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12/23/19 - Grand Slam #1 of the Day #analysis

 

Friday the 13th¡¯s Grand-Slam-a-Palooza will be reviewed in order of descending minus scores. We shall begin with Board 25, on which two pairs failed in 6S and Joill even set 4S:

?

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡1072

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡93

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡²Ï976

²Ï6¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.853

²Ï8632¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.´³1074

²Ï8642¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.±¹´Ç¾±»å

3¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.´³108542

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­J94

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡95

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­J1075

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­

?

Georold scored 7/11 matchpoints for playing in 3NT declared by South, making six. This one is rather puzzling. The most plausible auction I can conjure is 1C-1S; 2S-3NT, as they played this board in the second round, before either of them would have gotten into operational mode. Four pairs played in 4S, with North taking twelve or nine tricks and South ten or thirteen. Two pairs played 5S S +1. That left five pairs in slam; two Norths went down in 6S, Sareff played 6NT N =, Ruleste 7S S = and Kerma 7NT S =.

?

I¡¯ll guess that the result of 6S -1 came about after a club lead, after which declarer led a trump to dummy¡¯s ace and then finessed on the way back. Would it be smart of East to play the club deuce on the opening lead? It might signal to West that East wants a diamond switch if West gets in, but South might also get suspicious to see an opponent play an unexpected deuce.

?

This is the sort of hand that often traps old-fashioned bidders such as Celeste and Norma, who remain with standard Blackwood. Note that North and South hold all the aces and kings between them. A pair that does not find out about the queen of trumps can get into these grand slams. Note how much easier 7S would be to make with

?

A1072

2

AQ9

AQ976

?

KQJ9

A95

KJ1075

4

?

Here I can suppose Ruleste¡¯s auction to have been 1C-1S; 3S-4NT; 5S-5NT; 6D-7S. Norma might have started with 1D, but I suspect not, as South only initiates the asking sequence if North jumps. If the auction starts 1C-1D; 1S, South makes the first show of strength (say, with 2H as Fourth Suit Forcing), and it¡¯s just as likely North will start asking.

?

Jerik would have known they held all the aces and kings right away, and then would have had the rest of the auction to find a fit, perhaps settling on diamonds or maybe finding the 4-4 spade fit. I¡¯m not sure how they adjust their slam auctions to find queens when a 1C opener knows what the ace and king situation is. Precision has a tricky time of it. The auction starts 1C-2D, and then opener can delay the diamond support until finding out about responder¡¯s clubs with 3C-3H, denying club support but showing at least four controls, so that North knows South holds the heart ace and at least two of the three missing kings. North can then choose to go to a natural auction with 3S, over which South can go to 4NT and make a normal auction of it, probably settling in 6S. Or North may take the route of asking about South¡¯s diamonds with 4D-4S, showing a five-card suit with one top honour. That could lead to either 6D or 6NT.

?

South might not have been left in 7S, which gives me the idea that Kerma¡¯s auction might have gone the same as Ruleste¡¯s, except that East might have made a quite reasonable double of 7S on the diamond void. Doubles of grand slams by opening leader¡¯s partner, except when they are on a surprise trump trick (which I do not advise, recalling the time one Tuesday when the Baushers were doubled in 7S by a player with J1097 in trumps; Phyllis, who had running clubs, could have pulled the double to a cold 7NTm but her psychic friend made her leave the double in, and Larry made 7S doubled when the doubler foolishly ruffed a club low), are sure to be a void. Here, though, if South is doubled in 7S, West will probably not have the clue of a diamond bid from South to assist in the selection between equally long red suits. I would still expect, though, that 7S doubled would be set even after a heart lead. East¡¯s double would flag the diamond void for South (if the void were in clubs, West would certainly have led a club holding seven), but it would be reasonable of declarer to guess East to hold the spade queen and finesse that West, resulting in two down. 6S doubled with a heart lead, though, seems likely to make an overtrick, as declarer will likely play the ace and king.

?

Taking the play of 7S undoubled, declarer is not too badly off. West presumably leads the singleton club, and declarer might well go right. As the usual lead against a grand slam is a trump, if I were put into 7S and found myself with such a two-way finesse, I should very likely play opening leader for the trump queen on that mild inference. When West turns up with the queen, declarer is in excellent shape. After drawing trumps, a 4-3 club split establishes the thirteenth trick, with the two-way diamond finesse in reserve. The play goes: club king, spade king, spade ace, spade ten, club ace discarding a diamond, heart king, club queen discarding a diamond, club ruff, heart ace discarding a diamond, heart ruff, leaving North with D A93 and South D KJ10. Both East and West have followed to three rounds of hearts, but West has discarded on the second club and on the third spade. With East known to have three hearts and nine black cards, there is no room for more than one diamond in the hand. Declarer can lead a diamond to the king and finesse with confidence, even if East follows at trick eleven.

?

While 7NT cannot be defeated, it is more difficult to make than 7S as the diamonds must be finessed on the first round to win four tricks in the suit even if declarer guesses the spades correctly. For that reason, I shall guess that Norma received the opening lead of a diamond away from the queen, making just a spade guess necessary.

?

6NT seems as if it ought to make even if declarer misguesses the diamonds. Club king, diamond ace, club ace discarding a spade, and now declarer knows both East and West began with seven cards in the majors. The plan is then to squeeze an opponent with the queen or length in spades. It is easier to do this to East than West because of the blockages and West¡¯s being out of clubs. Take the heart king, then run the diamond nine. West must put South back in to take the red winners. On the last of these, if East has not discarded two spades, North comes down to a spade doubleton. South will be on lead at trick nine looking at

?

A10

void

void

Q9

?

KJ9

9

void

void

?

If East began with three spades, the third spade must be discarded on trick nine to keep the club guard (it¡¯s even worse if East held the only heart guard as well, though that¡¯s highly unlikely). Declarer crosses to the spade ace, cashes the club queen, and now on the spade back at trick twelve knows that East¡¯s thirteenth card is a high club and that the king can be played with confidence. This is occasionally called a show-up squeeze, solving a two-way finesse by reducing it to a drop if the hand with length doesn¡¯t hold the missing honour.

?

The opposite squeeze against West can be tried, but there is no guarantee that West will have the only heart guard. That line then really amounts to planning to play West for Qxx in spades ¨C declarer hopes to come down to

?

A107

void

void

void

?

K9

9

void

void

?

and then finesse through West if necessary.

?

As West actually holds Qx, either line succeeds.
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Hi Rick,

This coming Friday Celeste has a 2:00 doctor's appointment, so if there is a last sitout, may we have it? ?Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Ruth


On Dec 23, 2019, at 11:55 AM, Bridge Forum <rickt@...> wrote:

Friday the 13th¡¯s Grand-Slam-a-Palooza will be reviewed in order of descending minus scores. We shall begin with Board 25, on which two pairs failed in 6S and Joill even set 4S:

?

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡1072

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡93

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡²Ï976

²Ï6¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.853

²Ï8632¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.´³1074

²Ï8642¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.±¹´Ç¾±»å

3¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.´³108542

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­J94

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­´¡95

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­J1075

¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­°­

?

Georold scored 7/11 matchpoints for playing in 3NT declared by South, making six. This one is rather puzzling. The most plausible auction I can conjure is 1C-1S; 2S-3NT, as they played this board in the second round, before either of them would have gotten into operational mode. Four pairs played in 4S, with North taking twelve or nine tricks and South ten or thirteen. Two pairs played 5S S +1. That left five pairs in slam; two Norths went down in 6S, Sareff played 6NT N =, Ruleste 7S S = and Kerma 7NT S =.

?

I¡¯ll guess that the result of 6S -1 came about after a club lead, after which declarer led a trump to dummy¡¯s ace and then finessed on the way back. Would it be smart of East to play the club deuce on the opening lead? It might signal to West that East wants a diamond switch if West gets in, but South might also get suspicious to see an opponent play an unexpected deuce.

?

This is the sort of hand that often traps old-fashioned bidders such as Celeste and Norma, who remain with standard Blackwood. Note that North and South hold all the aces and kings between them. A pair that does not find out about the queen of trumps can get into these grand slams. Note how much easier 7S would be to make with

?

A1072

2

AQ9

AQ976

?

KQJ9

A95

KJ1075

4

?

Here I can suppose Ruleste¡¯s auction to have been 1C-1S; 3S-4NT; 5S-5NT; 6D-7S. Norma might have started with 1D, but I suspect not, as South only initiates the asking sequence if North jumps. If the auction starts 1C-1D; 1S, South makes the first show of strength (say, with 2H as Fourth Suit Forcing), and it¡¯s just as likely North will start asking.

?

Jerik would have known they held all the aces and kings right away, and then would have had the rest of the auction to find a fit, perhaps settling on diamonds or maybe finding the 4-4 spade fit. I¡¯m not sure how they adjust their slam auctions to find queens when a 1C opener knows what the ace and king situation is. Precision has a tricky time of it. The auction starts 1C-2D, and then opener can delay the diamond support until finding out about responder¡¯s clubs with 3C-3H, denying club support but showing at least four controls, so that North knows South holds the heart ace and at least two of the three missing kings. North can then choose to go to a natural auction with 3S, over which South can go to 4NT and make a normal auction of it, probably settling in 6S. Or North may take the route of asking about South¡¯s diamonds with 4D-4S, showing a five-card suit with one top honour. That could lead to either 6D or 6NT.

?

South might not have been left in 7S, which gives me the idea that Kerma¡¯s auction might have gone the same as Ruleste¡¯s, except that East might have made a quite reasonable double of 7S on the diamond void. Doubles of grand slams by opening leader¡¯s partner, except when they are on a surprise trump trick (which I do not advise, recalling the time one Tuesday when the Baushers were doubled in 7S by a player with J1097 in trumps; Phyllis, who had running clubs, could have pulled the double to a cold 7NTm but her psychic friend made her leave the double in, and Larry made 7S doubled when the doubler foolishly ruffed a club low), are sure to be a void. Here, though, if South is doubled in 7S, West will probably not have the clue of a diamond bid from South to assist in the selection between equally long red suits. I would still expect, though, that 7S doubled would be set even after a heart lead. East¡¯s double would flag the diamond void for South (if the void were in clubs, West would certainly have led a club holding seven), but it would be reasonable of declarer to guess East to hold the spade queen and finesse that West, resulting in two down. 6S doubled with a heart lead, though, seems likely to make an overtrick, as declarer will likely play the ace and king.

?

Taking the play of 7S undoubled, declarer is not too badly off. West presumably leads the singleton club, and declarer might well go right. As the usual lead against a grand slam is a trump, if I were put into 7S and found myself with such a two-way finesse, I should very likely play opening leader for the trump queen on that mild inference. When West turns up with the queen, declarer is in excellent shape. After drawing trumps, a 4-3 club split establishes the thirteenth trick, with the two-way diamond finesse in reserve. The play goes: club king, spade king, spade ace, spade ten, club ace discarding a diamond, heart king, club queen discarding a diamond, club ruff, heart ace discarding a diamond, heart ruff, leaving North with D A93 and South D KJ10. Both East and West have followed to three rounds of hearts, but West has discarded on the second club and on the third spade. With East known to have three hearts and nine black cards, there is no room for more than one diamond in the hand. Declarer can lead a diamond to the king and finesse with confidence, even if East follows at trick eleven.

?

While 7NT cannot be defeated, it is more difficult to make than 7S as the diamonds must be finessed on the first round to win four tricks in the suit even if declarer guesses the spades correctly. For that reason, I shall guess that Norma received the opening lead of a diamond away from the queen, making just a spade guess necessary.

?

6NT seems as if it ought to make even if declarer misguesses the diamonds. Club king, diamond ace, club ace discarding a spade, and now declarer knows both East and West began with seven cards in the majors. The plan is then to squeeze an opponent with the queen or length in spades. It is easier to do this to East than West because of the blockages and West¡¯s being out of clubs. Take the heart king, then run the diamond nine. West must put South back in to take the red winners. On the last of these, if East has not discarded two spades, North comes down to a spade doubleton. South will be on lead at trick nine looking at

?

A10

void

void

Q9

?

KJ9

9

void

void

?

If East began with three spades, the third spade must be discarded on trick nine to keep the club guard (it¡¯s even worse if East held the only heart guard as well, though that¡¯s highly unlikely). Declarer crosses to the spade ace, cashes the club queen, and now on the spade back at trick twelve knows that East¡¯s thirteenth card is a high club and that the king can be played with confidence. This is occasionally called a show-up squeeze, solving a two-way finesse by reducing it to a drop if the hand with length doesn¡¯t hold the missing honour.

?

The opposite squeeze against West can be tried, but there is no guarantee that West will have the only heart guard. That line then really amounts to planning to play West for Qxx in spades ¨C declarer hopes to come down to

?

A107

void

void

void

?

K9

9

void

void

?

and then finesse through West if necessary.

?

As West actually holds Qx, either line succeeds.

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