casual game 5/19

1C* - (4H) - 6N

heart led

KJT9xx A xx AKxx
A8 Kxx AKT9x xxx

RHO follows the HQ. You lead a spade to the A, RHO pitches the HT. You knock out the SQ however you want, RHO pitches two more hearts. LHO plays a second (lower) heart, you win the K.

Update: A friend points out a more better line. So rewind to trick 1.

Reno Regional 12/30

Had a few hands from the Reno Regional.

1.

w/w RHO opens 3S, raised to 4.

We have xx Ax ATxx KQTxx, we lead CK.

Dummy tables

---------Kxx
---------Jxx
---------QJx
---------Axxx
xx
Ax
ATxx
KQTxx

Dummy plays the A, partner the 5, declarer the 8. The missing spots are J852.

Declarer plays two high trumps, partner shedding the HK on the second round of spades. Declarer now plays a diamond from dummy to the K and our A. Now what?

Partner would not play the 5 from J52, so partner must have J5. We cash a second club, and now play A and a heart, beating the contract. It turns out if declarer just follows with the C2 at trick 1, we have a harder problem.

Our teammates reached 4S, and the defense did not cash correctly.

2. I've been over this suit combination before, but I really like it. Our opponents reached 6D with x opp AQT9xxx as trumps. The contract hinges on bringing the suit in for one loser.

Our declarer played low to the Q, which is the proper play*. Sadly, on that day, it was Jxx onside, so the anti percentage T wins and the Q fails.

*Low to the T picks up KJx, Jx, Jxx, Kx
Low to the Q picks up KJx, Jx, Kxx, Kx, AND Kxxx

3.

Partner opens, you reach an uncontested 3N on these cards.

Kxx
AJT9x
x
AJ9x

AJxx
Qx
QJ8x
Qxx

LHO leads the D2 (they lead fourth, but you've seen this guy lead 5th best already.) RHO wins the A, and now leads back the 9. So it really does look like diamonds are 5-3.

I was swayed by my D8, so I covered the 9. LHO hesitates a second... and then ducks. Shit! Damn 8! Why didn't I think longer? All finesses go into RHO, and by holding up (ducking the 9), we can sever the defensive communications.

After this start, I can no longer make, but let's say we properly hold up. The opponents cash a third diamond, and LHO clears the suit, diamonds indeed breaking 5-3.

We run the HQ, losing. RHO shoots back a heart.

We have 1 diamond, 4 hearts, 2 spades, 1 club. We need to develop one more trick. After running all the hearts, (pitch a spade and Qx of clubs, unblock!), we can either hook the spade or hook the club. But wait! Let's combine our chances. Attempt to drop the SQ doubleton, and if that fails, now you can take the 50-50 club finesse.

Did you notice something else? If RHO holds both these cards, he's toast. He will have started with Qxx Kxxx A9x Kxx or something like that (his shape is actually immaterial aside from the heart length. With shorter hearts, if he held the crucial black cards, he might have made a takeout double.) 3 diamonds, on the 4th diamond, he has to discard. Then 1 more discard on the hearts. So a total of 2 discards. If he shakes a spade, the Q is coming down, and we pick this up when we test for a doubleton Q. So he has to shake 2 clubs.

Can you read it? Did RHO go into the tank when pitching on the final heart?

I guess I'll never know.

Reno NABC+ Swiss teams 3/19 day 1

We won 4, lost 4 in the NABC+ Open Swiss, but we were 9 or 10 vps away from qualifying.



I ran a spade/diamond squeeze on this board. This was worth 1 imp, which translated to 1 more vp, but most importantly, a beer :)

2/20 Burlingame GNT-C Qualifier

I read Kantar's Take All Your Chances at Bridge book just a few days before the GNT, and this hand felt something that could have come from it.



So we have to deal with a club loser and a diamond loser. The first idea is that you should play a low club to the queen. If the CK is onside, the hand is already over.

Assuming that loses, you can try to ruff out the CJ. If it comes down, you have a club to pitch a diamond.

If NONE of that works, you're down to the diamond finesse. You tried everything!

At the table, when I finessed the club, RHO actually won the CK and led back the DJ. I felt that LHO had the CJ (LHO hitched when I played a club up), and the DJ looked so weird that I figured LHO had the DK as well, so I ran a squeeze instead. Both cards are onside though.

If RHO comes back a small diamond, then you have to abandon trying to drop the CJ and just go for the 50-50 diamond finesse.

Palo Alto 2/3

I sat east, they had some auction to 3N, I don't remember it exactly.

I got strip squeezed, but declarer couldn't read it. He should though, especially since I opened.

1/24 Pleasanton Sectional

Wow, what a frustrating day. We played in the second lowest bracket and mostly got our clock cleaned. Ted and I just sat there and watched them do it to us. They would get to untouchable partscores or games (sometimes crazily), and the best we could hope for was a push. Of course, I did some unspeakably bad things (I always make at least one goof that I'm sure convinces people that I don't know how to play bridge at all.) It always seems to be against people who know me too.

I want to feel good about myself right now, so I'll post this. I ran a squeeze here after the defense did something crazy.



Yes, the opponents were mostly like this. I'm so ashamed.

Here's a genuine problem I had. You hold QJT98 xxx AKTx x. Partner opens 1C, you bid 1S, partner splinters 4D. Now what?

The hands are:
A76x AQxx x AKxx
QJT98 xxx AKTx x

We missed a pretty good slam here. I didn't like AKTx of diamonds, but it's better than AKx. It's on one of two finesses, and the 76 of trump in dummy is monumental in helping to ruff two diamonds.

Looking at it again though, if Ted had AQJx of clubs (and let's say not 76 of trump), things can get ugly. Now I need 2 of 3 finesses to come off, and I need to not get overruffed as I try to get rid of my diamonds. What would you do over 4D?

I have some hands from earlier in the week to write up; I'll do it soon.

Quicktricks 12/14

9.

Another simple squeeze. I think this is the only squeeze I know how to execute, lol.



16.

You have JTx K94 K954 J62. LHO deals, the auction goes

p - p - 1N - p
2H - p - 2S - p
2N - p - 4S

Your lead?

The full hand:


I led a club, a heart came back, tied for bottom.

BBO 11/10

A positional squeeze on west.

Double-dummy defense

Here's a hand that came up on BBO the other day.

	♠ 863 ♥ J94 ♦ AT76 ♣ AQ6
♠ QT4 ♥ KT8 ♦ J985 ♣ T84	N W E S	♠ J92 ♥ A63 ♦ K32 ♣ K752
	♠ AK75 ♥ Q752 ♦ Q4 ♣ J93

East-West vulnerable at Cross-IMPs
West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1♣
Pass	1♦	Pass	1NT
Pass	2NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

It looks awfully hard for the defense. In addition to four top tricks, declarer has a second club and the queen of diamonds, and can drive out the ace and king of hearts for two more tricks. The key to the successful defense is that one of those heart leads must come from declarer's hand.

Let's say West leads the ♣4, and declarer plays small from dummy. East wins the king and continues the suit, putting declarer on the board. A heart to the queen and king follows, and West puts dummy in with a third club. Declarer cannot lead a heart here without giving the defense a third heart trick, so instead he plays spade to ace to get into hand and leads a heart, hooking the ♥9. East wins the ace. Now he can play spades to drive out the king, declarer's last entry into hand. Since the heart suit is blocked, East will eventually get back in with the king of diamonds and cash his last club.

Now suppose declarer plays spade to ace at trick three and leads a heart from hand. Either defender can win this trick, but say West goes up with the king. West puts dummy in with a club. If declarer continues with the jack of hearts, East wins the ace and puts down his club. This time, the heart suit is unblocked, and if East plays a spade, declarer can duck to establish the fourth spade as his eight trick. Instead, East lays down the club, which effectively squeezes declarer. He can't afford to give up a heart winner. Baring the queen of diamonds allows East to immediately play the king; winning the ace now establishes the jack, while ducking gives the defense the diamond trick immediately, allowing a spade switch. So declarer discards the spade, allowing East to safely make the spade switch, establishing a spade with another diamond on the way.

What if declarer instead leads a diamond his second time in dummy? Again assume declarer plays a heart from dummy at trick three, won by West. Upon winning West's club lead in dummy, declarer plays a diamond. East must win the king immediately; otherwise, declarer gets the queen of diamonds now and has only to drive out East's ace of hearts. Now, if declarer retains the queen, his diamond suit is blocked. If East leads a spade, declarer can unblock the diamond, but a heart lead now will draw another spade lead from East, resulting in a blocked heart suit. Alternatively, the defense can duck a heart, killing declarer's only entry into dummy.

If declarer instead plays the queen of diamonds under the king, his diamond suit is no longer blocked, but the heart suit still is. East cashes the club, declarer and West discarding spades, and continues with a spade to declarer's ace. Declarer still can't lead hearts from dummy, so must play a heart from hand. East wins the ace, and, with the heart suit still blocked, drives out the king of spades.

If declarer began by playing spade to ace and leading a heart from hand, then East, upon winning the diamond king and after cashing the club, can immediately drive out the king of spades.

That really only leaves declarer with one option: lead a diamond from hand at trick three. If East ducks this, declarer wins the queen and drives out the top hearts, and the defense will never be able to establish their spade trick in time. So East wins the king of diamonds and continues a club. Now declarer unblocks the diamond queen, with the added benefit of being able to break the heart suit from hand. West goes up with the heart king, and now declarer is stuck. He can't unblock the ♥9, since that kills the heart entry needed to pick up the diamond ace. With ♥J9 left in dummy, West plays a spade, and when East gets in the ace of hearts, he will cash the club and lead another spade. Now declarer chooses between cashing ♥Qx or playing heart to dummy and picking up the ♦A; either way, the defense picks up a spade.

There is one more possibility: that declarer plays an honor from dummy's club suit at trick one. Even if declarer plays the queen of clubs, East must retain the king; otherwise, a club continuation will let declarer into hand with the jack. If declarer plays a heart from dummy (or spade to ace and then heart from hand), West wins the first round of hearts and can lead a club, so the prior analysis remains essentially the same. But what if declarer chooses to lead a diamond at trick two? East is forced to win the king, but now cannot continue the club suit!

Say declarer keeps his queen of diamonds. Now East leads a small spade; declarer must win this spade (and importantly, West must play small). Declarer unblocks the diamond queen and plays a heart. If East is forced to use his ace of hearts, he still can't establish his club, and declarer can set up his hearts before the East will be able to set up the club. So West must win the king.

If he continues a club, declarer will get dummy's ace of diamonds and drive the ace of hearts out. East gets the fourth club, but declarer has his eight tricks at the ready. But suppose he continues with the ten of spades, East playing the ♠9. Declarer can't allow this to hold, since a club will follow, and East will get his two club tricks upon winning the ace of hearts. So he wins the king of spades and leads another heart, and East ducks. Without an entry to hand, declarer can never pick up a second heart trick or the long spade. If declarer puts East in with the heart, East exits with a spade to West, who puts a club through. If he wins the ace and exits a club, East gets his long club. If he lets West win the second round of clubs, dummy is thrown in with the third round and must concede a diamond to West. Alternatively, if declarer exits dummy with the spade, the club from West comes now; if declarer allows East to win the king of clubs immediately, East cashes the ace of hearts and throws him in with a club.