Jennbridge: Slamming in Santa Clara

The first qualifying session of the All Western Open Pairs presented plenty of opportunities for displaying your slam bidding skills.  First, my favorite--presented in the form of a bidding problem.

I decided to open 2♣ with this strong hand:

♠	A 5
♥	K Q 9 6 5 2
♦	A K 3
♣	A 9

I then heard a surprise and undiscussed bid from partner:  3♠.  How to proceed?
*******************

I decided that he must have a good spade suit with extra length--probably 7.  The bid consumed a large amount of bidding space so it must be sending a strong message. (An immediate response of 2♠ would show a good 5, or maybe even a 6-card suit.) I elected to go straight to RKC Blackwood and check on controls.  Over 4NT partner bid 5♣, showing 1 keycard.  What next?
*******************

I then inquired about the queen of spades by bidding 5♦.  Partner responded 6♣ showing both the spade queen and the club king.  I had obtained a wealth of information.  What now?
*******************

By my count it appeared that we had 12 tricks:  7♠, 1♥, 2♦ and 2♣, so I eschewed the spade slam and went directly for the top spot: 6NT!

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 5 North Deals N-S Vul	♠ 6 3 2 ♥ A J 4 ♦ 10 6 2 ♣ Q 8 6 4
♠ K Q J 10 9 8 4 ♥ 3 ♦ J 8 ♣ K 5 3	N W E S	♠ A 5 ♥ K Q 9 6 5 2 ♦ A K 3 ♣ A 9
	♠ 7 ♥ 10 8 7 ♦ Q 9 7 5 4 ♣ J 10 7 2

EW 6N; EW 6♠; EW 4♥; EW 2♦; EW 2♣; Par −990

Partner had just what I expected (hoped!) and 12 tricks were there for the taking.

Most of the field bid the spade slam which scored a little above average.  6NT took the prize, however, for a score of 36.5 out of 38 matchpoints.

2.  A similar situation came up on board 21 in the same session.  I again opened a 2♣ bid and my partner's response gave me the information I needed to conduct an intelligent auction.

With the East hand I opened 2♣ (I have 9 tricks in my hand!) and partner responded 3♣--a bid showing at least a 5-card club suit with 2 of the top 3 honors.  I now bid 3♠ and partner raised me to 4♠.  With the knowledge that we weren't missing both of the top 2 club honors, I now was able to go straight to RKC, and when partner showed me an ace I bid the spade slam.

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 21 North Deals N-S Vul	♠ 9 4 ♥ J 7 6 ♦ K 10 9 8 4 ♣ 6 5 2
♠ 7 5 ♥ 10 4 3 2 ♦ J 2 ♣ A K Q 7 3	N W E S	♠ A K Q 10 8 3 2 ♥ A K 8 ♦ 5 ♣ 10 9
	♠ J 6 ♥ Q 9 5 ♦ A Q 7 6 3 ♣ J 8 4

EW 6♠; EW 6♣; EW 5♥; EW 2N; EW 1♦; Par −980

The bidding seemed fairly straightforward and I was surprised to receive 32 out of 38 matchpoints for bidding and making the slam in a fairly strong field.  I guess if the East hand opens 1♠, it is difficult to structure the auction in such a manner that the strong hand is able to learn about the good club suit in the West.

I have never liked the recent trend toward restrictive and artificial responses to strong 2♣ opening bids. These two hands are good examples of creative and descriptive bidding by the responder which provides the opener with precisely the information she needs for a winning result.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: It's About the Play

A well-bid hand is pleasing, but a well-executed play is divine.  Here are a couple of hands from the Santa Clara regional which presented interesting play opportunities.

1.  I found myself playing 3NT with the North hand after a strong auction.

Friday Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 2

Board 16 West Deals E-W Vul	♠ 9 5 ♥ — ♦ Q 9 8 5 2 ♣ A Q J 10 7 4
♠ 10 6 4 ♥ 10 9 7 3 2 ♦ A 10 3 ♣ 9 5	N W E S	♠ J 8 7 3 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ J 7 6 ♣ 8 6 3
	♠ A K Q 2 ♥ K J 8 6 4 ♦ K 4 ♣ K 2

NS 4N; NS 4♠; N 5♦; NS 5♣; NS 3♥; S 4♦; Par +430

Partner opened 1♥ in 4th seat and I responded with a forcing notrump.  He then bid 2♠, a reverse, showing a strong hand, and I jumped to 3NT.  The opponents' fate was sealed at trick two.

East led a diamond.  I played the king and West won the ace and returned the 10 which I won.  The play of the diamond 10 had the effect of transferring the diamond guard to the East hand--which turned out to be a problem for the defenders as the East hand also had to guard hearts and spades!

On the run of the clubs East couldn't guard all 3 suits, so eventually discarded spades in order to hold on to the diamond jack and the heart ace.  Plus 460 was worth 20 out of 25 matchpoints.

A triple squeeze will keep you coming back!

2.  I was optimistic about this contract of 6 hearts, but was a little worried about the lead of the 9 of diamonds.  (Beware the curse of the 9 of diamonds!)

♠	—
♥	Q 9 8 4 3
♦	A K 5 4
♣	A Q 8 5

♠	A K
♥	A K 10 2
♦	Q 8 7 3
♣	7 4 3

After drawing trumps in 3 rounds (LHO had 3) it was time to see what was going on in the diamond suit.  Sure enough, LHO showed out on the diamond king so I had a diamond loser.

I could pitch two clubs on the spade ace and king and take the club finesse, but is there a better play?
********************

Yes, indeed, there is.  Go ahead and cash the ace, king of spades, pitching the clubs, but then exit with your diamond.  RHO is forced to win and either lead into the club tenace or give up a ruff/sluff!

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 2 East Deals N-S Vul	♠ J 9 8 7 2 ♥ J ♦ J 10 6 2 ♣ J 10 2
♠ — ♥ Q 9 8 4 3 ♦ A K 5 4 ♣ A Q 8 5	N W E S	♠ A K ♥ A K 10 2 ♦ Q 8 7 3 ♣ 7 4 3
	♠ Q 10 6 5 4 3 ♥ 7 6 5 ♦ 9 ♣ K 9 6

EW 6N; EW 6♥; EW 6♦; EW 6♣; NS 1♠; Par −990

In practice, RHO (North), thrown in with the diamond, gave up the ruff/sluff and I scored up 980. A strip and endplay will add luster to your session!

I hated to ask:  was the club finesse on?  Darn--it was--which meant that everyone who got to the slam would make it.  And in fact, our score was only 22.5 out of 38.  Oh well--those of us who played it correctly may well get our reward in Bridge Heaven.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Santa Clara Swiss Challenge

By Bob Klein.
My team did pretty well in the Santa Clara Swiss Teams; we finished sixth.  I played with Dave Neuman, and our teammates were Steve Goldstein and Zane Gary Brown.  Here is a hand that enabled us to win one of the matches. 

Dave dealt and opened 2NT.  I held

♠ Qxx
♥ KJxx
♦ Kx
♣ QJxx

I bid 3C, Puppet Stayman.  Dave replied 3NT, denying a 4-card or 5-card major.  What now?

The hand is too strong to pass, since opposite 20-21 HCP it will often produce slam.  Here is a case where you and your partner need firm agreements.  What would 4C mean here?  4NT? 

What I really wanted to do was to make a quantitative slam try.  This was deep into the back pages of our notes, but I recalled that 4C here would be natural, showing a hand with a 4-card major and longer clubs, and that 4NT was straight Blackwood. So unfortunately I didn't have that available.  We had spent a long time discussing the trade-offs in this situation, and had decided to forego the invitational raise to make it possible to investigate slam with a natural 4C bid.  However, I didn't think that this club suit would qualify for a 4C bid, but I wanted to move the ball forward.  So I bid 4NT.  If Dave thought that this was quantitative and chose to pass, that would be OK.  If he bid 5H showing 2 aces, I could bid 5S to get him to sign off in 5NT.  He actually bid 5C, showing all four aces.  What now?

I had to be willing to play in slam if he had all four aces.  But the hand might play better in a suit.  So I decided to bid 6C, which I hoped he would interpret as either pass or correct to 6NT depending on his club holding.  He passed, so we played it there.  LHO led a low heart, and I looked at:

♠ AKJ
♥ Ax
♦ Axxx
♣ AT98

♠ Qxx
♥ KJxx
♦  Kx
♣ QJ76

Since we were playing in clubs, I was happy to notice that we had all of the high spots.  This turned out to be significant. 

I let the lead run to my jack.  I thought that this would be easy for 12 tricks.   I had 8 winners outside of clubs, so if the club finesse won I could just draw trump and ruff a diamond for 13 tricks.  If it lost, I could ruff 2 diamonds in my hand ( I couldn't be overruffed) and still get 12 tricks. 

So I played the club queen.  Bad news: the finesse won but RHO showed out!  Now a simple hand became complicated.  I now had to somehow neutralize LHO's long club, either by a cross-ruff or by getting him to ruff once, thereby reducing him to 4 trumps, then pulling his trumps and taking my winners.  This could get dicey as I needed to preserve a late entry to my hand and hope that LHO didn't get 2 ruffs in the process.  I decided to start by playing the king of diamonds, a diamond to the ace, unblock the ace of hearts, then ruff a diamond in hand.  (Perhaps it would have been better to cash all of my spades first, but I didn't.  I welcome comments on this.)  LHO, an expert, evidently seeing an opportunity to score his club king and upset an impending crossruff, overruffed and played back a club.  Bingo!  Now I could draw the rest of his trumps and claim.  That was 12 IMPS for the home team and victory was ours, since at the other table they didn't get to slam.  We were pleased when Steve said "great result!" when I announced +1370 in the score comparison. 
.
I will never know what would have happened if LHO had discarded rather than overruff.  The play would have taken a lot longer and gotten very tricky.  I never found out what his whole hand was, but he must have had too many spades to make a useful discard so he tried the most straighforward approach which happened to fail as the cards lay. 

Postscript:  I discussed this auction with an old friend and partner, Dave Ruderman, who provided me with the solution to this bidding problem.  Over 3NT, a jump to 5 Clubs asks for aces, so 4NT can be used as  natural invitation. 

Good luck!

Jennbridge: Losing Trick Count in Santa Clara

We had a lively tournament over the weekend in Santa Clara.  The big event is always the two-day All Western Open Pairs.  The first day is a Qualifier and roughly half of the field survives to play in the Final on day two.  I have a lot of material from this event on slam bidding, preempting, defending notrump contracts and great plays.  I'll start with some hands which are good demonstrations of Losing Trick Count.

1.  1st session, Sat. afternoon, board 29.

My partner, Larry Hansen, heard me open 1♣  in the East seat after North had passed.  South passed and he was looking at a nice hand:

♠	8
♥	A 10 8 5 3
♦	A J
♣	A K 9 8 3

He responded 1♥, I rebid 1♠ and he bid 2♦, 4th-suit-forcing (to game).  I now bid 2♥ and it was Larry's call.  After a cuebid elicited nothing interesting from me, he bid RKC.  Learning that I had two controls he bid 6♥.  A heart was led.

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 29 North Deals Both Vul	♠ Q 5 4 3 ♥ 9 6 ♦ K 8 6 5 2 ♣ J 7
♠ 8 ♥ A 10 8 5 3 ♦ A J ♣ A K 9 8 3	N W E S	♠ A K 7 6 ♥ K 4 2 ♦ 10 4 3 ♣ Q 4 2
	♠ J 10 9 2 ♥ Q J 7 ♦ Q 9 7 ♣ 10 6 5

EW 6♥; EW 6♣; EW 5N; W 3♠; E 2♠; EW 2♦; Par −1430

It was a fine, lay-down slam.  Although my hand (East) had a lot of losers, I had 12 points so I opened.  Larry had 5 losers, or, only 3 1/2, using LTC adjustments which subtract 1/2 loser for each ace. However you count your losers, his hand was slam-worthy once a fit was located.

It seemed like a routine slam to bid and I was surprised to receive 28.5 matchpoints out of 38.  Perhaps some pairs only counted points (25) instead of using losing trick count and consequently failed to properly evaluate their hand.

2.  2nd session, Sat. evening, board 22.

In the evening session I sat North and heard two passes before RHO opened 1♣.  

♠	A J 8 7 5
♥	K 10 9
♦	A 9 8 3
♣	J

I overcalled 1♠ and partner jumped to 3♣, showing a 4-card limit raise in spades.  RHO passed and I paused to consider my bid.  Although I only had 13 high card points and 7 losers opposite a passed hand, I arguably had only 6 losers, if I adjusted for aces.  Partner should have 8 losers for his invitational bid so we should be able to make a game.  I knew it might be close, but decided to jump to 4♠.  It went pass, pass and RHO doubled. 

All Western Open Pairs, Evening Session 2 of 4

Board 22 East Deals E-W Vul	♠ A J 8 7 5 ♥ K 10 9 ♦ A 9 8 3 ♣ J
♠ 4 ♥ Q J 8 ♦ K Q J 4 ♣ A K 9 7 4	N W E S	♠ Q 10 6 ♥ 7 6 5 3 ♦ 10 7 5 2 ♣ 8 6
	♠ K 9 3 2 ♥ A 4 2 ♦ 6 ♣ Q 10 5 3 2

NS 5♠; S 2♥; NS 1N; NS 2♣; N 1♥; EW 1♦; Par +450

I got a club lead and a trump switch.  I then ruffed a couple of diamonds and ruffed out the second club honor, enabling me to pitch one of my losers on a club while East ruffed in.  Not surprisingly, we received 37 out of 38 matchpoints.

Slightly more than half of the field bid game and those who made 5 were well rewarded with scores of 31 out of 38 matchpoints.  It is not difficult to make 5 as you have the entries to ruff all of your diamonds and then execute a loser on loser play at the end:  pitching your losing heart on the good club as East ruffs with your trump loser.

3.  2nd session, Final, Sun. evening, bd. 23.

Although we were only slightly above average in both sessions of the Final, I took a look at a board where we received an unexpectedly good score.  Holding the N-S cards, our opponents failed to get to the optimum contract of 4S.  Their score of 170 gave us 21 of 25 matchpoints.

All Western Open Pairs, Evening Session 4 of 4

Board 23 South Deals Both Vul	♠ K J 9 6 5 2 ♥ 7 ♦ 10 7 5 ♣ A K 2
♠ — ♥ Q J 10 8 6 ♦ Q 8 6 ♣ Q 10 9 4 3	N W E S	♠ A 8 4 3 ♥ A K 2 ♦ J 2 ♣ J 8 7 6
	♠ Q 10 7 ♥ 9 5 4 3 ♦ A K 9 4 3 ♣ 5

NS 4♠; EW 2♥; NS 3♦; EW 2♣; Par +620

After the North hand opens 1♠, South, with his 7 loser hand, should make a concerted effort to get to game.  There are only 20 high card points between the two hands, but a 7-loser hand opposite a 7-loser hand should make game once a fit is located.  Most of the field bid the game.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Better Than a Minimum

Here's another way to use losing trick count.  Playing in a team game the other night, as dealer with both vul.,  I picked up a nice hand:

♠ AKxxx
♥ A98xx
♦ QJ
♣ J

I opened 1♠, LHO jumped to 3♣, partner bid 4♣, RHO bid 5♣ and it was back to me.  I paused to consider the implications of all of this bidding.

Partner must have a game-going hand as his 4♣ bid, which shows a good hand with a spade fit, would have forced me to bid at the 4 level.  I took a look at my losers.  I have 6 losers, or possibly 5, if you apply LTC adjustments and deduct half a loser for each ace.  Partner should have no more than 7 losers so we should be safe at the 5 level and may even have a slam.  How should I proceed?

Certainly I could bid 5♠, but, with this good hand--better than a minimum--I decided to take the opportunity to convey some potentially valuable information to partner, cheaply, by cuebidding 5♥.  

Sure enough, partner jumped to 6♠.  A heart was led.

♠ QJxxx
♥ QJx
♦ Ax
♣ Axx

♠ AKxxx
♥ A98xx
♦ QJ
♣ J

I liked the dummy, and the (non-club) heart lead was quite likely a singleton.  The ♥Q was covered by the king and I won the ace.  I drew trumps in 2 rounds and played the ♥J, confirming the singleton lead.  I gave up a trick to the ♥10 and claimed, pitching dummy's small diamond on the ♥9.

Plus 1430 felt like a good score, but turned out to be a push.

Remember to take advantage of opportunities to convey useful information to partner.  In this case, not only did I announce that I had a high heart honor--just the message partner needed to bid the slam--but also that I had a good hand according to losing trick principles--better than a minimum. With a minimum opener (7 losers) I would have taken a different course.


****************
Here are some nice comments just in from readers:  

• I bought one of your books and loaned it to a friend.  Haven't seen it 

  since.  I would like to order vol 1 and vol 2. I loved your articles 

  in the bridge magazine.  They were useful, practical and easy to apply. 

  They have improved my game, but I would like to have the books to refer 

  back to and study.  Thank you!

• I am excited about LTC. It has helped me immensely! Am looking forward

  to Vol. 11.   Thanks, Janet 

 See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Losing Trick Count Update

Here's an update on Losing Trick Count and my losing trick count booklets and teacher packages:

• John Kozero of Santa Rosa, CA writes of Losing Trick Count, Vol. II:  How refreshing! A bridge booklet that uses a few clear guidelines and simple bread-and-butter examples to accurately evaluate how your hand fits with pard's.  Don't be surprised if Losing Trick Count regularly puts you in more makeable games while avoiding the poor-percentage contracts.   

• Harry from Indiana writes: I'm still having good success using LTC.  Best 10 bucks I have spent in a long time. 

• A bridge teacher from Canada writes:  I would like to order your Losing Trick Count Teacher Package as well as a copy of your new book, LTC, Vol. II.  I am excited about teaching this to our intermediates in the winter.  I am sure that they will benefit greatly from your lessons. Thanks you so much for preparing this material.  I have really enjoyed the articles that you wrote for the Bulletin.

• From Memphis Mojo, bridge-blogger: I've just started reading Vol. 2 and it's great!                    

I used Losing Trick Count effectively to aid in slam bidding at the Philadelphia NABC, winning IMPs against top players.  See the recent blog entries Slamming in Philly I, II and III.

Practice using LTC until it becomes second nature.  Whenever you have an issue with hand evaluation it will come to your aid.  Here are a couple of hands played against me this week in which experienced players neglected to use LTC:

1.  (IMPs, Non-vul.vs. vul.) Partner opens 1♣, RHO overcalls 1♦ and you make a negative double.

♠ Axxx
♥ Qxxx
♦ KQx
♣ xx

Partner now bids 1♠ and it is your call.  What should you bid? 

Having located a fit, you should now evaluate your hand using LTC.  You have 7 1/2 losers which makes the hand worth at least an invitational bid.  Other factors are always in play:  the skill of your partner and the opponents, the vulnerability, form of scoring, state of the match, etc.  A sensible bid would be a jump to 3♠ and I wouldn't fault anyone for jumping directly to game.  The player holding these cards made an underbid of 2♠ and they played there, making 5.  We won 6 IMPs as our teammates bid the game.  The opening bidder held:

♠ Q10xx
♥ Axx
♦ xx
♣AQxx

2. (Pairs, Non-vul.vs. vul.) You open 1♠ and partner bids 2♦, game-forcing. 

♠ AKQJ97
♥ K632
♦ K
♣ 52

Various rebids are possible, but this player bid 2♠.  His partner now bid 3♠ and it was back to him.  How should he proceed? 

A critical component in his thinking should be to note that his hand has only 5 losers.  The ♦K may not even be a loser given that his partner bid 2♦.  As his partner should have no more than 7 losers, they are in the slam zone and he needs to investigate. 

A practical bid would be a cuebid of 4♦, which might let partner take control.  In this instance partner would probably cuebid 4♥ and now the opening bidder would have another decision to make.  A possible bid would be a jump to 5♠, asking about a club control.  Had opener rebid 3♠ (showing solid spades and setting the trump suit), partner would have cuebid 4♣ which would have made life easier.

Instead he bid only 4♠ and they played there making 6.  Here are both hands:

♠ xxx
♥ AQx
♦ J10xx
♣AKx

♠ AKQJ97
♥ K632
♦ K
♣ 52
 
Spades broke 2-2 and hearts broke 3-3 so the play to make 12 tricks was easy.  I held the Qxx of diamonds which would have meant an extra trick in diamonds had declarer needed it. There are various ways to get to slam and a third of the field bid it.

Don't forget to use Losing Trick Count for accurate bidding!

*******************
Readers--do you have any good losing trick count hands or stories?  Any questions or comments?  Let me hear from you! 

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Slamming in Philly III

There were few bright spots in our match against the #1 seed (Joel, Sokolow, Seamon-Molson, Meyers, Willard and Cronier) in the Round of 8 in the Wagar.  In the first session I played a normal 4♥ after opening 1NT and engaging in a Stayman auction.  As I had to find the trump queen and could delay playing on trumps, I took the opportunity to make some discovery plays and learned that my RHO held all 3 missing aces.  With that information I played LHO for the trump queen.  Wrong--lose 10 imps! We were down by 28 after the first 32 boards. 

In the second set, as dealer at unfavorable vul.  I opened 1♠ holding:

♠ KJ874
♥ 10
♦ KQ54
♣ A103

Partner bid 2♦ and it was my call. Her bid certainly brought my hand to life and I considered my options.

Obviously I could bid 3♦, but didn't I have a more descriptive call available?  With 6 losers, the hand was better than a minimum opener. What about 3♥, a splinter bid showing heart shortness and, certainly, in this instance, good diamonds?  That sounded right so I jumped to 3♥.

Partner now bid 4♦, which we play as Minorwood, asking about keycards.    I bid 5♣, showing 2-plus the queen and she bid 6♦.  (So far, so good--we seemingly successfully navigated the Minorwood minefield...:-)  A trump was led.

♠ KJ874
♥ 10
♦ KQ54
♣ A103

♠ A9
♥ A432
♦ J9863
♣ K6

The ace of diamonds was taken and another trump returned, trumps dividing 2-2.  She now ruffed 2 hearts and set up a long spade (spades broke 4-2) as a parking place for her last heart.  

Plus 1370 felt like a good score and, indeed, when we compared, it turned out that we won 13 IMPs on the board as our opponents stopped in game.  (Partner later commented that she loved the splinter bid.)

But alas, the opponents increased their winning margin and the match was over.  The Joel team eventually played in the finals where they lost to the Westheimer team. 

Slam Bidding In Philly Analysis: 

This is a small sample, yet I believe that there is a lesson to be learned from these slam hands I have been presenting.  A team with excellent slam-bidding skills should have the upper hand in these women's events, provided their mistakes are kept to a minimum.  In Philadelphia our team was relatively young and inexperienced and not favored in either match, yet our slam bidding propelled us to an upset win in the round of 16 and produced a notable swing in the round of 8.

Attention to slam bidding is always a fruitful area for match-winning swings, and should probably be an area of concentration for teams seeking success in this arena.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Big Casino, Little Casino

By Bob Klein.
When I was a boy, I used to play a card game known as Casino.  It was a simple game where you had to amass cards in various ways.  You could win 11 points on each deal: 3 for having the most cards, 1 for the most spades, and a point for each ace you won.   There were two added bonuses.  You got 2 points if you won the ten of diamonds and one for the two of spades.   These cards were known as the Big Casino and the Little Casino, respectively.  

There were a lot of bids and plays in the National Roth Open Swiss recently in Philadelphia, but one stands out in my mind because of its timing and significance.   It was in the last round of the finals.   Our team had a chance to finish really well if we could win our last match.   During this match, I was dealt:

♠ K8542
♥ 864
♦ T742
♣ 9

Not a terribly interesting collection.  Yet it produced an opportunity for me to either win or lose the match.   Dave Neuman, my partner, opened the bidding with 1 Diamond.  RHO overcalled 2 Clubs.  I passed, LHO cue bid 2 Diamonds, Dave passed, RHO bid 2 Hearts, I passed, LHO bid 3 Clubs, Dave passed, and now RHO bid 3 Spades.  This got my attention, since it gave me a chance to do something.  I wasn’t sure where they were headed, but it seemed like a good idea to get in a lead directing double, so I doubled.  Now LHO bid 3NT, ending the auction.

Dave, being a good partner, followed my direction and led the three of spades.  Dummy hit with:

♠ A9
♥ KQ95
♦ 6
♣AQ8732

Declarer ducked, and I won with the king.  Now came the moment of truth.  What do I play to trick two?

It looked like declarer had the clubs locked up, so with the ace of spades that was 7 tricks.  In order for us to have a chance, partner had to have the ace of hearts, and we needed to set up tricks in either spades or diamonds before it was knocked out.   Well, should I continue a spade or a diamond, and which one?   

I decided that If I played a diamond, it had to be the ten.  (A low diamond could be ducked into partner’s hand so the suit couldn’t be continued successfully.)  If I played a spade, if would be a low one.   Interestingly, the choice boiled down to the Big Casino (♦10) or the Little Casino (♠2). (OK, I could have played the 4 instead of the 2 to show fourth best, but then it wouldn’t be such a fun story)!

If Dave had 4 spades to the Jack or Queen, another spade would set up the suit.  But if he had only three, the spades couldn’t be set up.  If he had Qxx, giving declarer Jxx,  the Jack would block the suit since I had no entries outside.  

I finally decided that it was more likely that he had three spades than four, so I played the Big Casino.  I had to consider Dave’s possible distributions based on the auction.  South had denied holding 4 hearts, and had supported clubs.   So I thought he was likely to hold 3 hearts and 3 clubs, leaving the same for Dave.  So Dave’s possible distributions were 4=3=3=3 or 3=3=4=3.  If he held 4=3=3=3 he might have opened 1 Club instead of 1 Diamond. 

This was the only card that could sink the contract, as the four hands were: 

West Deals None Vul	♠ A 9 ♥ K Q 9 5 ♦ 6 ♣ A Q 8 7 3 2
♠ Q 6 3 ♥ A 10 3 ♦ A Q 9 8 ♣ 10 6 4	N W E S	♠ K 8 5 4 2 ♥ 8 6 4 ♦ 10 7 4 2 ♣ 9
	♠ J 10 7 ♥ J 7 2 ♦ K J 5 3 ♣ K J 5

West	North	East	South
1 ♦	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	2 ♥	Pass	3 ♣
Pass	3 ♠	Dbl	3 NT
All pass

3 NT by South

This won us ten IMPs, more than our margin of victory in the match. 

Good luck!

Jennbridge: Swiss Team Challenge

By Bob Klein.  I was playing on a Swiss team with Dave Neuman at the Philadelphia nationals.  Jenn was my teammate along with Jean Barry.  I found myself holding this hand, nonvul. vs vul., in first seat:

♠  Txxxx
♥  void
♦  xx
♣  AKJxxx

I was tempted to get into the auction right away with 3 Clubs, but it is not usually a good idea to suppress a 5-card major in front of a partner who has yet to bid, so I passed.  LHO opened 2 Hearts, partner passed, and RHO raised to 4 Hearts.  What now?

I didn't want to sell out when the opponents have bid a vulnerable game, I am void in their suit and have favorable vulnerability.  But how to enter the auction?  Three possibilities came to mind:  double, 4 Spades sand 5 Clubs.  Each action has advantages and disadvantages.

Double give partner the chance to pass if he has good hearts, for a nice penalty, and if partner has spades, we could land in 4 Spades.  The downside is that (a) partner may sit for the double expecting more defense from me, or (b) he may bid 5 Diamonds expecting support for all unbid suits. 

4 Spades keeps the bidding at the 4-level, and is the bid most likely to push the opponents into 5 Hearts, which partner may be able to double, since they may be afraid 4S could make for a possible double game swing.  However, the downside is that (a) if the opponents do go on to 5 Hearts, partner may make a disastrous opening lead from, say, Kx of spades, handing them the contract, or (b) the opponents might double if partner doesn't have much in spades, and now you may have to run to 5 Clubs, giving the opponents a fielder's choice of doubling or competing to 5 Hearts.

5 Clubs puts the most pressure on the opponents, it gets partner off to the right lead if the opponents compete to 5 Hearts, and you have a good suit to fall back on if you get doubled.  The downside is that it is a level higher than 4 Spades so you need to take more tricks, the opponents are more likely to defend when it is right for them to do so because you are at a higher level, and, similar to 4 Spades, removes the possibility of punishing the opponents if partner has a stack of hearts.

After considering all of this, I decided to bid 5 Clubs.  This worked like a charm.  It went pass, pass, double by RHO, all pass.  They led a diamond, and I was looking at:

♠  AQ9
♥  Jxx
♦  Jxx
♣ Txxx

♠  Txxxx
♥  void
♦  xx
♣  AKJxxx

They cashed 2 diamonds and switched to hearts.  I ruffed, played the ace of clubs, all following, drew the last trump with the king, and played a spade to dummy.  Fortuitously, LHO followed with the jack and the queen held!  A heart ruff back to hand, and another spade produced the king on my left.  I took it with the ace, and claimed, making 5 Clubs doubled for +550!

My counterpart at the other table, after hearing the same auction, thought for a while and passed.  This was the last choice in my opinion, and he paid dearly.  4 Hearts made easily, losing just 2 spades and 1 club, so Jenn and Jean scored +650, for a total of 1200 points for our team and 15 big IMPs. 

Good luck!

Jennbridge: Slamming in Philly II

I'll continue with some more good slams from Philly, but first some notes:

• Check out my interview in the Sat. Daily Bulletin from Philadelphia:  http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2012/02/bulletins/db10.pdf

• Congrats to Bob Klein and Dave Neuman for placing 11th in the Roth Open Swiss!  The top 10 reads like a list of "Whos's Who" in bridge: http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2012/02/bulletins/db11.pdf 

*****************************
Stuck 29 IMPs at the half and time was running out.  We needed some good scores to advance to the round of 8 in the Wagar.  We were playing a good team (Moss, Glasson, Mancuso, Gwozdzinsky, Michielsen and Dekkers) and the two young women from the Netherlands had been brought in for the second half and were at our table.  Their job was to finish us off, and they clearly thought it would be no problem.  We were using screens so I could only see one of them for most of the match.

1. As they were settling in for the first board of the second half, non-vul. vs. vul., I opened 1♦ in 3rd seat with this raggedy collection: (Bd. 25, table 3)

♠ A62
♥ 86
♦ 98653
♣ K54

This had the desired effect. LHO overcalled 1♥, my partner bid 1♠, RHO jumped to 3♥, a mixed raise, and all passed.  They made 5 for a score of 200.

2. With 3 boards remaining I opened 1♥ with this nice collection: (Board 22)

♠ K5
♥ K109843
♦ A96
♣ AK

Pard responded 1♠ and I jumped to 3♥.  Pard rebid 3♠ and I bid 3NT.  She now bid 4NT and I paused to try to figure out what was going on.  Her bid could be Blackwood or could be invitational, but I liked my hand and was willing to carry on.  I hedged my bets by responding 5♥, showing 2 keycards, and was pleased when she jumped to 6NT.  A club was led.

♠ AQJ96
♥ A
♦ K75
♣10932

♠ K5
♥ K109843
♦ A96
♣ AK  

I only counted 11 tricks.  I counted again.  It looked like I would need something good to happen in the heart suit,  but the odds favored honor doubleton in hearts to drop which would give me 12 tricks.

I played a low club and RHO played the queen.  Eureka!  I could now see 12 tricks.  I wasted no time driving out the jack of clubs and scoring the 10 for my 12th trick.  Plus 990 felt like a good score.

RHO held: 108/J2/QJ10432/Q86 so the hearts would have come in as expected.

3. Then, the last board of the session. (Board 24) Partner opened 1♣ and I responded 1♠ with:

♠ KJ974
♥ K7632
♦ K5
♣ 8

Partner now surprised me by reversing into 2♥! If there's one thing I know how to do, it's count my losers, and I saw that I held a powerful 6-loser hand opposite partner's reverse.  I bid a temporizing, forcing 3♥.  Partner bid 4♥, but I wasn't finished.

I bid 4NT, Blackwood and when partner showed 3 aces, bid 6♥.

♠ A6
♥ QJ84
♦ AJ
♣AK642

♠ KJ974
♥ K7632
♦ K5
♣8

A heart was led and the opponents took their ace, but with normal breaks, the contract came home easily. 

We headed out of the room to compare.  It was wild and woolly.  There were 5 double-digit swings--4 going our way.  We won 10 IMPs on board 25 where I psyched an opening bid, as our teammates got to the game missed by the opponents at our table. We won 11 for bidding and making 6NT on board 22 and another 11 for bidding and making 6♥ on board 24.  This big second half lifted us to a double-digit victory and we survived!  

The next day our win was described in the Daily Bulletin as a "mild upset" and our reward was the opportunity to play the #1 seed.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Slamming in Philly

Lots of action here in Philadelphia between the Spingold, the Wagar and all the national events.  See the finals of the Wagar tomorrow on Bridge Base Online, along with daily kibitzing of the Spingold.

My partner, Jean Barry and I have had a slam fest in the last few days. Here are a couple of fun slams from the first session of the Wagar.

Bd. 17. Round of 16-Morning, Table 3.

Partner opened 1NT, 15-17 and I held:

♠ void
♥ 1097642
♦ AQ2
♣ AQ82

Essentially a 5-loser hand, assuming we have a heart fit.  I start with a transfer and partner duly bids 2♥.  I then make a forcing bid of 3♣, hoping to get some clarity about how to proceed.

Partner jumps to 4♥.  Great--I jump to 6♥! 

A spade is led and partner ruffs it.  Hearts break 2-2 with the honors divided and the slam comes home for a push board. Partner's hand:

♠ AKQ6
♥ AJ5
♦ K1094
♣75

Bd. 23. Round of 16-Morning, Table 3.

I pick up this lovely collection and open 1♥ :

♠ 10
♥ AJ986
♦ AK1095
♣ AJ

Partner surprises me by jumping to 4♥! With very few losers in sight, I do it again--jump to 6♥!

♠ 8532
♥ KQ10543
♦ 2
♣64

There's not much to the play and partner is relieved when I score up 1430.  Our teammates come back with the improbable score of minus 1190 (!), but we still win 6 imps.

Stay tuned for a couple of slams which propelled us to a match win in the Wagar after being behind 29 imps at the half!

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: A First *Updated*

Here's a hand recently sent from Dee Berry, an expert player, teacher and writer from Washington.

Dee writes: "My RHO opened one heart (not someone who has ever psyched against me!) and I held:

♠KQxx
♥AJxxx
♦Axx
♣A

A double, perforce, was the only forcing bid I could make. Partner made a nice jump to 4♠ holding:

♠AJxxxx
♥x
♦Kxx
♣xxx

I Blackwooded and upon learning he held ♦K (as well as ♠A)  I bid 7 spades.

First time in my whole life I bid a grand slam after the opponent opened the bidding! (My RHO held: ♠x ♥Q10xxx ♦QJ10x ♣KQJ.)"

Great story Dee!  Feel free to send me your interesting bridge stories, hands or questions.

Update from Dee:  "In truth my hand was even bigger than the one I erroneously sent you. It included the heart K---which meant a very easy pitch. "

Thanks Dee.  So now the mystery is solved.  How did she make it?  Where was the ♥K?  Did she make it on a red-suit squeeze as suggested by some sharp-eyed readers?

See you at the table!