Declaring

The Holy Grail

Dec 162002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: 8

	brynja Q 9 5 6 A K 6 3 2 Q 8 4 3
babac 8 7 A K 10 9 8 8 7 K 10 9 5		drhasan J 6 4 5 4 2 Q 9 4 J 7 6 2
	Maestro A K 10 3 2 Q J 7 3 J 10 5 A

West

Pass
Pass
Pass

North

2
4

East
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

Will the 100 Gee-spot ever surface? Until it does, today’s hand may have to do.

North/South reach a normal spade game on a normal auction, with the maestro in the driver’s seat, and West opens a trump, won profligately by Gee with the ace as East plays low.

The STCP™ might stop here to count tricks. Five trump, the ace of clubs, and four diamonds even if the finesse loses makes ten. Drawing trump and finessing diamonds loses only to a 5-0 diamond break either way. (Declarer must be careful to duck the DQ if West covers, to protect against Qxxx onside.) So the optimal line is about 90%.

Our hero crosses to the diamond ace at trick 2 and leads a heart. West takes the HQ with the king and of course continues trump. Gee wins on the board with S9, crosses to the club ace and ruffs a heart with SQ. He crosses back to his hand with a club ruff, pulls the last trump, and finesses the DJ, which loses, with two more hearts to lose at the end, for down 1.

So Gee’s line succeeds whenever trump are 3-2 and the diamond queen is onside, i.e., 34% of the time. 90% – 34% gives us a Gee-spot of 56. Not bad; and it does not escape his partner’s attention:

brynja: are u a beginner partner u write expert there
G: not the right line
G: because you never misplayed a hand?
Spec #1: what will gee say about this?
Spec #2: see what i mean by no G proof?
brynja: not right line no int player could play it down
Spec #1: lol
Spec #3: maybe “beginner” is icelandic for “god of bridge”
brynja: that was not even a guess
G: go get lost. I tried a line that was wrong. the other line could have been wrong just as well
babac: gerard
brynja: just finesse diam second trick and claim
Spec #2: wowwwww
The table has been closed.
Spec #3 (now overheard in lobby): that guy should be nicer to G
G: that’s ok… another pretentious poor player who knows better… so he thinks

Still, 56 is not 100. The quest continues.

Criss-Cross

Dec 102002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: K

	comanche 9 7 5 3 6 2 10 7 6 K J 9 3
jdonn K J 9 8 3 A Q J 2 10 7 6 5		Maestro A 6 4 2 A 7 4 9 5 4 3 A Q
	scudrunr Q 10 8 K Q J 10 5 K 8 8 4 2

West

2
Pass

North

Pass
Pass

East
1

3NT

South
1

Pass

Today’s hand begins inauspiciously, as Gee and suspiciously-frequent-partner-who-ought-to-know-better-and-almost-certainly-does Josh Donn reach an underdog, but normal at IMPs, notrump game. The only remarkable feature of the auction is Gee’s spurning his normal bid, the burger 2NT, on one of the few occasions when it’s actually correct — although Josh, given the declarer, would have raised to game anyway.

South leads the heart king and our hero surveys the territory. The diamond king must be on to make; if it’s off then South is marked with the club king for his overcall, and declarer can never come to more than eight tricks. But assuming the DK is on and diamonds break, declarer can play for a ninth trick in spades, finessing into the safe hand; or failing that, possibly in clubs as well, if South holds exactly Kx of diamonds. There are also interesting endplay chances if you win the second heart, run the diamonds and later throw in South with the last heart.

Our hero, however, ducks the first two hearts, obviating the endplay because he sees deeper into the hand. He wins the third heart as North discards the D6, and takes the diamond finesse, which holds. There are now two very good reasons to place South with Kx: he has shown five hearts, and thus is likelier to be short diamonds; and North discarded a diamond on the third heart, which is very likely from three, and gave odd count into the bargain.

If South indeed holds Kx, there are enough entries to drop the diamond king, cross to hand on the fourth diamond, take the spade finesse into the safe hand (which also plays the overcaller for an outside honor), and then still try the club finesse if that fails. Gee has a better idea. He boldly leads a club from dummy for the immediate club finesse! What makes him think the CK is with North? Table feel. Although careful study of these columns can make the STCP™ a better player, nothing, ultimately, can substitute for the intuition of a master.

The club finesse wins, and Gee runs the diamonds, leaving this position:

	helpless defender #1 9 7 5 3 — — K J
marveling dummy K J — 2 10 7 6		Maestro A 6 4 2 — 9 A
	helpless defender #2 Q 10 8 10 5 — 4

The maestro now plays his last diamond winner. South throws his last club, but North is caught in a criss-cross squeeze. If he bares his CK, Gee cashes the CA and dummy’s last two clubs are good with the SK as an entry. North chooses instead to discard a spade. Gee finesses the SJ, cashes SK, returns to his hand with the CA, and the long spade is good.

“Bet this won’t make Aaron’s web site,” says Gee happily. Nonsense. It is true, sadly, that one cynical spec remarked that the criss-cross was Gee’s best chance for a happy accident because it involves blocking two suits. But here at the Chronicles, where objective reporting is our watchword, such thoughts could not be further from our mind. What does he think this is, The New York Times?

Let Gee Be Gee

Dec 012002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: K

	fer-lema K Q 7 6 5 A K Q 9 8 3 — A 8
macondo J 9 4 6 4 A K Q 10 5 7 5 4		wildcats 8 J 10 7 5 2 9 8 4 3 2 10 9
	Maestro A 10 3 2 — J 7 6 K Q J 6 3 2

West

1
Pass
Pass
Pass

North

2
6
7

East

5
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

Chronicles readers are surely familiar by now with the difficult question of WWGD (What Would Gee Do?). Today we investigate two related and equally abstruse matters, HWGP (How Would Gee Play?) and WWGSATH (What Would Gee Say After The Hand?).

Here the auction is interesting. North’s 2D bid normally shows, in 2/1, a limit club raise or better, but North has few other forcing bids at his disposal. Gee makes a fine 6C bid over East’s 5D sac, reasoning that his partner is likely void in diamonds and any spade values give them a decent play for slam.

North makes another excellent bid of 6D, describing his major suit moose and diamond void perfectly. Gee thinks it over and bids 6S, and North, uncertain whether this is a cue or a suit, signs off in the club grand, against which West leads the DK.

Now we pause and ask, How Would Gee Play? Trump break, spades are 3-1: is there any conceivable way to go down?

Of course there is. Gee ruffs the opening diamond low in dummy, cashes the CA, both defenders following, and plays top hearts. One round of hearts, discarding a diamond; two rounds of hearts, discarding a diamond; three rounds of hearts, ruffing with the trump 6, overruffed with the 7, down one.

What Would Gee Say After The Hand? “I can be really stupid sometimes,” says Gee. (I would like to report that no spec made the obvious rejoinder. Sadly, I am unable to do so.) “I was afraid of getting a spade ruffed,” he continues.

Let’s try something tougher:

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 4

	ynh Q 10 8 6 4 J 6 2 K J 9 6 4
Maestro A K 5 2 K 10 7 J 2 A K 10 5		wilcoxjj 7 A 8 5 A Q 7 5 4 3 Q 7 2
	mas J 9 3 Q 9 4 3 10 9 8 6 8 3

West

1
4NT
6NT

North
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
1

Pass

South
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

Gee and partner reach an excellent 6NT contract after a normal auction. Of course the hand is cold. It makes on any 3-2 diamond break, and declarer can protect against a stiff king (though no other 4-1 break), by playing the diamond ace first. On the actual layout the ace drops the stiff king, mas gets his diamond winner and then no mas for the defense.

The question is, how is it possible to go down not one, not two, but three tricks after a low club lead? Gee makes the first key play by winning trick 1 with the king instead of the 10, although in fairness this would ordinarily not matter because E/W need five diamond tricks to make anyway. He promptly forgoes the safety play by leading the DJ, discovering the bad news when North discards a spade on the second round of diamonds.

Now sure, he can still go down 1 by conceding two diamond tricks. Let’s let Gee be Gee instead. First he ducks a heart into North’s jack: one trick for the defense. North returns a club, on which Gee makes a second Magoo play by winning the queen in dummy, and leading a third round of clubs, inserting the ten when South shows out: two tricks for the defense. North shifts to hearts, as good as anything else. Gee wins the heart king, cashes the club ace and his remaining major suit winners, and concedes a diamond and a spade at the end for the defense’s third and fourth tricks.

What Would Gee Say After The Hand? “The distribution,” he would say, “was very unfriendly that time.”

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Nov 252002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: A

	kmb24 10 9 A J 8 5 A Q 9 K 10 7 3
cicatrix 7 5 3 2 Q 9 7 6 8 7 6 2 Q		Maestro Q 8 4 K 2 J 5 4 A J 9 6 5
	jdonn A K J 6 10 4 3 K 10 3 8 4 2

West

Pass
Pass

North
1

1NT
Pass

East
Pass
2

Pass

South
1

Dbl

Well, it’s another night on Planet Gee. Our hero, thanks, in part, to an unusually helpful partner, has dropped about 100 IMPs, and South, serial Gee partner and opponent Josh Donn, commiserates. “North/South are very inconsistent on weekends,” he says. Gee agrees ruefully as today’s hand comes up.

North’s 1D is a catch-all Precision bid, usually showing 11-15 points and 2+ diamonds. South’s 1S reply is natural, North’s 1NT rebid shows 14-16 balanced, and Gee’s 2C overcall is…well, I’m not quite sure how to describe it. Adventurous maybe. South, knowing the trump lie as favorably as possible for declarer, cracks a Bones double, which North is delighted to pass.

South leads the SA, gets a look at the dummy, and shifts to the D3. North wins the DA and shifts back to spades, Gee covering the 10 as South wins the king. South cashes the SJ and the DK and continues diamonds. North wins the queen, cashes the heart ace for the defense’s seventh trick, and exits with a heart. Gee unblocks the king under the ace, wins the second heart in dummy and leads the trump queen, which holds. He ruffs a heart in hand and both defenders follow, leaving this:

	kev — — — K 10 7
trix 7 6 8 —		Maestro — — — A J 9
	josh 6 — — 8 2

Since North’s 1NT rebid showed at least 14 points he is marked with the trump king. (Had Josh properly alerted his Bones double he would have provided another clue.) There is only one way not to make two tricks, and our hero finds it. He cashes the trump ace, then executes a Miami endplay, leading away from his J9 into North’s K10 to lose the last two tricks, for 800, with only the vulnerability standing between Gee and a two-logo hand.

Asked about the overcall, Gee replied, “Partner, since when we play correctly we get a minus, when they do they get a huge plus, I felt I had to do something outrageous and then maybe turn the cards around.” The bridge gods, perhaps partly appeased, take only another 20 IMPs from Gee before he retires for the evening.

The Best Line

Nov 152002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: A

	Maestro Q J 9 7 6 — A K 5 A K Q 10 2
dond 3 10 9 8 7 5 9 3 J 9 8 7 5		otherguy K 5 4 2 A 3 J 10 8 6 6 4 3
	re34 A 10 8 K Q J 6 4 2 Q 7 4 2 —

West
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

North
1

4NT
7

Pass

East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Dbl

South
2

Pass

I often hear complaints that I never show Gerard in a favorable light. Of course most of those complaints are from Gerard himself, but fair enough. Today’s hand, on which Gee, as declarer, takes an unusual but optimal line, not once, but twice, should quiet the nay-sayers for a while.

The bidding, too, has points of interest. Gee opens his superb hand a normal 1S in second seat and hears a game-forcing 2H response from his partner. He rebids 3C and his partner jumps to 4S, showing three-card support. 5NT, the grand slam force, asking partner to bid a grand with two of the top three trump honors, is the forced choice for those of us with only standard bidding arsenals. Gee launches into RKC Voidwood, the Cohen treatment. Ordinary Voidwood has special bids for responder to show voids as well as keycards. Cohen Voidwood, on the other hand, is a method allowing the asker to show a void. (Note that the void is not guaranteed, and the suit is not specified.)

Partner replies 5C, showing one keycard, and Gee leaps to 7S, giving N/S a rare chance at a freely bid grand missing both of the top trumps. This is just as promptly doubled by East, who holds both of the missing key cards and has a certain trump trick assuming dummy has no more than three.

East leads the HA. Gee ruffs in hand and now needs only to bring the trump suit in to make. He leads the SQ. It holds. Gee infers that trump are breaking and the king is onside, and claims. Indisputably the optimal line, but no luck: East declines. Another trump to the 10 reveals the bad news. And now the key play: a high heart from dummy, discarding a small diamond from hand, killing his outside entry. A pedestrian player would still survive for down 1 by continuing hearts until East ruffed in. Gee takes a more elegant approach. First he cashes the trump ace, removing his last entry to dummy. Then he plays hearts. East ruffs in, and Gee claims down 1, again optimally. This second misclaim has a real chance to work — it’s certainly better than the alternative, hoping East returns a club — but East unfortunately notes that he can return a diamond, sticking Gee with a club loser at the end. Down 2, one off for each superb play. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Hitting the Gee Spot

Nov 122002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 10

	mytmouse 10 9 7 5 J 10 4 2 10 9 6 3 5
Maestro Q 6 4 A 6 5 A K Q 7 5 7 3		sophie A K 8 3 K 8 3 J K Q J 9 4
	snag J 2 Q 9 7 8 4 2 A 10 8 6 2

West

1NT
Pass

North

Pass
Pass

East

6NT

South
Pass
Pass

We can absolve our hero of any malfeasance in today’s auction at least. East’s leap to 6NT is perhaps a trifle rash, when we consider that the seven or eight missing points might include two aces, or likelier, and worse, the ace and king of diamonds. Six clubs, six spades and even six hearts may be better than 6NT, and there are several levels and available bids to find out. 6NT does rate to play better than 6D, however.

But 6NT turns out to be a superb contract, and we aren’t here to talk about the bidding anyway. Declarer has eleven tricks after he knocks out the club ace, and many possibilities for a twelfth. Diamonds can break, spades can break, the club ten can drop, and there are squeeze chances all over the joint. I make the contract in the hands of a competent declarer about 95%.

Of course it is Gee who is declaring. The S10 is led, and Gee goes right to work on severing his communications. He wins in hand with the queen, leads a low diamond to dummy’s jack, and crosses back to his hand with the HA, removing his last entry. He now cashes two top diamonds, carefully discarding a spade first and then a heart, preserving the crucial fifth club. Both defenders follow.

The reader who says to himself at this point that the contract is making anyway underestimates the master. Gee cashes a fourth diamond, discarding a club finally as South does the same, and shifts to the C3, stranding his fifth good diamond in hand. (The alert reader will note that the C3 is not next to the diamond, but one card removed. This weakens the motor impairment defense.) Unlucky again: the club ten doesn’t drop, and it didn’t matter that he killed his spade threat because spades don’t break anyway.

Gee’s line requires that diamonds break (or if they don’t, that the defender with the CA is short diamonds), and that the C10 drop. We add in the 1% and change that the club ace is stiff onside and arrive at 32% or so. So our Gee spot becomes 95% – 32% = 63%, or 63. Not bad, but not 100. The search continues.

The Blackboard Jungle

Nov 092002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: K

	petit_g 10 A 9 4 2 Q 10 8 2 A 10 6 5
janiner 9 6 3 K 10 9 7 K Q J 7 4 3		justinl K 7 5 4 7 6 5 A K J 5 3 9
	Maestro A Q J 8 2 Q J 8 3 6 4 8 2

West

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

North

1NT
3
Pass
Pass

East
1

Pass
Pass
Dbl

South
1

Pass

Bridge teaching is difficult. Ordinarily keeping your student’s spirits up produces the best results, but sometimes, as in today’s hand, harsher measures are called for.

Proceedings begin innocuously, with a standard diamond opener by Seaman Lall, East, and a 1S overcall by Gee. Mini-Gee replies 1NT, passed back to our hero, who without hesitation bids 2H. Mini, under the impression that this shows a good hand, and holding four-card support and a maximum, naturally enough invites with 3H; Gee reevaluates his loser-rich, already immensely overbid hand and plunges fearlessly into game. A Bones double by the Seaman, holding two defensive tricks at most opposite a partner who has shown nothing, ends the auction.

West leads the club king and recriminations begin immediately.

Gerard: why 3H, efes?
G: just pass 2H
petit_g: god knows how many u got.. i limited my hand with 1 nt..why 4
petit_g: ????????????
G: yes you know
G: 1S then 2H …. can’t have much
petit_g: how do i know?? 3h is a free bid… and don’t have more than 10 for sure [He must mean 2H. —Ed.]
G: not true efes
petit_g: yes u cant have 17+
G: no, I can’t… I can’t even have 13
petit_g: why not??????????
petit_g: u r not a passed hand
G: what would I rebid with more than 12 points? [I give up. What? —Ed.]
petit_g: changing colour actually shows opening or more
G: no, efes… I am only the crew
petit_g: if u dont have much pass 3h, if i pass ur 2 h and we have a game i will be responsible
G: 1S then 2H is as weak as it comes
petit_g: yes if u r a passed hand
G: no, efes
petit_g: well ok then i am sorry i am not understanding
petit_g: i don’t understand this game

Gee bites his tongue and declares to his customary standard. He wins the club lead and plays S10. If he overtakes with the jack, playing the Seaman for the spade king, which he is a big favorite to hold, he goes down 1. He ruffs a spade and plays a low club. The defenders get their two diamonds and one trump but that’s all. Gee, however, makes the key play of the spade ace, leaving himself a spade loser in the endgame for down 2, -500, and a less than satisfactory result. Out comes the hickory switch:

G: proof is in the pudding… we just made 2
petit_g: u wanna be captain in all seats… its not fair… u r telling me my bidding and playing is wrong in front of all… when u r right, u r right but not this time sorry
G: oh no… dont start that with me, efes
petit_g: ok sorry…

Uh oh. Criticizing Gee’s bidding is one thing, but taking captaincy theory in vain will not be treated lightly.

G: what did I say 5 minutes ago?
justinl: come on guys, this is just a fun game, lets all relax a bit
G: that in this auction I was just the crew
petit_g: sorry and ty all
petit_g i cannot concentrate when u do this to me
G: I did not do anything to you
G: you are doing it to yourself
petit_g: i have not made any mistake at all… when I do i accept… but i am your pd… am i not?
G: you made an error, fine… just trying to tell you where
petit_g: no it is not an error… pls check… u cannot say it is… it was totally right
petit_g: and u criticize when i do.. but dont when i dont
G: you were right because you can’t see or refuse to see where you were wrong
G: I criticized you?
G: you told me I wanted to be captain in all hands
G: that’s criticizing you?
G: that’s you criticizing me
G: you bid wrong… and I told you you did
petit_g: my bid is very very very right 100 percent… if not i dont wanna play this game coz i know nothin
G: can’t you take that and try to understand?
G: no, efes
G: you can believe whatever you want… your 3H was wrong
G: now… are you gonna calm down?
petit_g: ok it was wrong.. this is how i play this game… pls accept
G: not if you play with me nor any really knowledgeable patner.. that means expert partner
G: do that to an expert and you are out the table [Ummm…”out the table”? —Ed.]
Spec #1: once you criticize your partner in front of everyone who not only has have one opponent you have three
G: I DID NOT DO THAT TO YOU, DID I?

Charity begins at home.

petit_g: i think u were distracted with the bidding…
G: you want to play with me, you play correct… not the Efes way
petit_g: i am sure u had a phone or something…
Gerard: again.. attacking me instead of accepting what I am telling you!!!!
petit_g: i am not attacking u.. u teach me all i know.. why should i?
Gerard: best way to defend yourself is beat me down to the ground… like aaron?

Wait a second. How’d I get involved in this?

G: you made a bad bid, efes
petit_g: pls calm down… sorry… i will leave…
G: I explained why
petit_g: just be ok and thats enuf
G: can’t you accept that without attacking me?
G: that’s ok… I’ll quit
G: efes.. your stubbornness will not help your game
G: oops he left

Oops. Still, discipline has been restored.

See Gee Spot Run

Nov 042002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 3

	wildcats 5 K Q 10 8 6 A K 8 7 5 Q 2
bilgin 9 4 3 A 9 5 4 3 Q 4 3 10 3		sauron K Q 7 6 J 2 J 10 9 6 2 9 5
	Maestro A J 10 8 2 7 — A K J 8 7 6 4

West

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

North

1
3
6

East

Pass
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

The diligent reader may recall a recent discussion of the Gee Spot, which, to review, is the percentage difference between the optimum line on a hand and Gee’s actual line.

Today, for instance, N/S reach an excellent club slam after a rather shaky auction. Myself, I wouldn’t want to sign off in my 5-card suit with a 5-1-0-7 four-loser hand after hearing my partner force twice and promise no support, but I’m funny that way. In any case North guesses to jump to 6C, and his guess proves out. Almost.

West finds the excellent lead of a trump, without which the hand is cold on almost any layout. Let’s pause and calculate the Gee Spot. The optimal line is to win in hand and lead a heart. This wins whenever West holds the heart ace, or East holds it but lacks another trump to lead, provided neither defender can ruff in on the red suit winners. Adding all the possibilities we wind up at 58% or so for the optimum line.

Gee wins the lead in hand and, postponing the problem of disposing of his spade losers (how? somehow), leads a second round of trump, discards a heart and a spade on the two top diamonds, and attempts to play AJ108 opposite a stiff for one loser. This is only a near-zero play; it wins whenever East holds exactly K9, Q9, or KQ9. The total chance of success rounds up to 5%, giving us a Gee Spot on 58% – 5%, or 53.

After the hand North, the normally mild-mannered wildcats, is moved to observe that the hand was cold — I exclude several exclamation marks — not that he means that in a negative way. The specs buzz, as ever:

Spec #1: what a surprise – the 1st time its been played off :)
Spec #2: is this an exp table??????????????
Spec #3: H trick 2 seemed auto pilot
G: I think I am too tired
G: make this the last…
Spec #4: yeah, that’s the reason
G: when I reach that point, I can’t think any more
G: but I did not want to go to bed without playing a few with you:)
Spec #1: i think the barracking from the spectators put him off and he should be allowed to replay it:)
Spec #5: not sure he makes in replay
Spec #6: that won’t help
Spec #7: I swear I might start saving these hands for a book for novices on typical mistakes to avoid

Word to Spec #7: Don’t even think about it. I’m writing that book.

Quack Quack

Oct 282002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: 10

	petit_g J 9 7 3 8 5 4 2 9 2 6 4 2
krt K 6 5 2 A 6 3 10 Q J 9 8 5		taryk A Q 8 4 K 9 A K 8 5 4 A 10
	Maestro 10 Q J 10 7 Q J 7 6 3 K 7 3

West

Dbl

North

Pass

East
2NT
Pass

South
3

Pass

Today Gee sits South and hears a first-hand 2NT opener to his right. In a red suit his hand can be expected to take approximately three tricks. Applying the rule of six, which states that one should always preempt six tricks above expectation at equal vulnerability (seven favorable, five unfavorable), Gee accordingly bids 3D, showing diamonds and another. STCPs™ should note that this is simply the old 2-3-4 rule of preempts, adjusted for expert play.

West doubles, showing cards and an interest in penalty — it would be unfair to call it Bones when he knows that E/W have at least three-fourths of the deck — and North, the long-suffering Mini-Gee, passes. It looks to the casual observer like he should take the logo save; three hearts goes for a mere 800 on best play. But Mini realizes that in hearts he, not Gee, would be declarer, and the three-trick expert adjustment would no longer apply. (Students of Gee, as opposed to Gee himself, are entitled to a one- or two-trick adjustment at most.) Under the circumstances he has no choice but to pass.

East is delighted to leave in the double with his trump stack, and West leads the D10, ducked to Gee’s jack. One trick for declarer. Gee leads a spade, won by East, who returns another spade, pumping the chump. Two tricks for declarer. Gee switches to the HQ now, too late. East wins the HK, cashes the two top trumps, and plays a third round of spades. Gee discards a club, which doesn’t help. Club ace and another club to Gee’s CK. Three tricks for declarer. Another heart to West’s HA. West cashes clubs, and Gee ruffs in with the DQ for his fourth, and last, trick.

Of course it is only fair to note that had Mini-Gee shown up with a stone yarborough, instead of the SJ, slam in spades or notrump would be cold for E/W, and sticks and wheels would be a mere setback instead of a calamity. In fact six spades is an excellent contract, going down only because of the bad trump break and the offside CK. And how could our hero be expected to foresee that?

Untitled

Oct 252002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: K

	youngone 10 5 K Q J Q 10 9 7 A J 10 9
Maestro A Q J 9 8 7 4 9 8 5 4 5 K		jackl 3 2 10 3 2 A J 8 4 2 8 3 2
	conradt K 6 A 7 6 K 6 3 Q 7 6 5 4

West

1
3
Pass

North

2
Dbl

East
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

Today Gee is West. His first bid shows the importance, as he has reminded me many times, of understanding the bidding agreements before passing judgment. Gee is not vulnerable, has a passed partner, six and a half offensive tricks and a nearly useless hand on defense. Three or four spades would be the customary bid here. There is only one conclusion: E/W have agreed never to preempt in spades. Gee chooses the expert bid of 1S instead.

North bids a forcing 2D, South raises, and Gee reenters the auction with 3S, a bid that many STCPs™ might entertain in the first place, but what do they know? North makes one of those doubles that is designed to win the post mortem: could be negative, could be responsive, could be penalty, and whatever partner does is wrong. South interprets it as penalty, as would I, and passes. (Bidding 3NT is the winning action at the table. It makes on a spade lead and goes down on anything else, which is to say, it makes.)

And here we are in the apparently cold contract of 3SX. Hearts break, Kx onside in trump, and the defense cooperates by leading three rounds of hearts, dropping all the honors and eliminating any need for declarer to actually count the suit. (Not that any other defense helps.) South shifts to a club, Gee’s stiff king loses to the ace, and North returns a diamond, won in dummy.

Gee leads a trump and inserts the jack, which holds. He pauses, thinks, and leads…the 13th heart. North, who is already busy rehearsing for the post mortem the 47 reasons his double couldn’t have been penalty, relievedly ruffs with the spade 10. Our hero claims down 1. In fairness, the only card in his hand at that point that would have worked was the spade ace, and you can’t expect even an expert to pull the right card all the time.

Today’s hand also illustrates the situational nature of the Gee spot: if we assume execrable play, it tends to rise with each trick. At trick 1 we have a Gee spot of 20. Gee’s line succeeds whenever the stiff king is onside, for 6%, while the optimal line of play for K or Kx succeeds 26% of the time. But at trick 8, when the defense has cashed their tricks and the trump finesse has held, the Gee spot rises substantially. Gee’s heart play has a 0% chance of success, while playing the spade ace will succeed about 45% of the time (since we already know the SK is onside and trump don’t break 4-0). Thus a Gee spot of 45. The perfect Gee spot hand, then, is one where a 100% line is available at trick 1 and Gee takes a zero line instead. I haven’t found it yet, but when I do you’ll be the first to know.

Older Entries Newer Entries