Part 3--Updated

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

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

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.