while I am looking
at:The Day of Bad Breaks
Bridge players like to complain that the ACBL sets up its computer to produce deals with extreme suit breaks. I don’t believe it (and the League always denies it), but this pairs event did feature several pretty surprising distributions.
The prelude occurs in the first session and provides a good
lesson in the important technique of counting. We are at favorable
vulnerability and East opens 1 while I am looking
at:
AJ98 / 
K85
/ J96 / 
A83
I am tempted to double but I decide to pass discreetly. West
passes too, and now my partner doubles. East jumps to 3.
Even allowing for partner’s double being in reopening
position, I think I have to jump. But if I jump to 4
we could be in a 4-3 fit. On the other hand, if I bid 4
and partner is 4-4 in the majors we could wind up in a 4-3 heart fit with a
4-4 fit available in spades. So I might as well bid 4.
I do, and it is passed out. West leads the 4
to her partner’s suit, and as dummy goes down I see we got lucky:
| K 7 5 2 A 4 2 7 5 K 10 5 2 |
||
 |
||
| A J 9 8 K 8 5 J 9 6 A 8 3 |
W |
N |
E |
S |
1 |
P |
||
P |
X |
3 |
4 |
P |
P |
P |
Partner was 4-3 in the majors, but I hit his 4-card suit. Still, I have two diamond losers, a heart, and a club—and that’s not even counting possible losers in trumps. So there is plenty of work to do.
East starts with the Queen, Ace, and King of diamonds. I ruff
the third diamond with the 2 as West discards two
hearts. So diamonds were 1-7, an extreme split but not too surprising given
the bidding.
I have to play the trump suit for no losers, and a bad split can be expected there too. If West has all five there’s nothing I can do, but if spades are 4-1 I can play them for no losers provided East’s singleton is the Queen or 10.
I lead the 5 off dummy and East
comes up with the Queen, which I win with the Ace. Now if East really has Q10
his play of the Queen is brilliant, as I shall finesse into his 10. (There’s
something to remember for when you’re on defense!) But I’m not about
to play for that — after all, if he had played the 10, would I not have
won with the Ace and finessed into his Queen? So Queen from Q10 seems unlikely.
I run the 9 and, as expected, East shows out, discarding
a heart.
Now, before finishing the trumps I would like to duck a club. That will give me the chance that clubs are 3-3 and I can discard my heart loser on a good club from dummy. But I have to duck the club to West, because if East wins he can lead another diamond and that will put me in trouble. So I want to lead a club from dummy and hope that East mechanically plays “second hand low.”
I cross to the trump King (East discards a diamond) and lead
the 2. East does play low (the 7), and I put in
the 8. West wins with the 9 and pauses to think. Eventually she returns the
Q, which I win with the Ace, East playing the 4.
I draw the final trump, discarding a heart from dummy.
Now it’s just a matter of playing the K
and hoping for the right club split—but wait a minute! East is known to
hold seven diamonds, one spade, and at least two clubs, and he already discarded
a heart. I should be able to get a complete count on his distribution by playing
two more heart tricks!
I play to the A and back to the
King. East follows both times, so he had seven diamonds, one spade, and three
hearts—which means he had exactly two clubs! So I finesse the 10
with complete confidence and make my contract by discarding my losing heart
on the K. Plus 420 is a cold top.
Bridge is all about the ability to count to 13—under pressure. If you can work out the hidden hands’ suit distributions it's like playing a whole different game.
The defense slipped a couple of times—East should have
discarded only diamonds so as to avoid helping me count his hand (and he shouldn't
have given what presumably was a count signal in clubs either). And West shouldn’t
have led the Q when she was in, but perhaps she
thought her partner had the Ace. On the other hand, as the cards lie, I could
always have made the contract by playing to the A
on the first round and then leading a club toward dummy, ducking if West played
an honor and putting in the 10 if she didn’t. But since the goal at that
point was to keep East off lead I think that play would have been too risky.
The full deal was:
| K 7 5 2
A 4 2 7 5
K 10 5 2 |
||
|
|
|
|
| A J 9 8
K 8 5 J 9 6 A 8 3 |
That deal featured a 7-1 side suit split and a 4-1 trump split. Nothing too outrageous, but it was just the prelude to the afternoon session (deals rotated):
62 / K
/ A108632 / AKJ9
Vulnerable against non-vulnerable opponents, my partner opens
1. With the opponents silent, I bid 2
and partner responds 3.
I like this. I have both several more points and two more diamonds
than I’ve shown. I’m going to suggest slam by bidding 4.
That way partner can show the A if he has it.
He does – partner bids 4.
I go to 6 and all pass.
On the opening lead of the K,
I see:
| A 5 A J 10 9 7 K Q 4 8 5 4 |
||
|
||
|
|
W |
N |
E |
S |
1 |
P |
2 |
|
P |
3 |
P |
4 |
P |
4 |
P |
6 |
P |
P |
P |
Excellent! After winning the A, I shall cross to
the A, unblock the K,
go back to the K, discard the 2
on the A, and lead the J.
If East covers I ruff, and even if West overruffs I’ll be able to get
back to dummy and discard my club losers. If East plays low I'll discard the
9, at which point I’m home if hearts are 4-3,
and if they aren’t I can always fall back on the club finesse.
The only flaw in this lovely plan is that on the A
East shows out! West has J975 and I will have
to lose a diamond trick. Now I can’t afford even a single side-suit loser!
Now what? I hadn’t even considered the possibility of a 4-0 trump split in my planning—it’s only a 9.6% chance.
Well, now there’s really no choice. I’m going to
have to rely on some finesses, but fortunately the bad diamond break makes them
more likely to work. I cross to the K, discard
the 2 on the A as
planned, and run the J discarding the 9.
I need East to have the Q. But he does—West
ruffs low and leads a spade. I ruff in hand. Then it’s back to the board
with the Q, drawing West’s last trump,
and I hold my breath as I finesse the J. West plays
low! Making six. Plus 1370 was worth 10.5 out of 11 matchpoints.
The full deal:
| A 5 A
J 10 9 7 K Q 4
8 5 4 |
||
| J 10 9 7 4 3 2 J 9 7 5 7 6 |
|
|
|
|
I am still recovering from the strain on my nerves two rounds later when I pick up:
82 / J1072
/ AK92 / J72
We are at favorable vulnerability, East is the dealer and the
auction starts with three passes. Partner opens 1,
which East doubles. I bid 1. Now partner goes
to 1 and I try 1NT, which partner raises to 2NT.
I’ve already denied 10 points by not redoubling, and I have 9, so if I trust partner I must accept his invitation. I bid 3NT.
West leads the 8 and I see that
partner is as good as his word:
| A K 10 7 A 5 Q 5 A 10 9 6 3 |
||
|
||
| 8 2 J 10 7 2 A K 9 2 J 7 2 |
W |
N |
E |
S |
P |
P |
||
P |
1 |
X |
1 |
P |
1 |
P |
1NT |
P |
2NT |
P |
3NT |
P |
P |
P |
With just a little luck it looks like I should be able to take
4 clubs, 3 diamonds, a heart, and 2 spades for ten tricks. But not so fast—the
luck is that the combination finesse in clubs works, with West holding at least
one club honor (a 75% chance made better by East’s double of 1),
but to take it I need two entries to my hand. So I will need to sacrifice a
trick in diamonds and overtake my Q to get to
my hand for the second club finesse. But that still leaves me with 9 tricks,
so it seems like a good plan.
I play low on the first heart and win the second with the A
after East takes the Q. (This way if they lead
hearts again I establish a second heart trick.) Now according to plan I cross
with the 5 to the A
and lead the J. West covers with the Queen, I win
with the Ace, and East discards a spade!
Goodness! I know East doubled 1,
which suggests club shortness, but I wasn’t expecting him to have zero!
A 5-0 split occurs just 3.9% of the time.
Now what? I can still get three club tricks, but I don't have the entries to score three diamonds, so it looks like I am going to be one down.
I play the 10 to establish another
club trick. West wins the K and returns a spade,
which I duck. Now West switches to a diamond, so I go back to my original plan
and overtake the Q. I lead the 7
and West declines to cover with the 8. I am out of options. I have to go back
to dummy with a spade and cash what I can.
But I make it anyway! East had discarded two spades on the
clubs, and so my AK bring down the Queen, allowing
me to score the 10. The 9
is my ninth trick, and plus 400 is worth 7 out of 11 matchpoints.
The full deal was:
| A K 10 7
A 5 Q 5
A 10 9 6 3 |
||
| J 3 8 4 8 7 6 3 K Q 8 5 4 |
|
Q 9 6 5 4 K Q 9 6 3 J 10 4 — |
| 8 2 J
10 7 2 A K 9 2
J 7 2 |
These computer hands! The moral, as usual, is that, when something unexpected happens, don't panic. In bridge, as in life, you can often overcome a bad break. Just keep your head and formulate a new plan.
[Washington NABC, Daylight Open pairs, 7-30-2009]