next move was a 4 Club splinter. My goose was cooked at this point, so I signed off in 4 Spades. West led the ace of diamonds and this was the dummy:
AKJx
x
KQJxxxx
x
We had arrived in the only game with a legitimate chance! Alas, West shifted to a heart and East played another heart. I thought for a while about whether I should ruff, but if I didn't, E-W could easily play clubs and force dummy anyway, beating me at least 2 when trump were 4-2 so I went ahead and tried for the maximum. West was pretty annoyed that it took me so long to make the "obvious" play of ruffing and playing trump, but soon she was in on the joke. In fact after I played my 3rd trump from dummy West, who showed out, packed up her cards in disgust...it was a little amusing to graciously concede the rest of the tricks. Down 6 was not such a hot result, but I like the logic of my action in some ways. I admit pass probably has more going for it, but it is fun to mix things up a little and a pass would have ruined this story...any thoughts?

From the Home Game...

2007-12-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get more home games going, getting friends together from the chicago area and playing for a few hours on a weekend afternoon. Hopefully we can end up doing it as regularly as once a month (or more). I see it as a great way to work on one's game--we are all pretty serious players and it takes a lot of focus to keep up. To me it is much more useful practice than a club game where many of your mistakes go unpunished...and it's far more enjoyable. We just played this past Sunday and this hand came up--
I forget the colors, but we were playing imps and at our table the auction went 1 Spade by west, 2 Diamonds by North, pass, 3 Notrump by South (me). Here are the north-south hands:
K
Axx
AJxxxx
8xx

AQxx
KTx
Kx
QJT7
the opening lead of a small heart went around to my ten. I played the king of diamonds, west pitching a spade. fortunately, things were still under control--there are 9 easy tricks by knocking out the two club honors, which i did and basically claimed the game. With every IMP being important (or suppose you are playing matchpoints), though, what is the real correct way to play this contract for all your tricks? I'll send out another post later with the rest of the hands and my opinions.

Up and running...a deal from the Reisinger

2007-12-15T18:18:00.001-08:00

Well I've thought about doing this for quite some time...it will be nice to have a forum where i can post interesting deals that come up and other general ramblings about the game. As long as I'm making my first post, I may as well include one of my favorite hands from the recent North American Bridge Championships in San Francisco. This deal came up in the second qualifying session of the Resinger Board-a-Match Teams. My partner Kenny and I were playing against Rosenberg/Zia with neither vul and South dealer. I was East, holding:
void
AQJxxxx
xxxxx
x
I began waiting patiently for the bidding to come around to me so that i could bid 4 hearts, but quite a bit of action occured first. Zia opened 1 Spade, Kenny overcalled 2 Clubs and Rosenberg cuebid 3 Clubs showing a good spade raise. No matter, i had my chance so i bid 4 Hearts as planned from the beginning. Kenny threw a monkey wrench into things by alerting. Zia asked for an explanation and I learned that I supposedly had clubs as well as hearts--we play fit-showing jumps in a lot of situations and evidently this was one of them (oops). Zia bid 4 Spades, Kenny bid 5 Clubs and, not surprisingly, Rosenberg doubled. Putting on my best poker face (still not that good tho), I passed and Zia thought long and hard before passing also. Rosenberg led a spade and my dummy was exposed...fortunately it was good for a ruff and Kenny eventually escaped for down one (he had 7 clubs to the AKQ in his hand). Zia's comment, "you had a club fit of sorts" was met with hilarity around the table. We actually achieved the "par" result on the hand because 4 Spades just makes North South and East-West have 10 tricks in hearts. Unfortunately justice was served--we lost the board when our teammates didn't get trump going early enough to prevent a diamond ruff in 5 Hearts Doubled at the other table. Cmon guys, you can't let us down like that! :)