Nice breaks

Here's a funny one from a club evening:

Dealer: South Vul: NS Scoring: MP	♠ xxxx ♥ AJ9xxxx ♦ x ♣ J
♠ K ♥ Kxx ♦ AKQJxx ♣ xxx		♠ AQJxxx ♥ QTx ♦ - ♣ AQxx
	♠ xx ♥ - ♦ T9xxxx ♣ KTxxx

I was sitting South and saw the opponents mess up the auction. They ended up in 3NT by West. Partner lead a ♥ and they made +3. When we saw the scoresheet somehow we got a bottom: opponents usually got to 6♠ which is easily defeated...

Those were some really poor breaks in 6♠, and West only has 1 entry to try his luck in ♦. However, these poor breaks mean 6NT is laydown, whatever partner leads! Even if he leads ♣J, declarer can make it if he plays ♣A, ♠K, ♦AKQJ discarding his ♣s and ♥ to the Q to finish off with the ♠s. Partner can't return a ♣. Question remains if ♣Ace at trick one is the right play...

"Either-Or" squeeze

Here's an interesting hand from Friday:

Dealer: North Vul: EW Scoring: MP	♠ xx ♥ AQJxx ♦ A9xx ♣ AT
♠ Jxx ♥ xxx ♦ KQTx ♣ 9xx		♠ Kxx ♥ Txxx ♦ xx ♣ Q8xx
	♠ AQT9x ♥ K ♦ Jxx ♣ KJxx

We had a relay auction where I showed a 5-1-3-4 distribution and GF opposite 15+HCP. I ended up playing 3NT by South, and LHO lead ♦K.

I thought it was a good idea to duck, since it's almost a real "bath coup". LHO switched to ♣ after considerable thought. It's quite obvious to play the T, for the Q and my King. The switch didn't matter much, since there's only 1 useful way to finesse ♣ anyway. Now I tested the ♥s: ♥K, followed by ♣A and 2 more ♥s. Both opponents follow nicely, so it's time to think about overtricks.

I was considering my squeeze possibilities, and played a small ♠. RHO played his ♠K leaving me no choice than to play my Ace. Now I cashed ♣J (LHO playing the 9) discarding a ♦, ♦J (covered) to the Ace and ran my ♥s. This is a simple squeeze played like a double squeeze, also known as an "Either-Or" squeeze. Whoever has ♠J will have to concede it, since LHO has to guard the virtual ♠Jx and ♦, and RHO has to keep the virtual ♠Jx and ♣. We don't care who we squeeze, but it works with both opponents.

Also interesting would it have been if RHO played small. Now there are 2 possible lines:
1. play the Queen, and if it works use a double squeeze to get to 12 tricks
2. play the T hoping for RHO having ♠KJx
Obviously line 1 is better. If RHO has ♠KJx he'll be caught in a simple squeeze later on anyway.

By playing ♠K my RHO gave me an opportunity to add this one to my list.

Another "wrong" contract

Here's one from a few days ago. Playing with an intermediate partner against intermediate players, we got this game:

Dealer: North Vul: EW Scoring: MP	♠ AKQxx ♥ ATx ♦ Ax ♣ 8x
♠ 7x ♥ xxx ♦ Qxxxxx ♣ Qxx		♠ Txx ♥ K ♦ Kxx ♣ AKTxxx
	♠ J98 ♥ QJ98xx ♦ Jx ♣ xx

The auction went:
1♠ - 2♣ - 2♥ - 3♣
3♥ - pass - pass - pass

You may disagree with the 2♥ bid, it's non-forcing and I thought the hand would play better in ♥ than in ♠. Partner somehow got scared and only bid 3♥ with this beauty. I didn't have much to say with my garbage...

Anyway, we ended up in 3♥ played by South, instead of 4♥ or 4♠. We had to play this contract, so lets make the best out of it. LHO started with ♠7, proving his poor skills.

It's typical in MP to go for the best score. Chances are low that we'll get a good score here since we're in the wrong contract (the field will probably bid 4♥) so the only possibility to score some big ones is when ♥K is offside and 4♥ can be defeated. That's why I started with ♥A, luckily dropping the K! A moment of joy, but the play is not over yet.

We have 12 top tricks now, so there might be a squeeze or fake squeeze in there. A real squeeze is quite hard with ♣8 and ♦J as menaces. Nevertheless, the best chance to fool the opponents was to go for a ruffing squeeze. Cashing all but 1 ♥, followed by 5 ♠s is probably the best shot. This is the end position:
♦ A
♣ 8x

♥ x
♦ Jx
Nobody discarded a high ♦, but they kept on discarding ♣. Ruffing the small ♣ and using ♦A as an entry got me to 13 tricks.

Obviously the opponents made critical errors, but the point of cashing ♥A is still valid after a ♣ lead. The ruffing squeeze didn't have much chance of success, but in function of the opponents you can always give them a chance to make mistakes. All RHO had to do is count the trumps and the ♣s, so she'd know that discarding a ♣ would be fatal.

Wrong contract isn't always a disaster

I haven't had much interesting hands lately. This is the only interesting one, where we ended up in the wrong contract:

Dealer: North Vul: Both Scoring: imps	♠ T875 ♥ 654 ♦ A82 ♣ A43
♠ KQ643 ♥ KJ93 ♦ T ♣ QT6		♠ J92 ♥ AQ82 ♦ 43 ♣ 9852
	♠ A ♥ T7 ♦ KQJ9765 ♣ KJ7

The auction went:
pass - pass - 1♦ - Dbl
pass - 1♥ - 3♦ - pass
3♥ - pass - 4♦ - pass
5♦ - all pass

I considered a 3♦ opening immediately since partner passed, but the hand was just too strong. On the next round, since partner passed (no RDbl), it was probably best to jump in ♦ for several reasons. Now partner came in action and later regretted he asked for a ♥ stopper instead of hoping for a 4-4 ♥ split. 3NT is laydown, 5♦ can be defeated. Anyway, after trick 2 I knew I was pretty safe.

LHO started with a ♥ to his partner's Ace. He made the wrong choice. Think about it: what is the best continuation and why?

He switched to a small ♠, after which it was pretty easy to squeeze LHO in ♠ and ♣. Thanks to the Double and the lead I knew RHO had some values left in ♥, so the ♣ finesse would not work.
A ♣ switch can ruin my communications for a squeeze later on, but I wonder how he could know to switch ♣ and not ♠. Even if he plays a ♣ now, he needs to overtake ♥J and return another ♣ in the next trick.

So I took ♠A and played my last ♥, rectifying the count. LHO took his J (which held) and tried ♠K which I ruffed. I only needed to ruff 2 ♠s to set up ♠T as a menace, to combine with my extended ♣ menace, ♣A and ♣K taking care of the communication. ♣K is not necessary, but the Ace is vital.

After ruffing one more ♠ and running ♦s, LHO got trouble. He had to keep ♠Q and ♣QTx. He tried the ♣, but that didn't help, the hand was an open book. ♣A, followed ♣K pinned the Q and 5♦=.

As you can see, I don't need ♣K in the end game because it's a positional squeeze: if LHO discards a ♣ my ♠T is high, otherwise I discard ♠ and pin the ♣Q.