The Science of Audacity?

6th September – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

Author: Steve Preston

When I was asked to write this blog I naively hoped to provide an erudite exposition on the bidding and play of one of this Thursday’s hands. Board 10 was quite interesting, I was told. Perhaps I could explain how it should be scientifically bid to whatever might be the optimum contract.

Establishing the best contract was relatively easy – 7C is excellent and indeed likely the best contract at teams. The second best, though more risky contract of 7N is also a reasonable shot. However constructing an auction that reaches either contract with any degree of conviction is much harder. Most tables started with an opening bid by East that showed a balanced hand of around 19-20 points and West, with 15 points and a powerful suit, therefore knew that bidding a small slam was de rigueur and bidding a grand slam a distinct possibility.

With David our methods would allow us to set clubs as trumps, ask for aces and the trump king and then further go on with 5N to ask for specific other (non trump) kings. Unfortunately we (David and I) play an ‘expert’ gadget whereby, with two kings, a response shows either the king held or the one not held. i.e. 6S over 5N either denies or shows the king of spades. The method seemed a good idea at the time! With the actual information gathered, personally I would have counted the 12 known tricks and although perceived wisdom is to only bid a grand slam if the odds are 70% + I would have bid 7C. So much for erudition and science.

Congratulations to anyone who did bid the grand slam – either by science or just audacity. I suppose it comes down to your basic bridge philosophy – two contrasting auctions : 2N-4N (for aces)-5D (one) - 7N (that’ll do) and 2N-6N (safe) Of course the latter sequence avoids the disaster of playing in Blackwood and the subsequent interesting partnership discussion! On the day the brave were rewarded – both 7C and 7N were virtually laydown. Leaving aside the extra chances available in clubs, everybody’s favourite line of cashing lots of winners in the long suit (called an automatic squeeze if you wish to impress your friends) would have left poor North unable to guard the three suits in which he held his honour cards.

Knife Edge

9th August – Board 12: North/South Vul. Dealer West.

Whether you are playing teams or pairs there always seems to me to be too much at stake when the success of a slam depends upon the situation of a particular card. At teams you are likely to gain or lose upwards of eleven imps and at pairs a top score is likely to be changed into a bottom score depending on the vagaries of a random placement. Still I dare say it does add much excitement to the game.

Playing Benji Acol I can’t see much wrong with the above auction. South shows an eight playing trick hand while North shows heavy support and shortage in clubs via the splinter bid of 4♣. After South signs off in game North is surely worth one more try and from then on it is hard to see how it is possible to stay out of the slam. Not that you would want to but if you get an unhelpful lead there is a choice of plays. With eleven guaranteed tricks (six spades, the club ace and three club ruffs and the ace of diamonds) declarer is just looking for one more trick and he might try the diamond finesse – a good choice as it happens. On the other hand he might lead a low heart from dummy and make a decision as to whether to play the king or the jack from his hand. The king would be the winner here but can you see what a terrible mistake it would be for East to fly in prematurely with the ace, in effect taking away any choice from declarer and handing him the contract on a plate.

Positive Requirements

2^nd August – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

Responding to partner’s strongest bid, whether it be 2♣ or 2♦ should be the easiest thing in the world because you either have a good hand or you haven’t – and you usually haven’t! In the old days there were strict requirements for giving a positive and the hand had to contain an ace and a king, or two king-queens, or three kings, but those days have long since passed. To give a positive in a suit you need at least a five card suit of good quality – something like KQJxx or better – and upwards of about eight points, else just bid whatever your negative bid is. A response of 2NT shows about 10/11 points in a balanced hand but I can never remember having done that in fifty years of playing.

The auction above would be the one adopted by a pair playing either straight or Benji Acol and ordinary Stayman, asking for a four card major. The 3♠ bid shows spades but denies hearts, leading to the most obvious contract in the world and I would expect declarer to emerge with about eleven tricks.

Scant Justice

21st June – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

The main talking point of last Thursday was the 29 point hand held by a lucky East, although most pairs did scant justice to such a monster. All sorts of out-of-control sequences took place when in fact the correct contract could easily have been achieved with a little science or indeed with no science at all but just a little knowledge.

East should clearly open with the biggest bid in his system, be that 2♣ or 2♦, but whatever is chosen the response of 2♠ should be the same. That shows – mirabile dictu – a decent five card suit or more and at least about eight points, so that if I was told I only had one more bid to make on that East hand it would be 7NT because you can more or less count the tricks. For the scientifically minded however, and why not, there is nothing wrong in duping partner into believing that spades are going to be trumps. 4NT is RKC and 5♦ shows the king of spades. 5♥ asks about the queen and 6♠ owns up to that lady. So knowing responder has KQxxx in spades at least plus at least one other high card it should not prove too difficult to go all the way. Well done to those who did.

Gone To Waste

5th January – Board 9: East/West Vul. Dealer North.

The results on the following board were feeble I’m afraid, which is a shame when a good hand goes to waste, but to my mind the fault can be laid squarely on the shoulders of West who never realized what a good hand he held.

West	North	East	South
	No	2C/2D	No
2D/2H	No	3NT	No
4H*	No	5NT	No
6S	End

Whether playing Benji Acol or not East will surely show a flat 25/26 point hand, although the sequence to 3NT can hardly be described as dainty. (In fact Eric Kokish from Canada has devised a method round this, but never mind.) Over 3NT surely, surely, West would want to show a six-card spade suit and this should be done via a transfer. Why a six card suit? Well with only five, playing in a possible 5-2 fit might not be so appealing. For the record over 3NT in this auction one should play red suit transfers and a 4C bid as asking for opener to bid four-card suits upwards. Anyway back to East. Even if partner has zero points but with six small spades, even then six spades would just require a 2-2 break. So what is wrong with bidding Josephine, 5NT, asking partner to bid 7S holding both the king and the queen. Only one pair reached a slam and that was 6D!

Textbook Triumph

14th July – Board 9: East/West Game. Dealer North.

Sometimes a hand comes along that could be taken directly from any bridge textbook and the featured hand is a case in point. I wonder whether any of the players on Thursday found it?

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

I hope no players opened that West hand 2NT! It is too good by miles. With three tens, a nine and a five-card suit it must be worth upgrading to 2D, or 2C if you are not playing Benji. I think it is right to rebid 2NT though because if you rebid 3D partner could – would – be stuck in finding the only making game of 3NT. (After 2NT I would actually bid 3C on that East hand in an effort to find a 5-3 spade fit, but it’s close.) North will probably lead a low spade and declarer should see that the contract is safe as long as he can make four diamond tricks. In such situations always expect the worst, and while just banging out the two top diamonds would bring home the bacon it is not the right thing to do. As long as diamonds are no worse than 4-1 the game is secure. Win the first spade in hand and cash the ace of diamonds. Then lead low towards the jack. If North started with a four-card suit he is restricted to just making the queen, while if he shows out on the second diamond declarer plays the jack from dummy losing to the queen in the South hand. But now he can win the spade return in dummy and take a marked diamond finesse against the ten. As usual virtue would have to be its own reward.

All That Glisters

2^nd June – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

How things so often change from the moment we pick up our hand until the end of the deal, when unabated optimism is dampened by the coldness of reality! East was doubtless tickled pink at the sight of his hand but things soon took a nasty turn.

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

I have given the auction for those who play 2C as the strong opener, but Benji pairs will open 2D and receive a negative of 2H. Nevertheless 3NT will be the rebid and everything depends upon the opening lead. Now I may be alone in my thinking but if I were sitting South I would do everything possible not to give away a trick on the opening lead. After all there is only going to be a maximum of five points between West and North and a club lead seems fraught with danger. So I would choose between a heart and a spade and while a heart lead might turn out to be ok, a spade lead would be disastrous. So what do I know? Fourth best works a treat and declarer does best to win the first club. Why? Because if he doesn’t and subsequently plays on spades – as he has to – then North will have no choice but to lead a diamond through East’s holding and the defence will take a spade, two diamonds and three clubs for two down. If East wins the first club North will almost certainly return that suit when he gains the lead and his partner will have to concede a diamond trick. As an aside the contracts ranged from 2NT-1 to 6NT-4. Funny old game.

Unchartered Waters

10th March – Board 7: Game All. Dealer South.

It’s all very well having a gadget at one’s disposal intended to wreak havoc upon the opposition but you have to know what to do if the opposition seem strangely detached and it is partner who appears to be troubled. Have a look at the hand shown below and see what happened after a fairly machismo weak two was opened on those West cards.

West	North	East	South
			No
2S	No	3D	No
3S	End

Confusion arose because the meaning of that 3D bid had never been discussed and there was doubt in the West camp as to whether the bid was forcing or not. Certainly it is generally accepted that a new suit at the three level should be forcing but I don’t think that should apply after a weak two. Why is that? Well the responder can always find out more about the nature of the opening bid by bidding 2NT, Ogust as you recall. And if you make a bid in another suit forcing then you can never play in that contract when it might palpably be the right thing to do. As in the hand above. Having said all that and even assuming that the 3D bid was intended as forcing it seems a strange choice to rebid such a ghastly spade suit – surely not what partner wants to hear. What about 3NT? OK it goes four down on a club lead but the reality is that North might well lead a heart and that would lead to a spectacular result for the pair sitting in the other direction. Of course just because you are playing weak two’s it doesn’t mean you are compelled to every time you hold a six card suit…….

Understanding The Problem

24th February – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

There were far too many kangaroo type auctions on the featured hand with South leaping towards what he considered to be the optimum contract without really understanding the heart of the problem. So after North has shown a big balanced hand by whatever methods are used South needs to know a) if all the major players are present, and b) is the queen of spades amongst them. And to do the latter South has to make North think that spades is going to be the trump suit. I think it might go, assuming N/S are playing Benji whereby a 2C bid shows a balanced 19/20 points inter alia:

West	North	East	South
	2C	No	2S
No	2NT	No	3S
No	4C	No	4NT
No	5C	No	5D
No	6C	No	7NT
End

I can see no reason why South should not bid 2S at his first turn and repeat the suit after his partner has shown a balanced hand. 4C then becomes a cue-bid in support of spades and 4NT is RKCB. 5C shows three key-cards and 5D enquires about the queen of spades. 6C shows that card together with the king of clubs and now South can count thirteen tricks. Not so difficult after all.

Red Suit Mix Up

27th January – Board 4: Game All. Dealer West.

Bridge is a hard enough game at the best of times and part of that is remembering conventions. When that goes astray there is no end to the confusion that might ensue, but sometimes it seems to work out for the best…..

This happened more than once last Thursday and this is the first instance that caught my eye.

West	North	East	South
No	No	No	2D
No	2H	Dbl	2NT
No	3H	No	4S
No	5H	No	6H
End

2D showed 23+ and 2H was a relay, but this had the effect of causing much diversion. East doubled, intending this to be a sort of take-out of hearts but as no suit had actually been bid in earnest this should have shown a good heart suit. (This is quite a common practice. When the opponents bid a suit in a conventional way then you can double to show values there.) So South was put off mentioning hearts and quite correctly bid 2NT, showing a balanced 23/24. Now North bid 3H intending it to be natural but of course transfers apply in this situation even though the suit has already been bid in a conventional way. South broke the ‘transfer’ and leaped to 4S and North who was having none of it bid 5H, which should have shown a big major two-suiter. As it was South had an easy raise in the red suit but it seems to me that if he had had a spade more and a heart less then he would (should) have bid 6S. The fact is that even when it is abundantly clear that a wheel has come off through the body language at the table, you have to pretend that it hasn’t.

If everyone had bid – er – rather more conventionally then it seems to me that the slam might not have been bid at all.

However as an aside if North had opened with a weak 2H (my choice) then South would presumably have employed a well-known convention and arrived at the slam in double quick time.

Harsh Punishment

20th January – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

I think that West hand is just about worth a strong two-bid and if you are playing weak two’s then I suppose the bidding would have to go along the following lines:

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

It is nearly always right to relay with 2D after partner has opened 2C just so the bidding can stay low, and once East has rejected the heart game there is no reason why West should insist upon it. If West only opens 1H then he can rebid 3H – game forcing after a two-level response – and again East would sign off in 3NT. Whatever suit South chooses to lead the game is trivial to make, but now just suppose you have ended up in 4H, which looks to be an easy game until the awful trump break comes to light. Certainly 4H is always defeated on a diamond or spade lead but just suppose North leads his singleton club. Amazingly the contract can now always be made with the loss of just three trump tricks. Maybe as a sort of homework you can figure out why!

Hidden Wealth

13th January – Board 15: N/S Vul. Dealer South.

I changed my mind about this hand when what at first sight seemed to be reasonable bidding led to a very unreasonable contract. Say you open that West hand 1S and partner, correctly, bids 1NT. What do you do now? 3S isn’t forcing so 4S looks to be the answer – until dummy goes down. So maybe that West hand is worth a two-bid after all and if you are playing Benji Acol then I think the bidding could go as follows:

West	North	East	South
			No
2C	No	2D	No
2S	No	3D	No
4H	No	5D	End

3D shows at least a five-card suit and 4H is a splinter agreeing diamonds and showing a void or a singleton. East is unlikely to get too excited but at least the partnership would get to an excellent game. Indeed with trumps breaking 2-2 declarer can make twelve tricks in comfort by setting up the spades. Some pairs made 4S apparently but it would seem that this can only be done if North tries to cash two hearts, setting up the queen in dummy for a club discard.

Who Dares Wins

25^th November – Board 5: N/S Vul. Dealer North.

The definition of a good slam is one that makes and if that is the case then several pairs did well to reach six spades on the featured hand. I am not convinced however that it is a good proposition, needing as it does trumps to break 2-2 and for something nice to happen in either clubs or hearts as well. On a trump lead declarer has little choice but to try and set up a long club for an eventual diamond discard from dummy, with the losing diamond in hand then being ruffed. On the king of hearts lead declarer has another option, namely trying to establish a long heart in dummy for the eventual discard of a diamond from hand. He could win the ace of hearts, ruff a heart, enter dummy with a trump and ruff another heart. Dummy is reached once again with a trump – pulling all outstanding enemy trumps in the process – and another heart ruffed, leaving a winner in dummy. Finally dummy will be reached one way or another via the club suit and the winning heart played allowing declarer to jettison the three of diamonds. All lines work as it happens but my feeling is that the odds are way short of the requirements for the slam to be considered a good one. Nevertheless the following auction does not look unreasonable I have to confess:

West	North	East	South
	2C*	No	2D**
No	2S	No	3S
No	4NT	No	5D
No	5H***	No	6S
End

* Playing weak 2’s this shows an Acol 2 in any suit or 19-20 balanced.
** Relay.
*** Asking about the queen of trumps. The answer shows that card but denies holding another king.