Misleading opponents (2)

Some other holdings where you can place an opponent with a difficult decision:

♣AQx
♣Jx

You're playing a trump contract, and LHO leads a high 1♣ through AQx. It's clear that RHO has the K. What are your chances for not losing a ♣ trick? Only a mistake from RHO can let you achieve your goal. Play the Ace and return a small one to your J immediatly! Now RHO has a problem: dummy has still the Q. If he takes the K and you ruff, he just gave you a trick for free. But if he doesn't take and you happen to have Jx he made the wrong decision as well. There's no scientific way to know what's best, except the bidding or lead methods perhaps.

Whenever you see such holding, you should immediatly know what you'll do whenever LHO plays this suit. Usually, finesse if he plays small, but don't when he plays high. When you have to play the suit yourself, and you know the K is wrongsided, you can play the Ace yourself obviously.

Another one I had yesterday:

♠Qxxx
♠KJ

After the first trick I was in dummy. I immediatly played a small ♠ to my K. RHO was hesitating a bit before playing small, so I found ♠A already. Now I put on my happyface like I scored a stiff K, went back to dummy and played another ♠ to my J. RHO again hesitated, and played another small ♠! An extra overtrick at MP is always welcome.
Would this happen to good players? I don't think so, since they'll give count and RHO would know I still have another ♠. Why would I go back to dummy if I didn't hold the J? Cashing the Ace seems necessary.

This brings me to a very similar holding:

♠Qxxx
♠Kx

Against good opposition, you may want to consider following line: small to your K, return to dummy and small to small. RHO may think like I mentioned above, and play the Ace!

Misleading opponents

Following position might seem uninteresting:

♥K94 (dummy)

♥QJT2 (declarer)

However, if LHO has the Ace, you may be able to mislead him for an overtrick.

Defending 5♣ (only ♣ were bid) and you already have 1 trick, what would you play if RHO leads ♥J to K94? I think most of us would play small and hope partner has the Q. Now declarer plays the K which obviously holds. Next he starts ruffing a long side suit (which will become high) and plays the ♥2, dummy having 94 left. Will you play the Ace now?

Perhaps it seems hard to see, but when you look at it for a moment you'll notice that there's no real reason not to play the Ace! If partner had Qx, declarer has 5♥s which is almost impossible. So either partner had Qxx (or more) and it doesn't matter, or partner had 3 small and you have to take it now before declarer pitches his ♥ losers on his long sidesuit.

Defense against strong 1C

Playing a strong ♣ system myself, I know how annoying it can be when opponents intervene. However, I've seen opponents do it completely wrong and ending up doubled for a number. I've also seen opponents do it right, which means 'safe and with a purpose'.

Most players don't realise following:
- Dbl and 1♦ give opponents extra space. Partner 'may' jam the auction, but when he doesn't, you're nowhere. So use them for rare hands or lead directing purposes.
- Bidding 1♥ is quite useless since it doesn't give/take away bidding space, so use it as lead directing.
- 1♠ takes away 1 step and some people just get too high. Use it a lot!
- 1NT shouldn't be natural, so include several possible handtypes.
- 2m should be natural, singlesuited, 2-suited, 3-suited, whatever, but at least a 4 card suit.
- 2M should be natural, usually singlesuited.
- 2NT and higher can best be used like suction or natural. I'm still not convinced what the better approach is. Pressure bidding is one of the important things imo, so I prefer psycho suction or natural.

Here's what I play:
Dbl = also a strong 1♣ opening. Consider it as a powerdouble with adjusted HCP ranges.
1♦ = (3)4+♥, either lead directing or constructive (usually a 5-4 or 5-5 which can see game opportunities)
1♥ = (3)4+♠, either lead directing or constructive (usually a 5-4 or 5-5 which can see game opportunities)
1♠ = 0-3♠, usually with 3+ cards in the other suits or length you don't want to expose.
1NT = 5+m or at least 4-4♥-♠
2m = DONT, 44+
2M = 5+M
2NT = any 2-suiter with at least 5-5
3X = natural, (5)6+ card suit

Victory for FREEWILL overcalls

Everyone Vulnerable, LHO starts the bidding and it goes:
1♥-2♣!-Dbl-?
2♣ shows <15HCP and at least 4-4♠-♣, both 'decent' suits.
You hold ♠KQ98x ♥T ♦xxxx ♣xxx. What do you bid?

With my ♠ holding, I know partner either has the Ace or a 5+ card suit without the Ace. I also know opponent's have a ♥ fit, and partner will be short in ♦, so I bid 3♠. LHO ends the auction with 4♥.

Here's the full deal:

Dealer: West Vul: Both Scoring: MP	♠ AJxx ♥ Qxxx ♦ x ♣ A9xx
♠ x ♥ AKJ9xx ♦ Qxxx ♣ Kx		♠ Txx ♥ xx ♦ AKJx ♣ QJTx
	♠ KQ98x ♥ T ♦ xxxx ♣ xxx

Normally, nobody would lead ♠, but my partner did because of the bidding. It was the only lead which defeated the contract. Partner lead ♠A (I played the Q, showing the K and an odd nr of ♠s) and continued with ♠J which declarer ruffed. Either way she plays, she had no way to 10 tricks because she got too short on trumps and lost control. Every time we had the lead we continued ♠.

Note: 3♠ will go down 1 only after a ♠ lead and a ♦ shift.

Keeping partner's entries

Here's a simple hand where you might make a huge mistake:

Dealer: West Vul: Both Scoring: imps	♠ 9643 ♥ A72 ♦ 94 ♣ KQJ3
♠ AT52 ♥ T983 ♦ AK8 ♣ T9		♠ KQ7 ♥ QJ6 ♦ J32 ♣ A642
	♠ J8 ♥ K54 ♦ QT765 ♣ 875

West plays 3NT after showing 13-14HCP and 4-5♥ (either balanced with 4-5♥ or unbalanced with exactly 4♥).

Looks like a simple hand, doesn't it? I (North) started of with ♣K-2-7-9 and ♣Q-A-5-T (we use udca carding, so you showed 3 ♣s. Now declarer plays ♥Q from the table, which you don't cover (only good when partner has ♥Ax) and it holds. You get the 7 from partner, which promisses only 1 card higher, and perhaps 1 lower as well. Now a small ♥ is played. Do you play the K?

I think you should because partner can only have 3♥s, and following is possible:
A7x - covering is mandatory. Partner with A7 would probably take ♥A immediatly
T7x - declarer would've played another suit and run the 9 from 98
97x - declarer will first cash ♥J and make the decision later weither or not to finesse the 9
87x - it doesn't matter, you'll always lose your ♥ trick

At the table, declarer played ♥J at trick 4, which made it a lot easier. Now my partner didn't have any reason to duck again, and we defeated the contract since partner could still reach me with ♥.

Invention of new bids

Sometimes it's not easy to find a decent bid. Like the canapé article mentioned, it's not always easy to show a difference between 5M-4m and 4M-5m. And then you still have those nasty 4441's! Here's a possible hand:

♠ J
♥ AK84
♦ QT62
♣ Q754

The bidding starts:
1♦! - pass - 1♥! - pass
1NT! - pass - 2♣! - 2♠
?
1♦ showed 9-14HCP and 4+♥ (MAFIA style)
1♥ showed invite or better, relay
1NT showed any hand with 4♥, or a maximum balanced
2♣ is another relay

NOW your RHO intervenes (why didn't he do this before??) with 2♠. At this point, your partner already knows you either have a balanced hand, a 4♥-5m or a 3-suiter.
3m would definetly show 4♥-5+m, 2NT balanced with stop. So I thought, lets show our maximum hand without stop: 3♠. This however is no systemic bid, since we don't expect opponents to pass first and intervene later...

Afterwards I was glad to hear partner say that I could indeed only have this type of hand.

What if he immediatly bid 1♠? No problem, now I can show a maximum hand (with similar distributions) by bidding 1NT (so no minimum anymore). And if he intervenes with 2♠? Then I can only try 3♠ again, denying a 5+m or balanced hand with stop...

Canapé, pro en cons

As you can see, MOSCITO uses 'possible canapé', which means all 5M-4m and 4M-5m hands are opened the same.

When partner is strong (invite or better), and opponents are quiet, it's easy to find out if opener has a 4 or 5 card M: he just relays, and if opener responds with 2♣ or higher, he has at least 5M.
When partner is weak, he just don't ask and lets opponents in the dark. He supports 2M on a 3 card and 3M on a 4 card. This has the advantage that opponents can't use the LOTT, because they don't know if we're playing in a 7 or 8 card fit. Only opener knows this. Fact is that opener has around 60% chance of having a 5+ card M, so for us it's quite safe.
If partner bids 1NT, opener knows his partner doesn't have a 3 card support for his Major, and he can easily rebid 2m with 4M-5m. These hands can be quite hard in natural systems!
'Possible canapé' sometimes causes trouble in competitive bidding, when partner has a 3 card M with invitational strength, and he wants to find a 5-3 fit. If opponents intervene high enough, then relays are off, and it's trying to find the best way of showing your hand.

In 3rd and 4th seat, we play 1♦/♥/♠ as 2-suited where canapé is ensured, except when the second suit is ♣. This is a lot easier in competitive bidding, since opener can just bid his 2nd suit and there's no ambiguity. With longer ♣ we bid NT, when we bid ♣ the opening suit is longer.

Canapé definetly has advantages over the normal way of bidding suits. First of all, it's harder to defend against. You know there's (or might be) a 5 card suit somewhere but you don't know which, and you may want to play in opener's 4 card suit which is quite hard if you don't have the right tools.

An example hand from competition: JTxx-xxx-x-AKQJx. According to the system, this is a 1♥ opening showing 4+♠. 2♠ shows a 3+ card support. The bidding went:
1♥* - Dbl - 2♠* - pass
pass - Dbl - pass - 3♦
pass - 3NT - pass - pass
?
If you pass, partner will lead ♠ for sure, so you Double and hope for a ♣ lead. Can opponents still run somewhere? Probably 5♦, but they're not sure if that's a better action. On this hand, they even had 6♦!

Bidding for the lead

Here's a hand from an online team match.

You hold ♠32 ♥KQJ9 ♦QJT8 ♣543. LHO dealer, we are NV vs V.
The bidding starts:
1♠ - pass - 2♠ - ...

Your turn, what do you bid? Most players will just pass, and right they are. At the table however I found a nice bid: 3♥! LHO bid 4♠ (as I expected) and that ended the auction.

Dealer: North Vul: NS Scoring: imps	♠ KQ974 ♥ A76 ♦ A32 ♣ KJ
♠ 32 ♥ KQJ9 ♦ QJT8 ♣ 543		♠ AT5 ♥ T54 ♦ 654 ♣ Q987
	♠ J86 ♥ 832 ♦ K97 ♣ AT62

Partner obviously lead a ♥ which gave declarer a very hard time. He took the Ace at trick 1 and played ♠ to my partner's Ace. He returned another ♥ and I cashed K and Q, seeing that the ♥ were splitting 3-3. Now, having 3 tricks already, I passively played ♠ and declarer had to find ♣Q without much information.
With any other lead (except ♠A followed by a ♥) declarer can easily discard a loser on his ♣ without losing control of the hand, so he can hardly make any mistake. Now he placed ♣Q with me and went down.

What would've happened in 3♥x? I guess I'd go down 1 too much, but how will they find that Double at this vulnerability with small trumps?

FREEWILL overcalls

This is a 2-suited overcall system, which can bid all hands with at least 4-4 in the suits opener didn't show. All you need is two 'decent 4-card suits' ('decent' = QTxx, Kxxx, xxxxx or better)

The advantages are clear: 2 suits are known, partner can preempt like hell, and you can intervene a lot more than the usual systems. The overcalls are natural, to put maximum pressure on opponents.
Ofcourse there are also some disadvantages. The structure needs a powerdouble, and sometimes, when it's not our hand, you tell opps a lot about your hand!

General principles:
1m-2m shows 44+M
1M-2M shows 3-suited with short M
1X-1NT shows 44+ in the lowest unbid suits
1M-2m shows 44+OM-m

1♣-?
Dbl = powerdouble, 15+HCP any
1♦ = 5+♥
1♥ = 5+♠
1♠ = 44+♠-♦
1NT = 44+♥-♦
2♣ = 44+♠-♥
2♦ = normal ♦ overcall, (5)6+ card suit
2M = weak, 6+M
2NT = weak, 55+♥-♦

1♦-?
Dbl = powerdouble, 15+HCP any
1M = 5+M
1NT = 44+♥-♣
2♣ = 44+ ♠-♣
2♦ = 44+♠-♥
2M = weak, 6+M
2NT = weak, 55+♥-♣
3♣ = constructive ♣ overcall, 6+ card suit

1♥-?
Dbl = powerdouble, 15+HCP any
1♠ = 5+♠
1NT = 44+♦-♣
2♣ = 44+ ♠-♣
2♦ = 44+♠-♦
2♥ = 3-suited with short ♥
2♠ = weak, 6+♠
2NT = weak, 55+♦-♣
3m = constructive m overcall, 6+ card suit

1♠-?
Dbl = powerdouble, 15+HCP any
1NT = 44+♦-♣
2♣ = 44+ ♥-♣
2♦ = 44+♥-♦
2♥ = normal ♥ overcall, (5)6+ card suit
2♠ = 3-suited with short ♠
2NT = weak, 55+♦-♣
3m = constructive m overcall, 6+ card suit

Over the powerdoubles we use Fantunes-style negatives followed by Gazzilli 2♣ relay to show 19+HCP (or 15-18HCP with ♣).