Aaron Haspel

100

Feb 082003

None Vul
MPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 2

	billyf 9 7 6 J 6 5 A 8 5 3 Q J 9
jtmckee 2 K 7 4 2 9 6 K 8 7 4 3 2		soules A K J 10 4 3 Q 9 8 3 J 10 5
	Maestro Q 8 5 A 10 K Q 7 4 2 A 10 6

West

Pass
Pass

North

2NT
Pass

East

3
Pass

South
1NT
3NT

Chronicles regulars will recall the formula for the Gee-Spot:

GS = (P(c) – P(g))*100

where P(c) is the probability of success for the correct line, and P(g) the probability for the line that our hero actually takes.

For some time I have looked for a Gee-spot of 100: a hand on which our hero, with a line guaranteed to succeed available, instead adopts one guaranteed to fail. All good things come to those who wait.

We shall pass over today’s bidding briefly. North invites with a grungy 8 points, East interferes with 3S. Gee, holding 15 points, Qxx in the opponents’ suit, and a moth-eaten five-bagger, adds a queen or so for his declarer play, spurns the certain profit (3SX goes for 300) and raises to three, reaching a rather optimistic notrump game at matchpoints, which, as it happens, is cold.

West leads his stiff spade deuce, marking the position, and East wins the spade king and shifts to diamonds, as good as anything. Our hero wins in dummy and runs the club queen, which holds. Now there is a 100% line available. With East marked on the bidding with the rest of the spades, play a spade off the board. Five diamonds, two clubs, a heart and a spade for nine tricks and a near top, with most of the field in a part-score and some of the rest in 3SX.

The maestro, however, leads a second club from the board, ducking again when East discards a spade. West wins the club king and clears the suit. Still no harm done. Gee cashes the diamond king, reenters dummy with a third round of diamonds and leads a spade. East rises with the ace and plays a small heart.

Gee of course, holding nine top tricks, plays the 10, allowing West to win the queen and cash his remaining clubs for down 3, but here we face a nice question: is this a 100 Gee-Spot, or only 75? The 75 Party could argue that there is a 25% chance that East holds both heart honors. (Maybe more, considering his 3S bid.) Wrong. East’s hand is marked as 6-4-2-1. If East had KQxx, he would shift to the heart king, playing his partner for 10xxx and a minor suit entry and hoping to drop declarer’s spot. That has to be better than diamond jack into A8xx from J10 tight. The play marks West with at least one heart honor, and I award the hand a perfect score.

After the hand Gee himself remarks: “darn me :((( too greedy :((((” There are other expletives, and other adjectives.

Feb 052003

“Four diamonds doubled is like eight diamonds.”

Permalink February 5, 2003 No Responses »

Bridge in the Alternative

Feb 012003

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: K

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

West

Pass
Pass

North
1NT
3NT

East
3

Pass

South
3

Pass

In a court of law, where the defense is not obliged to tell a coherent story but only to cast doubt on the prosecution’s, a well-established technique is to argue in the alternative. The defendant accused of borrowing a tea-kettle and returning it broken might maintain that he never borrowed it, that it was broken when he borrowed it, and that he returned it in perfect condition.

Our hero is in a sticky situation after East’s preemptive overcall. Fortunately, he can bid in the alternative, with a three heart call alerted as “to play.” A spec wants to know how an ordinarily forcing bid can be to play. A more experienced spec explains: “Because he doesn’t have a good enough hand to force to game. With a better hand, 3H would be forcing.” This is bidding in the alternative.

North, however, is unfamiliar with the concept and bids 3NT. On a diamond lead this would roll home, but East finds the exceptional lead of the heart king, and the contract has no hope. Declarer can’t be blamed too severely for trying to make his contract by ducking the heart and finessing the jack on the second round. West promptly leads the diamond queen back through. North plays the king on the first round, which would make him look pretty foolish if diamonds were 7-1 but makes no difference on the actual layout. Down 4.

Our hero is nonplussed:

G: when I show heart, why are we playing in NT?
ralphm: why do you ask? i have 8x in hearts

Sigh. Doesn’t anybody understand that three hearts is not, in this case, a forcing bid? “Besides,” Gerard adds to the specs, “he went down four because of his poor play. 3NT is very makeable.”

Jan 262003

I was saddened to hear today that Curtis Loftis, curtisxx on OKBridge and a frequent and valued commentator not only in the Gee Chronicles but elsewhere on the site as well, died from heart complications. The honor roll, of which, thanks to his contributions here, he was a prominent member, has been dedicated to him.

Curtis apparently had serious heart problems yet never mentioned them in public, at least not to me. He was 48 years old.

Scarce a day doth pass, but that I hear
Some one or other’s dead, and to my ear
Me thinks it is no news. But oh! did I
Think deeply on it, what it is to die,
My pulses all would beat, I would not be
Drowned in this deluge of security.

—Philip Pain

Out of Control

Jan 262003

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: K

	rjoshi 7 K 9 7 4 9 8 5 Q J 6 4 3
karlz A 9 6 4 A Q J 2 7 6 2 10 9		Maestro K Q 5 10 8 5 3 A K 10 4 3 7
	dcorn J 10 8 3 2 6 Q J A K 8 5 2

West
Pass
Dbl
2

Pass

North
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
1

South
1

Pass
Pass

Trump management is one of those fine points that, all together, make up the vast gulf, the yawning chasm separating the student from the teacher, the STCP™ from the master, the expert from the EXPERT.

Our hero is declaring 4H after an aggressive but reasonable auction. The spade cue shows a maximum and invites to game, and Gee, vulnerable at IMPs, raises to what is likely to be an underdog but playable game, despite his minimum. There is of course the vital consideration that he will declare.

The defense begins with two rounds of clubs, forcing the closed hand to ruff. Gee runs the trump 10, which holds. Another round of trump reveals the bad news, as South discards a spade. Gee goes up with the trump ace and makes the brilliant discovery play of a round of spades. All follow, and he knows that South began with exactly five.

Only now does he start the diamonds. The first round brings the jack from South. Restricted choice dictates a second-round finesse, and the STCP™ might get confused here. Not the master: he reasons that a diamond stiff would make South 5-6 in the blacks and at favorable vulnerability a good bet to bid 3C over 2H. Yet he passed. So the jack must be from QJ doubleton. Et voilà: the second top honor drops the queen.

Coda

With all side suit winners, one trick in for the defense, and two trump outstanding, Gee’s next play is a trump. North wins the king and drives out dummy’s last trump with a club, retaining the master trump, ruffing in on the spade and cashing two clubs. Down 2.

Jan 232003

“I did not ask to be famous.”

Permalink January 23, 2003 No Responses »

After You Alphonse

Jan 222003

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 6

	Maestro A 7 3 2 5 J 10 7 6 4 2 Q 10
fan 8 Q 9 8 7 4 A Q 3 A 9 8 7		rinehart K Q 10 5 4 A J 6 K 5 4 3 2
	laurel J 9 6 K 10 3 2 9 8 5 K J 6

West

2NT
3NT

North
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
1

Pass

South
Pass
Pass
Pass

How can you toss a hand? Let me count the ways.

Today’s West, holding a game-going hand opposite his partner’s one spade opener, elects to suppress his five-card heart suit in favor of a masterminding 2NT. Naturally, in the parallel universe that is the Gee Chronicles, this is rewarded, as 3NT turns out to be a good deal better than the more natural 4H, which suffers from lack of entries to the closed hand and is always down against decent defense.

Gee leads the D6, best for the defense, but there should be no hope. Declarer needs only four heart tricks, and best is to win in dummy and lead the heart jack, dropping a high spot underneath it. (Otherwise if South holds K10xx, as in the actual layout, she can return a heart to kill dummy’s last entry prematurely and the defense can come to five tricks in the end.) Whether the heart is ducked or won, play a spade honor and return to hearts. This line wins unless a) hearts are 5-0 or South holds a small stiff; or the defense shifts to clubs, they break badly and the long hand also holds the spade ace.

Our declarer, however, plays the heart ace, and now things are up for grabs. This is followed by the heart jack, and South wins the king and continues diamonds. At this point dummy is dead and the contract is hopeless against sentient defense. But wait! declarer leads a spade and our hero ducks, tossing away the defense’s only hope, that declarer has a stiff spade.

Now declarer need only take the marked heart finesse for nine tricks, but wait! declarer leads the heart 6 all right, but then overtakes with the queen.

Declarer plays another heart, as good as anything, driving out South’s 10. South plays a third round of diamonds, and surely declarer can now come to only eight tricks.

Declarer cashes the last heart, on which both defenders throw spades, and the club ace and another club. South should know that Gee is left with a diamond winner and the spade ace, and let the club queen hold. But she overtakes to cash the club jack. Still no harm done; the spade ace makes five tricks for the defense… but wait! Gee discards the spade ace on South’s club winner, keeping the crucial 13th diamond.

“By overtaking my club,” says Gee, “you denied having any spades.”

Trust, But Verify

Jan 192003

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: A

	Maestro 4 6 10 7 6 5 4 A K Q 8 7 2
lucinha Q 7 5 4 2 9 8 3 J 10 6 4 3		wheels A 9 8 3 2 K 10 9 7 3 A Q J —
	drduby K J 10 6 5 A Q J 8 K 2 9 5

West
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Dbl

North
Pass
2NT
4

Pass
5

Pass

East
1

Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass

South
Pass
Dbl
4

4NT
Pass
Pass

Remembering that your partner has needs, desires, and 13 cards has been stressed in these pages many times. Yet Gerard continues to find new ways to emphasize its importance.

Today’s auction will repay careful study. Note, to begin with, the unusual notrump balance. This has the dual merit of right-siding the hand if your partner takes it into his head to want to play notrump (as it happens 3NT has chances for North/South, especially with South declaring where a spade lead is likely), and sucking up as much bidding room as possible on a hand that is at least even money to belong to your side.

3H, too, has merits. When your partner can’t muster a response to an opener and the bidding shows length and strength behind you in both of your broken suits — then bid it up, by all means.

3HX goes for 500, maybe 800. But Gee bid 2NT in the first place with the intention of rebidding his lovely clubs, and no mere penalty double is going to change his mind. South’s 4H is a conventional bid that says, “You were an idiot not to leave in my penalty double.” Gee passes this, which beggars description. Expert table feel pays off again as East doubles. At this point I suppose 4NT asks to choose a minor, or maybe it’s to play, I just don’t know any more. In any case Gee naturally chooses clubs. The penalty double, marking the trump position, is a last nice idea to end the auction.

East cashes the spade ace and continues spades. Gee understandably inserts the 10, bringing down West’s spade queen. Every card is now marked, yet there is still a line available for off 2. Gee cashes the trump ace, East of course showing out, ditching a heart. He takes the heart finesse and cashes two spades, sluffing diamonds as West sluffs her last two hearts. The heart ace is ruffed low and overruffed. East rises on the diamond with the ace and returns another, the king holding. Now Gee leads a heart and makes the key play of discarding a diamond, allowing East to win the heart king, the only way of assuring himself both a heart and a trump loser.

The post mortem also proves instructive:

drduby: from now on we trust each other
G: I always trust you, pard
drduby: Except when I double
G: Yes
G [the meaning of his partner’s last remark having finally dawned on him]: He was not going to pass anyway

Suit Combinations

Jan 132003

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 6

	marcj K 7 4 2 Q 8 10 5 2 8 7 3 2
aaara 9 J 2 K J 8 7 6 4 J 10 9 4		bania A Q J 8 3 10 9 7 6 4 3 A 6
	Maestro 10 6 5 A K 5 3 A Q 9 K Q 5

West

2
Pass

North
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
1

Pass

South
Dbl
Dbl

We begin with two questions. Assuming you have no dummy entries,

1. How do you play 9 opposite AQJ83 for no losers?

2. How do you play J2 opposite 109764 for two losers?

Answers below; first there is bidding to consider. No one could object to Gee’s first double, with 18 points and at least three-card support in all the unbid suits. West’s 2D is a weak bid, showing length, since he has redouble available to show a good hand. East makes the obvious rebid of 2H, putting matters back in Gee’s hands.

Four likely defensive tricks, spade and diamond honors favorably placed for the opponents, broke partner: double of course. How else is partner going to know you have 18 points? North, having been advised that Gee has 18 points, passes, not that he has any choice, and once again it is up to the maestro to lead.

Since North shows up with two defensive tricks after promising nothing, 2H, remarkably, should go down — one on best play, two if declarer misguesses spades, which is likely. The STCP™ might think to lead a trump to cut down on spade ruffs, but Gee has a better idea: he opens the six of spades! North covers the board’s 9 with the king. This is not the world’s best defensive play but perhaps he can plead deep shock. Declarer wins the spade ace and promptly leads his low diamond.

Gee goes up with the diamond ace and decides the time has come to kill the spade ruffs. He plays the trump ace, following with the trump king, in case a third round of trump should prove necessary; you can’t be too careful about these things. Bad luck: this squashes his partner’s natural trump trick.

Now Gee shifts back to spades, relieving declarer of the obligation to drop the 10. Declarer pulls the rest of the trump and scores the doubled uptrick, giving up a club at the end. On the bright side, the diamond king never scores, there are no spade ruffs, and East/West were apparently unfamiliar with the Bones Redouble.

Answer Key

1. Put Gee on lead.

2. Put Gee on lead.

Perfect Practice

Jan 102003

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: 4

	Maestro K Q 9 7 4 3 — K 8 7 5 4 K Q
sandree 6 A K J 10 3 2 J J 6 4 3 2		travis J 8 5 9 7 5 4 10 9 6 A 10 9
	peterw A 10 2 Q 8 6 A Q 3 2 8 7 5

West

2NT
Pass

North

East
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

It isn’t enough to take the practice finesse. You have to know which way to take the practice finesse.

North-South arrive at the spade game after a brief but instructive auction. Gee, North, with a four-loser hand and five-card trump support opposite his partner’s opener, concludes as captain that there is no reason to investigate slam. Accordingly he signs off with 4S, in a six-card spade suit to the KQ9 in which his partner, for all he knows, is void, spurning the more pedestrian bids of 3H, 3C, 3S, double, 4H, 4C, 5D, 6D and one or two others I’m sure I’ve overlooked.

Yet his effort to right-side the hand pays off. Gee ruffs the heart lead, slaps down the king of spades, both defenders following, and finesses the 10 on the second round. It holds and North-South chalk up a glorious 680. The diamond and spade slams are cold, unluckily; and Gee does make a handsome concession in the post mortem:

G: I was too conservative
peterw: did you peek at the SJ Gerard?
G: easy to know where the spades are :)))

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