Sisyphus and me (subtitle – bridge hell)

December 28th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  11 Comments 

It didn’t matter how many times I played this maddening hand yesterday – I was always going down – the layout of the opponents’ cards eluding me with each line of play I tried.

In each case the auction was the same. My WEST opened the bidding 3 clubs, which was passed around to me. I held AK9   QJ7xx  853  73, and we were red vs white. Each time I braved a 3 heart bid – which was rewarded with a gentle 4 heart response from Keith, holding an opening bid of his own including AK9x of hearts. There’s a nice partner !

The opening lead was the seven of diamonds. I played dummy’s Ace. EAST playing the deuce – highly encouraging.

Attempt #1

I played a trump to the queen and a trump back to dummy’s Ace. EAST pitched a discouraging spade (clearly from length)

I decided my best bet to make ten tricks was to build the queen of clubs as a trick. So, needing two dummy entries, I left the trumps alone and played a low club from the dummy. EAST won the king (good !) and cashed the king of diamonds and gave her partner a spade ruff. Down 1. WEST had been 0-3-3-7. 

The winning line was simply to draw trumps and double hook the spades.

Attempt #2

Again I played a trump to the queen and a trump back to dummy’s Ace. EAST pitched a discouraging spade (clearly from length)

This time I decided my best bet was both the queen and the jack of spades onside. I immediately drew the last trump with dummy’s king and led a spade to the nine. It lost to the queen, and now there was no more time or entries to establish the club queen for trick 10. WEST was 1-3-2-7.

The winning line here was to set up the club queen in dummy, and to do so before drawing West’s last trump, while I had an extra trump entry to dummy.

Attempt #3

Again I played a trump to the queen and a trump back to dummy’s Ace. EAST pitched a discouraging spade (clearly from length)

This time I really wasn’t sure which black suit I should count on for the tenth trick. Was there a way to avoid a guess? I decided to hedge my bets. I reasoned as long as WEST had at least one spade (likely an honor from his failure to lead one) I could defer the decision, depending on the apparent count in the diamond suit.

I abandoned trumps, and led dummy’s last diamond. I figured if WEST played up the line in diamonds, then clubs were not likely to come home (his shape must be 1-3-3-6). In that case, I would bank on split spade honours. That is, I would win the first spade trick with a high honour, dropping the presumed honour on my left. (This seemed more likely than a stiff small spade since he had not led one at trick one)

I was not too worried about a spade ruff as there was no such table vibe, including no unnaturally low club lead at trick one fishing for a spade shift.

WEST played up the line on the second round of diamonds. EAST tapped the dummy with another diamond. I ruffed, and played a spade to my Ace. There was no timber falling from West though. He had begun with 1-3-3-6 shape and had elected to lead a diamond from Q10x as his surprise attack. I ended up down 1. Here, the winning line was a double spade finesse.

Attempt #4

Again I played a trump to the queen and a trump back to dummy’s Ace. EAST pitched a discouraging spade (clearly from length)

Again, I abandoned trumps, preserving entries, and led dummy’s last diamond. When West high – lowed in diamonds, he rated to be 1-3-2-7. I would know what to do depending on East’s next move.

But West high lowed in diamonds because he began with four diamonds, not two !

Which meant he had a spade void, and his grateful partner found that shift pretty damn quickly.

Modern preempts ! – who needs a 7 card suit when a 6-4 shape is eminently suitable?

The layout was something like

Dealer: West Vul: NS		North
		♠	108xx
		♥	AK9x
		♦	A9
		♣	Q9x
West				East
♠	void			♠	QJ7xxx
♥	10xx			♥	x
♦	Q10xx			♦	KJxx
♣	A10xxxx			♣	KJ
		South
		♠	AK9
		♥	QJ7xx
		♦	853
		♣	73

At the other table, our opponents conservatively stopped in 2 hearts (clearly no 3 club opener from my team mate). Had I made 4 hearts, we would have won 10 imps – a 17 imp swing.

Sisyphus had no choice. No matter how many times he pushed the boulder to the top of the mountain, it always rolled back to the bottom. His personal hell being he was doomed to do this for eternity.

Bill Murray was doomed to relive the same day over and over again until he found true love in the movie Groundhog Day.

I gave up this hand after only four attempts. Masochism only runs so deep in my genes.

Should you build up the club queen? Should you take a double hook in spades? Should you drop a spade honor offside and then finesse for the other. In bridge hell, you never get these decisions right.

Deja Vu

December 19th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

Sorry, I cannot resist. If you read any further you will be transported to my vegas blog for a couple of stories from my current trip. There are two entries of interest.

The first one, if you can manage to read them in this order, is called

“Blogger pulls chest muscle while cashing in tournament”

http://rosstaylorcardsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogger-pulls-chest-muscle-while.html

The second one (which is CLEARLY bridge related) is called

“Deja Vu.”

And if this offends you, well I will try not do this more than once a month or so

Thanks, RT

Sexy slam bid and made

December 17th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  5 Comments 

Have you ever noticed that many published squeeze hands involve poorly bid slams? For example, if overbid grand slams were played at their proper level, not much attention would be given to the play for the overtrick. But ratchet things up a level, and the sphincter muscles tighten as there is no margin for error.

Today’s hand was a case in point. Dave Colbert and I overbid to a poor slam. Plain and simple. Were this hand declared where it properly lies at the four or five level, there would be no story. But your heroes each took a rosy view of their cards in an uncontested auction, and 6 spades became the final contract. Here was the layout, and the auction. (You might want to make sure there are no small children present when you review the auction) 

Dave opened 1 spade, and I responded 2 clubs. Dave jumped to 3 spades, and I (expecting another spade or so) jumped into Key Card Blackwood. We subsided in 6 spades.

The opening lead was a safe trump. Dave won in his hand, and immediately ducked a heart to East. Back came another heart, and Dave won dummy’s Ace and played some trumps.

No harm seemed to be coming from playing off trumps, so Dave continued doing so.

On the penultimate trump, everyone had to come down to six cards……. 

West felt compelled to discard a diamond, leaving his partner with sole responsibility for guarding the third round of the suit. Dummy pitched a club, perforce, and East had a safe heart pitch.

Now Dave played King, then Ace, then ruffed a club in his hand. East had metaphorical fits looking for a safe discard on the third round of clubs. His last heart would set up the dummy’s three, and his third diamond would create three diamond tricks for declarer. This is how things looked as dummy led it’s last club.

East valiantly pitched his last heart – and to his credit, it was without too much agony. Why roadmap what is going on for declarer? Most declarers would not be able to tell you if the heart 3 in dummy were now good I am afraid to say.

But Dave had played the hand with particular care. Actually I think he was laden with guilt about overbidding, and as a result he was determined to bring this sucker home by any means possible.

He now played a diamond to the Ace and cashed the heart 3. Making 6 and +1430. Woo woo !!!

PS        Now, the real title of this blog entry should have been something like ” Slam making on a non simultaneous double trump squeeze” . ( Or something like that – hell if I know what to call it! )

But I understood if I wrote that I might get one, possibly two readers. Be honest now. How many of you opened this blog just to see what a sexy slam looks like??

PPS       Notes to Linda Lee ( our blogsite’s resident squeeze groupie)

(1) I think a diamond lead, followed by a diamond continuation will beat the slam.

(2) If you are going to be a mensch declarer, make sure you can count to 13 in four suits at the same time. However it is also true sometimes declarers literally stumble into a winning squeeze, as the cards play themselves.

(3) Ducking the heart here was automatic for a good declarer – it’s ” a just in case it makes a difference play.”

Purists who love terminology will advise you earnestly the heart duck is called “rectifying the count” – no wonder our kids take up poker ! Just tell them to give up a sure loser early when they are declaring a tough hand and they are a trick short – don’t give them techno babble.

(4) When it seems declarer is trying to create an extra trick by a squeeze or end play, do try to plan your pitches far ahead, so that the squirmy ones can be done in tempo. Sometimes it is the bad tempo, and only that, which clues declarer into the winning line.

On this hand, West knew a club pitch at trick 7 could be fatal, as now declarer could ruff out the suit. But declarer does not know anything – he is just playing his cards. If I was West and could foresee the end position, I may well pitch a second club nonchalantly. Declarer may screw up and pitch a club himself from dummy.

In fact he should throw dummy’s heart if I pitch a club. Then he ruffs out the clubs; establishing the long club as his twelvth trick.

PPPS       I have to figure out a way to write all this crap down in about 1/3 of the words – I know I lost most of you much further up the page.

Lead directing double brings home grand slam via a squeeze

December 16th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  2 Comments 

Dealer: East Vul: North South		North
		♠	KJ97
		♥	KQJ96
		♦	Q2
		♣	AJ
West				East
♠	32			♠	65
♥	4			♥	7532
♦	J109853			♦	K76
♣	8743			♣	KQ105
		South
		♠	AQ1084
		♥	A108
		♦	A4
		♣	962

The auction was way too spirited, and the villains climbed all the way to 7 spades. Along the way, East doubled a 5 club cue bid, so her partner eschewed the natural diamond lead from J1098xx and instead led a high club from 8743.

Alas for East West, the failure to lead a diamond left declarer with a chance – if he could only read the position – admittedly in what looks like an almost hopeless position.

While cashing winners, East’s discards became somewhat more laborious, and South visibly perked up. Having first played off all the trumps, South then ran dummy’s hearts. On the lead of dummy’s last heart, the position was : 

Dealer: East Vul: North South		North
		♠	void
		♥	K
		♦	Q2
		♣	void
West				East
♠	void			♠	void
♥	void			♥	void
♦	J10			♦	K2
♣	8			♣	10
		South
		♠	void
		♥	void
		♦	A2
		♣	9

East dumped a small diamond, and South pitched the nine of clubs, noting it wasn’t good yet, so why hang on to it? A resigned diamond to her Ace felled the gloriously now stiff king on her right, and dummy’s diamond queen was trick 13.

+2210 if you please !!

East could not forgive herself for doubling for the club lead. Especially when her team mates also had a less than stellar auction to 7 spades at the other table.

There, with no noises from partner to mess with the opening lead, the villain West led his god given Jack of diamonds – unwittingly breaking up the diamond club squeeze at trick one !

Minus 100 here, coupled with -2210 at the other table, was a 20 imp loss our heroes could not overcome.

The slam decision – poll results

December 11th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  2 Comments 

THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM

You hold J32  K3   A432   AJ32

You are dealer and they are red and you are white

You open the bidding one club

LHO bids 3 hearts. Partner bids 3S. You respond 4S, partner bids 4NT and you bid 5H. Partner bids 6 clubs. What do you bid if 

• You are playing with your regular expert partner

• You are playing for the first time with an expert partner

•  You were asked to fill in for this hand and you don’t know your partner 

Assume this is imps in the early stages of a KO match

I received several emails in response to my question, and also comments herein from Bobby Wolff and Luise Lee – and the results were more clear than I expected. The majority of respondents feel 6C is a choice of slams, and having decided that, correctly choose to play there.

Only in fixed partnerships was the possibility of 6 clubs being a grand slam try exist, though I am intrigued to note that my own regular partner Keith felt strongly 6 clubs was a choice of slams in each scenario, whereas my money was on the grand slam try!

Some of you were terse and emphatic,

DANIEL KORBEL   “6C shows clubs. I pass. Partner could conceivably have AKxxx QJx x KQxx”

KEITH BALCOMBE  “ I would pass 6C in all cases”

Less terse, but just as emphatic,

JONATHAN STEINBERG  “Anytime you bid a suit that could be trumps, it is a suggestion to play. Since this is your first opportunity to show clubs it is clearly natural. A grand slam try can only happen in a suit that can’t logically be trumps.

I usually do not change my bids depending upon how confident I am in my partner. That said, if you were filling in or playing with a pick-up partner, you could make the safety play of 6S. No guarantees of success.”

DAVE CUMMINGS  “ I pass, partner is probably 5-5 in blacks. Playing the hand from my side must be better, and maybe partner has A-hearts and three little diamonds.”

MICHAEL YUEN “ Interesting problem. I believe it depends on partnership agreements how you take the 6C bid.

With my regular partner: 6C is a choice of slam, as clubs are my natural opening. If he is interested in the club king he can use 5NT to ask. Besides I don’t think he can use 4NT without a club control.

His likely holding is at least 5-4 in the blacks. More like 5-5 in the blacks as I could have only 3 clubs for my 1C opening bid.

6D or 6H on the other hand would ask for King of that suit and invite for the grand in spade and not to worry about the trump queen.”

MIKE KENNY “My style would be to open 1D.  Gee I have a lot of deuces and threes.  In all cases I would view 6C as a choice of trumps and would be inclined to accept the suggestion and pass.  Even at match points.  I think if partner is offering the choice then 6C must be safer with my black suit holdings.”

These last two panelists beg the question – would your answer be different had the opening bid been 1 diamond, since in the actual problem, some were swayed by the fact that the suit, clubs, had already been bid in he auction. Imagine 

                1D  (3H)  3S     P

                4S    P     4NT   P

                5H    P     6C     P

                  ?

Michael Yuen’s regular partnership knew how to handle this type of auction. Jeff and Isabelle Smith, playing with regular partners other than each other, both knew what 6 Clubs means. As a result, they chose to bid 6 spades, instead of pass.

JEFF SMITH “ Should be asking for the club Queen…I bid 6S. With a casual partner, I pass, partner bid my suit, besides, I don’t have him to play it! “

ISABELLE SMITH “For Sondra and I, 6C asks for 3^rd round control of clubs so I bid 6S. With a casual partner, I pass.”

Next came an honest answer from Luise Lee.

LUISE LEE “I am a beginning player, and I do not know the rules of bidding, and probably not much more in play and defense.

Having said that, I think it’s fairly obvious that, under all of your three criteria above, I would almost always prefer to play in partner’s suit rather than in my own since I do not trust my abilities to play the hand correctly. Therefore, I would be bidding 6S.”

Ah yes, I remember that feeling well, as if it were yesterday. We all do, I am sure. We were in a place where we were developing a crush on this great game of ours, but at the same time a wee bit intimidated by it. And heaven help us if we screwed up big time. (at least, that’s how we thought – truth is, our partners are always very understanding) Luise, hang in there, this phase passes pretty quickly !

From the voice of more experience than most of us combined….

BOBBY WOLFF “  A. As you have so helpfully pointed out, one choice would be to treat 6 clubs as a grand slam try in spades and the other as a choice of small slam strains.

B. If partner was interested in a grand slam try, why wouldn’t he just bid 6 hearts, which could never be misinterpreted, at the very least never passed.

C. Would it ever be practical for partner to offer a choice of slams, with the backdrop being the bidding up to now? Absolutely, there are many hands partner can have which are consistent with the bidding. However, do not ever bet the farm on anything so subject to discussion and judgment.

Whatever happens, use it as a means of discussing intelligently partnership preferences and future hands. The result will lead to partnership growth and expertise.”

Yes indeed, for those of us who like to drill down into the nitty gritty of our partnership agreements, this last point is so important. In the heat of the battle, the well prepared partnership will stand taller and stronger.

OK , now for the actual hand, and the story that goes with it.

6 clubs from South’s hand is a gorgeous laydown. West is endplayed at trick one !!!

6 spades has virtually no play.

My own view on the sequence is (a) in my regular partnerships I would expect 6C to be a grand slam try of some specific meaning, and (b) In a casual partnership, 6C may well be an attempt to play there.

At the table however, my partner inadvertently said “skip bid” as he bid 6 clubs over my 5 heart bid. My LHO jokingly said “aha, that’s to ensure you understand this is a choice of slams. “

Well, now I felt I had an ethical problem. I now felt if I were to pass 6 clubs it would have to be a call made almost all of the time without any table action. I could not tell, so I chose the noble way out and bid 6 spades, going down 1.

I now understand that I could have passed, as most respondents would have done so without the table noise.

Fame seeker humbled

December 10th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  No Comments 

Playing in a KO match of unfathomable importance[1] , I held   J1065  872  Void   AKJ754.

I was white on red. My RHO opened the bidding 1 club, silencing me immediately. (Keith and I play 2 clubs is natural here, but that particular arrow was not in my quiver this night)

LHO responded 1 heart, and partner ventured 2 diamonds, my void suit. RHO said, 2 hearts, and everyone passed. Partner led the Queen of diamonds, and this is the layout I saw :

I ruffed the opening lead with the 8 of hearts, planning a blatant trump echo. Instincts kicked in at this point. I knew I wanted three diamond ruffs in my hand, and I knew I needed partner to get in twice to achieve this.

So without much thought, I underled all my club honours. Declarer played the ten, and partner won the queen. There’s a good partner !

Partner led a diamond back of course – the deuce. I ruffed with the deuce or hearts, thus alerting partner to my ability to score another ruff.

So having come this far, and with visions of the New York Times dancing in my head, I continued my master plan. I led another low club back to partner.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER !

I did not take an extra few seconds to think a little deeper into the hand. Partner had led back an emphatic deuce of diamonds, ergo a club play by me now was a screamer. OK, but for what reason?

Did partner work out his club 9 (from an original holding of Q9 doubleton) was an entry and hence the violent signal?

I don’t think so.

Therefore partner was either void in clubs now, or (god forbid you ever have partners like this) was simply operating at half speed on this hand – not in touch with your quest for glory, and played back the diamond nearest his thumb.

Does that happen in the real world? Um, duh ! Like, all the time, as our teens are wont to say.

Anyway, whether partner is void in clubs or void in forethought, it can never be wrong for me to first cash a high club. Never.

What a hand! Look at the actual layout

Being your basic attention seeker, I led back another low club. A surprised and grateful declarer won his now stiff 9 of clubs, and scampered home with nine tricks.

As I have demonstrated, a more responsible south would have resisted his shot at fame, and simply cashed a high club – regardless of what he thought was going on.

When everyone follows to this high club, another club can be led for partner to over ruff declarer.

And then, the piece de resistance with the final diamond ruff for down 1.

Oh well, tomorrow I’ll be perfect.

slam bidding problem

December 10th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  3 Comments 

Please take a second to contemplate the following auction, and then answer this very simple question.

Is this a grand slam try or a choice of slams bid by partner?

You hold J32  K3   A432   AJ32

You are dealer and they are red and you are white

You open the bidding one club

LHO  bids 3 hearts. Partner bids 3S. You respond 4S, partner bids 4NT and you bid 5H. Partner bids 6 clubs now. What do you bid if

• You are playing with your regular expert partner

• You are playing for the first time with an expert partner

•  You were asked to fill in for this hand and you don’t know your partner

Assume this is imps in the early stages of a KO match

After a day or two I will publish the actual hand and my own views on this sequence.

What now buttercup?

December 6th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  9 Comments 

Today you hold

 752     AK53   J1054   76

Your side is vul, they are not. Partner opens 1 heart in first chair. Your RHO says 1 spade. You say 2NT, which happens to show a four card raise.

LHO jumps all the way to 5 clubs, and your vulnerable partner (me) chimes in with 5 hearts. Your RHO now says 5 spades, and everyone all of a sudden ran out of breath, and that became the final contract. You lead the King of hearts, and this is what you see:

Your heart king wins the first trick, partner playing the queen, while declarer plays the 4. Now what should you do?

Another heart? Hmm, I doubt that will cash.

A diamond, tapping dummy? Hmm, do you think partner forgot to double 5S with the Aces of spades and diamonds?

A trump?  If declarer is void of clubs he will not be able to draw trumps and run the clubs. By playing a trump now, you will beat this contract a trick.

A club? Now you’re talking !!

If declarer has a stiff club, what can he do? He will be forced to abandon clubs before trumps are drawn, and he will go down.

Here was the full layout

Is it reasonable to exit a club, rather than a trump, at trick 2?  I think so – would partner really bid 5 hearts vulnerable if he held two small clubs?

Miami end play

December 2nd, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  2 Comments 

I don’t know who coined the phrase “Miami end play”, nor do I know if the term is popular outside my own small sphere. So to explain and enlighten, a Miami end play arises when declarer totally misreads the end position, and either throws the wrong guy in; or in the most spectacular case – throws in someone who promptly claims !

Last week I was privy to just such a play – in fact, I like to think I had a hand in orchestrating it. The setting was our weekly money pairs game.

Dealer: South Vul: Both		North
		♠	A10652
		♥	Q3
		♦	AKQ
		♣	A76
Dave Colbert				Ross
♠	KJ87			♠	9
♥	865			♥	1092
♦	107654			♦	J92
♣	9			♣	KJ10854
		South
		♠	Q43
		♥	AKJ74
		♦	83
		♣	Q32

South opened 1 heart, and North responded 1 spade. South rebid 1NT, which North propelled to 4NT – inviting a slam. South declined so the contract was 4NT by South. Dave led his lowest diamond.

South won the diamond in dummy and quickly played a spade to the queen, losing to Dave’s king. Back came another diamond. South could count ten top tricks, plus whatever was coming to her in spades.

Most people would continue the assault on spades, leading a spade towards dummy, intending to finesse the ten. Had South done this, she would have increased her trick count to 11, and on this layout, simultaneously noted spades split poorly.

She would then cash her Ace of clubs in dummy; cash the last diamond winner; and then run hearts. If her LHO had been blessed with the club king along with the four spades, a simple black suit squeeze falls into her lap, and twelve tricks would be there for the taking. If not, then +660 is a fine result.

Our South tried a different variant on this line of play – we’re not sure if she was preserving more options, or perhaps just a bit confused with her dummy technique. (not to mention trick count)

She did not try a second round of spades. She cashed the club queen immediately – a Vienna Coup play I suppose. She ran off her winners, coming down to….

North
♠	A106
♥	void
♦	void
♣	void
South
♠	43
♥	void
♦	void
♣	Q

Declarer then took a very deep view on this hand.

Granted, I as East, was pitching like a guy with the guarded jack of spades and the king of clubs. My last two pitches were the 8 and the Jack of clubs (hiding the ten and the five)

She decided her path to glory was to exit with the queen of clubs and force me to play a spade into the A10 tenace in dummy.

Instead, you could hear her sharp intake of breath when Dave showed out on the second round of clubs, and I cashed out two more hidden clubs for down 1 in 4NT.

We were all far too gracious to even crack a smile – only North fell from grace, since as dummy he woke up just in time to see the defense claiming and he began to sputter in confusion.

But get this, as East West, our +100 only matchpointed to 5/12 by the end of the evening !!

But we did have a funny story.

Wake up call

November 29th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  5 Comments 

First hand of the day in the weekly money game, I picked up  AKxxx    KJ109x   void   A8x, and my partner Keith opened 1 Spade !!

I could bid 3C (forcing raise in spades – like most people’s 2NT)

I could bid 5D (Exclusion Key Card Blackwood)

I could bid 3 H (Game forcing and fit showing  – at least 5 good hearts and four spades)

Or I could bid 2 Hearts – which is what I bid.

My left hand opponent chirped 3 clubs now. Keith offered up 3 Hearts (forcing to game)

Now I felt really smart. I bid 5NT – grand slam force in hearts – figuring I would find out the key info on the hand this way.

Keith jumped to 7 hearts.

I had always planned to bid 7 spades now, but I was a bit concerned that would leave the other guy on lead – and we might be in danger of a heart ruff.

Anyway, I came this far, so I finished the job by converting 7 hearts to 7 spades. Everyone passed (but Keith after thinking for some time)

The full lay out was :

Dealer: East Vul: No one		Ross
		♠	AK543
		♥	KJ1093
		♦	Void
		♣	A83
West				East
♠	J9			♠	2
♥	8754			♥	2
♦	QJ7642			♦	109853
♣	7			♣	KJ10965
		Keith
		♠	Q10876
		♥	AQ6
		♦	AK
		♣	Q42

Keith was thinking of converting to 7NT – but he was not 100% sure about the club Ace in my hand, and decided not to risk it. I was lucky that my LHO had a heart – especially when West was clever enough to lead one.

Note that if East had been void in hearts his best chance to go plus would be NOT to double us in 7 Spades, since then Keith would for sure bid 7NT.

Similarly  I suppose if East had been void in hearts he could double 7 H then hope we run to 7 Spades, and leave that alone !

Ah, ’tis a tangled web we weave. +1510 to the good guys and we were now fully awake for the rest of the session.

Post mortem – Keith suggested the auction would go better had I responded 3 Hearts – fit showing and forcing to game. At some point he would have bid KCB for spades and he would be able to divine 13 iron clad tricks in no trump. (No possible enemy ruffs)