Hands

Why Does He Always Know Better?

Aug 312002

E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: A

	justinl 7 5 A K 9 8 A 10 7 6 5 2 —
barbh 9 8 6 4 3 2 5 3 8 3 A 9 6		fireant K Q J 7 4 2 K Q J 10 8 5 2
	Maestro A 10 Q J 10 6 Q J 9 K 7 4 3

West

Pass
Pass
Pass

North
1

East
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
1

Pass

I’m in a good mood today. I’m going to publish a successful hand. (Courtesy, again, of the indefatigable Alexander Ananin.)

Our hero is South, partnered again by Seaman Lall. The auction has certain points of interest. Justin’s 3S “splinter” with two dead spades is cute, particularly with an actual club void. “Let us experiment a little,” he remarks to the specs as he makes it. (East neglects to double 3S, as she should, for the lead. This will figure prominently in the hand later on.) Gee has extras but not very slammish ones. 4C is tolerable; 3NT, eliciting more description and intending to cue 4S over North’s rebid, is better.

North figures the cue bid shows extras, never mind where they are, and leaps straight to 6H, against which West opens, catastrophically, the club ace.

6H is essentially a 50-50 proposition on a spade lead, but now the hand is cold as long as trump aren’t 5-0. Pull trump, hook the diamond, win any return, and claim.

Back at the table, Gee ruffs the CA in dummy, pulls three rounds of trump, and cashes the club king. Only then does he take the diamond finesse. It loses, and East has a chance to cash two clubs. But East apparently surmises South’s hand as xxx QJ10x QJxx Kx. (For her failure to imagine Gee’s actual hand it is difficult to blame her.) She leads a spade. Making 6.

It’s time for a conversation:

G: I had to bluff… does not work the other way… not enough trumps
justinl: …
justinl: just pull trump and hook the diamond
G: no justin… it does not work
justinl: OK gee
G: and look at results… nobody makes but me
Spec #1: fireant the double goat, did not x 3S and did not cash out
justinl: sorry i almost had a heart attack, have to go now
justinl: GEE
justinl: THEY ALL LED A SPADE
justinl: thanks all
justinl has left the table.
G: ty Justin
G: why does he always know better?
Spec #2: LOLOL
G: ty barb, fire, specs
(In lobby)
justinl: WILL SOMBODY EXPLAIN TO GEE
justinl: HE WILL NOT BELIEVE ME
justinl: SOMEBODY ANYBODY
G: Justin… I made it… right? so… stop that
G: that contract cannot make any other way… I don’t have the stuff

The Royal Road

Aug 302002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: 3

	kenmon J 9 6 3 K J A Q 3 J 9 4 3
Maestro A Q 7 4 A 4 2 K 9 6 2 K 7		alsze K 10 5 Q 10 8 7 5 J 8 7 A 8
	a-yummy 8 2 9 6 3 10 5 4 Q 10 6 5 2

West
1NT
2

North
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
2

3NT
Pass

South
Pass
Pass
Pass

Many, even most, hands have several routes to failure and only one to success. Far rarer is the hand where every line succeeds but one.

Gee is West, declaring the heart game after an entirely orthodox auction. North leads the C3, best for the defense; any other lead gives up the contract immediately.

Let’s plan the play. There are five possible losers, two in trump and three in diamonds. One of the possible diamond losers disappears if the spades come in. The hand is also rife with endplay possibilities. Probably best is to cash the second club and play the trump ace and another trump, finessing the 10 if North plays low. If South holds the king second she is endplayed immediately and the hand makes. With jack second she is still endplayed. She either forces an immediate guess in diamonds or gives up a ruff-sluff, and depending on the layout declarer has chances either way.

On the actual layout North holds KJ tight in trump and is forced to win the second trump and give up a ruff-sluff, a diamond trick, or a free winning finesse in spades. Making 4.

Inferior lines also succeed. Pulling trump without eliminating clubs and taking the double finesse in diamonds works. Finessing the spade 10 and hoping the DA is onside if it loses works.

What doesn’t work? Gee wins the first trick with the CK and leads a low trump from dummy. North wins the king and leads another club. Gee wins the CA and pulls two more rounds of trump. He then leads out his three top spades, ending in his hand, hoping to drop the jack. Jack doesn’t drop. Now he has four diamonds and a spade left in his hand; no more double finesse in diamonds. He still survives if he guesses diamonds, but he leads a small diamond and inserts the 8, which loses to the 10. He winds up losing two more diamond tricks for down 1.

Well. That doesn’t work.

Judgment Day

Aug 292002

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 5

	francis K 10 8 Q 6 5 4 3 — A Q 8 6 4
seddon A J 7 4 10 Q J 7 5 K 9 7 3		tomn Q 9 5 2 J A 10 9 6 4 J 10 2
	Maestro 6 3 A K 9 8 7 2 K 8 3 2 5

West

Pass
Dbl
Pass

North

1
Pass
Pass

East

Pass
4

South
Pass
4

Pass

If two wrongs don’t make a right, what do three wrongs make? (Answer below.)

Gee, South, has three chances to bid today. With a 2-6-4-1 hand, ten prime points and semi-solid hearts, many players would venture 1H. Others might take into account the unfavorable vulnerability and open 2H. Gee, possibly uniquely, passes.

North opens 1H third-hand, which for South is surely a dream bid. East passes, and again it’s up to our hero. Game is surely cold and slam is probably in the offing if North has a real opener, depending on his distribution. There are even magic minimum hands on which the grand is laydown, like Axxx Jxxxxx void AKx, and of course North may have considerably more than that.

South could bid Drury, then splinter in clubs. He could splinter in clubs directly. He could bid Jacoby 2NT, if the partnership plays that as a passed hand. (Whether he should be a passed hand is a different question.) And he could also sign off with 4H, Gee’s actual choice. An oft-cited piece of bidding advice is “to have your bid, plus a queen.” Having your bid plus an ace and a king is perhaps taking things too far.

West doubles for takeout, which I can’t fault on the auction and at the vulnerability. North passes, to await developments, and East bids 4S.

It is difficult to construct a North hand on which N/S can take fewer than eleven tricks, and on such a hand 4S probably makes as well. You don’t want to defend under any circumstances. A novice would bid 5H. An expert would probably bid Key Card Blackwood. Our hero passes.

North should double. He has three probable defensive tricks and it’s unlikely that 4S can make on this sort of distribution if West can’t open and East can’t bid over 1H. But he passes, mesmerized by his partner’s bidding. Gee leads his stiff club, and N/S take the first six tricks plus the trump king, for down 4.

Three wrongs, it turns out, make +200. Or -10.36. Depending on the units you prefer.

O Captain! My Captain!

Aug 282002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 10

	justinl A Q 3 2 A 5 2 10 5 3 J 8 4
pjm13 10 9 8 7 K J 8 3 4 2 A 10 3		moshel K J 6 10 7 4 A K Q 9 8 6 7
	Maestro 5 4 Q 9 6 J 7 K Q 9 6 5 2

West

Dbl
3NT
Dbl

North
Pass
2NT
Dbl
Pass

East
1

Pass
Pass

South
2

Pass
4

Pass

Crises tend to blur distinctions in rank. Who is captain, who is crew? When the ship is sinking, who cares?

Captain Gee sits South today, and overcalls East’s 1D opener with 2C, a bid for which he is no more than an ace short. After West makes a negative double, North, Seaman First Class Justin Lall, begins to wonder whether they’re playing with a pinochle deck. He finally opts for 2NT. I would choose 2D, and reserve 2NT for a hand of the same strength but more in diamonds and less in clubs, say, AJxx Kxx Kxxx xx. But 2NT is certainly better than a different suggestion he gets later on.

East bids 3C, asking a club stopper, and West answers affirmatively with 3NT. Seaman Lall doubles; you can hardly blame him. 3NT succeeds, miraculously, on the normal line of ducking two clubs and playing North for both spade honors and the heart ace, but ironically the 2NT bid may beat it. An expert West would at least consider taking the double finesse in diamonds.

The Captain, however, as befits his rank, elects to pull to 4C and go down with the ship. West doubles and leads the S10.

Under ordinary circumstances the pull would save 50 points, 550 vs. 500, but here we specialize in the extraordinary. The spade finesse loses, and East cashes two top diamonds, on which West plays high-low. This makes the layout clear. West must have the HK and the CA for his bid and East must have six diamonds for his. But the Captain, still stung by his crew’s insubordination, ruffs the third diamond low instead of discarding his heart loser.

West overruffs and returns a spade, won by dummy’s ace. Gee plays a trump, and West wins the trump ace and errs by returning a spade. (A trump breaks up the squeeze.) Now 500 can still be salvaged: running trump squeezes West in the majors. Gee draws the last trump and plays a low heart from dummy. 800.

Court-martial ensues:

G: do you push the auction? just bid 3C will shut them off, I think
justinl: just bid 3C Gee?
G: no… I was captain in this auction
G: you show your hand, period
justinl: no there was no captain
G: huh?
justinl: bridge is not a conversation with the captain
G: ok… ty justin
justinl: it’s one guy lying to the other
justinl: and the other saying “what?”
justinl: that’s no conversation
G: I see we are not getting anywhere that way, and certainly not after you insult me
G: ty opps, justin and opps
G: bye all
justinl has left the table.
Spec #1: the captain fell overboard, the ship sank but so what
G: you are stupid
Spec #1: this is not fair….:-)
G: keep your remarks to yourself… that way we’ll still think you are intelligent
Spec #1: but what about the ship?

That’s mutiny, Seaman! Mutiny I tell you!

Locus Classicus

Aug 272002

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 2

	o_bones K J 7 6 5 10 7 5 4 A 6 3 2
yazar A 10 9 4 3 10 6 Q 3 K J 10 5		Maestro Q K J 9 7 4 3 K 6 2 Q 9 8
	misu 8 5 2 A Q 8 2 A J 9 8 7 4

West

1
3
Pass
Pass

North
Pass
Pass
Pass
Dbl

East
1

3NT
Pass

South
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

Some of my readers seem confused about the Bones Principle — confusion that I myself have perpetrated and that I hope to clear up with today’s hand. No one states the Principle more clearly than the author himself:

When defending versus Gee, if he is to play the hand, wait until he stops bidding; then, no matter your hand or the auction, double for penalties. It will be the winning action in about 90% of the cases.

It follows, as the author has noted elsewhere, that a pure Bones Principle double requires a hand on which one would never dream, otherwise, of doubling for penalties. A hand, in short, like today’s.

Gee, East, picks up one of the world’s worst eleven points. Any STCP™ would open the hand 2H. Gee gives himself full value for the stiff SQ, upgrades for the likelihood that he will declare, and opens 1H instead.

After a 1S response and a 2H rebid, West continues with an ill-advised 3C instead of passing, and storm clouds appear on the horizon. It’s not too late for Gee to bid 3H, which is off 1 on perfect defense (club lead and duck) but likely makes at the table. But Gee’s thinking, diamond stopper, club support, why not 3NT? The only thing his hand lacks is actual tricks.

3NT is passed around to Bones. Against an ordinary declarer he has no double. The auction normally indicates an East holding like xx AKQxxx Kxx Qx, on which 3NT probably makes, even on a spade lead, if West actually has his bid.

Bones doubles anyway, providing us with a canonical application of the Bones Principle. It is a nice question, on which, perhaps, the author might care to inform us, whether a Bones Principle double against 3NT also calls for leading dummy’s first-bid suit. Misu apparently thinks so; he leads the S2. Gee ducks, and Bones wins the SK and returns a diamond, ducked by Misu to the queen. Now the defense always comes to two spades, two hearts, three diamonds and a club: eight tricks. The hand has a final, remarkable point of interest. I would have thought it impossible, before today, to beat a freely-bid 3NT four tricks without even a single five-card suit.

If you’re still confused about the Bones Principle after all this, perhaps the specs can set you straight:

Spec #1 (before double): the bones principle may come into play
Spec #2: for the unenlightened among us, what is the bones principle?
Spec #1: it means to double G purely on the fact that he has voluntarily bid
Spec #2 (after double): wow! has it been patented yet? great double!
Spec #3: this bones principle sounds like an illegal bid to me
Spec #4: isn’t it alertable?
Spec #3: it’s not on general convention chart
Spec #4: brown sticker?

Bidder’s Remorse

Aug 262002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 3

	seymon K Q 10 6 4 3 J 4 3 K 5 4 2
kasey J K 4 3 A J 10 8 7 5 J 10 3		scott-1 9 7 5 2 A Q 9 8 5 2 6 2 6
	Maestro A 8 10 7 6 K Q 9 A Q 9 8 7

West

1
3
Pass

North

1
4
Pass

East

2
Pass
Pass

South
1

2NT
4NT

Today’s hand illustrates an important but frequently overlooked point in bidding theory: don’t be in a hurry to bid notrump. You can always bid it later.

Gee sits South. With a 2-3-3-5 hand, 15 points, good spots, and tenaces in the minors, the STCP™ might open 1NT. Gee knows there’ll be plenty of time to bid notrump later and opens 1C instead.

West overcalls 1D, North shows his 5+ spades, East bids 2H, and it’s back to our hero. A good spot for a Western cuebid of 3H, asking for a heart stopper? Not so fast. Gee shrewdly opts for 2NT. Geeselle, who sent me this beauty, theorizes that this is a case of “bidder’s remorse”: Gee regrets not having opened 1NT and is trying to compensate. She underestimates our hero. 2NT is tactical. Sure, 10xx isn’t much of a heart stopper, but the 2NT bid ought to discourage West from leading hearts: after all, only a moron would bid notrump in that position without a heart stopper, right? Besides, the cue would force North to bid notrump first. This would automatically wrong-side the hand, because Gee would not be playing it.

West raises to 3H and North, who figures his partner is showing a balanced hand with extras, reasonably bids the spade game. This is passed to our hero, who goes into the tank and emerges with…4NT!

Is it Blackwood? To play? Minor suit takeout? Experienced as I am in the Master’s Way I still don’t have the faintest idea. North reasons that Gee must hold a stiff spade with 1NT values — otherwise he’d open 1NT, right? — and passes, as the least of the evils. And I sympathize: I really do.

As Rommel could have told you, even the best tactics don’t always succeed. West leads a heart despite Gee’s strict instructions to the contrary, and the smoke clears seven tricks later. The churlish may notice that if Gee opens 1NT North transfers to spades at the 4-level and, even with some static from E/W, they likely play 4S, making 5. But where’s the pedagogical value in that?

If

Aug 252002

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: Q

	taryk Q 3 A 9 4 Q 10 9 8 5 8 4 3
fifee 6 4 K J 10 8 5 K J 7 K J 7		jimm A K 10 8 7 6 3 6 3 A Q 5 2
	Maestro J 9 7 5 2 Q 2 A 4 2 10 9 6

West
1

North
Pass
Pass
Pass

East
2

Pass

South
Pass
Pass
Pass

Our guest columnist, LorNic, writes:

I was kibitzing Gee the other day when this rather mundane hand came up. The auction and final contract appeared normal and, seeing all four hands, it looked like the hand would come down to a diamond guess for an overtrick. The opening lead was the SQ, a typical stab lead made by less than expert players. (From North it looks like passive defense won’t defeat this contract, which turns out to be true. I think the SQ is a pretty good lead on the auction. But then I’m less than expert myself. —Ed.) But while the layout was perfect for the lead, there would be no reason for declarer to later take the “marked” finesse. Until I saw what happened on the next trick. Declarer wins the ace in dummy, leads a heart and our hero smoothly drops the queen.

Wow! What inspired this play? Look at its effect on declarer. Suddenly, with two apparent trump losers (assuming North has A9xx), the contract depends, she thinks, on the diamond guess. She covers the queen; North wins the ace and returns a low spade. Now declarer sees an opportunity. By taking the “marked” finesse for the SJ she can get one pitch on the spade, another on the long club, and avoid the diamond guess. So, not unreasonably, she inserts the ten.

Gee wins the SJ and needs only to return a spade, promoting North’s trump 9, to complete his brilliancy. (Technically he ought to cash the DA first but even that isn’t necessary.) He thinks matters over and returns a heart. The best laid plans of mice and men…

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.”

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

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