Good bye my friend, Shahriar

Shahriar was no mean player – watch him manoeuvre the play to make this “Shahriar bid”. When he saw dummy, I’m not sure he would have bet on himself to make 6 ♥ — even at 50-1.

West led the queen of diamonds, ducked all round, and continued with the jack, declarer ruffing. At trick three, declarer crossed to the queen of hearts (West in fact inserting the ten) in order to finesse the queen of spades. He cashed the ace of spades and when East correctly falsecarded by dropping the king (the card he was known to hold), Shahriar chuckled, “I don’t believe you.” Indeed, East would hardly make a take-out double of 2 ♥ with only two spades.

Declarer ruffed a third spade with the five of hearts then led a club to the ...ten. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his necessary deep finesse had succeeded. He now ruffed his fourth spade with the nine of hearts, East unable to overruff.

At trick nine, declarer led a second club to his queen. He cashed the ace-king of hearts, drawing the three remaining outstanding hearts, and tabled the ace of clubs and his remaining heart. That was an incredible 12 tricks and slam made — there had been no defence.

The staff and members of ARBC will all miss you hugely,Shahriar.

The Legendary Victor

Our Glaswegian hero ruffed West’s jack of diamonds lead and led the nine of spades (best), East playing low and the nine losing to West’s jack. West switched to the jack of hearts (best).

It appears declarer must lose two more spades and a heart. However, declarer saw a ray of hope. He led out the three top clubs and, when both opponents followed, continued with the fourth top club, ready to discard his heart loser (regardless of whether East chose to ruff with his ace).

The defence could choose their poison. If East declined to ruff, West ruffing low, declarer could ruff his second heart and lead a second spade, crashing the ace and king. Whereas if East ruffed (with the ace), again the defence would be unable to garner a fourth defensive trick, declarer’s heart having gone. Ten tricks and game made.

There is a winning defence. And I’m not simply talking about West leading a heart (unattractive from ♥ Jx, dummy having opened 1 ♥). The contract can be defeated on West’s actual jack of diamonds lead — have you spotted how? When declarer leads the nine of spades at trick two (as he must), East needs to fly in with the ace (key play). He should reason that his only chance looking at the powerful dummy is partner holding good spades — ♠ KQx or ♠ KJx — in which case he cannot leave himself with the bare ace. After rising with the ace, East can play any non-diamond and the game will go down.

Switching to the king of hearts looks best. Declarer will win dummy’s ace and may run four rounds of clubs. No good though, for East will ruff the fourth club low. If declarer overruffs, he’ll lose three spade tricks and a heart; if he discards his losing heart, he’ll lose four spade tricks. Declarer may (should) forget about clubs and instead lead a second spade from dummy, hoping the jack is onside. That won’t work either — West winning the jack, cashing the king then enjoying a heart. Down one.

A Counterintuitive Duck

Imagine this scenario. West opens  3♥ and you are declarer in, say, 4♠ . West leads ♥ K and this is your heart layout:

Today’s deal comes from a Gold Cup match and features fine play by Grazyna Wrobel of London. West chose to lead the queen of diamonds, rather than one of partner’s clubs. Declarer won the king and played the ace of clubs and ruffed a club. Now what?

Declarer needed to delay drawing trumps in order to ruff her two remaining clubs. But how to get back to hand? Tempting though it was to try the ace of diamonds, with a view to reaching hand via a diamond ruff, to do so would have been fatal. East would have ruffed and promptly returned a heart, leaving declarer no way home.

Declarer correctly thought it was highly likely West began with five diamonds — ♦ QJ109x feels a more attractive lead than partner’s clubs. That left East with no more diamonds. At trick four, declarer found the key play of leading a low diamond from dummy, conceding an apparently unnecessary trick.

East discarded a club and West won the nine of diamonds, switching to the king of spades (unable to lead a heart from his side). Declarer won dummy’s ace and, with the cross-ruff set up, could now lead the ace of diamonds.

East ruffed and declarer overruffed. She ruffed a third club (West discarding a spade — ruffing with the king no good), and ruffed a fourth diamond (East discarding a club). At trick nine, declarer ruffed her fourth club, West discarding a (low) spade.

Declarer had garnered eight tricks and had to score two more from her remaining ♥ AQJ. An unexpected overtrick materialised (because West discarded a low spade). Declarer ruffed dummy’s fifth diamond and, at trick 11, exited with her spade. West won the queen and had to lead from ♥ K3 round to ♥ AQ. Game made plus one — lovely.

A nose for tricks

Top players know the percentages but the greats of the game invariably trust their sniffer dog ahead of the bare odds. Take this grand slam from the 2nd European Winter Games in Monaco, starring the legendary Zia Mahmood.

Declarer needed all four diamond tricks (and a spade discard) to make this optimistic grand slam from the round of 16. The odds favour cashing the ace and leading low to the jack. This works on about 37 per cent of all splits, West holding ♦ Q, ♦ Qx, ♦ Qxx, ♦ Qxxx(x) (with no nine) and ♦ 9xxxx. Let’s see what Zia did, and try to work out why he did it.

Zia won West’s singleton jack of hearts opening lead in dummy and promptly cashed two more rounds (no, he didn’t miscount, he wanted to see East-West’s discards). West threw a fairly relaxed spade then a fairly relaxed club, and therein lies the key. A fairly relaxed discard of a suit usually indicates a five-card holding. Zia placed West with five spades and five clubs. That left room for just two diamonds. And if West held two diamonds to East’s four, the best way to play diamonds changes radically. At trick four, declarer called for dummy’s jack of diamonds (key play). East declined to cover, so the jack won. Declarer swiftly led a second diamond to his ten, cashed the ace, crossed to the king of spades, cashed the king of diamonds throwing his losing spade, and tabled his cards. Grand slam made.

Brilliant. And one may think lucky East did not hold ♦ Q97x, for he would cover the jack with that holding, restricting declarer to three diamond tricks. However, Zia would probably have made his slam anyway — can you see how?

After ♦ J, ♦ Q (from ♦ Q97x), A, low, declarer would cash the ten of diamonds, cross to the king, ruff dummy’s fourth diamond and run dummy’s trumps, discarding a spade on the last. On that final trump, West would be squeezed in the black suits, forced to come down to one club to keep three spades. Declarer would still have to guess whether that club was the king but with a sniffer dog like Zia’s, West may as well concede.

Zia won West’s singleton jack of hearts opening lead in dummy and promptly cashed two more rounds (no, he didn’t miscount, he wanted to see East-West’s discards). West threw a fairly relaxed spade then a fairly relaxed club, and therein lies the key. A fairly relaxed discard of a suit usually indicates a five-card holding. Zia placed West with five spades and five clubs. That left room for just two diamonds. And if West held two diamonds to East’s four, the best way to play diamonds changes radically. At trick four, declarer called for dummy’s jack of diamonds (key play). East declined to cover, so the jack won. Declarer swiftly led a second diamond to his ten, cashed the ace, crossed to the king of spades, cashed the king of diamonds throwing his losing spade, and tabled his cards. Grand slam made.

The fatal trick

On today’s slam deal, West leads the seven of spades. Happy to have avoided a diamond lead and a quick demise, you speedily play low from dummy to win your singleton king.

Needing to establish dummy’s clubs, at trick two you cross to the nine of hearts, cash the ace of spades discarding a diamond, then lead the king of clubs. East covers with the ace and you ruff. You cross to the jack of hearts, discarding a diamond, and cash the promoted queen of clubs, discarding another diamond. You ruff a third club and cross to dummy’s ace of hearts but, with West still holding a winning club, you’ve run out of entries. You have to concede two diamonds — down one.

My friend Giles Hargreave, declaring Six Hearts at the Portland Club, was happy to have avoided a diamond lead but there was no rush for him to play from the dummy. It was not as though West would suddenly whip away his spade lead and replace it with a diamond. Hargreave realised if he won the first spade in hand, the autopilot play, he would be an entry short to set up dummy’s two long clubs.

Declarer needed four dummy entries to set up the long clubs (assuming, as he had to, the suit split 4-3 with East holding ace): three ruffing entries and an entry to return to dummy at the end. He had three heart entries. The fourth dummy entry would have to be the ace of spades. Rising with the ace of spades at trick one would cost him one spade trick but gain him two club tricks. So that’s what he did.

After winning the ace of spades and crashing his king (cue admiration from the other players), at trick two he led the king of clubs, ruffing out East’s ace. He crossed to the nine of hearts, cashed the queen of clubs, discarding a diamond, and ruffed a third club (both opponents following to reveal the 4-3 split). He crossed to the jack of hearts and ruffed a fourth club. He then returned to the ace of hearts and could now enjoy the two long clubs. Away went two of his three remaining diamonds. He conceded only one diamond — 12 tricks and slam made.

A Family Team

The winning captain at the 2017 London Year End Congress Swiss Teams was world-famous American psychologist Marty Seligman. His three teammates are all England international players and all from the same family: David Bakhshi, his wife Heather and her son Liam Sanderson.

The Seligman team beat Kendrick in the last match to win on a split tie. This was the crucial deal. Both North-South pairs did well to reach 5 ♦ rather than 3 NT (down three on a club lead, assuming declarer plays diamonds in the nor-mal fashion, finessing into West).

Both Wests led a top spade. Versus Sanderson, West continued with a low spade at trick two. Declarer ruffed, cashed the ace of clubs, ruffed a club, crossed to the ace of hearts and ruffed a third club. He cashed the king-queen of hearts ( discarding a club and observing West's jack) and ruffed a third spade. He ruffed his fourth club (with the king) and his last three cards were ♦ AJlO. West ( whose last three cards were ♦ Q93) could win only one trick. Game made.

At the other table, Seligman, West, switched to a heart at trick wo. Declarer won in hand with the ace and played ace of clubs and ruffed a club. He ruffed a spade and ruffed a third club. He ruffed a third spade and ruffed a fourth club, as West (crucially) discarded a heart.

Declarer could still have succeeded by ruffing a fourth spade then leading to dummy's king-queen of hearts, discarding a club, forcing West to ruff and lead from ♦ Q9 round to his ♦ AJ. When instead he tried the king-queen of hearts, West could ruff, exit with a spade and wait to score his queen of diamonds. Down one.

Lords v’s Commons

The 2017 Lords v Commons played in November was won by the House of Commons by 36 imps, a decent margin over the 24 boards. Winning team: Bob Blackman-Tommy Sheppard, Michael Mates-Robin Squire, Bridget Prentice-Duncan Brack, Evan Harris-Archie Hamilton.

Board Five was an interesting 3 NT that was defeated at only one table. West leads the normal jack of hearts to East’s ace. As East, plan the defence.

You know partner has next-to nothing, for you have 14 points, dummy has 12 and declarer has advertised 12-14. That leaves room for no more than two points for partner and he has already turned up with one (the jack of hearts).

Returning a second heart is futile. Declarer will win and play on diamonds. He will force out your queen and ace and set up three diamond tricks to go with his three club tricks, king-queen of hearts and ace of spades. Nine tricks and game made.

Has the penny dropped? If you switch at trick two to a low spade (key play) and lead another low spade when you win the queen of diamonds, you will set up five defensive tricks. When you win the ace of diamonds, you’ll be able to cash the promoted king-jack of spades. Down one.

The point is the tempo is on your side — you can remove dummy’s two spade stoppers before declarer can remove your two diamond stoppers. It is counter-intuitive to lead from a king-jack round to dummy’s ace-queen and that’s what makes the defensive challenge so interesting.

The successful East-West defence occurred when West, Evan Harris, opted to try to find his partner at home with an opening spade lead, a very bright shot. The odds of being able to run his hearts given the lack of a sideentry are surely slender.

Dummy’s queen of spades lost to the king of East, Archie Hamilton. East continued with a low spade, declarer winning in dummy, crossing to a club and leading a diamond to the ten. East won the queen and could cash the king of spades and ace of diamonds. Down one.

For this winning defence, Harris and Hamilton were awarded the best play prize for the Tony Berry Trophy (retaining their title of the previous year).

Third Hand Plays

A five trick difference

I always take a closer look when I see a contract that has made two or three or four more tricks at one table than at another. There was a five-trick difference on this 4 ♥ from an ARBC Gentle Duplicate.

At Table One, East made the attacking lead of a spade away from his broken honours. I would recommend a heart lead, unwilling to lead from those kings.

Declarer ran the spade lead to his ten and, thinking East may have led a high-for-hate diamond without the king (instead of the dangerous spade), elected to play East for that card and take a ruffing finesse. He cashed the ace and led the queen, covered by king, and ruffed. He cashed the ace of hearts and followed with the queen. The 2-2 split revealed, he cashed the ace of spades, ruffed a spade (with the king) and enjoyed the jack-ten eight of diamonds, discarding all his clubs. All 13 tricks made. 

Table Two

We move to Table Two, where South declared 4 ♥ . West led a high-for-hate spade to the ten, jack and ace. Declarer (reasonably) decided that, with two choices of high-for-hate suits (spades and diamonds), he might have led a diamond instead. He played West for the king of diamonds.

At trick two, declarer led a diamond to the queen. East, Stephen Good, won the king, cashed the promoted
king of spades, then found the excellent switch to the jack of clubs, a Surround Play (just beating dummy’s ten). Declarer had to cover with the queen, or the jack would have won. But after jack, queen, ace, small, West returned the eight of clubs. East beat dummy’s ten with the king and cashed the nine. That was five defensive tricks and declarer was down two. Thirteen tricks at one table, eight at the other. And no one made a horrible play. That’s bridge.

Forewarned was forearmed

The 4-0 spade split threatened to wreck today’s 7 ♠ , kindly sent in by Simon Stocken of Yorkshire. However, West’s Lightner Double of 7♦ told declarer he held no spades. Forewarned was forearmed.

Declarer saw a ray of hope. He would need to reduce his trump length to the same as East’s and finish in dummy at trick 12, holding ♠ Q10 over East’s ♠ J8. Perfect timing would be required and he would need to find East with three diamonds — not so unlikely given West’s exotic bidding.

Declarer ruffed a minor, East discarding a heart, and for the first time (trick nine) led over to a top spade (any earlier and he would have gone down). He ruffed a minor, crossed to the other top spade and, oh joy, held ♠Q10 over East’s ♠J8. Thirteen tricks and grand slam made.

I find it extraordinary that to make 7♠, you have to delay leading a spade to dummy until trick nine. The subtle reason for this is you need to use dummy’s diamond entries before the spade entries, otherwise East can discard a diamond as you ruff the third club (in the trump-shortening process) and ruff a diamond. Would declarer have made 7♠ if West had kept his trap shut? No chance. Then there’d have been no story.

Encouraging youth bridge

Today’s featured deal is a slam from the Surrey Schools Cup, bid and made by Joe Benton and Max Fleming from St Paul’s School.

Declarer won West’s spade lead in dummy and ruffed a diamond. He crossed to the jack of hearts and ruffed a second diamond (noting West’s queen). He crossed to the king of hearts and ruffed a third diamond, bringing down West’s ace.

Declarer ruffed his jack of spades with dummy’s last heart and cashed the promoted king-jack of diamonds, discarding the two low clubs. Thirteen tricks and slam made plus one.

A Challenging 3NT

Susanna Scouller showed me this interesting 3 NT deal from my club. After West led the nine of spades (East having overcalled in the suit) and declarer played dummy’s jack, plan the play if:
(a) East plays ace, king and a third spade (as he did at the table, West discarding a club on the third), or
(b) East lets dummy’s jack of spades win (stronger defence in truth, preserving the defensive spade communications).

(a). You cash the four top diamonds and are disappointed when East discards (a club then a spade) on the third and fourth rounds. Without a fifth diamond winner, you are a trick short.

The ninth trick could come from clubs but the finesse into the danger hand is a risk you should not take. East’s club-then-spade discard suggests his actual hand, with either two small hearts or ♥ Qx/ ♥ Jx.

Does East’s doubleton heart rate to contain an honour? To simulate the situation, imagine a bag with four white balls (spot cards) and two red ones (honours). You reach in and (without peeking) pick out two balls. The chances of the first ball being white is 4/6 ie 2/3. Having picked one white, the chances of the second ball you pick out also being white is 3/5. Soyour chances of both balls being white is 2/3 x 3/5 = 6/15 = 2/5. Sixty per cent of the time East will have a heart honour.

You cross to the ace-king of hearts and are pleased to see East’s jack fall. You lead the ten to West’s queen and let West cash his fifth diamond but dummy has an extra heart winner (or two). Game made.

(b). In dummy with the jack of spades, you cross to the four top diamonds, observing the 5-2 split as East lets go the club and the spade. You cannot afford to lose a heart trick to West’s queen in this scenario, as West still holds a spade.

There is an ingenious route to the ninth trick. Cross to the ace king of hearts, removing East’s hearts, then exit with dummy’s spade. Let East cash his spades, for at trick 12 he will have to lead from king-small of clubs, giving you a second trick in the suit. Game made.

Friendly, fun with a touch of skill

Georgio the great

Here is a lovely deal based on a theme originated by the late and great Georgio Belladonna of the Italian Blue Team, who found the solution at the table. How would you declare 4 ♠ on the king of diamonds opening lead to your bare ace, West having opened a 12-14 1 NT?

Assuming a spade loser — which seems very likely given West’s 1 NT opener — you have nine tricks: seven spades and two aces. The heart finesse (low to the queen) is possible but very risky (East bid hearts). What about trying to ruff the third club in dummy?

One idea is to lead a club to the queen. However, West would surely have led the ace of clubs from ace-king, so East is bound to beat the queen and switch to a (low) trump to cut down the club ruff. You now know for sure that West has ♠ Kx for his 1 NT opener, dooming the finesse; you may as well rise with the ace.

If you then lead a second club, West will win, cash the king of spades, then cash a third club. Down one. How about taking the heart finesse? With West having turned up with the king of spades, the king-queen of diamonds and (not certainly but very likely) a top club, there is no room for him to hold the king of hearts. Back to the drawing board.

The single most likely layout is West holding ♠ Kx, East holding the king of hearts and split club honours. A club to the queen does not work (as we’ve seen above) but there is a winning line that revolves around clubs. Cross to the ace of hearts and lead a low club towards the jack (key play). 

East cannot rise with the king of clubs or you have a second club trick by force. So East will play low and West will beat your jack with the ace. West cannot profitably lead spades from his side or he will lose his natural trump trick (that’s the crucial point). Say West switches to a heart.

You ruff the heart and lead to the queen of clubs. East wins the ace and will doubtless switch to his spade. You rise with the ace and now ruff your third club (this is the crucial extra trick). Just the king of spades is lost from here so that’s ten tricks and game made.

What about the less fashionable 5 ♦ ?

On this interesting deal from a duplicate at ARBC, those North-Souths who tried the ubiquitous 3 NT were unlucky. West's ♦ Qxx rendered the contract hopeless after the opening dub lead forced out the ace. What about the less fashionable 5 ♦ ?

Declarer won West's king of dubs lead with dummy's ace -ducking would achieve next-to-nothing and would look extremely foolish if East held a singleton and could ruff the second round. At trick two, declarer led a spade to his jack, knowing that if the finesse lost to West's king, at least dummy's promoted queen would provide a discard for his third heart.

The jack of spades won, however, and declarer now laid down the ace-king of diamonds, getting the disap-pointing news that West still had the queen. Short of sensible alternatives, declarer gave West his queen.

West cashed the queen of clubs and then, knowing the jack of clubs would be ruffed, switched to his sin-gleton jack of hearts (best). Declarer won the king and seemingly had to lose another trick - in hearts.

Not so. Watch what happened when declarer ran his diamonds, leaving the ending across as the last diamond was led. He threw dummy's ten of hearts and awaited East's discard.

If East threw a spade, declarer could cash the ace of spades (felling East's king), cross to the ace of hearts and cash dummy's queen of spades. Whereas if East let go the nine of hearts (as he did), declarer could cross to the ace of hearts (felling East's queen), return to the ace of spades and enjoy the promoted six of hearts. It was a classic Criss-cross Squeeze and there had been no defence. Indeed, on weaker defence (say West tried the jack of dubs after the queen, rather than switching to the jack of hearts), declarer succeeds via an easier type of squeeze.

A valiant effort

Investment analyst and friend Jonathan Davis, East, made a valiant effort to defeat 5 ♠ after his partner had made an unfortunate (and, in truth, unwise) opening lead.

The king of hearts lead would have beaten 5 ♠ , whether East ruffed or not. Even the singleton spade lead would have left declarer with three unavoidable red-suit losers. West’s actual choice of the ace of clubs may not have done any immediate damage, as there was no entry to dummy’s promoted king of clubs. But watch.

Declarer ruffs the club and plays out the ace-king of spades (keeping all dummy’s clubs). Say East plays low twice to leave the master queen. Declarer (perhaps cashing the ace of hearts first, to rid East of a singleton heart and a safe exit) then exits with a third spade to East.

East does best to lead the queen of clubs but declarer throws a heart and makes the key play of ducking in dummy. (Don’t you love that declarer tries valiantly to get the defence to lead a club to resuscitate dummy’s stranded king, then spurns a chance to win it?)

East is now well and truly scuppered. With a second club running round to dummy’s king-ten, East tries a diamond. Declarer runs that round to the queen, cashes the king of clubs throwing his remaining small heart and claims.

Go back to the beginning. Davis did not woodenly throw low spades under declarer’s ace-king. He chucked the nine, then queen, to leave him with the two.

Sacrificing his natural trump trick in the hope of gaining two tricks in return was a brilliant attempt to avoid the endplay. Brilliant but, on declarer’s fine rejoinder, doomed. Declarer drew East’s third spade, then played ace and a second diamond, ducking the trick to East’s ten.

East tried to get off play with the king of diamonds but declarer discarded a heart (key play). East now had to lead a losing minor, enabling declarer to win in dummy and shed his remaining heart loser. Eleven tricks and game made.

A thin slam

This thin slam from an ARBC duplicate defeated many declarers (in fact all of them). How would you try to take 12 tricks on the jack of spades lead to your king?

Count up your top tricks outside trumps: you have five — ace-king of spades and ace-king-queen of hearts. If hearts split 3-3, you will have an easy ride, for you’ll need only five trump tricks — that’s one diamond ruff. However, if hearts do not split 3-3, you’ll need six trump tricks — a third diamond ruff is impossible in practice — plus some fancy footwork in the endgame.

It has to be right to lose a diamond at trick two, voiding the dummy preparatory to some ruffs. The defence wins and leads another spade (as good as anything).

Winning the ace of spades, you ruff a second diamond with the king of clubs (note). You lead a low club to the ten and ruff a third diamond with the ace of clubs (East discarding — a spade). You return to hand by leading dummy’s last club to your queen-jack, drawing the opposing clubs, and we have reached this ending:

Needing the rest of the tricks, you may hope for a 3-3 heart split. In fact, though, you know they are not 3-3 — for East has revealed just two diamonds and two clubs. If he had three hearts, then he had six spades — impossible as West has shown up with two spades.

Nil desperandum. Lead your last club, and what can East discard? A heart gives dummy a fourth heart trick; a spade promotes declarer’s remaining spade.

Twelve tricks and slam made. Only a heart lead, then a heart continuation (which has to come from West, so East has to duck a diamond from dummy), defeats the slam.

Don’t play in fear

My club is fortunate enough to have as a regular player English women’s international Nevena Senior. Does she soften up when playing at club level? Not a bit of it.

The danger of declarer ducking the second heart is that East will switch suits and declarer will never be able to reach her hand to score her ace of hearts, losing four diamond tricks and going down two — despite initially having eight top tricks.

Top players never play in fear; they rarely assume the defence is going to do the right thing. I asked Geir Helgemo of Norway (perhaps the world’s best declarer), “Do you play them to be brilliant or to have made a mistake?” He looked at me with the air of “why are you even asking, you know the answer”. Yes, we all pay off to brilliancies, even at the top level.

Nevena let East’s queen of hearts win the second trick. And, knowing Nevena, this will have taken but a fraction of a second. Unaware he was at the key point, East woodenly continued with a third heart. Curtains.

Can you see what Nevena did? She won the ace of hearts and discarded... dummy’s ace of spades (key play). With the suit unblocked, declarer could now enjoy her otherwise stranded king queen of spades, discarding two diamonds from dummy, and enjoy dummy’s six club winners. Nine tricks and game made.

Could East have divined the position? It’s easier after the fact but perhaps. West could hardly hold ♥ AKJ10x — he’d lead the ace; he could not hold ♥ AJ10xx — or declarer would have had to winthe king. So declarer had to hold the ace of hearts. There is the real danger that she can jettison dummy’s ace of spades on that ace of hearts to enjoy her otherwise impossible-to-reach spades (andshe did bid spades).

Dummy’s clubs are a further clue to declarer’s problem: if declarer doesn’t hold the ten, then there is no club entry. Nonetheless, figuring out the impending ace of spades jettison was far easier after the fact, especially as I’m guessing the play took less than ten seconds from start to finish.

Redouble!

Here is a curiosity from the Scarborough Congress, reported by Peter Stocken of Yorkshire. Table One's East will have felt rather sheepish after the deal, his double of 4 ♠ backfiring embarassingly poorly. He will have brightened up considerably after scoring up with his teammates. 

Declarer won West's singleton heart lead with dummy's ace and cashed the ace of spades, revealing the 1-1 split. No more cards needed to be played. Declarer could cash the minor-suit aces and crossruff the remammg nine spades. Thirteen tricks and 4 ♠. doubled plus three. N-S +1390.

Table Two

At Table Two, North-South, internationals John Holland (North) and Alan Mould (South) bid very efficiently to 7 ♠. The play did not tax declarer and 13 tricks were quickly chalked up for +2210. That represented a 13-imp gain for their team, on their way to ulti­mate victory.

However, the result on the deal could have been so different if either of Tables One's North or South could have uttered a word.

"Redouble"

A redoubled contract making overtricks always scores better than the undoubled higher contract. 4 ♠ redoubled plus three would therefore score more than 7 ♠. (Tricks: 120 x 4) + (overtricks: 400 x 3) + (vulnerable game: 500) +(insult:100)=2280.

Redoubling carries the risk that the opponents will bid but I reckon both East and West would have placed their partner with very good spades and stuck it out. 

When do you come to the net?

 My friend Espen Erichsen plays bridge as he plays tennis — by minimising his own errors and inducing opposing errors. He is Tunbridge Wells’ number one (that’s tennis as well as bridge).

Winning the jack of spades with dummy’s queen, at trick two declarer ran the jack of diamonds, hoping East held the queen. No — West won the queen and now found the best return of a low heart. Declarer ducked this trick to East’s queen and East returned the ten of hearts, declarer running this to dummy’s ace.

The simple line from here is the club finesse (cash the king, low to the jack) but, reading West for the queen (for his jack of spades lead), declarer opted for an endplay. He crossed to the ace-king of spades (West showing up singleton), returned to the king of clubs, then ran dummy’s spades, discarding diamonds from hand.

Look below at the ending as the last spade is led:

Declarer threw the king of diamonds from hand and West was poleaxed. He had to keep the two red-suit cards, so away went his penultimate club. Declarer promptly led a club to his ace, felling West’s queen and scored his tenth trick with the promoted jack. game made.

Poolside tales

My friend Zia Mahmood was irrepressible at the World Championships in Chennai, leading the USA 1 Seniors to victory. We kept bumping into each other at the swimming pool – I need my exercise at these long events – where I would learn of his derring-dos. Here is a classic one from USA 1 versus Canada.

Using a blueprint

West sensibly decided not to lead a spade v 3 NT – with no support from his partner – and so avoided giving declarer a second spade trick and an easy ride. Instead he led the ten of clubs. As declarer try to make nine tricks.

You have seven top tricks and can easily make one more from spades. Given that West has six spades and presumably some club length, the chances of a 3-3 diamond split are very slender. You should aim to make a second spade trick, by stripping West of his outside cards and throwing him in.

First cash the four top clubs to see the split. West follows all the way and East discards two hearts (you throw a spade from dummy). So West has ten black cards – just three red cards. You need to remove those three red cards. There are a choice of ways to do this, but say you lead a low diamond.

East wins and continues with the queen of diamonds, you winning the king and West discarding a spade (you guessed West was 6 ♠2♥1♦ 4♣ not 6 ♠1♥ 2♦ 4♣, for with the latter, East would have seven hearts which he never mentioned). You now lead a low heart.

West rises with the queen of hearts and exits with his other heart and you know he’s only got spades left. You cash the ace of diamonds to leave this ending:

You lead the queen of spades (key play). West has to win the ace, or you lead a second spade towards the king. West now has to lead from his jack, and you run it to your ten and score your ninth trick with the king. Game made – there was no defence.

Three favourite slam tools

My three favourite slam tools are the Jacoby 2 NT, splinter bids and Roman Key Card Blackwood. Sometimes they all crop up on the same deal, such as this delightful offering from a duplicate at my Club, showed to me by justifiably excited member Howard Jennings.

West led his singleton diamond and declarer, Jennings, wisely rose with dummy’s ace (other declarers finessed and lost a quick ruff). He crossed to the ace-queen of spades (carefully retaining dummy’s king) preparing to claim his slam if both opponents followed. However when he saw East discard on the second trump, he refrained from returning to the king, necessarily leaving West’s trump outstanding.

It might appear that declarer must lose two diamond tricks to East’s ♦ KJ, but enter the Dummy Reversal. At trick four declarer cashed the ace of clubs. He then crossed to the queen of hearts, ruffed a second club, crossed to the ace of hearts, ruffed a third club and cashed the king of hearts discarding a diamond. We have reached the four-card ending (below

Declarer exited with a diamond, West discarding a club and East beating the queen with the king. He next led the jack (best), but West couldn’t throw his last club or declarer could ruff low in dummy, cash the king of spades and table the master club. But when West threw his heart, declarer could ruff low in dummy and peacefully ruff dummy’s last club with his trump, West following. The last trick saw dummy’s king of spades beat West’s jack. 12 tricks and slam made.

A move to Eastbourne

This deal was the talk of the town on the 49th and last* Brighton Pairs.

East opens 1 ♠ and you, South, with six likely club tricks and the king of spades over the bid, overcall 1 NT, “15-19 balanced”. West booms double and your partner redoubles for rescue. East passes.

When London’s Nick Boss sat South in a friendly game, West goaded him – “c’mon, pass it out for fun”. So Nick did pass, to everyone’s surprise (and North’s horror). West led his fourth highest heart and...

And you can see what transpired. Dummy’s singleton king of hearts won the first trick and six club tricks were quickly tabled. 1 NT redoubled making. N-S +560 and the N-S Top.

Seemingly everybody had a story to tell about the board, but this was undoubtedly the best...

The auction went identically to the Boss table, again South gambling a pass of North’s rescue redouble. West, Middlesex’s Lynton Stock went into the tank. What should he lead?

Eventually Stock decided, extremely wisely that to lead from an ace was folly. He fished out the queen of diamonds. East, England Junior International Shivam Shah, won the King, cashed the Ace and switched to a Heart.

West won the Ace of Hearts felling dummy’s king, cashed the Queen, then ♦ J 9 (East throwing a Club and a spade) and led a third Heart. East won ♥ J 9 8 and then, with declarer down to ♠ K 9 of spades (and two clubs), led a low spade. A desperate declarer tried the king, but West won the ace and returned the jack. East overtook with the queen and tabled ♠ 10 7.

Declarer had not made a single trick. Seven down redoubled scored a whopping 3400 points to Stock-Shah and, needless to say, the E-W Top.

At a third table N-S bid up to 5 ♣ (a good save), pushing E-W to 5 ♥. North led a club to South, Scotland’s Mike Ash, who promptly switched to a low spade. Great defence. Suspecting a singleton, declarer (a world champion) rose with the ace, crossed to a diamond and ran the jack of hearts. North won the king and led over to his partner’s king of spades. Down one.

*This year's the Summer Bridge Festival moves to the (slightly cheaper – the primary motivation for the move) Eastbourne.  This years  Ebu summer meeting runs from the19th -28th of August - details here.)

Is an ace lead OK bridge?

Whether or not to lead an unsupported ace [ie ace without the king] against a suit slam is very finely judged. You’d tend to at Duplicate Pairs – fail to do so and you might never make the ace and giving away that overtrick is serious at Pairs (no big deal at other forms of the game). On the other hand, you’d tend not to lead an unsupported ace when you had other slower chances of winning tricks – such as West on today’s deal from OK Bridge.

Had West led the ace (and a second) diamond, declarer, Yorkshire’s Simon Stocken, would have had a comfortable ride in his 6 ♠. He’d win the second diamond cheaply in hand, draw trumps, cash the third diamond, then cross to the ace-king of hearts to cash the fourth diamond. Three diamond tricks in addition to six spades, two hearts and the ace of clubs would give him 12 tricks and slam made.

When West led the queen of hearts, declarer had a much tougher ride – he cannot win three diamond tricks without West leading the ace. Watch him pull it off using very elegant Partial Elimination Technique.

Winning the king of hearts, declarer cashed the ace throwing a club, ruffed the third heart (eliminating the suit), then drew two rounds of trumps (with the jack and ace). When West discarded (a heart) on the second, he refrained from drawing the third trump, as he needed a (high) trump in dummy.

At trick six declarer led a low diamond to dummy’s queen (West necessarily ducking), then a diamond back to his ten and ace. Had West held a small diamond remaining. the 3-3 split would have netted declarer a third diamond trick via a long card in dummy.

Here the diamonds were not 33 but, hearts eliminated, West found himself endplayed. A club could be won by dummy’s queen whilst a fourth heart (West’s actual choice) enabled declarer to ruff (high) in dummy whilst discarding his remaining small club from hand. It was now a simple matter to cross to his ace of clubs, draw East’s last trump and claim his slam.

What’s the most profitable opening bid?

On this deal from a Duplicate at the ARBC, East-West’s preemptive bidding catapulted South to the dizzy heights of 5 ♥. This would have been a bridge too far had West led a spade or diamond (able to lead a second round of that suit when in with the club), but in practice he reasonably led the ace of clubs.

At trick two West led the queen of clubs ruffed by declarer, who seemingly had three losers: the ace of spades and, unless East held a miracle ♦ Kx, the king of diamonds. Declarer cashed the ace of hearts, then led the nine to the king, preserving the six, so that he could shortly cross to dummy’s seven.

Declarer was pretty confident that East held both the ace of spades and the king of diamonds, because West had preempted and had revealed seven high-card points in clubs. At trick five he led a low spade towards his king, East correctly ducking (or declarer would have two spade tricks).

Declarer led the preserved six of hearts to dummy’s seven, then led a low diamond to the queen, the finesse as expected winning. Rather than cash the ace of diamonds in the (vain) hope that East’s king would drop doubleton, he started rattling off his trumps.

When declarer led his last trump and threw a spade from dummy to leave ♠ Q and ♦ J7 [in hand: ♠ 6 and ♦ A4], East was in some difficulty. What could he discard from ♠ A10 and ♦ K9?

If East threw the nine of diamonds, declarer could cash the ace felling East’s king and score his 11th trick with dummy’s promoted jack. In practice East threw away the ten of spades, but now declarer exited with a spade to dummy’s queen and East’s ace, awaiting the lead from ♦ K9, which he could run to dummy’s jack, scoring the last trick with his ace. 11 tricks and game made.

5 ♣ would have been just down two (-300 if doubled, cheap against 4 ♥ making), so South had to bid (and make) 5 ♥ to score well.

More uses of Double

Double of a suit bid is take-out when partner hasn’t spoken eg:
(1 ♦)-P-(1 ♥)-Dbl or, later in the auction
(1 ♦)-P-(1 ♥),-Dbl-(2 ♦)-P-,(3 ♦)-Dbl.

You can choose to adopt the simple approach of saying that whenever partner has bid, double is penalty (ie ‘I think they’re going down’). However take an auction such as (1♠)-Dbl-(2♠)-Dbl. Are you really going to want to penalise 2♠, a bid and supported suit?

It makes much more sense, when the opponents have bid and supported a suit (say, up to and including the three-level) to play double as take-out. The second double in the above auction can be referred to as ‘responsive’, but this isn’t terribly helpful: just think of it as take-out.

Here are three hands that would double after (1♠)-Dbl-(2♠):
 

Note you probably won’t have four hearts (unless they’re lousy as in the third hand) or you’d simply bid 3 ♥ (partner usually has four cards in the other major for their double).

The principle of doubles being for take-out when the opponents have bid and supported a suit can apply when partner has overcalled too eg (1 ♦)-1 ♥-(2 ♦)-Dbl as showing spades and clubs with some secondary heart support:

Books, Flippers and Arrow Packs

At The Club

Beginning BridgeTaster dates these are: 23-March @18.30 5-April @11.30 5-April  @18.30 6-April @18.30 Please encourage anyone you know, who might be interested in learning, to come along to one of these free Tasters. Further details  and a sign up page can be found here.

The Oldie Bridge Day

On the 23rd of March Andrew is hosting a Bridge day at the East India Club, St James. The day is aimed at the social player and features: two tutored play sessions with Andrew, as well as a three-course lunch with wine.  (Details here). The last three places are on offer at half price (£75  per person instead £150). Please reply to reservations@theoldie.co.uk  including your name and phone number. The first three replies will be contacted directly by the Oldie Magazine.

ARBC Holidays

We run a selection of holidays including in the coming year: Skiing in Italy Jersey Vienna Millstream -Bosham

jack@yorkshirebridge.com

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Andrew's Bridge Lessons Series

My Bols Tip

So ruff the club and play just one round of trumps (that’s the key), say the ace. Then play out the four top spades (revealing the 5-2 split), discarding three diamonds from hand as West can only discard on the third and fourth rounds. Ruff the fifth spade, then lead your remaining diamond to the ace and ruff a diamond (with the king).
We have reached this ending:

You now ruff a club with the jack of hearts. What can East do? If he throws the king of diamonds, you lead the promoted queen of diamonds. East ruffs perforce, but must lead from ♥ 108 round to dummy’s ♥ Q9. If East underruffs the jack of hearts, you again exit with the queen of diamonds, East winning the king and being similarly trump-endplayed. 12 tricks and slam made.

Note that if declarer had led to his king of hearts at trick two, preserving dummy’s ♥ AQJ, he’d have avoided the need for any trump endplay. Less fun though.

A change in fortune

Partner Tony Forrester and I had quite a torrid time early on in the European Championships in Croatia (mercifully, the other two pairs - the Davids (Bakhshi/Gold) and the Hacketts (Jason/Justin) both fired on all cylinders from the word go). Then suddenly we had a floodgate of decent results.

For Leading a club: The opponents aren't ready for it. Partner will need only one key card - the king of clubs - and the clubs suit might run for six tricks.

For leading a spade: A vulnerable Weak Two bidder should have a pretty good suit. It will be worse for partnership morale if I lead a spade and a club would have beaten it, than the reverse. Partner is quite likely to have four hearts (and certainly three), otherwise the opponents will have been playing in 4 ♥ not 3 NT, so the chances of him having short clubs (making a club lead bad ) is increased.

It was almost coin-toss. I fished out the ♠ 9.

East won the trick with ♠ A and in a jiffy plonked the ♣ Q was on the table. Declarer tried a forlorn ♣ K, but I won ♣ A, cashed the ♣ J felling 9 and declarer's ♣ 10, and could win my four winning clubs. Down three.

An oppening club lead would have run to declarers ♣ K, where-upon declarer would quickly scamper home with seven diamonds and the ♥ A.

Note Tony Forrester's switch to ♣ Q from ♣ Qxx this was to cater for me holding ♣ AJ10xx (switching to a low club and declarer can duck to me and I cannot profitably continue the suit without presenting declarer a trick with his ♣ K).

"You did very well to lead a spade, Robbo" said the team afterwards. I knew what that meant. "Robbo, you made the anti percentage lead and got lucky".

Condensing Loosers

An Icelandic Saga

I had not been to the Reykjavik Bridge Festival for over a decade. As I sat opposite the legendary, charming and incredibly talented Zia Mahmood, against the delightful and very competent Nordic opponents, with delicious exotic sushi to look forward to, I wondered why not.

You are lucky to receive the ♥ J opening lead - where the standard opening lead v a grand slam of a trump (on grounds of safety) would have given you a tougher ride. You win ♥ Q, cash ♠ K......

....And go down (unless you guess to take the ruffing finesse in clubs). For you are no longer able to ruff two clubs in hand without West being able to overruff.

The technical line - catering to East having a singleton ♠ 10 is to start spades by leading to the ace. When East's ♠ 10 appears, stop playing spades , cash ♣ AK, ruff a club with ♠J, cash ♥A (throwing a diamond) and cash ♦ A, ruff a red card, ruff a fourth club with ♠ K, cross to ♠ Q9 drawing West's trumps and enjoy the fifth club. Grand slam made.

If two small spades had appeared on the first round, draw a second trump (in hand). If both follow, you are home (playing ♣ AK) unless East has a singleton club

If West discards on the second spade cash ♣ AK and ruff two clubs in hand (overruffing East). You are less well placed if West has three spades and might as well draw his last trump, then cash the ♣ AK and guess whether or not to take the ruffing finesse.

On the indicated opening trump lead, rise with the ace (felling the ten). Best is now the combination line of ♣ AK then, if no queen appears (if it does problems solved), take the heart finesse (low to the queen). You'll also need some good news in spades/clubs.

Lords v Commons

This was a big-swing board from the 39th annual Lords-Commons match, held at the Palace of Westminster and sponsored jointly by Stephen Perry and Lord Kalms, won by the Commons.

Declarer ruffed in dummy and hoping for the three remaining trumps to split 2-1, led to his ace. West discarding was a fatal blow and he could only concede a diamond to East's queen. 5 ♦ one down.

Things were rather different at Table Two where the pugnacious North-South had bid 6 ♦. With a blind lead, West reasonably selected a club.

Declarer won dummy's ace and led a diamond to the ace. West discarding was but a minor inconvenience (unlike at Table One) because dummy still had a trump with which to take the second-round marked finesse against East's queen.

Declarer crossed to the ace-king-queen of spades, discarding two hearts, then led a second trump to the (ten and) jack. The king felled East's queen and just one heart was lost at the end. 12 tricks and 6 ♦ made. The slam succeeded whilst game failed.

Should declarer have taken a first round finesse at Table One? Probably. It is just possible East has 12-14 points (for his 1 NT opener) with West holding the queen of diamonds (singleton as East has to have at least two). Unlikely though.

Any one for golf?

The other month I took part in a Charity Golf-Bridge Pro-Am at Surrey’s charming Coombe Hill. Those who’ve seen me play may be surprised to hear I (with partner Paul Tustain) won the Golf. We lost the Bridge. As co-organiser – with the amazing and wonderful ARBC member Godfrey King – I devised a Bridge Quiz – which I gave over dinner.

Try these three of the 12 questions :(1) You are: (a) More likely to hold 11 points than 9 (b) Less likely to hold 11 points than 9 (c) Just as likely to hold 11 points as 9. (2) Who invented the Stayman convention? (a) Sam Stayman, (b) Jack Marx and George Rapee simultaneously across the ocean, (c) Nobody knows. (3). You have three finesses to take. Assuming that each finesse is a 50% shot, what is the chance that at least two of them will work? (a) 25% (b) 33% (c) 50%. (Click here for answers)

At our featured table N-S found the unfavourable vulnerability “sacrifice” in 5 ♣ (doubled). Down one would have been a good save. South was to do better. Ruffing the opening spade lead, declarer crossed to the (queen and) king of clubs, then led dummy’s singleton ten of hearts. East rose with the king and switched to his singleton queen of diamonds, but declarer won the ace and ruffed a heart, noting West’s jack with interest. Declarer returned to his ace of clubs, drawing the last trump, then led the queen of hearts. When West discarded, he could count East for his 5 ♠ 5 ♥ 1 ♦ 2 ♣ shape and discarded a diamond from dummy.

East won the ace and, with no more diamonds, led a second spade. Declarer ruffed, cashed ♥ 98 discarding dummy’s remaining diamonds and crossruffed. 11 tricks and doubled game made.

Answers to Quiz: (1)(b): the distribution is skewed because you can hold more than 20 points but not fewer than zero. (2)(b): It all happened as WW2 broke out. Rapee
gave Stayman the convention to popularise, whilst the self-effacing Marx kept it to his inner coterie of North London Acolytes. (3)(c): The chances of more finesses working than failing is 50-50.

Bridge with Omar

I haven’t been to the Deauville Summer Bridge Festival for some years, but with the combination of Bridge, golf and fabulous French cuisine, what’s not to like? But it is still frequented by the world’s most famous Bridge player, now 82 years old and semi-retired: yes – Omar Sharif.

The English duo did a teeny bit better: and at Pairs that teeny bit is everything. West led the ace of spades v 7 ♥ doubled. He followed with a second spade, East winning, cashing the ace-king of clubs, (West discarding) and leading a third club which West ruffed. With the ace-king of diamonds and ace of trumps to come that was down eight and +2300!

Augustin the Magician

If asked the question, “who is the best player in the world, those in the know would all come up with the same player: Agustin Madala.

Madala was the only declarer to make [I’ve heard that beginning to many a sentence] 6 ♥ on this deal from the round robin stage of the recent Bermuda Bowl in Bali. This is how he will have reasoned on West’s three of clubs lead:

“The bidding has marked East with five diamonds and West with four. The nine missing spades pretty- much have to be split five with West (any more and he’d have bid spades) and four with East (any more and he’d have bid the suit). It appears West has led a singleton club (why else lead dummy’s suit?), therefore he has three hearts. West is clearly hoping his partner will win an early lead, perhaps with the ace of clubs or ace of hearts to give the club ruff. If his hearts were ♥ KJx/ ♥ Kxx, a possible/probable trick, would he be playing to put partner in to score a ruff? More likely he’d led a diamond to try to set up a winner there. His three hearts rate to be ♥ Jxx rather than ♥ KJx/♥ Kxx. East’s singleton heart is probably the king”.

Declarer rose with the ace of clubs, spurning one finesse, then cashed the ace of hearts (key play), spurning the other. East’s king duly fell, whereupon declarer could ruff a diamond, finesse the ten of hearts, cash the queenfelling West’s jack and knock out the king of clubs, to chalk up 12 tricks and slam made. Magic.

Shout when you see the King

On this deal from the World Championships in Bali, I want you to shout out when, declaring 4♥ as South, you can deduce where the missing king of clubs lies. Study the auction first – right from the very beginning.