Meeting people

Going to US nationals means, among other things, meeting old friends and new interesting people (and reconnecting with those you haven't seen for a while). One of my rising favourites is a relatively new acquaintance, Migry Zur Campanile from Israel. She's one of the best female players there is and her articles in Bridge Today is a great read.

Here's a deal from San Francisco (Women's BAM) where she showed off her lead capabilites. As I have a soft spot for great leads, I got to share this one:

The auction was:
pass - pass - 1D - pass;
1H - pass - 1S - pass;
1NT all pass

What would you lead from:

AT42
A63
J62
J83

Migry tabled the J of diamonds, a great choice from that holding, which is often overlooked by lesser players. Actually one of Gunnar Hallberg's favorites also. Layout:

______QJ73
______94
______Q875
______AK5
AT42________985
A63_________QJ42
J62_________AT93
J83_________Q2
______K6
______KT87
______K4
______T8764

The J went to declarer's K and after a club ducked to the queen, Val Westheimer could reach Migry's hand twice for diamond lead through and down 1 was good for a win on the board.

Check Migry's website at www.migry.com.

San Francisco NABC

Bob, Fred, I and Jerry

San Francisco was a great place for the US Fall Nationals. We did so and so, nothing I would call a success but I guess we didn't embarass ourselves totally either. We won a 1-session BAM, a top-bracket consolation knockout (losing our first match on American soil a mere 14 hours after a 20 hour trip and 9 hour time-zone skip) with Mårten Gustawsson and Gunnar Andersson.

The Blue-Ribbons had us finish 31th out of 104 reaching day 3 (416 pair entering) and the North American Swiss saw us fade to 28th place day 3 (160 teams entering, 40 made it to day 3), playing with Robert Bitterman, Jerry Helms, John Diamond and Brian Platnick.

In the Swiss, a distributional layout started off day 3. The first 2 days boards were shuffled each match but the final day all matches played pre-duplicated boards. South, all white (deal rotated):

______T
______653
______AKJT9865
______A
A876_________KQ953
7____________982
Q73___________
98732________KJT65
______J42
______AKQJT4
______52
______Q4

The auction went:
1H - pass - 2D - 2S;
pass - 4S - 5D - pass;
6H - pass - pass - X all passed

1H was 11-15 5+suit, 2D was artificial gameforce with at least 3 hearts, pass after 2S denied shortness in spades and 5D was natural. 6H was a reasonable guess, or so I thought.

West obviously thought X was a general vote of mistrust for the contract and failed to lead a diamond, which of course would have resulted in a swift 2 off, instead opting for a surprise attack in clubs. This was lucky for us and I managed to take the first round finesse in diamonds after collecting the trumps for +1310 (need to, no re-entry otherwise after drawing trumps) for +9 imps vs 6D making at the other table.

Britain's David Bakshi found the text-book switch to a heart at his table against 6D, removing the entry to dummy prematurely and declarer was not prepared to finesse in trumps first time around and went down. Well done David!

Overcalling for the lead - the other way around

Most are familiar with light overcalls with good suits to help partner finding the best lead. What may be overlooked is that overcalls may be made for the opposite reason, to find out what YOU are going to lead.

Still 1st division in Denmark, round-robin 36 board matches. I was dealt this one (red/white):

KT9863
J842
4
65

After pass on my right, I passed and LHO opened 1C. My RHO responded 1D and I slipped in a seemingly meaning-less 1S, Lauria-style (he's overcalling-crazy btw - and ranked no 1 in the world).

The next hand doubled, showing a good hand without suitable rebid and after partner passed and the guy on my right rebid 1NT, leftie raised to 3NT.

So now we pretty mych know a spade lead is unlikely to be successful. Therefore I led a heart.

_______A7
_______KT
_______AK2
_______AJ9843
KT9863______Q2
J842________AQ965
4___________T873
65__________Q2
_______J54
_______73
_______QJ965
_______KT7

Jackpot and we cashed out for +50 and 11 imps vs 520 and the other table.

If you think the opponents messed up an easy board, you are maybe correct, but this was arguably one of the best pairs in Denmark and when playing good opponents you certainly need to 'shove' them a little bit.

For whatever reason we won the imps, and you might come to a different conclusion than I do as to the reason for that occurence, we happily took them.

Analysing the auction

Blind leads aren't always that blind. While there may not be much useful info at first glance, there can be inferences to guide you when taking a closer look. Here's a lead problem from the first division in Denmark against declarer Lars Blakset.

My hand:
Q52
J63
T7532
K5

The auction went:
1S - 2D (FG)
2NT - 3S
4S - 4NT (showing 3+ aces)
5C (cue) - 6S

So, what do we know? What would you lead?

Declarer seems to have hand with scattered minimum strength from 2NT-rebid and refusal to cuebid after 3S. Dummy jumped to slam after hearing a 5C cue. That indicate tricksource and weak clubs. So, I tabled the K of clubs. This was the layout:

_______AK4
_______A94
_______AQJ94
_______82
Q52____________83
J63____________QT52
T7532__________86
K5_____________QJ973
_______JT976
_______K87
_______K
_______AT64

Declarer can always make the hand by finessing in spades but went for the percentage line of AK of trumps and running diamonds, pitching clubs. One down when the diamonds didn't break and the trump queen didn't come down. After anything but a club lead, declarer can take the trump finesse in comfort and then try to run diamonds, combining the chances. With a club lead it was decision time right away.

Reaching for opp's bidding motives, i.e. why they bid the way they did can provide the crucial indicators. As always, buyer beware, remember some people just can't be trusted!

Aggressive action

Round of 16 of Spingold we looked horns with Glubok-Ozdil and Coren-Rosenbloom, who the previous round beat 4th seeded O'Rourke (Jacobus, Bocchi-Duboin, Greco-Hampson). We were ahead by 22 going into the last quarter.

This last set Freddan and I played G-O and on the first board they bid good slam cutting the lead to 11. We were 'solid' at both tables the rest of the way going 74-0 on the remaining boards.

Here's a bidding decision from halfway in the set. I had:

2
JT2
AQ954
9643

All vul and Melih started on my right with 1S. Brian bid 1NT, partner doubled and RHO bid 4S in tempo. What's your call? Is this a problem?

I guess pass would be the mainstream choice, some lunatic might try 5D. I made an aggressive penalty double without trumps because this is a situation where partner wouldn't act on marginal values unless defensive tricks ('grave-yard'). This collected +500 and 7 imps (same contract undoubled at other table) on this layout.

_____86
_____K875
_____J72
_____K875
2___________95
JT2__________AQ95
AQ954_______T83
9643________AQJT
_____AKQJT743
_____63
_____K6
_____2

Swap the red kings and 4S makes but I still feel in retrospect that this was clear odds-on double.

Auction analysis often provides the key to going the right way in marginal situations.

High flyer

Often some of the biggest results come when you've exposed yourself to a sizeable minus and the opponents misjudge and suffer instead. Some people are willing to take risks like that, by choice, others wouldn't dream of it.

What would you do with the following hand after partner opens a mini-NT (10-12) in 1st position with all white and the next hand passes?

J
J63
T96
T87542

Pass, transfer to clubs or go for the juggler with 3NT? Maybe you could catch the next guy with an awkward hand, passing it out. Maybe they bid 4M and are cold for slam.

Kit Woolsey, who's a pretty experienced guy by any standard belongs to category 1; he's willing to shoot it out. He is the one who wrote about 'loading the dice', the 'double flaw' theory etc (classic instructions!) about taking positions, in one of my all-time favorite bridge books "Matchpoints".

Kit bid a confident 3NT in a flash with his LHO on the same side of the screen.

I had xxxx/AKQ9x/AKx/Q and could see that 3NT was very likely to be based on clubs but also that the 'clear-cut' X might not be a winner. 3NT could make with a spade lead or they could escape to 4C when even 3NT undoubled would be a better score for us. On the other hand partner would be more likely to find a heart lead from shortness after X.

Brushing negative thinking aside I reached for the obvious X and another one after the 4C-runout, leaving it to partner to sweat it out.

This time, I can tell you, he wasn't exactly sweating...

______J
______J63
______96
______T87542
8642________K953
AKQ95_______T2
AK4_________QJ8
Q___________KJ93
______AQT7
______874
______7532
______A6

Kit didn't buy a great layout for his crew and this went a mere 6 down for -1400 with 4S going down in other direction. Wolff-Morse played 3NT, holding the loss to 14 imps.

As crazy as the 3NT-bid may seem at first sight, it could easily have turned out a winner. What if the K of hearts had been with my partner? Would I have doubled with xxx/AQxxx/AKx/Q? Probably not.

When they try to gun you down, don't be intimidated.
Turn the table.

What does he have?

Still 2nd set, Woosley-Stewart. Apart from light initials actions going bad, most things go right. Here's a play problem.

K9
AJ84
T6
K8532

AQJT876
T5
8
A95

Stewart opens 1D on my left, playing Precision and after two passes I jump to 4S (white/red). He's not done and comes back with 5D. Freddan bids 5S (instead of X) and I'm left to play it after K-Q of diamonds are led (divides 7-3).

How to go about it? Play for clubs breaking (ditching your heart loser) or getting hearts right for a club discard?

Starting on trumps , LHO shows out 2nd round and we're reached the crossroads. The answer lies in the 5D-bid at unfavourable vulnerability vs a weak hand. That hand must have at least 11 cards in two suit and not an 'empty' secondary suit (i.e. KTxx or similar). So we play on hearts and make the contract.

_______K9
_______AJ84
_______T6
_______K8532
2_____________543
KQ73__________962
AKQ9732_______J54
6_____________QJT4
_______AQJT876
_______T5
_______8
_______A95

Put yourself in opp's position and see what hand(s) would be most likely for the auction.