Misadventures In Manhattan

A practice session with the client produced some interesting hands. She plays very few conventions, so the bidding is often almost Acol-like in tone. But we are fairly well used to each other by now, and seem to be getting to most things.

A double squeeze materialized on this hand.



At the end of the hand, I was the only declarer taking 12 tricks. West berated his partner for not switching to a diamond after winning the AC. That's asking a lot, though, considering East's holding. But a spade switch looks pretty normal, and would be enough to break up the squeeze. Attacking declarer's communications is the commonest form of squeeze defence, if you can see one coming. Of course, in this case, East had no inkling that a squeeze might be possible. He should have counter-attacked in the post mortem by telling West to save his AD. That would have worked too.

This slam was played in 6S+1 at most tables.



As you can see, there are tricks to spare in spades. One pair tried 7NT, which means taking either the heart finesse (which works) or the diamond finesse (which doesn't). Minus 1, which serves them right for being greedy. Nobody got to 7S, though, which is a bit disappointing across sixteen tables. Without any tools, I wasn't about to put the client in the grand, but I knew that if she had close to her bid it must be good. Playing with Agent 99 or Elwood, I would hope to generate a more workmanlike sequence out of a splinter and 1430.
1S-4H; 4N-5H; 5N-6C; 7S-P; looks perfectly reasonable.

This gamble shouldn't have worked. But I thought it looked good, until I saw the dummy.



It was speculative, no doubt. But I counted on partner producing six or seven clubs to the king and not a lot else. On a heart opening attack, I figured I would have eight top tricks, and some chance of a ninth. As it was, if East doesn't cash the heart ace, I think I'm done. Even worse, if she had ducked on the first round of clubs, I'd be lucky to make any more than six tricks.

You don't just have to pick the hand: you also have to pick the opponents.

Misadventures In Manhattan

Friday nights tend to be small at the Manhattan, and with the Spring Nationals in progress in Memphis, this past Friday's evening game was really small, just five tables. But Agent 99 and I had a pleasant evening anyway, clocking a 60% game that turned out to be enough to win.

The hands seemed to include an unusual number of possible slams and/or sacrifices. This was the second hand of the evening.



I have a nice hand, but with all this bidding it doesn't seem likely that Agent 99 spoke because of high cards. Most probably she has shape. In that case, is it safe to pass 6S? Or am I worth a double? Would that induce a heart lead (which is what I want, I think), or would it ask for a (probably disastrous) club? 7D isn't going to make, but will it be cheap or just a phantom?

I wriggled for a while, and eventually decided that first, there was definitely no diamond trick in defence (east was way too confident), second, I couldn't count on any black suit tricks either, since even if a card or two was missing they might well be dropping or finessable. So that meant item third, beating 6S might need Agent 99 to find a heart lead, and might not be possible even then. At teams, I think bidding 7D is pretty much a no-brainer. At matchpoints, it isn't quite so easy, but I bid it anyway. It cost 500, and a heart lead would indeed have beaten their slam. But it turned out well when 6S made three times, on two occasions doubled (remember the board was only played five times).

The next set included this offering.


After a diamond lead, I returned a small heart (nice and smooth) to get a club through the king and so beat the contract. But 200 is small compensation for the heart game, and we actually can make 6H.

Here's a part-score, for a change.



For some unknown reason, Agent 99 opened 1C instead of 1D. Then when the auction was set to die in 1NT, I decided that my stellar four-card club support was enough to justify competing. When Agent 99 ran to 2H, I inferred she was 4-4 in the majors and corrected to 2S. That worked out well when E-W didn't realize what was going on and let me scramble eight tricks. (I won the club lead and played AH, H. Subsequently I got two H ruffs.)