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Clues from the Auction

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You have this hand in 4th seat (favorable vulnerability). Left hand opponent opens with a weak two hearts, partner passes, and right hand opponent bids four hearts. 

It’s your turn. What do you decide to do?

First thing to think about is what kind of hands opponents have. The oppening bid is straightforward, usually promising six hearts, 5 to 10 high card points, and likely loss of no more than three tricks vulnerable..

Right hand opponent usually has two kinds of hands for continuing the preempt. It could be somewhat weakish hand with four card support for hearts. Or, it could be a good hand with only two or three card support for hearts. You are somewhat in the dark, and that’s why preempts are so annoying. Those rascals have forced you to make your first decision at the four-level!

What can you deduce from your partner’s decision to pass in second seat? If responder had the weakish hand with good trump support, then partner would be short in hearts with a good hand. But partner did not double or overcall! Therefore, right hand opponent must have a big hand. You may not want to risk jumping into the auction if that’s the case. Unless, of course, you think you can hold your loss to minus 500 (down 3 in four spades doubled). Do you think your spade textue is good enough to hold your loss to down 4? When I saw this played on BBO, 4th seat chose to bid four spades. He went down four for minus 800 and for a bad matchpoint result. The usual result was minus 620 or minus 650 when opponents were allowed to play four hearts — an above average match point score for the defenders.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: ,

What’s your best chance?

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ACBL links to some helpful syndicated bridge columns here.  Although not appearing at the link, this is a fine example of a declarer play problem from Bob Jones (“First Things First”) that ran in our local newspaper April 28. Jones sets up the problem for rubber bridge or IMP:s scoring, meaning your objective is to make the contract (overtrick is not important). How would you play to give yourself the best chance of making 6NT? Lead was the jack of diamonds. Here is the bidding, and what you see on opening lead:

It’s usually best in a NT contract to start by counting your winners. Here you have 11 easy winners: 4 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds, and 3 clubs. Where is your 12th winner going to come from?

Hearts offer one possibility. If East holds the king of hearts you can finesse it for the 12th trick by leading low toward the queen. That’s a 50 percent chance.

Clubs offer a better possiblility. You are missing six clubs, including the jack. Thanks to Karen Walker here are the possible breaks of the club suit along with their odds:

Let’s use Karen’s table to assess the likelihood of making your contract if you start clubs from the top, hoping to drop the jack or otherwise develop a 4th trick in clubs. Here is a summary of the possible breaks and associated percentages for developing at least a 4th trick on clubs:

  • For the 3-3 break you will drop the jack for sure with probability 36%.
  • For the 4-2 break you will drop the jack 16% (one-third of 48%) of the time or set up a certain 4th club trick the other 32% of the time.
  • For the 5-1 break you will drop the singleton jack 3% of the time (one-sixth of 15% rounded to nearest percentage).
  • For the 6-0 break you will discover immediately if finessing the 10 will work. If East is void, then you will have to try finessing East for the heart king.
  • Bottom line is that your chances look excellent (87%) to make.

 

BTW,  basic knowledge of percentage suit splits for common declarer problems will aid your decision making at the table. Missing 6 cards, 5 cards, 4 cards or 3 cards are common.

What if both opponents follow low when you cash the king of clubs? Does that change anything? Yes, and that’s the main point of the lesson. Your only worry in that case is that West’s low club might have been a singleton. On the oft chance it was, finessing the 10 will get you your 12th trick. On the more likely chance it wasn’t, you can set up a certain 4th trick in clubs even if the finesse loses.

 

Here was the entire deal:

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: ,

Think Before You Play to Trick 1

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10 tricks are easy on this one. But you are in five hearts. Where are you going to find the 11th winner? Here is the hand, auction, and opening lead.

Your thoughts at trick one:

  • What can I infer from the opening lead?
  • What can I infer about opponents’ spade holdings from the bidding?
  • If my inferences from opening lead and bidding are correct, then how many cards does East have in the red suits?
  • Now that I can picture East’s hand, how am I going to hold my losers to two?

Give it a try and then scroll down for the solution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your thoughts at trick one:

  • What did you infer from the opening lead? I bet it’s a singleton!
  • What can you infer from the bidding? Looks like West must have four spades for the preemptive jump raise. East must have 5 spades to the ace from opening bid.
  • If your inferences from opening lead and bidding are correct, then how many cards does East have in the red suits? East has five spades and five clubs. Therefore, East holds three red cards.

 

Now that you can picture East’s hand, you know to go up with the ace of clubs immediately. Otherwise, East will win the trick and give West a club ruff. When a spade comes back through king in dummy you will be down two after first four tricks.

The idea is to end play East in one of the black suits. Run your seven hearts. By doing so, East must protect the black suits. So, East will be left with 5 black cards:

Now when you cash your ace of diamonds, pitching a low club from dummy, East must discard a club or the queen of spades.

  • If it’s a low club, you will lead a club to the king and throw East in with a club. East will have to lead a spade from A,Q into your K3.
  • If it’s the spade queen, you will lead a low spade and play low from dummy, throwing East in with the ace of spades. Now you will make 12 tricks, since East must lead into your K, J of clubs!

 

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , , , ,

Bidding Critique

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Here is an auction I observed recently on BBO:

 

What do you think of the bidding by North? And how about South’s action? Give it some thought and see my critique below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North erred by “super” accepting the transfer (jump to 4S) with the known 9+ card fit. That may work out occasionally but not recommended for two reasons:

 

  1. South knows partnership assets within half a point. So, South will know to pass, drive to game, or check on prospects for slam. Super accept uses up too much bidding space, reducing ability to make cue bids at the four-level.
  2. If South has a bust hand, North may have trouble making four spades. Don’t risk an almost certain plus score by overbidding.

 

South was on the right track to visualize a slam opportunity if partner has a diamond fit and if partner has the ace of hearts. Those are two big IFs. Too big to commit to slam. South erred by not passing North’s bid of four spades.

 

Post mortem: Best way to reach slam is to cue bid your way there. North used up too much space with the “super accept”. Without it, South could have made a mild slam try by bidding four diamonds. North would then temporize with five spades, denying first round control of hearts. And, since South should be worried about two quick losers in hearts, that’s where the bidding would end.

 

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , , ,

Awesome Responsibility

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Your partner opens 2NT (20-21) in 2nd seat, making you “captain of the hand”. Assuming that RHO passes, what is your plan to direct the remainder of the auction? Here is your hand:

Your worry about the diamond void makes this a difficult problem. It looks like you have enough to be in game, holding ace of hearts and a runnable club suit. It will be best if you discover an 8+ spade fit. So, you respond three hearts, transferring partner to three Spades. But what do you do after that?

 

Knowing that partner will bid game in spades with at least three of them, bid 3NT. Yes, diamonds are causing you discomfort. But should partner have only two spades, she is likely to have diamonds well stopped. Don’t chance leaving partner in a 7-card spade fit opposite 5 crummy spades.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , ,

Support with Support

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You (South) have strength for an almost certain game in spades with good prospect for slam.

What is your call at 1st turn after bidding shown above?

Unfortunately, you cannot use the Jacoby 2NT game-forcing raise after East’s interference. I recommend you indicate a limit raise or better by cue bidding three clubs. Do not bid two hearts. It’s best to keep those nice hearts a secret from the opponents. Experts like Eddie Kantar always emphasize support with support.

That should be your highest priority with the known 9+ spade fit.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , , ,

Slam Bidding Tip

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Here is a hand I recently observed on BBO. It’s illustrative of good slam bidding, using cue bids to get to the best contract.

Here is the hand:

The bidding started as shown above. South can discern the excellent slam potential of the hand. North had opened one diamond and guaranteed four hearts by raising to two hearts at second turn. Moreover, South knows there is a diamond fit, including  prospect of parking that losing club on partner’s fourth diamond.

 

Most Souths blasted into Roman Key Card Blackwood at 2nd turn. That’s not my recommended strategy with two potential spade losers.  Better is to cue bid your way there.

Recommended approach:

At 2nd turn South should cue bid 3 clubs, showing first round control and interest in slam. South is hoping partner will now show first round control of spades. When partner does exactly that, South should cue bid 3 Diamonds (first round control). Now partner may bid 3 spades, showing second round control. If so, you will be in grand slam territory.

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: ,

Your plan for the defense?

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You are East on defense after the auction shown below. Here is what you see when partner leads the eight of hearts (partnership agreement is to lead low from 3 or more cards when your partner has the suit). Declarer plays the ace from dummy, three by you, and deuce by declarer.

At trick two declarer leads the three of spades from dummy.  Are you counting? What’s your plan for the defense?

Scroll down for my recommended plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two key clues to this puzzle:

  1. Partner started with doubleton or singleton heart, meaning opponents hold the top three heart honors (declarer has the queen). If partner has doubleton heart, opponents’ hearts are 3-3. If partner has singleton heart, declarer has four hearts to the queen.
  2. Opponents should hold at least 24 points, meaning partner holds at most 4 points.

 

Rise with the ace of spades at trick two and lead a heart. If partner ruffs, you will set the contract: ace of spades, heart ruff, top two diamonds.

If partner cannot ruff, opponents were always going to get the top three hearts. So, you have lost nothing. You may be able to find a fourth trick in the minor suits since partner has a little smattering of HCP. Make declarer do all the work to bring contract home.

 

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , , ,

A Counting Puzzle for the Defense

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This is your hand:

You are West defending South’s contract of four spades after the following auction:

Your good opening lead is the queen of clubs, and here is what you see:

As usual, you will must think about where your tricks are coming from. See if you can uncover where partner may have some help. Follow the play until trick 7, and you will have enough information to solve the puzzle.

 

Scroll below for my solution:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clues: Did you notice that partner gave you high-low during 1st two rounds of spades? That indicates interest in obtaining a ruff. Also, did you notice that declarer showed up with second diamond (the 3 of diamonds) at trick 7? How many remaining diamonds does that leave for partner?

Solution: Play low at trick 7, partner will ruff dummy’s honor. Declarer will not be able to establish diamond winners in dummy. Defense will come to four tricks: one club, two diamonds, and one ruff.

BTW, have you seen this hand before from another perspective?

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , , ,

Fundamentals of Declarer Play

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As South you opened 1NT in 3rd seat. 1NT gets passed out. Your mission is to plan the best chance for overtricks at matchpoints. Follow the play to the 1st two tricks and decide on your plan.

Trick 1: West leads the ace of clubs (A from AK), East plays the jack, and you play low.

Trick 2: West shifts to the three of diamonds, East play the nine, and you win with the ace.

 

Reminder: You need to employ two NT fundamentals:

What do you plan to do at trick three? Put differently, what suit is best to establish a winner now? Decide on your plan (be specific), and scroll down to see my recommendation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend you lead the nine of clubs at trick three. That has the effect of establishing two club winners while creating two club entries to dummy (the eight and queen will become winners in the dummy).

What if West refuses to win the king, leaving you with only one sure entry to dummy? In that case lead the AK of diamonds at tricks 4 and 5. Then lead the ace and jack of hearts at tricks 6 and 7. Now your entry to dummy is set up when you next lead a club.

BTW, the defense might cause you a problem at trick 7. Do you see what that might be?

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , ,

How is your Defensive Communication?

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Put yourself in the East seat on this hand. You open one heart. LHO overcalls one spade. Partner raises you to two hearts. RHO advances with three spades, and you bid four heats. LHO competes to four spades, ending the auction.

Partner leads the ace of hearts, and you are disappointed to see dummy come down with the king. You follow with the heart deuce, informing partner of your preference for a club shift. Partner cooperates, leading the eight of clubs. Declarer calls for the 10 from dummy. What card to you play and why?

Hint: What is partner telling you with that eight of clubs?

  • Is partner is leading the top card from a doubleton? If so, what is declarer’s holding in clubs?
  • Or is partner leading low from three or more cards to an honor? If so, what is declarer’s holding in clubs?

Now you know what to do, right? Yes, right! (It always helps to put cards on the table if you are not seeing the possibilies.)

 

 

 

 

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , , ,

What’s your plan?

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You are South in a contract of four spades. Opening lead is the queen of clubs. How should you plan to play the hand given the bidding shown below?

Play of the hand: Start by counting losers: no spade losers, no heart losers (if you are careful to use dummy to ruff hearts at the right time), two diamond losers, and one club loser. It looks like you should bring this contract home. How do you give yourself the best chance to succeed?

  • There is a good chance (92%) that missing diamonds will behave (splitting no worse than 4-2).
  • Also, there is a good chance (95%) that spades will split no worse than 3-1.
  • That means your chance for favorable splits of both suits is better than 80%.

 

See below for my recommended line:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s probably best to draw two rounds of trumps before starting the diamonds. You need to make sure a trump is left to provide an entry to dummy’s diamonds in case opponents attack hearts. Notice that the only spade honor missing in your combined holding is the ten.

Comment on the bidding: North’s 3D bid is a Bergen raise. It tells partner that North has 4-card support and less than a limit raise in spades. Marty Bergen is famous for recent innovations in bidding, and this is an example. Do you like South’s raise to game?

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , ,

Declarer Play Puzzle

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The contract should have been six hearts (NS have a nine-card heart fit). Be that as it may, South now has to play 6NT? Opening lead is the jack of clubs, East following with the deuce.

South wins with the queen of clubs and notes that dummy has only one sure entry to the heart suit. What is South’s best chance to make 6NT? Please give me your thoughts in the comments.

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , , ,

Another on Hand Evaluation

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You hold this hand in 2nd seat:

The bidding has proceded as follows:

You and partner are playing 2/1. So, partner’s 2C response to your opening bid is forcing to game.

Before you decide on your call at 3rd turn:

  • How well do your hands mesh?
  • How many spades does partner hold?

 

Okay what is your call? See below for my recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partner may well have the ace and king of clubs. That’s not helpful since you have the club suit under control. Moveover, partner may not have much help in the red suits. Also, you know from paartner’s initial response that she has three spades. Your hands don’t mesh well because of misfit in clubs. My recommendation is jump to four spades (fast arrival), indicating lack of interest in slam.

 

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , ,

A Counting Puzzle for Declarer

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Here is a declarer play problem. You are South in a contract of six spades on the bidding shown. North leads the ten of clubs and this is what you see:

You assume that West would not lead the club 10 when holding the king, so you play the ace of clubs and draw trumps in 2 rounds. As you do so you observe the following from opponents:

  • At trick 2 West plays the singleton queen of spades, East following low.
  • At trick 3 West discards a low heart and East follows low.
  • At trick 4 you lead a club, East winning the king and West following with the seven.
  • At trick 5 East continues with a low club, West discards another low heart, and you win the trick while discarding a low diamond from hand.

 

Your 12th trick will have to come via a successful finesse. Are you counting the opponents’ hands? Which red suit finesse offers the better likelihood of success? Give it some thought and then scroll down for my decision rationale:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West showed up with a singleton spade and doubleton club. That means West started with 10 red cards and East with five. After West discards two hearts you know that West now holds 8 red cards and East 5 red cards. Odds are 8 to 5 that West holds the king of hearts. Probability that West holds the heart king is 8/13 (61.5%). It’s the same for West holding the diamond queen. I decide to go with the odds and finesse West for the heart king.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: ,

Hand Evaluation

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Would you open this 10 HCP hand in 1st or 2nd seat?

Here’s how Bergen would value the hand: Club suit is worth 9 HCP plus additions of one point for the 5th club, one point for the 6th club, and two points for the seventh club. That’s 13 “starting points” in the club suit alone.

Why all those extra points for the small cards? Because the prospect for taking seven club tricks is well over 50 percent since you are only missing the jack. You have an easy opening bid of one club.

I recommend you discuss hand evaluation with partner to make sure you are on same wavelength. Maybe this hand has only 10 HCP, but it’s much better than its face value in HCP.

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: ,

Plan your rebid

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When opening the bidding make sure you plan your reibid. Here is an example:

You are in 1st seat (both sides vulnerable) holding this hand:

You have an easy minimum opening bid of one diamond with your 13 HCP. Now anticipate a response from partner might make your rebid difficult. A one heart response would make it easy for you to raise to two hearts. A response of two clubs would make it easy for you to raise to three clubs. And a one spade response would make it easy for you to rebid one no trump.

Difficulty arises if partner’s response is one no trump. You hate to pass 1NT knowing that opponents have many spades plus a troublesome number of HCP. You hate to rebid diamonds with that crummy 5-card suit. And you are way too weak to reverse to two hearts.

But you have a couple of inferences available to help you decide: First, what is the minimum number of spades held by opponents?. Second, what is the minimum number minor suit cards held by partner?  Decide on your rebid once you answer those questions.

See my decision below:

 

 

 

Inference number 1: opponents hold at least nine spades. Partner has at most three spades and I hold one.

Inference number 2: Partner did respond one heart so has at most three hearts. Ergo partner must hold at least seven cards in the minors.

 

My rebid is two clubs. That’s your best chance for a plus score.Partner did not raise diamonds, so you should have at least a seven card club fit. You will be able to hold off an attack in spades because of your shortness. Partner may take the suit preference for diamonds which would be even better.

BTW, you may have seen this hand before. Do you know where?

 

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , ,

Hilo Bridge Club restarts under new club manager

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Games will be held at Eagles Club in Keaau on Sundays and Wednesdays. Start time for each game it 12:30 pm. Club Manager is Gail Buck. Gail can be reached at 808 339-7069 or by email at gailbuck at yahoo.com.

Classes will resume at a later date.

Category: Bridge News

Bridge Wisdom from Richard Pavlicek

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World class player and author Richard Pavlicek’s website is loaded with good bridge tips and stories for players of all abilities. Check out his excellent site if you have not already done so.

Here is a fun example I ran across a few days ago. South is dealer and opens the bidding one club. How do you think the bidding might go If West overcalls one spade?

North’s 4N is quantitative, inviting South to bid slam with extras. However, with a crummy 14 HCP (flat hand, three queens, four deuces) South declines the invitation.

Opening lead by West was the nine of hearts. You can see that, despite having a combined 31 HCP, declarer could not make 4N. Or so I thought. Maybe I was wrong. Could you make 4N?  It’s a good puzzle, and you can find the answer by exploring Richard’s site.

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play, Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags:

Fun Hand from our Restart Yesterday

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Yesterday was the first real face-to-face game Hilo Bridge Club has run since March 2020. It was a joy to see everyone again.

North had fun with a big, freak hand in the red suits on Board 10. NS can easily make five diamonds, but it’s hard to get there when East competes in spades. And the only way for EW to defeat four hearts is if East underleads the ace of spades at trick one and West gives East a diamond ruff (highly unlikely). Here is the hand:

One EW pair was allowed to play three spades doubled, making for plus 730 for a top board.

How would you bid the North hand? Do you open two clubs. Or do you open one diamond, giving yourself room for exploration at the bidding proceeds?

 

 

Category: Bridge News | Tags: ,
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