With Open Cards

As one of my current writing projects involves a book about Double Dummy problems, I am always on the look out for real life deals. This one comes from Wednesday’s Senior Pairs game:

Dealer: West Vul: North/South		North
		♠	8 4 2
		♥	A K J 8 7
		♦	Q 9 4
		♣	Q 9
West				East
♠	A Q J 5			♠	7 6
♥	10 6 2			♥	Q 9 5 4 3
♦	J 8 2			♦	6 3
♣	10 8 6			♣	J 5 4 3
		South
		♠	K 10 9 3
		♥	—
		♦	A K 10 7 5
		♣	A K 7 2

3NT is clearly an easy contract, but can you see how declarer can arrive at eleven tricks?
Suppose West leads a heart?
Declarer wins with dummy’s king and proceeds to cash five rounds of diamonds. This is the position when the last one is played:

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

When declarer cashes the last diamond West can discard from all three suits – let’s say he chooses the five of spades. When dummy discards a spade East cannot afford a heart or a diamond, so must part with a spade. Now declarer exits with the nine of spades. West wins and must play a heart or a club.
On a heart declarer simply wins with the king and clears the suit. On a club declarer wins with dummy’s queen, cashes the king of hearts and exits with a heart leaving East endplayed.

In passing I should mention the Rabbi’s guardian angel was on hand on this deal, persuading West to lead the ace of spades against the ambitious contact of Six Diamonds. Now East could not stand the pressure exerted by five rounds of diamonds.

What Dreams May Come

It is not unusual for a bridge player, suffering from the combined effects of jet lag and the myriad possibilities of countless deals flashing through the brain to find it difficult to embrace the arms of Morpheus.
Nevertheless, some players claim that they often dream of the right solution to a problem. Here are a few that may have been on the minds of the players trying to qualify for the final session of the Silodor Open Pairs.

Dealer: South Vul: None		North
		♠	9 7 5
		♥	10 9 3
		♦	K Q 7 3
		♣	Q 3 2
West				East
♠	A K 8 6			♠	10 4 3 2
♥	A Q 5 2			♥	8 7
♦	8 6			♦	J 10 4
♣	A 10 9			♣	K 8 7 5
		South
		♠	Q J
		♥	K J 6 4
		♦	A 9 5 2
		♣	J 6 4

1 ♣=Precision

The Rabbi’s approach to the auction posed a problem for Larry Cohen, who elected to introduce what should have been a five card suit.
Declarer won the heart lead with the queen, cashed the ace and ruffed a heart. A spade to the king was followed by a diamond and North won and exited with a spade. Declarer won and tried another diamond, but North won and exited with a diamond. Declarer ruffed and ducked a club to South , but the heart return ensured a trick for North’s nine of spades.
+140 looked promising for East/West at the time, as eight tricks should be the limit in no trumps, but it turned out that it was North/South who collected the Lion’s share of the matchpoints, as many declarers in spades collected ten tricks.
As long as declarer postpones ruffing a heart, the combination of the 3-3 break in clubs and the lucky spade position brings home the bacon.

Dealer: West Vul: North/South		North
		♠	3 2
		♥	A 6 5 2
		♦	3
		♣	A K J 7 6 4
West				East
♠	K 8 6			♠	Q 9 5
♥	K J 3			♥	10 7
♦	A 9 8 6			♦	Q J 10 5 2
♣	10 9 2			♣	Q 8 5
		South
		♠	A J 10 7 4
		♥	Q 9 8 4
		♦	K 7 4
		♣	3

The defence started with two rounds of diamonds and declarer ruffed and took a spade finesse. West won and played another diamond and declarer ruffed, took another spade finesse, cashed the ace king of clubs, ruffed a club, cashed the ace of spades, ruffed a spade with the ace of hearts and played a club. There was no way the defenders could prevent declarer scoring one more trump trick.
Fort the second time in the round, +140 looked promising, but it was East/West who collected the majority of the points.
When East passed N/S would bid unopposed 1cx-1sx-2cx-2hx-4hx and from the South side the game is unbeatable.

By the way, you may be interested to know that the long standing partnership between Larry and David is taking a sabbatical. They have one of the best records around (including a silver medal in the World Pairs Championship) so if you are lucky enough to play against them this week enjoy the moment – it will be a while before you get another opportunity.

This was an awkward bidding problem (well, I found it awkward). Take the North chair:

My immediate instinct was to double, but on reflection I decided that the risk of missing a 5-3 spade fit was more significant, so I introduced my moth-eaten suit and bid Three Spades. The Rabbi raised to game and East led the jack of hearts. This was the full deal:

Dealer: East Vul: None		North
		♠	Q 9 6 5 3
		♥	6
		♦	K Q J 7
		♣	A J 9
West				East
♠	10 8 4			♠	K J 7
♥	K Q 9 8 4 3 2			♥	J 5
♦	5			♦	A 9 8 6 2
♣	Q 7			♣	10 8 2
		South
		♠	A 2
		♥	A 10 7
		♦	10 4 3
		♣	K 6 5 4 3

I did not miss the 5-2 fit either!
When the defenders failed to find their diamond ruff I managed to make +420, slightly over average.
With this type of heart guard where ducking once will generally keep West out of the game South ought to prefer 3NT – and on this layout his reward should be ten tricks and most of the matchpoints.

I’ll leave you with a well played deal by a World Champion (and he will be taking his seat opposite David Berkowitz in Washington) – but I shouldn’t have given him the chance:

Dealer: North Vul: North/South		North
		♠	—
		♥	K Q 8 5 4
		♦	Q J 7 6 4 3
		♣	9 7
West				East
♠	A 6			♠	J 9 8 7 3
♥	10 9			♥	A 7 3 2
♦	A K 10 5			♦	9 8 2
♣	A Q 10 4 2			♣	5
		South
		♠	K Q 10 5 4 2
		♥	J 6
		♦	—
		♣	K J 8 6 3

I was sorely tempted to lead the four of hearts, which should leave declarer a trick short, but a low diamond gave declarer a vital trick.
He won with dummy’s nine, played a club to the ten, cashed the ace of clubs and exited with a club. South won and switched to the king of spades, but declarer won and ducked a heart to South. He won the heart return with dummy’s ace, cashed two diamonds and exited with a spade, forcing South to concede the last trick to declarer’s queen of clubs.
-120 felt depressing, but with several pairs getting into trouble on the N/S cards it proved to be a little over average.

With the Silodor being played on Friday the thirteenth I would have liked to have delivered a story about Triscadecaphobia – but this was the nearest I got!

Thursday the Rabbi Doubled

In 1965 Harry Kemelman won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, featuring the Rabbi David Small, which became a huge bestseller. If the Rabbi Small had been a bridge player the title might have been different.

Dealer: South Vul: Both		North
		♠	K 10 8 7
		♥	—
		♦	J 10 7
		♣	A K J 9 6 4
West				East
♠	9 6 5 3			♠	Q J 4
♥	Q 10 8			♥	A K 9 2
♦	A K 9 8 3			♦	Q 6 2
♣	Q			♣	10 8 5
		South
		♠	A 2
		♥	J 7 6 5 4 3
		♦	5 4
		♣	7 3 2

Trouble with Trumps

With a combined trump holding of Q108 opposite A32 you would not expect the defenders to score five trump tricks every day of the week, but see what happened on this deal from the Rockwell Mixed Pairs:

Dealer: West Vul: None		North		A
		♠	Q 10 8 4
		♥	K J
		♦	A 9 6 5 3
		♣	A K
West				East
♠	K 3 2			♠	A 9 7 6
♥	Q 10 8			♥	A 3 2
♦	K 4			♦	Q J 10 8 7
♣	9 8 7 4 3			♣	2
		South
		♠	J 5
		♥	9 7 6 5 4
		♦	2
		♣	Q J 10 6 5

With honours in both short suits I don’t care for North’s 1NT at all – for the umpteenth time 5-4-2-2 is not a no trump distribution.
However, on this occasion opening One Diamond would not necessarily have worked out any better.

East led the queen of diamonds and declarer won with the ace and tried to cash his top clubs. East ruffed and played another diamond which declarer ruffed on the table to play a heart to the eight, jack and ace.
East now played the ten of diamonds ruffed by declarer and overruffed by West who played another club.
Declarer discarded a diamond and East ruffed and played the jack of diamonds, ruffed and overuffed. The ace and king of spades gave the defenders two more tricks for two down.
+100 was worth a significant share of the matchpoints.

There are two points to notice.
Declarer could have saved a trick by discarding one of dummy’s spades on the third or fourth round of diamonds, but after failing to do so the first time East can ensure two down by playing a low spade after the second club ruff.
Since declarer has already turned up with seven points in clubs, four in diamonds and one in hearts he should have 3-5 more. When they are the sxQ and the hxK the low spade switch gives declarer no opportunity to discard a diamond.
Even if North has the king of spades and the hxQJ this defence will result in one down.

Top stars in Bridge and Golf

Bridge and golf go naturally together and a lot of world class bridge players are keen golfers. Jeff Meckstroth might well have pursued a professional career in the game and the same is true of England’s Tony Forrester. Zia is known to be passionate about the game.
Not many people know that a number of outstanding golfers relax by playing bridge. One example is Jesper Parnevik, while another is American sporting icon Arnold Palmer who combines good playing technique with the essential element of table presence that makes you realise why he was always considered to be one of the best golfers when it came to psychology.

Take a look at this deal played at Palmer’s golf club in Bay Hill Orlando, USA.

Dealer: South Vul: North/South		North
		♠	Q
		♥	AQJ983
		♦	QJ8
		♣	Q82
West				East
♠	8532			♠	974
♥	K62			♥	1054
♦	K632			♦	975
♣	76			♣	10543
		South
		♠	AKJ106
		♥	7
		♦	A104
		♣	AKJ9

Driving to the game’s ultimate contract was something of a long shot with just 11 tricks on top. If that is par, then Arnie had to go two better, skip the putting and achieve an eagle!
His table feeling helped him to the successful line in the play. West hesitated before making his final pass, and Palmer decided that the reason had to be that he held the two missing red kings.
Without this information he would have played East for the king of diamonds as a successful diamond finesse ensures thirteen tricks while a heart finesse only gives twelve unless West has a doubleton king of hearts.
At the same time maybe Palmer could not resist the temptation to make a spectacular stroke at the bridge table just as in golf!
He won the club lead and cashed the diamond ace (Vienna Coup) and eight more black tricks. Before playing the last one the position was:

		North
		♠	—
		♥	A Q J
		♦	Q
		♣	—
West				East
♠	—			♠	—
♥	K 6 2			♥	10 5 4
♦	K			♦	97
♣	—			♣	—
		South
		♠	10
		♥	7
		♦	10 4
		♣	—

The spade ten destroyed West. He let go the two of hearts, South discarded the queen of diamonds from dummy and made the last three tricks in hearts with a first round finesse.

The Trick Machine

The successful matchpoint player needs to display a myriad of skills, but one of the most important is to rack up the tricks in routine contracts.
On this deal from the final of the Silodor Open Pairs Barry Rigal showed how it should be done:

Dealer: South Vul: East/West		North
		♠	K 10 6 3
		♥	K J
		♦	10 5 3 2
		♣	9 5 4
West				East
♠	A 7 4			♠	Q J 5 2
♥	8 7 5 3 2			♥	Q 6 4
♦	K 9 7 6			♦	Q 8
♣	8			♣	A 6 3 2
		South
		♠	9 8
		♥	A 10 9
		♦	A J 4
		♣	K Q J 10 7

1NT was the popular spot, with West, as here, leading a heart for the jack, queen and ace.
Resisting the temptation to play clubs immediately Barry played a spade to dummy’s king. When that held he attacked clubs, and when East won he retuned a heart, West having discarded a diamond on the second round.
Now Barry played a diamond to the jack and West won and cleared the heart suit. After winning and cashing his club tricks, Barry cashed the ace of diamonds and found that suit was now good.
He had taken one spade, three hearts, three diamond and four clubs for a whopping +210.

(Only three pairs could beat that, one of them your reporters’, who, having donned a pair of rose tinted spectacles, used Stayman, which eventually saw the Rabbi at the helm in the unbeatable 3NT.)

The smallest trump coup

In the early stages of the Vanderbilt the boards are dealt at the table. That can sometimes mean that the precise layout of a particular deal is not accurate down to every spot card, but nevertheless this amusing deal that Nick Nickell reported to me deserves a wider audience.
I’ll present it as a play problem:

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

West leads the queen of hearts.
This is a straightforward hand – as long as you don’t see one of your top tricks ruffed the contract must be cold.
Accordingly Nick won the opening lead in dummy, cashed the king of diamonds and played a diamond to the eight.
West discarded a club!
Nick cashed the ace of diamonds, ruffed a diamond, ruffed a heart, ruffed a diamond and cashed the ace of clubs.

His last five cards were sxQJ1097 and he could play any card from dummy, catching East’s sx86542.

As Nick pointed out it was not the first time he had executed a trump coup, but it was certainly the smallest!

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	A K
		♥	A 10 5 3
		♦	K 6
		♣	A K 10 7 5
West				East
♠	—			♠	8 6 5 4 2
♥	Q J 9 8 6 4			♥	K 2
♦	7			♦	Q 10 5 3 2
♣	Q 9 8 6 4 2			♣	3
		South
		♠	Q J 10 9 7 3
		♥	7
		♦	A J 9 8 4
		♣	J

The Rabbi goes Slamming

The Rabbi has his own way of approaching potential slam deals, generally preferring the bludgeon to the rapier.
It can work quite well, as witness these two deals from the Rockwell Mixed Pairs:

Dealer: West Vul: East/West		North
		♠	—
		♥	A 9 5 4 3
		♦	Q J 10 6 5 4
		♣	A 5
West				East
♠	8 3			♠	10 9 5 4
♥	—			♥	10 8 7 6 2
♦	A 9 8 7 2			♦	K
♣	K J 9 7 6 3			♣	Q 10 4
		South
		♠	A K Q J 7 6 2
		♥	K Q J
		♦	3
		♣	8 2

Conventional wisdom says that you should not use Blackwood with two losers in an unbid suit, but as Victor Mollo’s immortal Hideous Hog would say ‘If they don’t lead the suit it won’t matter.’
With little to go on West tried the ace of diamonds and another singleton king had fallen under the Rabbi’s spell, +980.

Dealer: South Vul: North/South		North
		♠	Q 7 5
		♥	A
		♦	A 8 6
		♣	A K Q 9 8 7
West				East
♠	K 9 8			♠	A 6 4
♥	9 7 4 3			♥	Q J 10 8 6 5 2
♦	—			♦	9 5
♣	J 6 5 4 3 2			♣	10
		South
		♠	J 10 3 2
		♥	K
		♦	K Q J 10 7 4 3 2
		♣	—

There is an old saying in bridge, ‘with 6-5 come alive’. The Rabbi’s version is ‘with 8-4 bid more.’
Full marks to East for her Four Heart bid, which put her side on course for a great result.
The Rabbi was not prepared to give in easily and when he found the imaginative Four Spades West carried on the good work by going on to Five Hearts. Kay Enfield did not expect to get rich from that contract, so she went on to the diamond slam, leaving West with a decision to make.
There is something to be said for bidding one more, as -500 will still be a good save against a vulnerable game, but West bravely decided to stand his ground.
It was now a question of finding the killing lead, but it was now that West fell from grace by leading a heart.
It is clear that North must have a source of tricks and that can only be in the club suit. There is no point in leading a heart, as North must have control of that suit. A club might be right, but with a void partner might have tried a Lightner double. So, by a process of elimination you are left with a spade. That line of reasoning might have been approved of by the world’s greatest consulting detective:

‘When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’
Sherlock Holmes – The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

The Rabbi to the Rescue

When the bridge gods are smiling an apparently hopeless situation may be saved in an unexpected way, as on this deal from the final of the Silodor Open Pairs:

Dealer: North Vul: East/West		North
		♠	A 9 2
		♥	K 10 9
		♦	A 6 5 4 3
		♣	8 5
West				East
♠	8 5 4 3			♠	K Q J
♥	A 7 5			♥	6 2
♦	J 2			♦	K Q
♣	J 9 6 4			♣	A K Q 7 3 2
		South
		♠	10 7 6
		♥	Q J 8 4 3
		♦	10 9 8 7
		♣	10

North’s wafer thin double concluded an auction that contained a number of debatable bids.
Declarer took the opening lead of the king of hearts with the ace and played a trump. North took the ace, cashed the ace of diamonds and with a silent prayer switched to the ten of hearts. The Rabbi overtook that with the jack and continued with the queen. When declarer decided to discard one of dummy’s clubs it was clear that the Rabbi’s modest assets included the all important ten of spades. A fourth round of hearts was ruffed in turn by the eight, nine and jack of spades, so declarer was -500, which did not trouble the scorers.

Spotlight on Defence

There is no doubt that defence is one of the more testing areas of the game.
Here are a few deals that caught my eye:

Dealer: South Vul: East/West		North
		♠	Q J 9
		♥	9 4 3 2
		♦	10 3 2
		♣	K 10 6
West				East
♠	10 8 6			♠	7 5
♥	Q 8 6			♥	A K 5
♦	A 9 8 6 4			♦	Q J 7 5
♣	9 3			♣	Q J 5 2
		South
		♠	A K 4 3 2
		♥	J 10 7
		♦	K
		♣	A 8 7 4

A typical matchpoint auction, with East/West doing well to push North/South up a level.
West led the ace of diamonds and continued the suit. Declarer ruffed and exited with the jack of hearts. East won with the king and played a diamond and declarer ruffed and played another heart. West won with the queen and found the only winning defence of exiting with a heart. East won and fell from grace by exiting with the queen of clubs.
Declarer won with dummy’s king, cashed three spade ending in dummy, then the established heart, after which the ten of clubs pinned West’s nine.

On my next deal declarer missed an opportunity for immortality:

Dealer: East Vul: East/West		North
		♠	6 2
		♥	J 8 7 5 4 2
		♦	K J 10 7
		♣	K
West				East
♠	7 5 3			♠	Q 10 4
♥	A K Q 10			♥	9 3
♦	Q			♦	A 5 4 2
♣	A 10 7 5 4			♣	Q J 9 6
		South
		♠	A K J 9 8
		♥	6
		♦	9 8 6 3
		♣	8 3 2

South led the three of diamonds and when the queen was covered by North’s king declarer won and advanced the queen of clubs.
When South followed with the two there was strong case for going up with the ace, not least because of who was sitting North.
As it was, the Rabbi won with the king, cashed a couple of diamonds and switched to a spade.
3NT made – but by the defence!

On my next deal the vast majority of the field missed a straightforward defence:

Dealer: East Vul: North/South		North
		♠	K Q 7 4
		♥	–
		♦	10 7
		♣	A K 10 7 6 5 2
West				East
♠	A 5 3 2			♠	J 10 9 6
♥	A Q 5 4			♥	8 2
♦	J 9 6 4			♦	K Q 8 5 2
♣	Q			♣	9 4
		South
		♠	8
		♥	K J 10 9 7 6 3
		♦	A 3
		♣	J 8 3

West led the six of diamonds and South took the queen with the ace and played the king of hearts (a spade or a diamond works best as the cards lie).
West won and the defenders continued with two more diamonds. It was easy enough now to arrange to draw trumps and come to nine tricks, +140.
If West leads, or switches to his singleton club then he will be able to get East in with a diamond to score a club ruff.
Its worth noting that the preempt prevented North/South from reaching the excellent club game.

If you find yourself coming under pressure on a deal as declarer runs a long suit or cashes winners it is important to show no sign of distress. Easier said than done, but the defender in the West chair was up to the task on my final deal:

Dealer: South Vul: East/West		North
		♠	10 8
		♥	A K 2
		♦	K Q J 7
		♣	A Q 9 7
West				East
♠	K J 6			♠	7 4 3 2
♥	6 5			♥	Q J 8 4 3
♦	A 9 6 3			♦	10 2
♣	K 6 5 3			♣	J 8
		South
		♠	A Q 9 5
		♥	10 9 7
		♦	8 5 4
		♣	10 4 2

Facing a passed partner these is nothing wrong with adopting a variation to your no trump range, but doing it with a healthy 19 count is taking things a little too far.
East led the four of hearts and declarer was pleased to win with dummy’s ten. A diamond to the jack was followed by the ten of spades, which lost to West’s jack. Declarer won the heart return and played the king of diamonds, West taking the ace and switching to a club. East won with the jack and returned the suit, dummy’s ten being covered by the king and ace. Declarer cashed his club tricks to reach this four card ending:

		North
		♠	8
		♥	A
		♦	J 7
		♣	—
West				East
♠	K 6			♠	7 4
♥	—			♥	Q J
♦	9 6			♦	—
♣	—			♣	—
		South
		♠	A Q
		♥	9
		♦	8
		♣	—

When declarer cashed the ace of hearts West was in trouble, but with no sign of discomfort he discarded the six of spades. Declarer cashed the jack of diamonds and played a spade.
I know you won’t believe me, but the Rabbi finessed!
Full marks to Baytown’s Mack Miegs who was brave enough to survive the Rabbi’s Rule!