Some Problems from the Denver Nationals, 11/05

1. unfavorable, IMPs, short matches

    AKx AKxx AKx AKx

   A mittful.

   LHO	CHO	RHO	You
   Pass	Pass	2*	Dbl*
   2*	Pass	Pass	Dbl*
   Pass	3	Pass	?

   2 was Multi. The first double was 13-15 or any strong hand (ACBL defense #2). 2 was pass or correct. The second double is 18+. The ACBL defense does not include Lebensohl in this auction (why not?). [It turns out that the ACBL defense does include Lebensohl, but the note to that effect is not on the same page as the definition of this double. No one at the table realized this. Perhaps a footnote pointing to the comment is in order. --Jeff]

   What's your plan?

   ---

   BARRY

   I'll bid 3 and over 4 bid 5 as my only try for slam. Close to passing 4, because of LHO's heart 'tolerance+'.

   2NT over second double should probably be scramble not Leb. Partner has already shown a weak hand.

   DAVIDW

   I want strongly to invite a slam, knowing that partner has no controls. He needs as little as  xx Qxxxx xx xxxx. The question is how to issue that invitation. No matter what I do, it will be difficult to get him excited about his hand. An additional complexity is that a "powerful" hand such as  xx Jxxx Qxxx Jxx might not be enough.

   One thought is to cuebid and then bid 5. The first question is whether I dare to cue-bid 3. There must be some chance that CHO will interpret 3 as natural. If you think not, consider how a cunning RHO might bid with a poor hand and hearts (I know he doesn't have that this time, but can partner?) I doubt if we have discussed this auction.

   An alternative is to bid 5 immediately. However, that ought be taken as a massive hand lacking a spade control, so partner will be sure to pass unless he has shortness there.

   I don't want to surrender with a 4 call, although that could be the winner. So I will risk 3, acknowledging there really is a risk, and then follow with 5 over any call he makes except for 3NT (over that I will pass).

   DAVIDC

   First, my plan is to agree to play Lebensohl (or some variant). Not doing so results in a "best guess" situation. (For the record, my preferred defense is to have double equal take-out of spades or big, 2 equal take-out of hearts. You give up the cheap 2 overcall in return for not having to deal with the ambiguity as to which suit opener has. I don't like passing initially and then backing in at the three or four level when responder preempts with a pass or correct raise.)

   But on to the problem at hand. If the first double was 15, and the second double was 18, then it would appear your best plan is to double three more times to show the strength of your hand. Seriously, you are hoping to catch something like Qxxxx and either distribution (for example  xx Qxxxx xx xxxx) or a stray queen. Is that odds on? What worries me just a bit is responder's bid of 2; that should show at least three hearts (unless he his really busted and betting that we have slam, in which case he might just screw around with a doubleton heart). Looks like a good simulation problem. I know it is futile but I am going to try to solicit partner's cooperation by bidding 3 and following it up with 5.

   MIKE

   At IMPs... I think I'd bid 3NT over 3... that rates to be cold. Lebensohl wouldn't necessarily be helpful as  xx xxxx QJxx xxx needs only hearts to break to make 6. I don't know how to get partner involved... he will never properly evaluate his queens. I have to think that I'd've actually jumped to 3NT over 2 rather than making a second double. Perhaps having done that, I should cuebid 3 then bid 5. Who knows. That is just too tough.

   One factor in favor of conservatism is that RHO bid 2 pass or correct, which greatly increases the likelihood of at least Qxx over there.

   ED

   3, then 5. I am a little concerned that LHO bid 2 rather than 2 since this indicates heart length. However, this is just too much to settle for 4. LHO's action will entice me to raise a 3NT bid by partner (over my 3 bid) to 4NT.

   LEN

   Hmm. 12 controls. Something like  xx QJxx QJxx xxx makes a grand pretty good, so we have to do something (and maybe pard has five hearts...). Still, there's no way to find out if he has  xx xxxx xxxx xxx short of the five level, but that still has play. I bid RKC (4 if available, otherwise 4NT). I'll ask for kings (haha) as a grand slam try if he shows Q.

   MARSHALL

   3 followed by a minimum bid in hearts.

   BOBBY

   These are always hard hands. Lebensohl would have helped somewhat here. First, I haven't forced partner to bid a 3-card heart suit (obvious, but worth mentioning). The three likely contracts, 4, 6, 6NT, will likely all have some amount of play. Given that I don't have a good bid for this hand, I think [3 followed by] 5 is probably the best bid — I've just invited partner to bid a slam knowing that he might have nothing, so perhaps he'll figure out that a little is enough.

   DAVIDM

   Well, one problem here is that bidding 2 pass or correct generally implies at least 4 hearts (at least that is the way that my partner and I play Multi) so the bad break may scuttle any slam. [Welcome to Denver. We had that auction twice and neither time did responder have more than three small hearts. --Jeff] Still, not often you get a hand with 12 controls and a fit for partner (or have a partner with a fit for you). My plan is to first cue bid 3 and then, assuming partner bids the expected 4, is to bid 5. I hope that this sequence will be taken as a general have you got anything slam try (the cue bid saying I am not interested in a spade control) with a big hand. I think an immediate 5 in this auction would ask about a spade control. Of course if at any time the opponents bid again in front of me. I will double and take what I can get.

   JEFF AT THE TABLE

   3NT.

   WINNING ACTION

   Probably 3 followed by 5 is good enough. Partner held  Qx Qxxxx Jxxx xx. 6NT rolls. On the other hand, it's not a slam dunk that partner will move over 5. After all, he has no aces, no kings, no singletons, and no voids. Edgar Kaplan said that means he has nothing. This time, he has four tricks. Wow. Probably he should move, but partners don't visualized 28-counts.

   CONSENSUS

   Plan Votes 3...5 6 3...4 1 3NT 2 4NT 1

   JEFF UPON REFLECTION

   No one considered this, but after I'd been thinking about it a while, the answer to this problem eventually came to me. The second double was the problem. Despite it's not being in the ACBL notes (which are really not adequate), I should have bid 4NT on my second turn. That has to show a balanced moose, which is the best way to get partner to evaluate correctly his balanced controll-less five-count. Any sort of suit auction may convince him that his total lack of controls is not useful, but if I show 28 balanced or thereabouts, he ought to be able to figure out what to do with a 5-count. Here, he'd probably hedge with 5NT, but I'd know to go on. Probably he ought to bid 6.

   Several mentioned that responder should have hearts for 2. I have learned that this is not so. In Denver, we had this auction twice. Once responder had three small hearts, and once he had a small doubleton and a stiff spade. One can't count on his having hearts.

   I think it's unforgivable that the ACBL defense doesn't mention what 2NT means in response to the second double. Then I checked mine. It doesn't either. Whoops. It's Lebensohl now.

2. None vul, MPs

    x x AKQxxx AQxxx

   RHO opens 1. And you?

   ---

   BARRY

   My plan is 2, then at my next turn 4NT rather than 5. Facing, e.g. 2-3, diamonds retains control. If I play 2 I hope to make it!

   DAVIDW

   I will start with 2NT, hoping to hear a voluntary call from CHO after LHO bids a major. If it goes 3M (or the equivalent) by LHO, 4m by partner, I will cue bid 4. If CHO meekly shuts up, I will bid at the 4 level myself (including 4NT if that if the cheapest possibility at that time). My plan is to try to play 5 of our minor.

   If the auction really heats up, I will go as far as 6m if CHO has chimed in. I hope to be able to tell what to lead against their 6.

   DAVIDC

   2. I still don't believe that this is the right strength for 2NT and the inequality in the suits favors bidding where you live. At this point, I am thinking this is our hand and 3NT may be a simple and makeable spot. Bidding 2NT may not get you to 3NT opposite  JTxx AKx Jxx xxx (and it sure won't if LHO finds a bid). But I went -1460 on this hand (I am pretty sure the vulnerability was favorable [Nope. --Jeff])), so what do I know?

   MIKE

   I think it is reasonable to bid 2 planning on bidding 5 (4NT would be 7-5?) next to get the suit discrepency right, but it is slightly better to bid 2NT planning on bidding 4 if available (best if it is a jump) next, but doubling otherwise. This gets both suits in and allows us to defend when partner doesn't fit well. Sometimes partner will get the decision wrong due to the extra strong, long diamonds, but I'm not so far off as to what that shows and at least I'm getting some input from across the table.

   ED

   2NT. I will bid to 4 pushed or not, e.g., (1H)-2NT-(P)-3, (P)-4 or (1)-2NT-(3)-P, (P)-4

   LEN

   2

   KENT

   2. The more I look at bidding 2NT, 4NT, or 4 to show minors, [4 doesn't show the minors. It shows a very good 4 overcall. --Jeff] the less equal my suits look. One problem with 2 is that I may play it there when we're cold for 6 opposite king-fourth of clubs and an ace. The major suit shortness suggests that I'll have another chance to bid, and I'm comfortable bidding 5 over 4 on the next round.

   MARSHALL

   2NT followed by 3 over 3, or 4 over 3.

   BOBBY

   Dave posted this problem already, but later in the auction, so I'm not sure I can give an unbiased answer. However, if your methods allow for 2NT to show a strong hand, then surely this hand fits the definition, and I think that's what I would bid. I think 2 is a reasonable bid as well, though. On Dave's auction I think 5 should have clued partner in to the double fit.

   DAVIDM

   My personal feeling is that the unusual 2NT overcall is one of the most abused conventions in bridge (right after Blackwood). People do it on any 5-5 at any strength and then wonder when the opponent plays double dummy to make a difficult major suit game contract. However, this hand certainly meets my requirements for the bid (enough strength and/or distribution to ensure that you will declare at least 67% of the time you have a fit). So I will start with 2NT. If partner bids 3, I will continue with a 4 call, which should describe a hand that looks something like this one. If that happens, maybe partner can cue bid a major suit Ace and we get to slam.

   If I start with 2, I may have a major guess on the next round on whether or not to introduce clubs. In any case, after 2NT I will next bid 4 if available, or if the opponents are in 4 of a major by then, 4NT. I am not going to let the opponents play undoubled below the 5 level.

   JEFF AT THE TABLE

   Wasn't there. I think 2NT is so clear that 2 is a significant error. My partner bid 4NT, which I don't like; the offense to defense ratio not high enough for 4NT.

   WINNING ACTION

   Probably 2NT. Partner has  xxx x xxxx xxxxx. 4NT would have worked, but partner doubled 6 in front of me, convincing me not to save. One of my rules is never to pull partner's penalty double to a minus score at matchpoints. -1310. Oh, well. Ought I have pulled on this auction:

   LHO	CHO	RHO	Me
   1	4NT	5	6
   6	Dbl	Pass	?

   I played my partner for something like  — AK KJ10xx QJ10xxx. Maybe that's dreaming. We had no reason to believe that anyone had a void, though, so partner's double with his two aces seems logical. If I'd bid 5NT instead of 6, what would that have meant? Seems like it ought to be a grand slam try with two useful cards in partner's suits, say  xxx xxx Q10x Axxx.

   If you overcall 2NT, partner will save and save and save until you double them. With luck, that won't be until the 7-level, though that depends on how the auction times out and whether responder can cue-bid diamonds (he had a void) along the way.

   CONSENSUS

   Action Votes 2 4 2NT 7

   JEFF UPON REFLECTION

   I think 2 is an abomination. I don't buy the nonsense that the suits are substantially different, so you want to make a fine distinction between them so that you can play the best minor-suit fit. That's seeing things through rose-colored glasses. You have two major-suit stiffs. Clubs vs. diamonds is a very minor part of the problem. The real problem is how high to bid when the bad guys bid a lot in their majors. 2NT gets partner into the game a lot faster than 2 does, and therefore will elicit some help. "Listening to the opponents' auction," is nowhere near as useful as "listening to partner's auction." I'd rather trust him than them; he's on our side.

3. None vul, IMPs, short matches

    AQxxx Ax AQxx xx

   CHO	RHO	You	LHO
   Pass	1NT*	Dbl	2*
   Pass	Pass	2	Pass
   3	Pass	?

   1NT = 12-14
   2 = clubs and another suit

   ---

   BARRY

   Pass; some finesses might be right I agree but partner had 3 cue available and did not make it. I have the values I suggested and my only plus is 5422 shape. Yes some six-counts give me good play for game (but with a tad more shape than  Kxxx xxx Kxx xxx partner might cue-bid. And yes  Kxx xxx Kxxx xxx is just unlucky. We might not reach game if they stayed out of things.)

   DAVIDW

   At IMPS, how can I afford even to think about this? I must bid 4. Nobody forced CHO to raise.

   He needs as little as  Kxx xxx Kxxx xxx, and I expect more than that. I would bid 4 even at match points, because I think it is likely to make — but in that form of the game there would at least be some unfavorable possibilities to think about. If LHO's suits are the minors, my game might fail — but why should that be the case when my short suits are likely to be his long suits?

   DAVIDC

   Pass. Close. But I think I have bid my hand. If it were a hot game, I might take the plunge but at white I am going to try and score 140. Had my RHO opened 1X, I would have overcalled 1 and made an invite if partner raised to 2. Here, partner should have the values for a 1-2 raise (but could easily be on the low end of that) and I have to guess.

   MIKE

   This has better offensive potential than a minimum double. Does it have better potential than a minimum 2 bid? Partner should have less than an ace and a king... probably just a smattering of quacky things accounting to about seven... and probably exactly three spades (no cuebid within that range). Say  Jxx Q10xx Kxx Qxx... game would be poor. Anything more and game is alright. I pass.

   ED

   Close decision. I have reasonable distribution (AQxx side suit very good, 2-2 rather than 3-1 bad), little extra in HCP but my HCP are outstanding, my queens are likely to be winners and there may be some suits that are not splitting.

   If we have no agreements, I bid 4. If I was forced to act over 2, I bid 4. If passing 2 was an option, then I pass since I would then not have much extra for my 2 bid.

   LEN

   Game has play opposite  KJxx xxx xx xxxx, so I bid 4. I guess I could bid 4, lead directing for a 5 save, but I'm not sure I want partner to be captain.

   KENT

   Pass. I think partner has around a 6-8 count and is giving me a chance in case I'm a king stronger. This hand strikes me as not much above minimum for the 2 call. As partner is a passed hand, a decent 9 to 11 with a fit warrants 3 here; he has less than that.

   MARSHALL

   4

   BOBBY

   I like my hand: 4.

   DAVIDM

   I am going to bid the 4th spade at IMPs.

   JEFF AT THE TABLE

   Pass.

   WINNING ACTION

   4. Partner had  J108 J10xx K9x Axx.

   CONSENSUS

   Action Votes Pass 5 4 6

   Was Partner's Bidding Adequate?

   BARRY

   Dear oh dear. 3?? Closer to a slam try! 3-3-4 looks automatic. 3 is a fine bid but not on this hand.

   ED

   Advancer's 3 bid is an underbid. He should bid 4.

   MIKE

   This sounds like a joke. When partner doubled 1NT you knew you were bidding game or defending doubled. I would have doubled 2 planning on leading trumps, which looks not best on this hand. Failing that, I'd cuebid 3 and if partner signed out in 3, I'd bid 3NT. It is too good and too NTy for 4.

   JEFF UPON REFLECTION

   I think the decision whether to bid on really does depend on agreements. What is the minimum for a double? I think it's generally a strong NT, but a decent 14-count with a clear lead ought to double. Others play that double starts around 16. Some play any 14. Are we in a force after the double, and does partner's pass show anything? I think it's best to play that partner's pass shows a little something, though it's reasonable with a balanced Yarborough to pass. With any shape, one should use the pass and pull schema; to bid immediately shows garbage and removes the force, and to pass and then bid a suit shows some values, say a good 4 or 5-count at least. There are those who argue that with a balanced Yarb (particularly at matchpoints), gambling that partner has 1NT beaten in hand is a losing proposition, so they bid immediately. Their pass therefore promises something useful. With no suit to bid, they bid an artificial 2 for takeout. There is something to be said for this agreement, though less at IMPs than at MPs, as -180 may not be a disaster at IMPs. It is, of course, a zero at matchpoints, so risking -800 is worthwhile to avoid a known zero.

   In this case, I agree with the panel that partner should not have just invited. He has a 9-count vs. a putative strong NT. With the cards placed well, we have to bid game. Catering to my holding a queen less is cutting it too fine, and is probably misdirected anyway—with a minimum double and five spades, I'm likely to bid my suit instead of doubling.

   Regardless of partner's decision, I think my choice whether to bid or pass is extremely close and an interesting problem.