HSP: A Two-fer

"When I'm your partner, the secret to this game is to Help Stupid Partner." -- Steve B.

Dealer: S Vul: None	♠ A K Q 3 ♥ K Q 2 ♦ 10 9 8 6 3 ♣ 9
	N W E S	♠ J 10 7 5 4 2 ♥ A J 10 5 ♦ — ♣ K J 3

West	North	You	South
			2 ♦
Pass	5 ♦	All pass

Partner led the ♠ 9. Your partnership agreement is to lead the highest card from three small ("top of nothing"). So, partner might have started with any of three possible spade holdings: the singleton ♠ 9, a doubleton spade ♠ 9 x, or all three of the missing spades ♠ 9 8 6. Declarer called for the ♠ A from dummy. Your play?

ANSWER: Play the ♠ J, showing the ♠ 10 and suit-preference for hearts. By convention, signaling with an honor normally shows the next lower honor in sequence. Thus, playing the ♠ J shows that you hold the ♠ 10 as well. But here nobody cares that you have the ♠ 10. More importantly, an unusual high card (the ♠ J) shows suit-preference for the higher-ranking side suit.

• If partner had a singleton spade, let's hope she has the ♦ A and another diamond; she can win the first round of diamonds, and lead to your ♥ A to get her spade ruff for down one.
• If partner had a doubleton spade and the ♦ A, she'll need to lead a heart when she wins the first round of diamonds. Otherwise, declarer can discard heart losers on dummy's spades to make five if declarer's shape is 1=2=6=4 (or even six, if declarer has the ♣ A too).
• If partner had three spades to start with, declarer will discard a loser on the ♠ A and partner will realize you are showing her where your side-suit winners are.

THE PRINCIPLE: The play of an unnecessarily high card is always a suit-preference signal. You could have played the ♠ 7 as an encouraging signal in spades; the smaller spades still concealed in your hand ensure that partner would recognize the ♠ 7 as a "high encouraging" spade.

BONUS MINUTE: If you held the ♣ A instead of the ♥ A, you would have played the ♠ 2 as suit-preference for clubs. With so many spades in your hand, it is unlikely that a spade continuation is a possibility. More likely, partner had a singleton or declarer is void; in either case, partner will be trying to read your card as a suit-preference signal.

The complete hand:

	♠ A K Q 3 ♥ K Q 2 ♦ 10 9 8 6 3 ♣ 9
♠ 9 ♥ 9 8 6 3 ♦ A 7 ♣ Q 10 8 7 4 2	N W E S	♠ J 10 7 5 4 2 ♥ A J 10 5 ♦ — ♣ K J 3
	♠ 8 6 ♥ 7 4 ♦ K Q J 5 4 2 ♣ A 6 5

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Take Out Some Insurance

Suggested soundtrack: the Jimmy Reed blues classic from 1959, "Take Out Some Insurance"

In this installment, you and partner are playing "1430" key card responses to a 4NT query. There are five key cards: the four aces and the king of trump. Responses show 1 or 4 key cards (5♣), 3 or 0 key cards (5♦), or 2 key cards without (5♥) or with (5♠) the queen of trump.

Partner deals and opens. The opponents Pass throughout the auction.
You hold
  ♠ 10 7 5 3 2   ♥ 4   ♦ A K Q J 7   ♣ J 4.

Partner	You
1 ♠	2 NT1
3 ♣2	4 NT
5 ♣3	?

game forcing raise singleton or void in clubs one or four key cards

You have far too much playing strength for a 3 ♠ limit raise. A splinter raise of 4 ♥ is a possible bid, but partner will never expect five-card support and a solid source of tricks in diamonds in addition to the heart shortness.

You decided on a game-forcing Jacoby 2NT raise, fully expecting partner to show shortness in diamonds, but instead she showed a singleton or void in clubs. At most one club loser, at most one heart loser, a ten-card trump suit... even if partner has just a minimum opener, a slam seems very possible.

Your 4 NT bid asked for key cards; partner's 5♣ response showed either one or four key cards. Well! With four key cards over there, making 7 ♠ would be simple; draw trump, cash the outside aces, ruff dummy's club loser, and ruff the fifth diamond if necessary.

So, your call?

ANSWER: Cool your jets. Bid 5 ♠ to play. Because, what if partner has only one key card? Partner has no diamond honors, and at most one club; is it even possible that partner could have an opening bid with only one key card? Yes, it is possible, and if so even 5 ♠ might be too high. But if partner really does have four key cards, she will bid on over your signoff.

THE PRINCIPLE: When partner shows two possible holdings in a key card auction (one or four, or zero or three) and you can't make a slam across from the minimum, sign off at the five-level. That way, you take out some cheap insurance against partner having the minimum holding. If partner has the maximum holding, she'll keep the auction going.

For example, if partner has
  ♠ A Q J 8 6 4 ♥ K Q 9 6 ♦ 10 6 ♣ 9
she will pass 5 ♠ in a heartbeat.

But if she instead has
  ♠ A K J 8 6 4 ♥ A 9 6 5 ♦ 10 6 ♣ A
partner will bid 6 ♠ to let you know she has four key cards, and you can take over from there.

If partner has the extra key cards and a side-suit king, she should cue-bid the king if it is possible to show it without going past six in our trump suit. For example, holding
   ♠ A K J 8 6 4 ♥ A K 6 5 ♦ 10 6 ♣ A
partner will bid 6 ♥ to show four key cards and the king of hearts.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Room Measurements

South Deals None Vul	♠ 10 8 4 3 ♥ J 3 ♦ 8 6 ♣ A J 4 3 2
♠ A Q 7 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ Q 10 7 3 ♣ 8 5	N W E S

YOU	North	East	South
			2 ♣
Pass	2 ♦	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 ♣	Pass	3 ♦
Pass	3 NT	All pass

In a matchpoint game, declarer showed 22-24 high card points and denied a four-card major. You led your fourth-best heart. Dummy's ♥ J held, as partner followed with the ♥ 6 and declarer played the ♥ 10.

Declarer led the ♦ 6 from dummy, partner played the ♦ 2 and you won the trick with the queen over declarer's jack.

What now? Partner denied any heart honors. Maybe switch to a black suit? If partner has the ♣ K, she can get in and lead spades through declarer to your ace-queen. If partner has the ♠ K, leading spades will hold declarer to nine tricks. What do you lead now?

ANSWER: Lead a heart. Partner doesn't have a king. Declarer's 2 NT rebid showed at least 22 high card points. You have 10 HCP, and dummy has 6. That accounts for 38 points, so partner has at most two points: a queen, or two jacks. If declarer has a full 24, partner doesn't have any face cards at all!

THE PRINCIPLE: When declarer has indicated a specific point-count range, use that information to figure out how many high card points partner can have. Add your point count to dummy's and declarer's; the rest must be in partner's hand. This is commonly referred to as "how much room (for high cards) is there". With at most 2 points, there is no room for a king in partner's hand. You can use the same principle as declarer: if one defender has shown a specific range during the auction, you can similarly estimate the strength in the other defender's hand.

Why continue hearts? Declarer clearly has all the kings. So, leading a spade gives up a trick. If partner has the ♣ Q (there is room in her hand), leading a club will finesse partner's queen rather than making declarer guess how to play the club suit. (If partner has the ♣ Q 10 9, she doesn't need your help.) Underleading your ♦ 10 would give up a diamond trick if declarer originally held ♦ A K J 9. You know that declarer has only two hearts remaining -- the ace and king -- because she denied a four-card heart suit during the auction, and partner denied a heart honor at trick one. So declarer started with the ♥ A K 10; leading a heart is a safe exit, any other suit lead has nothing to gain and might give up a trick. The full hand:

	♠ 10 8 4 3 ♥ J 3 ♦ 8 6 ♣ A J 4 3 2
♠ A Q 7 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ Q 10 7 3 ♣ 8 5	N W E S	♠ J 6 2 ♥ 9 7 6 5 ♦ 9 5 2 ♣ 10 9 7
	♠ K 9 5 ♥ A K 10 ♦ A K J 4 ♣ K Q 6

BONUS MINUTE: Your best chance to defeat the contract is that either declarer bid 2NT with a singleton ♠ K, or else upgraded a 21-count with only the jack-small of spades (leaving room for partner to hold the king). To take advantage of those possibilities, you'd have to play ♠ A and then ♠ Q; but if you're wrong, declarer makes an extra overtrick. Those are very specific and unlikely cases; at matchpoints it is better to play the percentages and lead a heart. However, playing rubber bridge or IMP scoring you usually ignore overtricks and take the best chance to defeat the contract, however unlikely; here, you might go for broke with the ♠ A Q of spades and let declarer make six this time.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Counting Fingers

South Deals None Vul	♠ A K 9 8 ♥ K 5 4 ♦ A 10 8 7 ♣ 5 2
♠ 7 5 2 ♥ 8 7 3 ♦ 9 5 3 ♣ K J 9 7	N W E S

East	South	You	North
			1 ♦
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 NT1	Pass	3 NT
All pass

11-12 HCP

Sitting West, you led the ♣ 7 against an apparently normal 3 NT contract. Good news! Partner played the ♣ A and declarer the ♣ 4.

On partner's ♣ 8 return, declarer played the ♣ 10 and you of course won the trick with the jack. Now what? With no other entries to your hand, is it time to cash your club winners?

ANSWER: How many fingers is partner holding up? She'd better not be holding up any; that would be cheating. But her ♣ 8 did say that she started with only two or three clubs, and it also denied the ♣ Q. So declarer must have the queen and at least one more club. You have the king-nine over declarer's queen-small; don't continue clubs and give declarer a trick!

THE PRINCIPLE: When partner returns your led suit against a notrump contract, she will lead her highest remaining card in the suit unless she started with four or more. In that case she would lead her original fourth-best. Use that information to figure out what declarer's holding is likely to be.

Considering the clubs we haven't seen yet, what was partner's original holding?

• if partner had ♣ A 8 6 3, she would have returned the three (original fourth-best)
• if she had ♣ A 8 6 or ♣ A 8 3, she would return the eight (highest remaining)
• if she had ♣ A Q 8, she would have returned the queen (highest remaining)
• if she had ♣ A Q 8 6 or ♣ A Q 8 3, she would have returned the six or three (fourth-best)
• if she had ♣ A 8, she returns the eight of course.

So it is pretty clear that partner doesn't have the ♣ Q. You can't tell whether she started with two or three clubs. If partner does regain the lead, partner might have another club to lead for down one. If partner doesn't regain the lead or doesn't have a third club, it is still likely that declarer will have to give you a club trick or two later in the play.

BONUS MINUTE: If not a third round of clubs, then what should you lead? Note that partner originally had 10-11 HCP, based on South's 2 NT call and the rest of the points you can see. So partner still has some strength somewhere. You'd rather not give declarer a free finesse, so leading to dummy's strength seems safest. Declarer denied holding four spades, so a spade it should be.

	♠ A K 9 8 ♥ K 5 4 ♦ A 10 8 7 ♣ 5 2
♠ 7 5 2 ♥ 8 7 3 ♦ 9 5 3 ♣ K J 9 7	N W E S	♠ Q J 10 4 ♥ Q J 10 ♦ J 6 4 ♣ A 8 3
	♠ 6 3 ♥ A 9 6 2 ♦ K Q 2 ♣ Q 10 6 4

Declarer cannot make nine tricks unless you play a third round of clubs.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

HSP: Useful Losers

"When I'm your partner, the secret to this game is to Help Stupid Partner." -- Steve B.

	♠ A K Q J ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K 7 3 ♣ J 5 4
	N W E S	♠ 10 9 5 2 ♥ A 6 4 2 ♦ Q 10 2 ♣ 8 7

West	North	You	South
	1 ♦	Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 NT
All pass

Continuing from the previous post... Partner led the ♥ 5 against 3 NT. You played the ♥ A and returned your original fourth-best ♥ 2 to partner's jack. Partner then cashed the ♥ K (dropping declarer's queen) and the ♥ 9.

After four heart tricks for your side, partner exits with the ♠ 8. What do you play?

ANSWER: Play the ♠ 10, and then the ♠ 9, and the ♠ 5, and the ♠ 2, to tell partner you have a useful diamond holding. Following suit with unnecessary high cards, even though they are losers, signals to partner that you have something in the other higher-ranking suit. Playing your spades from the bottom up would indicate a useful holding in the lower-ranking suit. Playing your spades from the middle would suggest that you have nothing else useful in your hand.

	♠ A K Q J ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K 7 3 ♣ J 5 4
♠ 8 6 ♥ K J 9 5 ♦ J 8 6 4 ♣ Q 9 2	N W E S	♠ 10 9 5 2 ♥ A 6 4 2 ♦ Q 10 2 ♣ 8 7
	♠ 7 4 3 ♥ Q 10 7 ♦ 9 5 ♣ A K 10 6 3

Notice that when declarer plays the third and fourth rounds of spades, partner will have a discarding problem. If you have a club honor, she can safely discard two clubs, baring the queen in order to protect diamonds. If you have diamonds guarded, she can discard diamonds in order to protect the club queen. But from her hand she can't tell which is right; you need to tell partner your story.

THE PRINCIPLE: On defense, every card you play should tell a story for partner. And partner should be looking for the story. It might be an exciting story. It might be a boring story. Sometimes it will be a pointless story, or a story of no consequence. But always strive to tell a story for partner; even your losers have a story to tell.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: I took this hand from Bobby Wolff's newspaper column and online blog Bridge With The Aces. Bobby in turn took the hand from Mike Lawrence's book Tips on Cardplay.

BONUS MINUTE: When partner played the ♥ K and then the ♥ 9, you could have played the ♥ 6 and then the ♥ 4 to suggest something useful in a higher-ranking suit. Partner already knows the count in hearts. Since you are probably not interested in dummy's solid spades, your high-low would thus suggest the other higher-ranking suit, diamonds.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?

North Deals None Vul	♠ A K Q J ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K 7 3 ♣ J 5 4
	N W E S	♠ 10 9 5 2 ♥ A 6 4 2 ♦ Q 10 2 ♣ 8 7

West	North	You	South
	1 ♦	Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 NT
All pass

Partner led the ♥ 5 against 3 NT. Against notrump, you and your partner lead fourth-best from length, and high from three small ("top of nothing"). After noticing that North bid her hand well to show exactly 18-19 balanced HCP, you play the ♥ A and declarer plays the ♥ 7.

Of course you will return a heart. You already knew that. Since the ♥ 5 is the lowest outstanding heart, it was clearly a fourth-best lead. Returning partner's suit is almost automatic, unless there is a glaring reason to do something else.

But... which heart?

ANSWER: Lead the ♥ 2 to show that you originally held four hearts.

THE PRINCIPLE: If partner led from length against notrump, when returning her suit you should return
- the highest remaining card from an original three-card holding
- the original fourth-best card from an original holding of four or more
This is the standard way to handle partner's suit at notrump. It is also known as "present count", as in you presently have a doubleton (lead high) or three (lead low). Partner can then figure out how many cards declarer has, and whether to cash out the suit or try to get back to your hand for another lead through declarer. Note that there are exceptions to "original fourth-best" if you have a useful honor holding and need to instead lead a "pusher" through declarer.

A couple of follow-up questions, and we're done for this time...

Partner already knew that declarer didn't start with four hearts. How?
ANSWER: Declarer bid 1 NT in response to 1 ♦, denying a four-card major. Yes, you already knew that too.

After your lead, partner will know that declarer started with exactly three hearts. How?
ANSWER: Your ♥ 2 is original fourth-best. There are no lower hearts than the deuce, so you held exactly four hearts. Dummy had two hearts to begin with, partner led from a four-card suit... well, you can do the arithmetic and so can partner.

And no, you can't hold up fingers to tell partner how many! We're not finished with this hand, stay tuned...

-- Ray

Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

So What If They Do?

None Vul	♠ K 7 6 5 4 ♥ A J 10 4 ♦ 10 7 ♣ 7 2
	N W E S
	♠ 9 ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K J 9 8 6 ♣ A K 9 4

West	North	East	You
		Pass	1 ♦
1 ♠	Dbl	Pass	2 ♣
2 ♠	Dbl	Pass	3 ♦
All pass

You are playing IMP scoring; the strategy is basically the same as rubber bridge. West leads the ♥ 9. Other than wishing you were in 3NT, what is your plan? How does that diamond finesse look to you?

Let's take a walk through Declarer's Arch: Analyze. Review. Count. How?

Analyze The Lead
What is the ♥ 9 about? Is it a singleton?
ANSWER: Probably not. If it was singleton, East would have king-queen-sixth of hearts and probably would have opened 2 ♥. (These opponents do open a weak two with 5 HCP). The nine is the highest outstanding spot card, so it can't be fourth best. Leading the nine from king-queen-nine or any honor doubleton seems bizarre, so West probably has just some small hearts. You might want to look at the opponents' convention card to see what they lead from three small or four small. (I looked for you; these opponents lead low.) So it appears to be a doubleton heart. And it's almost a certainty that both heart honors are on your right.

Why didn't West lead spades, after bidding them twice? The king is in dummy. West almost certainly has the ace-queen, and probably the jack; not an attractive holding to lead from.

Review The Auction
West bid spades twice all by her lonesome, and East never even peeped. Who has the missing minor suit honors?
ANSWER: West is a favorite to hold all the minor suit honors. East has the king and queen of hearts (inferred from the lead). West surely has at least six spades in this auction. West could have preempted 2 ♠ with ace-queen-sixth, but didn't. That suggests that she thought her hand was too strong for a preempt, and strong enough to overcall and then rebid at the two-level.

Count Your Tricks
You're in a suit contract, so count your losers...
♠: one loser, unavoidable
♥: one loser, unavoidable
♦: maybe one loser, depending on the queen
♣: two losers unless we can ruff one or both of them.

Five losers is one loser too many...

How To Play The Hand?

If the diamond finesse works, that would eliminate a diamond loser. But if the diamond finesse loses, a savvy West will return a diamond to clear dummy's trumps and you will be stuck with two club losers. A 50-50 chance for the finesse? Oh, yeah, we just decided that West likely has the minor suit honors; definitely not a 50% chance of success!

If the finesse is likely to lose, what about playing for a doubleton ♦Q? With five diamonds outstanding, the probability of a doubleton queen -- or any other specific card being doubleton -- is about 34%. That's the basis for the adage "eight ever, nine ever" regarding finesses. But this looks like an "eight never" situation because West is likely to hold the queen. Only a 34% chance here, bleah!

So, with a probable diamond loser, we need to ruff at least one club. As long as both opponents have at least two clubs (92% chance for a 5-2 or 4-3 split), you can play ace and king of clubs and then ruff a club loser or two in dummy.

But what if the clubs are split 5-2 and they overruff dummy on the third round of clubs? What if they overruff on the fourth round of clubs?

ANSWER: So what if they do!! Take a look at your diamond spots. The only card they can overruff with is the queen. You expect them to score the queen anyway. Let them use their winner to ruff one of your losers! 

So play the ♥ A, and get rid of a club loser before you draw trump. A 92% chance sounds really good to me... The complete hand:  

	♠ K 7 6 5 4 ♥ A J 10 4 ♦ 10 7 ♣ 7 2
♠ A Q J 10 8 2 ♥ 9 6 ♦ Q 3 ♣ Q J 3	N W E S	♠ 3 ♥ K Q 7 5 2 ♦ 5 4 2 ♣ 10 8 6 5
	♠ 9 ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K J 9 8 6 ♣ A K 9 4

Note that on the actual layout, 2 ♠ will be down two with careful defense. But at IMPs, as at rubber bridge, it can be risky to double a partscore contract into game; the scoring odds are such that you need to be very confident of a set.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)