[Kaitlyn S]

An interesting point came up while the experts and I were discussing problem set 10.

Quote

I might also point out that Kaitlyn's reasoning on (3) is already beyond the mental capacity of most bridge players, who simply don't have the ability to imagine possible cards for partner and what contracts would be made with those possibilities. They don't have enough working memory to think that far ahead.

I'd like to test that hypothesis. I am going to give you some problems, and if you just count points, you are going to fail miserably. Try to think of what partner has.

These examples are far-fetched, but the principles involved do come from time to time. I think I've put them in order of difficulty.

(Normal introduction starts here)
Hi - these problems should be very easy for experienced players but an I/N player needs to think about the right things in an auction. If you get them wrong, don't feel too bad as long as you understand the rationale for the answers. I'll provide the answers later but I'll put a hint as a spoiler. Try to solve the problem without the spoiler. Also, let me know if you would be interested in seeing more of these from time to time.

Assume you are playing Standard American (a natural system with 15-17 1NT openings and 5-card majors), IMPS, and nobody is vulnerable.

1.

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Spoiler

How many clubs will you lose? How many diamonds will you lose? etc.

2.
2NT=20-21

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Spoiler

[What will you make if partner has three aces?

3.

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2D = weak 2 (5-10HCP, decent 6 card diamond suit; 2S = forcing; 3H = denying spade support, maximum weak two, heart feature (A,K, or Q))

Spoiler

How many clubs will you lose? How many diamond will you lose? etc.

4.

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2C = strong and artificial; 2S = 5 or more spades including 2 of the top 3 honors
4NT=normal Blackwood; 5D=one ace
If your agreement is to play Roman Keycard, partner showed two key cards and no queen of trump
Do you agree with 4NT? What do you bid now?

Spoiler

[How many tricks do you have?

Second hint:

Spoiler

Does it matter who plays the hand?

5.

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Spoiler

[What has partner got? How many tricks do you expect to lose in each suit?

[Tramticket]

Hand 1.

Spoiler

Since partner holds five hearts, opponents only hold one heart and there are no heart losers.

7 hearts is clearly making, but I suspect the opponents have a profitable sacrifice in 7 spades. What is the best way to stop them sacrifice?
- Some blast 7 hearts.
- Some bid 6 hearts and allow themselves to be "pushed" into 7.
- There are lots of tactical options here!

Hand 2.

Spoiler

Again, you cannot have any heart losers. You simply need to check for aces. How you do that depends on your methods. If a transfer followed by 4NT is simple Blackwood, then it is easy. If you only play RKCB then you may need to try other strategies (cue bid? direct jump to 5 hearts?).

Hand 3.

Spoiler

Partner has the king of hearts and you have five tricks in the majors. If partner has the ace of diamonds, he(she) won't have the ace of clubs and you can count 12 tricks (including one club ruff).

It is just possible that partner doesn't have the ace of diamonds (maybe QJ10XXX). So we should check for aces first.

Hand 4.

Spoiler

Partner cannot hold the ace of diamonds for his(her) Blackwood response. But other than that we have 12 tricks (6 hearts, 5 spades, 1 club).

Bidding 6NT ensure that we are declarer - not because I want to hog the contracts, but because I am worried about a diamond lead through the king.

Hand 5.

Spoiler

Assuming that the opponents have an eight card heart fit, we know that partner is void in hearts. All of our points are working (except the jack of hearts obviously) and our hand is massive in support of partner's 6+ card club suit.

If partner holds the ace of clubs you can almost count 13 tricks.

[Kaitlyn S]

The following discussion (this post) is not intended for novices.

 Tramticket, on 2016-November-01, 04:43, said:

Hand 1.

Spoiler

Since partner holds five hearts, opponents only hold one heart and there are no heart losers.

7 hearts is clearly making, but I suspect the opponents have a profitable sacrifice in 7 spades. What is the best way to stop them sacrifice?
- Some blast 7 hearts.
- Some bid 6 hearts and allow themselves to be "pushed" into 7.
- There are lots of tactical options here!

Spoiler

I had considered making the overcall suit spades to avoid the tactical issues of being allowed to buy the contract at the seven level. However, while a four-card 1S overcall without the ace or king is inadvisable, many I/N players have seen experts overcall a four-card suits at the one level and I couldn't be sure that the correct solution might be unattainable simply for the reason that the solver might think that partner who overcalled 1S had a four card suit missing the king. Every player should know that the 2H overcall has five cards. Full credit goes to any player who recognizes that they can make a grand slam. Note that this isn't trivial for a beginner who has to recognize that (a) with twelve trump, they cannot have a loser and (b) there is no distribution of the outstanding diamonds (barring an initial diamond ruff with a singleton trump) in which there is a diamond loser.

Not surprisingly, Tramticket is 5 for 5...

[Kaitlyn S]

Answers: (More advanced stuff in blue)

1.

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Hint: How many clubs will you lose? How many diamonds will you lose? etc.

Answer: If hearts are trump, you won't lose any clubs or spades because your dummy will trump. Partner showed at least five hearts with his 2H overcall. The opponents have at most one trump and your ace will drop it. You have no heart losers. Diamonds? If partner has three or less, he can trump your small diamonds. If partner has four or more diamonds, the opponents have at most three and they will fall under your top three diamonds, so you won't lose any diamonds either.

Since you can't lose any tricks if hearts are trump, bid 7H.

Tramticket's point was that the opponents might not let you play 7H, since they can bid 7S. Most weak opponents won't do this, and if you are a novice, a good player might not also, assuming that you are taking a dangerous flyer. However, if you think it's really likely that the opponents will keep bidding up to 6S but not 7S, you may in theory enhance your chances of being allowed to play in hearts. The downside is that any decent player will know that if you, and only you, are bidding more hearts all the way to the seven level, they should realize what you are doing and bid 7S. Bidding slow gives both the opponents to bid more spades, whereas bidding 7H now means that one or the other opponent must take the plunge right now. Full credit to anyone who knew they could make a grand slam in hearts.

It is dangerous to bid 4NT hoping to find two aces to bid 7NT, and then bailing in 7H when missing an ace. Partner may think his one ace was all you were looking for and correct to 7NT.

2.
2NT=20-21

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Hint: What will you make if partner has three aces?

Answer: Partner should have at least two hearts, so once again, the opponents have at most one heart and it will drop under the ace. The number of aces partner has will tell you what you can make. Bid 4C, Gerber, asking partner how many aces he has. (4NT is not Blackwood; it is quantitative and can be passed.) When partner tells you how many aces he has, bid the appropriate number of hearts. Don't bid 7NT if partner shows all three aces; if partner has a doubleton ♥QJ, his second honor will block the suit after you drop the opponents' singleton king.

I wouldn't worry about the new ACBL regulation allowing partner to open notrump with a singleton honor. First, if it's the king, you can drop the ♥QJ in one hand. For you to go down, partner will have had to open 2NT on a singleton queen, and hearts will have to be 2-0. Partner will almost always have a better bidding plan than opening 2NT with a singleton heart.

3.

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2D = weak 2 (5-10HCP, decent 6 card diamond suit; 2S = forcing; 3H = denying spade support, maximum weak two, heart feature (A,K, or Q))
Hint: How many clubs will you lose? How many diamond will you lose? etc.

Answer: Since partner has no spade support, you'll lose no spades, having the ♠AK yourself.
Partner's heart feature must be the ♥K which means you have no heart losers.
Your singleton club means one club loser since partner can trump any other clubs in your hand.
If partner has the ♦A, they are likely to split 2-1 even when partner doesn't have the queen. Partner is very likely to have that ♦A but it doesn't hurt to check for it using Blackwood. Bid 6D if partner shows an ace.

4.

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2C = strong and artificial; 2S = 5 or more spades including 2 of the top 3 honors
4NT=normal Blackwood; 5D=one ace
If your agreement is to play Roman Keycard, partner showed two key cards and no queen of trump
Do you agree with 4NT? What do you bid now?
Hint: How many tricks do you have?
Second hint: Does it matter who plays the hand?

Answer: Don't count points, count tricks! Your partner showed 5 spades with 2 of the top 3 honors; if you don't know which honors those are, I would suggest taking up another game. Partner has ♠AKxxx which will produce 5 tricks (barring a very unlikely 5-0 split with partner not having either the ♠10 or a well-placed ♠9.) You have 6 heart tricks. You have 1 club trick. That's 12 tricks. Your only loser will be the ♦A.

However, if you play in spades, your right hand opponent is on lead and might lead a diamond through your ♦K. Protect the♦K by playing the hand yourself. Bid 6NT.

You should agree with 4NT since the only thing that matters is whether partner has the ♦A to give you 13 tricks.

Bonus question: Would you bid any differently in rubber bridge?

Spoiler

Yes - you might try 6H for the extra 150 honors since the chance of a ruff on opening lead is so low.

5.

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Hint: What has partner got? How many tricks do you expect to lose in each suit?

Answer: The opponents have shown 8 hearts and you have the other 5. Partner is void in hearts. Assume partner doesn't have spade support so he has at least 11 cards in clubs and diamonds, giving him at least 6 clubs if he bid his longest suit.

I should have 5 spade tricks and 6 club tricks if partner has the ♣A. If partner doesn't also have the ♦A, two hearts can be trumped in dummy to give 13 tricks as long as partner's clubs are good enough to ruff with my queen and still not lose any club tricks.

Give yourself full credit for bidding 6C (or 7C.) While I expect 7C to make, it may not, and you will usually pick up IMPs or most of the matchpoints for bidding and making 6C on this hand. If you want to ask for aces and bid 7C if partner has two, fine, but it would really be a shame if your partner thinks he has extra values and corrects to 7NT, so the bid isn't totally safe.

[akwoo]

On (5) - I am a little worried that 2H might have been on xx Kx QJxxx xxxx, giving partner a singleton heart and RHO 5 spades.

In an experienced partnership, I'm proceeding slowly, starting with 3H.

[Kaitlyn S]

 akwoo, on 2016-November-02, 06:43, said:

On (5) - I am a little worried that 2H might have been on xx Kx QJxxx xxxx, giving partner a singleton heart and RHO 5 spades.

In an experienced partnership, I'm proceeding slowly, starting with 3H.

RHO has 5 spades and not 6 hearts and opened 1H?

However, another reason to give full credit to 6C - to cover the "stuff happens" cases.

If you start with 3 hearts, are you going to be able to sort out both whether partner is void in hearts and whether partner's clubs can withstand two ruffs in your hand (AJxxxx or Axxxxxx)?

[MinorKid]

Hand 1:
South may deceive opponent with ♣ fit jump or ♦ splinter, where both are the reverse description of the actual hand.

[Kaitlyn S]

 MinorKid, on 2016-November-17, 04:10, said:

Hand 1:
South may deceive opponent with ♣ fit jump or ♦ splinter, where both are the reverse description of the actual hand.

True. Could be a good plan although when you later bid 7H out of the blue, the opponents should wake up.

I suspect that many of the readers for which this column is intended would not play 4D as a splinter and almost none of them would play 4C as a fit-showing jump (and certainly very few pairs at any level would play both )

Also, since I'm talking to I/N's, even if they did have the agreement, they probably discussed it a long time ago and it has never come up, and it would be a da*n shame to play your cold grand slam in 4 of a minor

[MinorKid]

 Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-17, 12:15, said:

True. Could be a good plan although when you later bid 7H out of the blue, the opponents should wake up.

I suspect that many of the readers for which this column is intended would not play 4D as a splinter and almost none of them would play 4C as a fit-showing jump (and certainly very few pairs at any level would play both )

Also, since I'm talking to I/N's, even if they did have the agreement, they probably discussed it a long time ago and it has never come up, and it would be a da*n shame to play your cold grand slam in 4 of a minor

With the false fit jump ,the opponent would have to plunge based on false info.

On the other hand, I do not object south going 7♥ via a blackwood bid. He need to know if there is 7NT available. I dont think north will plunge 7NT over 7♠ himself not even on our own 7♥.