Shirley Wright – Feb 2007
The Kibitzer is Shirley Wright
Jon Shuster
Shirley: Can you track the errors on the two hands I witnessed?
The first is from the Sarasota Regional Open Pairs, Saturday afternoon, February 17, 2007, Board 19. (Hands rotated, NS Vulnerable, West deals)
North
S-10863
H-J98
D-AQ1097
C-J
West East
S-Q7 S-J2
H-A764 H-KQ1032
D-K84 D-J632
C-K932 C-85
South
S-AK954
H-5
D-5
C-AQ10764
The bidding went:
West North East South
1C 1D 1H 1S
2H(1) 2S 3H(2) 4S
P P P
(1) EW Play support doubles, so this shows 4 card Heart support.
(2) No interest in Game.
The play went as follows. West led the HA (East encouraging) followed by the H4 to the 9, 10, South ruffing. South played the S-AK pulling the trump, and now led a low Club, with the J winning on the board. Another Heart was now ruffed, followed by the CA and CQ-K-A. Declarer played the DA, ruffed a Diamond with her last trump and ran Clubs, making six (5S, 1D,5C, and 1 Club ruff).
The second hand was from Gator Bridge in Gainesville, Tuesday Feb 20,
2007, Board 8. (Hands rotated, Neither Side Vulnerable, East deals)
North
S-None
H-KQ95
D-AKQ98
C-QJ42
West East
S-Q952 S-K10743
H-A73 H-1082
D-J754 D-1032
C-93 C-106
South
S-AJ86
H-J64
D-6
C-AK875
The bidding went:
West North East South
- - P 1C
P 1H P 1S
P 2D(1) P 2H
P 3C P 4C
P 6C P P
P
(1) Fourth suit forcing to game by their system.
The play went as follows: East led the C9 to the CQ, and a Club was led to the CK, drawing all the EW trump. The H4 was led next with the Q winning. Declarer played three rounds of Diamonds (pitching declarer’s last two Hearts), ruffed a fourth Diamond setting up the 9, played the SA (pitching a Heart from dummy), ruffed a Spade, cashed the D9, pitching a Spade, and crossruffed the rest, making seven. (1S, 1H, 4D, and 7C)
Solutions:
Hand 1 (Sarasota Regional). Apart from the poor vulnerable overcall of 1D by North, the bidding is acceptable by all players. It may be tempting to pass with the West hand as dealer, but the opening bid on 12 HCP is pretty much a given today.
The play is another thing. Let us start with the declarer’s vision. It is clear that East has the H-KQ. There is no way that West will underlead Hearts on this hand. The second trump pull adds the SJ to East’s collection. With 21 points between you and dummy accounted for plus 6 points from East accounted for, West becomes marked with the two minor suit Kings. For all practical purposes, six is assured as the following plan indicates. The declarer ‘s play of a low Club to the J, for practical purposes, holds the hand to making five and is therefore a serious error.
After pulling trump, lead the CA, and next lead the CQ through the marked K for a ruffing finesse. (a) If Clubs break 4-2 (actual layout), you ruff a Heart, ruff a Club and claim 12 tricks. (5S, 4C, 1D, 2 C ruffs)
(b) If East follows to the first round of Clubs with the 8 or 9 and shows out on the second Club, ruff a Heart, and take the second marked ruffing finesse through the remaining 8 or 9 and claim 12 tricks. (5S, 4C, 1D, 2 C ruffs)
(c) If Clubs are 5-1 and no singleton 8 or 9 appears, take the Diamond finesse. Note that we now know West started with 2S-4H-5C and therefore just two Diamonds. The DK will fall under the Ace and yet another ruffing finesse with the 109 through the J gets you your 12th trick (5S, 2C ruffs, 3D (AQ9) and 2C (A10).
Note that the actual line of play theoretically gave up all hope of a second overtrick, which by playing as recommended is virtually certain. Only if there was a most unlikely bidding error by the opponents would the recommended line fail.
West was completely napping on defense. When the low Club was led, West should realize that this is the critical juncture of the hand, and take time to reason it all out. Here is how one might process the information as the West player. When partner’s Spade J fell, declarer was marked with 5S, and was known to hold 1H. Therefore, declarer has 7 cards in the minors. The most important issue is who has the CA. If partner had it, partner would have tried for game opposite your opener with the Ace of your suit and H-KQ10xx. So declarer must have the CA. Now if declarer has the CA, she must also have the CQ. Otherwise, she has led a Club from A10xx(xx), and low to the singleton J, an impossiblly silly play. Place declarer with C-AQ amongst her 7 Minor cards, and no matter what the remaining 5 Minor cards are, declarer has a minimum of 11 tricks (5S, 2D, 2C, 2C ruffs). Even with a void in Diamonds and 7 Clubs, lacking the C10, declarer will win the CJ (partner dropping the singleton 10), play the DA, ruff a Diamond, pitch the Heart on the CA (learning of the bad split), ruff a Club, and ruff another Diamond. This sets up the Q as declarer’s 11th trick. Thus, it cannot lose to take your (CK) bird in the hand, when it was offered. Both South and West were party to giveaways.
Hand 2 (Gator Bridge). The bidding was quite poor by the North player. The 1H call trapped NS from bidding intelligently from that point.
If you play Splinters and Exclusionary Blackwood (as this pair does), a pretty bidding sequence is:
South North
1C 3S (singeton or void)
4C(nothing else to say) 4S (Asks for keycards outside of Spades)
5D (2 Keycards, No CQ) 6C
P
Another possibility:
South North
1C 2D (Strong Jump Shift)
2S (Suit, Natural) 3C (Sets trump)
3S (Cue bid, SA or void) 4C (Roman KC Gerber)
4D (0/3 KC) 6C (One is the SA, so a KC is missing)
P
Note the utility of Gerber vs. Blackwood, since if partner has only two Keycards, Backwood takes you beyond 5C, off two Keycards. When you ask for Keycards, you are just looking for the C-AK. You already know partner has the SA, but not the HA. (The 3S call denies the HA and shows the SA). Note that if partner would have bid 4D or 4H (one or two keycards respectively), you would sign off at 4NT at matchpoints, not 5C).
The only issue for these two sequences is the possibility that partner opened on a 3 card Club suit.
Critque of the play.
Defensive error. Note that on the bidding, there is no way for East to have a singleton Heart. It would be incorrect to lead a Heart, and certainly no error is charged against the trump lead. But given the actual bidding and play, West erred significantly by ducking the HA. West knows from the fall of the C10 from partner that declarer has 5C. From the bidding, declarer has 4S. And from the delayed Heart raise, declarer has 3H. Therefore declarer has 1D. West should visualize at least twelve tricks for South. These include 1H, 4D (the 13th will set up with a ruff), 5C, and 2 S ruffs. If South, as seems likely, has the SA, this will come to 13. So it cannot gain and may well lose to duck the Heart lead.
Offensive error. Ironically, with proper play, declarer makes just 6C. After taking the two trump, declarer should test Diamonds by playing the AKQ, discarding two Hearts. If someone is kind enough to hold the D-J10 or D-J10x, you have 5D tricks to go along with 1S, 2S ruffs, and 5C (13 in all). If West started with a singleton DJ or DQ, a doubleton J or Q, or if Diamonds are 4-3, declarer can get 4D tricks, and be able to get rid of all, three Hearts.
On the actual hand, here is the position after South ruffs the 4th Diamond:
North (Dummy)
S-None
H-KQ95
D-9
C-J4
West East
S-Q952 S-K1074
H-A73 H-1082
D-None D-None
C-None C-None
South(Declarer)
S-AJ86
H-J
D-None
C-A8
Declarer now ruffs a Spade in dummy and plays the D9, pitching the HJ. The HK is led for a ruffing finesse against East. If East has the HA, North’s Heart losers are taken care of. The HQ will win a trick, and the H5 will be ruffed by Declarer, and the H9 is pitched on the SA. Alas the ruffing finesse fails, and South makes six. Note that the contract is never risked by this line of play.
The actual declarer, at least in theory, gave up all chances of the overtrick.
Lessons. At matchpoints, overtricks are important both as declarer and as defender. Both declarers gave up on very legitimate (certain on the first hand) chances to make risk-free plays for overtricks. Neither West defender took the time to reason out their defensive play, and thus gave back the kind gift declarer was presenting them.