Cup of Flanders

Yesterday me and my team played a great tournament. Swiss movement, playing at table 1 and 2 the entire afternoon, but lost our final match 25-5 and finished 8th. One can say the afternoon was 1 round too long... Anyway, we had a great time and played solid bridge against good players all day long.

Here's one of the more spectacular hands:
♠ KJ
♥ Axx
♦ AKQxxxx
♣ x

♠ Axxxx
♥ -
♦ T9x
♣ Axxxx

Playing MOSCITO, my partner started the auction:
1♣! - Dbl! - 1♥! - 2♥!
3♦ - pass - 3♥ - pass
3♠ - pass - 4♦ - pass
4NT - pass - 5NT! - pass
7♦ - all pass

1♣ showed 15+HCP any hand
Dbl showed either ♦s or both Majors
1♥ showed GF with 4+♠
2♥ was P/C
5NT shows an even number of keycards and a useful void

Nothing really spectacular imo, but somehow I didn't hear anyone else say they found grand on this hand. I think they got heavier competition in ♥ than we did, a result of the opponents' defense against a strong ♣. If they would've been able to show both Majors without the possibility of a ♦ suit, we probably would've started with finding our fit at the 5-level... We got lucky here.
Suction has it's disadvantages, especially if your partner doesn't have a fit for the possible 1-suiter.

Another one, we got lucky here:
♠ xx
♥ Ax
♦ QJxx
♣ KJTxx

♠ Jx
♥ KQxxx
♦ Ax
♣ Q9xx

Funny auction, the board contained 50hcp:
1♠! - 2♠ - Dbl - 3♦!
pass - 3♠ - Dbl - pass
4♣ - pass - 4♥ - pass
pass - pass

1♠ shows 9-15HCP, 4+♦, can have longer ♣, unbalanced.
3♦ was invite+ with a ♠ fit.
Both doubles were takeout.

LHO started with ♣8 (from a doubleton) and the defense was over since ♥ were 3-3 and ♣ were 2-2. If he leads the normal ♠, I would've gone off since a ♦ switch through my Ace is deadly if ♣A is still in play.

Hand which caused some discussion

Here's a hand from a club evening. I was kibitzing since we were bye, and I saw a good player mess up the hand. Lets see if you can do better.

♠ AKxxx
♥ Qx
♦ KJxx
♣ xx

♠ x
♥ K98xx
♦ Ax
♣ AKQxx

Opponents were silent, the good player (but usually not 100% concentrated on club evenings) sitting in South, playing with his wife. He likes to gamble a bit on club evenings, which explains the auction:
1♠ - pass - 2♥ - pass
2♠ - pass - 3♣ - pass
3♦! - pass - 6♣ - pass
6♥ - Dbl - 6NT - pass
pass - pass
(3♦ is natural, NOT 4th suit forcing)

After the 6♣ bid, North was thinking and sighing before bidding 6♥. Anyway, you're in 6NT and you get a small ♦ as lead. Plan the play.

Declarer made a few errors. He started with ♦J which held the trick. However, this blocks the hands completely. Next he played a ♥ from dummy to his King, knowing RHO has the Ace. This makes sure you can't even rectify the count for a squeeze. In the end he had to concede 2 tricks for -1.

If you give the hand a good look, you should be able to find a good line of play. You have 11 tricks if ♦Q is onside (good chance after this lead) and ♣s behave. This is your only chance anyway... So suppose all minor cards are nicely divided, you need one more trick. You have the perfect setting for a double squeeze, and you can rectify the count easily by conceiding ♥A. You'll have a ♦ menace against West and a ♥ menace against East, with ♠ working as your double menace. The biggest problem will be communication. That's why you shouldn't finesse ♦ at trick one, but just play low to your Ace. Now you're not in trouble whenever opponents play ♠. Next, as planned, we play ♥ to the Q, giving RHO a choice: either he takes and rectifies the count, or he ducks and you have your 12 tricks by playing a low ♥ back to your King (still only when the minors behave).

It's probably more easy to follow if you can see all the hands now:

Dealer: North Vul: n/a Scoring: MP	♠ AKxxx ♥ Qx ♦ KJxx ♣ xx
♠ Jxx ♥ Jx ♦ QTxxx ♣ Jxx		♠ Qxxx ♥ ATxx ♦ xx ♣ xxx
	♠ x ♥ K98xx ♦ Ax ♣ AKQxx

1) Suppose RHO takes ♥A and returns a ♥:
You can't come back to your hand in the end, so the squeeze card should be in South. This means you should play ♦s first, followed by the ♣s, ending with
♠ AKx
♥ -
♦ x
♣ -

♠ x
♥ 98
♦ -
♣ x
On the last ♣, LHO has to part with a ♠, you discard the small ♦ which has done his work, and RHO can't keep his high ♥ and 3 ♠s. A simultanous double squeeze gives you your 12th trick and a top score.

2) What if RHO takes ♥A and returns a ♠:
Now the cards lay a bit different. You can't go to dummy, except with ♦. This means you should play your ♣s before your ♦s! This will result in a non-simultanous double squeeze. West will be squeezed first, East will be next. The position where West has to surrender is quite early:
♠ Kx
♥ x
♦ KJx
♣ -

♠ -
♥ K98x
♦ x
♣ x
West still has ♠Jx, ♥J and ♦QTx. He can't part with a ♥ or a ♦, so he discards a ♠. Since LHO didn't discard his ♦, we throw one from the dummy. Now we still have to squeeze RHO in both Majors. Finesse the ♦J, and on the play of ♦K RHO is caught in a simple squeeze in the Majors.
♠ Kx
♥ x
♦ K
♣ -

♠ -
♥ K98x
♦ -
♣ -
RHO still has ♠Qx and ♥Tx and has to unguard one of the suits.

I was convinced there was always a double squeeze, but not everyone agreed. I checked with GIB and I was proved to be right. Now that you know how to play the hand after a ♦ lead, can you figure out what to lead with West's hand to defeat the contract?

Only a spade lead will kill the squeeze, because EW can ruin all communications required for the squeeze. If South tries to rectify the count by playing ♥Q, RHO should take his Ace and return ♥ immediately. Now declarer can't go from one hand to the other after the squeeze card, and this means there can't be any squeeze anymore.

My first "Zia cuebid"

Yesterday I was training for the upcoming Belgian Championship for university students. There were a few interesting hands, but this one was my favorite:

Dealer: North Vul: NS Scoring: imps	♠ AK64 ♥ A ♦ K98 ♣ J7542
♠ JT5 ♥ J9643 ♦ Q43 ♣ T8		♠ 9732 ♥ KQ87 ♦ T76 ♣ K3
	♠ Q8 ♥ T52 ♦ AJ52 ♣ AQ96

The auction went as follows (opponents silent):
1♣ - 1NT (14+ nat or 15+ bal - GF relay)
2♠ - 2NT (5+♣ 4+♠ - relay)
3♦ - 3♥ (14-17HCP, 5431 - relay)
3NT - 4♣ (4-1-3-5 distribution exactly - sets trump)
4♦ - 4♥! (even number of keycards - fake cuebid!)
4♠ - 6♣ (cue - woohoo)

It's not a pure Zia cue since it didn't ruin the opponent's lead. Because of our methods however, I had to make a fake cuebid to figure out if partner had a ♠ cue, because otherwise I would give him a much bigger problem. This is due to the kickback Turbo. If I would bid 4NT to deny a ♠ cue and show a ♦ cue, then partner has to go past 5♣ to show a ♠ cue, but he doesn't have the ♣Q which sort of forbids partner to go past 5♣ as well. This dilemma is quite unsolvable, and I can foresee it since I hold the ♣Q myself. So why make it hard on partner when you have a bid which makes it easy for him?

Note that partner already showed a singleton ♥, so we already know that we have a ♥ cue. No harm done. Nobody else in the main bridge lobby (BBO) found this slam. :-)

Tight defense

Playing imps, the auction went (West dealer, EW vulnerable):
1NT - 2♣* - pass - 2♦*
pass - pass - Dbl - pass
2♠ - pass - pass - pass

2♣ shows either ♦ or both Majors
2♦ is "Pass or Correct"

Partner leads ♦J and you see following dummy:
♠ 6542
♥ KQ7
♦ 5
♣ Q8653

You hold:
♠ A83
♥ JT953
♦ A8
♣ T92

Obviously you take ♦A at trick 1.

How do you plan the defense?

Question is how you'll defeat this contract. EW have 22-24HCP, this leaves partner with 7-9HCP. You already know partner doesn't have ♦K or ♦Q. LHO might have passed with 4 ♦s from KQ, so he probably has only 3 ♦s. This also explains partner's intervention: a poor but long suit. So his values must be somewhere else. The only way to defeat this contract seems if he has good trumps and an Ace. Partner will have 2 trumps at most, so chances are low. However, ♥A or ♣A or ♣K won't run away on declarer's ♦s. We can overruff dummy, so I think the best opportunity we have is to continue a ♦ and hope.

Here's the full deal:

Dealer: West Vul: EW Scoring: imps	♠ KJ ♥ 62 ♦ JT97643 ♣ A7
♠ QT97 ♥ A84 ♦ KQ2 ♣ KJ4		♠ 6542 ♥ KQ7 ♦ 5 ♣ Q8653
	♠ A83 ♥ JT953 ♦ A8 ♣ T92

This is what should happen: declarer plays a ♥ to the K and plays a low trump. You play low and declarer inserts the Ten for partner's Jack. Partner also knows you don't have any ♦s left so he'll play his lowest remaining ♦ to show a ♣ suit preference. You can ruff with the 8, return a ♣ to partner's Ace who returns another ♦ (to promote his ♠K if you have the Q) which you ruff with the Ace. Even better!

Only a dummy reversal for the defenders gets this contract down. ♦A, ♣
A and 4 ♠ tricks is just enough.

Safety first

This is one that came up at a partnership bidding table (we were practicing for an upcoming tournament with imps scoring):
♠ 3
♥ A
♦ JT984
♣ AKJ632

♠ AKT4
♥ K95
♦ 653
♣ T98

The auction is irrelevant, we ended up in 3NT played by South. There are some blockages, and if opponents start with a ♠ lead, all communication has been destroyed. So what are your thoughts?

A 4-0 ♣ split is deadly, but any 3-1 split you should try to handle. Meanwhile you need to get to dummy after unblocking ♥A, and you'll need to get back to your ♣s as well, without losing control of the hand! Any plans?

After taking ♠A there's 1 line which is safer than all others: you start by unblocking ♥A and you play a low ♣ to dummy! Whoever has ♣Q gets a trick, but 9 tricks are assured: 2♠s, 2♥s and 5♣s. Opponents can't make 5 tricks before us, because the ♦s will only produce 3 tricks, plus ♣Q. 3NT laydown.

Note that even if ♣s are 2-2 and you're planning to cash ♣AK, unblocking ♥A makes sure the ♣s block (you can either stay in the hand or go to dummy, but that's the last thing you'll do)! So you would need to cash ♠AK, which is full of risks, and you can only get to 9 tricks anyway...

Only one question remains: how do you play this at MatchPoints? Initially I thought you can make 10 tricks only if you catch ♣Q singleton, all other splits make you go down after cashing ♣A. So I thought you should still go for the safety of 9 tricks. However, Michael (see the comments) got me to realise I was wrong, cashing is better in more than 50% of the hands (unless my calculations were wrong).