Sunday 7 July 2013

Barristan the Bold

On Saturday night me and Anna went down to St. Andrew Bridge Club. The hands were all hand dealt, which means no hand records, but with Anna's help I've reconstructed this board. Anna was sitting West, and me East.


No vul
S deal
♠ J 6 5
♥ T 7 6 4
♦ K J
♣ K J 9 8
♠ A Q 9 7 4 3
♥ J 9 5
♦ 9 4
♣ T 2
9
711
13
♠ T 8
♥ K 6 3
♦ A Q 6 5 2
♣ Q 5 3
♠ K 2
♥ A Q 8
♦ T 8 7 3
♣ A 7 6 4
AnnaDanny
WNES
1NT
---

South opened a 12-14 1NT, passed out. Anna could have stretched a bit to bid 2♦, showing a 6 card major, but didn't fancy it. North passed, and so did I. Anna lead the fourth highest ♠7. When North put down her 9 point dummy she said that she could have bid, but didn't have enough points. She added that if she wanted to bid, she'd have to take here shoes off. I didn't know what this meant, but declarer seemed to understand, and called for the ♠6 from dummy. I covered this and she won the ♠K in hand.

Clearly, Anna has found the killer lead. From my perspective, sitting East, if the ♠7 is indeed fourth highest then I know that Anna has all the remaining high Spades, and probably five or six of them. I can also see my ♦AQ sitting nicely over dummy's ♦KJ.

After winning her ♠K declarer started on Clubs. She cashed the ♣A then finessed the ♣J. I eagerly took my Queen and returned a Spade, to Anna's delight. At this point I should paraphrase Mike Lawrence's Bols Bridge Tip:

You are now in charge. Each one a little firmer than the one before, you pound out your remaining Spades. You're feeling a little ecstasy mixed with a little power as you turn the final Spade. Feels good, doesn't it? Now what? Cutting through a euphoric glow, you reconstruct the last four tricks. Partner discarded the - what did he discard?

With my Club and Anna's five Spades we had six tricks. If Anna switched to a Diamond we had at least two more tricks. If she played something else, declarer could get all the last tricks and make the contract. I knew I wanted a Diamond switch, and on my first discard on Spades played the ♥6 - we play McKenny so this high card asks for a high suit. On my second discard I wanted to make it really clear that the ♥6 was a high Heart, asking for Diamonds, so now threw away the ♥3. This meant baring the singleton ♥K, but I figured it was worth it to make a clear signal, as I knew a Diamond switch would take the contract down.

On the next Spade I threw a Club. Then with West on lead to cash the last Spade this was the situation:


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

Anna led her last Spade. Dummy threw a Heart, and I had another discard to make. Inspired by Barristan the Bold I decided that I might as well keep all my Diamonds, so threw away my ♥K. Declarer threw away a Diamond from hand. This was also bold, as she was keeping winners at the risk of throwing away a Diamond stop.

In her excitement at cashing all the Spades Anna had indeed missed my discards, so now had a guess. Although I didn't intend it this way, me throwing ♥K was a big clue that I didn't want Hearts, and she correctly switched to a Diamond. I then took five Diamond tricks, meaning declarer had only won the first two tricks. The result of 1NT-5 gave us +250. This was aggregate scoring, so didn't help too much, but nice anyway.

Later, there was some bold bidding.


♠ 7 5
♥ K T 4 3
♦ K Q 5
♣ T 6 4 2
815
♠ A J 9 4 3
♥ A Q 9 8
♦ A 4
♣ 8 5
AnnaDanny
WNES
--1♠-
1NT-2♥1-
3♥-4♥-
--

1: Bold

I opened the East hand 1♠, and Anna replied 1NT. Since Anna has 6-9 points, and I only have 15, I was going to pass, especially as I think to rebid 2♥ I ought to have 5431 shape. I decided to bid, and it worked out well as Anna was able to raise, and I bid a good game. I got a trump lead, so was able to discard a Club, and made the hand on a cross-ruff.

Finally, here's some boldness that didn't pay off.


No vul
E deal
♠ Q J 9 4
♥ A K
♦ 7 3
♣ A K J 8 5
♠ A 8 6 3 2
♥ T 7 6 5 4 2
♦ -
♣ 7 3
18
414
4
♠ -
♥ Q J 9 8
♦ A K Q T 9 4
♣ Q T 4
♠ K T 7 5
♥ 3
♦ J 8 6 5 2
♣ 9 6 2
AnnaDanny
WNES
1♦-
1♥x3♠-
4♥x--
-

I had the big fat East hand, and opened 1♦. Anna had only four points, but is well worth a bid. She bid 1♥, and North had an easy double. I was undeterred, and decided to go to at least game. I bid 3♠, as a splinter. Anna actually has quite a good hand opposite my splinter, with extra trumps and a seven loser hand, but wisely decided to sign off in game. It was still enough for North to double. I thought about redoubling, which I've never done before, but passed.

If Anna has any one of the four cards of ♣AK and ♥AK game would be easy, or even if we got a nice Spade lead. Unfortunately though North cashed the ♣AK, and it had to go one off. 4♥x-1 was worth -100.

Afterwards South said that she thought of bidding 4♠ - not sure what would happen then (would Anna double, would I pass?), but if everyone passes it might go one down.

In the end we finished the night third overall, with -170 points.

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