Deal no. 1: National League, First Division, October 1992. After several flat hands that didn't justify wasting a splendid, sunny weekend, the following hand looked even more boring. Judge for yourself: S-8542, H-J10975, D-852, C-6... I firmly believe that boredom is the worst enemy of the game, so instead of slowly falling asleep, I decided to do something about it.
(me)
E-W vulnerable. N E S W
-------------------------
The bidding: 1C p 1H x
2H 3NT 4H x
- - -
Deadly trump lead followed: the opponents drew the Ace and the King, and
played another trump. My partner's hand was quite average:
S-Jx, H-Q8xx, D-KQJ, C-Axxx, so I took 7 tricks and we gained "only" 4 IMPs
against 630. Tough luck, if only hearts were 2-2...How would you describe what I just did? Madness? courage? or maybe many years of experience and a touch of imagination? Maybe all three together. But if you do something like this and your partner walks out on you and lets you finish the tournament by yourself, don't be surprised...
 Deal no. 2: Another time, another place. Several deals went by defending against unbeatable games, and I slowly began to feel the familiar urge to act, to do something about it, to try and turn our luck around instead of staying passive and giving the evening up. My senses gradually sharpened, ready for a kill. I jumped on the first chance I've got during the entire evening, and it looked as follows:
K932 N E S W
AK3 ---------------------
85 1C 1D - 2C
Q864 - 3D - 3NT
Q65 10 - - 4D x
Q852 N 96 4S - - x
KJ7 W E AQ109632 - - -
KJ3 S A72
AJ874
J1074
4
1095
Why? The only logical reason for West to bid 2C and land in 3NT must have
been a very good fit in diamonds, some 11-12 points and of course a spade
stopper. Which led to the obvious conclusion that we've got a double or even
triple fit with 18-20 points in the three suits, and a reasonably good idea
of honor distribution in the E-W hands, which in my opinion always adds
another couple of points. Of course I took several chances, like the spade
King in my partner's hand or no wasted diamond points.The natural diamond lead followed, then another diamond. My partner took it in the dummy with the lowest trump, followed with the Jack, took the Queen with his Ace, returned to the dummy with the 7 of spades, finessed the Queen of hearts, then finessed the Jack of clubs. He lost only two clubs and a diamond, 4S doubled just made. But were my instincts right? Yes and no. I thought they could make 3NT and I was wrong, they could take only six tricks. But if I doubled they would probably have bid 4D and could even have made it if we didn't play the perfect defense, so I was right. If West had Q10x of spades, we would have lost 4S, and they still could have lost 3NT with another perfect defense, so I was wrong, but is our defense really that flawless? So maybe I was right. And who says my partner had to have 12 playing points and not 11 or even 10? I gambled heavily, and in a partnership this kind of gambling is strictly forbidden, so I was wrong. But the bottom line is that we won this hand and our luck did change. So maybe I was right after all? Deal no. 3: One day I held A109x, Qx, Axxx, Axx, average in points but extremely difficult to bid. In my opinion it's one of these hands that you just can't evaluate correctly until you get some input from your partner. If he is weak your opponents can easily make even 3NT, but on the other hand with some fits you can make a game! So I opened 1D, my LHO passed, my partner - 1H, pass from RHO, I bid 1S, my partner 2S. What would you do? Would you pass like most players did, or maybe take a risk and bid a long-suit trial bid? But if a trial bid then would it be in diamonds or in clubs? A lottery, I'd say. Well, I hate guessing games so I bid 4S straight away and I consciously bid it to an average partner's hand, which means some 7-8 high card points with at least 44 in majors. Mind you, I realized I was a bit optimistic. All I prayed for was that his points were good and his distribution better than mere 44, but after I've been begging all my partners not to count anything like Jx I believed the least I could hope for were good points. Now let's leave the theory and return to the grim realities of life:
A109x
Qx
Axxx
Axx
N
W E
S
K8xx
J10xx
J
Q109x
Of course it's quite obvious that South could barely bring worse points and we just couldn't make it, bare some freak distributions and/or a helping hand from our opponents.
East led a heart, West took with the Ace and played the King on which East discarded a diamond, then West played his third heart which was ruffed by East (I discarded a club from my hand) and.... all of the sudden it was over! Four made. Let's see why:
A109x
Qx
Axxx
Axx
Jx Qxx
AKxxxx N x
Qxx W E KJxxx
Kx S Jxxx
K8xx
J10xx
J
Q109x
Whatever they return I draw the Ace of clubs and the two high trumps finishing in dummy, on the high heart goes my last club, a club ruffed in my hand, Ace of diamonds, diamond ruff, Queen of clubs that in the meantime became high, and that's it. Six trump tricks, two in clubs, one diamond and one heart...
Can you defeat the contract at all as the cards were? Well, why don't you simply give it a try? But even if you find defeating 4S difficult or maybe even impossible, it doesn't change the fact that with our actual hands we shouldn't have played it. So was my bid really pure madness? Well, try drawing few possible South hands and then judge for yourself.Deal no. 4: In the next deal I had 10, Axxxx, xxx, Qxxx. I passed, my partner opened 1S, I bid 1NT (non-forcing), he said 2H. All I know is that he's got 12 points and 54 in majors. There is of course a chance that we can make only 2H if he's got for example something like KQJxx, QJxx, Kx, xx or KQJxx, Jxxx, AQ, xx but with his average hand and average distributions we should have a fighting chance of making a game here! What do I need from his assuming he has only 12 points? Ace of spades would be nice, or King of clubs, or 64, or simply more than a bare minimum!!! So, based on probabilities, I must bid. Now the crucial question: how can I tell him what exactly I need from him. Well, as far as I know there is no such bid... In such cases I think probabilities and probabilities (as I understand them) say clearly that there is more than 50% chance that the game is sure or depends on one finesse or trump split. And here it is, the real hand and the real bidding:
AKQ87x
K109x
x S W N E
xx ------------------------------
p p 1S p
N 1NT p 2H p
W E 4H p p p
S
10
Axxxx
xxx
Qxxx
The trumps were divided, four made.Deal no. 5: One night I had this perfect vulnerable third hand opening: Q10xxx, Qx, KQ108x, x and look what's happened:
N E S W
------------------------------
p p 1S 2C
2S 3H 3S 4H
4S p p x
Well, I hardly expected to reach a game in this deal but did I really had any choice? My partner's 2S was completely voluntary, and I could expect at least four card fit. My club singleton looked great, and as much as I hated my Qx of hearts - or maybe because of it - I just couldn't allow them to play a heart contract! My partner's 4S was music in my ears, but even if he'd passed, I would have bid 4S myself if only in defence of 4H. As it was, both 4H and 4S were easy to make. Most of the field played 4H made or down one ( can you find the losing sequence? ), there were several part scores in both majors, but there was only one more 4S made for NS.
A98xx
Ax
9x
xxxx
Jx K
KJx N 109xxxx
AJx W E xxx
KQJ10x S Axx
Q10xxx
Qx
KQ108x
x
Deal no. 6: Sometimes, when I am in the mood, I like to test my luck as early as possible. Believe me or not, I take the result under consideration during the entire evening. I was North and this was the first deal of the night: J9764, -, A1087, J853.
W N E S
------------------------------
1H x 3H 4S
p p p
What can I say? The entire bidding must raise some serious questions: does West hold a real first hand opening? is North raving mad? is East blind and can't see a double? and why don't they double the final contract? are there 50 or 60 points in this deck?Let's answer two of these questions: West counted 12 high card points (in a hand in which I count 10-11), so logically enough he opened the bidding. Wouldn't you? I (North) have few weird theories as to relative importance of distibution and strength, and above all, I always try to think ahead. I thought that either they had 4H and we a reasonable defense, or maybe we had an under-limit 4S, and if I didn't bid in the first round I would never be able to bid and we wouldn't reach our game. What subsequently followed was quite simple: my partner lost two spades, one diamond and one club (how?), one down, and they just can't lose 4H.
J9764
-
A1087
J853
Q103 A
AQ1087 N J9542
J9 W E K542
K64 S Q92
K852
K63
Q63
A107
So was my take-out double madness or courage? Well, it's really hard to say, try for example to switch either N with S or E with W, then there is only a low part score in hearts instead of the game, and 4S doubled prohibitively expensive. There is a very fine line between madness and courage in bidding, and the only difference between them often seems to be the result.Most of such stunts don't succeed, even though judging from bridge columns 90% do. If a crazy stunt succeeds, it's called a stroke of genius, magic touch, divine intuition. If it doesn't, you probably won't see it in writing anywhere. Deal no. 7: My hand (South): 109xx, A10xx, J109xx, -. East opened 1C (better minor), I passed, West 1D (natural), my partner 1S which promised at least 5 spades and a solid hand. East bid 2C and it was my turn now. I bid 4S and my reasoning was as follows: My partner should have 3-4 clubs since West did not raised clubs in the first round. There is a fair chance of a diamond singleton in my partner's hand which leaves him with something like 5314 or better, maybe even 6214 or 6313 or 6214. Let's stick to 5314. Assuming East has 2 or more likely 3 club honors, my partner should have some 9-10 points in spades and hearts which leaves him with KQxxx, KQx or AQxxx,Kxx or in the worst case KJxxx, KJx. I'll let you do the math now. Naturally I was a bit optimistic in my reasoning, since my partner's distribution could well have been 5323, but why not 6304 on the other hand? All this took me some 5 seconds and definitely suggested a better hand than mine, and West bid non-vulnerable 5C in defence. My partner promptly doubled.
E S W N
------------------------------
1C p 1D 1S
2C 4S 5C x
p p p
The full distribution was as follows:
AKJxx
xxx
x
AJ10x
xx Qx
QJx N Kxx
KQxxx W E Ax
xxx S KQ98xx
109xx
A10xx
J109xx
-
Four down, 700 for NS. Anyway, my partner would probably have made 10 tricks in spades even with this lousy hand...
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