"Strip Squeeze" isn't as dirty as it sounds

Last night in the Swiss, I picked up Qxx 9x Ax AJTxxx at all red. Partner opened 1D (10-15 HCP, 2+ D), RHO overcalled 1S, I bid 2C, partner raised to 3C, and I put us in 3NT. The S9 was led, and I saw:



It looked like nine tricks if the club finesse was on, but a few other chances if not. I put up the ace of spades at trick one (trying to get LHO to continue the suit if she won a club trick) and led a top club from the board. This lost to LHO's king, and she duly continued spades. RHO won with the king and cleared spades, but five more rounds of clubs turned her hand to mush. In order to keep all of her spades, she had to either pitch her ace of hearts or come down to the stiff king of diamonds. She decided to stiff her king, but I was able to read it and play ace then queen of diamonds for my ninth trick. Had she pitched one of her spades, I would have thrown her in with the ace of hearts and forced her to lead away from the king of diamonds at the end. Here's the whole hand:

Portland Regional Update

Hi folks---

Things are going well so far at the Portland Regional. Meg and I won Bracket 2 of the Monday-Tuesday KO with friends from Vancouver, BC, and we placed 3rd in the Wednesday Open Pairs. We start a new KO this afternoon. If you're around, please come check out my lecture this evening starting at 6:15 in the main playing area. I'll write up some of the more fun hands of the week when I get some time.

Oregon Trail Regional

The fabulous Oregon Trail Regional starts today. This tournament, held at the Vancouver, WA Hilton, would be one of my favorites even if it wasn't my "home" regional. There's lots of friendly people, nice giveaways, and a great playing site in a cool downtown area. Also, District 20 has a surprising number of excellent players, and the standard of play here is quite a bit higher than you'll find at the average regional. This is gonna be great!

Seaside Sunday Swiss

Shocking my loyal readers, I'm actually finishing my report on the Seaside Regional in the same month as the tournament! Here's a few problems that Paul and I faced at the table. Check out the Comments to see what we decided and what others would do. Feel free to leave your opinion too!

(A) All white

AK Q53 J85 J9842

You pass in first chair. LHO opens 2H. Pard doubles, and RHO passes. What's your decision?

(B) All white

J963 K876 A9853 none

Partner passes in first seat. RHO opens 1S. Do you bid?

(C) All white again

J96 A98653 QJ Q9

LHO opens a strong notrump. Partner passes, and RHO bids 2H, transfer to spades. What's your call?

(D) All red

AKJ5 T8 4 QT9743

You open 1C (do you?), and partner makes a game-forcing raise of 3C. What's your bid?

Oregon Grinders: Day Five

Paul and I continued in the pairs for the fifth day in a row. I think everyone in the room was getting tired by Friday... there were some wacky things going on (like my RHO's 2C overcall of partner's 1C -- not alerted as natural, but passed by my LHO -- with 62 J653 AJ3 AKJ4; it was only down one when we couldn't figure out what the heck was happening). We certainly didn't do anything spectacular.

Here's a quick defensive problem:

Your LHO opens a 10-12 1NT, and your RHO bids a "gambling" 3NT. Partner leads an attitude four of clubs (attitude = low from interest), you play the king, and declarer follows with the deuce. What's your play to trick two?

I think it should be the king of hearts. Sure, you're going to play more clubs, but if you need to lead clubs twice from your side, partner needs to know how to get back to you. So if you cash the heart then lead the ten of clubs, partner can overtake declarer's card, lead a heart to the ace, and the seven of clubs through kills the contract. The whole hand:

Oregon Grinders: Day Four

Paul and I continued in the pairs on Thursday of the Seaside Regional. We didn't make the overalls, but scratched a bit, so we felt pretty good about it.

All problems matchpoints; read the Comments section below for what happened at the table.

(A) Red vs. white

AK -- KQJ73 KQ9742

You open 2C (do you?), pard bids a game-forcing 2D, you rebid 3C, and he surprises you with 3D! What's your bid / plan?

(B) All white

K98 K86 AK 96532

LHO opens a 10-12 1NT. Partner passes, and RHO bids a "to play" 2H. This is passed around to partner, who balances with 2S. Should you move over this?

(C) All red

Bid these two hands to slam:

South opens 1C, and rebids clubs at his first turn.

Play problem from the Eastside Bridge Club

At the Eastside Bridge Club (the best-run bridge club I've ever visited) in Portland yesterday, this hand came up:


I held A QJ763 A853 AJ9. We were playing against strong opponents in a weakish field (Monday morning, the day after a regional). We were unfavorable. Partner passed, RHO passed, I opened 1H, and LHO jumped to 2S. Partner negative-doubled, so I jumped to 4D. She bid a fifth and final diamond, and the king of spades was led. Here's the hand:

I won the spade lead with the ace and played a heart toward the king. LHO won with the ace and played a low spade to his partner's jack. I ruffed, played a club to the ace, and played three rounds of diamonds, finessing for RHO's king-third. Now out of trump, I cashed the top two hearts, pitching spades (everyone following). This was the position I saw:

I ruffed the six of hearts, establishing my 7. LHO pitcheda spade. I led a club off the board toward my AJ.

So... finesse or not?

The answer is in the Comments section. Click the word "Comments" at the end of the post to see what happened at the table, and my thoughts on the situation.

Sometimes it taks three to declare

In the pairs yesterday at the Seaside Regional, I declared a hand with a little help from my friends... Nobody did anything awful, but we ended up with a ridiculous result.

Partner opened 1S in third seat (by partnership agreement), I responded 1NT, and everyone passed. The six of diamonds was led. I played the queen, dropping the ten on my right. 

I led the jack of clubs, covered by the king (good play).  I could have ducked this and dropped the queen on the next round for five club tricks, but were I to duck it, finessing again (playing East for KQx) would probably have been my play. But I wasn't going for all those tricks. All I was looking for was five tricks. -100 seemed like it would be a good matchpoint score. So I went up with the ace and shot a club back. 

West won the queen and switched to the......... queen of hearts! I covered with the king, and East won the ace. He switched back to diamonds, and I let him hold the jack. He then went back to hearts. I won and reeled off lots of clubs. West felt that he was in a pinch. He pitched his last heart and a spade, then decided that his diamonds couldn't take a trick... right he was! he pitched his eight of diamonds, then, on the last club, the king of diamonds. I pitched the ace of diamonds from dummy! The 9-4 in my hand were good, and I gave up a spade at trick 13 for making three.

Oregon Grinders: Day Three

We had a better day in the pairs on Wednesday-- a bit below average in the afternoon, and a solid 57.5% in the evening.

All problems matchpoints, of course.

(A) Red vs. white

QT98762 K643 9 A

Partner opens 1H (4+, usually 5+) in first seat. What's your bidding plan?

(B) Red vs. white

K2 AK8 876542 JT

Righty passes, and it's your call.

(C) White vs. red

74 3 875 AKQJ952

The auction goes (P) P (1N 15-17) to you. The cheapest you can bid clubs is 3C, and double is artificial. Do you bid?

(D) White vs. red

75 QT9742 84 KJ3

LHO opens 1C, partner overcalls 1S, and RHO passes. Do you have a call?

(E) White vs. red

AT872 K73 --- AJ965

You open 1C (our partnership agreement with 5-5 in the blacks), LHO overcalls 1D, and partner leaps majestically to 3NT. Do you pull?

Oregon Grinders: Day 1

Paul and I are playing all pair games at the Seaside Regional. We started off hot by winning the Charity Pairs Monday night. According to the directors, we led wire to wire and won by a landslide. There were a lot of fun hands, and we handled them well, surviving three near-zeroes. That just goes to show you that you shouldn't let one bad board ruin your session...

Our first set of two boards warned of a wacky set of hands:

I was North and made 3S with a little help from my friends for 26 of 34 matchpoints.

Systemically, we open 1C with 5-5 black hands. We got to absolute par by saving over 4H. Do you agree with 4S by me? West, understandably, took the push to 5H with his 6-5. +200 was worth 32 of 34 matchpoints.

OK, here's some problem hands for you to chew on. Feel free to share your answers and read others' opinions by clicking on the word "Comments" at the end of this article. I'll also tell what happened at the table in that section.

(A) White vs. red

A32 KT4 5 JT8643

LHO (a solid citizen) opens 3S; pard doubles; RHO passes. Your call.

(B) All white

Q52 Q987 KQJT QJ

RHO opens 1C. You're up.

(C) Red vs. white

A K52 Q98652 Q96

You open 1D in third seat. LHO bounces to 4H, and partner makes a negative double. Your bid.

(D) How should these hands be bid at all white? South starts, and East bids (or doubles) hearts at her first opportunity.