Better Bridge in Barry County January 2 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  10 9 6 4 3  ♥  8 5  ♦  5 4   ♣  A K Q 5
West ♠  J 8 5 2 ♥  9 2 ♦  K J 10 9 6 2   ♣ 7		East ♠  Q ♥  K 7 6 4 3 ♦  A 7 3 ♣  10 9 6 2
	South ♠  A K 7 ♥  A Q J 10 ♦  Q 8 ♣  J 8 4 3

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South Both 7♣

 

North   2♥ (1) 4♠	East   Pass Pass	South 1NT 3♠ (2) Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

(1)   Transfer to spades

(2)   Super accept the transfer

 

When is losing a trick a winning proposition? Today’s hand from a recent online American Contract Bridge League tournament had such a deal. Let’s take a look.

The bidding at the 18 tables was straightforward for the most part, with most North/South pairs using the Jacoby Transfer Convention arriving at a 4♠ contract. The very few pairs who opted to play in 3NT soon found out that the diamonds in the East/West hands were a definite contract-killer. An opening lead from West of a diamond saw North/South down two tricks before they ever knew what had hit them.

With 17 high card points in the South hand and nine high points in the North hand, it looked like an easy hand to claim early. This South declarer had use the “super accept” convention of one bid higher than necessary to invite to game in spades. With good spade honors and at the top of the no trump range, it appeared that 4♠ was a good contract. Diamonds posed a threat with two losers in each hand as well as a trump loser and a potential heart loser. Still, South was prepared for the opening lead and saw the 7♣ hit the table. From her experience, and looking at the solid clubs on the board and the four clubs in her hand, South guessed correctly that West had led a singleton club hoping for a ruff from partner East.

South thanked her partner and set to work on the 4♠ contract. Winning in the dummy hand with the A♣, South was prepared to draw trumps immediately. She played the 3♠ from dummy and won with the A♠ in her hand with the Q♠ falling from the East hand. That suggested a 4-1 trump split, hardly a nice Christmas present. South played the K♠ next and verified the split as she had guessed. Putting West on lead would be a great part of her plan. South led the 7♠ from her hand, and West took the J♠ for their first trick. Back came the 9♥, the top of a doubleton, and when West had to play the K♥, third hand high, South was back in control of the hand, winning the trick with the A♥.  The heart loser had disappeared, but there was still danger out there for South.

Leading a club would be disastrous with West and her last trump ready to pounce. West would then find the two diamond winners, one in the West hand and one in the East hand. Here is what the successful South declarer did: Playing the Q♥ next, South saw all play to that trick. South continued the heart suit with the J♥. West trumped the J♥ with the 8♠. Instead of overtrumping with a spade on the board, South chose to discard one of the loser diamonds. This was a key play as she made one of the two diamond losers go away.

Stuck with the lead, West led a small diamond to the winning A♦ in the East hand. With no more diamonds in the dummy, East shifted back to a club, but it was too late as West had used up her last trump on the heart trick. South was able to claim the last four tricks with two good spade winners as well as the good club winners in the North and South hands. It also appears that had South overtrumped with a spade winner on the board, and lost the two diamond losers, the outcome would have been the same, making the 4♠ contract.

While a total of 18 tables were played, only three tables made the 4♠ contract. Those three South declarers essentially realized that the lead of the 7♣ was a singleton. Most of the 15 tables which failed to make the contract did so by leading a second club trying to get back to the board to draw the last outstanding trump. The opening lead was a marked lead without a doubt to the three who realized what West was doing. To the top three tables, scores of 620 were awarded to them and top places in the tournament. To those 15 who missed the significance of the opening lead without asking the question: “Why is West leading the 7♣?” bottom scores were their just desserts. Happy New Year 2014 to all bridge players in Barry County!

 

Gerald Stein

December 28, 2013

Number of words: 850

 

Better Bridge in Barry County December 26 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  7 3  ♥  Q 4  ♦  J 8 6   ♣  A Q J 6 5 2
West ♠  Q 8 4 2 ♥  J 9 7 5 2 ♦  A 9 7    ♣  9		East ♠  9 6 ♥  A K ♦  K 10 4 3 2   ♣  8 7 4 3
	South ♠  A K J 10 5 ♥  10 8 6 3 ♦  Q 5 ♣  K 10

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East North/South 9♣

 

North   1NT 2♠	East Pass Pass Pass	South 1♠ 2♥ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

Today’s column takes a look at a smart declarer playing a part-score hand in a recent online tournament. With players at14 tables playing these exact cards, only this South declarer made the right play-of-the-hand decisions. First, however, let’s look at the bidding to see how the North/South team arrived at a part-score contract in spades.

The bidding went like this: after a pass from dealer East, South opened the bidding with 1♠, promising five spades and at least opening count of 13 high-card points. Described as a minimum hand in most books, South could not see much beyond a part-score for her team. When West passed, North responded with a 1NT Forcing bid. This forcing bid needs an explanation as the North/South pair was playing a Two-Over-One Forcing System. The idea is that when the occasion arises and North has 13 high card points, then a bid of a new suit at the two level is forcing to game. The major idea is that there are enough points between the two hands to make a game in no trump or one of the majors.

However, this time around, North did not have the requisite 13 high-card points to bid at the two-level and must use the 1NT bid in an expanded mode. Players who use a Two-Over-One bidding system have made the 1NT bid a forcing bid for one round, and they have expanded the high card point range from the normal 6-9 to a wider range of 6-12 high-card points. South had to bid again under this partnership agreement.

South did not dare rebid the spades even though she might have wanted to because she only had five of them. A bid of two spades from South would have promised six spades. Instead, South bid the heart suit, promising four hearts in her hand as well as the five spades originally bid.  North then knew the heart suit was not a good fit, and she took the partnership back to spades even though it was a 5-2 fit, not always the best fit for a trump suit. All passed, and the contract reached was the 2♠ bid.

The play-of-the-hand is crucial for success in the bridge world. The plan, of course, is always the first step as soon as the lead hits the table. The 9♣ was the lead, and South’s first question had to be: “Why did West lead the 9♣?” Once South saw the dummy hand from partner North, she had a good idea why West led the club. It had to be a singleton. South had to be careful to preserve her club in her hand as it was the only entry back to those beautiful clubs on the board. Accordingly, South won the club lead in her hand with the K♣.

South’s next three leads were crucial for the success of this hand. With opponents holding six of the trump suit, South could always hope that the spades would split 3-3. Unfortunately, most of the time, with six outstanding trumps, the split will be a 4-2 split. That was the case in today’s hand. West had four spades and East had two.

South proceeded with the A♠, the K♠, and then led the J♠ losing to West’s Q♠. While West still had one more trump, South had managed to keep control of the trump suit. She just had to be patient to get back in and draw West’s last trump.

West, after winning the Q♠ trick, led the A♦ from her hand, winning. A lead from West of another diamond put East in with a winning K♦. East next cashed the A♥ and the K♥. A smart defensive move would have been to return partner’s original lead. Remember the 9♣? Partners need to remember the leads as well as the declarer. In this case, however, East had forgotten what her partner had led on the first trick and led back, not a club, but a diamond.

South, with no more diamonds, trumped low with the 5♠ and won the trick. Then immediately, South played the 10♠, pulling the last spade trump from West. With the trumps all accounted for, South, who had played the hand patiently, led the 10♣ from her hand and overtook the ten with the A♣. Taking the Q♣ and the J♣ in order, South pulled off a top board by making the 2♠ contract with eight tricks for the North/South pair.

This was the only South player, who, with some luck and some help from the East defender, managed to make the 2♠ part-score contract out of 14 tables.  Eight of the fourteen went down two tricks for a -200 points, and the other five declarers went down three tricks for a -300 score.

The takeaways for today? Consider the lead as South did. She could count the clubs on the board and in her hand, and she knew that she must be patient and attack the clubs when the coast was clear. Another takeaway is for the defender East. Remember to return your partner’s lead when you get the chance. Not returning the club after seeing it as the opening lead allowed South a chance to get in with a diamond ruff, draw the last trump from West, and claim the final club tricks. What gifts we are given at Christmas time.

 

Gerald Stein

December 18, 2013

Number of words: 1043

 

Bridge Notes: Interested in learning about Two-Over-One Forcing System? Books at www.baronbarclay.com including another excellent book by Audrey Grant might be a good place to start. A class in Two-Over-One Forcing System is in the works for 2014. Watch for it.

 

Better Bridge in Barry County December 19 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  J 9  ♥  9 7 6 2  ♦  10 7 5 2   ♣  8 6 4
West ♠  6 5 ♥  J 10 5   ♦  A Q J 4   ♣  J 9 7 3		East ♠  8 4 3 ♥  8 4 3 ♦  K 9 6 3 ♣  Q 10 5
	South ♠  A K Q 10 7 2 ♥  A KQ ♦  8   ♣  A K 2

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Neither J♥

 

North   Pass 2♦ 3♣	East   Pass Pass Pass	South   2♣ 2♠ ?	West Pass Pass Pass

When today’s South picked up her hand in a recent duplicate game, she thought that Christmas had arrived early for her. With 25 high card points and a powerful hand, South knew that she had indeed been a good girl and that Santa had smiled down on her with such a gift. South knew that she had to make the most of this bridge hand, however. Not often does one receive such a wonderful present.

South gasped inwardly when she picked up today’s hand. Counting the high card points and the strong spade suit, she knew that game was a certainty, but was there more there than that? Bidding carefully and deliberately would be the path to follow. South opened with a strong 2♣ bid, promising at least 22 high card points and forcing to game in most partnership agreements. North inwardly shuddered at her hand, knowing there was little to offer her exuberant partner. Still, the partnership agreement is to respond and let partner describe her hand more fully. North bid 2♦, a waiting bid.

South bid her suit, the spade suit, and she knew that she had eleven tricks if the spades broke reasonably well. Would there be more in the Christmas stocking this year? Perhaps, even a slam? South bid 2♠.

North broke the bad news to South in this way: bidding because she must after the new bid by South, North bid the cheapest bid she could, 3♣, informing South that she had very little, even to the point of having fewer than four total points. With that information, South knew that the burden was on her shoulders, and that she would have to make the final bid or bids as there was little help in the North.

Here was the dilemma for South: should she go for a sure game in spades, or should she risk a shaky slam in spades? She could count eleven tricks in her own hand and knew there would be little help from North. What is your bid following all of the information exchanged between the North and the South players? Did you take the sure thing and bid 4♠? Did you jump to 6♠? Did you try using the Blackwood Convention when you already knew that it would be pointless?

Most South players took the sure gift of 4♠ as they understood what their partners were telling them. Still, when the lead came out and the dummy went down, South was pleased with her decision. North had described her hand correctly, and there was little to say except the sincere thank you to her partner.

Fearing a bad trump split, after winning the heart lead in her hand, South led a small spade to the J♠ on the board. When the spades behaved on a 3-2 split, South pondered her next major approach. Making a game in spades was easy. There were only two losers: the 8♦ and the 2♣. Duplicate players are always looking for that overtrick, that additional trick that will give them even the tiniest of edges against others playing the same cards that they are playing. How could South make it troublesome for the East/West defenders to save the right cards to keep South from taking extra tricks? Looking at the dummy proved to be of little source of information. It would have to be in hoping to save the right cards and discard non-winners. That is not an easy way to defend.

South chose the following path to try and make an overtrick: After pulling all of the outstanding trumps from East/West, South played all of the rest of her spades, one after another, forcing four discards for West and three discards for East. Next, South played her last two heart winners, again forcing more discards from East and West. Finally, South played the A♣ and the K♣. East and West had focused so much on the diamond suit that they had failed to save a club. South played her lowly 2♣, and it won the 12^th trick for two overtricks instead of just the one overtrick that was there all along. East/West took the last diamond trick together.

While no one bid the small slam in spades, it appeared that with the approach that South used that a small slam is possible on this hand. Not so fast. While some South players did use the long spades to squeeze the defenders and take twelve tricks, while looking at the possible leads and the percentages, it looks like bidding a small slam on this hand was a risky proposition. A sure game at 100% with making overtricks or a 50% slam-try based on the defender’s lead seems to be an easy choice. As it turned out, a lead of the J♥ could produce a small slam by playing all of the winners first and squeezing the defenders, hoping that they would throw away their clubs. Also, a spade lead of the 6♠ or the 5♠ would make a small slam in spades. However, the defenders would prevail if West chose the A♦ or the 3♣ as an opening lead. Both of those leads would have resulted in a set contract of 6♠ for South.

Today’s takeaway? Enjoy that beautiful Christmas gift when it is dealt to you. Take the certain game and try for the overtricks when the prospects of a small slam are slim or none. Happy Bridge playing at this wonderful Christmastime.

 

Gerald Stein

December 11, 2013

Number of words: 1020

Better Bridge in Barry County December 12 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  8 7  ♥  A J  ♦  10 7 4 2   ♣  K Q 10 4 2
West ♠  A Q 5 3 ♥  8 2   ♦  9 5    ♣  J 8 7 5 3		East ♠  9 6 2 ♥  K Q 10 9 6 4 3 ♦  K 8 ♣  6
	South ♠  K J 10 4 ♥  7 5 ♦  A Q J 6 3 ♣  A 9

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East East/West 8♥

 

North   5♣ Pass Pass	East 3♥ Pass Pass Pass	South Dbl (1) Pass 5♦	West Pass Dbl (2) Pass

(1)   Takeout Double

(2)   Penalty Double

Today’s column has some interesting bidding as well as an example of using an end play near the end of the hand. Let’s take a look at the bidding first. As the opener, East had a solid heart suit with seven hearts and three of the top five honors and not a lot of points. Most of East’s points are in the heart suit where they should be, and this proved to be an excellent disruptive bid by East bidding 3♥.

South, sitting with a shortage in hearts as well as a shortage in clubs, chose a takeout double, telling partner North to bid her best suit. While South is stretching the takeout bid a bit, she still has a chance to bid the diamonds and/or the spades. South for a takeout double should be short only in the bid suit of hearts and not short in another suit. That could have caused partnership problems.

West passed the takeout double, and North soared to 5♣ with ten high card points and a decent five-card club suit. East passed as did South, but West with five clubs to the J♣ elected to broadcast her hand to those listening at the table and pulled out the double card. This gave a lot of information to the North/South team, and South, after a pass from North and East, pulled the 5♦ card out of the bidding box and bid 5♦, hopefully escaping from the penalty double. All passed, and the contract was placed at 5♦ in the South.

West chose the 8♥ as her lead, the top of a doubleton and her partner’s bid suit, and North duly placed her hand down on the table. South thanked her favorite partner as always and looked to see how she could make a 5♦ contract. The diamonds looked strong, a nice A♥ would help, and the clubs could be useful, especially since West had told everyone where all of the clubs were. Listening to the bidding is a huge advantage in bridge.

With her plan in place, South called for the A♥ and all followed. On the board, South called for the 10♦ intending to finesse if necessary, but East covered the honor with the K♦, and South won with the A♦. A play of the Q♦ next pulled the remaining trumps from West and East.

South next approached the club suit, playing from the short side and unblocking her A♣. She had figured that West had five clubs for her double and East with an opening preemptive bid had to be short somewhere. All played a club to the A♣, and next South led the 9♣ winning that trick by letting it ride through the dummy. East discarded a heart.

A small diamond from her hand and winning on the board put South in a position to play the K♣, the Q♣, pitching first the heart loser in her hand, then a small spade loser. Putting West on lead was South’s next move, the beginning of an end play where South would give up a loser card that she needed to lose anyway and put West in a position of having to lead to South in last position. South chose the 7♠ from the board, covered by East with the 9♠, and South covered that card with her own 10♠. West won the trick with the Q♠, and stuck for a lead, led the A♠, setting up the K♠ in the South hand. South claimed the rest of the tricks making 5♦.

Thinking back to last week’s column and the review of Audrey Grant’s new book on end plays, it is easy to see that this technique of the end play is one to rely on more often in the New Year. Here is a recap of the end play as executed by South: South cleared out the trump suit first, played all of the winning clubs, clearing away the heart loser and one spade loser in her hand, and then she exited near the end of the hand with a losing spade card from the dummy. South played it that way so that West would have to win the spade trick and would have to lead back to the good spade in the South hand.

 Listening to the bidding helped South on this hand as there would have been a surprise indeed for North playing in a 5♣ contract if West had passed smoothly instead of doubling for penalty. South with an opportunity to find another fit chose the diamond suit and brought home a game contract and 400 points for the North/South team.

Several other partnerships chose a different route after the takeout double. Two, in fact, passed the takeout double by South and turned it into a penalty double of 3♥. The contract was set one trick for -200 points for the East/West team, but this North/South team did a better job with the same cards. Happy bridge playing in 2014!

 

Gerald Stein

December 5, 2013

Number of words: 950