Aaron Haspel

And So Many Others

Aug 242002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: 8

	borgar J 4 3 7 4 A 2 A K 10 9 6 3
maneesh K Q 7 6 5 10 6 3 2 J 6 4 5		Maestro A 8 A K 8 K Q 9 8 Q J 7 4
	bdrindal 10 9 2 Q J 9 5 10 7 5 3 8 2

West
Pass
1

Pass

North
1

Pass

East
Dbl
3NT

South
Pass
Pass

Gee, sitting East, winds up in an excellent 3NT contract after a reasonable auction. I would bid 2NT over 2C (and raise to game with the West hand), but South rates to be broke if he can’t find a bid over the takeout double of 1C, and the jump to game, with a super 19 and a probable double stopper in clubs, is defensible.

South leads the C8, of course, ducked around to Gee’s jack. Even if spades break there are only eight top tricks: at some point declarer will have to tackle diamonds, and there’s no time like the present.

But declarer’s chances are good. The auction and lead virtually mark clubs as 6-2 or 7-1, and North with both club honors. When North wins the DA a club continuation will give declarer his ninth trick. On any other lead declarer has plenty of time to test diamonds (which fails) and spades (which succeeds): ten tricks.

Gee takes a different approach. He plays off three top spades, an inferior but still successful line. Well, it would have succeeded, had Gee not discarded a club on the third spade, for a rarely seen self-pseudo-squeeze. Spades break, and Gee figures, logically enough, that he may as well throw bad clubs after good, so he sluffs his remaining clubs on the fourth and fifth rounds of spades, to make the layout as clear to the defenders as possible.

Gee now plays off the two top honors in hearts, alertly seizing the last extra chance that the QJ will drop doubleton. No luck.

Alexander Ananin, who was kind enough to send me this hand, remarks elegiacally: “By now we all know why Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. (Her and so many others.) Only today, however, can we see how.”

Aug 232002

I got a weird phone call yesterday from some guy with a French accent. Didn’t identify himself, just started in: “I just want you to know that I have your home telephone number and your address and my lawyer has…” I hung up at that point. I’m a very tolerant person. I wait until the second time before I call the police.

And here’s a little excerpt from yesterday’s spec chatter:

G: all of you specs… If you really care, and you seem to… most of you at least, please help me to chase aaron away from here so all this horrible stuff ends
Spec #1: aaron who?
Spec #2: Elvis Aaron?
Spec #3: the person who writes the website about G
Spec #4: what website?
Spec #2: only a small part of the website is about G tho
Spec #5: must have a lot of free time
Spec #3: he runs websites for his living
Spec #3: i’m sure a little blurb about G on his own doesn’t take much time
Spec #6: ughh
Spec #7: http://gee.aaronhaspel.com

Sounds like fun. Can I play too?

Endplay Cascade

Aug 232002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 6

	dkogut K 8 7 6 3 K 10 6 J 9 9 6 4
Maestro A Q 2 A J 9 5 4 2 K J 10 5		sunday J 5 8 4 2 A K 10 7 3 7 3 2
	leonardo 10 9 4 Q 7 3 Q 8 6 5 A Q 8

West

1NT
Pass

North

Pass
Pass

East

2NT

South
Pass
Pass

Most bridge players are taught early that it is usually more effective to lead toward a tenace than away from one. It takes an expert to understand when to violate this rule.

Today we find Gee, West, playing 2NT after an auction that, for once, is unexceptionable in every way. The 1NT opener is normal, the 2NT invitation is normal, Gee’s refusal is normal…let’s skip ahead to the play, shall we?

North leads S6 and Gee puts up the jack from dummy, which holds. If diamonds break 3-3 there will always be time to set up eight tricks. But if they don’t declarer will need three tricks in clubs, barring a miracle in the majors.

Fortunately the spade lead gives him an extra entry to dummy. Now he can afford to take the club finesse, repeat it if it wins, and test the diamonds. On the actual layout the diamonds don’t break but the clubs sit ideally, and declarer gets home with three clubs, two diamonds, a heart and two spades for an easy eight tricks.

Or so the average player might reason. Not Gee: he crosses up the defense with a low diamond off the board at trick 2! South recovers enough composure to duck, and North wins the DJ and plays back D9, killing dummy’s last entry.

Gee now tests the diamonds, which of course don’t split — North sluffs C6 — and takes a club finesse. It holds, but one finesse is not enough. The hand devolves into what one spec called a series of cascading endplays. The H9 is taken by South’s HQ. Gee ducks the spade return and wins the spade continuation. But now one endplay begets another: Gee leads the CJ, losing to the CQ. A heart is returned through Gee’s AJ, and North wins the HK and cashes his spades. Gee does manage to win his HA at the end for down 2.

Another spec remarked that it was impossible to go down more than 2. This is unfair. There is a double-dummy line for down 3, and two declarers actually found it at the table.

Bride of Trump Support

Aug 222002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 4

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

West

Pass
Pass
Pass

North

1
6

East

3
Pass

South
Pass
3

Pass

In a previous hand, Gee demonstrated the importance of supporting partner’s suit, even with a void. Today we see a variation on the theme.

North opens 1S third-hand, East makes an aggressive preemptive overcall in hearts, and once again it is up to our hero, South.

A negative double might suggest itself. Excellent hand, 5-4 in the unbid suits — exactly what’s required for a negative double at the three-level. Gee, however, somehow divines that the best fit for the partnership is spades, and bids 3S.

At this point North’s only problem is whether to play a small slam or a grand. He conservatively leaps to 6S. Cue-bidding clubs is better but probably leads to the same contract. (What Gee should bid over 4C, having already bid 3S, is a fascinating but esoteric question, outside the scope of this discussion.)

6D of course is cold, and even 7D has a play on the layout, although it’s tricky to manage the entries against a heart lead. But in 6S declarer must lose two trump tricks, down 1. I turn the analysis over to the players:

BGO: no luck
BGO: 7D was on
G: happens, pd… I took a great risk with 3S
G: was not going to show D on this auction
BGO: x would have been nice on 3H
G: I could figure we had a fit in S
BGO: agree
G: and we had little room to bid over 3H too… 2 reasons why I did not double
G: not that they were the best in the world
G: but…
G: (Lobby) Need EXPERT pd @ Gerard

Aug 222002

“Your actions are similar to terrorist acts.”

Permalink August 22, 2002 No Responses »

The Great Escape

Aug 212002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 3

	vegan 9 7 6 5 2 Q 8 K 4 K J 9 2
jime J 8 10 5 3 J 10 9 8 6 3 10 7		Maestro A K Q 10 4 A 9 Q 2 6 5 4 3
	patss 3 K J 7 6 4 2 A 7 5 A Q 8

West

Pass
Pass
Pass

North

1
Pass
Pass

East

Pass
3
Pass

South
1

Dbl

We all find ourselves in hopeless contracts occasionally. Maybe not quite as hopeless 3CX, but hopeless nonetheless. The expert does not give up. Today Gee demonstrates how to make the best of a bad situation.

N/S are cold for 4H, but miss it after South understates his hand slightly with the 2H rebid. Two passes to Gee…a pause…and 3C emerges!

2S, which has to be natural in this position, is probably unwise at unfavorable. In fact it would either go for 500 or balance N/S into game. 3C, however, beggars description. Certainly my small literary powers cannot begin to do it justice. 3CX it is, however, and now the play problem is to hold the loss down to a palatable 15 IMPs or so.

Double-dummy defense takes 11 tricks. Heart lead, knock out the HA, ruff in on the second round of spades, pull trump, and cash seven tricks in the reds. But it’s not easy for South to visualize declarer’s hand, and he leads his stiff spade.

Gee wins in dummy and leads a diamond. North flies with DK and shifts to the HQ, won by Gee, who continues diamonds. South wins the DA, cashes a high heart, and makes a crucial error by leading a third round of hearts, shortening her partner’s trump. North discards a spade, as good as anything, and Gee ruffs. He plays another round of spades, ruffed by South with C8. Now Gee alertly lets the defenders play a high cross ruff for the rest of the hand, and winds up holding his C6 over North’s C2 at the end for his fourth trick. Down 5, to be sure, but think of what might have been.

Gentle Minds, Gentle Deeds

Aug 202002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 5

	weaver A 9 5 4 2 Q A K 3 A 10 8 6
brando K J 8 6 A J 8 7 3 Q J 9 5		jb_1 10 3 10 6 5 4 2 7 6 2 9 4 3
	Maestro Q 7 K 9 10 8 5 4 K Q J 7 2

West

Pass
Pass
Pass

North
1

Pass

East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
2

3NT
6

The gentle mind by gentle deeds is known.
For a man by nothing is so well bewray’d,
As by his manners.
–Spenser

The expert is not a result merchant. The expert does not blame his partner for a bad board. The expert does not leave the table after a catastrophe. At least that’s what I used to think.

Gee is South today. We have an uncontroversial auction — assuming, as I think, that 2C just shows 11+ and is not game-forcing — until Gee bids 3NT. Now there’s nothing wrong with the bid or the contract, which is cold even on a heart lead. But North has a slammish hand with excellent trump support and extras. He cues 4D to show it.

My inexpert eye sees nothing wrong with this bid either. North has a stiff heart and first round control in the other suits, and 5C is likely to be safe, maybe even safer than 3NT. Gee, however, reevaluates his aceless balanced minimum and leaps to 6C. The result is what you might expect.

As he claims down 1 the specs bestir themselves:

Spec #1: here come the recriminations
G: pd… 3NT was worth 7.75 IMPS
Spec #2: Oh :<<
G: why take me out of it?
Spec #2: You sure called that one
Spec #1: bridge is a lecture
Spec #3: [Spec #1] is a jaded veteran in the ways of the G
G: I can’t play like that… then specs judge me and say I am a bum
G: sorry
Spec #1: god i love that
G: my last one now
Spec #4: lol
Spec #2: Oh my god.
Spec #1: actually, specs judge you and say you’re a flaming asshole
Spec #5: gerard is all ego and little skill
Spec #5: i have played with him live and online
Spec #3: live?? I feel sorry for you
Spec #5: nothing is his fault
Spec #1: bum too, but that’s on other evidence
Spec #4: maybe we should all stop speccing him
Spec #5: we had a 3rd overall in a pair event in anaheim
Spec #5: with one of my students we would have won the event lol
G: what play? this was not play
Spec #4: oh brother!
Spec #1: he’s lucky this isn’t live
Spec #1: because I’d be looking for a blunt instrument by now

L’Etranger Plans the Play

Aug 192002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: K

	pikachu K Q Q J 6 5 3 2 A 9 8 4 2
mgr777 9 8 A K 6 5 K 10 9 8 10 7 6		spikel 10 7 5 3 9 7 4 3 2 7 4 Q J
	Maestro A J 6 4 2 10 8 A Q J K 5 3

West

Dbl
Dbl
Pass

North
1

Pass
3

Pass

East
Pass
2

Pass
Pass

South
1

Today our hero, sitting South, winds up in a good spade game after a normal auction. One could argue about West’s first double, which is thin but reasonable with North unlimited at unfavorable vulnerability. His second double is lead-directing in case N/S decide to play notrump.

The play is somewhat more interesting. West begins by cashing two hearts and can beat the contract by playing a third heart. This gives up a ruff-sluff but either promotes a trump trick for his partner or causes declarer to lose control of the hand. At the table it is far from obvious that this is the winning defense, and West can’t be greatly faulted for shifting to a diamond at trick 3.

Gee wins the DJ and proceeds to draw two rounds of trump with the KQ in dummy. He crosses to the CK, East dropping the queen, and plays a third high trump. West shows out, sluffing a heart. At this point the everyday expert might stop to consider the situation. West’s takeout double marks him with the DK. Unless East has all the remaining clubs the hand is now cold. Pull the last trump, sluffing the worthless diamonds from dummy, and duck a club. If West has four clubs, which is unlikely on the bidding but barely possible, he will be forced to insert an honor and be endplayed. Otherwise there are ten tricks.

Gee has something else in mind. He discards a club on the third round of trump, and another club on the fourth round. West errs by discarding his last heart, his only exit card, leaving this position.

	pikachu — — 6 5 3 A 9
mgr777 — — K 9 8 10 7		spikel — 9 7 2 7 Q
	Maestro 6 — A J 5 3

Even if West had correctly discarded a diamond on the fourth round of trump, a fifth round would strip-squeeze him. He’d be forced to part with his last heart or unguard one of the minors. But in the actual play West is already out of exit cards, and two rounds of clubs will force him to lead into Gee’s diamond tenace.

And in the actual play Gee, I report with some regret, does not play his last trump. He doesn’t play two rounds of clubs either. He plays the DA and another diamond, and West winds up with the setting trick in clubs at the end.

“Close,” Gee says ruefully to his partner after the hand, “but no cigar.”

You in Our Case

Aug 182002

Both Vul
MPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 9

	Maestro A 10 3 A 10 8 7 4 K 10 9 5 7
sasscat Q 6 5 2 9 6 J 6 2 J 9 8 2		danb J 9 7 4 K Q J 3 2 Q A 5 3
	sensj K 8 5 A 8 7 4 3 K Q 10 6 4

West

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

North

1
2
3

East

Pass
2
Pass

South
1

Pass
Pass

Again, as much as the answers to give to the captain’s questions are precise, the captain’s questions do not have for feed you with information about his/her hand, though it is preferance incase captainship is picked by the crew, you in our case.
–G. Cohen, Bridge Is a Conversation

When is a preference not a preference?

After South opens 1D in first seat, Gee holds four-card support to the K10, a decent 5-card heart suit, two aces and a stiff — pretty good-looking hand on first glance. He bids an unexceptionable 1H. South rebids 2C, and Gee has a few choices. A fourth-suit game-forcing 2S would be my choice, leaving plenty of room to explore 3NT, 5D or even 6D. (Even with South’s 12-point hand 6D has chances, and it makes on the actual layout against best defense provided declarer guesses trump.) 3D is another possibility.

Then there is the actual bid, 2D. This appears to be a preference — it walks like a preference, it quacks like a preference — but is actually a “preferance incase.” That’s in case your partner complains that you took a preference with a game-forcing hand.

East, however, decides to give Gee another chance and overcalls 2H. You can’t really blame him. He figures North and South for minimums and knows any trump holding will be in front of him. 2H is passed around to Gee. He could double: this nets anywhere from 1100 to 500, depending on whether the defense is perfect, adequate or woeful. He could bid 5D. He could bid 3NT. If he still isn’t sure they have game, he could bid 2NT.

Or he could bid 3D. As sensj chalks up 170, and none of the matchpoints, for making 6, he remarks, with notable restraint, that Gee’s hand is “too strong for a preference.” Gee doesn’t answer. “Preferance incase” theory would take too long to explain.

Visions from the Gallery

Aug 172002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: K

	xarman K 7 3 10 8 6 J 10 3 J 10 8 4
icerock A Q J 9 4 A 9 2 A Q 8 6 Q		pq2 10 8 6 5 2 7 5 4 5 K 6 5 3
	Maestro — K Q J 3 K 9 7 4 2 A 9 7 2

West

Dbl
4

North

Pass
Pass

East
Pass
1

Pass

South
1

Pass
Pass

Mystic bridge visions are not confined to the players.

Today E/W reach 4S after a quasi-normal auction. Gee, South, should double East’s 1S bid for takeout, but the final contract will be the same.

The spade game needs only the SK onside, and even on the actual layout it is cold on anything but a heart lead. A heart, however, is the obvious choice with Gee’s hand, and he leads one.

As declarer ponders his line, a veteran Gee-spec, who modestly prefers anonymity, suggests ducking, “to give Gee a chance to cash the CA.” The other specs scoff — “no way he’s gonna do that,” “nobody could be that stupid”: but they scoffed at Edison, they scoffed at Fulton…

Declarer ducks the heart, North playing the 8 to show an odd count. (This must be three. If declarer had one he would have no reason to duck: if he had five, the bidding would be strange and a duck would be too dangerous.) Gee cashes the CA and shifts to a low diamond. Declarer rises with the ace, ruffs a diamond, and cashes the CK discarding a heart loser. He loses the trump finesse, wins the trump return, ruffs his last two diamonds and claims.

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