Some from the Queen Mary Regional Aug. '98: Answers

Today's Panelists are: Andy Lewis, Barry Rigal, Brian Oxley, Curt Hastings, Mike Shuster, Robb Gordon, Rolf Kühn, Walter Hamilton, andd Web Ewell
  1. IMPs, short matches, unfavorable

     S:--- H:KQJxx D:xxx C:Axxxx

    CHO RHO You
    Pass2S: ?

    ANDY
    Pass. If partner has a fit we can make something, but the opponents can likely make 4S: and I'm not going to give them a fielder's choice at unfavorable vulnerability.
    BARRY
    Pass. I have a very poor record on acting in these positions. I always get a large minus score - arising in quite predictable ways. So I am going to try passing and see what kind of bad score I get this time.
    BINKLEY
    4H:. Shot in the dark, but it may force leftie to bid 4S: when he isn't really sure about it, and it looks like trumps break terribly for them. Plus, I may make 4H:, and partner may be able to double 4S:. Bad case is when CHO was waiting to convert my double, but it is bad business to double with a trump void. [You really want them to bid 4S:? --Jeff]
    CURT
    3H:. Must take some action with a hand this good. Frequently, when we are in trouble, LHO won't have sufficient trump quality to double me off, given that raising spades will likely be an option. I will not bid again if LHO bids 4S: and partner doubles or passes.
    MIKE
    My preference is for leaping Michaels to not show such a great hand. However, no one else plays it that way. I'll still bid 4C:... rope enough to hang myself - but any other action will give up on clubs completely... and the spade void is huge. Perhaps it will go (4S:) 5C: and no one will be able to double...
    ROBB
    3H:. I've gone down before.
    ROLF
    Double - after preempts the distributional hand must bid aggressively. Among the choices 3S: (clear-cut overbid), 3H: (too onesided) and X the last one seems to be best.
    WALTER
    dbl
    WEB
    DBL. LHO is likely to raise, and our only plus score may be to defend a spade contract, so I'm actually tempted to pass, but I think that is too unilateral. -590 is only lose 4.
    JEFF AT THE TABLE
    Pass
    VOTES
    Pass3
    Double3
    3H:2
    4C:1
    4H:1
    WINNING ACTION
    Showing five hearts. Partner has  S:xxxx H:Axxxx D:KJx C:K and will happily press to 5H: over 4S: if you bid them. If you double, he'll unhappily double 4S: for +100. 5H: makes. If you pass, you score -140. (Ugh.)
    JEFF UPON REFLECTION
    I don't like double at all. If partner passes, kiss the match goodbye. I can be talked into 3H: or 4C:. If I had some intermediate clubs (AJ10xx), I'd be prone to choosing that. If the long suits were reversed, I'd like 4C: more, since club length and heart shortness would then be ideal. As it is, I think it's really a tossup between pass and 3H:. 3H: rates to be reasonably safe, so I think it's best. Of course, if I had bid 3H:, LHO would have the five-card support....

  2. IMPs, long matches, both vul

     S:Axx H:x D:Ax C:AK98xxx

    You CHO
    1C: 1H:
    ?

    ANDY
    3N. This bid has some flaws (it is an overbid, and may get us to notrump from the wrong side), but I since I have a good shot at 9 tricks opposite nothing at all, I will follow Hamman's Law. Change one of the side aces to a king, and I bid 3C: instead.
    BARRY
    3C:. No second choice. 3NT might work but when no club fit I am just setting myself up for a penalty. And partner might expect the same hand with solid clubs and overreach. Moreover, facing the S:Q or D:Q I think partner should be declarer; do not mention D:J10x please! [OK. How about D:QJx? --Jeff]
    BINKLEY
    3C:. A whopping underbid.
    CURT
    3C:, an underbid, but the alternatives (2S:, 2D:) look worse. Clubs just aren't solid enough for the BWDHFR. Stiff in partner's suit argues for slowing down the auction for now. ["BWDHFR" = "Bridge World Death Hand Fake Reverse. --Jeff]
    MIKE
    BWDHFR - 2D:. Have sympathy for 3C: (a club too many) and 3NT (a club short). Most of the time I'll wind up bidding 3NT next and we won't be any better placed, but over partner's 2S: I can bid 3C: and be a little better off. Tough hand.
    ROBB
    2D:
    ROLF
    3NT - describing my hand (WTP?)
    WALTER
    3C:. If it was the second half and I was behind I'd bid 3N.
    WEB
    3C: seems about right. If partner twitches, 3NT is next. The odds may be close enough that 3NT is okay immediately, but if partner has a good hand, that could screw up your slam auctions.
    JEFF AT THE TABLE
    3NT
    VOTES
    3C:5
    3NT3
    2D:2
    WINNING ACTION
    Hard to say. Partner has  S:x H:AKxxx D:KJxxx C:Qx. If you reverse into 2D:, he'll splinter into 3S:. The rest of the auction will be damage control. My counterpart bid 3C:, got raised to 6, and reraised himself to 7C:. My teammate described this as "an intelligent auction." I bid 3NT. Partner bid 4D:, and I got chicken looking at my club holes, so we stopped in 6C:. If partner had, however, bid 4C: (seems clearcut to me), we'd've had an easy road to the grand: 1C:-1H:; 3NT-4C:; 4D:-4H:; 4S:-7C:. That's an intelligent later auction, anyway.
    JEFF UPON REFLECTION
    3C: is a huge underbid. (K&R = 20.6.) If you don't believe K&R, move one of the small clubs to diamonds. That's not a minimum 3C: rebid (I think it's above average, and K&R thinks it's a max) and it's a trick and a half worse than this hand. If the clubs were solid, many would open this hand 2C:. I would.

    I think that means our choices are really 2D:, 2S:, and 3NT. 2D: lies about 2 cards in diamonds and won't give you enough room to show the long clubs below 3NT. 2S: is no better. 3NT lies about the interior of the club suit. Perhaps 1C:-1M; 2D: should be played as entirely artificial with relays starting. This is a standard problem with Standard American methods: there's no good way to show single suiters in a minor in the 19-21 range.

    I think 2S: is out; nothing good is likely to come of it, so the real choices are 3NT and 2D:. How are the followups going to be after 2D:? If he bids 2H:, 3C: isn't forcing, so we have to bid 3NT. That's OK. If he bids 2S:, we get to bid 3C: forcing, which is good. If he bids 2NT, we have to raise to 3NT. Despite what some of the others say, I'd rather play 3NT from this hand than from partner's. If he bids 3C: (yeah, right) we'll get to cue bid. If he bids 3D: or 3S:, we are in trouble. If he bids 3H:, I have no idea what to do. If he bids 3NT, should we shoot out 6C:?

    After 3NT, the big disasters occur when he bids a ton with a stiff club or he gets confused with C:Qx, either thinking that we have a big balanced hand or C:AKJxxxxx and miscounts our tricks. All in all, I'm not sure which lie is better. Master Solvers Clubs have varied; some reverse and some bid 3NT.

    All in all, there's no good answer. I'm not sure which of 2D: or 3NT is less bad. I wasn't sure then, either. If the hand had been a little weaker, I'd go with 2D:.

  3. IMPs, long matches

     S:x H:Q10xx D:AKxxx C:A10x

    You open 1D:. Partner bids 1S:. And now?

    ANDY
    2D:. What else? I have no strong objection to people who bid 1N with slightly offshape hands, but I almost never do so myself, and, with such a strong diamond suit this certainly isn't the hand for it.
    BARRY
    1NT. Not 2C:, that is for geniuses and Al Roth. Since my partnership agreement is to raise quite frequently on three-card support 1NT is more likely to encompass a singleton over 1S: (not 1H:) than in some line-ups.

    (Incidentally for those poor deluded fans of language out there, "quite frequently" in Brit speak means less frequently than frequent. Quite impossible means more impossible than impossible. that is because in Britspeak "quite" acts as a modifier of weak words, nice, good, etc, and as a strengthener of strong words. Go figure.) [Nothing is "more impossible than impossible." In American English, btw, "quite" is usually a strengthener, but sometimes is just an irregular modifier. "Quite right" really means "well done." --Jeff]

    BINKLEY
    1NT. Ugly but pratical. If he signs off in 2S:, at least I have 3 tricks for him. My hand may be going places, but not after that start. I could punt with 2D: (not bad) or 2C: (ugh!), but fear getting out of the frying pan and into the fire: if I'm going to misdescribe my shape, I'd just as soon limit my strength quickly.
    MIKE
    This is why I don't open 1D: canape [with xx45]. When I rebid 1NT, I like my partners to feel comfortable correcting to 2S: with a decent 5-card suit, so I really am not fond of that bid on this hand. I'll bid 2C:. Heck, this hand could play marvelously well in the 3-3 fit (check out  S:Axxxx H:xxx D:x C:K9x - probably make, even on a trump lead)
    ROBB
    2C:. I don't mind 1NT on a stiff, but I don't think this is the hand for it.
    ROLF
    Again I see no problem: Bid 1NT if you are playing strong NT.
    Bid 2D: if you are plaing weak NT.
    Bid 2C: if you have to catch up.
    WALTER
    1NT
    WEB
    2D:. This is a systemic bid for me, so I don't have a problem.
    JEFF AT THE TABLE
    2C:
    VOTES
    1NT4
    2C:3
    2D:2
    JEFF UPON REFLECTION
    I think this is a style question, not one with a real answer. I am willing to rebid 1NT with a singleton, but I try to avoid it. I am willing to rebid a minor with five, but I try to avoid it. Since it's very unlikely that we'll play in 2C:, I like that lie slightly better than the other lies.

  4. S: K97xx
    H: x
    D: AKJ10
    C: xxx
    S: Q10
    H: AKJ109x
    D: 95
    C: KJ9

    Dummy Declarer
    1S: 2H:
    2S: 3C: (3H: would have been non-forcing)
    3NT 4H:
    Pass

    a) what do you think of the bidding?

    ANDY
    Once responder establishes a force with 3C:, I think opener should bid 3D:. The auction will continue 3H:-3N, and responder might leave it in. I'm not sure if that is better or not; once the north hand opens, you're getting to some marginal game or other.

    [I disagree. I think 3D:...3NT shows a hand less well-stocked in diamonds and more flexible. I also think that the dummy is a clearcut opening bid. It just happens to mesh very poorly with declarer's hand. --Jeff]

    BARRY
    The bidding is fine; I might have passed 3NT (and if partner had bid it slowly...)
    BINKLEY
    I'd have sat for 3NT (those hearts sure look like a lot of notrump tricks to me, and the spade will often be an entry), but 4H: isn't terrible. If partner were concerned about 3NT, he might have tried 3D:, 3H: or 3S: along the way.
    CURT
    Declarer should have respected the 3NT call.
    MIKE
    I would pass 3NT, but 4H: isn't terrible.
    ROLF
    Why did I bid 4H: looking for the obvious 6-1 or 6-0 fit?
    WALTER
    I would have passed 3NT.
    WEB
    Bidding looks fine, although the opening bid is a touch light.
    JEFF AT THE TABLE
    as shown
    JEFF UPON REFLECTION
    no strong preference. 3NT might be better. 4H: might be better. It probably depends on the location of the S:A
    b) Opening lead is the D:6. They play 3rd and 5th. Plan the play.
    ANDY
    It looks like the lead is from something like Q864. I'll play low; if it loses, I'm pretty much down.
    BARRY
    In the absence of table feel it seems normal to rise with the ace and finesse in hearts, though it might be right to play hearts from the top, I suppose. [I'm always in the absence of table feel. --Jeff]
    BINKLEY, CURT, MIKE
    Diamond finesse at T1.
    ROBB
    The diamond hook feels like the right play because if it is right, I don't need to be so precise in the rest of the play. If it loses, I need to pick up hearts and might need the spade ace on my left. If it wins, I can just play to cash the AK of hearts and try to dump 2 clubs on the 3 remaining diamonds.
    ROLF
    Today is jack day. I play the D:J and afterwards the C:J but I will not finesse in H:.
    WALTER
    Win. Play a spade to the Q. If it wins spade 10 ducking. If it loses I'll have to finesse diamonds.
    WEB
    I think the best bet is to lead clubs towards hand at trick two [to the Jack], and again when in dummy with the D:K. The auction called for a diamond lead, so I don't think the D:6 places the D:Q on my left.
    JEFF AT THE TABLE
    Win D:A and lead a club to the C:J. I won the second diamond and led a club to the King. I tried a spade to the King, then tried to drop the H:Q doubleton. As you can see, that was not very successful.
    WINNING ACTION
    S: K97xx
    H: x
    D: AKJ10
    C: xxx
    S: Jxx
    H: xxx
    D: 876
    C: Q10xx    		 S: Axx
    H: Qxx
    D: Q432
    C: Axx
    S: Q10
    H: AKJ109x
    D: 95
    C: KJ9
    Many reasonable lines work. Many do not. One fellow I asked won the diamond and led a club to the C:9. He won the next diamond and led a club to the C:J. He went down two. At the other table, my teammate led a club against 4H:. That made life much easier.
Jeff Goldsmith, jeff@tintin.jpl.nasa.gov, September 9, 1998