Spots

You're playing matchpoints, and you hold AQ KQ753 KT9 953. You reach 3NT opposite K86 842 AQ73 KT6. (Yes, your partner should have raised you, but he didn't.) The club 7 comes to the 6 and queen. What do you play?

You have 3 spade tricks, 3 or 4 diamond tricks, one or more heart tricks, but only after losing the lead, and a club trick if they return them. Your best chance is that the HA is onside, and that they can't run clubs. So you want to confuse the club situation, and should not play the 3. Now when the C4 is returned, the opening leader doesn't know whether their partner has Q4 or Q43. If it's Q4, then they need to take their A now, or they're never getting it. If it's Q43, then they need to duck a round to try to run the suit later. But if you've already played the 3 they know what to do and you won't get the crucial overtrick.

Now, let's look at it from my partner's perspective. She held J97 JT6 65 AJ872, and led a club to the 6, Q, and 5 and had the C4 returned and covered by the 9. She correctly ducked. If they find the falsecard, they win, but it makes more sense to play them to have been forced to play those cards. And in reality at the table I held Q43. After the club king held, I flew ace on the first heart play (necessary as it turns out if they guess well) and we ran the clubs.

The hand is also interesting from my side at trick one. You know from dummy and the rule of 11 that declarer has one card above 7. (You can see 3 of the 4.) If it's the ace, it's important to duck the 7 to prevent the finesse against partner's jack for three tricks. But otherwise you need to rise to prevent three club winners. Since Q caters to 3 of the 4, it's most likely to be right. And some partners would have led the 9 from J987 anyway.

Slam fail

Sometimes it's easier when you don't get the big hands. Last night five of us played one of the instant matchpoint games from Richard Pavlicek's web site. It's a fun social format. Each of you makes six boards, then each possible pairing plays two of the six boards you made while you kibitz.

I held this monster in 2nd seat at all red:
S AQJ
H AJ3
D A
C AQJ942

First hand passed, so my first debate is what to open. I don't like opening minor-oriented hands 2C, and I'm unwilling to distort this and call it balanced, so I went with 1C. Partner responded 1H, and I'm stuck with 2S. No club bid is forcing, and I really want to hear about a fifth heart. Unfortunately partner raised to 3S.

Now what? Generally after faking a reverse or jump shift, retreating to your first bid suit makes clear you actually had a one-suiter. But that's much more common when the opening is in a major and the jump shift is in the minor. Nevertherless, I don't see a better option than 4C.

Unfortunately at this point my partner thought I was cuebidding for spades, and cooperated with 4D which got doubled. I jumped to 5NT (pick-a-slam). I'm not sure about this one either. I didn't want to give up on 6H at matchpoints, but not unsurprisingly partner thought the choice was between black suits. I corrected 6S to 6NT which the sneaking suspicion that I might as well bid 7 since I was either making with an overtrick or going down a lot depending on a black suit finesse.

Down 4 didn't score well, and of course 6C was cold opposite partner's actual hand, 10985 K962 7 K875.

Not good enough

I have a new high score in the category "out of first place by more than a board". Last night in an 8 table club game we finished at 68.90%. But the winners (also sitting our direction) had over 73%. Still it's hard to complain given my previous two efforts at the club. I thought we bid this hand nicely:

S AJ9732	KQ8
H KQ74	A6532
D void	KJ10
C A98	65

1S - 2H;
3H - 3S;
5D - 6C;
7H - P

After finding out about the double fit, partner launched into exclusion RKC. I showed two with the queen. (We don't have any special agreements about double fits, so this was just for spades.) She then placed the contract in the correct fit. 7H is cold (trump not 4-0) since you have six spades, five hearts, one club, and one diamond ruff. But you only make 6S since you're ruffing diamonds with the short trump instead of the long ones. Surprisingly we were the only pair in hearts, although some people made all the tricks in spades on a diamond lead.

Interestingly, you don't "need" the diamond honors to make the grand in hearts. But if you don't have them, it's very hard to discover everything in time because you don't get to start with a two-over-one bid. If you change the hand to three small diamonds, can you get there after 1S - 1NT - 2H?

Do I really have to?

Occasionally sessions are so bad that I don't really want to write about any of the hands, but after two in a row like that, I suppose I can't stay in denial forever.

I held this hand:
S 53
H KJ854
D 10754
C 75

The opponents (mostly) had the following auction, putting me on lead:
(P) 1C (1S) 2S;
(P) 3S (P) 3NT;
AP

So, what would you try?

Partner bid spades, but then neglected to double 3S, so spades don't seem particularly attractive from 3 small. (Best case is probably that partner can set up the suit after knocking out two stoppers.) A heart doesn't need much to be safe, just the queen (and possibly just the 10 if AQ is behind me), and seems to offer the best chance of a set, so that's what I went with. It's also possible a club is right, since it's matchpoints, and that's highly unlikely to blow a trick in their known fit.

Dummy tracked with A762 of hearts, and partner won the queen. On the return of partner's 9 and declarer's 10, I played the jack, ducked again by declarer. Eventually we also scored the diamond ace, but partner was out of hearts, so that was it. Declarer could have made another overtrick by playing hearts to be 5-2, but he can't tell whether partner returned the heart from 9 or 94.

In most of my partnerships, but not this one, partner's pass over 3S would actually have suggested leading them. In general you're going to want to lead partner's overcalled suit, so doubling to say "lead my suit" just gives them more room in the auction (including possibly an XX to put partner back on lead). So with known length, we double to say "don't lead my suit", only giving the opponents more room in the less common case.

Slamming

Matchpoints again, vulnerable against not, partner held this in third seat:
S void
H QJ9632
D 1043
C Q742

I opened a diamond, left hand opponent passed, and it's her call. What would you bid? You have 2H available as weak.

My partner bid 1H which I like. I think the hand is too good in support of both minors to block them out prematurely. The auction continued quite vigorously:

1D (P) 1H (1S);
3C (3H*) P (4S); *no one asked what this was
5C (5S) ?

Now what? (Feel free to comment on the second round pass too.)

Partner should have at most 3 major suit cards, and that many only if the minors are solid or close to it. It wouldn't be too surprising given your spade void if partner is short in hearts, although certainly the opponents *could* have 12 or 13 spades. It's possible if 6C is down that 5S was making and down 1 is a profitable sacrifice even at these colors. So my partner bid 6C, which I thought was a good bid.

This put fourth seat on the spot with this hand:
S AK10743
H A5
D 9862
C 6

And, unluckily, he believed our bidding and took a sacrifice holding three quick tricks! Which turned out to be correct since I held solid clubs (but for partner's queen) and diamonds and only one heart. +100 was below average although it did beat the -850 from the pair that doubled the making 5S. But worst of all, my diamonds were actually AKQJ7, so if he'd doubled instead, I'd have won two beers (or four, I suppose, depending on how greedy I was).

The Rabbi

I actually played most of last weekend in a local sectional, but playing two sessions, going out with friends after, sleeping in, and repeating wasn't exactly conducive to writing. I'll try to drop in one or two, but I'm certainly not going to manage a hand from all six sessions.

I held this hand in second seat at matchpoints with everyone vulnerable:
S AQ742
H 32
D A964
C J10

Would you open? And playing 12-14 no trumps, is it 1S or 1NT?

Seems like a 1S bid to me. I have an easy rebid over anything but 2H and even then we play that 2S doesn't show extra length. Next hand overcalled 2H, partner made a limit raise with 3H, and I rejected it with 3S. This passed out, so I'm in 3S on the DK lead with this dummy:
S 985
H K4
D J2
C AK964

This is might be too good, as I think 10 tricks are possible and some pairs might be there. Nevertheless, how to play the hand?

On the lead, and the bidding, I am likely to have only one heart loser, and two diamond winners. If diamonds aren't 3-3, it would be nice to ruff one, but that only works if the long diamonds are with long spades. Alternately I have a possible club finesse for a pitch.

What about trump?

I have to lose one even if the finesse works, and it's possible I should be playing for Kx offside because of the overcall, but it's definitely right to play ace first to see what happens as I can always lead to the queen later if I think it's right. At that point my left hand opponent, one of the best players in the room, gives me a dirty look and follows face down. After dropping his stiff king, I have only one trump loser where a spade to the queen would have given me two. It turns out diamonds are 3-3, so I make ten tricks.

A different session at the sectional had the most amusing final result I'd seen. There was an 18 team board-a-match, and 4 of the teams (including mine) finished tied for first. So 16 of the 72 entrants were winners! There was another 4-way tie half a board behind.

How low can you go?

One of the things I've noticed about my bidding is that I'm more solid than most of my peers when it comes to 2-level overcalls. One of the most annoying overcalls to deal with is 2C over 1D because it's hard to sort out major suit fits. A common continuation is a negative double (only promising one major), and a club raise, and now a minimal opener with only one major doesn't know whether to compete. So I've been trying to be more aggressive in that specific auction.

I held this at matchpoints in fourth seat with two passes and a 1D opening to me:
S A53
H J104
D J7
C QJ983

I'd like to hear opinions on whether this is an appropriate overcall. I did at the table and we had this full auction:

(P) P (1D) 2C;
(X) P (2D) P;
(3NT) AP

And now we get a defensive problem. Partner led the SK, and this hand came down in dummy:
S 1062
H A
D AKQ63
C 10742

What do you play to trick 1?

I lazily played an encouraging spade (low for us), so partner would continue the suit and we could run it. Partner switched, and they wrapped it up. Originally I was annoyed, but I realized I should have done better. Although you don't normally unblock with Axx, I can tell it's safe to do so here. I know partner has at least KQJx because the 10 is in dummy (ruling out KQ10x) and she led the suit when I bid something else (ruling out a lead from shortness). Thus we have the first 4+ spade tricks as long as we cash them.

Partner actually holding KQJ74 switched at trick two thinking I had a stiff and the negative doubler had four. It's probably right from her side to continue anyway to be sure, but I shouldn't have given her a chance to go wrong.

When is 15 not a minimum 1NT?

My opponent held this hand, and opened a strong (15-17) 1NT:
S A1094
H A6
D A7642
C K5

The auction proceeded as follows:
P (1NT) P (2C);
X (2S) 3C (3S);
P (?)

What's your call?

At our table, with only 15 points the hand passed out in 3S.

But this is a *great* hand on the auction. You have quick tricks, your king of clubs is likely to be working, you have ruffing potential in two suits, you have a long suit to possibly set up, and you have good trump spots which will help if trump don't break. Obviously game made or I wouldn't be sharing. :)

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do

You're in 3rd seat at matchpoints in a club game with this hand:
S Kxx
H KQxx
D Qxx
C Q10x

Your partner opens a preemptive 3S and the next hand overcalls 4C. What would you do?

You've got a lot of values, and probably a club trick, but you're nowhere close to contributing enough for 4S to make, and you don't really have enough to double either, so pass by default.

Surprisingly 4C is raised to 5C and the auction comes back around to you. Still passing? And does it matter that your opponents aren't very good?

I figured I had a sure heart trick, a sure club trick, and enough chances for a third (and maybe fourth) trick that it was worth doubling. If partner can't contribute anything I'll probably get 100, and if partner can, then the 300 might be necessary to outscore the 140s and 170s our way.

Dummy was a bit of a surprise:
S 10xx
H AJx
D AJxx
C KJx

So much for the club trick, or really any of the other good things that might happen. Declarer didn't finesse clubs and still made 5C. The double didn't cost any matchpoints, though, since no one else in the room bid 4C with his hand:
S void
H xxx
D Kxxx
C A10xxxx

Later in the evening our opponents found a 5-4 heart fit, then played slam in their 6-3 diamond fit instead. Of course only the diamond slam succeeds. On that hand we had a 12 card spade fit with AK109 opposite QJxxxxxx. So one of my friends got to provide 8-card support for his partner's (four card) overcall.

Where did that come from?

My opponent on Saturday held the following hand in second seat with no one vulnerable:
S 3
H 3
D A10954
C AK9852

After my partner opened 1H, they bid the obvious 2NT for the minors. I passed and their partner jumped to 4D, inviting game. This hand has a pretty easy acceptance, and bid 5D (although, incidentally I think it's too good for this, and should cue bid along the way).

Now I bid 5H, and there were two passes back to this hand. What would you do?

To recap:
(1H) 2NT (P) 4D;
(P) 5D (5H) P;
(P) ?

The first question is whether your partner's pass was forcing. Many people play that when game is freely bid that pass is forcing. If that's what your agreement is, then your only real options are X and 6D, and you have the inference that your partner has at least some extra offense, or they would have doubled. If you're not playing that pass is forcing, then you've also got pass as a choice with this hand, and you know less about your partner's hand.

I don't know what's right, although I think the decision would have been easier if you'd cue bid earlier. It also depends a lot on who your opponent is, although I suspect any opponent passing originally, then bidding at the 5 level has some kind of surprise in store. I'm pretty sure though, looking at 3 quick tricks that I'd double anyway. At the table my opponent passed.

So what did I have for my bidding? SKQ109742 HJ975 D7 C10. I was pretty sure we didn't have slam (playing partner for 4 of 5 key cards), so I wanted to see how high the opponents were going to bid constructively, planning to bid hearts over their final contract no matter what it was. Certainly other options exist, including immediate heart raises, splinters, and spade showing bids. The question is whether making a more descriptive bid will help partner more than it will help the opponents.

In the end we made 5H on our combined 18 high card points for a pretty good board. It turns out the right decision for my opponent was to bid 6D, not because it makes, but because down one was a good sacrifice!

Basic Counting

You hold the following hand:
S AQ93
H 985
D 10865
C J8

The opponents have the following auction to 3NT:
1C - 1H;
1NT(1) - 2D(2);
2NT - 3C;
3D - 3NT

(1) 15-17
(2) New minor forcing

What do you lead?

Normally AQ93 is not an attractive holding to lead from, especially at matchpoints when blowing an overtrick is a very big deal, but it sure seems like from the auction the opponents don't have much strength there, so it was the S2 for me. On the first round dummy shows up with a stiff 7 and partner wins the king, declarer following with the 2.

Partner returns the S6 and declarer plays the 4. At this point you can win your 9 and cash out the suit. But this is a bad idea! Remember the auction -- declarer denied having 4 spades when they rebid 2NT over the New Minor Forcing bid. So you know that your partner has 5 or 6 spades, and if you play the 9 now you can't get them in to finish running the suit.

Playing Ace then queen then 9 lets partner overtake, and you have the first 5 tricks against 3NT. A good thing too as the opponents have 11 top tricks outside the spade suit.

Incidentally, at the table, at the sight of dummy the declarer began berating his partner about what a terrible bid 3NT was. While it's always the case on this hand that you can count the suit and know to unblock it, there will be other hands where it's not so obvious. No matter how much you're fuming as declarer, if you can stay calm the opponents are a lot more likely to err.

In the beginnning...

I like writing about bridge, but I frequently don't make the time for it. As an experiment I'm going to write about one hand each time I play bridge. It might be instructive, it might be humorous, or it might be of interest only to me. I hope you enjoy it.