Regional

This weekend is the Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional in New York City. I decided to try and get a little more serious about winning some gold points, and so I'm playing in a couple of events. Friday was the Jim Becker Open Pairs, and Agent 99 and I were in as a C pair. This is a fairly prestigious event, and I didn't expect to be in the running overall, but I was sure we could be as good as any other C pair around. And so it proved. It's a two-session event, and we rang up 58% in the first session to actually stand tied for 7th overall at the halfway mark, well clear of the rest of the C crowd. The later session was something of a let-down, unfortunately, and we dropped off the overall leader-board. But approximately 50% in the second session was enough to stay at the top of the Cs, and so we gained our first gold points.

I'd prefer not to dwell too much on the second session. But there were some magic results in the first half.

Game all, dlr W

           ♠ 10 6 4 2
           ♥ 6 5
           ♦ J 10 8 4 3
           ♣ 10 5
♠ Q J 9 5 3            ♠ A
♥ A K J 8    [ ]       ♥ 10 9 2
♦ Q                    ♦ A K 9 6
♣ J 7 4                ♣ A K Q 9 6
           ♠ K 8 7
           ♥ Q 7 4 3
           ♦ 7 5 2
           ♣ 8 3 2

W     N     E     S
1♠    pass  2♣    pass
2♥    pass  3♦    pass
4♣    pass  4♦    pass
4♥    pass  5♦    pass
5♥    pass  7♣    all pass

Agent 99 bid out her shape, and I went through Redwood 1430, taking it all the way to the grand slam. It's perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I could count twelve tricks as long as the distribution was reasonable, and I thought there was bound to be play for thirteen.

In fact, you can make all the tricks in clubs, hearts or no-trump, because the heart finesse works. But playing in clubs is best, as it gives you multiple chances. The trump opening lead didn’t hurt anything, so I had choices to make. A diamond ruff in dummy would make the twelfth trick, and then you could try the heart finesse, a ruffing spade finesse, or a spade-heart squeeze for thirteen. Or you could ruff a couple of spades (if the trumps are 3-2) hoping to drop the ♠K. The main issue is how to combine the most chances.

The best I can come up with is:
1: ♣6 (North didn’t want to waste his ♣10)
2: ♦Q
3: ♠A
4: ♦9 ruffed in dummy
5: ♠ ruffed in hand
6+7: ♣AK, drawing trumps, discarding ♠9 (if trumps turn out to be 4-1, you have to ditch the spades and rely on the heart finesse)
8: ♥A
9: ♠ ruffed in hand
Now if the ♠K fell, you have thirteen tricks. If everybody has followed to the spades but the ♠K hasn’t appeared, you now cash the ♦AK, discarding the ♥8 and the ♠Q from dummy (unless South discards the ♠K). If South holds the ♠K, he has been squeezed, and you can play for the drop in hearts, making even against a doubleton ♥Q in North. And if you think North had the ♠K all along, there is still the heart finesse to fall back on.

In practice, you aren’t tested since the ♠K does fall. The main lines that don’t work are ones involving the ruffing finesse in spades.

We were the only ones to bid a grand – most tables rang up 1470 (for 6NT+1).

E-W game, dlr E

            ♠ 10 9 7
            ♥ 9 3
            ♦ A K 5
            ♣ J 9 5 3 2
♠ A 5 3                ♠ K Q 8 6
♥ J 10 7 5    [ ]      ♥ Q 8 6
♦ J 9 8                ♦ Q 6 4 2
♣ Q 7 4                ♣ K 8
            ♠ J 4 2
            ♥ A K 4 2
            ♦ 10 7 3
            ♣ A 10 6

E     S     W     N
1NT   dble  pass  pass
redbl all pass

West has an awkward hand for our methods. It's the sort of hand that you would really like to just leave at 1NT doubled and see what happens. While you can be reasonably optimistic about our chances, because the points seem to be split more or less 20-20 between the two sides, it really looks thin for a business redouble. But running is distinctly unattractive, and we can only stand with a redouble – so that's what Agent 99 did.

South started with the ♥2, which went to the ♥9 and ♥Q, and I returned the ♥7 to his ♥K. A diamond switch put the danger hand in, but North's return of the ♠10 didn't help their side any. I won and played a third heart, and South persisted with diamonds. When the smoke cleared, I finished up with an overtrick. +1160 isn't bad on a hand that should be held to down two, double-dummy.