Franco's Bridge Blog

Play or Defend?

2012-01-16T17:32:00.000-05:00

♠	A Q 7 3 2
♥	A Q 6
♦	5 2
♣	K 10 7

♠
♥	K 7 5 4 3
♦	8 7 6 4 3
♣	A 9 4

The South hand was given to me as a "pure bidding problem", but this turned out to be a very interesting play hand. At IMPs, would you overcall after 1♦ on your right? Does it matter whether partner is a passed hand or not, or what the colors are?

FWIW, I think I would basically always overcall. LHO makes a negative double, and you wind up in 4♥.

Anyway, say you receive the lead of the stiff ♦K. RHO is 4=2=5=2 with ♠K and a club honor. Would you rather play or defend?

Here's one way to make on a guard squeeze with a delayed duck element: they play a trump at trick 2, you win in dummy, play another diamond, they play another trump. Now ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, draw the last trump (pitching a spade) to come down to:

♠	A Q
♥
♦
♣	K 10 7

♠
♥
♦	8 7
♣	A 9 4

RHO must keep 2 spades or the queen is good. If he bares his club honor, his partner is exposed to a finesse, so he must be down to one diamond. Duck a diamond (the 8, of course) and you have the rest.

Since you're out of trumps, the ♠A is a key card: you need to hold that to keep control of the suit lest RHO come down to one diamond but be able to cash the SK when thrown in.

You also can't rectify the count in any way since every card in dummy is busy.

I have not checked with deep finesse, but I believe the defense can break this up. How? Answer below...

The hint is in the position requirements I pointed out. One approach is to attack the ♠A: after winning trick one, LHO can lead a spade. You play *low* and ruff, and play a 2nd diamond. If RHO wins this, there's not much he can do except play a red card which puts declarer in control of reaching the desired end position. But, what if LHO ruffs the 2nd diamond to lead another spade? Not good enough: declarer can ruff in hand, ruff a diamond, and overtake a trump to get back to hand and play the last trump.

So that fails. What about rectifying the count for declarer? By playing trumps twice, the defense can eliminate dummy's trump winners. Now when declarer goes to ruff a diamond, LHO can ruff in front of dummy for the defense's third trick. This breaks up the squeeze position above: declarer can still arrange to ruff a diamond but then dummy is squeezed before RHO.

However, it looks like declarer has another resource: LHO can't break the club suit and so must play a spade when in with his last trump. Declarer ruffs that, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a 3rd spade and now dummy is good.

But why can't LHO break the club suit? Declarer had to pitch one on the ruffed 3rd diamond, so in fact LHO could break clubs, and declarer is an entry shy.

Maybe declarer can counter this by arranging to ruff 2 spades before playing the 3rd diamond? Now the defense declines to ruff, and declarer has only the ♣A as reentry. But, that card is also essential to the squeeze position as it gives force to the delayed duck menace.

So, actually, in the end I think the defense can survive with an unusual ruff in front of dummy to squeeze dummy play.

GIB shows how it's done

2011-08-24T11:32:00.001-04:00

BBO's robot bridge player, GIB, did nicely on this hand:

	♠ J 10 5 3
	♥ 5 2
	♦ Q 9 7
	♣ 10 5 4 3
♠ A K Q 7 4		♠ 9 2
♥ 8 3		♥ Q 10 9 7 4
♦ 10 6 5 4 3 2		♦ 8
♣		♣ A J 7 6 2
	♠ 8 6
	♥ A K J 6
	♦ A K J
	♣ K Q 9 8

After an uncontested auction to 3N, West led a top spade and cashed 2 more (heart shakes), then switched to a diamond. Next declarer played ♣K which was ducked.

The hand is virtually double-dummy, so go ahead and try it that way.

It looks like you have enough tricks, but you're a bit shy of entries. Say you cross to ♦Q to cash ♠J, what are you going to pitch? If you pitch a heart or club and then lead some club, East will hop up and stick you in your hand in the suit you just pitched.

The answer is to cash both diamonds, ending in dummy, and only then ♠J. Now East is squeezed first and must unguard a secondary honor, setting up a trick for you. Now pitch the other menace and set up your top club. For example, if East pitches a heart, your jack will be good so pitch a low club and lead a club.

It seem the defense could have broken this up by playing a 4th spade earlier. That does break up the squeeze, but instead gives you an extra entry which is just as good.

Progressive Triple Squeeze

2011-08-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

I was throwing some cards around on BBO and almost without realizing it executed a progressive triple squeeze:

	♠ K 8 5 3
	♥ J 9
	♦ K 10 9 5 3
	♣ Q 7
♠ Q 9 7 4		♠ J 10
♥ 10 4 3 2		♥ K 7 6
♦ Q J 4		♦ 7 6 2
♣ K 6		♣ A J 5 3 2
	♠ A 6 2
	♥ A Q 8 5
	♦ A 8
	♣ 10 9 8 4

I received a ♠4 lead after an uncontested auction to 2NT. I allowed East to win, and he proceeded to lead a low club and the defense cashed 3 clubs as West pitched a heart and dummy a diamond.

Next, a spade was led. I won this in dummy and played ♥J, covered and won. What does West do on the ♣10?

In practice, he pitched a spade, giving me an extra trick in that suit. Now ♠A, ♦AK, ♠8 subjects him to a subsequent red suit squeeze.

Pitching from either red suit would have given up 2 tricks immediately, though neither 2-trick threat was necessary. After a diamond pitch, play the same way except cash one good diamond for a major suit squeeze. After a heart pitch, the extra heart winner inflicts a diamond-spade squeeze.

Test Your Play

2011-04-11T00:24:00.001-04:00

From a KO match

♠	5
♥	A Q 10 8 6 2
♦	10 5 2
♣	K 5 3

♠	A J 7 2
♥	K J
♦	K J 8
♣	J 10 6 2

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

♦4 led, RHO plays the Ace and another diamond. Say you try the Jack and it loses to the Queen, a 3rd diamond coming back. Now what? Hearts are not 5-0.

Answer below...

RHO has apparently bid a bit crazily, and must have the ♠KQ and the ♣A, and probably the ♣Q. So, run hearts as RHO pitches 3 low spades and 2 low clubs to get to this 4 card ending:

♠	5
♥
♦
♣	K 5 3

♠	A J
♥
♦
♣	J 10

Now play a low club from dummy. RHO can win his Ace and cash a diamond, then you have the rest. A delayed-duck squeeze.

The only way you might even go wrong is if declarer is 6142 and pitches a diamond and a club and 3 spades. You might guess to throw him in with a spade hoping to score ♣K, but will be disappointed.

Rosenblum trump compound

2010-10-16T09:56:00.000-04:00

[Andy] It's my turn to blog on Franco's favorite subject. The following is what will most likely be the most famous hand from the Rosenblum final. (It was described in the NY Times today also, although I didn't see it online there yet.)

	♠ A 6 3
	♥ K J
	♦ A K 4 2
	♣ K 4 3 2
♠ Q J 4 2		♠ 10 9 7 5
♥ 8 3		♥ Q 9 2
♦ Q 8 7 6 5		♦ 10 3
♣ 9 8		♣ Q J 10 6
	♠ K 8
	♥ A 10 7 6 5 4
	♦ J 9
	♣ A 7 5

Zia got to 6♥ and received the ♠Q lead. He found an elegant line, cashing his winners and taking 3 ruffs in his hand, then exiting with his last club. In the end position he could claim regardless of the location of the ♥Q.

Moss and Gitelman did one better, though, arriving in 7♥. I'm not sure what happened, unless Gitelman intentionally bid a grand on a blackwood auction in hopes that the opening lead would reveal the trump Q. (This is a somewhat well-known trick, but definitely pretty gutsy in the last quarter of a world championship final that you are winning!) Anyway, Rodwell did lead a trump, and Moss won the trump A, played trump to K, spade to K, drew the last trump, ruffed the third round of diamonds, played the second to last trump, unblocked clubs, and played the last trump to achieve a double squeeze (spades being the double threat suit).

That was very well done. Let's take a look at the hand from a theoretical point of view.

With a reasonable number of entries, compound squeeze principles suggest that the contract should be makeable if one positional threat can be found. It seems natural to hope that suit is diamonds, since declarer can isolate it, and the club threat needs to be in his hand. Moss' line probably would not have worked had Rodwell held something like ♠J x x ♥x x ♦Q x x x x ♣ Q 10 x. Rodwell would probably unguard spades and keep clubs in that layout, and Moss would not have the timing to unblock the ♠A to achieve a double squeeze around clubs. (This is necessary since the extra spade winner gives Rodwell an idle card.)

So to achieve full compound generality, declarer appears to need to preserve the ♠K in his hand. Perhaps declarer could take the diamond ruff before drawing the last trump. This would leave two entries in both black suits and guarantee a working compound position as long as Rodwell held at least 4 diamonds. Of course, it might lose if diamonds were 6-1 and RHO could ruff. It might also lose if LHO overruffs in a position where there was just a minor suit squeeze against RHO the whole time.

An intriguing variant is to start the way Moss did, but play the 4th trump before taking the diamond ruff. I think that also guarantees the ability to make the contract any time LHO has at least 4 diamonds. The triple squeeze part of the compound is achieved at that point, since there is a ruff-out threat in diamonds. Then, if LHO unguards spades at that point and declarer can read it, he can unblock the ♠A before taking the diamond ruff. If LHO guards spades then the play continues as it actually did at the table. Cool!

Another Compound

2010-10-03T13:02:00.001-04:00

Dlr E
Vul NS
IMPs

	♠ A 8 7 3
	♥ A Q 10 2
	♦ K 7 6 5
	♣ 6
	♠ K 2
	♥ K J 8 7
	♦ A J
	♣ A K Q 10 4

West	North	East	South
		3♣	3NT
5♣	6♣	Pass	7NT
All Pass

♣3 led. RHO puts up the Jack. How do you play?

FWIW, RHO is an honest customer, LHO not so much. You can confirm this by playing another club.

My line and further analysis is below.

I tested one more club and LHO pitched ♠4 (I pitched ♠3 from dummy). Then 4 rounds of hearts, LHO following up the line, while RHO pitched ♣7, ♠5, then ♦4.

There's definitely a squeeze available at this point, but I still haven't committed to which one to play for. ♠K drew the Jack from RHO and 6 from LHO. Now I can afford another club before making up my mind: LHO pitched ♠9 while RHO followed with the 5. This is the ending:

	♠ A 8
	♥
	♦ K 7 6
	♣
	♠ 2
	♥
	♦ A J
	♣ 10 4

RHO is down to a club stopper and 3 pointed cards. If he started with 4 spades (and so still has that suit stopped), LHO made a very tricky pitch from 3=4=5=1 at trick 2 (and again on the last trick). Not to mention that the aggressive 3♣ opening seems much more likely with 4 diamonds than 4 spades. So, I played a spade to the Ace, and when RHO showed out I claimed: he must pitch his diamond guard here, then ♦A, ♣10 squeezes LHO in diamonds and spades.

If I had thought that RHO guarded spades but not diamonds, then ♦K, ♦A, ♣10 would effect a similar squeeze.

Technically this was just a double squeeze (LHO guards spades, RHO guards clubs, both guard diamonds), but if RHO had started 3=1=3=6 it would have been a true compound (a Type-R Unrestricted).

How about the defense?

East is going to need to make 2 pitches on the hearts, and then declarer is going to need to guess which of the pointed suits East still guards. If, as on the actual hand, East pitches one from each suit, he'd better not have started 3=3 or declarer cannot go wrong. On the other hand, even though East has had to make 2 pitches, always pitching one from each reveals nothing about which suit started longer. If West also pitches one from each suit (he has to make 2 pitches on clubs), declarer faces a straight guess (ignoring the auction), even though this is (or at least looks like) an unrestricted compound.

In compensation, if East did start 3=3, he must pitch 2 from a single suit, and declarer will almost always go right by playing that suit to now be unguarded. When East is actually pitching 2 from a 5 card suit (which he should do instead of 1 from each), declarer should normally go wrong (3-3 vs 5-1 is 25:3 a priori, though knowing an opponent's preempting style might be enough to overcome that).

I guess when the layout is such that it's not a true compound, just a double, that the position-tightening does not actually put anyone under pressure and so it makes sense that proper discarding reveals virtually nothing. There's always a double squeeze present, but it's more or less a toss up as to which to play for if both defenders are perfect. In contrast, when it is a true compound, East is squeezed twice and his discards are much more revealing, making it around 80% that declarer gets it right even against perfect defenders.

Obviously in practice a psuedo-squeeze is much more likely than this layout and West should be minimizing the chance of screwing that up.

Some minor technical points:

1. I should not have played a club at trick 2. RHO might not appreciate what is going on and if he pitches 2 clubs I'm spared any guess.

2. If I do play a club, I might as well pitch a heart. LHO might have trouble pitching from a 4 card holding in diamonds or spades. Also, I might as well play a 3rd (but not a 4th!). This gets more information from LHO early, without really helping RHO much if at all.

3. When crossing back to hand, I should probably use ♦A in case the ♦Q has been bared.

Finally, the ♦J was not strictly necessary, but it does help slightly in constraining the defense. Earlier I suggested that LHO pitching a spade early (and another later) from 3=4=5=1 would be tricky. This follows the general "principle" (technically this principle is false, but that's another post) of not waiting to the last possible moment to release a guard if you're squeeze. Since West is going to be squeezed in diamonds and spades later in the hand, if he anticipates this he has a good chance of leading declarer astray by pitching from his shorter suit early. However, thanks to the ♦J, he actually can't get away with pitching 2 diamonds (he started with Qxx). At double dummy the clash menace is irrelevant, but at single dummy it puts additional constraints on the defense and may make reading the position slightly easier.

The BBO record is here.

Finesse played as a suicide compound

2010-09-23T22:22:00.001-04:00

	♠ A 10 3
	♥ A 4 2
	♦ Q 7 6 2
	♣ A 9 8
♠ Q 9 2		♠ J 7 5 4
♥ 6 5		♥ J 10 9 8
♦ A K J 10 5		♦ 8 3
♣ Q 10 2		♣ J 5 3
	♠ K 8 6
	♥ K Q 7 3
	♦ 9 4
	♣ K 7 6 4

West	North	East	South
1♦	1NT	Pass	2♣
Pass	2♦	Pass	3NT
All Pass

♥J led. I ran this to my ace and crossed to dummy with another heart to lead a diamond. The Q was allowed to hold, then I exited a diamond. When West ran diamonds, East had to pitch 2 more black cards in this ending:

	♠ A 10 3
	♥
	♦
	♣ A 9 8
♠ Q 9 2		♠ ? ? ?
♥		♥ 10 9
♦		♦
♣ Q 10 2		♣ ? ? ?
	♠ K 8
	♥ Q 7
	♦
	♣ K 7

East must unguard a black suit. Win West's continuation with a king in dummy, then cross in the suit East doesn't guard and back to dummy's remaining K. One of these tricks will squeeze East again in the other black suit and hearts, then ♥Q will squeeze West in the black suits.

As shown, West could defeat this by exiting without cashing all diamonds. In practice, though, I held ♠J (you did notice the very light 1NT overcall, right?) and could always fall back on that finesse.

The BBO record is here.

Which squeeze?

2010-08-18T07:45:00.000-04:00

Matchpoints

	♠ 3
	♥ Q J 4 3
	♦ A Q J 4
	♣ K 9 3 2

	♠ A K Q 10 6 4
	♥ K 5
	♦ K 5 2
	♣ A 7

You're declaring 3N against a diamond lead from a defender very fond of passive leads. You win, play a heart to the K and Ace, and a club comes back. How do you play for 12 tricks? Let's assume that the defense isn't very deep; the inferences from not ducking HA or not leading a 2nd heart are too complex.

Discussion below...

You might as well run diamonds and come down to:

	♠ 3
	♥ Q J 4
	♦
	♣ K 9 3

	♠ A K Q 10 6
	♥ 5
	♦
	♣ 7

No chances have been eliminated by doing this. From here, I'm pretty sure nothing is given up by cashing hearts, either (since only one player can guard that suit). After that, there's a fork, though:

[All lines work when the spades split or SJ falls, both have some vig for 5-2 clubs and a club-something squeeze]

a) test spades, then hope for a double squeeze around clubs. Requires long heart on left, long spade on right.

b) cash CA, then hope for spades and hearts in the same hand.

[If someone shows out on hearts, play RHO for spade length (likely if he's short in hearts, necessary if he's long) and choose accordingly]

How do you compare majors divided in a specific way vs majors together but in either hand? See Rubens's latest book. Perhaps I'll come back later and work it out in detail, but I'm pretty sure line b comes out slightly ahead.

For example, assume both red suits are 3-3. Then spades, if they don't split, are very likely to be 4-2. That would make it 5:3 that the odd heart is in the other hand, but that only works when it's hearts-left-spades-right-not-vice-versa, which cuts the odds to 2.5:3. But, it gets a bit closer after accounting for 5-1 spades.

Test Your Play Again -- solution

2010-08-17T07:32:00.000-04:00

I posted this recently:

Matchpoints, favorable.

	♠ 3 2
	♥ Q 9 4 3
	♦ K
	♣ K Q 10 9 3 2

	♠ A Q J 6 4
	♥ J
	♦ A 9 5 2
	♣ A 8 7

This is slightly modified from a hand I played on Saturday. LHO opened 1♠, RHO passes, and you wind up in 3N. ♠10 led, RHO shows out, pitching a diamond. When you play a club to the king, everyone follows.

How do you play?

Seems like LHO must have all the major suit honors. So you could try running all your minor suit winners to come down to a 4 card ending, then exit a heart to lose 2 hearts but score 2 spades at the end, for 11 tricks total.

However, even if LHO has both heart honors, the defense might be able to defeat this plan. How do you counter?

Answer below...

The problem is that LHO can pitch a heart winner in order to hold a diamond link to partner, who will have some good diamonds left. So, after ♣K (in case they're 4-0), unblock ♦K and play a heart. LHO can't cash 2 hearts or your 11th trick is established, but the position becomes a trick tighter. In the 3 card ending LHO must keep 2 spades and the other heart winner, and now it will be safe to throw him in.

In practice, one of my small diamonds was a heart. I played this way and successfully executed the endplay, but I could have almost as well just established a heart trick.

Test Your Play Again

2010-08-15T23:30:00.001-04:00

Matchpoints, favorable

	♠ 3 2
	♥ Q 9 4 3
	♦ K
	♣ K Q 10 9 3 2

	♠ A Q J 6 4
	♥ J
	♦ A 9 5 2
	♣ A 8 7

Test Your Play -- solution

2010-08-03T07:06:00.010-04:00

	♠ A J 7 4 3 2
	♥ Q
	♦ A 10 2
	♣ J 4 2

	♠ 10
	♥ A K 10 6 4 2
	♦ K Q 9 5
	♣ 10 7

West	North	East	South
			1♥
Pass	1♠	Pass	2♦
Pass	3♣	Dbl	3♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass

Let's say the defense starts 3 rounds of clubs as you ruff (LHO started with Axx; for purposes of this problem you can assume RHO has 5 clubs) and all follow to the ♥Q. Now what?

As discussed yesterday, I crossed back with a low diamond to play 2 more trumps, RHO pitching a club on the 3rd round. That left this ending:

	♠ A J 7 4
	♥
	♦ A 10
	♣

	♠ 10
	♥ 10 6
	♦ Q 9 5
	♣

It seems like you basically have to pick up diamonds, and that playing for 3-3 or Jx is best, but I figured that I didn't have to do that right away. So, I tried ♦A (both follow, no J), ♠A and ruffing a spade. RHO followed with the king and the eight. Seems awfully likely that he has KQ87, so I exited my last trump, pitching the blocking ♦10 and endplaying LHO.

The main hint is "the blocking ♦10". Say I had unblocked that card at trick 5, leaving a very slightly different end position:

	♠ A J 7 4
	♥
	♦ A 2
	♣

	♠ 10
	♥ 10 6
	♦ Q 9 5
	♣

Now you have a much better option: ♠A, spade ruff, ♦A, spade ruff.

Case 1: LHO follows to 3 spades, and must be 3=4=3=3, so cash your diamond and concede trick 13.

Case 2: LHO only has 2 spades. Now she has 2 losing options: overruff and lead a diamond into your tenace, or pitch a diamond, allowing you to complete your elopement.

But, I think you can do better still. See below.

Basically, if RHO shows up with heart length, you'll probably regret unblocking ♦10. So, I think the best line is to not touch diamonds, but cross back to hand with a spade ruff. Now if LHO shows up with heart length, play along similar lines. If RHO shows up with heart length, then if he had a stiff spade play for 3-3 diamonds. If not, play ♦K and hook ♦10. If RHO started with 2425 with both red jacks, you'll go down.

Test Your Play

2010-08-02T00:02:00.001-04:00

	♠ A J 7 4 3 2
	♥ Q
	♦ A 10 2
	♣ J 4 2

	♠ 10
	♥ A K 10 6 4 2
	♦ K Q 9 5
	♣ 10 7

West	North	East	South
			1♥
Pass	1♠	Pass	2♦
Pass	3♣	Dbl	3♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass

Let's say the defense starts 3 rounds of clubs as you ruff (LHO started with Axx; for purposes of this problem you can assume RHO has 5 clubs) and all follow to the ♥Q. Now what?

I think there's a great line, including at least one very pretty variant. A sort of hint is below the fold: the inferior line I actually took.

I crossed back with a low diamond to play 2 more trumps, RHO pitching a club on the 3rd round. That left this ending:

	♠ A J 7 4
	♥
	♦ A 10
	♣

	♠ 10
	♥ 10 6
	♦ Q 9 5
	♣

All the compound squeezes

2010-07-25T15:22:00.000-04:00

I've spent a lot of time enumerating and trying to name various squeezes. Here's a quick summary of all the compound squeezes (pure, without trumps), just based on naming conventions. I think a name should contain enough information to specify the whole squeeze. Concise names should do little more, but as squeezes get more hairy it can be nice to have some redundancy. Here, I'm trying to be concise. This might be (i.e. probably is) only useful to me.

1. There are type-R (2 double threats opposite a lone basic menace), type-L (1 double threat opposite a basic menace and an adjacent double threat), and Alternate Threat (like type-L, except the adjacent double threat suit also has an alternate threat in the other hand). In both cases, one hand has only one menace, designated the "lone" menace.

2. Type-R and Type-L can be restricted or unrestricted. Unrestricted basically means that the lone menace is recessed -- this makes room for idle cards opposite so you can run the free suit.

3. The standard "basic" menace (i.e. guarded by one opponent who is under the menace) is just a 1 card menace. If an entry is required, it might become "2-card", i.e. Ax/x. Recessing is often required to make room in the other hand, this can make a 1-card a 2-card-non-communicating (2CNC, Ax/-), or a 2-card a "recessed" (AKx/x). If an entry is required to the opposite hand, it can become "blocked" (xx/A), or "twin-entry" (Axx/Kx).

4. The standard double menace in a pure compound is a 2-card (Ax/x). This can be recessed to make room opposite, or twin-entry to add an entry opposite. A 3-card might also be necessary (AKx/xx, where both entries are important -- contrast with "recessed"). In alternate-threat squeezes, either a 2C or a 3C might need an alternate threat: 2-card-alt (Ax/xx) or 3-card-alt (AKx/xxx).

There are 2 double menaces in a compound squeeze. In a type-L, one is "adjacent" to the basic menace and the other is "opposite". In a type-R, both are opposite. Often one of them needs some extra feature, but it doesn't matter which has it (since it's symmetrical).

5. The free suit is normally 2 winners with the lone menace. In an unrestricted squeeze, they both might be opposite; these positions are called "adjoints". Sometimes, a late entry is used in the free suit -- these have "balanced" free suits, such as AK/xx (Ax/Kx also fine). Sometimes the penultimate free winner needs to be in the opposite hand, a "blocked free suit" (though again Ax/Kx would work fine).

In my naming convention, the type (R/L/alternate) describes the basic layout of the menaces and minimum necessary (but not sufficient) entries (see row I, II, and II-C). "Unrestricted" says something about the lone menace: that it has an extra winner without (necessarily) a corresponding link opposite. But, each basic family potentially has some additional entry requirements that are satisfied by upgrading one or more standard menaces. The type of upgrade and the upgraded menace(s) constitutes the rest of the name. Often specifying which menace is upgraded is redundant, but still helpful.

In hand diagrams, spades is always basic and in North (guarded only in West), clubs is always free, and the red suits are always double menaces, guarded by both opponents (diamonds is always opposite, in South; hearts might be in either hand). An 'o' designates an idle card.

In the outline, every line using arabic numerals corresponds to a distinct compound, where as long as East can't stop spades, declarer can take the rest (might also require that the hand with CA is on lead).

I. Type-R (implies at least x/x/x/AK opposite -/Ax/Ax/o)

A. Unrestricted (implies spades is 2CNC or recessed: Ax/- or AKx/x)

requires a reentry to the basic hand, could be in basic suit (B) or one of the double menaces opposite (O). Free suit (F) not possible since it's cashed first.

          1. Type-R Unrestricted Recessed basic
               AKx/x/x/AK opp x/Ax/Ax/oo

          2. Type-R Unrestricted Twin-entry opposite
               Ax/Kx/x/AK opp -/Axx/Ax/oo

both of the above could be "adjoint", with the free winners in the other hand.
If the free suit is blocked, play is harder but nothing extra needed.

B. Restricted

requires a reentry to the basic hand, could be in B, O, or F:

          3. Type-R Restricted Two-card basic
               Ax/x/x/AK opp x/Ax/Ax/o

          4. Type-R Restricted Twin-entry opposite
               x/Kx/x/AK opp -/Axx/Ax/o

          5. Type-R Restricted Balance free suit (implies 2CNC basic)
               Ax/x/x/AK opp -/Ax/Ax/xx

II. Type-L (implies at least x/Ax/x/o opposite -/x/Ax/AK)

   A. Unrestricted (implies diamonds is recessed, AKx/x)

          6. Type-L Unrestricted (already fully specified)
              x/Ax/x/oo opp -/x/AKx/AK

has an adjoint with free winners in the other hand.
If the free suit is blocked, requires a reentry to the long free suit winner (3 possibilities if you include xx/AKQx as a possible double menace.)

B. Restricted (implies diamonds is *not* recessed)

Requires a Spade/Heart reentry to the free suit after cashing HA, plus a late Spade/Diamond entry to give force to the basic menace (and now entry-less heart menace). All 4 combos ([S|H]-[S|D]) work:

RFL squeezes:
          7. Type-L Restricted Twin-entry basic (both entries in spades)
              Axx/Ax/x/o opp Kx/x/Ax/AK

          8. Type-L Restricted Two-card basic, Twin entry adjacent
              Ax/Axx/x/o opp x/Kx/Ax/AK

B1-Twin-entry squeezes:
          9. Type-L Restricted Blocked basic, Twin entry opposite
               xx/Ax/Kx/o opp A/x/Axx/AK

         10. Type-L Restricted Twin entries adjacent and opposite
               x/Axx/Kx/o opp -/Kx/Axx/AK

   C. Alternate threat (implies at least Ax/Ax/x/o opp -/xx/Ax/AK)

SA is in the way when West unguards diamonds, need an entry to clear it while still retaining a heart winner (the SA itself is required to make room for the alternate threat). This entry can be in any suit (but if in the free suit, requires a reentry to South):

          11. Type-L Alternate Recessed basic
                AKx/Ax/x/o opp x/xx/Ax/AK

          12. Type-L Alternate 3-card-alt adjacent
                Ax/AKx/x/o opp -/xxx/Ax/AK

          13. Type-L Alternate Twin-entry opposite
                Ax/Ax/Kx/o opp -/xx/Axx/AK

          14. Type-L Alternate 3-card opp w/blocked free suit
                Ax/Ax/xx/A opp -/xx/AKx/KQ

In 14, the free suit blockage is essential. In 11-13, there are some blocked free suit variants not shown.

To recap:

[Note that in restricted squeezes, the common pattern is to cash one free winner, potentially need to do some stuff ending in the other hand, and then need a reentry to the free suit. I strive to only use "reentry" to refer to getting back to the free suit.]

Type-R unrestricted needs a reentry: basic (1) or opposite (2). Adjoints possible.
Type-R restricted needs a reentry: basic (3), opposite (4), or free (5).
Type-L unrestricted needs nothing more (6). Adjoint possible.
Type-L restricted can be an RFL needing a spade (L) entry plus a reentry in spades (7) or hearts (8); or it can have a twin-entry opposite + reentry in spades (9) or hearts (10).
Type-L alternate-threat (implicitly restricted) can have an entry to the basic hand in any suit: 11-14.

I believe that's all of the pure compounds: 14 distinct positions, plus 3 adjoints (plus maybe 2 or 3 variants on a type-L unrestricted w/blocked free suit, and some alternate threat blocked free suit variants). In most cases, the free suit being blocked is not a big deal, I don't treat those as separate positions.

PP 2nd Final Board 26

2010-07-22T07:02:00.018-04:00

Board 26
Dlr E
Vul Both

	♠ A 4 3 2
	♥ J 9 7
	♦ Q 10 2
	♣ A 8 2
♠ Q 10 6		♠ K J 8
♥ 6 5 4 3		♥ A K Q 2
♦ K 9 4		♦ A J 5 3
♣ Q J 7		♣ 6 5
	♠ 9 7 5
	♥ 10 8
	♦ 8 7 6
	♣ K 10 9 4 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♦	Pass
1NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

I suppressed my heart suit and it worked out great. North, understandably, did not lead a club and I was able to score 10 tricks for 13/17. +620 was 7.5/17. 2 pairs managed +650.

Of course, give North a natural club lead and things might have gone differently.

PP 2nd Final Board 25

2010-07-21T08:27:00.000-04:00

This is the deal that could have wound up haunting me for the rest of my life. I certainly thought we were in contention at this point (I had underappreciated some of our earlier bad results) and faced this annoying problem:

Board 25
Dlr N
Vul E-W

♠ K Q 5		♠ J 10 6 4
♥ A K 6 3 2		♥ 8
♦ 10 9		♦ A K J 7 6 4
♣ J 8 3		♣ A 5

Franco	North	Andy	South
	Pass	1♦	1♥
3NT	All Pass

Lead: ♣K -- a "power" lead.

How do you play?

The "normal" option seems to be win the 1st or 2nd club, maybe cash a diamond (you can pick up stiff Q or stiff 8, take your pick), then cross in hearts, cash your other heart winner lest it be stranded, and take a diamond hook. If diamonds come in, you have 9 tricks. If not, you're down several, probably 5.

Given the overcall and the power club lead, I decided to cash 2 diamonds. Against the previous line, this seems to gain whenever the Q is offside (I go down many fewer if it's 3rd, and make otherwise), break even if it's onside doubleton, and only loses when the Q is onside 3rd. Even without the overcall, this still seems like the right line to me.

In fact, everyone followed low to both diamonds and I led a spade, RHO hopped Ace and led clubs. Clubs were 4-4 so I wasn't down yet. North, cruelly, teased me by playing a spade back. Now I thought I had a red-suit squeeze, but alas not and I was down 1.

This was worth 3.5 instead of 8.5 for making 3. The full deal:

	♠ 9 8 7 3
	♥ J 5
	♦ Q 5 2
	♣ K Q 10 6
♠ K Q 5		♠ J 10 6 4
♥ A K 6 3 2		♥ 8
♦ 10 9		♦ A K J 7 6 4
♣ J 8 3		♣ A 5
	♠ A 2
	♥ Q 10 9 7 4
	♦ 8 3
	♣ 9 7 4 2

PP 2nd Final Board 24

2010-07-20T08:21:00.001-04:00

Board 24
Dlr W
Vul None

[Andy] You pick up:
♠K 8 7 5 3 2 ♥9 3 ♦A 8 ♣ 10 5 3

and hear partner open a 15-17 1NT. In addition to the standard transfer auctions, you also have the option of bidding 2♣-2red-2♠, which shows a light invitation based on distributional values rather than HCP. (But only promising 5 spades, so partner will not act with less than 3-card support.)

a) What do you do?
b) What do you expect the field action on this hand to be?

Possible actions on this hand include anything from signing off to just leaping to game. At IMPs, I think I would choose the stayman followed by 2♠ option. You stop at the 2 level when not bidding game, and likely get to game the times that it is right. I didn't think this was the right choice at matchpoints though, because there is so much chance that siding the contract incorrectly could cost a trick (on opening lead or otherwise).

So I knew I had to pick a transfer sequence. On general principle I hate light invite actions at matchpoints, as we could easily go down in 3♠. And that might be a complete disaster if partner had an atypical 1NT opening. Meanwhile, it didn't seem like game was likely to be great, so I took the low road and passed 2♠.

This choice was heavily punished as the full hand was:

	♠ Q
	♥ K 10 8 6
	♦ Q J 10 9
	♣ A J 9 7
♠ A J 10		♠ K 8 7 5 3 2
♥ A Q J		♥ 9 3
♦ 7 6 3 2		♦ A 8
♣ K Q 6		♣ 10 5 3
	♠ 9 6 4
	♥ 7 5 4 2
	♦ K 5 4
	♣ 8 4 2

Franco	North	Andy	South
1NT	Pass	2♥	Pass
2♠	All Pass

Partner not only had a HCP maximum, but also perfectly fitting cards and great trumps. Game is an extremely good contract. Even after the diamond lead and a losing heart finesse, 10 tricks still rolled in when the trump Q appeared.

We got 4.5 but had 11 available for bidding the game.

Afterwards, someone suggested that the field would all invite with this hand and if I knew I was winning the event at this point I should have been tempted to just try to duplicate the field action. In real life, I had no idea that I was winning -- indeed, when the event was over I figured we were probably third or something. Plus, I'm a little dubious of the argument. Enough of the field plays 14-16 NTs that duplicating their result would be impossible. (If partner has 14-16, they open 1NT and my hand passes; if partner has 17, they open a strong club or whatever and get to game. The range times out the worst for you when it centers around the borderline invite.)

PP 2nd Final Board 23

2010-07-19T08:17:00.001-04:00

Board 23
Dlr S
Vul Both

	♠ A 8 7 5
	♥ 6 3 2
	♦ K 8 3 2
	♣ 8 5
♠ Q J 2		♠ 4
♥ K Q 10 7 4		♥ A J 8
♦ 6 4		♦ 10 9 7
♣ K J 7		♣ Q 10 6 4 3 2
	♠ K 10 9 6 3
	♥ 9 5
	♦ A Q J 5
	♣ A 9

Franco	North	Andy	South
			1♠
Pass	3♠	Pass	4♠
All Pass

This was nearly a disaster. 3♠ was mixed and for some reason South brought it in.

I led the ♥K and then continued a suit-preference 4, when a count 10 would have been better. Understandably, partner won and played a 3rd. This allowed declarer to eliminate the hand and throw me in with the 3rd round of trumps to give up a ruff-sluff or lead away from my KJx in clubs. I felt sick and led a club, but partner was nice enough to hold the ♣Q so down 1.

+100 was worth 13/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 22

2010-07-18T08:14:00.000-04:00

Board 22
Dlr E
Vul E-W

	♠ J 7 3 2
	♥ Q J 9
	♦ Q 3
	♣ 8 7 6 2
♠ 5		♠ A K Q 8 4
♥ A K 10 8 7 6 3 2		♥ 4
♦ A J		♦ K 7
♣ K 10		♣ A Q 5 4 3
	♠ 10 9 6
	♥ 5
	♦ 10 9 8 6 5 4 2
	♣ J 9

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♠	3♦
3♥	4♦	Pass	Pass
6♥	All Pass

[Andy] A correction to 6NT would have been worth 4.5 matchpoints on top of our dead average 8.5. At the table, I just followed the principle of not moving over big leaps to slam. Partner might have had a singleton ♦A (or even a void) with one slow heart loser and no entry. In retrospect though I probably should have taken my chances with 6NT, as the odds would seem to favor it.

Multiple pairs got to 7NT on this hand. It can be made, but only on an unrealistic double dummy basis.

PP 2nd Final Board 21

2010-07-17T09:11:00.000-04:00

Board 21
Dlr N
Vul N-S

	♠ A 10 4
	♥ K Q 8 5
	♦ J 10 9
	♣ J 10 9
♠ Q 6 5		♠ 7 2
♥ J 10 2		♥ 9 6
♦ K 5 3		♦ A Q 8 7
♣ K 7 4 3		♣ A Q 6 5 2
	♠ K J 9 8 3
	♥ A 7 4 3
	♦ 6 4 2
	♣ 8

Franco	North	Andy	South
	Pass	1♣	Pass
1NT	All Pass

I think they successfully got off to a heart lead, but after taking their 4 hearts shifted to a minor and I had 9 tricks.

+150 was worth 13/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 20

2010-07-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

Board 20
Dlr W
Vul Both

	♠ A 10 5
	♥ J 10 9 6 5 3
	♦ 10
	♣ 10 8 3
♠ Q 9 7 6		♠ K 8
♥ 7		♥ K Q 4 2
♦ K 7 6 4		♦ A J 8 3 2
♣ K Q 5 4		♣ A 9
	♠ J 4 3 2
	♥ A 8
	♦ Q 9 5
	♣ J 7 6 2

Franco	North	Andy	South
Pass	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	2NT	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♦	Pass
3NT	Pass	4♥	Pass
4♠	Pass	4NT	All Pass

[Andy] I decided to treat my hand as balanced, and evaluated it to a 2NT rebid. 3♣ forced 3♦, then 3NT showed a mild slam invite with 4 diamonds. I knew I had a high card minimum, but at first glance it was hard to imagine a better hand than 5-card diamonds with extra unanticipated shape, so I bid 4♥ RKC. The 4♠ response showed one keycard. At that point, I was somewhat worried that 4NT would be a queen ask, but I was unwilling to accept another disastrous 5 of a minor contract, so I just bid 4NT and hoped. Fortunately, Franco remembered our agreement more clearly than I did, which does state that in this auction 4NT is to play. (Had clubs been trumps it would have been the Q ask.)

Ironically, at IMPs I would have bid 5♦ to try to avoid a slam disaster, but on the actual hand, 5♦ had no play.

4NT was also quite a precarious contract. In retrospect, I should have gotten a bit deeper in the analysis and worked out to pass 3NT. Partner could have shown 5-card spades or 5-card diamonds, so his choice not to strongly implied 4-4. As a passed hand then his slam try was very likely to be based on short hearts, which isn't a great fit for my hand. There are many hands partner could have that would put slam around 50%, but in order to bid slam you'd like to believe that you will often have better play than that. There seems to be only one very specific hand that really makes slam extremely good: ♠AQxx ♥x ♦KQxx ♣ xxxx. That's just too specific to play for, plus partner might have opened that hand anyway.

If partner weren't a passed hand this evaluation would be a lot harder. I'm not sure, but I suspect that partner perhaps should not make a slam try with his actual hand if he weren't a passed hand. Slam might make, but without explicitly showing short hearts judging it properly without getting too high is difficult.

Anyway, there I was in 4NT, on a low club lead to the 10 and A. I played ♦8 to the A and a diamond back. When RHO pitched a low (discouraging) heart, I won the ♦A and played a third diamond (RHO pitching another heart). I might have wanted to duck the second diamond to maintain communications, but I was desparate for an extra trick and I wanted to force LHO to play something.

LHO went into the tank and eventually played a spade. When this went around to the 10 and A, I fired a spade back and was soon claiming 10 tricks. +630 was worth 15/17.

LHO had a very difficult defensive problem -- his best play appears to be the ♣J, but that's far from obvious. Actually, RHO pretty much knows that spades and hearts are bad, so he wants to signal for a club. Maybe a discouraging heart followed by a suit preference heart is the best that could be hoped for.

Interestingly, even a low club beats me. I was certainly going to float that to the 9, because I needed the trick. Then though, while I appear to have 10 tricks, whichever major I play first establishes (at least one) extra trick for the defense before I can take my trick in the other major.

PP 2nd Final Board 19

2010-07-15T08:58:00.001-04:00

Board 19
Dlr S
Vul E-W

West		East
♠ Q 9 5		♠ J 10 7 4 3 2
♥ Q 3 2		♥ A J
♦ A Q 10		♦ 7 3
♣ J 9 8 6		♣ A 5 4

Franco	North	Andy	South
			1♥
Pass	2♥	2♠	Pass
3♥	Pass	3♠	All Pass

[Andy] Take the declarer spot on this one. South leads two high spades, North pitching a low discouraging heart on the second. (You unblock the ♠Q for flexibility.) After long thought, South tables the ♦9. What now?

It looks "normal" to put in the ♦Q. If that wins, you can just knock out the heart for a subsequent club pitch, losing only 2 spades, a club, and a heart. In contrast, if you put in the ♦10, then even if it forces the ♦K, they might establish a club trick before you can give up a heart. (The ♦Q will provide one pitch but you still have 5 losers.)

That isn't what I did though -- at the table, I called for the ♦10. I just figured that even it were wrong, I would have to get a bit unlucky for it to cost. In many positions, it would be far from obvious to RHO that he needed to shift to a club instead of a heart. There would also be some club positions where I could recover.

At the table, the 10 was a winning play, as the full hand was:

	♠ 8
	♥ 10 6 4
	♦ 8 6 5 4 2
	♣ K Q 7 2
♠ Q 9 5		♠ J 10 7 4 3 2
♥ Q 3 2		♥ A J
♦ A Q 10		♦ 7 3
♣ J 9 8 6		♣ A 5 4
	♠ A K 6
	♥ K 9 8 7 5
	♦ K J 9
	♣ 10 3

I was able to establish a heart trick and take another diamond finesse to pitch both my clubs away. +170 was worth 12 matchpoints while +140 was only 6.5.

You might or might not agree with my play on this particular hand, but I do think that playing without fear of the downside is often a winning strategy at matchpoints.

PP 2nd Final Board 18

2010-07-14T08:50:00.001-04:00

Board 18
Dlr E
Vul N-S

	♠ A 5 2
	♥ A 10 8
	♦ A K 10 8 6
	♣ J 7
♠ K Q J 9 3		♠ 10 6
♥ K Q 4		♥ J 6 3 2
♦ Q 2		♦ 5 4
♣ Q 6 5		♣ A 9 8 4 2
	♠ 8 7 4
	♥ 9 7 5
	♦ J 9 7 3
	♣ K 10 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
		Pass	Pass
1NT	All Pass

I normally wouldn't open 1NT with this spade suit, but it seemed right with all those queens.

They took some diamonds but did not start clubs in time to get an 8th trick.

-50 was worth 7.5/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 17

2010-07-13T08:47:00.000-04:00

Board 17
Dlr N
Vul None

	♠ Q 9 8 7 6 5
	♥ 4
	♦ K Q 8
	♣ 8 3 2
♠ 10		♠ K J 4 3 2
♥ Q J 10 9 7		♥ A 8 3 2
♦ 9 7 2		♦ A 3
♣ K Q J 4		♣ 6 5
	♠ A
	♥ K 6 5
	♦ J 10 6 5 4
	♣ A 10 9 7

Franco	North	Andy	South
	2♠	All Pass

And sometimes preempts work against you. Our +50 was worth 4/17. Perhaps I'm supposed to double. Though it also looks like we might have been able to set this 2.

PP 2nd Final Board 16

2010-07-12T08:44:00.000-04:00

Board 16
Dlr W
Vul E-W

	♠ A 4
	♥ A 8 6
	♦ A Q 10 9 8 3
	♣ 7 6
♠ K 10 3		♠ Q J 9 8 7 2
♥ K Q 5 4 2		♥ 10
♦ J 5		♦ 6 2
♣ 10 5 2		♣ A J 9 8
	♠ 6 5
	♥ J 9 7 3
	♦ K 7 4
	♣ K Q 4 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
Pass	1♦	2♠	Dbl
3♠	3NT	All Pass

Rusinow ♠J led, I overtook and played back the ten and it was not hard to hold declarer to his 8 top tricks.

+50 was worth 11.5/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 15

2010-07-11T08:25:00.000-04:00

Board 15
Dlr S
Vul N-S

	♠ 10 9
	♥ 7 6
	♦ A K Q 9
	♣ A J 10 7 2
♠ J 8 7 6 5 4		♠ A 3
♥ J		♥ A Q 10 4 3 2
♦ 10 6 3		♦ J 7 4
♣ Q 5 3		♣ 6 4
	♠ K Q 2
	♥ K 9 8 5
	♦ 8 5 2
	♣ K 9 8

Franco	North	Andy	South
			Pass
2♠	All Pass

Sometimes preempts work. I was down 3, but -150 was worth 15.5/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 14

2010-07-10T08:17:00.001-04:00

[This feature is finally complete, the final 1/2 session is coming out over the next 13 days --FB]

Board 14
Dlr E
Vul None

	♠ J 9 4
	♥ 9
	♦ A 7 2
	♣ K J 10 9 4 3
♠ A K 5		♠ 10 7 6
♥ K 4		♥ A Q J 8 7 5 2
♦ J 10 9 8 6		♦ K 4
♣ Q 8 6		♣ A
	♠ Q 8 3 2
	♥ 10 6 3
	♦ Q 5 3
	♣ 7 5 2

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♥	Pass
2NT	Pass	4♥	All Pass

2NT was natural & forcing, though next time I'd bid 2♦. Possibly there was a slower path to 4♥ but I don't think so.

South led the 3rd/low ♠3. Andy won. He figured that leading diamonds could make 6, but only if the ace were ducked and both red suits split evenly. So instead he set about avoiding a diamond guess. He ran 6 trumps and saw 7 club pitches. When he cashed ♣A, South pitched the ♠2. Now he could cross to dummy, eliminate clubs with a ruff, and exit a spade in a position where everyone would be diamond tight. Had North been able to win the spade, he'd still have a diamond guess, but in fact South had to win and lead one for him.

A well-earned 450, but only worth 8/17.

Brian Platnick related leading a diamond at trick 2. North flew, but failed to continue spades so he made 6.

Play the card you're known to hold

2010-07-08T08:15:00.029-04:00

This was from the USBC round of 16, and was reported in the daily bulletin.

If you like, cover up North-South and plan the play on the auction and lead and shift shown below.

Board 82
DlrE
Vul N/S

	♠ A 8 7 6
	♥ 7 6 4
	♦ Q 4
	♣ 5 4 3 2
♠ 2		♠ K 5 4
♥ 9 8 3 2		♥ A Q J 5
♦ A 10 8 2		♦ 9 7 6 5
♣ A Q 9 7		♣ J 10
	♠ Q J 10 9 3
	♥ K 10
	♦ K J 3
	♣ K 8 6

Jonathan	North	Franco	South
		1♦	1♠
Double	3♠	Pass	Pass
Double	Pass	4♥	All Pass

3♠ was a mixed raise

Opening lead: ♠J (Rusinow)

North won ♠A and switched to the ♦Q. That was a mean play!

More below...

Let's say you duck this, South playing the 3. North continues ♦4 to South's Jack and you win. Now what?

I figured North probably had no Kings, so decided to hope South had roughly his actual hand: heart to the Ace, then 4 rounds of clubs to shake 2 diamonds.

Of course, this play might have been harder to find if I didn't know who held the ♦J. If North could still hold the 3rd diamond, then it might just be right to draw trumps, even if the finesse loses there'll still be time to get all your tricks without losing a 2nd diamond trick.

I would still basically know South had all the Kings (if North is presumed to hold QJx in diamonds), though, and might choose to play ♥A and 2 or 3 rounds of clubs (depending when they cover) before committing to what to do. I think it's a virtual guess: The non-King red cards split 3-1 in one suit and 2-2 in the other and you need to know which way. The ♥10 falling under the Ace might be suspicious, and a harder false card to find than ♦K, so maybe I'd still get it right.

Of course, the ♥K could plausibly have been on the whole time, maybe this was too fancy.

The other table stopped short of game, so this won 6 IMPs.

A tricky 3NT

2010-07-07T07:31:00.072-04:00

This was from the USBC semi-finals, and was slightly mis-reported in the daily bulletin.

If you like, cover up North-South and plan the play on the auction and lead shown below.

Board 39
Dlr S
Vul Both

	♠ K 10 9 8 4
	♥ J 5
	♦ Q 9 6 2
	♣ Q 8
♠ A Q 6		♠ J 7 5 2
♥ A 10 9 2		♥ 7
♦ J 10		♦ A K 8 7 4
♣ A 10 9 2		♣ J 7 6
	♠ 3
	♥ K Q 8 6 4 3
	♦ 5 3
	♣ K 5 4 3

Franco	North	Jonathan	South
			2♥
2NT	Pass	3♦	Pass
3NT	All Pass

3♦ was stayman, and 3NT denied 4 spades, but showed comfort with the heart stopper.

Opening lead: ♥J

More below...

I won the 2nd heart, pitching a club from dummy. Apparently Rodwell in the same situation took a very long time and pitched a spade -- I think I should have recognized this as a situation worth more thought than I gave it.

Anyway, I tried the ♦10, which held, then the ♦J was covered. On the next diamond South was in some pain and shook a heart; I did too. I knocked out North's diamond (South & I both pitched hearts again), and he was endplayed. He chose a spade exit, I won ♠Q, ♠A, and played another, endplaying him again. He played ♣Q, which I allowed to hold, and then claimed.

Note the cute club ending: stiff J in dummy along with 2 winners, opposite AT9. Normally in a position like this South holding Kxx can duck and still score a trick, but here there was no answer.

Rodwell apparently (after pitching a spade from dummy) also snuck the ♦10 through, then played another--covered and won. Now a club to the 9 and North was endplayed to concede a dummy entry to pick up clubs, cash the diamond, and later establish a spade.

It was reported that after discarding a club and running the ♦10 I "continued along the same line as Rodwell" which doesn't seem all that accurate.

I'm not really sure which line is better. Seems roughly that we both needed North to have the ♠K and at least one club honor. But, it's not clear Rodwell was going to make if North had both club honors, or South had the ♣8. Against that, he still had chances if South has both clubs since he retained his slow heart stopper.

Meanwhile, at the other table in my match, declarer also discarded a club, played a spade to the J, then tried ♣J: covered and won in hand. He next played a club to North's (Alex Kolesnik's) queen, and Alex tangled the hand by playing the ♦Q back at him.

I don't know exactly what happened after that, it actually looks to me like he could survive by winning, playing a spade to the Q (Alex must duck), cashing his clubs, and setting up ♠J while still having a diamond entry.

2010 US Team Trials

2010-07-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

I recently partnered Jonathan Weinstein for the first time, and along with teammates Clement Jackson, Josh Sher, Alex Kolesnik, and Bob Etter we managed to go to the semifinals of the recent team trials in Chicago.

I should have some coverage soon. In the meantime, there's already some good stuff at Jonathan's blog.

Jonathan also stars in this NY Times column.

PP 2nd Final Board 13

2010-07-03T08:05:00.000-04:00

Board 13
Dlr N
Vul Both

	♠ K 10 6 2
	♥ J 9 2
	♦ 7 6 5 4 3
	♣ J
♠ 7 5 3		♠ A 8 4
♥ 10 6 3		♥ A 8 4
♦ A K Q		♦ 10
♣ K 6 3 2		♣ A Q 8 7 5 4
	♠ Q J 9
	♥ K Q 7 5
	♦ J 9 8 2
	♣ 10 9

All Pass

Franco	North	Andy	South
	Pass	1♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♦	Pass
3NT	Pass	4♣	Pass
5♣

Aargh.

2♦ was a 4 card raise, only forcing to 2NT. (In retrospect, maybe 2♥ showing an invitational 2NT bid would have been better -- Andy.)
3♦ is apparently a bid without a formal agreement, but we both thought it showed a singleton. Stressing about this probably led to two poorly judged bids:

4♣: not clear we have 4NT safety.
5♣: I was maybe worried that 4♦ had been naturalish, but really I have a natural 4NT available and should bid it.

11 easy tricks in either strain. +600 was 3.5 instead of 10.5 for 660.

[Andy] This kind of result is one of the hidden costs of conventions. Even when you remember them correctly, you spend all your mental energy trying to figure out if you've remembered rather than on the critical judgment questions most relevant to the hand.

Another interesting anecdote on this hand: More and more players are playing transfer responses over 1♣, in which case the auction starts 1♣-1♠-2♣. Given the situation I feel like the best choice at that point might just be to invite with 3♣, but if you feel like you need to game force with the hand, you have an impossible problem. 2♦ at this point would typically show a natural suit. So it seems that several experts at this point found themselves bidding 2 of a major (whichever one for whatever reason), which is pretty ugly. At at least one table the auction got confused enough that the experts also managed to wander into 5♣ rather than 3NT.

PP 2nd Final Board 12

2010-07-02T07:52:00.000-04:00

How would you play 4♥ by West? Opening lead is a low spade lead to the Q and South's K

Board 12
Dlr W
Vul N-S

	♠ 8 6 5 3
	♥ 6 2
	♦ K 7
	♣ Q 9 8 6 3
♠ A 2		♠ Q 4
♥ A 9 5 4 3		♥ Q J 10
♦ 9 6 4 2		♦ A Q 10 3
♣ K 7		♣ A J 10 2
	♠ K J 10 9 7
	♥ K 8 7
	♦ J 8 5
	♣ 5 4

Franco	North	Andy	South
1♥	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♥	Pass
4♥	All Pass

Again I'm not sure of the auction. 2♦ is actually catchall, usually without diamonds but sometimes a minimum with diamonds.

I chose to cash 2 clubs, then run 2 hearts, then try a club ruffing finesse. In practice I wound up with a diamond loser and a black-suit loser. An immediate club hook would have been more successful.

In fact, I like that play in retrospect. If the club hook loses and they get a spade, maybe I can hook DQ and use 2 pitches to avoid any diamond losers.

Of course, if I don't open partner will wind up declarer which is much better for us.

450 was 5.5/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 11

2010-07-01T07:48:00.000-04:00

Board 11
Dlr S
Vul None

	♠ A K Q J 7
	♥ J 10 8 4
	♦ A 9
	♣ 5 4
♠ 9 8 5		♠ 10 4
♥ K 9 7 6		♥ A 5
♦ J 10 8		♦ K 5 3
♣ 10 6 2		♣ A K Q 9 8 7
	♠ 6 3 2
	♥ Q 3 2
	♦ Q 7 6 4 2
	♣ J 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
			Pass
Pass	1NT	All Pass

[Andy] North pushed the modern notrumpitis to the limit on this one. My experience seems to have shown that when you hold a 6 card running suit over their 1NT, it often works out best to pass. I used to think that was kind of gambling, i.e. hoping they bid 3NT and play there doubled, but really it seems to have a lot going for it beyond that. Anyway, our current agreements constrain my choices to either pass or 3♣, so I preferred the former.

I ran my 4 club tricks, giving declarer an uncomfortable discard at the end. As often happens, declarer chose to keep winners instead of sure stoppers, pitching a diamond and 3 hearts. We then took 4 heart tricks for down 4.

+200 was a cold top. Had declarer chosen to play safe for down two, that would have been worth half the board.

PP 2nd Final Board 10

2010-06-30T07:43:00.000-04:00

Board 10
Dlr E
Vul Both

	♠ Q J 10 8 5 4 3
	♥ Q J 8
	♦ 8 6
	♣ 10
♠ 2		♠ K 7
♥ 7 6		♥ A 9 4 3 2
♦ Q 5 3 2		♦ 10 9 7
♣ Q J 9 8 7 3		♣ A 5 4
	♠ A 9 6
	♥ K 10 5
	♦ A K J 4
	♣ K 6 2

Not clear on the auction. Maybe Andy passed and they bid 1D-1S-2N-4S. The opponents bid 4♠ by North making a routine 5. -650 was only worth 6/17. Somehow there were 6 620s (and a 230).

PP 2nd Final Board 9

2010-06-29T07:41:00.000-04:00

Board 9
Dlr N
Vul E-W

	♠ J 9 6 2
	♥ 8
	♦ 7 5
	♣ K J 9 8 5 2
♠ K 10 3		♠ Q 4
♥ K Q J		♥ A 7 5
♦ K Q 6 3		♦ J 10 9 4 2
♣ A 6 4		♣ Q 10 3
	♠ A 8 7 5
	♥ 10 9 6 4 3 2
	♦ A 8
	♣ 7

Franco	North	Andy	South
	3♣	Pass	Pass
Dbl	Pass	3NT	All Pass

[Andy] I wasn't sure about my auction but was happy with my choice when dummy came down. On a heart lead, the play appeared to present a mildly interesting problem at first. If hearts are 4-3, you would like to knock out South's presumed two aces first, and then lose a club trick to North to avoid them getting a heart trick. However, you can't knock out the ♠A without giving the defense an opportunity to play that suit back at you. I heard that at least one declarer played spades too early on this hand, although I don't know what the auction at that table was. At my table it became moot very quickly -- when I knocked out the ♦A South couldn't even try to create a pretense of 4-3 hearts.

Made 4 for 9/17.

PP 2nd Final Board 8

2010-06-20T08:29:00.001-04:00

Board 8
Dlr W
Vul None

	♠ Q 7
	♥ 10 9 8 5 4
	♦ A 10
	♣ K 10 9 5
♠ A J 9 5 2		♠ 10 4
♥ K 6		♥ A Q 7 3 2
♦ J 8 7 5		♦ 9
♣ 8 2		♣ A Q J 7 3
	♠ K 8 6 3
	♥ J
	♦ K Q 6 4 3 2
	♣ 6 4

Franco	North	Andy	South
Pass	Pass	1♥	3♦
3♠	All Pass

I think I'm supposed to make a negative double over 3♦.

The ♦A was led (seems like a heart would be better).

Somehow I wound up with 9 tricks, I can't quite work it out. Perhaps it was:

Another diamond was ruffed. I crossed to ♥K to play a 3rd diamond, North ruffed in with the Q and played a trump to the ten, holding. South ruffed ♥A, cashed a diamond and tapped me with a diamond, but I was able to hook the club and trump coup him.

If instead of tapping me with a diamond he exits a club, now I can't do everything.

And yet, I don't think this was quite how it went down.

[Andy] I think what happened was that after ruffing with the ♠Q, North immediately gave South a heart ruff, and then South played a trump back. Now you were able to play the ♥Q, and the defense can't prevent you from taking 9 tricks at that point. (Indeed, if they ruff this trick you can squeeze North for an overtrick.)

Had the defense played a spade instead of a heart as suggested above, declarer can still make, but it requires very double dummy play. (Overtake the spade in hand, club finesse, club A, club ruff, diamond, forcing South to shorten declarer for a coup at the end.) The winning double dummy defense is actually to not ruff in with the ♠Q.

10.5/17

PP 2nd Final Board 7

2010-06-19T08:22:00.000-04:00

Board 7
Dlr S
Vul Both

	♠ Q 9 7 6 3 2
	♥ 6
	♦ K J 9 8
	♣ 9 3
♠ A K 10 4		♠ 8 5
♥ A Q 10 9 7		♥ 8
♦ 10 3		♦ A 6 5 2
♣ J 6		♣ K 10 8 7 5 4
	♠ J
	♥ K J 5 4 3 2
	♦ Q 7 4
	♣ A Q 2

Franco	North	Andy	South
			1♥
Pass	1♠	2♣	2♥
Dbl	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

2♣ was a touch sick but did not deserve this fate. My double is not penalty, though it sounded so penalty I couldn't believe we had this agreement. 2NT was scrambling, but I thought I had enough for 3NT anyway. Just needed clubs to come in for one loser (and an entry they can't or don't kill on the opening lead), so I'm not so sure this bid was wrong. But there's a lot to be said for quietly passing and taking a nice plus.
But, -200 was worth only 2. +200 would have been 13.5.

[Andy] I feel kind of obligated to comment, since I imagine that a lot of old fashioned players will look at this board and make fun of our agreement. A world-class player was on my right, and he asked me the meaning of the double. I told him it was cards and not penalty. Afterwards, he told me that I had explained the double as penalty, he would have taken his chances with 2♠. Franco would certainly double that also, and we can manage to beat it, but it's close -- 2♠ only goes down because I have the ♠8. So defending 2♥ undoubled is really a better choice for the defense than 2♠X.

Also in postmortem conversation, the expert told me "It's easy to forget when you're looking at the hand, but how often do you hold THAT hand?" Essentially, that's the combined argument for the agreement. First of all, a killer penalty double isn't all the common, and even when it does come up it might alert the opponents to run to a better spot. Some of the time, partner will reopen with a double and you'll get them anyway. Meanwhile, when you hold a card showing double you really want to be able to make it.

This argument isn't really different from any argument on the modern theory of doubles, it's just being applied to what would seem to be one of the more extreme cases of it.

PP 2nd Final Board 6

2010-06-18T08:17:00.002-04:00

Board 6
Dlr E
Vul E-W

	♠ J 10 9
	♥ J
	♦ K J 6 4
	♣ A J 7 5 2
♠ A Q 6 3		♠ K 5
♥ K Q 9 8 5		♥ A 6 4 2
♦ Q		♦ 9 8 7
♣ Q 6 4		♣ K 10 9 3
	♠ 8 7 4 2
	♥ 10 7 3
	♦ A 10 5 3 2
	♣ 8

Franco	North	Andy	South
		Pass	Pass
1♥	Dbl	2♣	Pass
4♥	All Pass

2♣ was a 4 card constructive or better raise. Now that I see it here, I think we should not play that wide a range over a double.

In any event, they didn't find any ruffs and I found the ♣J for 650 and 12.5/17

PP 2nd Final Board 5

2010-06-17T08:09:00.000-04:00

Board 5
Dlr N
Vul N-S

	♠ J 3
	♥ Q 10 6 4 3 2
	♦ 5 2
	♣ A 7 6
♠ K 9 8 7		♠ 10 6
♥ K J		♥ A 9 8
♦ K J 9 8 4 3		♦ A Q 7 6
♣ 8		♣ K 10 5 2
	♠ A Q 5 4 2
	♥ 7 5
	♦ 10
	♣ Q J 9 4 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
	Pass	1♦	1♠
2♠	Pass	3♦	Pass
3♥	Dbl	Pass	Pass
3NT	All Pass

♠J led to my K. I must have run some diamonds before playing a spade and so made only 3. Had I immediately set about establishing another spade I would have made 4. Oops.

400 was worth 4, vs 11.5 for 430. I imagine some of those 430s were heart leads.

PP 2nd Final Board 4

2010-06-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

Board 4
Dlr W
Vul Both

	♠ Q J 4 2
	♥ 10 6 4
	♦ J 10 7
	♣ K 6 2
♠ 8 6 3		♠ A K 5
♥ Q J 7 3		♥ 9 8 5 2
♦ Q 8		♦ A K 6
♣ A J 7 5		♣ Q 8 3
	♠ 10 9 7
	♥ A K
	♦ 9 5 4 3 2
	♣ 10 9 4

Franco	North	Andy	South
Pass	Pass	1NT	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♥	Pass
4♥	All Pass

+620 was worth 11/16. 630 was a great result for someone, seems like that should be more findable. Apparently 3 pairs went -100, and 4 settled for a partscore. Not sure how any of those happened.

PP 2nd Final Board 3

2010-06-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Consider just the West hand for a lead problem.

Board 3
Dlr S
Vul E-W

	♠ A K 8 6 4 2
	♥ 4 3
	♦ Q 9 6 3
	♣ K
♠ Q J 5 3		♠ 10 9 7
♥ A Q 7 5		♥ 10 8
♦ 8 2		♦ A J 10 7 4
♣ Q 7 5		♣ A 10 9
	♠
	♥ K J 9 6 2
	♦ K 5
	♣ J 8 6 4 3 2

Franco	North	Andy	South
			2♥
Pass	2♠	Pass	3♣
Pass	3♥	Pass	4♥
All Pass

Apparently 2♠ was forcing and South was unsure whether 3♥ was forcing. What would you lead from the West hand?

I chose the ♥A, and then continued hearts. I like this choice as it seems to safely kill any ruffs in dummy but I still rate to get my 2 natural tricks. Sadly, with partner's spots we had 3 natural tricks.

Declarer played a club next, partner winning the ace and then the ten. Next trick was ♣9-J-Q. Sadly, I now played a spade. I was thinking declarer could have taken his spades earlier if it was important to him, but of course he couldn't.

+100 was worth 4.5/17, +150 would have been worth 12. This was a big error.

Below

PP 2nd Final Board 2

2010-06-14T08:12:00.000-04:00

Board 2
Dlr E
Vul N-S

♠ A K Q J 8 2		♠ 10
♥ 4		♥ A Q 10 7 2
♦ 5 4 3		♦ A Q J 9
♣ 6 3 2		♣ J 8 5

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♥	Pass
1♠	2♣	2♦	Pass
3♠	All Pass

North cashed 1 club (RHO playing the ten), then switched to ♦6. How would you play?

Fearing a ruff and wanting to ensure my plus, I flew ♦A and drew trumps, which split 3-3. Next I led a diamond to the queen which held as LHO followed with the 2 and RHO followed very slowly with the 8. Now what?

I played another diamond, RHO won the K and played the ten. On this, pitch a club and RHO must lead a heart into your tenace.

Stopping in 3♠ was worth 11, but making 4 was good for 16/17 matchpoints.

	♠ 5 4 3
	♥ 8 3
	♦ 6 2
	♣ A K Q 9 7 4
♠ A K Q J 8 2		♠ 10
♥ 4		♥ A Q 10 7 2
♦ 5 4 3		♦ A Q J 9
♣ 6 3 2		♣ J 8 5
	♠ 9 7 6
	♥ K J 9 6 5
	♦ K 10 8 7
	♣ 10

PP 2nd Final Board 1

2010-06-13T08:16:00.002-04:00

♠ A J 4 2		♠ Q 9 6 3
♥ A J 5		♥ K 7 4 2
♦ 9 4		♦ K 10 6 2
♣ K Q 9 4		♣ 2

Board 1
Dlr N
Vul None

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♠	Pass	4♠	All Pass

A 3rd/low ♥3 lead runs around to the 9 and your jack. How do you play?

	♠ K 10 8
	♥ Q 8 3
	♦ A 8 7
	♣ J 6 5 3
♠ A J 4 2		♠ Q 9 6 3
♥ A J 5		♥ K 7 4 2
♦ 9 4		♦ K 10 6 2
♣ K Q 9 4		♣ 2
	♠ 7 5
	♥ 10 9 6
	♦ Q J 5 3
	♣ A 10 8 7

I still have no idea what's right.

After winning ♥J I played a diamond to the king and a club to South's Ace. Then they played 2 more diamonds tapping me, and I was worried about losing a trump and having some trouble on the 4th diamond. So I banked on 3-3 hearts and crossed in hearts to lose a spade finesse, then only needed one club trick to go with 4 trumps, 4 hearts, and the ♦K.

If I lost a spade hook at trick 3, they'd tap in diamonds and now I'd have to guess to ruff a diamond high and hook the ♠9 to get home.

Perhaps for this reason playing a diamond is wrong. I could see crossing in hearts to play a club, or even playing a club out of your hand to retain communication. If they push clubs you have more flexibility to retain control, plus they might not be able to ever overruff. Say you lose the first, ruff the 2nd, and hook in spades.

Note that 4th best leads would have made this hand a lot harder.

In any event, 420 was good enough for 15/17. As for bidding game, well +140 would have been 10.5 -- most common result appears to be 4♠ down 1.

PP 1st Final Board 26

2010-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Board 26
Dlr E
Vul Both

	♠ K J 2
	♥ J 9 2
	♦ A Q J 8
	♣ J 9 5
♠ Q 9 8 5 4 3		♠ A 10 7 6
♥ 7		♥ 10 5 4
♦ 10 5 3		♦ K 9 7
♣ K 4 2		♣ A Q 3
	♠
	♥ A K Q 8 6 3
	♦ 6 4 2
	♣ 10 8 7 6

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♣	2♥
All Pass

South successfully preempted us out of our spade fit and earned a good board for his choice.

2♥ by South, +3, -140, 5.5/17

PP 1st Final Board 25

2010-05-17T08:00:00.001-04:00

Board 25
Dlr N
Vul E-W

	♠ Q 3 2
	♥ J 7 3
	♦ A 8 6
	♣ A 8 7 3
♠ 10 8 7		♠ 9 4
♥ A K 6 5 4		♥ 9 8 2
♦ K		♦ J 5 4 3
♣ K J 5 2		♣ Q 10 6 4
	♠ A K J 6 5
	♥ Q 10
	♦ Q 10 9 7 2
	♣ 9

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1♠
2♥	3♥	Pass	3♠
All Pass

[Auction somewhat of a guess]

Basically the opponents missed a game here. Declarer did pick up the diamonds for no losers.
3♠ by South +5, -200, 15/17

Below

PP 1st Final Board 24

2010-05-13T08:00:00.002-04:00

Board 24
Dlr W
Vul None

	♠ A Q 9 7 6
	♥ J 6 5
	♦ 10 4
	♣ 8 5 3
♠ 10		♠ J 5 3 2
♥ A 10 8 7 4 3 2		♥ K 9
♦ K J 8 6		♦ 9 7 5 3
♣ J		♣ 6 4 2
	♠ K 8 4
	♥ Q
	♦ A Q 2
	♣ A K Q 10 9 7

Franco	North	Andy	South
1♥	1♠	Pass	2♥
Pass	2♠	Pass	3♥
Pass	3♠	Pass	4NT
Pass	5♣	Pass	5♦
Pass	6♠	All Pass

The opponents bid to a fine 6♠. Andy led ♥K and a heart and later scored a trump trick for +50 and 15.5/17.

[Andy] This is obviously an example of the kind of hand you need to go your way in order to win one of these things. The result was lucky, but not outrageously so -- a 4-1 break is plenty likely to begin with, and presumably more likely when there is bidding by both sides.

A mildly interesting anecdote on this hand. After the opening lead, looking at my trumps, I basically immediately knew that I would play another heart. I kind of hate this situation, because I feel like I should play in my normal (slow) tempo, but I don't want to be seen as trying to deceive declarer with it. I observed Franco's discouraging signal, considered whether there was any chance it could mean that I was not supposed to play another heart, decided no, and played. (At double dummy declarer might actually make after a switch.) Anyway, I then felt guilty about maybe having taken too long.

Later that evening, I was chatting with the expert player who was declarer on this board. His first comment was "you played another heart so fast I knew the spades weren't breaking." :)

PP 1st Final Board 23

2010-05-07T07:22:00.001-04:00

Board 23
Dlr S
Vul Both

	♠ 6 3 2
	♥ 7 6 4
	♦ 10 7 4 3
	♣ K 4 2
♠ J 8 7 5		♠ Q 10 4
♥ Q 10 3		♥ A K J 8 5 2
♦ K 8 6		♦ J 9
♣ 8 6 5		♣ 10 3
	♠ A K 9
	♥ 9
	♦ A Q 5 2
	♣ A Q J 9 7

	Franco		Andy
South	West	North	East
1♣	Pass	Pass	1♥
Dbl	2♥	Pass	Pass
Dbl	Pass	2NT	3♥
All Pass

[Andy] South took like several minutes before his last pass. I knew he had a big hand, and I had wondered if I should have bid 3♥ a round earlier. My actual choice happened to work out a lot better -- South surely would have had to double 3♥ if it had been bid a round earlier, and only bad things could happen to our side from there.

3♥ by East -100, 10/17

PP 1st Final Board 22

2010-05-06T08:27:00.000-04:00

Board 22
Dlr E
Vul E-W

	♠ A 10 9 5
	♥ J 6 4
	♦ Q J 6
	♣ Q J 6
♠ K 7 6 3		♠ 2
♥ 7 5 3		♥ A 10 2
♦ A 4 2		♦ K 10 9 8 7 5
♣ 10 7 5		♣ 9 3 2
	♠ Q J 8 4
	♥ K Q 9 8
	♦ 3
	♣ A K 8 4

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
		Pass	1♣
Pass	1♠	Pass	4♦*
Pass	4♠		All Pass

* minimum GF splinter (3♦ would have been weaker or stronger)

[Andy] They led the ♦10 to the A and returned a diamond. I ruffed and from there did not have any trouble drawing trumps and knocking out the ♥A. After the hand, my opponent observed that the ♦K opening lead would have been more challenging.

4♠ by North, +450, 9.5/17

PP 1st Final Board 21

2010-05-05T08:09:00.000-04:00

Board 21
Dlr N
Vul N-S

	♠ A Q 3
	♥ K Q J 2
	♦ 7
	♣ Q 10 6 4 3
♠ 6 4		♠ K J 10 2
♥ A 8 6 4		♥ 10 5
♦ Q J 9 8 5 4		♦ K 6 3 2
♣ J		♣ A K 9
	♠ 9 8 7 5
	♥ 9 7 3
	♦ A 10
	♣ 8 7 5 2

West	Andy	East	Franco
	1♣	1♠	Pass
2♦	Dbl	3♦	4♣
4♦	All Pass

Andy made a pushy double and I risked 4♣. We were slated for 500, but they let us off the hook.

4♦ by West, +4, -130, 10.5/17

PP 1st Final Board 20

2010-05-04T07:47:00.001-04:00

Board 20
Dlr W
Vul Both

	♠ KQ1087
	♥ A97
	♦ 3
	♣ AQ86
♠ A63		♠ J94
♥ K10652		♥ Q
♦ KJ8		♦ AQ10742
♣ 54		♣ J97
	♠ 52
	♥ J843
	♦ 965
	♣ K1032

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
1♥	1♠	2♦	Pass
3♦	All Pass

[Andy] It's good that we got into the auction one way or another. They defended correctly for down 1, so this was essentially a flat board (9.5/17).

PP 1st Final Board 19

2010-05-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

[Sorry for the delay in posting]

Board 19
Dlr S
Vul E-W

	♠ J96
	♥ 9752
	♦ Q87
	♣ AK4
♠ A1075		♠ K42
♥ 1084		♥ AQJ6
♦		♦ 10653
♣ Q109753		♣ J6
	♠ Q83
	♥ K3
	♦ AKJ942
	♣ 82

Franco	North	Andy	South
			1NT
Dbl	Rdbl	Pass	2♦
All Pass

1NT was some strong range. Dbl was 4+ major, 5+ minor 2-suiter. Andy's pass asked for my minor, but South chose to show his minor.

Perhaps fearing that I would have my bid, declarer missed his chances to lead a heart towards the king and got punished. He won the club lead, drew trumps in 4 rounds, and led a spade to the 9. Partner won and cleared clubs, the declarer erred by leading a spade to the Q, which I allowed to hold. This killed dummy and allowed us to force a heart lead out of his hand.

They were already getting a bad board for being in the wrong strain (3N is cold), but the missed overtrick gave us an extra 4 matchpoints for 15.5/17.

PP 1st Final Board 18

2010-04-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

Board 18
Dlr E
Vul N-S

	♠ 4
	♥ Q4
	♦ KQ84
	♣ K107432
♠ A763		♠ KQ2
♥ K109865		♥ A
♦ 753		♦ A1096
♣		♣ Q9865
	♠ J10985
	♥ J732
	♦ J2
	♣ AJ

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
		1NT	Pass
2♣	Dbl	Pass	Pass
4♥	All Pass

[Andy] I led my spade. Declarer (a world class player) saw that his best chance would be to elope with his trumps, so he won in dummy and ruffed a club. He knew that spades were either 5-1 or 3-3, and he decided that his best chance was the latter, so he played the ♠A. I ruffed and from there he could not do better than down 1.

It was the right basic idea, but to succeed at double dummy declarer must play a heart to the A after the first club ruff, ruff another club, and play the ♥K. Having thus removed all my trumps, he could go back to cashing his spades and eloping with all his trumps.

No one in the field bid and made game, but there were 140s and 170s and +50 was worth 14.5/17 for us.

PP 1st Final Board 17

2010-04-27T07:59:00.000-04:00

Board 17
Dlr N
Vul None

	♠ J 8 4
	♥ K 10 4 3
	♦ Q 6 3
	♣ K 7 6
♠ 10 3		♠ A 9 7 2
♥ Q J 8		♥ A 7 5
♦ K 4 2		♦ J 10 9 7
♣ Q 10 9 8 2		♣ J 4
	♠ K Q 6 5
	♥ 9 6 2
	♦ A 8 5
	♣ A 5 3

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
	Pass	1♣*	Pass
1♠**	Pass	1NT	All Pass

* could be short
** transfer to 1NT

[Andy]

Ugh. This was a very unpleasant board for us. Franco led a low spade. After a while declarer played low, and I stuck in the 8. This seemed like the technical play. However, it also seemed that declarer would play the 10 in almost all the situations where my sticking in the 8 is necessary. So in a game where all the players are competent and no one is playing poker, it might be best to just play the J at trick one.

The trick one play didn't really matter in the suit, but it had a high second order cost. When declarer led the ♣J out of his hand, I was afraid to lose my opportunity to play spades through. I didn't want my partner to potentially get in in clubs first, so I didn't duck the ♣K. This was very costly, as it became easy for declarer to establish clubs, and then when he guessed the red suits he ended up with 120.

[Franco] This was only 2/17, though we had to go plus to get above average.

PP 1st Final Board 16

2010-04-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

Board 16
Dlr W
Vul E-W

	♠ 10 8 7 6 5
	♥ 9 4
	♦ A K 10 2
	♣ 7 4
♠ 4 2		♠ A J 9
♥ 10 6		♥ A 7 5 3
♦ 8 7 5		♦ 9 6 3
♣ A K J 10 8 3		♣ Q 9 2
	♠ K Q 3
	♥ K Q J 8 2
	♦ Q J 4
	♣ 6 5

West	North	East	South
3♣	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Not much to this -- they had 8 tricks and took them. Seems like probably a common result, but a good save against our 140 in 3S.

3N E-1, +100, 7.5/17

PP 1st Final Board 15

2010-04-23T07:22:00.000-04:00

Board 15
Dlr S
Vul N-S

	♠ Q 9 8 7
	♥ 7 5
	♦ Q J
	♣ K 9 6 5 2
♠ K 5 4		♠ J 10 3 2
♥ K 10 8 6 3		♥ Q 9
♦ 10 9 3		♦ A K 5 4
♣ 4 3		♣ A 8 7
	♠ A 6
	♥ A J 4 2
	♦ 8 7 6 2
	♣ Q J 10

West	Andy	East	Franco
			1♦
Pass	1♠	Pass	1NT
All Pass

[Fuzzy on many of the play details]

I considered opening a club which might have worked out well. I won the opening heart lead and played 3 rounds of clubs. What is West supposed to pitch? Understandably he shook a diamond, but this was costly.

East won this trick with the Ace and continued hearts. West chose to clear hearts (allowing me to score the jack), and now the defense only had 7 winners so had to let me score a diamond or the ♠Q

1NT South -1, -100, 7.5/17

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 14

2010-04-22T07:56:00.003-04:00

Board 14
Dlr E
Vul None

	♠ K 4 2
	♥ K J 8 6
	♦ Q 7
	♣ Q J 10 5
♠ 10 9 7		♠ A 6 5 3
♥ 9 3		♥ A 10 5 2
♦ A K 9 8		♦ J 10 4 2
♣ A 9 8 2		♣ 4
	♠ Q J 8
	♥ Q 7 4
	♦ 6 5 3
	♣ K 7 6 3

Franco	North	Andy	South
		Pass	Pass
1♦	Dbl	Rdbl	Pass
Pass	1♥	2♦	2♥
Pass	Pass	Dbl	Pass
3♦	All Pass

Apparently we were given a nice option to double 2♥. I wasn't sure how penalty this double was, and couldn't really believe the opponents would bid this way with only 7 trumps, so I chickened out and pulled. Turns out +500 was only worth an additional 2.5 matchpoints. [Andy -- this is incorrect, +500 would have been a top.]

They led a club. I won and ruffed a club, then led a low heart from dummy. North won and tried a trump, but I was able to cross ruff for 10 tricks. +130 9.5/16

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 13

2010-04-21T07:54:00.001-04:00

Board 13
Dlr N
Vul Both

	♠ 8 7 6 5 3
	♥ A J 10 9
	♦ 9
	♣ K 9 6
♠ A K 10 2		♠ J 9
♥ K Q 3		♥ 6 5 4 2
♦ Q 5 4		♦ 10 8 6 3
♣ 10 7 3		♣ J 4 2
	♠ Q 4
	♥ 8 7
	♦ A K J 7 2
	♣ A Q 8 5

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1♦
Pass	1♠	Pass	2♣
All Pass

[Andy]

Don't remember the details very well on this one. I think Franco led a high spade and shifted to a trump. With all the cards lying so well it didn't seem like there was much we could do to prevent declarer from taking 10 tricks. I suppose it would have been better for our side to play 3 rounds of spades and ruff high rather than playing trumps. The overtrick cost 4 matchpoints. -130 was still good for 9.5/17 matchpoints -- several north-south pairs were making 3NT.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 12

2010-04-20T07:44:00.003-04:00

Board 12
Dlr W
Vul N-S

	♠ A Q J 8 3 2
	♥ K J 10 8 7 3
	♦ K
	♣
♠ 10 6		♠ K 5 4
♥ Q 9 2		♥ A 6
♦ A 9 8 7 6		♦ Q J
♣ 10 7 2		♣ 9 8 6 5 4 3
	♠ 9 7
	♥ 5 4
	♦ 10 5 4 3 2
	♣ A K Q J

West	North	East	South
Pass	1♠	Pass	1NT
Pass	3♥	Pass	3♠
Pass	4♥	All Pass

The opponents played some kind of strong club method where 3♥ promised 11 major suit cards but could have been 5-6, so South preferred what turned out to be the inferior strain.

Andy led the ♦Q, I won the Ace and played another. Declarer ruffed and tried the spade jack, but Andy won the ♠K and played another. Now declarer couldn't avoid losing 2 trumps and a spade overruff for down 2, -200. That was worth 16/17 to us.

[Andy]
Most pairs will probably naturally end up in spades, and there declarer won't have much choice but to drive trumps first to go down one. I guess our declarer got what he deserved for playing for a defensive error.

Franco could have forced down 2 by playing a spade himself at trick 2. That play might be possible to find, but it could turn out badly if declarer was 5=6=2=0 with ♦KJ.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 11

2010-04-19T07:27:00.000-04:00

Board 11
Dlr South
Vul None

East held:

♠	K J 10 8
♥	10 8 7 5 4 3
♦	9 5
♣	5

West	North	East	South
			2♣
2♦	3NT	All Pass

2♣ was 6 clubs 10-15. What would you lead?

		♠	A 6 3
		♥	Q 6
		♦	Q 10 6 4
		♣	Q J 8 6
♠	4 2			♠	K J 10 8
♥	K J 9			♥	10 8 7 5 4 3
♦	A K J 8 7 3			♦	9 5
♣	K 4			♣	5
		♠	Q 9 7 5
		♥	A 2
		♦	2
		♣	A 10 9 7 3 2

Andy hit on the very successful 4th-best heart lead. I won the K, continued the J. Now declarer crossed to the ♠A to lose a club hook. I cashed 2 diamonds and crossed to partner's hearts. In the ending, declarer kept too many spades in dummy, so was down a total of 6.

This was good enough for 16/17.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 10

2010-04-16T08:43:00.001-04:00

Board 10
Dlr E
Vul Both

	♠ J 9
	♥ Q J 10 7 3
	♦ A 8 2
	♣ J 9 2
♠ 4 2		♠ A Q 10 8 7
♥ 8 5		♥ A 9 2
♦ Q 9 7 5 3		♦ 6 4
♣ A Q 5 3		♣ K 10 4
	♠ K 6 5 3
	♥ K 6 4
	♦ K J 10
	♣ 8 7 6

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
		1♠	Pass
1NT*	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♠**	Pass	Pass	Pass
Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass
All Pass

* semi-forcing
** 8-10 (reverse Bart)

[Andy]

1NT was semiforcing, and some would say that I should pass hold a balanced 13 count, but I don't think it's right. Partner could have any hand, and there could be vastly superior contracts, and then even if partner has an ordinary hand it isn't particularly clear that 1N will be better. Looking at the hand, I feel gratified with my decision, in that after a heart lead against partner's 1N the likely result would be down 2.

Sadly for me, many players got to 1N from my side, commonly after opening a 14-16 NT with the East cards. This typically received the fortuitous lead of a spade.

Anyway, in 2♠ they led the ♦J, with North tanking for a while before playing the A. North played a heart with I ducked, then switched to the ♠9 which I covered. I won the spade return, drew trumps, and led a diamond up to take 9 tricks. It seems like the best chance for the defense is to open lead a trump, but with the clubs 3-3 just about all routes will lead to 9 tricks.

Below

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 9

2010-04-15T07:42:00.002-04:00

Board 9
Dlr N
Vul E-W

	♠ 9 4
	♥ Q 8 7 6 3
	♦ 9 6 2
	♣ 6 5 3
♠ 10 6 3 2		♠ K Q J 5
♥ A J		♥ 9 5 2
♦ 10 4 3		♦ A Q 8
♣ Q 10 9 8		♣ A K J
	♠ A 8 7
	♥ K 10 4
	♦ K J 7 5
	♣ 7 4 2

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
	Pass	2NT	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♠	All Pass

[Andy]

In real life, this was a pretty boring / flat board. There was not much to the play, and 620 was worth 8 out of 17 matchpoints.

It would seem that the one thing to note is the possibility of just bidding 3NT instead of Stayman. Looking at our two hands, it seems that Franco clearly did better to get us to 4♠. Actually though, of the tables that played in NT 630 was a more common result than 600.

Hard to say what happened in real life, but the double dummy analysis of the play in NT is reasonably interesting. I conjecture that most everyone would lead a club with the strong hand on their right. Declarer wins and knocks out the ♠A. South now knows that playing a heart is safe, and could be useful when partner has the Q. South might try the ♥10, unblocking in case partner has Q9. If North works out this holding and chooses to return a heart, he should return the 8, denying the 9, to tell partner not to unblock. Actually though, it is necessary for North to return a diamond upon winning the ♥Q, else South will get endplayed in hearts for an extra diamond trick.

Consider what happens if South does not switch to a heart upon winning the ♠ A. (Say he exits passively with another club.) Declarer could get to this position with one black winner yet to play:

	♠
	♥ Q 8 7 6
	♦ 9 6
	♣
♠		♠
♥ A J		♥ 9 5 2
♦ 10 4 3		♦ A Q 8
♣ Q		♣
	♠
	♥ K 10 4
	♦ K J 7
	♣

On the last club, declarer pitches a diamond. South cannot pitch a diamond or else declarer can play ♦A, ♦Q, establishing the 10 while he still has control of hearts. So South pitches a heart. Declarer now cashes the ♥A. If South doesn't unblock, he gets thrown in to lead away from the ♦K. So South drops the ♥K under the A. But now declarer plays a heart, establishing the 9 in his hand!

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 8

2010-04-14T10:49:00.002-04:00

This deal also appeared in this NY Times column.

Board 8
Dlr West
Vul None

		♠	A Q 6
		♥	A Q 9 6 3
		♦	10 4
		♣	9 8 2
♠	7 5			♠	10 4
♥	K 10			♥	J 7 2
♦	A J 8 7 6 3 2			♦	K Q 9
♣	Q 5			♣	A K J 4 3
		♠	K J 9 8 3 2
		♥	8 5 4
		♦	5
		♣	10 7 6

West	North	East	South
Pass	1♥	2♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♦	3♥
3N	All Pass

Over 2♣ I took a kind of weird action with the South hand. I thought I might be given a chance to play in spades (e.g. Pass-Pass-Dbl), or at least discourage a heart lead somewhat. When the opponents found a diamond fit I regretted my choice. It did work out pretty well when in fact partner hit on the ♠A lead against 3N and we took 8 fast tricks for +200 and 16/17 matchpoints.

I don't like my choice, but can't complain about the result.

[Andy] The auction did indeed sound funny, but I didn't actually figure out Franco's original reasoning. I mostly just trusted my RHO's auction instead :)

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 7

2010-04-13T08:30:00.003-04:00

Board 7
Dlr S
Vul Both

	♠ J 9
	♥ A J 2
	♦ K 10 7 5 2
	♣ K Q 7
♠ 10 8 5 2		♠ A K Q 6
♥ Q 3		♥ 10 9 8 7
♦ Q 8 6 4		♦ 3
♣ J 6 2		♣ 10 9 8 4
	♠ 7 4 3
	♥ K 6 5 4
	♦ A J 9
	♣ A 5 3

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
			1♣
Pass	1♦	1♠	Dbl*
2♠	Dbl	Pass	3♦
Pass	4♥	Pass	Pass
Pass

* 4-card hearts, any strength less than GF

[Andy]

After they bid and raised spades and partner bid the other three suits, I knew [or maybe "knew", since 3NT is cold but 4♥ is not --FB] we didn't belong in NT, and holding two honors in hearts it seemed appropriate to strongly suggest that as a strain. My screenmate started to ask what kind of Blackwood it was (he didn't know that my partner's earlier double had showed hearts), and so was a bit surprised to see the tray come back empty. I'm glad my partner and I were on the same wavelength here; in retrospect it certainly seems possible that 4♥ could have been interpreted as keycard. I could have bid 3 then 4 as a safety; 3♥ must certainly be forcing in this auction.

Partner's flat shape was a surprise, but his hand wasn't particularly unsatisfactory. My opponent tried to cash three rounds of spades (starting with the K). I ruffed, played a club to the A, a heart to the J, and the A of hearts. My RHO was an expert player and was certainly capable of playing the Q from any holding, so that didn't tell me much. I didn't think he would have bid 2♠ on only one queen and one potential J (note I didn't know spades were 4-4), so I wanted to play him for the ♦Q. I crossed to the ♦A, played off the ♥A, and took the diamond finesse to make 4.

It seems that LHO could defeat the contract by playing a minor suit instead of the third spade. I just can't quite maneuver the same timing on my own. Even if I could, it would be much harder for me to guess out the hand. (I still wouldn't know where the ♠Q was, and I might fear a diamond ruff.) Presumably, having overcalled a 4-card suit and gotten a minimum raise from partner, LHO was hoping to have three cashing spade tricks. I don't know what their methods are, but this would have been a good time to lead whatever card will yield a count signal at trick 1.

I heard of at least one if not two tables in the event where the defense found a club switch to beat the contract. There might have been a more revealing auction though.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 6

2010-04-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

Board 6
Dlr East
Vul E-W

		♠	J 9 7 3
		♥	10 7
		♦	9 8 3 2
		♣	8 4 2
♠	K Q			♠	A 8 4
♥	Q 6 5 4			♥	J 8 2
♦	K Q J 10			♦	A 5 4
♣	10 7 5			♣	A K J 9
		♠	10 6 5 2
		♥	A K 9 3
		♦	7 6
		♣	Q 6 3

West	North	East	South
		1N	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♦	Pass
3NT	All Pass

I don't remember this one that well, maybe Andy can help. The auction is a guess, maybe it started 1♣ etc.

I led the ♥A then switched to something passive. I seem to remember that when I was in with the ♣Q it was still safe to exit passively (probably a spade). Later declarer led a heart towards dummy and I took my trick rather than lose it.

-630 was good enough for 11/17, vs only 2.5 for -660. I'm surprised it was that much of a swing, now I wonder whether other defenders lost a trick, or if other declarers played on different lines.

Deep finesse says declarer is cold for 5. I guess if South takes a high heart on air, there are 2 tricks on power. If instead dummy is allowed to win the first heart trick (or the 2nd) there's a squeeze end-play. Perhaps declarer was supposed to run diamonds. When I pitch the likely 2 spades, now can unblock spades, cross in clubs, cash ♠A drawing a heart pitch and play ♥J, overtaking with the Q and exiting a heart if I try to duck.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 5

2010-04-09T08:01:00.003-04:00

Board 5
Dlr North
Vul N-S

		♠	K 4 3
		♥	K 10 7 6 4
		♦	Q J 2
		♣	K 7
♠	A 9 6 5			♠	J 10 2
♥	J 9 3			♥	Q 8 5
♦	10 5 3			♦	K 9
♣	8 3 2			♣	A J 10 6 5
		♠	Q 8 7
		♥	A 2
		♦	A 8 7 6 4
		♣	Q 9 4

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
	1♥	Pass	1N
All Pass

We've started opening a bit lighter, plus maybe this was never worth a 2/1 to begin with, so I elected to respond 1N and was a bit surprised/worried to find myself playing it there.

I won the opening spade lead with the Q and knocked out the ♦K. A spade came back, won in dummy. I tested diamonds, then led a low club to the Q.

When I ran diamonds, East pitched 2 hearts, giving me a chance to take the rest. But, I was happy to have 9 tricks. Not sure what was right.

150 was 11/17. It appears risking 120 to gain overtricks would have laid 3-2 odds.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 4

2010-04-08T08:30:00.002-04:00

Board 4
Dlr W
Vul Both

	♠ J
	♥ A Q 9 7 4
	♦ Q 9 4 2
	♣ A J 8
♠ Q 4		♠ A 9 7 3
♥ 10 6		♥ J 8 2
♦ J 10 7 5 3		♦ A 8 6
♣ K 10 7 3		♣ Q 4 2
	♠ K 10 8 6 5 2
	♥ K 5 3
	♦ K
	♣ 9 6 5

West	North	East	South
Pass	1♥	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♦	Pass	3♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass

[Andy]

They led a low club to the K and A. I played my spade, and East flew the A. East now cashed the ♣Q and played another club. I won and led a diamond; east won the ♦A and played back a spade. I won the K (pitching a diamond), played two rounds of trumps, ruffed a diamond, and ruffed a spade safely back to my hand to make 4.

I originally thought this was a flat board, but it was pointed out to me that the contract should be defeated. East can play a spade back immediately upon winning the A. I can't draw two rounds of trumps else East can play a third round when in with the ♦A. But when I play a diamond immediately, East can enact a trump promotion by playing a third spade.

East suggested that on the ♣Q his partner should play the 10, denying the J, which would force the defense to go for the promotion. West thought his second club was a count card. Might West have played the ♣J at trick one holding both the K and J? A not entirely clear situation even for an advanced partnership.

[Franco]

620 was worth 13/17. There were a lot of 170s and 620s, so it does not appear too many people found this defense.

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 3

2010-04-07T10:13:00.000-04:00

This is a declarer play problem for West.

Board 3
Dlr South
Vul E-W

♠	A J 2	♠	Q 10 8 6 4
♥	A K 3	♥	J 5
♦	K Q 9 6 4	♦	10 5 2
♣	K J	♣	9 8 2

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
			1♥
Dbl	2♥	2♠	Pass
3N	All Pass

2♥ was a bad raise.

[Not 100% sure of the auction after 2♥]

♥2 led, with the jack winning trick 1. Then the ♠10 held. Now what?

Full deal and outcome below.

		♠	9 7 5
		♥	Q 6 2
		♦	J 8
		♣	Q 7 5 4 3
♠	A J 2			♠	Q 10 8 6 4
♥	A K 3			♥	J 5
♦	K Q 9 6 4			♦	10 5 2
♣	K J			♣	9 8 2
		♠	K 3
		♥	10 9 8 7 4
		♦	A 7 3
		♣	A 10 6

Declarer reasoned that he needed me to have a doubleton spade or doubleton diamond honor, so he next led a diamond to his king and cashed ♠A. If the king hadn't fallen, he planned to duck a diamond next.

Once the ♠K did fall, though, he passed up a free shot to guess diamonds, probably by playing an honor out of his hand. If he does that, he'll make 5 (or 6 if I try underleading a club). Instead, he ran spades squeezing his hand and made only 4.

We got 5/17, had he played a trick better we'd have lost 2.5 more. Doesn't seem like much.

[Andy] I agree with the analysis, although it's hard to say "doesn't seem like much" when we won the event by 0.48 matchpoints :) This is one of the more amusing parts of the event postmortem -- after talking to virtually anyone about anything they did on any hand, there's a good chance we could say "thanks, if you hadn't done that we wouldn't have won."

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 2

2010-04-06T08:13:00.001-04:00

Was feeling pretty good after scoring up 4♥ on the first board. Had another great chance on the 2nd board. Watch from the West seat for bidding/defense, or tackle South's declarer play problem.

		♠	9 7 3
		♥	10 8 4 3 2
		♦	A 8 6 4
		♣	Q
♠	J 10 5 4 2			♠	6
♥	A K 7 5			♥	J 6
♦	9			♦	K Q J 10 7 3
♣	J 9 4			♣	8 5 3 2
		♠	A K Q 8
		♥	Q 9
		♦	5 2
		♣	A K 10 7 6

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
		3♦	Dbl
Pass	3♥	Pass	3♠
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Dbl	All Pass

Would you double? I don't think I would at IMPs (though 500 would be sweet), but seemed like a fairly normal auction with pretty bad news, so I thought I had to here. All's well that ends well, of course.

I cashed 2 hearts, all following. Now what?

Intuitively I wanted to avoid shortening declarer and use up his dummy entries, so I led my diamond.

Now consider declarer's problem -- how should you play? Answer under the fold.

Given the auction, the hand plays itself:

Win ♦A. Play one top trump, then ♣Q, cash 2 hearts pitching a club and a diamond. Cross with another top trump, cash 2 more clubs. You're up to 8 tricks and on the next club West has no answer.

John Hurd did exactly this for a cold top. Had I continued a 3rd heart he'd be down 1, and +200 was 15/17, nearly a full board swing. I might have been able to sniff this out given the pace of the auction, particularly the 3♠ bid.

It appears the double cost 3 matchpoints, while it stood to gain 4 had we set it.

Despite the score, Hurd's pretty play still made this one of my favorite hands in the event.

[Andy] I assume you mean the cost of this double is 3 matchpoints if he was always going to make it [Yes -- FB], but a lot more in practice because he presumably would have gone down without the double. Whether to double is an interesting question. In old-fashioned theory, the answer would be no, because you might have only two tricks in your hand, and the double might allow declarer to make (as it did). In modern bridge though, because game is frequently bid on such thin values, it is more common to double a bit on spec and live with the occasional backfire. Interestingly, that is more of an IMPs theory -- the gain is typically higher while the backfire cost is typically lower (5 IMPs instead of half a board), but the math changes when declarer can make a contract that he otherwise wouldn't have.

UPDATE: This deal was reported in Fred Stewart's syndicated column, e.g. here. It starts: "I seldom report a deal in which the winners of a major title had a disaster. "

Platinum Pairs 1st Final Board 1

2010-04-05T06:58:00.002-04:00

If you want a problem, consider how you'd play 4♥ by West on a low spade lead. Or, cover up South/West and defend as North (read to "What should North do here? then decide).

Board 1
Dlr North
Vul None

		♠	Q 9 8 6 3
		♥	9 3
		♦	A 9 6
		♣	K 9 2
♠	7			♠	A K 5
♥	A Q J 10 8 7			♥	6 5
♦	J 8 4 2			♦	10 5
♣	A 3			♣	Q J 10 8 7 5
		♠	J 10 4 2
		♥	K 4 2
		♦	K Q 7 3
		♣	6 4

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
	Pass	1♣	Pass
1♥	1♠	Pass	3♠
4♥	All Pass

Lead: ♠3

[Reasoning withheld for under the fold for those reading as a defense problem] I won, pitched a club on a 2nd spade and led a low diamond from dummy.

South won ♦Q and led a heart. I won the Queen and led another diamond to North's Ace.

What should North do here?

In practice, he led a heart. I was able to win, draw trumps, and lead the ♦J to pin the nine.

420 was good enough for 14/17 matchpoints.

My reasoning: I figured South likely holds at least one top diamond honor and obviously a spade honor, plus I basically need him to hold a heart honor. Given the preemptive raise, they also know to strand club winners in dummy if I set those up. At IMPs it might be harder not to take a club hook which seems like it has more legitimate ways to make. At matchpoints, I think my line offers some misdefense chances and otherwise has a decent chance of maximizing tricks in a poor contract. I suppose technically I make if there's Kx onside in trumps plus a natural diamond trick (e.g. HH9 tight with South).

As for what North should do: I have no entry for a heart finesse. Anything but a heart would have been successful.

Failure to Moyse

2010-04-03T05:12:00.000-04:00

[Andy]

I'm selectively picking hands from the first two days of the platinums, and it would seem only fair to include some of our bad results as well as our successes. Here is a hand we completely screwed up:

♠ Q 10 4 3
♥ A 4 2
♦ Q 8 4
♣ K Q 5

♠ A K 5
♥ 8
♦ A 10 9 6 5 3
♣ 9 8 7

Franco		Andy
West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	2♠	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

Partner didn't like the drekky 13 count and passed in first seat. (I think that would be reasonably playing a standard style, but given that our openings are aggressive this seems a bit much to me.) Interestingly, the initial pass gave us a good chance to get the hand right. Over 2♠, partner could have bid 2N as an inquiry, to which I would bid 3♥ showing a singleton and 3-card spades, and then partner could pick the right game. The downside of 2N is that it pushes us into 4♠ any time I have 4-card support, and with 4=3=3=3 partner wanted to give a choice.

Perhaps I could have pulled -- partner is pretty much known to have no more than 3 hearts. Still, doesn't seem clear, and diamonds could be a source of tricks in NT. It seems to me that partner's 3N should imply soft positional stoppers in both the two unbid suits, and Axx doesn't qualify.

I also could have passed 1♠, although that seems to unwisely invite them back into the auction.

The hand gets interesting if partner makes the "normal" 1♣ opening. After 1♦ - 1NT, what's supposed to happen? Is 3♥ a splinter here rather than a good 6-5? Even if it is, wouldn't it suggest a better diamond suit? We play two way checkback in this auction, so maybe 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♥ should show this hand? It's yet another example of a basic seeming situation that I haven't encountered before.

My hand might also just evaluate to an invite, in which case we'd probably end up in 3♦.

Incidentally, if the auction started 1♣ - 1♦ - 1♠, I think my hand should bid 2♠. This would show invitational values, since we would have bid 1♠ initially with a one bid hand. I think the bid should definitely be allowed on only 3-card spades, to cater to hands like this.

A textbook hand

2010-04-02T05:16:00.003-04:00

[Andy] Here's a cute hand with a nice result from the second day.

		♠	Q J 10 9 7 2
		♥	A 4
		♦	J 8 2
		♣	8 7
♠	5 3			♠	A K 6
♥	K J 9 3			♥	7 6 5 2
♦	K 7 6			♦	Q 5 3
♣	A 6 4 2			♣	Q 9 3
		♠	8 4
		♥	Q 10 8
		♦	A 10 9 4
		♣	K J 10 5

West	North	East	South
			Pass
Pass	2♠	Pass	Pass
Dbl	Pass	3♥	All Pass

I could have bid 2NT as a scramble instead of 3♥ but it didn't seem right at matchpoints. I won the spade lead and played heart to the J and A. (There is an argument I might have played to the 9, but I didn't find that.) North played back another spade. I won and ruffed a spade as South shed a diamond. I then played ♥K, heart, putting South on lead.

South was endplayed. He tried a low diamond, which I floated around to my queen. I played a diamond back and South flew A and exited a diamond. I came off dummy with a low club in a textbook position -- as long as North had no more than one of the ♣10 or ♣J, I could cover his card to endplay South again. Making 3.

Did you see those club spots? At the point South won the heart, there was no way to avoid the double endplay. South needed to make the unintuitive play of pitching a club on the spade ruff, preserving the long diamond as an exit card. Or of course, North could have pushed a club through upon winning the ♥A.

[Update] As Richard alertly pointed out in his comment, the analysis above is noticeably incomplete. South does need to hang onto the 4th diamond, and can certainly use it as an exit card if declarer immediately puts him back in in clubs. But declarer can play the last trump, which puts the exit card under pressure again. For example, if upon winning the ♥Q South plays ♦A and another diamond, then declarer wins and plays the last trump, squeezing South back out of the long diamond. In fact, the only winning defense is what Richard suggested: South must exit with the low diamond as he did at the table, and then pitch the ♦A on the long trump, creating an entry to partner's hand with the ♦J.

Partner's uncomfortably high preempt

2010-04-01T07:34:00.000-04:00

You pick up this nice collection:

♠ A Q 3

♥ A 6 4 3

♦ K J 8

♣ A J 7

You're not very excited to hear pass on your left, 4♣ by partner, pass. What now?

My first instinct was to bid 6N, protecting my positional holdings. But upon further examination, the hand doesn't seem good enough for that. You presumably have 8 club tricks and two aces, but you need another fitting card to produce two more tricks, and if it's slow (e.g. ♦Q), you might not have a good enough heart stopper. If partner has a heart singleton it might be right to play 6C instead. Partner knows he's bypassing 3N, so I wouldn't expect him to have good clubs as well as a prime card outside.

So anyway, I decided to bid 4N. I really don't think this should be Blackwood. With clubs as trumps, there's only one response that doesn't commit to slam. Plus being able to play in NT is quite important at matchpoints. But anyway, I figured if partner did take it as blackwood I'd just bid a slam and hope it worked out. (Maybe 4♣ - 4♦ should be blackwood, but we hadn't discussed it.)

My partner was on the same wavelength and passed 4N, even though he had a hand that might have wanted to pull a natural 4N:

♠ -

♥ K

♦ 10 7 5 4 3

♣ Q 10 9 8 4 3 2

They led a spade into my tenace. I could cross to dummy to take a club finesse, which gains against Kx onside, but that would be a complete disaster against either 3-0 club layout and also loses to singleton K. So I banged down the ♣ A and was gratified to see the K drop on my left. I ran all my tricks but the defenders discarded well and I misguessed diamonds in the end to make only 5. This was only worth 27 out of 39 matchpoints, which was a bit disappointing -- I would assume anyone in slam would take the club finesse.

Emotional highs and lows of a hand

2010-03-31T05:18:00.000-04:00

[Andy] This one is just an amusing story, from the second day of the Platinums. You pick up:

♠ 10 8 7 6 5
♥ -
♦ Q J 10 7 5 3
♣ 10 8

The auction starts a strong 2♣ on your left, 2NT by partner showing 2 nontouching suits, double on your right. Gee, I wonder what suits partner has.

I concluded that it must be right to play in diamonds rather than clubs -- I should be able to take some tricks in that suit, and maybe partner will supply a few tricks in high cards. So I redoubled, which in our agreement says that I have my own suit that I want to play in.

When LHO inquired, partner incorrectly explained the redouble as preferring his higher suit (an agreement we play in certain other situations). Uh-oh.

Partner might have remembered in time, but LHO came to the rescue, bidding 3♥! Whew! Then, to my surprise, the auction proceeded 3♠ - 4♠ - 5♥. They just bid to the five level in the suit partner has!

Partner leads the CA as dummy tables ♠ A J 9 ♥ 9 7 2 ♦ 8 4 2 ♣ Q J 6 3. Partner cashes the K of clubs. RHO half-jokingly says "I hope he doesn't have clubs and hearts!" I just stare at him.

Two seconds later, declarer claims for what turns out to essentially be a flat board. Partner held: ♠ 2 ♥ 8 6 5 4 3 ♦ 9 6 ♣ A K 9 7 5

Note the importance of having some agreement to get out in a separate suit after a two suited bid -- 3♦ easily goes for less than their game, while anything else is a disaster.

Platinum Pairs 1st Semi Final Board 21

2010-03-30T08:31:00.003-04:00

Hands rotated; as shown I was East. N-S vul.

♠	A K 8 2
♥	K 9 7 6
♦	A 9 7
♣	6 4
		♠	10
		♥	A Q 3
		♦	K Q 6 4 3 2
		♣	8 5 2

West	North	East	South
	1♦	Pass	1N
All Pass

Should I balance 2♦ here? I think at both white I'd consider it, though partner is marked with 5+ spades.

Partner led the ♠5. Declarer won, led a club to the king, then a spade to the 8. What should I pitch? I chose an uda ♦2. Another club, this time won by my partner's Ace and he produced the very nice ♦J. Declarer ducked this, captured the ♦10 with his Ace, and threw me in with a 3rd diamond. I won this and cashed another. Declarer pitched a heart and a club, while partner pitched a club and the missing lower spade spot (i.e. he started with 5). I had to make a play in this position:

♠	A 2
♥	K 9 7
♦
♣
		♠
		♥	A Q 3
		♦	3
		♣	8

What do you think?

Partner is under a little pressure here, but luckily declarer had pitched a heart. ♥Q seems to cater to all possibilities. The final result was down 1. If you cash the last diamond partner is squeezed out of a heart and declarer can always succeed (not saying that he's guaranteed to go right if you play a low heart next, of course).

Of course, if I had never pitched a diamond (maybe a club was safe?) it would have been easier. Or if partner splits in spades we rate to be in good shape.

Declarer started with Jxx originally. Pretty sure that if he holds onto all of those we're toast.

At the table, Andy thought a lot about whether to encourage with the 10 (I think no -- at that point, I know he has an honor, so might as well tell me whether or not it's the J). Declarer got annoyed when I showed up with the Ace, but there was no other line he could/should have tried at that point.

UPDATE:

Tim points out that the defense can survive even if I cash the last diamond (partner pitching a heart). In the 4 card ending, if declarer doesn't keep 3 winners I can exit a club and later get 2 heart tricks. If he does keep 3 winners, then he has only 1 heart and now playing ♥Q will pin his jack and the defense can (at declarer's option) untangle 2 heart tricks or a heart and a spade. Pretty cute.

3N vs 4M

2010-03-29T06:11:00.000-04:00

[Andy]

Franco has graciously granted me access to post myself (Andy), which will presumably make sense for some of the hands. Not sure if it will be obvious when I'm writing, so I'll try to remember to prefix my posts.

Here is a hand from the first qualifier that I like a lot, as it involves interest in both the bidding and the play.

		♠ K Q 8 4
		♥ A 9 7
		♦ Q 8
		♣ Q 8 5 2
♠	10 7 5		♠	A J 6 3 2
♥	K 6 5 3		♥	10
♦	A 7 6 4 2		♦	5 3
♣	J		♣	K 10 7 6 3
		♠ 9
		♥ Q J 8 4 2
		♦ K J 10 9
		♣ A 9 5

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

We play a 2NT response as old-fashioned balanced GF, and can include 4-card spades. At the point at which Franco bid 3♦, I had to bid at the 4-level to show heart support. (We use 3♥ as a proxy for club values.) I wasn't sure I wanted to do that, so I concealed my support and showed spade values, then passed when partner bid 3N. This feels a bit unsatisfactory, but there just isn't enough room to show support as well as pinpoint values and offer a choice of games. It's not like one would be better off after the standard start to the auction of 1♥-1♠-2♦-3♣.

It's only one hand, but note that 4♥ has virtually no play on this layout.

The opening lead was a spade. I won in hand and immediately played a diamond to dummy. RHO won and played back the spade 7, which I covered with the 8, LHO winning the J. Look at what happens when LHO tries to exit passively -- I have 3 heart tricks, and when I cash all my winners ending in hand, LHO is endplay squeezed, force to give me a 9th trick in either of the black suits.

It seems that I would be virtually guaranteed to find that play, so LHO actually made a very good play at the table. Upon winning the spade J, he tabled the club 7. This presented me with a losing option -- it would appear that if I ducked the club to RHO's K I would be down 2 immediately, whereas flying would leave open the possibility of bringing in hearts for 5 tricks. If I did fly, it breaks up the strip squeeze.

At the table though LHO took like two minutes to find this play, so I just ducked the club, making 3 the "easy" way.

How do you play?

2010-03-28T15:15:00.003-04:00

Another early round hand:

Board 6
Dlr E
Vul E-W

♠	J 10 2
♥	K Q 8 7 5
♦	K 8 3
♣	K 10

♠	8 4
♥	A J 10 3
♦	Q 6 4
♣	A Q 9 7

[Hands not switched, North is declarer]

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1♣
Pass	1♥	Pass	2♥
Pass	2♠	Pass	4♥
All Pass

This was the auction at our table (2♠ was artificial, and 4♥ was max balanced with 4 trumps) and the defense took 3 quick tricks for a fast 420.

However, say East leads the ♦J and West wins the Ace and plays back another. You draw trumps in 3 rounds as East shakes 2 diamonds. Now what?

Seems like you might as well run your red winners and then clubs. But, when you do, no one pitches any clubs but LHO pitches 2 low spades and a spade honor. Well, now you can cash 2 clubs and exit a spade for a winkle! In the 3 card ending, it appears LHO has Jx of clubs and a spade honor. Either he holds the spade and leads into your tenace, or RHO overtakes, establishing a spade trick in dummy.

I don't know who, but Andy spoke to someone who found this line. Sadly, it turns out the ♣J was 3rd all along so the winkle wasn't necessary. And, had it been on, RHO could hold onto some diamond winners to defeat it.

[Andy] This hand is an example of why bridge is such a great game. At our table, Franco left the table while I played the hand. When he came back I first told him "completely flat board." Then I said, "no wait, I guess if the ♣J is dropping and the defenders don't take the first three tricks I can do better." I would never have known about the winkle possibility if I hadn't randomly heard about it after the session.

Early round hand

2010-03-27T14:46:00.005-04:00

On the 1st day we had two 57s to qualify in 5th place of 78 qualifiers. This deal was not one of our successes. Andy was North, I was South. David Grainger/Ari Greenberg were East/West.

Board 8
Dlr W
Vl None

		♠	A K 10 9 7 6
		♥	10 9 6
		♦	K 5
		♣	10 3
♠	2			♠	Q 8
♥	8 3 2			♥	A K Q J 7 5 4
♦	Q 10 9 8 6			♦	3
♣	A K 7 6			♣	Q J 8
		♠	J 5 4 3
		♥
		♦	A J 7 4 2
		♣	9 5 4 2

Ari	Andy	David	Franco
West	North	East	South
Pass	1♠	2 ♥	4♠
5♥	Pass	Pass	Dbl
All Pass

We managed to hold it to 5.

Assign the blame. My thoughts below.

I think:

a) Ari made a big 5♥bid. Not sure what he's supposed to do.

b) Ari's difficulty highlights the value of South bidding 4♠ instead of some lower fit jump involving partner.

c) I think North has a clear 5♠ bid.

d) I think I also had a somewhat clear 5♠ bid.

[Andy:]

Nice to start off with what might be the worst thing I did :)

You at least have somewhat of a problem. I had an automatic 5S bid. The only thing I can think of is that he took so long to bid 5H that he talked me out of it [Ari did take a long time--FB]. Even after you doubled I wanted to bid 5S, but I didn't think I could because you took a long time to double.

Platinum pairs pics & links

2010-03-27T11:01:00.003-04:00

NY Times column

ACBL Article

Before and after pictures:

Platinum pairs

2010-03-23T23:14:00.004-04:00

So once I lay my hands on some hand records, I'm planning to blog every hand from the final session of the platinum pairs. Or at least the first 2, which are both pretty good.

Part of me finds this idea embarrassing, but I'm confident that in fact it will demonstrate the important role of luck more than anything else.

Run now or stay tuned.

[Andy adds:]

For what it's worth, my overall summary is a bit different. One certainly has to get a bit lucky in the way things work out to win one of these, but it's not like our opponents were crapping all over themselves or anything like that. The level of play was certainly reasonable (as would be expected), we just took advantage of slips that came our way and did a couple of things right. We also did a couple of things obviously wrong, so my overall sense of the demonstration is that you can make a few mistakes and still manage to win.

Undoubtedly plenty of luck in the way it matchpointed out given the margin of victory.

Updated posts

2010-02-21T21:04:00.001-05:00

I updated last week's two posts with the results and my opinions. Hope to have some more hands this week.

Do you balance?

2010-02-18T19:49:00.001-05:00

Teams, Unfavorable.

♠	A 8 4 3
♥	A K 10 2
♦	6 4
♣	K 7 3

Dealer opens 3♥ and you are in balancing position. Do you act?

Result below.

I passed and don't think it's close. Down 2 for 100. The other table bid 3N, caught a good dummy, and made it (though I believe there was misdefense). Still don't think it's close.

Do you double?

2010-02-16T19:40:00.003-05:00

I've received feedback from 200% of my readers that there's too much crazy squeeze material. Luckily, I have several hands from a recent regional to post, and only one of them involves a squeeze.

Teams, favorable vul.

♠	3
♥	A 8 6 4
♦	A K Q 10 9
♣	Q 10 6

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1♦
4♠	Pass	Pass	?

Result below

I doubled at the table, and partner pulled to 5♦ with 4=2=5=2 and CK, DJ. This was particularly a success when they misdefended (cashing CA allowing me to shake a heart and cross ruff) and it made. 4♠ was slightly tricky but deserved to be made.

I think it's a little bit light on defense, but partner also knows that they've bid 4♠ at unfavorable and this should bias him towards bidding if the decision is close.

Post-heptagons from the 5th dimension

2010-02-07T22:41:00.002-05:00

I put a draft of a new article here

Comments welcome.

Swiss teams puzzle

2010-01-26T08:28:00.000-05:00

If it takes 30 seconds to shuffle, and 30 seconds to deal, how long does it take 2 people to make 3 boards at the start of a swiss match?

Answer below...

For most people, 2 minutes. Both people shuffle and deal a board, which takes 1 minute, then one of them makes the other board which takes another minute.

But, by scheduling better it only takes 90 seconds. Call the players A & B. Then:

0-30: A shuffles 1, B shuffles 2
30-60: A deals 1, B shuffles 3
60-90: A deals 2, B deals 3.

My partner is very slow, so I have to think about these things.

Skip bid

2010-01-12T08:24:00.000-05:00

In order to better convey the impression that I'm actually thinking after a skip bid, and also to introduce random variation in the length of a hesitation, I (when I don't actually have anything to think about) add up the spots in my hand.

That's all.

After 2nt rebid

2010-01-05T21:03:00.003-05:00

Over at Becker's Bridge Blog he posts his system after 1m-1M-2N.

I play a sort of hybrid between transfers and what he describes:

(Also applies only over 1m-1M-2N)

3C is a relay to 3D. Might be left there. Any subsequent bid, though, show opener's minor:

3N = mild slam try with 4m
3M = 5M, 4m
3oM = 4M, 5m

3D is a xfer to hearts (opener should break with preference for spades after 1m-1S-2N-3D)

3H is a xfer to spades (after 1m-1H-2N-3H, responder could be 4=4 or 4=5 in the majors, so opener bids 3N with support for neither, 3S with 3 *hearts* and past 3N with 4 spades)

3S shows the other minor

4C RKC for responder's suit

4D shows 6 of the other minor

I think showing some good supporting hands below 3N is useful, but I also like his idea of 1m-1M-2N-3C-3D-3M as showing a 6+M slam try. My style requires going beyond 3N with that hand, though that doesn't strike me as a big cost. On the other hand, I think it's more important to suggest opener's minor and still be able to stop in 3N; Becker's system doesn't seem to have that sequence at all.

From the Reisinger

2010-01-05T17:49:00.001-05:00

I watched this hand on Vugraph, deal 20 from the first final session of the 2009 Reisinger.

♠	10 9 5
♥	8 6 2
♦	A J 10 5
♣	Q 5 3

♠	K 8 2
♥	A Q J 7 3
♦	8
♣	A K 9 6

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	2♠	3♥
All Pass

Lead: ♠Q

The panel had a strong consensus that North is not supposed to raise here. I agree.

After some hesitation, East ducked the lead to declarer's K. Declarer crossed to ♦A and lost a heart finesse. A diamond came back, ducked in dummy, East played the K and declarer ruffed. After drawing a 2nd round of trumps (both following, East with the 10), declarer has 9 tricks and is left to try for a 10th.

Declarer left the last trump outstanding and successfully ruffed a club, finding West with 1=3=5=4 distribution.

This seems pretty likely to work, but I wonder if it's possible to do better. As I write this, I haven't done the analysis, so don't be prejudiced by my presentation. An analysis of an alternate line is below the fold...

This is the end position:

♠	10 9
♥	8
♦	J 10
♣	Q 5 3

♠	8 2
♥	J 7
♦
♣	A K 9 6

I think we can treat it as certain that spades started 1=6. Playing clubs as declarer did succeeds when clubs are 3-3, or when long clubs are with the remaining heart -- this is only possible with West being 1=3=5=4 or 1=3=4=5 (or, very remotely and henceforth ignored, 1=3=3=6). I'm also ignoring whatever inference is available from East's failure to insert the ♦9.

The diamond position creates some interesting loser-on-loser possibilities, even though short a dummy entry.

My first alternate line was to draw the last trump and exit a spade, aiming for a minor suit squeeze. If the defense wins 2 spades, you're set up and just need the squeeze to operate. If they win 1 and play a diamond, you can just pitch your losing spade and you'll get a diamond trick now or later. But, East can thwart this by winning the spade and playing a club. You can still try ♣A, ♣Q, and try to throw West in with a diamond. This will work if clubs are 3-3, or if East has short clubs but at least 1 honor and West has the ♦Q.

This is too much work, so I'm going to start by assuming clubs are 4=2 (everyone makes when they're 3-3). Restricted choice applies to both the ♦Q and the ♥9. If East is 6=3=2=2 there are 3 possible holdings (6 small diamonds, 1/2 for restricted choice in hearts). 6=2=3=2 without ♦Q is 15 (6c2 diamonds). 6=2=3=2 with ♦Q is 3 again.

Declarer goes down in the first case, but makes in the other 2 (18 total). Meanwhile, with 2 clubs East has at least one honor 60% of the time, so my alternate line will make the overtrick in 60% of the first 2 cases (but fail in the 3rd). That's only 10.8 total. Misdefense is plausible but not plausible enough to make up this difference.

A different alternate line is to draw the last trump, play 3 clubs ending in dummy, then pitch a spade on a diamond honor. If clubs are 3-3, this makes 11 tricks (West will be diamond tight and must have ♦Q). If clubs are 4=2, this makes 10 tricks when West has ♦Q, 9 otherwise (same odds as declarer's line, though different losing cases). When clubs are 5=1 this only makes 9 tricks (unless East has a stiff honor, then change tacks and win the 2nd club in dummy). Of course, declarer at the table also is held to 9 tricks when East has the 3rd heart with a stiff club.

This is much closer than my first idea. Comes out ahead when clubs are 3-3, 20 positions x 6 diamond positions = 120. Comes out behind when East is 6=2=4=1 with a small stiff club (4) x (20 Kxxx diamonds + 7.5 KQxx diamonds) or a stiff club honor (2) x 7.5 KQxx diamonds (never mind that AJxxxx/Tx/KQxx/J might open 1S). That's 125 positions.

So, declarer still comes out slightly ahead (125:120 in the positions that matter), but it's very close. If the offense hadn't held the ♥8 it would have swung the other way (since East 6=3=2=2 would be twice as likely without restricted choice applying to the ♥10.

Which squeeze? 2

2009-12-29T23:05:00.001-05:00

Another installment in "which squeeze should you play for?"

		♠	K 10 7 3
		♥	Q 3 2
		♦	Q J 9
		♣	A K 8

		♠	A 8
		♥	A K 7 6 4
		♦	A K 8 4 3
		♣	10

Contract: 7♦
Lead: ♦10

You draw trumps (East pitches a club), cash 2 hearts (West pitches a club). Now what?

Answer below the fold.

You could play for a compound squeeze: cash another diamond (pitching a spade) to get to a 7 card ending. East must keep 2 hearts and can't keep 3 of both black suits. Whichever suit he unguards, cash those winners ending in hand (crossing back in spades if needed) then play the last trump. This will squeeze East out of the other black suit, then the final heart honor will squeeze West in the blacks.

The problem with this line is that you'll not see many pitches before guessing which suit East unguarded. Basically, he'll pitch one from each black suit, and you'll have a near 50-50 guess as to which one he started with 4+ of and still guards.

The alternative line (suggested by Jonathan Weinstein) is to ruff a spade. If someone shows out, you'll have either a marked major suit squeeze (vs East) or a marked double squeeze pivoting around clubs. If everyone follows to 3 rounds, you'll still have a guess for which of those 2 squeezes to play for. But, you'll be able to use restricted choice to make that guess -- whichever player shows up with a spade honor will be more likely to be out of spades than to have started with QJxx (about 3:2 for West, and about 3:1 for East). The odds of success are definitely higher.

And, occasionally the ♠10 will just set up.

Perhaps testing hearts early is a mistake. Too complicated for me today, though.

[This hand was taken from a recent post & slightly disguised to make a cleaner entry in this series]

Another Maastricht Challenge

2009-12-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

I found another problem from _Maastricht Challenge_ where I disagree with the book's solution:

♠	A J 7 2
♥	A 5 4 3
♦	A Q J 10 6
♣

♠	K 10 9 6
♥	K 9 2
♦	K 2
♣	9 6 4 3

East overcalls 2♣ on your way to 6♦. The problem specifies that West leads a 3rd highest ♣2, so you can take as given that clubs are 3=6. It also points out that finding the trump queen or ruffing 2 clubs is sufficient, but warns of a trap.

I've put the book's solution and my own below the fold.

Say you play a trump to the ten. If it loses, it's relatively straightforward to ruff another club and draw trumps.

If it holds, then what? The book points out that against a tricky defender, you might play a spade to the Ace and see East show out. It asserts that Qxxx/x is a 38% chance and xx/Qxx is only 29%, so against someone who is up to ducking the queen you should finesse the jack. A pretty cute play, finessing one way and then the other.

I agree that those are the relevant holdings. I get that their odds are 56:45 (12c6 * 4 : 12c4 * 6), which is very close to their numbers (not quite within rounding but I'm going to ignore that). But, it seems that after the ♠A and East shows out, you still have play: ruff a 2nd club and try shaking your other 2 on diamonds. The chance of West having 2 or fewer diamonds (which is required for this backup plan to fail) is under 30% (of the 38%), so the winning case for ♠J is more like 11%, a clear loser.

More generally: this sort of defensive play, ducking when declarer takes a loosing finesse, comes up from time to time. There was a nice hand in an early daily bulletin from San Diego with a similar theme. What should I look for so as to better recognize such situations on defense in the future?

Remembering suit division odds

2009-12-15T22:35:00.002-05:00

I always struggle to remember suit division odds. Rubens had one suggestion I liked: remember the probable ones and back out the improbable ones. If you can remember 3-3 and 4-2 are 36 & 48, then you can probably figure out that of the 16 left most of it is 5-1 and a small amount is 6-0. Similarly, 3-2 and 4-1 are 68 & 28, that leaves 4% for 5-0.

I also found that re-ordering the tables from most probable to least probable, as below, reveals some obvious patterns, many of which I hadn't noticed before (perhaps this shows how unobservant I am). I omitted 2 card suit divisions for 2 reasons: they break the pattern, and you should be able to calculate them on the fly.

1. x-y divisions are grouped by the difference between x&y:

1 off (e.g. 3-2, 4-3) is around 2/3.
2 off is around 50-50.
Even is 1/3+.
Off by 3 around 30%, etc.

(this is increasing except for exactly even)

If you forget 4-3, it's going to be closer to 3-2 than any other number you remember. Also, these groups don't overlap (excluding 2 card suits or 11+ card suits, and 5-5 is barely less likely than 6-3)

2. For the close divisions (not more than 2 off), the more cards there are the more likely you are to be off by more than 2, so the groups go from short suits to long suits (e.g. 4-2 is more likely than 5-3). After that, longer suits are more likely than shorter suits (e.g. 5-2 is more likely than 4-1).

3. As suits get longer, the odds become more similar. For example, 6-3 is virtually the same odds as 5-2. In contrast, 2-1 is 10% more likely than 3-2. If you remember 2 or 3 odds for same difference combinations, you can generally extrapolate the others. Generally, the differences cut about in half each time. For example, 3-2 / 4-3 are 68 / 62, so 5-4 is probably around 62 - 1/2 (68-62) = 59% (in fact it is).

Some more stuff below the table...

2-1	78%
3-2	68%
4-3	62%

3-1	50%
4-2	48%
5-3	47%

2-2	41%
3-3	36%
4-4	33%

5-2	31%
4-1	28%
3-0	22%

6-2	17%
5-1	15%
4-0	10%

7-2	9%
6-1	7%
5-0	4%

4. Void probabilities are relatively easy to derive from one another just by using open spaces:

1-0 is 100%,
2-0 is 12/25 of that, 48%,
3-0 is 11/24 of that 22%,
4-0 is 10/23 of that, a bit under 10% (9.6%),
5-0 is 9/22 of that, 3.9%,
6-0 is 8/21 of that, about 1.5%.

5. The singletons are harder but doable in a pinch (adjust for open spaces then number of possible singletons):

2-1 is 78%
3-1 is 11/23 * 4/3 of that, about 50%
4-1 is 10/22 * 5/4 of that, about 28%
5-1 is 9/21 * 6/5 of that, about 14%
6-1 is 8/20 * 7/6 of that, about 7%

So...

If you can figure out short suits and maybe some voids on the fly and remember these:

3-2 68%
4-2 48%
3-3 35.5%
4-1 28%
4-0 10%

You can probably work out the rest. 4-3? Well, 2-1 is 78 and 3-2 68 so subtract about half that difference from 68 to get 63 (actually 62). 5-3? All the off by 2s are right around 48%, should be a bit less (in fact 47). 5-2? 3-0 is 22, 4-1 is 28, so add half the difference to 28 and get 31 (in fact 30.5). 4-4? 2-2 is 41, 3-3 is 35.5, subtract half the difference and get almost 33 (in fact 32.7).

6-2 is maybe a bit harder. We memorized 4-0 as 10%. 5-1 is about half of 4-1 (9/21 * 6/5 to be precise), call it 14% (we can check this also by noting that 3-3 and 4-2 add to 84, so it should be a touch less than 16%). 6-2 is probably around 16% (in fact, 17.1. 4-0 is a bit less than 10% and 5-1 is 14.5, so my extrapolation suffered from some rounding).

You could also get there by noting that 5-3 and 4-4 add to 80%, so 6-2 ought to be most of the rest. Delving a bit further, you could consider there are 28 6-2 layouts vs 8 7-1. The latter are about half as likely, also (the last card has 12 open spaces vs 7), so call it 7:1, so the 7-1s are about 1/8 of 20% and the 6-2s are the rest (8-0 never happens, right?): 17.5%

The harder of these are not that practical, but trying to estimate these numbers and occasionally checking your results will result in better memorization.

More squeezing, follow-up

2009-12-09T00:25:00.001-05:00

Following up on this post from last month.

		♠	A 6 5
		♥	7 6 4
		♦	A Q J 9 5 2
		♣	K
♠	Q J 8 7			♠	10 4 3
♥	K J 10 9			♥	8 3 2
♦	8 7 3			♦	10 4
♣	7 6			♣	Q J 10 3 2
		♠	K 9 2
		♥	A Q 5
		♦	K 6
		♣	A 9 8 5 4

Chris showed me this deal. South opens a 14-16 1NT and winds up declaring 6D on a trump lead. What is supposed to happen?

At the table, declarer won in dummy, unblocked clubs, crossed in trumps to ruff a club and drew trumps. East had a problem and discarded a heart. At which point, declarer lost a heart finesse but eventually got home on a double squeeze. Could the defense have done better?

Let's wait on East's pitch, and assume that declarer pitches a spade on the 3rd trump, then crosses in spades to cash and ruff a club (finding out what's happening in that suit) and plays his last trump in this position:

		♠	A 6
		♥	7 4
		♦	2
		♣

		♠	9
		♥	A Q 5
		♦
		♣	9

Note that the H6 has been unblocked.

East must keep a club, so Declarer will pitch his last on the D2. In the 4 card ending, the opponents have 7 major suit cards. Declarer would like to take a marked endplay if possible, or a heart finesse followed by an attempted squeeze (which may have already developed). Say there are only 3 hearts outstanding -- declarer can take the finesse and either win it or establish a long heart (ignoring, for now, the possibility that West kept 3 hearts and East none). If there are 5 hearts (and thus only 2 spades) then declarer might as well play SA, maybe establishing a trick, maybe establishing an endplay, and otherwise playing for the HK (now blank) to be onside. [Note that the defense would prevail if East kept all his spades and declarer played this way -- this requires an immediate heart pitch, though, which did happen but declarer played along different lines.]

If the defense keeps 4 hearts, it's kind of interesting. If they're 2-2, then in practice declarer can't go wrong -- SA and a spade will work, or a losing heart finesse followed by spades splitting will work. So what if East keeps 3 hearts and West stiffs his K? Then the HJT9 will all have been pitched and declarer can play the 6 to the Q. When this loses, a spade will come back, East will show out, and hooking the 5 will be marked. If West keeps 3 hearts, again East had to pitch hearts immediately (to keep a spade guard). Now declarer (if he plays in this counterfactual way) has to guess, but could go right: cash SA, then play a low heart and duck it.

In practice, the key is how likely declarer thinks East is to pitch a heart on the 3rd trump from an original 2=4=2=5.

New squeeze article

2009-12-06T21:51:00.003-05:00

The start of an article on compound squeezes with 2 "helper" menaces (such as a clash menace and a guard menace, both of which are necessary) now here. As always, an index of all articles in progress is at the top of the right column.

It still needs work, but a number of positions are identified.

More squeeze defense

2009-12-04T21:14:00.004-05:00

Jonathan made a good point in comments about defending this end position:

♠	4
♥	K 10
♦	K 7 6
♣

♠
♥	A 9 3
♦	A 9
♣	10

West is known to have the spade guard and, if he started with 3 clubs, must have pitched 1 card from an original 6 red cards (the defense started with 7 of each red suit). His goal is to present declarer with a straight 50-50 guess as to whether the suit he pitched from is still guarded or not. When he's 3-3 in the reds, he has no control over that, whichever suit he pitches is unguarded. This happens 40.8% of the time (7c3^2 / 14c6, see below for a faster approximation). So, when he has a long suit, he'll want to pitch from the long suit (still having a guard, 50/59.2 of the time (84.5%)) and from the short suit the rest of the time.

Given that the red lengths are symmetrical, it's easy to work out that with 3-3 in the reds you should discard each suit 50% of the time. With unbalanced red suits, you'd ideally like to do the above arithmetic to figure out the optimum discard frequencies. The problem is, this might take some time, potentially revealing that you aren't easily able to identify the optimum.

Is it therefore ethical with 3-3 to do the same calculation you would want handy if you had been 4-2?

Maybe it's not that hard. Throw out voids and having 1-5 cards in a suit is 1:3:5:5:3, so 3-3 is 25:(15+15+3+3), so with 61 holdings you want to pitch from a long suit 30.5 times and you have a long suit 36 times, or a touch more than 5/6. As evidence that this approximation is effective: 50/59.2 is 84.5%, 30.5/36 is 84.7%.

In case that last paragraph was too fast: having 1 diamond is 7c1 = 7 combos. 2, 3, 4, & 5 diamonds are 7c2, 7c3 etc, which are 21, 35, 35, and 21. There's a factor of 7 in all those numbers, so the odds simplify to 1:3:5:5:3. The ways to hold 1-5 hearts have the same combinations, but 1 diamond implies 5 hearts, 2 diamonds implies 4 hearts, etc, so flip those odds to get 3:5:5:3:1 and pairwise multiply to get the total number of ways to have both 1 diamond and 5 hearts (1x3), 2 diamonds and 4 hearts (3x5), 3d3h 25, 4d2h 15, 5d1h 3. Add them up to get 61 equally likely possibilities, of which 25 are 3-3.

In this weighting, the voids are 1/7 each and the 6 card suits are 1. (30.5 + 1/7) / (36 2/7) would be the precise calculation.

Alternate threat compound with variations

2009-12-02T09:54:00.002-05:00

This is from Problem 6 from the August (2002, I think) Pav problem set. I think it was played in the European Championships sometime before that:



Axx
AKx
AKx
Axxx
 
QJx
QTxxxx
xxx
x

LHO opened 1C and you land in 6H. CK led. How do you play?

Duck (creating that Ax/void basic menace that's often useful), ruff the 2nd, play SJ forcing LHO to cover (or you'll have a black suit squeeze), then run trumps coming down to:

 
x
-
AKx
Ax
 
Qx
x
xxx
-

Clubs is the basic menace (vs West), spades is the alone ambiguous menace, and diamonds is the ambiguous menace with the basic menace, except that South has an alternate threat. If West has unguarded spades, the extra entry in diamonds is needed to get the CA out of the way before coming back to hand and cashing the last heart for a simultaneous type R.

If West unguards diamonds, the diamond threat in dummy is not useful because of entry problems, but this can be overcome by using the alternate diamond threat in hand. Note that the recessed club menace is key to make room for that alternate threat. In fact, that's a general feature of alternate threat compounds: the basic menace needs a winner that is not useful as an entry such as shown, or AKx/x, or Axx/K, etc.

This deal has an alternate solution – cash all the red winners coming down to:


    Axx
    -
    x
    Ax
Kxx      T98
-        -
Q        Ji
QJ       x
    QJx
    xx
    x
    -

This was an alternate threat squeeze where clubs was the basic threat, diamonds alternate, and spades the alone ambiguous threat. Get rid of the diamond entries, though, and it still works because West can’t keep pitching spades (the alternate threat is still important, though – in fact, the original threat is idle). Play 2 hearts pitching a diamond and then (unless it’s good) a club. West can’t bare the SK or the spades will run, so he must pitch a diamond and a spade. Since he can’t duck the SQ, it’s basically a B1 with the R (diamond) winners already out of the way. This spade menace is fairly strange, neither guard nor clash. I think it's a "shortstop" menace.

Switch the SQ and SK and it’s just a simple black suit squeeze. Do that but also switch the SJ and ST and it’s a compound guard squeeze (Type-R Guard-O in my classification -- R since the basic threat is alone (the diamond and 3rd spade with North are both idle), O since the guard menace is opposite the basic threat).

Veering Squeeze Card Variant

2009-11-26T21:53:00.004-05:00

[UPDATE: lots of posts the past couple of weeks; trying to settle in to a regular weekly schedule again starting now, though. I have several things lined up, so you should be able to rely on that for a while.]

Here's an 8 card double-dummy problem demonstrating a secondary compound squeeze with a veering squeeze card in the ending:

		♠	A Q 9 2
		♥	A K 5 4
		♦
		♣
♠	J 10 8			♠	K 4 3
♥	Q J 10			♥	9 8 7
♦	K J			♦	A Q
♣				♣
		♠
		♥	3 2
		♦	4 3 2
		♣	A K Q

Clubs trump. South to lead and take 7 of the last 8 tricks.

Solution below the fold.

Cash a trump. West must pitch a diamond (or set up spades or heart-spade strip vs East), then East is triple-squeezed. If a spade is pitched, use the 2 heart entries to ruff out the king and then enjoy the queen. If a diamond is pitched, duck a diamond to set up that suit. So, East must part with a heart.

On the next trump, West is triple squeezed. On a spade pitch, you can again cross to ruff out the king while pinning West's honors. A heart pitch sets up that suit. So West must pitch another diamond.

Now, cash the hearts and lead a 3rd one in this position:

		♠	A Q 9
		♥	4
		♦
		♣
♠	J 10 8			♠	K 4
♥	Q			♥
♦				♦	A Q
♣				♣
		♠
		♥
		♦	4 3 2
		♣	Q

This is the "familiar" veering squeeze card ending. If East pitches down to one diamond, ruff and throw him in to lead into dummy's spade tenace. If East blanks the ♠K, pitch a diamond. West wins and leads a spade so you can drop the king and get home.

Verified with Deep Finesse.

2-1	78%
3-2	68%
4-3	62%

3-1	50%
4-2	48%
5-3	47%

2-2	41%
3-3	36%
4-4	33%

5-2	31%
4-1	28%
3-0	22%

6-2	17%
5-1	15%
4-0	10%

7-2	9%
6-1	7%
5-0	4%

2-1	78%
3-2	68%
4-3	62%

3-1	50%
4-2	48%
5-3	47%

2-2	41%
3-3	36%
4-4	33%

5-2	31%
4-1	28%
3-0	22%

6-2	17%
5-1	15%
4-0	10%

7-2	9%
6-1	7%
5-0	4%

2-1	78%
3-2	68%
4-3	62%

3-1	50%
4-2	48%
5-3	47%

2-2	41%
3-3	36%
4-4	33%

5-2	31%
4-1	28%
3-0	22%

6-2	17%
5-1	15%
4-0	10%

7-2	9%
6-1	7%
5-0	4%