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
Friday, July 31, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
5-Level Agreements?
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
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
Thursday, May 21, 2009
From Champaign--Updated
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
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
Sunday, May 10, 2009
AKQ--A Bad Holding?
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).
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).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
2 From Lake Geneva--Updated
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.
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.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Almost...
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
-------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
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