Queen from AQ

In The Dictionary of Suit Combinations by J.-M. Roudinesco there are tables that tell you how to play various card combinations to best effect. Here is one such combination:

JT86     opposite    AQ73

Both for safety and profit the best play is to run the Jack, guarding against length in front of the tenace. One might say that only a fool would lead the Queen towards the Jack-Ten. Call me a fool, but I once made this winning play in a team match, and was so happy with the result that I continue to do so whenever the opportunity arises. If the finesse is 50%, half the time it won’t cost a trick, and it can have the effect of opening the communications to the dummy while preserving control when there is a need to do so. There are 2 hands from the 2012 Vanderbilt that show fools are wise sometimes. The question is: when?

North	South	West	North	East	South
♠ AQ73	♠ JT86	Pass	1♦*	1♥	Dbl
♥  8	♥  J75	2♦**	4♠	Pass	Pass
♦ KQ75	♦A864	Pass
♣ KJ63	♣ QT	** ♥’s

The 1♦ opening was Precision 1♦, 11-15 HCP, and 2♦ showed decent heart support – at the Vanderbilt a player will jump to 3♥ on the slightest of excuses. North had a maximum opening bid with a good spade suit, so he did not hesitate to jump to game despite the often unlucky 4-4-4-1 shape. The ♥2 was lead to the ♥A and hearts continued, ruffed in hand with the ♠3. Declarer played a club to dummy, winning, and led the ♠J in the approved manner hoping to escape a spade loser. Unlucky! East won the ♠K and played ♣A and a club promoting the ♠9 in his partner’s hand. Down 1. Here is the full deal.

 

Dealer: WEST Vul: BOTH	North ♠   AQ73 ♥   8 ♦   KQ75 ♣   KJ63
West ♠   942 ♥   AQT9 ♦   JT32 ♣   82		East ♠   K5 ♥   K6432 ♦   9 ♣   A9754
	South ♠   JT86 ♥   J75 ♦   A864 ♣   QT

 

Circumstances change priorities. Note that East was correctly in violation of the so-called ‘Garozzo’s Law’ when he failed to lead his singleton. If he had done so, we can be pretty sure declarer would not win with the ♦A and run the ♠J from dummy. More likely he would win in hand and cash the ♠A to guard against the ruff. He can afford to lose 1 spade trick, and with the alarm bells ringing it is safer to do so immediately.

When the lead is a normal heart and hearts are continued it is more difficult to foresee danger in the trump suit. If the game were Matchpoints, one might make 11 tricks by playing as declarer did. Presumably he hoped to save a trick in trumps if the spades split 3-2 with the ♠K onside. Let’s look at 3 possible distributions of sides, the actual one in the middle. The probability weights are given along the bottom.

I	II	III
♠ 3 – 2	♠ 3 – 2	♠ 4 – 1
♥ 4 – 5	♥ 4 – 5	♥ 4 –  5
♦ 3 – 2	♦ 4 – 1	♦ 2 – 3
♣ 3 – 4	♣ 2 – 5	♣ 3 – 4
10	3	5

 

 

 

 

Condition I is the most likely distribution of sides, so the matchpoint play of taking the spade finesse has likelihood on its side. The NS communications are fluid, so even if the finesse loses the hand is safe for 10 tricks. We know what can happen under Condition II.

As the BBO commentators constantly remind us, making one’s game is priority #1 at IMPs, so giving up a trick to increase the chances of making 10 tricks makes good sense. Under Condition II, playing the ♠Q from hand at trick 2 preserves the communications and keeps control even if East wins the ♠K and exits his singleton diamond. Declarer wins the ♦A in dummy, ruffs a heart, play the ♠A and gives up a club. That also covers the case of spades splitting 4-1 with the ♠K with West (Condition III), but only if West unwisely takes the first trump lead. ‘Beware Greeks bearing gifts’, and all that.

The reader might think, ‘West will not be so foolish’, but if you don’t give an opponent a chance to go wrong, he won’t. At the other table here’s what happened: West won the first trick with the ♥A and returned a trump, being somewhat in a hurry to get to a break, I assume. That gave declarer an easy road when he ducked to East’s King.

There are hands where declarer needs a break. When there are several possibilities, he has to choose the right one, usually the one with the greatest odds in its favor. Here is a hand from the final where a successful play was made: Queen from Ace-Queen.

Bessis	Del’Monte	West	North	East	South
♠ AJ4	♠ Q63	—	—	Pass	Pass
♥  KQ5	♥  94	2NT	Pass	3NT	Pass
♦ AT86	♦QJ32	Pass	Pass
♣ AQ2	♣ J932

After winning the ♥6 lead in hand with the ♥K Thomas Bessis faced a familiar problem – how to develop tricks quickly without letting South on lead to play a heart through. There are 3 Kings missing and 2 of them of necessity have to be in the North, not as bad odds as it may seem. If one assumes the ♦K is in the South, that is roughly a 1 chance out of 3, whereas if one assumes the ♦K is in the North, that is roughly a 2 in 3 chance.

The losing declarer hoped for the ♦K in the South hand. He played ♣A followed by the ♣Q, ducked. A diamond finesse would see him home if he could get to the dummy. Relying on a favorable placement of the ♠K, he continued with the ♠4, losing to the ♠K. Now the hand fell apart and he ended up down 2. Here is the full deal.

 

Dealer: EAST Vul: NONE	North ♠   T85 ♥   A876 ♦   K54 ♣  KT6
West ♠   AJ4  ♥   KQ5 ♦   AT86 ♣  AQ2		East ♠   Q63 ♥   94 ♦   QJ32 ♣  J953
	South ♠   K972 ♥   JT32 ♦   97 ♣  874

Bessis played for the ♦K in the North. He began with the ♦A, giving himself the slight chance of dropping the singleton ♦K while opening up communications in the diamond suit. He continued diamonds, the ♦T to the ♦J, and there he was in the dummy in position to take the club finesse. No need to do that, as he could put North on lead perhaps to lend a helping hand. He exited a diamond to North’s King. The ♠T was led: ♠T – ♠Q – ♠K – ♠A.  He might have gone to dummy with a diamond and finessed for the ♣K, but he didn’t. Instead he played the ♣Q to preserve his options. Yes, Q from AQ.

North’s defence was revealing as well as non-challenging, and Bessis read the cards correctly. Bessis won the spade return cashed the ♦Q in dummy returned to the ♣A poised to take a finesse for the ♣T if necessary, but the clubs were 3-3 and the ♣T popped up giving him his 9th trick. From the first he had seen the potential in dummy’s ♣J9. If the declarer at the other table had continued with a 3rd round of clubs and had not relied on a favourable location of the ♠K, he, too, could have succeeded, although on a less elegant line of play.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
There were some exciting hands being played that in the end determined the outcome of matches, but the most interesting hand for me was played early at the 1-level. Why the interest? Because each player at the table had a critical decision to make. It took some time in the playing, but I was on the edge of my seat through it all.

 

Dealer: SOUTH Vul: NS	North ♠   95 ♥   643 ♦   AJT85 ♣  T75
West ♠   7643 ♥   J85 ♦   76 ♣  AQ86		East ♠   KQT ♥   KQT ♦   Q9432 ♣  32
	South ♠   AJ82 ♥   A972 ♦   K ♣  KJ94

Nunes	Bathurst	Fantoni	Zagorin
—	—	—	1♣
Pass	1♦	Pass	1♥
Pass	Pass	Dbl	Rdbl
1♠	Pass	Pass	Dbl
All	Pass

Fantunes play on the Zimmerman team (Monaco). At the other table Multon, in loyal samurai fashion, as North had sacrificed himself in 2♦, down 2 for -200. At this table Bathurst, displaying a keener feel for self-preservation, after much thought passed his partner’s 1♥ rebid. Perhaps Zagorin felt a bit peeved at this turn of events for he held a quite promising hand. Now it was Fantoni’s turn to give the situation much thought. At Matchpoints a player would be reluctant to pass this out despite the threat of a 7-7-6-6 distribution of sides, but this was Teams. Perhaps he thought, ‘I didn’t move to Monaco just so’s I could spit in the sea from my balcony’, or maybe, ‘I can’t wait to see Claudio’s face when he sees this dummy!’’ Either way, he balanced with a double. Zargorin expressed an opinion, Nunes bid what he thought Fantoni had promised, and Bathurst passed hoping the bidding had come to an end without his having to get further involved. No, Zargorin wanted blood, so Bathurst, after another pass, had to come up with the killing lead in what was now a tight situation.

BBO commentators thought that a trump lead should be automatic, and, indeed, it was the killing lead, but Bathurst decided to lead his partner’s suit, often a commendable act, but not here as it gave Nunes a chance. He won with the ♣Q and led a heart to open communications. Zargorin won the ♥A and continued hearts. Nunes ducked a diamond to the ♦K and Zarogin played a club. It wasn’t until the 8th round that trumps were belatedly led by the defence. In the 4-card ending declarer held ♠ 76 ♣86 with the lead in a dummy of ♠Q ♦Q43.  The play of the ♦3 assured him of 2 trump tricks in front of Zarogrin’s ♠ J8  ♣ K9. By playing insightfully to make his contract, Nunes had held the loss on the board to 1 IMP. Despite his Herculean effort, Monaco eventually lost the match. It was one of those hands where one had to be watching in real time to experience the tension and capture the full flavour of the battle of wits. Thanks, BBO.