We could have made it harder.

Dealer: N Vul: None		North
		♠	Q96
		♥	KQ84
		♦	A3
		♣	K752
West				East
♠	T52			♠	83
♥	A76			♥	J953
♦	8			♦	QJT952
♣	AQJ843			♣	9
		South
		♠	AKJ74
		♥	T2
		♦	K764
		♣	T6

West	North	East	South
	1♣	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♠	Pass	4♠
All	Pass

In a recent IMP match, my partner and I scored an early ruff, but then made no more resistance.  Against 4S, I found the lead of the Ace of clubs, Queen of clubs, King, ruff.

Unfortunately, partner obliged my suit preference and returned a low heart.

When I won, declarer could simply run all the trumps and squeeze partner in the reds.

In fact, declarer can always make, but we should at least make it harder, by returning diamonds (partner trusted my suit-preference too much).  Declarer wins the Ace, ruffs a club, and leads a heart up.  If I duck, he ruffs the last club (important), and continues hearts.  Now when I win, he is able to run trumps ending in dummy to affect the same squeeze.

Notice the critical 2 club ruffs to shorten his hand.  He is still OK if he plays a trump to hand to lead the first heart up, as long as he ruffs clubs the next two times.

But, if he ever makes the innocent mistake of leading a diamond to hand…

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	AK3
		♥	QJ2
		♦	QJ32
		♣	873
West				East
♠	xxxxx			♠	xx
♥	T8xx			♥	K9xx
♦	xxx			♦	xx
♣	K			♣	T9654
		South
		♠	QJ2
		♥	A4
		♦	AK75
		♣	AQJ2

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver reminded me of this hand, played at the ‘99 Spring NABC in Vancouver.  In a team game, both declarers reached 6N uncontested and received spade leads.

Both declarers won in dummy, took a club finesse and went down when East later carefully covered a heart finesse to avoid a squeeze.

Drop the club King when it is stiff?  Yes.  Declarer should realize that with 7 pointed-suit tricks, 5 are needed from hearts and clubs.  The heart suit always provides 2, and the clubs may provide 3.  But how to play the club suit depends on whether a loser can be afforded.  So, declarer should win and take a heart finesse.  If that loses, then declarer must take 3 club tricks without a loser, so a double finesse is the best option.

However, if the heart finesse succeeds, declarer can add one more chance for three tricks to the mix, by cashing the club Ace and then leading towards the club QJ.   This safety play makes on all the same hands as finessing the QJ of clubs, plus the stiff King of clubs.  The bridge gods would have rewarded technique on this one.  In fact, at trick 2, East might not cover the King of hearts.  After the club Ace bears fruit, declarer can unblock the Ace of hearts, and run winners to squeeze East for 13 tricks.

Who has the last trump?

Dealer: N Vul: None Lead: J♥		North
		♠	x
		♥	AQxxx
		♦	ATx
		♣	KQxx
West				East
♠	?xxx(?)			♠	?xxx(?)
♥	KJTxx			♥	xx
♦	(?)xx			♦	(?)Jx
♣	J			♣	T987
		South
		♠	AQx
		♥	x
		♦	K8xxx
		♣	Axxx

West	Dad	East	Me
	1♥	P	2♦
P	3♣	P	3♠
P	4♦	P	5♣
P	6♦	All P

My father and I each pushed a bit, the result being a thin slam.
It seemed to me that if both minors broke 3-2, then the slam was cold on two spade ruffs, and there was no need to take either major suit finesse.
So, I won the Ace of hearts, played Ace and ruff a spade, crossed to the Ace of clubs (noting the Jack), and ruffed my last spade.  The Ace of diamonds was unblocked, and a heart ruffed back to hand.  Finally the King of diamonds, opponents following and a heart discarded from dummy (NOT a club).

At this point I played a club towards dummy, planning to claim with one trump loser if they broke.  However, LHO thought for a bit, then discarded a heart.  When I lead a heart from dummy, RHO had to think (yes RHO showed out, so the heart finesse would have worked), then they discarded a spade (as a club discard would have been fatal).  At this point, I was cold, even though I didn’t know who had the last trump.  So I lead a club towards dummy.  West could not ruff, or my club loser would go away, AND could not discard a heart, otherwise dummy’s Queen would provide a winner for a club discard.

So after their Spade discard, LHO was known to hold the heart King and either the high trump, or a spade.  RHO was known to hold a good club, and either the master trump or a spade.  When I lead a heart from dummy, I was either scoring my last trump en-passant, or via the compression squeeze affected on LHO the previous trick.  Either way, +920 was worth a lot of matchpoints.

Bidding freak hands.

The following three hands came up in the Edgar Kaplan regional:

1. ♠AKQJT86 ♥AQ52 ♦6 ♣T : What is your plan, and if you open 1♠ and get a 1NT response what now?
2. ♠AKJ9xxxxxx ♥K ♦AK ♣- : Does your system handle this big monster?
3. ♠- ♥K87x ♦Kx ♣QJ97xxx : You respond 1N to partner’s 1♠, and hear 3N.

Bidding distributional hands can be daunting as evidenced by the results from these three boards.

In case 1, why not jump-shift to 3H planning to follow 3♠ or 3N with 4♠, which describes this hand fairly well?  If you are lucky enough to catch a cuebid (in support of hearts) or a raise to 4♥ you can Blackwood.  At all 12 tables of the BAM, no slams were reached.

Partner’s hand: x Kxxx J8xx AJxx, 6♠ or ♥ cold on 3-2 hearts (which they were).

In case 2, what do you play 2♣-2♦-3♠ as?  I play it says ‘Spades are trump, cuebid Aces, or bid 3N if you have no Aces, but some Kings.’  (raise to 4♠ with nuthin’)  If you do so, and partner cuebids 4♣, you now can safely bid Blackwood and find out whether they also have the Ace of hearts as well, to decide between 7♠ and 7NT.  (ignoring the small chance that all three spades are in a single opponents hand).  If they don’t cuebid 4♣, you probably settle in 6 Spades.   It turned out partner held x AKJx xx AT9xxx, yet in the flight A-pairs, only 13 of 26 tables found 7NT, 4 found 7♠, and the remaining 9 bid only a small-slam!

Hand 3:  some people play that 1M-1N-3N is a running suit with tricks, and that 2N would have been forcing.  But in this case, since it is not, you have to assume that partner has either a balanced strong hand (which must include some Aces, since I have the red Kings, or a tricks hand in spades.  If the former, we may be cold for 6♣.  If the latter, 4N is probably still safe as I have some undisclosed strength.  As such, 4♣ is the proper continuation.  Opposite that call, this partner with AQxxx Ax Axx ATx should raise to 5♣.  Why five and not a cuebid.  Partner may just have a club bust better suited to 5♣, so we allow for that and thus don’t bid 6♣.   Normally a failure to cuebid would deny having one, but here, the 3N bidder must have some, and thus by inference, have ALL of them.  Making that inference, the 4♣ bidder can raise themselves to slam.  Of 26 tables in play, only 2 reached this slam.

Textbook hands that come up.

Dealer: E Vul: NS		North
		♠	AJ953
		♥	54
		♦	A73
		♣	AJ6
West				East
♠	KT742			♠	Q8
♥	A			♥	Q6
♦	Q84			♦	J652
♣	K976			♣	QT853
		South
		♠	6
		♥	KJT98732
		♦	KT9
		♣	2

East	South	West	North
P	4♥	P (?)	P
P

My teammate demonstrated solid declarer play on this hand.  At my table we competed to 5 Clubs, but North went for the vulnerable game bonus, competing to 5H.  Declarer guessed hearts correctly, but did not discard properly and made only +650.

Against my teammate, the club lead was won with the Ace and next came the correct guess play of a heart to the Jack.  West won and returned a spade.  Declarer won, ruffed a spade (important, to isolate the spade threat) and ran trump.  For the 4-card ending, West holding ♠K♦Q84 ♣K could either pitch the King of clubs, or pitch a diamond.  (a spade would be fatal).  After thought, a diamond was discarded.

Declarer kept 1 spade, 1 club, and Ax of diamonds in dummy and cashed the last trump.  At the table, West pitched a club, and when dummy let go of the spade, East was squeezed between diamonds and clubs.  If instead West had parted with another diamond, dummy still parts with a spade, and a diamond to dummy’s Ace fells West’s jack, and the finesse is taken through East.

The literature calls this a ‘pentagonal guard-squeeze’, as West is triple squeezed. Letting go of clubs creates a standard positional double squeeze, spades on West, clubs on East and diamonds in the middle; but letting go of two diamonds creates a finesse-able position, thus the ‘guard’.  Definitely fun when this comes up at the table AND you get it right!

Missed defense

Dealer: E Vul: All		North
		♠	J9873
		♥	A82
		♦	AJ64
		♣	4
West				East
♠	AQ542			♠	K
♥	Q9			♥	JT64
♦	T8			♦	K732
♣	9865			♣	JT73
		South
		♠	T6
		♥	K753
		♦	Q95
		♣	AKQ2

East	South	West	North
P	1N (15-17!)	P	2H*
P	2S	P	3N
P	P	P

Defending against my pushy 3NT at the Edgar Kaplan Winter regional, my opponent missed the precise defense to beat me.  A heart would have done the trick, but who can fault the actual opening club lead?   I won and played on spades, and East won and again, a heart would have done it, but he continued clubs (again, who wouldn’t?).

I won, pitching a diamond from dummy, and continued spades.  West won and now had to continue clubs.  I won (pitching a heart) and decided that with West long in both clubs and spades, East probably had the diamond King.  Therefore the contract could be beat, but I would make it hard.  I crossed to dummy in hearts and cleared spades, pitching a club.  West won, cashed a club, but made the fatal play of a diamond return.  I won the Ace, and cashed the spade winners, squeezing East in the red-suits to claim my game.

At that crucial junction, West had to return a heart to break up the squeeze communication.

I mentioned that after two spades had been knocked out, West had to play a third club.  What if instead he plays a diamond?  I win the ace, and play spades pitching a heart.  West wins, and now I can strip squeeze East out of the long club in order to drive the diamond King.  But just as before a heart would also beat the game.  Won in dummy and spades pitching a heart.  Now just as before, another heart will do it by breaking the communication, but this time, only as long as East has discarded a diamond and a club, and not a heart.  Otherwise I would just duck this heart to set up a long one for my 9th trick.

Kudos given

Dealer: S Vul: All		North
		♠	QJ872
		♥	A873
		♦	A85
		♣	3
West				East
♠	9			♠	54
♥	Q9			♥	KJ642
♦	QJ642			♦	9
♣	KT874			♣	AJ965
		South
		♠	AKT63
		♥	T5
		♦	KT73
		♣	Q2

A tip of the hat to the defender from this hand.  East-West found the good save of 5♣ against 4♠, and I incorrectly judged to bid on.  Against my partner’s 5♠, a club was led to the Ace and a diamond to the Ten, Jack, and Ace.

Declarer drew trumps with the Ace and King, ruffed a club, and played Ace and another heart.  Had East played low, his partner would have been endplayed, so he smartly hopped up with the King. A club ruff-slough would have been fatal, so he correctly judged to return a low heart which give up one trick, but that was not enough discards for declarer, and the contract went down.

More Double Dummy

Lots of upcoming hands from the recent Edgar Kaplan regional, but first, this double dummy problem from my dad.

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	43
		♥	A98
		♦	T43
		♣	AT983
West				East
♠	JT9			♠	Q87
♥	KQJT6			♥	73
♦	J			♦	K987652
♣	J642			♣	K
		South
		♠	AK652
		♥	542
		♦	AQ
		♣	Q75

South ducked the heart King lead, and West continued with the Jack. South has losers in spades and clubs, and 2 in hearts, but could pitch a heart on a long club (given time to set it up and trumps drawn). Thus, West must be prevented from gaining the lead to cash a heart while declarer is at work. To do so South uses an avoidance play in trumps by winning the second heart and leading a spade towards hand, planning to duck if East plays the Queen (if he leaps, declarer will be able to draw trumps and work on clubs). If not, declarer must win, cross to dummy in clubs, and lead a spade up again.
If East ducks, South exits in spades, wins the forced diamond return via finesse, and runs trumps and the Ace of diamonds.

In the three card ending N/S hold 1 heart and 2 clubs, and West, who must keep 2 clubs, is therefore squeezed down to the same distribution, allowing a heart throw in and club endplay.

East can make it more interesting by going up with the spade queen on the second round.  Declarer ducks, and when a trump is returned, declarer finds himself possibly a trick short, having not had time to finesse in diamonds (since the entries were needed to lead up in spades).  But, no problem, declarer runs all the trumps, pitching the T98 of clubs (important!), and then plays the A-Q of diamonds in this position.

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠
		♥	9
		♦	T4
		♣	3
West				East
♠				♠
♥	K?			♥
♦				♦	K987
♣	J6?			♣
		South
		♠
		♥	5
		♦	Q
		♣	Q7

On the queen of diamonds, west is strip-squeezed down to the same 1 heart and 2 clubs from earlier positions.

If East wins, the forced diamond return (south pitching a heart) squeezes West between clubs and hearts.  If instead, East ducks, west is thrown in via hearts.  Notice that dummy had to keep 3 diamonds for the first case, and one heart for the squeeze, thus could keep only one club.  If the club 3 had not been kept, then when thrown in, West could return a low club stranding declarer in dummy with a diamond loser.

You may wonder what if West had returned a diamond at trick two, thus threatening a diamond ruff if East puts up the queen of spades on the first or second round of spades. However, having failed to knock-out the ace of hearts, declarer can just win that lead, and play A-K and a spade. Now there is time to develop clubs by losing a trick to East.

Test your Double Dummy

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	QT987
		♥	KT8765
		♦	2
		♣	A
West				East
♠	J654			♠	32
♥	32			♥	AJ94
♦	T9876			♦	43
♣	32			♣	T9876
		South
		♠	AK
		♥	Q
		♦	AKQJ5
		♣	KQJ54

South plays 6N on the lead of the diamond Ten. What is the road to 12 tricks? I will answer via a comment!

More squeeze defense.

Dealer: W Vul: ALL, Imps		North
		♠	KT5
		♥	AJ9
		♦	K96
		♣	7642
West				East
♠	-			♠	874
♥	KQT7432			♥	85
♦	A53			♦	QJT42
♣	AQ5			♣	JT8
		South
		♠	AQJ9632
		♥	6
		♦	87
		♣	K93

West	North	East	South
1H	P	P	2S
3H	4S	All Pass

That last post, evoked memories of one of my favorite ’strategy’ hands, where declarer and defender are locked in a battle to outplay each other.
2S by South was intermediate, implying a hand that would would open and rebid three, so North had to bid the Vul game.
The K of hearts was lead, and declarer, counting 9 winners (with the almost sure DA on side), won the Ace and ran 7 rounds of spades.
When West kept ♥K ♦Ax ♣AQ, a diamond up finished the job.  Win or duck the Ace of diamonds, they would be thrown in with a red-suit to lead clubs at trick 12 for the game-going trick.

How should West have defended?

Well what if, like my last post, they pitched the ace of diamonds, to create an entry to their partner’s hand?  OK, but what do they hold at the previous trick when planning to pitch the♦ Ace?

♥K ♦Axx ♣AQ ?  No good.  Declarer keeps ♥J ♦KT♣xxx in the dummy, and ducks a club. A heart is ruffed, and another club ducked, and dummy wins a diamond and has a 3rd club to the King.  (or the opposite, if diamonds are played before hearts)
OK, so what about ♥K ♦Ax ♣AQx. Keeping the low club to avoid that last line?  Also no good, declarer just leads a diamond up like in the 5-card ending, and discards a club on the heart to allow West to break clubs.

No, we must go back to trick 7:  ♥K ♦Axx ♣AQx.  The ace of diamonds must be pitched on this trick, to avoid the 2 failed endings above.  Now if another trump is cashed, West can (and must) to let go a club.