Aaron Haspel

Trump Management

Jul 282002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: K

	maarten Q 5 10 4 2 9 2 A 8 7 5 3 2
delikara A K 3 6 K Q 10 7 5 4 J 9 6		altay 9 8 4 2 A 9 5 3 J 8 6 3 4
	Maestro J 10 7 6 K Q J 8 7 A K Q 10

West

2
Pass

North

2
Pass

East

3
Pass

South
1

Today provides a fine lesson in hand evaluation followed by some equally exceptional declarer play.

Gee hears his partner raise his hearts and the opponents bid and raise diamonds. He correctly upgrades his already excellent hand and jumps to game.

A club lead, or even a club shift at trick 2, will put the contract down 1, but West understandably leads the SK and shifts to diamonds. Gee wins the DA and starts trump, discovering the 4-1 break as East ducks the first two rounds.

From here the naive play of continuing trump succeeds, as it often does. The opponents cash their spade trick or not as they choose, tap declarer once in diamonds, and concede the rest. This line succeeds unless clubs are 4-0 or East began with exactly 2 spades.

In fact the losing line is quite difficult to see, but not to expert eyes. Gee makes the key play of leading a spade after the second round of trump. West wins and continues diamonds. Now it becomes a question of how many to go down. Discarding a black suit winner from his hand would hold it to one, but Gee elects for maximum collateral damage: he ruffs and continues trump. East wins the HA, taps Gee out with a third round of diamonds, ruffs in on the second round of clubs and plays his last diamond. West, however, sluffed two diamonds on the trumps, so what should have been down 4 turns out to be only down 2. One can sympathize with West. Who knew?

Experts Are Visionaries

Jul 272002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: A

	taryk — K 6 2 K 10 8 3 A K J 9 8 4
kalligr A 9 8 7 5 Q 10 5 4 7 4 6 3		bania J 10 6 4 3 A Q J 9 5 Q 5 2
	Maestro K Q 2 J 9 8 7 3 A 6 2 10 7

West

2
Dbl

North
1

Pass

East
1

Pass
Pass

South
2

Pass
Pass

Today’s auction contains some controversial bids, which is usual, but none by Gee, which is not. North’s 1C opener is unexceptionable, nor do I find anything to quarrel with in East’s spade overcall. Gee, sitting South, makes a fine 2H call with a hand a little too good for 1NT. If we assume that E/W are playing preemptive raises in competition and that West can show a limit raise by cuebidding hearts, then 3S might be better than 2. It turns out to be irrelevant, as North raises to game on good support and a void in the opponents’ suit. This is passed to West, who, holding two defensive tricks, makes a rather frisky double, following it with the worst possible lead for the defense, the SA.

Gee ruffs in dummy and surveys the hand. West obviously has a trump holding; the double can’t be based on anything else. If there are only two trump losers the hand always makes. But if there are three then declarer needs to set up a third club trick for a diamond sluff.

Gee crosses to hand with the DA and runs the HJ, hoping West began with AQxx — not too likely, since this would give East something like J10xxxx 10 QJxx Qx for his overcall. In any case, bad news: East wins the HA, which means there are three likely trump losers, and returns a spade.

At this point it is clear that hearts are 4-1 unless West has gone mad. Everything hinges on clubs. With two outside entries to dummy, playing the two top clubs and ruffing the third high in hand will succeed when they break 3-2, and when West has four, and when West has the stiff Q. Altogether that’s almost 85%. Taking the club finesse will succeed when West holds the CQ. Looks like 50%; maybe less, since East was the overcaller.

Now if you regard this preamble as a suggestion that an expert like Gee play the top clubs, then you have been missing the point of these chronicles. Gee finessed the club. Of course he understood that the percentages were against him. But “against all odds, [he] had the sense that it would make.” If you have ever wondered, watching an expert table, what distinguishes their play from yours, it’s that experts are visionaries. I cannot stress this point enough.

Every Little Bit Counts

Jul 262002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: A

	maher A K 9 7 Q 10 10 9 6 K 10 9 4
dickfu 2 7 6 5 4 J 7 Q J 6 5 3 2		Maestro J 10 6 5 A J 9 3 2 5 2 A 7
	egypt1 Q 8 4 3 K 8 A K Q 8 4 3 8

West

Pass
Pass
Pass
5
Pass

North

1
4
Rdbl
Dbl

East

2
Dbl
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass
Pass
Pass

Our series in hand evaluation — it seems I’m writing a series after all — continues. Today we see the importance of evaluating your hand in context. Vulnerability, type of scoring — these all count in expert hand evaluation, and lesser players often overlook them.

Gee, East, ventures a vulnerable overcall with an eight-loser hand and both the North and South hands unlimited. A shyer player might think twice; but Gee has remarked in another context on the importance of daring, and one can certainly not fault him for cowardice here. South’s 14 HCP are looking a great deal better on this bidding, with solid diamonds, 4-card support, a stiff, and the HK favorably placed, and he jumps to 3S, which his partner raises to game.

Back we come to Gee, who holds three defensive tricks. It is difficult to imagine, on the auction, that his partner holds more than one. With N/S not vulnerable, at IMPs, a double stands to gain 50 points. Or so the ordinary player might reason. Gee doubles. North, who holds a full opener himself and has heard his partner jump raise his suit, redoubles, as one might expect.

This faces Gee’s partner, who holds the zero defensive tricks that one might expect, with the attractive choice of losing the rarely-seen 880 (4S is cold on any defense) or taking the sacrifice in 5H. He takes the sac, which turns out to be a key decision.

South cashes two diamonds and shifts to a spade. North wins the SK and switches to trump. Gee rises with the ace and plays another trump. Trump break, but clubs don’t, and Gee is stuck with a spade loser at the end for down 3. But -800 beats -880, and an expert who would double 4S certainly appreciates the significance of saving 80 points at IMPs.

But, Larry Cohen Says…

Jul 252002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: Q

	janiner A Q 6 A 6 4 3 2 A 3 Q 8 2
jmiran 9 7 2 — K 10 8 6 4 2 A K J 6		pkchance J 10 5 3 K Q J 9 Q J 10 7 3
	Maestro K 8 4 10 8 7 5 9 7 5 9 5 4

West
1

Pass

North
1

Pass

East
Dbl
Dbl

South
3

Pass

Yesterday’s lesson in hand evaluation continues. Today we see the other side of the coin.

Although many players might double with the North hand it is difficult to quarrel with the heart overcall. Some players would bid 1NT with East’s hand, but he thought it more important to show the four spades with a negative double, and again this is difficult to fault.

Gee, sitting South, holds what appears at first blush to be an eleven-loser hand with four small trumps and no ruffing values whatsoever. But on closer inspection, the hand reveals itself as eleven losers with four small trumps and no ruffing values whatsoever. Some players might venture a raise to 2H; more conservative players might pass. But Gee knows the Law: four hearts plus five hearts make nine hearts. He raises to 3.

Sure enough, his brilliant gambit pays off, as West bids 4C. Four of either minor is off 2 on moderately alert defense. But North bids 4H, alas. She envisions a South hand like Kxxx Kxxx xxxx x — here the heart game is cold unless trump are 4-0 — or even Jxxxx KQxx xxx x, where it is an underdog but has chances. Of course East, who has been laying the weeds with three heart tricks, promptly doubles, and North finds the dummy somewhat, shall we say, disappointing. The usual result would be -500 or -800 (against an E/W partial), but the catastrophic trump split produces seven tricks for the defense, down 4, for a score with which we are all, by now, distressingly familiar.

Yet it is the mark of the expert to extract something from every disaster. After the hand Gee asks his partner gently if she understood that 3H was a weak bid. Her reply is unrecorded, but clarifications like this cannot help but improve partnership understanding for the future.

Jul 242002

I know I’ve delayed quite a while, because my decision was difficult. The winner of the Sticks & Wheels Logo Contest is bon, and here’s her winning logo, which now marks each Sticks & Wheels hand for easy reference:

The overall quality of the entries was impressive. Here are a couple of the other finalists. From dross:

From yag:

Thanks to everyone who played.

The Mysterious Protocol

Jul 242002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 3

	laaremr 9 6 6 2 9 5 A K Q J 9 8 6
Maestro A 10 4 J 9 8 7 4 A 10 8 4 3		jim-1 — A K Q 5 K J 7 6 3 2 10 7 5
	arthur K Q J 8 7 5 3 2 10 3 Q 4 2

West

Pass

North
3NT
Pass

East
4

Pass

South
4

Like in any communication between people, people and machines and machines and machines, there need to be a protocol, and so far, no one has identified bridge’s mysterious communication protocol.
–G. Cohen, Bridge Is A Conversation

Today we have a rather remarkable, though brief, auction that all non-experts could study with profit.

North’s 3NT opener is gambling, showing a solid seven- or eight-card minor with nothing outside. East has a very solid 4D overcall and makes it. (4NT as takeout for the reds is also possible.) South bids the spade game with his eight-bagger, and all eyes turn to our hero, sitting West.

Gee holds four diamonds to the A10 for support, a stiff in South’s suit and a first-round control in North’s. An extremely conservative bid would be 5D; it’s barely possible that East holds something like x AQx KQJxxx xxx, where slam is on the heart finesse, which on the bidding must be off. A bold bidder might leap directly to slam on the reasonable assumption that East holds, well, what he actually holds. An intermediate choice might be a 5C cue bid, showing trump support and slam interest, over which East would bid 6D.

Gee passes. East can’t double, and 4S buys the auction. Gee leads his stiff club and gets the ruff he has coming for down 2, 100 to E/W. After the hand Gee’s partner mildly inquires why he didn’t raise in diamonds. “I didn’t think 4S could make,” says Gee, “and I was giving you a chance to double.”

“I don’t think they’d let us play in 5H, pard,” Gee continues. Those of you who are tempted to question his bidding judgment should consider the scrupulous accuracy of this post mortem. The opponents may well have refused to let them play in 5H, or 5D; they might have chosen to drive them into slam instead. Gee did indeed give his partner a chance to double. And 4S doesn’t make.

Jul 232002

“The Bones Principle is as stupid as its inventor…when my partners overbid or don’t tell me their hand properly (90% of the time) I go to forbidden places. If Bones cannot see that, he should not pretend to be an ‘expert.'”

Permalink July 23, 2002 No Responses »

Theory and Practice

Jul 232002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: 3

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

West
1

Pass
Pass

North
1

East
1

Pass

South
2

Pass

Occasionally one’s partner will make bidding errors. That’s part of the game. But it’s important to put them behind you and keep your mind on the play, as Gee demonstrates for us in today’s hand.

The bidding all looks reasonable to my inexpert eye — East’s 1S reply over the overcall is perhaps a bit thin — but Gee does not agree, as we will see shortly. Nonetheless he refuses to let this affect his play. East leads his stiff club, and West returns the C2 for a ruff. A diamond back to the ace leads to another club ruff, for down 1, ordinarily, as East exits with a trump. Gee wins in hand, ruffs a diamond, and then makes the key play of ruffing a club winner to return to hand, leaving himself nothing to discard the last diamond on, and down 2.

After the hand Gee and his partner have a friendly colloquy about the bidding, which stimulates some discussion in spec:

Gee: Why not support double?
Bachelor #1: Support doubles by the advancer! A new treatment!
sensj: Support double is only if you are responder…here you show a 5-card suit
Gee: ???
Gee: no
Gee: I overcalled and 1 spade was after you…double by you shows 3 in support
Bachelor #1: everybody making notes?
Gee: geez, guys…read more books…i dunno
Bachelor #2: wow!
Bachelor #3: what is this “read”?
Bachelor #3: we are WRITING
Gee: then specs make nasty comments about me for my partner’s bad bidding
Bachelor #3: yes, it’s all partner’s fault
Bachelor #2: hahahahaha
Bachelor #3: i will have to call my pd from today and let her know it was all her fault
Bachelor #2: wait a moment, how did he go down?
Bachelor #3: unreal
Gee: sensj…I am sorry…nothing to do with you, but with my previous partners… I am upset at what happened earlier and by hearing specs’ comments…specs who also think they know but actually don’t know much for some of them
Gee: I should stop after this hand and relax for a while

And so shall we.

Jul 222002

“I’m too disgusted with what’s going on. I need a clear head to win the Nationals. I don’t want to finish in 20th or 30th place.”

—asked if he was planning to attend the nationals

Permalink July 22, 2002 No Responses »

The Bones Principle Revisited

Jul 222002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 6

	vcaracci A K Q 10 4 8 5 3 2 A 4 J 2
bach 7 5 3 2 A Q 6 9 7 K 10 8 6		Maestro 9 K J 10 4 Q 8 6 5 3 A 9 3
	pinpin J 8 6 9 7 K J 10 2 Q 7 5 4

West

Pass
Pass
3
Pass

North

1
Pass
Dbl
Pass

East

2
Dbl
4

South
Pass
2

Pass
Pass

So many people sent me this hand from last night that I feel obliged to publish it. Besides, I kind of like it myself.

Gee, sitting East with 10 pts, 1-4-5-3 and five diamonds to the Q8, inserts a 2D overcall over North’s spade opener. Lesser players might double for takeout, or even pass. This sets the specs murmuring:

Bachelor #1: 2 vully D’s??? time for the bones principle
Bachelor #2: 2D? geesom

OK. I’ll settle for “geesom.” South raises to 2S, passed around to Gee, who reopens with a double. The spec buzz grows louder:

Bachelor #3: and a reopening dbl with 10 to back it up
Bachelor #1: after a spade pump gee would go for stix and wheels again
Bachelor #1: X???? lolol–this is insane

Poor West, who figures if his partner is willing to force him to bid at the three-level that they must have a pretty good shot at game, makes a 3S asking bid. Since Gee is almost certainly stiff or void on the auction this might be considered sub-optimal. Gee pulls to 4D, and the Bones Principle, which could have been profitably invoked at the two-level, is violated at the four-level as South neglects to double.

The defense taps Gee with spades, and he loses control of the hand pretty fast, winding up with two heart tricks, two spade ruffs and two club tricks for down 4. Sticks and Wheels if doubled, but we just finished a week of that, and you were bored with it anyway. After the hand Gee visits spec himself, where he overhears Bachelor #4 inquiring, reasonably, if O_Bones invented the Bones Principle.

Gee: please, spare me…the Bones Principle is as stupid as its inventor…when my partners overbid or don’t tell me their hand properly (90% of the time) I go to forbidden places. If he cannot see that, he should not pretend to be an “expert”…good night and god bless you all.

And God bless you all, and to all a good night.

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