Help Stupid Partner, Episode 2

My friend Steve liked to say, "When I'm your partner, the secret to this game is Help Stupid Partner." Here's a classic situation that came up on Monday evening.

Matchpoints

Vulnerable: N-S

Dealer: West

You are East, holding  ♠ Q 8  ♥ 7 6 4  ♦ K 8 7 5  ♣ A 10 9 4   The auction proceeds

West	North	East (you)	South
Pass Pass All pass	Pass 1 ♠	Pass Pass	1 ♥ 4 ♥

North
♠ A J 7 6 5 ♥ 5 ♦ J 9 6 3 2   ♣ 7 5
	East (you)
	♠ Q 8 ♥ 7 6 4 ♦ K 8 7 5 ♣ A 10 9 4

Partner leads the ♦Q, declarer plays the 2 from dummy. Your play?

ANSWER:  Play the ♦5, showing suit preference for clubs. With the ♦J showing in dummy, partner’s lead is an obvious singleton; she’s hoping for a diamond ruff. Your mission is to tell her that you have a club entry in your hand.

THE PRINCIPLE: When continuing the suit is clearly not an option, your play is a suit preference signal.  A high card shows preference for the higher-ranking suit, a low card indicates the lower-ranking suit. In this case, you want to tell partner about the ♣A  – the lower-ranking of the other two non-trump suits – so play your lowest diamond. 

Note that if the ♦J was not showing in dummy, you wouldn't know that partner led a singleton. In that case, it would be an attitude situation, and you would have played the ♦8: encouraging, suggesting the ♦K or ♦A.

The full deal (hands rotated from their original positions):

	North
	♠ A J 7 6 5 ♥ 5 ♦ J 9 6 3 2   ♣ 7 5
West		East (you)
♠ 10 9 4 2    ♥ J 9 ♦ Q ♣ K J 8 6 3 2		♠ Q 8 ♥ 7 6 4 ♦ K 8 7 5 ♣ A 10 9 4
	South
	♠ K 3 ♥ A K Q 10 8 3 2 ♦ A 10 4  ♣ Q

Alas, your play doesn't matter on this hand; declarer draws trumps and partner never gets a diamond ruff. But it might matter the next time around, so be ready!

Counting to eleven

With thirteen cards in each suit it’s always important to count to 13. Sometimes I mess up a hand by mistakenly quitting at twelve. But eleven can be a useful number…

North

♠ Q 7 ♥ Q 6 5 4 ♦ A J 10 9   ♣ J 10 3

South (You)

♠ A K 9 8 ♥ K 3 ♦ Q 8 4  ♣ K 7 4 2

You	Partner
1 NT 2 ♠	2 ♣ 3 NT

After a routine auction, you are declarer in 3NT. West leads the ♣6. You play dummy’s  J, East follows with the 8 and you the 2. How many more club tricks can you take?

ANSWER:  One, but only if you lead low twice from your hand. West gets two club tricks before you get yours. There’s no time for that!  West is marked with the ♣ A Q 9, and maybe the 5 as well.

THE PRINCIPLE:  When a lead appears to be fourth-best, use the Rule of Eleven to assess the rest of the suit. Subtract the card led  –  the six, in this case  –  from eleven to find out how many other higher cards are in the other three hands. So (11 – 6) = 5 cards that are higher than the card led. You have 4 of them – the J 10 in dummy, K 7 in your hand – and East played the 8. All five cards are accounted for, so West must have the remaining high clubs. West led fourth best from A Q 9 6, or maybe A Q 9 6 5. East’s play of the 8 looks a lot like a singleton, giving West A Q 9 6 5 originally; but note that an expert East will play the 8 from doubleton 8 5.

The Rule of Eleven works for the defense too! East can do the same calculation: (11 – 6) = 5 cards higher than the 6 in her hand, dummy, and declarer. East can see the J 10 in dummy, the 8 in her hand, and thus know that declarer started with two cards higher than the 6.

So the club suit is a waste of your time, you'll need to find the other eight tricks elsewhere.  And if you care to stick around for more even though my five minutes are up, here's a more difficult problem...

Now that you know the club suit is a waste of your time, can you make 3NT with the ♦K on your right? Board 24 on Monday evening, 3NT was down one at every table. At the time I thought it was makeable by setting up the fourth spade, but on closer review that doesn't work unless one of the defenders carelessly discards a spade.

The full deal (hands rotated)

	North
	♠ Q 7 ♥ Q 6 5 4 ♦ A J 10 9   ♣ J 10 3
West		East
♠ J 6 3   ♥ 9 8 2 ♦ 7 3 ♣ A Q 9 6 5		♠ 10 5 4 2 ♥ A J 10 7 ♦ K 6 5 2 ♣ 8
	South (you)
	♠ A K 9 8 ♥ K 3 ♦ Q 8 4  ♣ K 7 4 2

Contract: 3NT

Opening lead: ♣6

Looking at all four hands, there is indeed a way to always make 3NT, but it wasn't obvious to me. Your first best option is picking up the diamond suit, so

• heart to your king
• lose the diamond finesse (darn!)
• win the diamond or spade return in dummy (East doesn't dare return a heart)
• play the remaining diamonds, discarding clubs from your hand
• play the remaining spades, discarding clubs from dummy. East wins the fourth round with the ♠10

	North
	♠ -- ♥ Q 6 5  ♦ --   ♣ --
West		East (on lead)
♠ --   ♥ 9 ♦ --  ♣ A Q		♠ -- ♥ A J 7 ♦ --  ♣ --
	South (you)
	♠ -- ♥ 3 ♦ --   ♣ K 7

East is end-played and must give you a heart trick, making three. East could have broken up the endplay by ditching the ♠10 on the third round of spades, but that just gives you a fourth spade trick instead. Leading a heart at trick two seems dangerous compared to playing two rounds of spades ending in your hand. It took me an hour to figure this out at home. If you have an analysis for why to take this line of play at the table – without seeing all four hands – I'd love to hear it.

Visions of grandeur

Continuing with our monster six-five hand… matchpoints, not vulnerable.

♠ A K J x x    ♥ x x   ♦ --   ♣ A K Q J 10 x

You	Partner
1 ♣ 2 ♠ 3 ♠ 4 ♠ ?	1 ♥ 2 NT 4 ♦ 5 ♥

You showed a strong hand with six-five distribution. Partner perked up by bidding 4 ♦,  a cue-bid showing the ace of diamonds and implying support for spades. The diamond ace doesn’t do much for your hand, though. Your 4 ♠ call is ambiguous as either a sign-off or a cue-bid for the ace of spades; however partner interprets it is fine with you. Partner forges ahead, showing the heart ace with her 5 ♥ call.

Cool, we have all the aces! Partner has implied three-card spade support, and has at least two clubs for her earlier NT bid. You can count six club tricks and two red aces. If partner holds the Q♠, you can almost always rely on five spade tricks. If partner doesn’t have the Q♠, you still have a reasonable chance for four spade tricks, and even five spade tricks about a third of the time (a 3-2 split with the missing queen on your right). So, it’s your call: five, six or seven? Clubs, spades, or something else?

ANSWER:  Bid 7 ♣, though 7 ♠ is a close second choice. At this point in the auction I don’t know of a way to ask partner about the Q♠; you’ll have to just make up your mind and place the contract. If she has the queen (at least a 3/8 chance) it should be easy to make 7. If she doesn’t have the queen (at worst a 5/8 chance) you still have at least a 50-50 chance with a finesse.

THE PRINCIPLE: At matchpoints, bid a small slam (six of something) if it has at least a 50-50 chance of making. For a grand slam, you want at least a 67% chance. At IMP scoring (duplicate teams), it’s usually best to set your standards a little higher; at IMPs you avoid bidding grand slams unless you can count 13 tricks.

WHY NOT 7 ♠? My opinion goes this way: Partner denied a four-card spade holding, and promised at least two clubs. She might have three or even four clubs, giving you a nine- or ten-card club suit. The potentially better fit in clubs could help protect against a bad spade split by ruffing spade losers in dummy. Also, if you have 9 or 10 clubs between the two hands, there is an increasing chance (5% or 11%) that your right hand opponent is void in clubs; in that case, she’ll make a Lightner double to request a club lead for a ruff, down one right out of the chute. Though you could have a similar problem in the spade suit with clubs as trump, the chances of the 5-0 wrong-side spade split is only about 2%. 

Strutting your stuff

Matchpoints, not vulnerable, you are sitting North.

♠ x x x    ♥ A x x x   ♦ A x x   ♣ x x x

Aces and spaces. Yawn. Dead square distribution. Ho hum. Did I remember to turn off the lights in the garage?

Partner opens 1 ♣. You answer dutifully with 1 ♥. Partner jumps to 2 ♠, game forcing, promising at least four spades. You have a balanced hand and don't have a four-card spade fit, so 2 NT is an easy call. 

Then partner bids 3 ♠. Hey, forget about the garage lights! Partner just said she has a very strong six-five in clubs and spades. Eleven black cards over there, you have a double fit in the black suits and two red aces for her two red losers. Slam is in the air. Your call?

♠ x x x    ♥ A x x x   ♦ A x x   ♣ x x x

Partner	You
1 ♣ 2 ♠ 3 ♠	1 ♥ 2 NT ?

ANSWER: 4♦, a cue bid showing first-round control (the ace). It's a game-forcing auction, so you can't pass. With visions of slam, you don't dare bid 3 NT or 4 ♠ or 5 ♣  because partner would think you were signing off. For now, spades -- the suit just rebid -- is the implied trump suit, though you can place the contract in clubs later. Your goal for this auction is six of something: the nine-card club fit is safer but at matchpoints 6♠ is often a more attractive contract (+980 rather than +920 if both are makeable).

Should you be trying to bid 7 clubs or 7 spades?  It's not your decision to make! Partner has the strong hand with 11 black cards. You don't know exactly how strong her suits are. The best you can do is to tell her you have both red aces, support for at least one of her suits, and interest in slam. Let her figure it out from there.

PRINCIPLE: In a slam-oriented auction, usually the stronger hand should assume captaincy (e.g., take charge of the auction). When that isn't possible, as in this case, the weaker hand should push the auction forward, providing as much information as possible, but leave room for the stronger hand to make the final decisions.

FOLLOW-THROUGH: After your cue-bid of 4♦, partner bids 4♠.  Your next bid will be 5♥ to show the heart ace as well. Let partner take it from there. She already knew from your 2NT call that you have at least two clubs and at least two spades. Since you got all excited and started cue-bidding after her 3♠ call, she can reasonably assume that you have 3-card support in spades.

♠ x x x    ♥ A x x x   ♦ A x x   ♣ x x x

Partner	You
1 ♣ 2 ♠ 3 ♠ 4 ♠ (more)	1 ♥ 2 NT 4 ♦ 5 ♥

My five minutes are up, but there's more to come. Stay tuned... and oh-by-the-way

WERE YOU THINKING OF 4NT BLACKWOOD? The problem with 4NT is that you are now "taking captaincy", and there's so much you don't know about the texture of partner's black suits. Better to just cue-bid the A♦ and then the A♥; partner can take it from there. But if you do bid 4NT and partner shows two aces, then bid 5NT to promise all the aces. That's a standard part of the Blackwood 4NT that we usually don't learn as beginners. Partner will answer kings, of course, but you really don't care. Your 5NT bid guarantees partner that we have all the aces, and that's what partner needs to know.

The big six-five

No, this isn’t about birthdays or signing up for Medicare. The late Grant Baze was a top tournament player in the 1980s and 1990s, a formidable competitor who also was an exemplar of courtesy and ethics at the bridge table. He was known for his bridge aphorism “six-five, come alive”; such distributional hands are well-suited (groan) for offense, and bidding them aggressively usually pays dividends. Here’s an example from a week ago Thursday.

Sitting in the South seat at matchpoints, not vulnerable, you’re dealt this monster.

♠ A K J x x    ♥ x x   ♦ --   ♣ A K Q J 10 x

This hand looks to be worth at least 9 playing tricks with clubs as trump, making more if spades break favorably. Some players will open this hand 2♣ (artificial) to show a strong game-forcing hand. The danger is that savvy opponents use a strong 2♣ opening as a mandate to preempt aggressively, and I fear that the auction will be at the five level before I can name even one of my two suits! So, personally, with a radical two-suiter I prefer to open at the one level. With so many red cards in the other three hands, I’m not worried about a one-level opening being passed out, and I might even get a chance to bid my second suit at a reasonable level.

The standard way to show a hand with 6-5 distribution is to start with the 6-card suit, and then bid the 5-card suit twice. The second suit is rebiddable (e.g., at least a 5-card suit), and by implication the first suit is even better since we normally open with our best suit. 

So, the strategy here is to open with clubs, and then bid spades twice if necessary. The opponents are silent throughout the auction.

You	Partner
1 ♣ 2 ♠ 3 ♠	1 ♥ 2 NT (more)

You bid 2♠ instead of 1♠ in order to show the strength of your hand. Your jump-shift rebid promises partner a hand worth 19+ points, and creates an auction that is forcing to game.

Bidding 3♠ completes the description of your hand. Partner now knows that you have rebiddable spades (at least five) and your clubs are longer than your spades; you must be at least 6-5 in the black suits. And since your 2♠ jump-shift was forcing to game, the auction isn’t over yet!

THE PRINCIPLE: With six-five, come alive! Show partner that you have 6-5 distribution by first bidding your longer suit, then bidding your second suit twice. If you are only 6-4, bid your six-card suit, then your four-card suit, then back to your six-card suit.

Our auction is forcing to game. We're not done with this hand. Stay tuned…

Help Stupid Partner, Episode 1

Another bit from the same hand last Monday evening. At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, sitting East you get this mess:
♠ x x   ♥ J 8 x x   ♦ J   ♣ K J 10 x x x

South deals and opens 1♠; partner overcalls 2♥. The rest of the auction: 

South	West	North	East (you)
1 ♠ 3 ♦ 3 ♠	2 ♥ Pass Pass	Pass Pass 4 ♠	Pass 3 ♥ All pass

Partner lays down the ♦7 -- sweet, she's trying to give you a ruff! Alas, you see this dummy:

North ♠ 9 8 x ♥ x x ♦ A 9 8 x x x   ♣ x x East (you) ♠ x x ♥ J 8 x x ♦ J ♣ K J 10 x x x

So much for your diamond ruffs; declarer likely has five diamonds for this auction, so partner had a singleton too. Oh well. Declarer plays low from dummy, you follow with the ♦J and declarer with the ♦K.  Declarer leads a small spade and partner flies with the ♠A, you follow. Partner leads the ♣A, low from dummy, and you follow suit with ...?

ANSWER: ... the ♣J, encouraging a club continuation. Not the ♣10, not a small club; play the ♣J.

WHY: Partner has recognized the danger of the long diamond suit in dummy. She's cashing out winners, and needs to know whether to continue clubs or switch to hearts. Does partner have the ♥A, and if so should she cash it? Does she think you have the ♥A, and she should lead to you?  Does declarer have the ♥A, in which case it doesn't much matter what you do? And what about Billy? (Huh?) You have no idea. The only thing you know for sure is that you don't have the ♥A, and you do have the ♣K. 

In this case, your club card is an attitude signal -- your opinion about another round of clubs -- rather than a suit preference signal, telling partner which other suit to lead. If it were clearly wrong to continue clubs (say, a singleton in dummy), then your card would be a suit preference signal suggesting that partner lead the higher-ranking or lower-ranking of the other two side suits.

Looking at your hand, a club continuation seems best, so tell partner that by playing the highest club that you can afford. Your lowest club would discourage a club continuation, and should imply a high heart honor. A middle-ish club would suggest to partner that you have no idea whether to continue clubs or switch, and by implication denies the ♣K or a high heart.

A side note: when giving an encouraging signal from a sequence of touching cards, always signal with the top of the sequence. When you play a high encouraging card , you are denying that you hold the next-higher card. In this case playing the ♣J says that you don't have the ♣Q, though that will be immediately obvious as soon as declarer plays. For a somewhat-lame mnemonic, think of Indian smoke signals from the top of a hill: signal from the top.

THE PRINCIPLE: My friend Steve liked to say, "the secret to this game is Help Stupid Partner". Not that partner is actually stupid, mind you. But partner is not a mind-reader, so tell your partner what you want: good policy, and not just at the bridge table :-)

The full deal (hands rotated from their original positions):

	North
	♠ 9 8 x ♥ x x ♦ A 9 8 x x x   ♣ x x
West		East (you)
♠ A x  ♥ K Q 10 9 x x ♦ 7 ♣ A x x x		♠ x x ♥ J 8 x x ♦ J ♣ K J 10 x x x
	South
	♠ K Q J 10 x x ♥ A ♦ K Q 10 x x  ♣ Q

On the actual hand, it doesn't matter which club you play; declarer has the rest of the tricks. But if declarer held two clubs and was void in hearts, you're the hero. And if partner held the ♥A and declarer a small heart loser? Well, maybe partner will try to cash the ace anyway.

ADDED 12-20: I forgot to mention... expert partnerships have an even better way to signal in this defensive situation. It's not for casual partnerships at the local bridge club, though. I'll cover it at some point in the future.

It's now or never...

This hand, or something very much like it, came up last Monday evening. At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, sitting West you pick up a decent 13-count:
♠ A x   ♥ K Q 10 x x x   ♦ 7   ♣ A x x x

Dealer South, on your right, opens 1♠ and you overcall 2♥. The rest of the auction: 

South	West (you)	North	East
1 ♠ 3 ♦ 3 ♠	2 ♥ Pass Pass	Pass Pass 4 ♠	Pass 3 ♥ All pass

Your singleton diamond is a pretty obvious lead. Two black aces for entries, maybe partner has the ♥A for an entry to give you a diamond ruff. With visions of +100 dancing in your head, you lay down the ♦7 and see this dummy:

	North
	♠ 9 8 x ♥ x x ♦ A 9 8 x x x   ♣ x x
West (you)
♠ A x  ♥ K Q 10 x x x ♦ 7 ♣ A x x x

Hmm, wonder why North-South aren’t playing in their huge diamond fit? Holy cow, what if you’ve given partner a ruff by leading your singleton?! No such luck; declarer plays low from dummy, partner follows with the ♦J and declarer with the ♦K.  Declarer leads a small spade and of course you fly with the ♠A. Now what?

ANSWER: It’s now or never for the ♣A.

WHY: South must surely have a five-card diamond suit for her 3♦ rebid, vulnerable, across from a silent partner. With six diamonds in dummy, partner’s ♦J must therefore be a singleton, too; she can’t return a diamond for you to ruff. Given all that bidding from South, declarer’s spades are probably solid other than the ♠A; there’s not much of chance for partner to hold a spade trick at this point. As soon as declarer gets back in, she’ll draw the rest of the trumps and then run the diamonds ending in dummy, discarding a round-suit (club or heart) loser if she still has one.

THE PRINCIPLE: At matchpoint scoring (duplicate pairs), there are times to give up on trying to beat the contract and instead cash your sure winners. If declarer has control of trumps and an established side suit for discards, it’s cash-out time. Giving declarer an extra trick is the difference between an average board and a zero! But at rubber bridge or at IMP scoring (duplicate teams), never give up on even the slimmest chance to defeat the contract.

The full deal (hands rotated from their original positions):

	North
	♠ 9 8 x ♥ x x ♦ A 9 8 x x x   ♣ x x
West (you)		East
♠ A x  ♥ K Q 10 9 x x ♦ 7 ♣ A x x x		♠ x x ♥ J 8 x x ♦ J ♣ K J 10 x x x
	South
	♠ K Q J 10 x x ♥ A ♦ K Q 10 x x  ♣ Q

By playing the ♣A at trick three, you hold declarer to making five; otherwise she makes six. Note that  five diamonds is a safer contract for North-South -- since it makes against any diamond split -- but turns out to be an inferior matchpoint contract if four spades is makeable (as it is here).