More Interesting

I haven't played much bridge this year; in fact, Reno is the second tournament I've played seriously all year. I'm very rusty; I'm not playing anywhere near my best, but we have a good team for the KOs. We beat a very good team in the first round. In the finals, we are playing another pro team. We are definitely not getting the best of it when I pick up
 S:AQJ32 H:105 D:K742 C:86
With no one vulnerable, RHO opens 2H: in 2nd chair. With partner's being a passed hand, the upside of bidding here is somewhat limited, but I'm short in hearts and have the spade suit, so I try a light overcall of 2S:. LHO competes to 3H:, and partner bids 3NT. We are too high, but we are not vulnerable, so I pass in tempo. LHO knows better and doubles. I'm chicken, so I run to 4S:---at least no one has to see this crummy dummy. I get doubled and the C:A lead.
S: K85
H: AQ3
D: 1096
C: 9532
S: AQJ32
H: 105
D: K742
C: 86
NorthEastSouthWest
Pass2H:2S:3H:
3NTPassPassDbl
PassPass4S:Dbl
All Pass
I stepped in it. I don't blame partner for bidding 3NT. Sadly, he would surely have taken 7 tricks in 3NT, and I don't think I have much of a chance of down 2 in this spot, but ...

The C:A wins and West shifts to a middle heart. I try ducking this, but East wins her H:J and continues clubs. West wins and plays another heart. I win in dummy and play a diamond. East pauses briefly and plays the D:Q, which I cover. My king loses to the ace and a small diamond is returned to the D:J. The H:K, of course, appears. I ruff high and take stock.

Let's reconstruct the hand. How are the clubs split? ... I don't remember. I wasn't paying enough attention; I was busily worrying about how many IMPs I've cost my team. Oops. How about trumps? If they are 4-1, this is going to be so bloody that I don't want to think about it, so I'll assume they are 3-2. How about diamonds? East either has D:QJ tight or three of them. The flicker might have been her trying to remember her splitting convention or thinking about false carding, or simply deciding whether or not to split at all. Hearts are obviously 2-6.

I have (I hope) five trumps and two red tricks for seven. If diamonds are 3-3 (I've not yet seen the 8), I have eight tricks, or I can possibly ruff a diamond in dummy if East is 2-2 in the pointed suits. Or can I? Draw two rounds of trump, cash a diamond, ruff a club, ruff a diamond, ruff a club. That works if East is 2623 exactly, but not if she's 3622. What if she has three trumps? If she's 3622, I have a trump squeeze against West. On the third round of trumps, won in dummy, he'll be squeezed. That'll also work if diamonds are 3-3 or even if RHO is 2623. Drawing trumps is best if I can work out the distribution. West pitched a club on the third heart...which one? I can't believe I'm not paying attention to the cards well enough to be able to claim up this hand. I guess I'll play the hand as if I know what I am doing; maybe the discard on the third trump will tell me what to do.

I cash two high trumps in my hand. To my relief, both follow. On the third round of trumps, East pitches a heart. Crap. If she'd had the third trump, I'd be pretty sure from West's pitch what to do. He's an expert, but he probably isn't prepared for defence against a trump squeeze. The position is

S: ---
H: ---
D: 10
C: 95
S: 3
H: ---
D: 74
C: ---
West has either one diamond and two clubs or two diamonds and one club. East has two hearts and a minor suit card. For the life of me (and 200 pretty important points), I can't tell which it is. The D:7 is no distraction; I'm not getting a beer on this hand no matter what after volunteering for a number. So do I want a trump squeeze that I can't talk about and maybe blow a trick when diamonds are breaking, or do I want to blow a trump squeeze but make when diamonds are 3-3? Blech. Why don't I know how clubs split? West didn't seem to have any problem discarding on the third round of hearts. If he'd been trump squeezed, he'd've surely thought about it. East thought before playing the D:Q. That's inconclusive, but together, I'm going to guess to play for 3-3 diamonds. I'm going to feel like a dummy either way if I'm wrong...I think it's slightly more likely that diamonds are 3-3, but I'd prefer to have a trump squeeze...no, I want to win, not feel good.

After an agonizing huddle, I try cashing Big Casino. Wrong. I go for -500. Argh. Time to practice more.

Fortunately (?), we lose the match by a bit more than this board. My poor bid cost us four IMPs; my poor play cost us four more. I guess I should have played for the trump squeeze; at least I'd've had that if I were right.

There's an interesting feature to the squeeze.

S: K85
H: Q
D: 10
C: 95
S: 1074
H: ---
D: 85
C: KJ		 S: 96
H: K986
D: ---
C: Q
S: AQJ32
H: ---
D: 74
C: ---
At trick 7, East led the H:K, ruffed high. No rounds of trumps have been drawn, but the opponents have managed a suicide trump squeeze in three suits, one of which is trumps! West can't "discard" a trump, or I can ruff a diamond after drawing trumps. A club pitch lets me set up clubs, and a diamond pitch sets up a beer. Wow. Too bad that I both blew it and was way too high anyway. As partner said later, "it'd've been a much more interesting position if the contract had been 2S:."
Jeff Goldsmith, jeff@gg.caltech.edu, Jan. 3, 2000