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!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Which Strain?--Updated
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Intuitive Bid
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!
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!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Light Negative Doubles
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.
QJxx
Kxxx
Qx
xxx
Partner opens 1 Diamond, RHO overcalls 3 Clubs.
QJxx
Qxxx
x
Qxxx
Partner opens 1 Club, RHO overcalls 3 Diamonds.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Too Much Info
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.
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.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
After 2 Way New Minor Forcing
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.
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.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Hero in 3NT?
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!
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!
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