Even though I still have a lot to learn, every so often a hand comes along that I just seem to know what's going on around the table. I'm finding that these types of hands are a lot of fun.
Opening lead: Ten of diamonds
So why didn't west lead a spade? Well, if east has 7, that leaves none for west!
Ok, so west has AKxxxxx in spades. Any chances he has either of the minor suit kings? Unlikely, as he might have opened 1S with 10 HCP and a 7 card suit.
I decide (rightly or wrongly) to try for a 3-3 diamond split with the king on my left, so I won in hand and led a diamond towards the 8. It held, but RHO showed out.
I continued with the jack, LHO winning. A diamond was returned to the board. I lost a spade and the ten of hearts from my hand.
Ok cashing the ace of diamonds would be catastrophic, as I'd squeeze myself. I'm still guaranteed a club entry to dummy, though, so I'm still ok. Expecting that the finesse would fail, and knowing that a holdup could cause me problems, I led a club to the ace, then a low club back, which was covered by west. When the ten of clubs fell out of east's hand, I was guaranteed 3NT+2, for 100% of the matchpoints.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Gutted
You win the third round of hearts, and immediately attack clubs.
I'm completely gutted that I did not duck the first club trick. This is a play that I would expect to make.
After his hand, I (somewhat melodramatically) messaged the following to my mentor: "Apparently I have no idea how to play bridge."
Monday, September 7, 2009
VuGraph Tricks
I seldom watch VuGraph, but yesterday decided to try to watch a few hands from the Bermuda Bowl. Thanks to one of the commentators, I learned a new trick yesterday.
I happened to observe the open room between Germany and Bulgaria. West (the dealer), Andreas Kirmse, played in 3 spades, after a competetive auction in which all four players bid. If I had to guess, I would say that east opened and south overcalled along the way.
The opening lead was the 5 of hearts. While I don't recall exactly how things went, south presumably took the ace. For the sake of illustration, we'll say that south, Bulgaria's Diyan Danailov, returned the 9 of clubs. North cashed his two club winners, and returned a third club, which south ruffed.
At this point, my feeling was that it didn't matter, much, what south returned. His ace of diamonds should always be cashing (the Germans don't appear to have a running side suit for discards).
Danailov cashed his ace of diamonds before exiting. One of the commentators pointed out that he was pretty much marked with the king of spades from the bidding (his partner has already shown all 6 of his points). Cashing the ace of diamonds can be seen as an attempt to show all his points, to give declarer more of a guess as to the location of the king of spades.
Alas, declarer Kirmse wasn't to be fooled. He won, and led a low spade to dummy. After a moment's consideration, he correctly rose with the ace, dropping the king.
I happened to observe the open room between Germany and Bulgaria. West (the dealer), Andreas Kirmse, played in 3 spades, after a competetive auction in which all four players bid. If I had to guess, I would say that east opened and south overcalled along the way.
The opening lead was the 5 of hearts. While I don't recall exactly how things went, south presumably took the ace. For the sake of illustration, we'll say that south, Bulgaria's Diyan Danailov, returned the 9 of clubs. North cashed his two club winners, and returned a third club, which south ruffed.
At this point, my feeling was that it didn't matter, much, what south returned. His ace of diamonds should always be cashing (the Germans don't appear to have a running side suit for discards).
Danailov cashed his ace of diamonds before exiting. One of the commentators pointed out that he was pretty much marked with the king of spades from the bidding (his partner has already shown all 6 of his points). Cashing the ace of diamonds can be seen as an attempt to show all his points, to give declarer more of a guess as to the location of the king of spades.
Alas, declarer Kirmse wasn't to be fooled. He won, and led a low spade to dummy. After a moment's consideration, he correctly rose with the ace, dropping the king.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
A Deeper Example
Partner opens 1 diamond. RHO overcalls 1 heart, which LHO raises to 2.
A diamond lead seems obvious, and I see this:
Declarer wins the 9, cashes the ace of hearts, then runs the ten of spades around to partner's jack. Partner cashes the king of clubs and ace of diamonds, then leads the 5 of diamonds to us for a ruff.
I was taking my time, and had a decent idea what was going on. Partner had both the queen of clubs and king of spades, and was likely out of hearts. I felt like there was a chance that declarer could rise with the ace of spades and run out, so I underled my ace of clubs. Partner rose with the queen, and returned the two of diamonds. Declarer discarded a spade, and I ruffed for down 1.
...earning roughly 45% of the masterpoints. I was crushed, after all the analysis I'd done.
Turns out some people put 2 hearts down 2. Reviewing their play, the key play was to return a spade, NOT a club. It turns out that declarer was 3433. The club trick was never going away, but the spade could. I had feared that declarer was 2533 and would simply rise with the ace if I returned a spade, and never lose the king. As it turned out, if declarer did rise with the ace, he would wind up stuck on the board, and would be forced to either lose an extra club, or the trump trick that I wound up with anyways.
I'm pleased when I take the time to analyze hands like this. I just need to keep thinking, and not stop when the process gets a bit deeper, a bit more complicated.
A diamond lead seems obvious, and I see this:
Declarer wins the 9, cashes the ace of hearts, then runs the ten of spades around to partner's jack. Partner cashes the king of clubs and ace of diamonds, then leads the 5 of diamonds to us for a ruff.
I was taking my time, and had a decent idea what was going on. Partner had both the queen of clubs and king of spades, and was likely out of hearts. I felt like there was a chance that declarer could rise with the ace of spades and run out, so I underled my ace of clubs. Partner rose with the queen, and returned the two of diamonds. Declarer discarded a spade, and I ruffed for down 1.
...earning roughly 45% of the masterpoints. I was crushed, after all the analysis I'd done.
Turns out some people put 2 hearts down 2. Reviewing their play, the key play was to return a spade, NOT a club. It turns out that declarer was 3433. The club trick was never going away, but the spade could. I had feared that declarer was 2533 and would simply rise with the ace if I returned a spade, and never lose the king. As it turned out, if declarer did rise with the ace, he would wind up stuck on the board, and would be forced to either lose an extra club, or the trump trick that I wound up with anyways.
I'm pleased when I take the time to analyze hands like this. I just need to keep thinking, and not stop when the process gets a bit deeper, a bit more complicated.
Trickery
Ok, so this isn't exactly a story of brilliance, but sometimes you can't get lucky unless you give yourself a chance.
In a strictly-for-fun total points game, parnter opens 1NT, and you raise to 6 clubs. Opponents lead a small spade:
Obviously not the best slam I've ever bid. It looks like I need to guess diamonds right, AND pick up hearts for no losers. At first blush, it would seem that if east has the king of hearts, I have no chance. That's now QUITE true, though.
The key play, I think, is trick one. I won the spade lead with the ace on the board. When trumps split 2/2, I led the jack of hearts. East won with the king (a holdup would have been bad for me).
At this point, if I'd won trick 1 with the king, the ace sitting out on the board would have made a diamond switch crystal clear. Since I'd won with the visible ace, east had to chose between the diamonds (with KJx visible) and spades, with no honours visible. Note that west's opening lead was spades.
Back came a spade, and now all I needed was for the ten of hearts to fall on the AQ. When it did, my slam was home.
Again, I was mostly lucky, but sometimes by hiding the situation from the defenders, a bit of luck can come your way.
In a strictly-for-fun total points game, parnter opens 1NT, and you raise to 6 clubs. Opponents lead a small spade:
Obviously not the best slam I've ever bid. It looks like I need to guess diamonds right, AND pick up hearts for no losers. At first blush, it would seem that if east has the king of hearts, I have no chance. That's now QUITE true, though.
The key play, I think, is trick one. I won the spade lead with the ace on the board. When trumps split 2/2, I led the jack of hearts. East won with the king (a holdup would have been bad for me).
At this point, if I'd won trick 1 with the king, the ace sitting out on the board would have made a diamond switch crystal clear. Since I'd won with the visible ace, east had to chose between the diamonds (with KJx visible) and spades, with no honours visible. Note that west's opening lead was spades.
Back came a spade, and now all I needed was for the ten of hearts to fall on the AQ. When it did, my slam was home.
Again, I was mostly lucky, but sometimes by hiding the situation from the defenders, a bit of luck can come your way.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thinking Deeper
I'm currently reading through Kelsey's Killing Defense at Bridge. Some of the bidding is strange, but even though I've only gotten through one chapter I'm already appreciating the book.
By and large, each problem, I seem to see part of the problem, but I don't quite think deeply enough. Maybe I'll analyze the suit distribution, but I'll miss a key point about the high card locations. Or maybe I'll figure out the general layout, and figure out the correct suit to lead/continue, but I'll overlook that the specific card I play matters.
It's like there's a big well of laziness in us. We push against it, gain some information, and then stop. None of the logic in this book is overly complicated. The trick seems to be to keep thinking even when you think you've already got the answer.
This is going to take some practice, but it's also going to take some discipline.
By and large, each problem, I seem to see part of the problem, but I don't quite think deeply enough. Maybe I'll analyze the suit distribution, but I'll miss a key point about the high card locations. Or maybe I'll figure out the general layout, and figure out the correct suit to lead/continue, but I'll overlook that the specific card I play matters.
It's like there's a big well of laziness in us. We push against it, gain some information, and then stop. None of the logic in this book is overly complicated. The trick seems to be to keep thinking even when you think you've already got the answer.
This is going to take some practice, but it's also going to take some discipline.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Change of Plans
Playing in a dicey 3NT, I needed to bring clubs home with no losers. Dummy held:
T965
I had:
AKJ74
I had lots of entries, so I ran the ten towards my ace. LHO hesitated noticeably. When I later ran another club towards hand, LHO hesitated again.
8 ever, 9 never, but time to change plans? I did so, and was rewarded with 70% of the matchpoints when the jack held the trick.
Ok, so I felt a bit cheap for winning this way, but it's a good reminder for me - always plan out your play ahead of time, and play in tempo!
T965
I had:
AKJ74
I had lots of entries, so I ran the ten towards my ace. LHO hesitated noticeably. When I later ran another club towards hand, LHO hesitated again.
8 ever, 9 never, but time to change plans? I did so, and was rewarded with 70% of the matchpoints when the jack held the trick.
Ok, so I felt a bit cheap for winning this way, but it's a good reminder for me - always plan out your play ahead of time, and play in tempo!
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