BRIDGE MOVIES
The bridge movie form of presentation allows the reader to face a series of interesting situations as a deal unfolds. The current program has a cartoon preceding the full-length feature.
A Bridge Cartoon
by John Torrey
It's the last deal of the last Swiss match of a long bridge weekend at the Carolina Masters sectional in Raleigh, North Carolina. Your team played and beat the leaders on the previous round, but still trails by 15 victory points. Now, you are playing a dangerous team; you've had a good set but there's still one board left to play. With both sides vulnerable, you pick up, as West,
♠ A K 6 ♥ 9 4 ♦ K 6 4 ♣ 9 8 6 5 3.
Steve Callihan, South at your table, opens two notrump. This should be 20-21, but Steve is an imaginative player who knows he is down in the match. You pass, as do North and East.
What is your opening lead?
You have enough entries to get some club tricks if partner can help you in the suit. A lead of the nine will let partner know that your suit is not strong.
You lead the nine of clubs. Dummy comes down.
| NORTH ♠ 10 7 5 4 ♥ J 10 8 3 ♦ 10 7 3 ♣ 10 4 |
||
| WEST (you) ♠ A K 6 ♥ 9 4 ♦ K 6 4 ♣ 9 8 6 5 3 |
The first trick goes ten, queen, ace. South leads the king of hearts.
Do you play the nine or the four?
Partner may have the ace of hearts and need to know how long to hold off. You therefore play the nine. The king wins, partner playing the six. Declarer now plays the ace of diamonds (deuce from partner) and the queen of diamonds.
Do you win this trick?
You can do some card reading at this point. Declarer seems to have 7 points in diamonds, and you know about 5 in clubs. The diamond switch hints that declarer's hearts might be ace-king rather than king-queen; a diamond entry to dummy would permit a heart finesse. If declarer has the king of clubs, that would be 22 points, with nothing in spades. So, partner probably has the club king. But potential club tricks are not going anywhere, while three hearts, three diamonds, and two clubs would see declarer home at two notrump. So, you duck the queen of diamonds.
Declarer continues with a small diamond: king, ten, jack.
What now?
It was embarrassing to compress your diamond winners, but declarer's play was sound; a doubleton jack would help while a doubleton king would not. And declarer still has no dummy entry. Regardless of the position of the other honors, it must be right to play off a high spade at this point. Partner will signal if he holds the queen, and otherwise you can continue clubs with no tempo lost. You lead the king of spades: four, three, queen. It's crunch time.
What next?
Apparently South has,
♠ Q J 2 ♥ K Q x ♦ A Q 9 5 ♣ A J x,
or possibly,
♠ Q J 2 ♥ A K x x ♦ A Q 9 5 ♣ A J.
Either way, you need to lead a club. You lead the club five. Declarer wins the club seven, then the ace and jack, and his long diamond, making his contract. The full deal:
| NORTH ♠ 10 7 5 4 ♥ J 10 8 3 ♦ 10 7 3 ♣ 10 4 |
||
| WEST ♠ A K 6 ♥ 9 4 ♦ K 6 4 ♣ 9 8 6 5 3 |
EAST ♠ J 9 3 2 ♥ A Q 6 5 ♦ J 8 2 ♣ Q 2 | |
| SOUTH ♠ Q 8 ♥ K 7 2 ♦ A Q 9 5 ♣ A K J 7 |
Callihan has fooled you in all four suits!
At the other table, your teammates were minus 300 in two diamonds undoubled; the same score was available to you on defense against two notrump. You end up winning the match by 14 imps, which places you a disappointing fourth overall. If you had continued spades instead of leading your second club, you would have saved 6 imps, and tied for second place.
* * *
A 3-D Movie
by Steven Bloom
Put on the silly-looking glasses. This deal can be tackled from any position, or you and your partner can try defending together. It is IMPs, a close knockout match, and everyone is vulnerable.
The Western Problem
You are West, having opened one heart in third position with,
♠ 8 7 ♥ A 10 7 6 4 3♦ J 10 7 ♣ A 4.
Your opening was doubled by North, raised to three hearts by partner, East. South jumped to four spades, ending the auction.
What is your opening lead?
This is easy. Either minor suit could be right, so you should start with the ace of hearts, hoping to get a look at dummy. A heart lead can hardly cost, unless perhaps it is ruffed. But in that case you had very little chance of setting the contract anyway.
You lead the ace of hearts, and this is what you see:
| NORTH ♠ A Q 10 ♥ Q ♦ A K 9 6 3 ♣ K J 3 2 |
||
| WEST (you) ♠ 8 7 ♥ A 10 7 6 4 3 ♦ J 10 7 ♣ A 4 |
Partner plays the deuce of hearts and South the king. In your partnership's style, the heart deuce may have suit-preference implications. Partner thinks a club shift may be best.
Do you?
To beat the contract with a club shift, you need to find partner with both minor-suit queens. Shifting to ace and another club will be successful when South has, for example,
♠ K J x x x ♥ K ♦ x x x ♣ 10 x x x.
That's not much of a four-spade bid, to say nothing of partner's preempt with 3=5=2=3 and garbage. Partner's jump would be more reasonable with the same high cards and 3=5=1=4, but in that layout South can win the second club, draw trumps, and play on diamonds, eventually discarding his remaining club loser on the fifth diamond.
Once you give up on the club shift, you're left with only a forcing game. That could be quite effective. If partner has as little as jack-fourth of spades and jack-fifth of hearts, repeated heart leads will do the job. You should continue hearts at trick two.
Declarer ruffs your heart continuation low in dummy, discarding a diamond from his own hand; partner plays the heart nine. Declarer continues with a club to his queen.
Do you win? If so, do you continue hearts?
You should plan to continue hearts, but not just yet. There is no reason to give declarer a later club entry to his hand with the ten, and there is no hurry to take your club trick. Assuming partner has jack-fourth of trumps, one club trick is not enough to see declarer home, because East will be able to stop the run of the diamond suit. You should plan to duck the first club, win the second, and then continue hearts.
The Eastern Problem
| NORTH ♠ A Q 10 ♥ Q ♦ A K 9 6 3 ♣ K J 3 2 |
||
| EAST (you) ♠ 9 5 3 2 ♥ J 9 8 5 2 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ 7 |
Partner leads the ace of hearts, denying the king.
Plan the defense.
For his opening bid, partner should have the ace of clubs. If you can score a club ruff, there is a fair chance that you will come to a diamond as well, with South holding something like,
♠ K J x x ♥ K x ♦ J x x ♣ Q 10 x x.
So, you should ask for a club shift, by playing either a discouraging heart or a suit-preference deuce, depending on your partnership's methods.
Declarer drops the king of hearts under partner's ace, a fairly foolish waste of values; and partner, stupidly ignoring your signal, continues hearts. So much for your hoped-for diamond trick. South ruffs the second heart in dummy, and you have an opportunity to signal.
Which heart do you play?
Although your potential diamond winner has disappeared, a forcing game may well net two trump tricks for your side. In any event, partner may appreciate knowing that you have the diamonds locked up, so you should play the heart jack on this trick. It can hardly cost.
South throws a diamond from the closed hand, then plays a club to his queen and partner's ace. Declarer trumps the heart continuation in dummy and throws a club. Then, he cashes dummy's ace of trumps, partner contributing the seven, and tries dummy's king of clubs. Your decisions so far have been fairly unimportant. This one, however, could be the whole match.
Do you trump the club? If not, what do you discard?
It looks as though South started with 1=4=3=5 distribution. If partner's other trump is the jack, the contract is down. What if West has the eight-spot instead? If you ruff and return a diamond, declarer may be locked in dummy, with no way back to his own hand without letting partner overruff a diamond. That defense will beat the contract unless South has the jack of diamonds. So ruffing works if partner has either red jack. What if you discard on two rounds of clubs? South can cash two diamonds, bringing the hands down to:
| NORTH ♠ — ♥ — ♦ 9 6 3 ♣ 3 |
||
| WEST ♠ 8 ♥ 10 7 6 ♦ — ♣ — |
EAST ♠ 9 5 3 ♥ ? ♦ ? ♣ — | |
| SOUTH ♠ K J 6 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ 9 |
When the last club is led, you must ruff, lest you wind up trump couped on the last three tricks. But then, a heart return would let declarer score his small trump. You must keep a diamond for this ending.
Yes, that works, and without worrying about who has the jack of diamonds. Therefore, you should pitch a heart on the club king, planning to pitch another heart on the club jack.
But the club jack does not come next. Instead, South calls for the three of clubs. Will this nightmare never end?
What now?
You are still covered if partner holds the jack of trumps. So, imagine that South holds king-jack-six-small and partner the eight-seven. If you let South get to his hand, he can draw two more rounds of trumps and play more club winners. So, it looks as if you are back to trumping, and playing a diamond, hoping to lock declarer in dummy. But if South has the ten of clubs, why didn't he play a low club on the previous trick? And, for that matter, why did your idiot partner win the first club? Alternatively, could South be pulling off some mammoth bluff with a hand like,
♠ K J x x ♥ K ♦ J x x ♣ Q 9 x x x ?
Here, we have entered the Twilight Zone, and your guess is as good as mine. I don't know the correct play, but I do know one that works!
The Southern Problem
| NORTH ♠ A Q 10 ♥ Q ♦ A K 9 6 3 ♣ K J 3 2 |
||
| SOUTH ♠ K J 6 4 ♥ K ♦ 8 5 ♣ Q 10 9 8 6 5 |
Against your four spades, West leads the ace of hearts, and East plays the deuce, suggesting a club shift. No doubt, he can ruff a club, but that certainly won't hurt you. Unfortunately, West continues hearts. You must ruff this in the dummy.
What do you throw from your hand?
All your side-suit cards are winners, but a diamond would be the obvious discard if you had any diamond length, and you should throw one for deceptive purposes.
What next?
There is no choice now but to start on clubs. Playing the deuce of clubs to the queen is your most deceptive move. West wins the ace and woodenly leads another heart.
Back to you.
You are in fine shape now. Trump the heart in dummy, throwing another diamond, cash the ace of trumps, and lead a low club to your ten. If no one ruffs, draw two more trumps and run winners (you can discard the blocking clubs if you feel like being elegant, or you can just throw dummy's diamond losers). If someone ruffs the club, you can trump any return and hope to be able to draw trumps.
Post-Mortem
The full deal was:
| NORTH ♠ A Q 10 ♥ Q ♦ A K 9 6 3 ♣ K J 3 2 |
||
| WEST ♠ 8 7 ♥ A 10 7 6 4 3 ♦ J 10 7 ♣ A 4 |
EAST ♠ 9 5 3 2 ♥ J 9 8 5 2 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ 7 | |
| SOUTH ♠ K J 6 4 ♥ K ♦ 8 5 ♣ Q 10 9 8 6 5 |
At the table, none of the players shone particularly. West did find the heart contination at trick two, but he won the first club. South returned the favor, and led a high club from dummy on the second round. But East, convinced that South's distribution was 1=4=3=5, trumped the second club and tried to lock declarer in dummy. South had an easy diamond ruff back to hand.
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