Taking Out Insurance

29th September – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

Bidding decisions at the five-level are notoriously hard to get right on a consistent basis and the hand shown below was no exception. I have to say that I would have made the wrong decision, taking out insurance on the East hand to safeguard against a potential catastrophe.

West	North	East	South
			1H
1S	2C	4S	5C
Dbl	No	????

I think it is right to double 5C on the West hand because there are likely to be two quick winners in diamonds but I’m not at all sure that I would have left the double in with the East hand. There is unlikely to be a trick in spades and while there may well be a trump trick in the offing the risks of them making a doubled contract are too high. Certainly in teams I would have no hesitation in bidding 5S, in pairs it is less clear-cut. But without partner’s double bidding 5S would be automatic.

Misdirection

29th September – Board 15: North/South Vul. Dealer South.

Sometimes the brain gets distracted from taking the right approach because we are so used to following a certain path, and that was certainly the case on the featured hand where most pairs failed to make their no-trump game because they didn’t look far enough ahead.

West	North	East	South
			No
No	No	1S	No
2H	No	2S	No
2NT	No	3NT	End

I’m not sure that the above bidding is the route that I would have followed but the game is sound enough and it doesn’t really matter whether it is played by West or East. On a club lead (say) it looks tempting to play on spades hoping for a kindly break, but the sad reality is that when that suit doesn’t behave there are five losers in one spade, two diamonds and two clubs. If the spades are breaking they can be kept to later and the suit that should be attacked from the start is diamonds. When the nine obligingly falls at an early stage declarer can rack up the contract by making three spades, two hearts two diamonds and two clubs.

Strangely Similar

22nd September – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

The featured hand seemed strangely similar in makeup to a hand from last week when it arose on Thursday and what happened depended largely on what course of action North decided to take for his opening bid. It is miles too good for 3D and not offensive enough for 1D so the choice lies between opening 4D and 5D. While I originally inclined towards the latter I can see now that perhaps it might be more prudent to open at the lower level. That would give South an easy bid of 4H, to play, but if North chose instead to open 5D most players would now play 5H to be a cue-bid and a grand slam try in diamonds….. Not so good.

West	North	East	South
No	4D	No	4H
End

4H makes an easy eleven tricks but 5D can be defeated on a spade lead. Suppose three rounds of spades are led. West can trump the third round with the king of diamonds – the so-called uppercut – thus promoting the jack of that suit in his partner’s hand.

Too difficult

22nd September – Board 25: East/West Game. Dealer East.

Some hands are just too difficult even with the benefit of hindsight and I have to confess that I would have ended up almost certainly with a minus score on a hand where game was almost cold in another denomination. As it was my partner saved me from that particular fate.

West	North	East	South
		1D	No
1H	No	2C	No
2NT	No	3D	End

Our sequence was the one given above and as can be seen 5D is more or less laydown, requiring as it does just something nice to happen in trumps. That 3D bid might seem a bit on the weak side and I have to confess I would probably have tried 3NT, but see what that would get us. North would have no reason not to lead a heart and the contract would flounder almost before it got going. Even a club lead and a heart switch would prove too much to cope with and it is only really a spade lead out of the realistic choices that would give any hope at all. So if anyone reached 5D don’t be shy. Tell me how you did it!

Opening Dilemma

15^th September – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

There were many varied results on the hand shown below and what happened at the table was to a large extent determined by what South chose to open. My own personal choice would be to go all the way and kick things off with 5C, which I guess East would double. That would beat par in that 5C is only two down while 5D is a make, but a slower approach by South might reap dividends (although in fact it wouldn’t.)

West	North	East	South
			1C
1H	No	4H	5C
No	No	Dbl	End

South is likely to ‘save’ over 4H by bidding 5C but just suppose he didn’t. It would be superhuman of North not to lead his singleton club and then a successful trump finesse allows West to make an easy twelve tricks. But just imagine North leads a diamond instead. Now the defence can take the first four tricks, which goes to show I suppose just how difficult the game can be.

Over Optimistic

15^th September – Board 16: East/West Game. Dealer West.

Like losing a tennis match when your opponent has a winning net-cord at match point it is infuriating when the opponents at the bridge table earn a huge swing due to the vagaries of Lady Luck. At least three pairs reached a grand slam in diamonds on the hand shown below, a contract with a chance of success somewhat less then 20% instead of the near 70% required. The main fault lay with the choice of opening bid, and while I appreciate that the West hand is a three-loser that is only a good thing if a fit is found. Imagine a hand opposite with a void diamond and a small doubleton club and you will see what I mean. I think the auction might go something like:

West	North	East	South
1D	No	1H	No
2C	No	2S	No
4D	No	4H	No
5C	No	6D	End

2S is fourth-suit forcing of course and 4D sets up a game-forcing sequence. East should not get over-excited because good as his long suits are they are not going to be useful in getting rid of any trump loser! The play in 7D is not a problem; win the opening lead and play ace and a low club to ruff on table. With the fall of the club king all that is now required is to hope for the favourable trump position and when that occurs to try not to gloat.

Plan The Play

 8th September – Board 7: Game All. Dealer South.

Guest Blogger: Nick

When this was played at our table, it seemed like it would be a pretty flat board. We were all surprised to see that at least twice 3NT had gone down. This perhaps illustrates the importance of planning the play as declarer.

South	West	North	East
1H	No	2D	No
2H	No	3NT	End

At our table, S5 was led to trick one. Declarer has 8 top tricks, S A, K, H A, D A, K, Q and C A, K, and has two potential sources of a ninth trick – diamonds or hearts. Diamonds will give the crucial ninth trick if they break no worse than 4-1 (and will give a tenth trick if they break 3-2). To gather an extra trick in hearts, the plan would be to finesse twice, hoping that East holds King or Queen of hearts to two or three (in which case declarer will make 12 tricks, and bemoan that he is not in slam). Declarer can afford to lose the lead once, at which point the opponents will clear the spades, and then may have enough spades to cash to get him down. How to choose which line to follow? Can declarer combine his chances and avoid putting all his eggs in one basket? If he comes to hand with a diamond at trick 2, one of his questions will be answered. If both opponents follow, then he can play on diamonds for his ninth trick (he doesn’t need to make 12 tricks, 9 is the target) - just play out three more rounds of diamonds, losing the fourth round to East’s jack, but securing the 9th trick with his fifth diamond. If West shows out on the first diamond, it means that diamonds are no good for declarer and he can try the hearts by finessing twice.

Some observations:
If you exchange the diamond 9 and 7 in the north and south hands respectively, declarer can overcome a 5-0 diamond split if East has the void - he should therefore play the diamonds by first cashing the queen in dummy, because if East shows out, he can finesse twice against West’s J,10, and force the 9th trick in that way. And there’s nothing the defence can do to stop him!! However, this doesn’t work with the current diamond pips, and declarer may need DQ as an entry to dummy, so he should start with a low diamond to the King or Ace.

It's not all about declarer - as West, did you think to play your SJ under the Ace at trick one, to unblock the suit – if you didn’t, then declarer can get home even if diamonds are 5-0 with East – losing just three hearts and a spade.

The only really impossible situation is if diamonds split 5-0 with East, and West holds the heart honours, and unblocks the spade – in which case there is nothing much to do, other than rail against fate!!

I know that sometimes in pairs, if things aren’t going well, you may try to ‘shoot the moon’ going for 12 tricks and a ‘top’, rather than just securing your contract – but such strategies are probably well beyond all of us on a Thursday night – I for one am just glad when I make the contract (my partner is both glad and surprised!!)

Ace for Attitude, King for Count

 1st September – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.
Guest Blogger: Jill
I love to read David’s blogs, but I sometimes think they’re a bit too difficult for we mere mortals. And will I remember what he’s said (eg in Fire with Fire below) when the same situation comes up in three years’ time?! Here’s something that’s dead easy to remember and comes up quite often.

South	West	North	East
1S	2C	3S	No
End

You might or might not agree with the bidding, but South is declarer in 3S. West leads out the A and K of clubs and everyone follows. What next? Who has the remaining club? If it’s declarer, West can lead another club knowing that partner can ruff (or over-ruff) North. But if partner has the last club, that will give declarer a ruff and discard. You need to know how many clubs partner had to start with. You won’t often lead the Ace or King without having both, so you can lead the Ace when you want to know partner’s Attitude to the suit, and the King when you want to know Count – the number of cards he has in the suit. So in this case, West leads the King first. As partner has an even number of cards, he plays a high one followed by a low one (with an odd number, he plays his lowest card first). In another situation, if you want to know attitude, you lead the Ace. If partner likes it (eg if he has the Queen), he plays a high card. If not, he plays a low one and you can switch to another suit.

Keeping The Lead

1st September – Board 18: North/South Game. Dealer East.

Guest Blogger: Jill

East	South	West	North
No	No	1H	No
2C	No	2H	No
4H	End

Again, you might not agree with the bidding (I’m not sure I would usually open that West hand, but it was practically the last session and I hadn’t played a hand; also North might double and when South bids 2S, I’ll pass; and partner’s 4H shows more confidence in my play than my usual partner!)

North led a club and, at the time, I thought the opponents were uncharacteristically generous in letting me make the contract – there are two top hearts and two top diamonds to lose, and I might lose a third heart if I guess wrongly. But actually, as the cards lie, unless a red card is led at trick one, you can always make the contract as long as you don’t let them in to take their winners. Win the CQ, play SA and ruff a spade. Next play CA and CK. You might discard 2 spades, but that still leaves the same four top losers. So discard the two diamonds from hand which means you can ruff a diamond and then ruff a second spade. Now play the CJ. South can ruff with the HK, but that’s a natural winner, and you just discard your last spade, and can afford to lose two more heart tricks. If he ruffs with the J or 9, you overruff, and then lose two trumps and a spade. At the table, he discarded a diamond, so I discarded my last spade. Another diamond ruff means I have to lead away from my remaining H Q1076. As long as North doesn’t play the Ace (why ever would he?), opponents take three trump tricks, but the contract is safe.