Myxomatised

For those who haven't come across it myxomatosis is a viral disease that kills rabbits and a bridge system designed by some devious Australians. If you're interested in the system there's a pretty good run down by bridge guys.

For the purposes of this story though lets say that the 2♦ opening shows either:
1) a weak two in hearts
2) weak 5-5 in spades and clubs
3) a strong two in diamonds
4) some big balanced option (maybe 21-22)

This is exactly the kind of system you need to prepare a defence for. Fortunately my partner and I had seen similar before so we had it all sorted: "Treat it as a transfer to hearts". This means that double shows diamonds, 2♥ is a takeout double and everything else natural. What could go wrong?

Well I picked up this:

	♠ K Q 5 x ♥ x x ♦ A K x x ♣ x x x

Thats not very exciting in itself but starting with my left hand opponent here's what happened:

(2♦)	Myxomatosis as explained above
X	Must show diamonds hooray for system!
(2♥)	Don't know what their agreements were but probably just to string out the auction.
3♥	If my partner has diamonds I'd really like to know about a heart stop or 4 card spade. This is a cue now right?
(/)	Hoping the damage has been done.
5♣	Diamonds and clubs I guess.
(/)	Opponents are taking awhile... yawn.
5♦	When partner shows two suits I give preference!
(/)	Auctions getting awful high
6♥	What is that!! Does he think I've got hearts? Oh no. what does that mean the rest of the auction was...
(/)	This must be the wrong contract.
6NT	Can't say I'm optimistic but 6♥ sure ain't making.
(/)	You mean we're not playing in hearts?
/	Shrug at least I'm not playing it.
(//)	Lead on!

Can't say it's an auction I'm happy with. Happy or not the dummies coming down and I'm going to have to play 6NT on a small diamond lead looking at this:

	♠ x ♥ A J x x ♦ J ♣ A K Q T x x x
	♠ K Q 5 x ♥ x x ♦ A K x x ♣ x x x

Now I thought that when we'd said that 2♥ was a takeout double then to "double and bid" you'd bid 2♥ then correct to your suit. My partner clearly had a different view. Not exactly a disaster though, if the J♦ holds and they mess up and give me an entry to hand I'm only a trick short! The J♦ didn't hold so I won the Ace.

Plan plan plan, need a plan. Right here goes. If West has KQxxxx in hearts as he probably should have then I can run the clubs pitching a spade, heart and two diamonds. Cash the A♥ removing Easts only heart then lead up to the spades. If East is careless on the clubs and bares his A♠ then he'll have to put me in hand in diamonds. So I ran off the clubs as quickly as possible trying to look like a guy who makes 6NT all the time and it worked! This was the layout:

	♠ x ♥ A J x x ♦ J ♣ A K Q T x x x
♠ A x x ♥ K x x x x ♦ x x x x ♣ x		♠ J x x x x ♥ Q x ♦ Q x x x ♣ x x
	♠ K Q 5 x ♥ x x ♦ A K x x ♣ x x x

Wait. That's not what I was hoping for. East and West threw spades which was according to plan and I cashed the A♥ which all went well but then when I led the spade up West won the trick. Before cashing his heart trick he thought it might be best to give his partner the K♦. Now you understand why I showed the 5♠ in the hand. It was my friends, trick 12.

Christmas parties and fun bridge

My club like I suspect every other in the Christmas celebrating world is in the process of recognizing the festive season. The party starts with prize giving then moves on to playing about 16 boards of 'fun bridge' in place of the normal 26 boards of 'not fun bridge'. Finally the plates of food brought by all are consumed. Often the extroverted club members dress up as Santa or an elf to keep the mood up.

If 'not fun bridge' sounds wrong well it should. Bridge is fun. That's why we turn up week after week and match our brains against the cards and the opponents. I enjoy playing clubs as the highest suit, 3 minutes per board, aces low, individual competitions etc... They are fun but so is the game we know. Call it 'silly bridge' or 'crazy bridge' or name it by its deviation from the standard rules, just steer away from names that imply that the game we love isn't fun.

Getting let off

The biggest difference between playing on a weak club night compared to an important tournament is the defense. On the club night you get away with contract after contract, it affects your bidding after a while. In a tournament you look at a hand, think "yea this is ok, I've got nine tricks and if this or that I'll get 10 maybe even 11" and end up with eight.
Here's a hand that demonstrates both my love of bidding (that's the nicest way I can put it) and me getting let off by the defense.

Vul: NS Dealer: East	♠ Q 8 4 ♥ J T 6 2 ♦ 8 7 2 ♣ J 9 8
♠ J 7 6 ♥ A K 9 7 3 ♦ K 5 ♣ A Q T		♠ A ♥ Q 8 5 4 ♦ Q J T 9 6 4 3 ♣ K
	♠ K T 9 5 3 2 ♥ - ♦ A ♣ 7 6 5 4 3 2

The East hand opened 1♦ playing precision. It always makes me laugh when a bid is described as could be as short as one, I wonder how many rebids it's going to take to convey the other six of them. I bid a spade, 2♥ from left and my well trained partner bid 2♠. Over 4♥ I bid 4♠ and a quick double ended the auction.

The defense predictably started with the K♥ which I ruffed and played a club out, West rose killing his partners King and returned a big diamond. I won and beginning to see where this was going I played a spade to the Queen. I had to ruff the diamond from East then in a fit of optimism cashed the K♠ which didn't bring in the suit like it was supposed to. Somewhat resigned I exited a club which West won:

	♠ 8 ♥ J T 6 ♦ 8 ♣ J
♠ J ♥ K 9 7 3 ♦ - ♣ T		♠ - ♥ Q 8 ♦ J T 9 6 ♣ -
	♠ T 9 ♥ - ♦ - ♣ 7 6 5 4

On winning West cashed his good spade and surveyed the dummy. I'm now down to a single trump and the clubs are blocked, if West forces with a red card I'm going to get 1 trump and 1 club -1100 but happily he let me off by finding the T♣.

System cards

Being no stranger to playing unusual systems I've spent quite some time on writing out system cards and even more time explaining alerted bids. In some ways it's annoying because I spent all that time carefully editing the system card yet when a bid comes up many peoples first option is to ask. In other ways I understand it completely, asking is easier as you get only the information you want and nothing you don't; secondly lots of pairs don't carry systems so there's no alternative.

As we all know when there's a war that's not being won the first thing to try is escalation. So when playing Electric Ant a few weeks ago I put some thought into what might make someone read a system card and I decided to have a look at how other people deviate from normal.

Hand written on the back of a bidding slip, eminently disposable and easy. Not the sort of thing you can pre-submit to a tournament though. Even though my handwriting isn't awful it's still not as easy to read as typed text and so does little for me.

 I've seen lots of attempts like this:

It always takes me a few moments to realise it's a system and not an electronic birthday card from 1994. Plus colour printing and laminating is expensive and I'm going to lose these in rain-forest destroying quantities.

The problem with the above is that people get conditioned to a certain format. When in Australia if you don't use the ABF card everything takes just a little longer at every table you go to. In New Zealand the WBF card is becoming standard so it must be best to stick to that. Here's what I came up with, the system name is small because no-one will recognise it and the important bits are huge:

All the delightful details are on the inside but this is the front cover. It actually works, when we sat down we placed one facing each opponent and announced that we weren't playing anything they were familiar with. My partner would open, I'd alert and they'd say "Now what's that? Oh I see 12 - 14 with at least 5". Lovely.

Being the expert

Every so often I go down to the club on a Friday night when there's social bridge on. It's walk in, walk out style; there's nothing run formally just some people who want to turn cards. This week when I went there were a few players reasonably new to the game. They'd obviously been playing a bit because I saw a few nice uncontested auctions confidently bid to the right spot. Anyway I'd just sat down to watch one pair when one of them asked if I could give him some advice on what to open... well sure, that's what social bridge is about. Then he showed me the hand:

♠ A J x

♥ A J T x x x x x

♦ A

♣ x

Umm...
Well...
He gestured at the heart suit and managed to convey "1 or 4" with some hand waving. Looks too good for 4 to me so I suggested he bid 1♥. Might not work but it's a bid I feel I can defend. His LHO (a friend of mine) bid 3♦ and his partner went into the tank. After some time she asked me what I would recommend:

♠ K Q x x x

♥ -

♦ 9

♣ Q J 9 8 x x x

Umm...
Shrug...
I don't know!
You could pass 3♦ and be right or bid 6♣ and claim on the lead. I eventually managed to murmur something about this being a really good hand if and only if partner had a fit. That seemed to be the right answer as she confidently bid 3♠. Her partner agonised for a while then contented himself with a 4♠ raise.

Vul: EW Dealer: North	♠ A J x ♥ A J T x x x x x ♦ A ♣ x
♠ x x x ♥ Q x x ♦ J x x ♣ A K x x		♠ T x ♥ K x ♦ K Q x x x x x x ♣ T
	♠ K Q x x x ♥ - ♦ 9 ♣ Q J 9 8 x x x

Phew, at least that'll make. 6♠ has good chances but do you really expect the spades and clubs to behave?



A couple more hands went by and then I saw this dealt:
(yes dealt, no dealing machines on a Friday)

Vul: EW Dealer: North	♠ T x ♥ - ♦ J x x x x ♣ A K Q x x x
♠ x x x ♥ A K x x x ♦ A K x ♣ J T		♠ Q x x x x ♥ x x ♦ Q x ♣ 9 x x x
	♠ A K J ♥ Q J T x x x ♦ T x x ♣ x

South opened 1♥ and West bid 1NT. I got called to help out North. I'm beginning to suspect these 'juniors' are organising hands to catch me out. But the books say double here is 10+ and I don't believe for a second 1NT is making so that sounded like a safe recommendation. Predictably the next hand bid 2♠, South passed (maybe embarrassed about the 11 point opening?) and North had another problem.

Well just as we were confident double was the correct call last time it definitely isn't now. It's unlikely we can set 2♠ but it's still a reasonable hand. I don't know, I suggested 3♣ citing something weak like "if in doubt bid your solid 6 card suit" as a reason. South bid 3NT which somehow escaped for down 1.

The thing is, when you're the expert you're expected to be right. Not only that but it's best to try to add just a tiny bit of information about why it's right so that when a similar situation might arise they are better equipped to handle it. These hands stumped me, I truly don't know what's best after 1♥ (3♦) and suggesting 3♠ is only a gut reaction I'm not sure I could explain why. Those who've taught bridge before will hopefully sympathise.

The silly bidding season

Something about this time of year makes normally sane people silly. Normally this comes out in faster driving, faster shopping and faster drinking but when playing bridge and not even the later is possible the bidding seems to get it.

Here's the first disaster:

Vul: EW Dealer: North	♠ K J 7 6 3 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ T 7 ♣ K 6 3
♠ - ♥ A Q 6 3 ♦ J 5 ♣ J T 9 8 5 4 2		♠ A 8 2 ♥ J T 7 4 ♦ A 9 8 4 2 ♣ A
	♠ Q T 9 5 4 ♥ 8 5 ♦ K Q 6 3 ♣ Q 7

North started with 2♠ showing 9-12 highs and 5 or 6 spades. 3♦ from East is, well, 'aggressive'. I was going to bid 3♠ on the south cards but I thought 4♠ might just look like a sacrifice if I bid it quickly and confidently. West agreed and made the optimistic 5♦ call at which I expressed my uncertainty about a few of those 11 tricks.
Neither the defense nor the dummy play was especially noteworthy, although there's 10 tricks in hearts only 8 are available in diamonds.




Ok at least everybody had good intentions and bid suits they had. I heard a tale of stranger goings on elsewhere in the room. Imagine you're playing against a couple of young guns, lets call them John Wignall and Kris Wooles. You're West (NS are vul) with this lovely collection and find yourself staring at two passes.

♠ 7 4 ♥ - ♦ K J T 9 5 4 ♣ A Q J 8 6

Great, 2NT you write clearly on the bidding pad. Seems like partner is asleep and has forgotten to alert; that explains a few things... No matter. The next hand bids 2♣ which is alerted and described as Landy. Strange. Oops! You've opened 1NT. Your partner passes, South bids 3♥ and desperate to catch up you double. That ends the auction and fidgeting wildly you lead the J♦ into this:

Vul: NS Dealer: East	♠ A J 5 2 ♥ J T 8 3 ♦ A 8 6 2 ♣ K
♠ 7 4 ♥ - ♦ K J T 9 5 4 ♣ A Q J 8 6		♠ Q 9 8 3 ♥ A Q 9 5 ♦ 3 ♣ 5 4 3 2
	♠ K T 6 ♥ K 7 6 4 2 ♦ Q 7 ♣ T 9 7

How would you play it given the available information?

John ran the diamond round to hand, exited a club toward the king and when the covered K♦ was ruffed exclaimed. As he put it, East has at most 2 hearts and now with only 1 diamond has 10 black cards yet can't squeak over 2♣! The resulting scramble left NS with 9 tricks and a very healthy number of IMPs.

Never any trumps

The session I played a couple of nights ago was filled with no trump contracts. Not sure what was going on with the dealing machine but finding a major fit was like thinking of an amusing simile on a Monday morning. These are three contracts that felt like hard problems. I failed cleverly on two of them and the other my partner played quite well. Remember you're playing matchpoints so making the contract may not be enough.

One No Trump: In a fit of hideous hoggish contract poaching you open 1NT and get left to play there. The four of clubs is lead to the ten and Ace.

♠ K 6 3 ♥ J T 7 6 5 ♦ A Q T 4 ♣ A		♠ A J 5 ♥ 3 2 ♦ 8 6 3 ♣ J 8 7 5 2

Two No Trumps: Another simple auction that doesn't help much, 1NT - 2♣ - 2♠ - 2NT. Again a club is led (I think it was the 7) you play the nine 9 covered by the Queen and King. This time you have lots of chances to make and make extras, how best to combine them?

♠ K 7 5 3 ♥ A 7 5 ♦ J 7 ♣ K J 8 6		♠ A J ♥ T 9 8 4 ♦ Q T 3 2 ♣ A T 9

Three No Trumps: The auction was predictably 1♥ - 1♠ - 3♦ - 3NT and you get the 6 of clubs led to the Jack. Despite my warning about matchpoints this one's going to be a fight to make. If/when you pull a diamond towards the ten South flies and plays another club.

♠ Q 8 3 2 ♥ T 5 ♦ T 5 4 ♣ A K T 7		♠ A K 6 ♥ K 7 6 4 3 ♦ A K 7 6 ♣ 4

Outcomes:
One the first one the way to make this is to not try to make it. Whatever the defence attack will be your source of tricks. Not that you've got a convenient exit but a middle diamond works amazingly well. I figured everyone was reasonably balanced given all the passing and not wanting to abandon any tenaces pitched two hearts when they cashed the KQ of clubs. Who doesn't overcall AKQxx? -200

The second hand is a happy one, just about everything works, partner looked like a pro and we got 50% when half the room made +630 (3NT) and the other half -100 (1NT or 2NT). Wait, what?

The third isn't a pleasant hand to play. Many declarers started on hearts which was immediately fatal when AQJ8 offside revealed itself - your spots just aren't good enough. The cleverest declarers worked this one out and I gave a hint in the question; duck a diamond early, cash them (they break), cash the spades (they don't) exiting the last spade to south who started with a 4432 shape and has to give you the K♥ for your ninth (if north has A♥ they will have to lead to your T7 of clubs).

That sort of hand

Everyone has them. That particular sort of hand that gives them a glint in their eye and forces them to bid on despite all the bridge reasons not to. The most exciting auctions happen when two or more players pick up these hands. Chaos, irritated partners and great transfer of ego ensues. Here's one where I'm not blameless.

Vul: Nil Dealer: West	♠ T 9 7 6 5 ♥ 7 5 ♦ A K 7 6 ♣ Q J
♠ A Q ♥ A Q T 9 2 ♦ 8 4 2 ♣ K 8 4		♠ J 8 4 3 2 ♥ 4 ♦ Q J T 9 5 3 ♣ 5
	♠ K ♥ K J 8 6 3 ♦ - ♣ A T 9 7 6 3 2

Here's an auction that both sides regret. Starting with me sitting south (and there's a normal table at the bottom if you get lost).

1♣	Wow! Look at this shape, it's amazing, I'm going to bid lots.
1NT	Nothing exciting here, move along.
X	Haha we've got them lets double stuff!
2♦	1NT ain't right but I have loads of shape so there must be lots of tricks in suits for us.
2♥	Another chance to bid? let me at it!
/	Wasn't expecting 2♥ but can't say I hate it.
2♠	I was going to double 2♦, why no flurry of red cards? *sigh*
3♦	Why didn't I bid spades the first time so now I could get preference. Shrug past is past and they didn't double 2!
3♥	Must. Bid. More.
/	Worried my delight is becoming obvious.
5♣	Guess doubling is out of fashion but if partner really has the hand he's shown....
5♦	Ethically ignoring his partner visibly salivating over the fate of 5♣.
/	Partner wanted to double 2♦ and 3♦ I suppose I could let him double 5.
/	Why me?
X	You mean all this time you were building it up so I could do it at the 5 level, aww you guys are the best.
/	Did I really just bid 5??
/	*sniff* There's no more bidding.
/	Thinking up suitable comment for putting this dummy down.

Me	Not Me	Partner	Not Partner
1♣	1NT	X	2♦
2♥	/	2♠	3♦
3♥	/	5♣	5♦
/	/	X	end

Can we learn anything from this? I think so. It's always good to have a plan when bidding but it's always bad to stick to it when the auction in front of you is so clearly not normal. I can't quite believe I bid 3♥; as a very wise man once said to me: "just pass man".

The strong club universe

Strong clubs are something that is new to me. Up until a couple of months ago I had never tried playing one and wasn't really convinced I wanted to. Lately I've had a couple of chances and it's been a learning experience. Symmetric relay is nice for uncontested auctions but lets face it, people love interfering with strong clubs.

Here are two hands that came up yesterday that presented me with problems at the table. If there are any strong club players out there who could give me some pointers or reassure me that this is normal I'd be grateful. On the first one all were vul and I held the West hand:

♠ A T ♥ A ♦ K J 9 5 ♣ Q J 7 6 5 3		♠ Q J 9 6  ♥ T 8 2  ♦ T 8 4  ♣ K T 9

I opened our 15+ club and the next hand bid 2♥ (weakish showing hearts), my partner doubled showing 6 - 9 highs and for lack of anything else to do I bid 3♣. Partner passed and 3♣ played very well but how did my partner know I didn't have 19? How did I know my partner didn't have 9?


On the next hand I'm still West but this time we're at unfavourable:

♠ Q J 8 7 4  ♥ Q J 5 3 ♦ - ♣ J 9 6 3		♠ A K 9  ♥ A 6 2  ♦ 9 8 2  ♣ A K 8 4

My partner opened the strong club this time and after 1♦ I doubled to show the same 6 - 9 I mentioned earlier. 3♦ by my LHO got passed back to me and I made a takeout double which was passed out. Sadly there's only 3 spades, 2 hearts and 2 clubs for the defense (+500) whereas 4S (+620) makes on a lot of layouts. Not a disaster playing Imps but we weren't.

It wasn't all bad though, on this hand some Easts got a bid overboard:

♠ T 9 6 ♥ A J 4 3  ♦ K 7 6 ♣ K 5 2		♠ A J 8 4 2  ♥ 6 2  ♦ A Q 8 5 3  ♣ A

I guess all the aces and shape dazzled them so much that when the auction went 1♠ - 3♠ many couldn't help drive to 5 or 6 spades. 11 tricks are available double dummy but only 10 are there for humans. By relaying my partner found the unattractive 3433 shape and signed off nice and low.

In a hurry

At last weekends tournament there were a couple of times when the buzzer went and we hadn't quite finished the hand. This wasn't unusual, it seemed to happen to most pairs at some stage, of course it wasn't us who was slow. All the excuses you'd normally hear for slow play were pulled out by both sides and there were no official penalties. On one board, just after an opponent had opened 2♣ the director came over and stated that if we weren't finished in the next 2 minutes he would grumble most seriously at all involved.

	♠ A ♥ A K 7 ♦ A K Q ♣ A K 8 7 4 3
♠ K J 7 6 5 3 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ 9 2 ♣ Q 6		♠ T ♥ J 6 3 ♦ J 7 6 5 3 ♣ J 9 5 2
	♠ Q 9 8 4 2 ♥ Q T 9 4 ♦ T 8 4 ♣ T

Under time pressure the NS players bid:

North	South
2♣	2♦
3♣	3♠
3NT	4♥!!!

at this point North fidgeted for may precious seconds then on spying the directing wandering menacingly nearby bid 6♥ announcing something like "I don't know. There isn't time for a real auction".

South let the opening heart run around to the Queen, played off the two top clubs and proceeded to ruff two clubs with the 9 and T of hearts claiming 13 tricks when hearts were 3-3. Ouch. We weren't able to share -1460 with any other unfortunate EW players so zero matchpoints was our lot. The popular contracts were 3NT which is correct and successful and 6NT which is doomed. Would North and especially South have bid like that if they were allowed a more relaxed auction? Maybe, maybe not but it didn't feel good.

Collecting a penalty

When I wrote the system outline for Electric Ant I stated that systemically opening quality at the two level is great because you catch your opponents in overcalls a level higher than everyone else. I wasn't playing the Ant on this occasion (hence the different range) but this is what I meant:

Vul: NS Dealer: East Matchpoints	♠ A Q T 9 4 ♥ J 7 2 ♦ T 8 7 5 ♣ 5
♠ 8 6 ♥ A 4 ♦ K J 9 4 ♣ Q T 9 8 4		♠ J 5 3 ♥ K Q 9 8 5 3 ♦ A 6 2 ♣ 7
	♠ K 7 2 ♥ T 6 ♦ Q 3 ♣ A K J 6 3 2

My partner as East opened 2♥ showing 9 - 12 and 5 or 6 hearts. These hands are supposed to have the old style 1.5 defensive tricks to keep the discipline up. As south you could be forgiven for overcalling, some might not but I suspect that most players will try 3♣ here. The penalty double is clear cut from West and when North runs to 3♠ it won't be enough to escape a red card.

Reliable partner followed the golden rule of doubled part scores and led trumps. It's always right. Promise. He won the heart return and continued trumps, I won the second heart, put my partner in with the A♦ for the final round of trumps. +500. Declarer got just 5 spades and 2 clubs.

Opening the East hand 1♥ you can only defend 2♣x and if you open it a weak two partner won't have enough confidence in the defensive strength to double 3♠. It's true that you can find a hand to make any system look good but this happens profitably often.

Win for the system

One of the systems I play with my current partner I designed wholly myself. It's what we do after we open our weak NT. I find system design fascinating, the whirl of trade offs: efficiency, memory load, naturalness, legality, safety, frequency, pre-emptive nature... make it practically a game in itself.

One of the noted problems with 'normal' systems over 1NT is you can't stop below 2NT when partner invites. Usually this doesn't matter but sometimes you find that 2♦, 2♥ or 2♠ is a great spot and 2NT is unplayable. Here's a hand that came up playing in the South Island pairs yesterday (largish and importantish):

♠ T 6 ♥ Q J T ♦ A J 9 8 6 ♣ A 6 5		♠ 9 4 ♥ K 8 7 2 ♦ K 4 3 ♣ K Q 8 2

The west hand opened 1NT weak at every table that played one. At some tables the opponents helped out by bidding spades aggressively stealing away the contract and probably going down one in 3♠. But at others the auction was invariably 1NT - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT - pass which fails immediately on a spade lead and the opponents get another shot when the Q♦ is offside. At my table the opponents were silent and we bid 1NT - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - pass. On generous defense this made +170 but +110 is almost certain. Let me explain, 2♣ was invitational and 2♦ said no. If I had good diamonds here I would pass but as it happens I can suggest 2♥, partner liked it and there we stopped.

How would you have bid the hand? If you play a strong NT move the K♣ to the other hand, now what would happen? Are you wallowing in -100 or safely in a suit at the two level?

Responding is easy right?

A couple of weeks ago I was playing Acol with a relatively new player (an intelligent one that's learning fast) and I picked up pretty useless hand. Normally at this point I decide that this hand must be easy to bid, switch my brain off and start thinking about the cheese and jam on toast I'm going to have when I get home. Or whatever. But just as I was getting to the decision of whether to grate or to slice my partner opened a diamond and RHO bid a spade. I looked at my hand and despite my earlier prediction I couldn't think of anything that fit.

♠ x x x ♥ J x ♦ A T x ♣ Q T x x x

Bother.

Lets see, double is going to land me in a world of trouble if partner has 4 hearts, partner will probably expect a better spade stop from 1NT and pass seems a bit wimpy. Think of the disaster if I pass and the next hand bids 3♠ or  4♠, partner will be left in the dark (as will I if it's passed back to me).
What could go wrong if I bid 2♦? If the contract is left here we're in an ok spot and it doesn't promise things I haven't got in the majors. I bid 2♦, LHO pushed with 3♠, partner bid 3NT in tempo and there it ended.

♠ A J ♥ A K Q x ♦ K J x x x ♣ x x		♠ x x x ♥ J x ♦ A T x ♣ Q T x x x

My partner managed to find the missing diamond royalty and bring in ten tricks. Well at least I didn't double. 4♥ will make on the very same diamond guess but I've found that sort of justification never makes my partners less angry.

When no one is watching

I like computer bridge programs. They always follow the system, patiently allow you to test several lines of play and don't get fidgety if you leave for an hour to think about a really tough hand. Most of all though you can commit the most outrageous sins of bidding and play free of rebuke. Sure it'll chalk up -21 imps but you won't hear about it at the bar afterwards or in two years time when it's in danger of losing an argument.

This might of course teach bad habits and instil a reliance on the 'back' button but to me it proves again and again how disciplined you must be when partner is trusting your every move. When the difference between throwing the 9 or the 7 is the difference between 3NT+2 and 3NT-1 you'd better have done the right thing. It also means when I do make atrocious bids I get great practise at playing contracts that require planning, imagination and lots of luck to bring home.

Here's one that happen playing against WBridge on its tournament settings, the auction went like this:

WBridge	Me	Wbridge	Wbridge
(2♥)	X	(3♥)	/
(/)	X	(/)	3♠
(/)	4♠	end

I got the QH lead and this is what I saw:

	♠ K Q T 4 ♥ K ♦ A K 4 ♣ A Q T 3 2
	♠ 8 7 6 5 ♥ 9 3 2 ♦ Q 9 6 5 3 ♣ 6

The hand I held during the auction is now dummy and I get to play it. I have no justification for 4♠ it's truly in the 'punish partner' category of actions. In the mean time the heart lost to the Ace and another heart came through which I ruffed on the dummy. Counting up my tricks seemed like a pretty negative thing to do, 1 club, 5 diamonds and that's if I can draw trumps. What about a cross ruff, I could cash two diamonds then ruff hearts and clubs... but the clubs are almost certainly wrong, my biggest trump is the 8 and the 2 heart opener might only have 2 clubs. So I went for a run.


Surely any working strategy needs the diamonds working and to use them I must draw trumps. Wouldn't WB have made a wee double with AJ9x sitting over my hand? Well ok, I'll bang down the K♠, ruff the heart return, cash the Q♠ leaving out one trump then run the diamonds until someone ruffs and claim. Great! Solved! Too bad I was still halfway round the park.

Oh no. What if they don't return a heart? Well I could still ruff one myself, doesn't seem too hard. What if they duck the spade? That would be tricky, if I continue spades WB can take the Ace and cash the Jack destroying my second heart ruff. So if the K♠ is ducked I need to cross to the Q♦, ruff a heart with the T♠ and exit the Q♠. Now the spade duck is for nothing because East can't return a heart to complete the force off. This was the full hand:

	♠ K Q T 4 ♥ K ♦ A K 4 ♣ A Q T 3 2
♠ 9 3 ♥ Q J T 8 7 6 ♦ J T 8 ♣ K 8		♠ A J 2 ♥ A 5 4 ♦ 7 2 ♣ J 9 7 5 4
	♠ 8 7 6 5 ♥ 9 3 2 ♦ Q 9 6 5 3 ♣ 6

WBridge had the good graces to award 11 Imps to this failure of bidding but success of play. It was excellent to have time to think about the hand without being able to play it, that way I couldn't ruin it before my plan was complete.

Leads

After a tournament some time ago a group of us were discussing hands and that day there had been the opportunity to lead from KJ9x to beat 3NT. Unsurprisingly not many had found the lead and when asked about which card they might pick preferred "we don't lead from that sort of holding" rather than giving an answer. But, said a friend of mine, what if you had KJ9x in all four suits?

Any card from any combination of cards can be the right lead on a hand. The rules we're all taught are good starting points but they don't substitute for thinking. One of my favourite leads is K from Kx into 3NT contracts. If your partner has bid the suit it doesn't count. Here's a recent example:

♠ K 6 ♥ T 9 7 2 ♦ J 9 4 2 ♣ J T 7

And the auction:

LHO	RHO
-	1♣
1♥	1NT1
2♣2	2NT3
3NT

¹15-16
²Checkback
³Not 3♥ and not 4♠

So we know that RHO is either 2335 or 2344, no other shape fits with the bidding. A priori 4432 is more likely occurring about 4 times out of 7. Lets go through the suits, Clubs would lead into declarers suit but given our holding probably won't cost - good if we want to be passive. Diamonds seem wrong, Jxxx is always a bad combination and more often than not declarer will have as many as we do. Hearts are on our right and there's quite likely to be 5 of them. So I get to lead the K♠.

	♠ T 9 7 2 ♥ K 3 ♦ Q 7 5 ♣ A Q 9 4
♠ A Q 4 3 ♥ Q J 8 4 3 ♦ T 6 3 ♣ 8		♠ J 8 5 ♥ A 5 ♦ A K 8 ♣ K 6 5 3 2
	♠ K 6 ♥ T 9 7 2 ♦ J 9 4 2 ♣ J T 7

Everyone gets to have a giggle when the AQ of spades comes down on the dummy but it's not much of a problem. If declarer needs spade tricks the hook was working and my King dropping. As expected we've hit partners suit but sadly dummy has 4 as well.

The KS has actually been good even though partner doesn't have an attractive QJ9xx holding. The entries to the heart suit are now few and if declarer plays for hearts 3-3 rather than for the exact holding shown there's only 2 tricks to be had. With only  2 hearts, 3 spades, 2 diamonds and a club the contract failed. 

Is this contract ever going to make? Probably not though a prescient declarer might manage it and careless defense is all too easy. Regardless, I got to lead from my favourite holding and it worked in so far as it didn't cost. Incidentally from KJ9x I'd lead the Jack as it makes you look like a superstar when you surround the Ten in this position.

	8 4
Q 5 2		A T 7 5
	K J 9 3

The Winners Trophy

The last event on my clubs calendar for a Tuesday night is called the Winners Trophy and it's run as Butler Pairs. I don't know why it's called Winners or if the should always have a capital letter but those are questions for another day. I'm playing with my regular partner against 15 other pairs.
All vul playing against a pair of Womens internationals you hold:

	♠ T 4 3 ♥ A T 5 4 2 ♦ 7 3 ♣ K 8 5

Your partner starts with a short club and righty bids 4♠. Have a think, I'll come back to it.

Next hand is much more exciting because you have loads of points and everyone is vul:

	♠ T 8 5 ♥ A Q T ♦ A K J 8 7 3 ♣ A

See you're already more into this question than the last one. You open a diamond, lefty doubles, partner makes a disappointing pass and you need to make a bid when RHO jumps to 2♠. Wait do you need to? If partner can't bid over.... no... you need to bid. There's only 2 serious options, double or 3♦ and with such a gorgeous suit 3♦ feels right. Pass 3♥ pass. Going to go? It's Imps and those vulnerable games look fantastic when everyone else scores +170 or -200 in 3NT.
Nah, I'm going to put a little faith in my ops, believing that they have 18+ highs and trusting that my partner would bid the first time if he wanted to be raised later. So I passed a little anxiously and when a club was led I tabled my hand and waited for judgment.

Vul: All Dealer: North	♠ T 8 5 ♥ A Q T ♦ A K J 8 7 3 ♣ A
♠ K 9 7 6 ♥ - ♦ Q T 9 6 5 ♣ K J T 6		♠ A J 3 ♥ K J 9 7 ♦ 4 2 ♣ Q 9 5 4
	♠ Q 4 2 ♥ 8 6 5 4 3 2 ♦ - ♣ 8 7 3 2

On winning the club my partner pitched two spades on the AK of diamonds and exited a spade East winning. Balking at the thought of leading trumps into the tenace East tried another spade. Ruffed, club ruff, spade ruff, club ruff, Ace of hearts leaving me on the edge of my seat and this end position:

	♠ - ♥ - ♦ J 8 7 3 ♣ -
♠ K ♥ - ♦ Q T ♣ K		♠ - ♥ K J 9 ♦ - ♣ Q
	♠ - ♥ 8 6 5 ♦ - ♣ 8

When a diamond is played off dummy if East ruffs South discards and makes one more trick and if East discards South makes the trick immediately ruffing the diamond. The play is called an en passant and isn't that unusual but I've never seen one where the players have 3 trumps left! +140 was worth a healthy 8 Imps when 1♦ failed a trick, 3♦ failed several and 3NT (!!!) failed by so many tricks that the defense argued for the rest of the night over who might have doubled.


Back to that hand I gave you first. For me it was the vulnerability that makes the difference, if it were even or more so favourable you'd assume a good hand for 4♠. Sure it's still pre-emptive but it'll have 8 spades and a king outside or something. At this vulnerability it could easily be 7 spades and nothing else and just an early sacrifice against 4♥/5♣ (or 3NT could make on a spade blockage). So I'll do what I always do when they sack over my game and I'm not sure 5 is right, I'll hit it! Partner pulled to 5♣ and there we played.

Vul: All Dealer: South	♠ T 4 3 ♥ A T 5 4 2 ♦ 7 3 ♣ K 6 5
♠ A K Q J 9 6 5 ♥ 6 ♦ 9 6 ♣ 9 3 2		♠ 8 2 ♥ Q J 7 3 ♦ K J T 8 5 4 ♣ T
	♠ 7 ♥ K 9 8 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ A Q J 7 6 4

Partners rather cute play of King and another heart after ruffing a spade at trick 2 avoids the diamond finesse if hearts are 3-2. They weren't but +600 is unavoidable gaining a couple of Imps.

Sometimes you fix and sometimes you get fixed

This post is about the latter. Here's a hand:

Vul: All Dealer: South	♠ A T 7 6 4 ♥ K Q ♦ K T 9 ♣ 6 5 4
♠ K 5 2 ♥ 8 7 5 3 ♦ J 6 2 ♣ 9 7 3		♠ Q J 8 ♥ A J T 9 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ A Q 8
	♠ 9 3 ♥ 6 4 2 ♦ 8 7 4 3 ♣ K J T 2

I was sitting South and passed as did West. My partner opening a spade and East doubled, so far the same auction as the rest of the room. Only it stopped, right there in 1♠x. It's not a bad spot, 2 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds and a club loser saw us collecting +160.
At every other table West bid 2♥, East raised to 4♥ or 3NT and went 2 or more down. Grumble grumble grumble. Is it worse when they don't do it on purpose?

Here's another hand, this story is a bit different because this is a genuine good play that I didn't anticipate, here's your 6♥ contract (disclaimer: we missed 6 and played in game but lets pretend).

	♠ A K 7 ♥ K 9 6 4 ♦ K 9 ♣ K 8 3 2
	♠ - ♥ A J 7 3 2 ♦ Q 8 5 2 ♣ A J T 7

Partner opened 1♣, East tried 1♠, I responded 2♥ and over partners raised to game I didn't push. Lead Q♠. It's reasonably clear that the goal should be to make 12 tricks but just how is up for debate. I chose to set up my hand by pitching 2 clubs on the spades and ruffing two diamonds in the dummy. Seems to work for 2-2 hearts or 3-1 with 3 on my left and I like it because I'm useless at finding club queens.

I won the spade pitching a club and pulled a heart, East played the Queen (nice!) and I won Ace. I continued a diamond to the King and Ace and on the spade return I dispatched another club (feeling good), returned to hand via a diamond to the Queen, ruff a diamond (getting ready to claim), club to the Ace ruffing my 4th diamond over ruffed (oh noes!).

	♠ A K 7 ♥ K 9 6 4 ♦ K 9 ♣ K 8 3 2
♠ Q J 9 5 ♥ 8 5 ♦ T 7 6 4 ♣ 9 6 4		♠ T 8 6 4 3 2 ♥ Q T ♦ A J 3 ♣ Q 5
	♠ - ♥ A J 7 3 2 ♦ Q 8 5 2 ♣ A J T 7

Well done Pavla. I didn't see it coming and there was only my lonely +650 on the sheet with all the +680s and +980s.

Bidding over preempts

In the club match point pairs session I played last night I had several opportunities to bid over pre-empts. Many of those decisions were clear cut passes and if they were all like that there wouldn't be a story. On the first one that wasn't everyone is vul and I'm in second seat looking at a 3♦ opening with this:

♠ A K Q J 8 2 ♥ K 9 5 ♦ 9 ♣ K T 4

Your bid?
I thought 3♠ was the normal bid on this hand. If it gets doubled I'm probably down a trick, partner will raise with most hands we're making game on. Most of the room bid 4♠ which incited their partner to bid 5♠ over the making 5♦ which gets doubled. Double dummy spades makes a measly 8 tricks but 5♠x -1 was the most common result. We left them in 5♦ making for no matchpoints.

I'm hopeful that the next hand is at least a little contentious, still all vulnerable but this time in fourth seat after 4H pass pass you hold:

♠ A K Q T 5 3 ♥ - ♦ A 9 7 6 4 ♣ J 6

Now what are you going to do?
Don't just read on. I'll wait. Come up with something then when you're done add it to the comments below.

There's a lot of playing strength in the hand, give the opener an 8 count and your expectation from partner is 9 highs. The main problem is to make 6 you're going to need help in both minors not just one and even both might not be enough for example opposite xx  Jxxx  KTx  AQxx you've little hope. While I was thinking this the thought crept into my head that it might be right to double, what if partners points were arranged more like this x KJxx Jxx Axxxx, now we might have 6 tricks against 4♥ and get +800 vs +620. I dismissed this as too hopeful, there's lots of hands where partner will pass that we'll get only 500 or partner will bid 5♣ and we'll go down in 5♠. Having successfully talked myself out of everything I bid a quiet 4♠, that ran to RHO who bid 5♥. Well the double option wasn't right was it but now I know partner doesn't have much in hearts so I competed to 5♠ all pass.

Here's the full hand, I'll have to thank West for leading a diamond making the rudimentary end play so obvious that even I saw it. Draw trumps, ruff two hearts, ace of clubs, exit in diamonds, 11 tricks. All the match points, most pairs went down or chose to double 5♥.

	♠ J 8 6 2 ♥ J 5 ♦ 8 5 2 ♣ A 9 8 7
♠ 4 ♥ K Q T 9 7 6 3 2 ♦ K Q J ♣ T		♠ 9 7 ♥ A 8 4 ♦ T 3 ♣ K Q 5 4 3 2
	♠ A K Q T 5 3 ♥ - ♦ A 9 7 6 4 ♣ J 6