Neat Bids & Plays


	"Fun, competitive duplicate bridge at a very convenient location"

	This area of the website is available for your descriptions of cool plays and creative bidding and thinking demonstrated at our club. Suitable examples include interesting squeezes, end-plays and deceptive defensive plays, each with a full-hand layout.
Feb 18, '08	Barry Margolin surely topped my story, when we shared results of Board 32 of the February 18 game. This was the layout (spot cards not wholly remembered), rotated 180 degrees: …………………….QJ9xx ……………………..(void) ……………………..Axx ……………………..Jxxxx xxx………………………………….Kx JTx………………………………….A9xxxx Qxxx………………………………...Jx Qxx………………………………….xxx ……………………..ATx ……………………..KQxx ……………………..Kxxx ……………………..AK At my table, third hand opened 2H, weak, in third chair. I doubled and partner Len Aberbach invited by bidding 3S. My 3NT call ended the bidding. LHO led the HJ and RHO erred by winning the ace (duck is better). He returned a heart, won by my queen. With only one sure entry to dummy, I could not afford to use it to finesse against the spade king; should my LHO have owned K-third and ducked the queen lead (an expert would smoothly duck from Kx!), the spade suit would have been blocked. Accordingly, I played the ace and then ten of spades, won perforce by RHO's king. RHO continued the heart attack and I won my king. I cashed the AK of clubs and then ran the spades, reaching this position with dummy to play its last spade: …………………….x …………………….(void) …………………….Ax …………………….J (void)……………………………….(void) (void)……………………………….9 Qxx….……………………………...Jx Q……………………………………x …………………….(void) …………………….x …………………….Kxx …………………….(void) On the last spade, RHO had no trouble discarding a club, and I could now discard my heart. LHO, however, had to keep the CQ and so had to discard a diamond(meaning that there was a simple squeeze against LHO). Now A, K, and my third diamond was good for +460. I was disappointed for two reasons: (1) that the SK was not offside, because my line of play had conceded a spade that a simple finesse would pick up and thus I expected company at +460; whenever the HA is played "on air", there are eleven tricks "on top"; and (2) that diamonds were not 3-3 so that the squeeze was a double squeeze (give RHO a diamond instead of a club in the shown position: then RHO would have to throw a diamond to against the threat of my fourth heart, and LHO would also have to throw a diamond to protect against the threat of the CJ, and thus neither would have been able to protect against the threat of my third diamond). Not that double squeezes are really any harder to execute than simple squeezes, but they make better stories. Until I chose to share the hand with Barry, however, I did not realize how much I rued the spade finesse being onside. Barry and his partner Joyce Pearson bid to 6S on this hand, declared (after a fourth chair Mexican 2D opener showing 18-19 balanced and a 2H response that relays to 2S) by the strong hand. Barry's RHO had doubled the 2H relay and so the lead at Barry's table was also the HJ. Barry pitched his third round diamond loser from dummy as RHO won the ace. RHO returned a diamond, won in dummy. SQ won the next trick, and another spade brought down the king and was won with declarer's ace. Without drawing the third round of trumps, Barry played the AK of clubs and the KQ of hearts pitching clubs, leaving dummy with one losing club. He now played the DK and ruffed a diamond to reach dummy. He ruffed a club with the ST and could claim with good trumps in dummy over LHO's last remaining defensive trump. +980. Take that, Jeff. (Well, Barry did not say that; but he could have!)
Nov 5, '07	On Board 2 of Monday's Club Championship, East has a chance to make good, but nonstandard, diamond suit plays at both Trick 1 and Trick 2. Here is the hand: Board 2 North- S- JT73 Vul: N-S H- Q8 Dlr: East D- 9 West- S- Q98 C- AQT873 East- S- 652 H- J753 H- T96 D- J7432 D- AK85 C- J South- S- AK4 C- K64 H- AK42 D- QT6 C- 952 Assume that South is declaring 3NT and that West leads a fourth best three of diamonds. At Trick 1, East should win the ace rather than the king of diamonds. And at Trick 2, East should return the eight of diamonds, rather than the five. Each of these two plays is "nonstandard" ... but if East is aware of the problems faced by declarer and by his partner, he will know to make nonstandard plays at Tricks 1 and 2. "Standard" play for East would be to win with his cheaper honor, the king, at Trick 1. However, if South holds the QTx (as, alas, is the case), then winning with the king will make it more likely that South will find the winning play of the queen, rather than the losing play of the ten, at Trick 2. (East's play of the ace suggests to declarer that West owns the king; therefore it would appear to declarer that his only chance to win a diamond trick is to play East for the jack.) Hence, this time it is best for East to win with the higher honor, the ace. "Standard" play for East at Trick 2 would be to return the five, original fourth best. However, if East returns the five and West owns J7432(as, indeed, West does) -- and South misguesses by playing the ten losing to West's jack --, East will be left with K8 when West owns 742 and the suit will be blocked. Hence, this time it is best for East to return the eight so that he is left with K5 and not the blocking K8. Ah, that is what makes bridge so fascinating. You not only have to learn to make the standard plays, but you also have to learn when not to make them! -- submitted by Jeff Lehman on November 5, 2007
Dec 15, '06	This is Board 24 from the IMP Pairs game on Friday morning, December 15th: Board 24 North S- A 9 8 6 4 Dealer: W H- A J 7 2 Vul: None D- J 7 5 2 C- void West S- K J 7 East S- Q 5 3 2 H- Q 4 H- T 9 D- Q 4 D- A K 9 6 C- A J 9 7 6 4 C- K 8 2 S- T H- K 8 6 5 3 D- T 8 3 C- Q T 5 3 Jeff Lehman (West) writes: Evelyn Ruby and Dorothy Lakin conducted a killing defense against my 3C contract on Board 24 of the Junior Fund IMPs game. As North, Evelyn led the two of hearts (from AJ72!) and the defense proceeded to go as follows: 1. heart to South's king 2. spade ten to North's ace 3. spade ruffed by South 4. heart to North's ace, and 5. a second spade ruff. I quietly followed suit as I lost the first five tricks, and then claimed down one, losing 4 IMPs to datum.
Jun 20, '06	Jeff Lehman provides a neat Show-out Squeeze from the Interclub Championship game on Tuesday June 20th: Board 10 North S- KT974 Dlr: East H- AKQ Vul: Both D- 93 West S- Q3 C- K64 East S- AJ85 H- 96 H- T4 D- AKQJ876 D- T4 C- A3 South S- 62 C- QJ987 H- J87532 D- 52 C- T52 Jeff writes: In last night's game, a show-up squeeze can produce an overtrick in the very lucky contract of 3NT, should the defense make a slight error. Assume you are lucky enough to reach 3NT, perhaps on the auction at my table: West opens 1D in third chair, North overcalls 1S, East responds 1NT and West raises to 3NT. You receive a fourth-best heart lead, and you expect very few matchpoints on the board. However, you soldier on. North cashes the top three hearts. How do you play from Trick 3 on? Well, first you should wish that hearts are blocked. And that wish is granted. I think best play is to discard a club from dummy at Trick 3, leaving dummy with a bare ace. This discard might induce North to switch to a seemingly harmless club at Trick 4. Now you will make ten tricks on a show-up squeeze, without risking the loss of a spade finesse to South who owns the long hearts. When you lead the last diamond from dummy, the position is this: Q3 -- 7 (led at trick 11) -- irrelevant KT -- -- K AJ -- -- Q No matter what North plays, you can win the last two tricks ... and without needing to take a finesse. If North discards the club king, discard the spade jack and claim with the ace of spades and the queen of clubs; if North discards the spade ten, discard the club queen and when you lead a spade the king shows up (hence, the name show-up, or pop-up, squeeze) and dummy's queen of spades becomes the tenth trick. Did you catch the slight defensive error? At Trick 4, North should lead a spade rather than a club. Then you would have no hand entry for the show-up squeeze and would probably decide not to jeopardize your lucky contract by finessing the spade. You would be held to nine tricks only. -- Jeff Lehman Alan's comments: This is a fine analysis by Jeff, but here are the actual scores on the board: RESULTS OF BOARD 10 SCORES MATCHPOINTS NAMES N-S E-W N-S E-W 600 3.00 4.00 1-Russo-Zucker vs 9-Cappannelli-Lehman 130 6.00 1.00 2-Ruby-Dana vs 1-Banghart-Banghart 130 6.00 1.00 3-Aquino-Fontaine vs 3-Greenslit-Needle 710 0.00 7.00 6-Maglione-Geffert vs 8-Pararas-Levin 660 1.50 5.50 7-Galkin-Rohtstein vs 10-Peeke-Peeke 660 1.50 5.50 8-Gotch-Blaustein vs 2-Eustace-Weener 150 4.00 3.00 9-Gradijan-Sullivan vs 5-Korpi-Walsh 130 6.00 1.00 10-Poole-Fienberg vs 7-Klein-Klein Three things to note: A. Jeff and Joe only scored 600 (perhaps not finding this line at the table, or perhaps the board was scored wrong) B. Making 630 does not gain any MP this time, because there are those 660's, likely from LHO dutifully leading a spade (RHO's bid). If the play goes S6-SQ-SK-SA, and now seven diamond tricks are played, which five cards does North come down to??? In the other section, there was a 720 for E-W -- likely due to North blanking the CK and letting West score four tricks in that suit. C. And where did that 710 come from? No, it is not four of a major making seven. Instead it is an injudicious double of 4D, making. Show-out squeezes are a neat coup, but they leave me a little bit unsatisfied, since when they succeed the finesse was winning anyway and you will not come out ahead of those who take that simpler play.
Jun 17, '05	This is Board 14 of the NAOP game of June 17: Board: 14 North S- AQ8 Dlr: East H- AT9 Vul: None D- 765 West S- J C- 8432 East S- T965432 H- 8753 H- J42 D- AQJ932 D- 84 C- K9 South S- K7 C- J H- KQ6 D- KT C- AQT765 Jeff Lehman observes that 3NT by South is makeable on a strip squeeze. Jeff writes: Assume that East leads the queen of diamonds -- any non-diamond lead allows declarer to establish the club suit and make 3NT with overtricks -- and that declarer wins the king in hand. After declarer has cashed 6 major suit tricks, everyone is down to six cards. If West has stiffed the king of clubs, declarer can make the rest of the tricks by running the club suit, beginning with the ace. So, assume that two of West's final six cards are K9 of clubs, with West's other four cards being winning red suit tricks. Declarer can play the ten of diamonds from hand, putting West on lead. And after West has cashed the four red suit winners, West must lead from the K9 of clubs into declarer's AQ. Should declarer find this line of play? I think so, if West overcalled the 1C opening bid with 1D. If West's only values were the diamond suit, West is likely to have either passed the opening bid or to have made a weak jump overcall of 2D. Accordingly I think that declarer can/should be able to read West for the king of clubs. (If West had been dealt seven diamonds and the stiff king of clubs, declarer might go wrong, but, on balance, six diamonds and the protected king of clubs is much more likely.) Did declarer find this play at my table? Well, it really did not come up. Because of a bidding error, North played 3NT at my table, and a diamond lead caused my side to take the first six tricks with winning diamonds. Actually, there is an interesting bidding problem on the hand, too. What should North call after a 1C opening by South and a 1D overcall. A negative double should promise at least four cards in each major, and so I think the choices are 2C (what I would favor) and Pass. Either of those two choices should lead to 3NT by South, and the opportunity for declarer to perform the strip squeeze. Alan's comment: Jeff has provided an interesting analysis, and perhaps many experts would find this neat play. An expert West might quietly blank the CK early (on a spade trick) and declarer is likely to then play West for three clubs and go down when he exits with the D10. But such esoterica were beyond most of the players in our field. Our results: 3NT/N: -100, -50, -50, -100, +460 3NT/S: -50, -100, -100 2NT/S: +120 5C/S=400, 4C/S=150, 6C/S=-50 4DX/W=500, 5DX/W=500, 5DX/W=500 2SX/E=100 Thanks, Jeff.
Dec 29, '04	This hand is Board 27 from December 28th, 2004, at our Charity Club Championship: Bd: 24 North S- J Dlr: South H- AQT964 Vul: None D- T95 West S- 53 C- 543 East S- Q72 H- KJ832 H- 7 D- 764 D- AQJ32 C- J98 South S- AKT9864 C- AQ52 H- 5 D- K8 C- K76 Chris Gradijan writes: Defending against a contract of 4 spades, Saul Agranoff found a devastating switch, after his partner's opening lead of the 4 of diamonds, won by the ace. Instead of automatically returning a diamond, Saul switched to the 7 of hearts!!! The usual diamond return would allow South to draw 2 rounds of trump and put west in with the Q of trumps, his second trick. West could take the A of clubs then or later, but would get no more, since South could now take the winning heart finesse to pitch a club. Although there were a number of 140's on this board, I suspect the Souths not in game avoided the heart finesse. But those in game would have to try it to make 10 tricks. Having it handed to them on a platter early on meant losing the opportunity to lead toward the K of clubs or else losing the chance to discard a club on the A of hearts, thus losing either 3 clubs and the diamond A, or 2 clubs, a trump, and the diamond A. Alan's comments: I think Chris is right, although declarer can make it tough for the defense by continuing a good heart from dummy at trick 3 and over-ruffing East. The trump loser is now gone, and after running five or six spade tricks, the DK can be cashed. Now exiting a low club might succeed if the opponents have not saved both enough clubs and suitable exit cards.
Dec 7, '04	Allen Post and Tony Keats were proud of their result on this board: Board 34 North Vul: N-S S- AKJ97 Dlr: East H- KJ7 D- QJ3 West C- 52 East S- T532 S- Q86 H- 9643 H- Q5 D- 2 D- AT75 C- QT76 South C- J943 S- 4 H- AT82 D- K9864 C- AK8 The auction at Table 8 was: North East South West P 1D P 1S P 2D P 2H! P 4H P 5D P 6H P 6NT P P P Analysis (from Alan): North's 2H bid on a 3-card suit propelled South to insist on a heart slam, corrected to 6NT by North after this rather hairy auction. Tony reports that the opening lead was the C3. The obvious suit to attack is a diamond to the DQ, and when West shows out on the DJ, that suit can be picked up with a finesse of the D9 on the third round of the suit. On the run of the diamonds, West may not realize that the H9 may become a trick, and if he discards a heart, the contract makes with four tricks in each red suit and the black AK's. Making 1440 was a clear top, but if neither defender discards a heart, it takes double dummy play to bring in twelve tricks.
Jul 27, '04	This hand is Board 10 from July 27th, 2004, Summer Club Championship: Bd: 10 North S- A542 Dlr: East H- KQJ8 Vul: Both D- 65 West S- JT C- J92 East S- K986 H- A532 H- 964 D- 932 D- K874 C- Q854 South S- Q73 C- T6 H- T7 D- AQJT C- AK73 Indubitably restrained by modesty, Chris Apitz waited nearly six months before sending in this report: South Played 3 No Trump, after a Stayman auction. East led the jack of spades, ducked to the king. West switched to the ten of clubs, continuing the short suit lead tradition. East won the queen, and switched back to spades. South won the queen, and led the ten of hearts. East ducked, and ducked again when hearts were continued. South now led a diamond to the ten, club to the jack, and diamond to the jack. After cashing the ace of diamonds (discarding the queen of hearts from dummy), this 4-card ending is reached: North (dummy) S- A2 H- K D- West Irrelevant C- 2 East S- 98 H- 9 D- K South (declarer) S- 7 C- H- D- Q C- AK South now cashed the ace and king of clubs, discarding the king of hearts from dummy on the last club. East had an easy pitch of the heart 9 on the first club, but was squeezed out of the spade stopper, needing to keep the king of diamonds. South now cashed the ace and 2 of spades to score 660. This was worth 13.5 MP on a 15 top (scored across the field). Only three other pairs found a way to make 660. Alan's comments: Chris has found an excellent squeeze. A lesser player, such as myself, might have been content to drive out the HA for an easy 630. It is hard for West to see the danger in ducking the second heart. Declarer then does well to visualize this ending when the diamond finesse wins. Bravo!

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