Lucky Escape

24 June - Board 1: Love All. Dealer North

	North: S 10 8 3 H 10 8 4 D J 9 3 2 C Q 10 4
West: S J 9 6 2 H A J 9 7 3 D 7 4 C 9 7		East: S A K Q 7 H K Q D A K 8 6 5 C K 5
	South: S 5 4 H 6 5 2 D Q 10 C A J 8 6 3 2

I was away this last Thursday but am indebted to Nick Atkins for supplying this hand from the weekly competition. I do not know the board number and I have made up some of the lower cards but in all other respects I believe the deal to be accurate. This is the auction that Nick and Katie had:

North East South West

No 2C No 2H

No 3D No 3S

No 4NT No 5D

No 6NT All Pass

The positive response of 2H is certainly pushing the boat out and after a series of natural bids the spade suit was found but with one concern, namely that the weaker hand would be the declarer. With the ace of clubs almost certainly missing Nick didn’t fancy his partner receiving a club lead through the king and took out insurance by bidding 6NT. This apparently made but I am not sure why. I can only imagine that South cashed the ace of clubs at trick one, or led a low card in that suit. That seems like a bad error to me for surely East has the clubs guarded. Anyway the outcome proved a lucky escape as 6S by East is cold. Declarer can just draw trumps in three rounds, discard both clubs on the heart suit and ruff a club in hand. He will come to five trump tricks, five hearts and the top two diamonds. And of course if West starts off with a negative 2D then it will be East who introduces the spade suit first.

Fearful symmetry

17th June - Board: 15 N/S Vul. Dealer South

	North: S none H Q J 6 3 2 D A J 10 8 4 C 10 4 2
West: S K 9 8 3 H 9 8 7 5 4 D 5 3 C J 6		East: S A 7 6 5 4 2 H none D 6 2 C A K Q 8 5
	South: S Q J 10 H A K 10 D K Q 9 7 C 9 7 3

Sometimes an innocuous seeming play can lead to total disaster, and so it was in the featured hand, both from a N/S and an E/W viewpoint. But first what would you bid on that East hand after the bidding has proceeded with 1D on your left and 1H on your right? Most people just bid spades but I think that is wrong for a subtle reason that will become clear later. With a two-suited hand it is important to try and show both suits in one go and here you can, for you have the option of bidding 2H to show a black two-suiter with longer spades, or 2D which would show a black two-suiter with longer clubs! Obvious when you think about it.

Anyway at one table the contract was 5D doubled by South, and West only having seen his partner bid spades not unnaturally led that suit – and now the contract is cold for an overtrick. Declarer ruffs in dummy, draws trumps and ultimately makes twelve tricks via three spade ruffs, five hearts and four trumps. If East had shown clubs as well then West might well have led one of those and the defence take the first three tricks.

At another table E/W ‘saved’ in 5S doubled over 5D but it was South who was on lead and he tried a top heart. In an uncanny replay declarer can ruff, draw two rounds of trumps and then just play clubs. With South following to three rounds dummy’s diamonds disappear and the contract is again made with an overtrick. Of course if East had shown his two-suiter then West would have been playing the contract and North would probably have led the ace of diamonds. A second diamond follows and a trump trick for the defending side leads to a one-trick defeat.

Almost Impossible

17 June - Board: 5 N/S Vul. Dealer North

	North: S 6 H K J 8 3 D 10 4 C A K Q J 10 8
West: S A 10 5 3 H 9 5 D 9 7 5 C 9 7 6 2		East: S K J 9 8 7 H Q 10 4 D J 6 3 2 C 5
	South: S Q 4 2 H A 7 6 2 D A K Q 8 C 4 3

I watched this hand at a few tables and was surprised that almost without exception the heart suit seemed to get lost! North is bound to open 1C, and let us assume for a moment that East stays quiet. South responds 1D and North rebids 1H – much better than bidding clubs again at any level surely – and now South has a slight problem. The hand is worth a game bid in hearts of course but a jump to that contract should indicate a much weaker hand in terms of high cards, but with more distributional values. The answer of course is to bid the fourth suit, 1S, with the intent of raising to game in hearts over whatever response that bid elicits. North should bid 3C to show extra values and the danger now is that N/S might get too high although if someone uses Keycard they will find one keycard plus the queen of trumps missing. Six hearts is a poor contract, needing as it does the hearts to divide 3-3 and the finesse working, around 34% by my reckoning. If East overcalls the opening bid with 1S – and why not at that vulnerability? – South should make a Sputnik double to show the hearts. Whatever West bids North has a clear-cut bid of 4H and again South might get excited, to his ultimate cost. What is almost impossible to bid but equally impossible to defeat is 6C! Once an early spade is lost declarer merely runs all his clubs and East is hopelessly squeezed. With only six tricks remaining he needs to keep three hearts and four diamonds, something he would find beyond his capabilities.

The Old And The New

10th June - Board: 3 E/W Vul. Dealer South

	North: S Q 9 6 2 H 4 D Q J 7 5 4 C 9 8 5
West: S A K H A K 9 6 D K 10 6 2 C J 7 6		East: S J 10 H Q 10 5 3 2 D none C A K Q 10 3 2
	South: S 8 7 5 4 3 H J 8 7 D A 9 8 3 C 4

There were loads of exciting hands again this week but this one caught my imagination because to bid it well you really needed a mixture of old and new ideas. As you can see 7H is laydown but to bid it you need to establish the perfect heart fit at a low level so that you have plenty of room to show controls. Jacoby 2NT as a response to an opening bid of 1S/H does just that, showing as it does a high card raise to game or better in the opener’s suit. There are many ways to proceed after that but a popular method is to use a 3C rebid by opener to show an above average hand – say 15 points or more – with a reciprocal 3D rebid by responder going along with any slam aspirations. A sensible auction might be the following:

West East

1H 2NT

3C 3D

3S 5NT

7H

So 2NT is Jacoby, agreeing hearts and game-forcing, 3C shows slam interest while 3D goes along with that notion. 3S shows first round control and 5NT is – Josephine! Amazing to have this little used convention come up two weeks running. With two of the top three heart honours West bids the grand.

If anyone would like more extensive knowledge of Jacoby feel free to send me an e-mail and I will attach some notes.

Difficult Choice

10th June - Board: 1 Love All. Dealer North

	North: S J 10 H 4 D Q 9 8 C A Q 10 9 8 6 5
West: S K 9 3 2 H A J 10 9 6 5 D 5 C J 2		East: S Q 5 H K Q 3 D A K J 6 2 C K 7 4
	South: S A 8 7 6 4 H 8 7 2 D 10 7 4 3 C 3

What would you do on that East hand after the person on your right has opened 3C at love all? Obviously it would be too feeble to pass or bid 3D so the only two real alternatives are to double or bid 3NT. There is something to be said for either but they are both flawed, in that by doubling you would not be well-placed if partner bid 4S, while in 3NT you would probably have to run nine tricks quickly, and without loss, on a club lead. Nevertheless that would be my preferred option and anyway preempts are designed to make life difficult. Do you know how you respond to 3NT though? Do you have any arrangements? At the table West passed which worked out well, but he certainly must have thought of bidding 4H. For the record this is what I do in such a situation:
4D is a transfer to 4H
4H is a transfer to 4S
4C is BARON, asking partner to bid his four cards suits upwards. (If he has only clubs then he bids 4NT.) You might need to do this if you have a big balanced hand yourself and are looking for a 4-4 fit.
4NT is asking for aces on a 0,1,2,3 scale
4S – which is redundant as a bid – can be used as a quantitative raise in no-trumps. The overcaller, whose hand might be anything really from 18 points upwards, would either bid 4NT or 6NT depending on the strength of his hand.

This sort of hand crops up rarely, but it as well to be prepared because usually there are a lot of match points at stake.

Josephine

3^rd June - Board: 8 Love All. Dealer West

	North: S 9 8 3 H 8 6 D 9 C Q 9 8 7 5 4 2
West: S A J 6 5 H Q 7 5 D A K Q 8 6 3 C none		East: S 4 H A K J 4 3 D J 10 7 C A J 6 3
	South: S K Q 10 7 2 H 10 9 2 D 5 4 2 C K 10

A grand slam is available in three different denominations and yet nobody managed to get beyond game on this exciting hand. At the table where I was watching North/South endeavoured to make things harder by entering the bidding but in actual fact I think their very interference should have paved the way to a successful auction for East/West. So West opened 1D and North boldly bid 3C. East bid 3H and South competed with 4C, so what should West be thinking and what should he do? Well one thing is certain – the East hand holds at least a five-card suit – and if it is headed by the two top honours then there must be a play for the grand slam! (West can probably count on one spade, five hearts, six diamonds and a club ruff in the short hand. Note that the ace of clubs in the East hand could be thrown out the window if the grand slam was bid in hearts.) How does West find out about the ace and king of hearts? By bidding 5NT, Josephine, named after the wife of 1950’s bridge guru Ely Culbertson. Basically it asks partner to bid the grand slam if he holds two of the top three honours.

Without the intervention West can never be sure that his partner is holding a five-card heart suit, but I think the following auction might just about do it:

West North East South

1D No 1H No

1S No 2C* No

3H No 4NT No

5S No 5NT No

7H All Pass

*2C is fourth-suit forcing, and the 3H response is game forcing, showing a strong hand with three-card support and by elimination at most a singleton club. Roman Key-Card Blackwood determines there are no trump losers or indeed any top loser, and 5NT is a general grand slam try. With a solid diamond suit West should go all the way. Easier in hindsight than at the table I dare say. It gets even more difficult if South bids 1S along the way – but I am not going there!

Josephine is not used so much these days because with the arrival of Roman Keycard Blackwood both the king and queen of trumps can be shown by the various responses. However on the featured hand it would be essential and RKB would be no use because the ace of clubs would feature as a keycard and is of no use to West.

Careful Defence

3^rd June - Board: 14 Love All. Dealer East

	North: S J 10 H Q 10 3 2 D 10 5 3 C J 10 9 3
West: S A Q 7 4 3 H A 8 6 5 4 D 8 2 C 6		East: S 9 2 H K 7 D A J 7 C A K 8 5 4 2
	South: S K 8 6 5 H J 9 D K Q 9 6 4 C Q 7

What would you rebid on the East hand after you have opened 1C and partner has responded 1S? There were a number of differing ideas when this hand was played and while I think a rebid of 2C is just a bit cautious I am fairly neutral between 3C and 1NT. It shouldn’t really matter because over either bid West will bid 3H and East can sign off in 3NT. This contract is hardly a laydown and that happens often when the hands do not fit well, but the defence do have to be careful after a low diamond lead. East will win with the jack perforce and play three rounds of clubs, North winning and returning a diamond. Declarer has to duck this to cut communications between the defenders and if South lazily carries on playing diamonds declarer will win, play another club and with North unable to lead another diamond the defence is dead. Declarer will make four clubs, two diamonds, two hearts and at least one spade. However if South plays a heart after winning the diamond declarer’s entries are scrambled. If he wins the heart in dummy he cannot clear the clubs and if he wins the heart in hand he can establish two long clubs but will be unable to get back to hand to enjoy them.