Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Picture Bids

About a year ago, I learned of a way to show a specific hand type that is helpful in certain types of auctions.  What does it mean when you open one of a minor and partner jumps to four of a major?  What if there is interference in between?  I don't think that there is a well-defined meaning for this bid. 

I heard through the grapevine that some experts use this bid to show a very specific hand:  a solid seven-card suit with no outside controls, e.g.,


Because the bid is so specific, I call it a "picture bid".  I don't know where this idea originated.  I learned of it from my partner Dave Neuman, who heard of it from another friend of mine, who didn't know where he got it.  Anyway, since I didn't have a better use for the bid, I decided to adopt it, with one variant:  it can also be a 7-card one loser suit with an outside ace, e.g.,


So the bid promises 7 tricks.  

I discussed playing this with Jenn before the recent regional.  Unfortunately, we had not discussed whether or not it applied after interference.  Accordingly, we had a missed opportunity in the regional IMP Pairs.  On the very first board, I picked up, vulnerable in third seat:


Jenn opened 1 Diamond, and RHO bid 1 Spade.  I thought that the picture bid agreement applied here, so I bid 4 Hearts.  Jenn wasn't on the same page, so she passed holding


If she had read it correctly, she would have bid at least 6 Hearts and even would have thought about a grand slam.  We made 6, losing a diamond trick.  The IMP par was  +650 our way, so it was a 1-IMP gain, almost a non-event.  However, we lost a great opportunity to win 13 IMPs if she had just bid 6 Hearts.  This would probably have made, as it did at our table after a spade lead. 

It turned out that my RHO had a diamond void, so there were pairs going down in 6 or 7 hearts.  Curiously, if 6 Hearts is doubled (a Lightner double asking for the lead of dummy's first bid suit, diamonds), it will be made as it would warn declarer to not put up dummy's ace on the opening lead.  If it isn't doubled, and a diamond is led anyway, the slam would go down since the ace would be ruffed and another diamond would have to be lost.  However, if a spade is led, the slam makes since dummy's ace of spades provides a parking spot for the diamond loser. 

I suspect that some pairs were doubled in 7 Hearts.  There is no escape from this double, as 7 No Trump cannot be made from either side.  If it is declared by the hand with the long diamonds, a heart lead takes out dummy's only entry so you cannot finesse twice against QJxx and pick up the diamonds.  If it is played from the other side, a spade or club lead beats it for the same reason. 

Jenn doesn't particularly like the bid as she thinks it takes up too much bidding room, so whether we leave it on our card is in question.  In my opinion, however, it has a lot of merit.

Good luck!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Jennbridge: Diamonds are Forever

In last night's 24 board team game, playing with Jenn, I was dealt a 9-card, 8-card, 7-card, 6-card and 5-card suit in the same session - all in diamonds!  (I also held suits containing 4,3,2 and 1 diamond; no voids.)  I think that the odds against that happening are so astonomical that it may never have happened before.  I will present them in descending order of the suit lengths. 

1.  First seat, neither vulnerable.

♠  x
♥  Qx

♦  AKQxxxxxx
l♣ K

How would you handle this freak?  Jenn and I play a gambling 3NT opening to show a long solid minor, but our agreement is that the hand may contain no outside ace or king.  So the only choices are 1 Diamond or 5 Diamonds.  I decided to bid 1 Diamond.  LHO overcalled 1 Spade, partner made a negative double, and RHO bid 2 Spades.  Now what? 

Since partner showed some values in hearts, I decided to simply bid Blackwood.  If she showed 2 aces, I would take a shot at 6 Diamonds.  She actually bid 5 Diamonds, showing one ace, so I passed.  LHO led the ace of spades, and I looked at:

♠  xx
♥  xxxxx

♦  JT
♣ AQxx

♠  x
♥  Qx

♦  AKQxxxxxx
♣ K

A disappointing dummy - neither the ace or king of hearts.  I should have been down one.  LHO knew that I was off 2 aces. Fortunately for us, he had a stiff king of hearts and didn't play it, going for a passive defense, so we made six.  (An interesting sidelight: if he had played his king, RHO would have had to decide whether or not to overtake.  Overtaking is right if the lead is a stiff king, breaks even if it is from KQ, but loses if it is from Kx.  In this case, RHO had AJTxx, so if partner had Kx, declarer would have a singleton and his play wouldn't matter, so he should overtake.) 

At the other table, our opponents had an accident.  The bidding went 1 Diamond, one Spade, Double, 2 Hearts, alerted as a good spade raise.  The person holding my cards now cue bid 2 Spades. LHO went on to 4 Spades, and her partner bid 5 Hearts (thinking that the cue bid showed a heart fit) which was doubled.  She passed and her partner went for -1700!  Had she correctly removed to 6 Diamonds (9-card suits should always be trumps), our teammates would have likely set it one (after partner doubles 5 hearts, leading the king at trick 2 would have been easy, but might not beat it 2 tricks.)  We won 19 IMPs.  It might have been 4 or 8 depending on whether they beat it one or two.

2.  In third seat, neither vulnerable,  I held:

♠  Jx
♥  void

♦  KJTxxxxx
♣  xxx

This was an easy one.  Jenn dealt and opened 1 Heart.  We play Bergen, so I couldn't bid 3 Diamonds.  I had to bid a forcing 1NT.  She bid 2 Clubs, I bid 2 Diamonds, she bid 3 Clubs, I bid 3 Diamonds and she passed.   The contract was the same at the other table.  We made 4 for a 1 IMP gain.

3.  In first seat, neither vulnerable, I held:

♠  x
♥  AK9xx
♦  JT9xxxx

♣  void

Do you open, and if so, what?  I didn't want to preempt in diamonds as this could bury the heart suit.  I considered opening it 1 Diamond, but instead chose to pass.   LHO opened 1 Club, Jenn overcalled 1 Spade, and RHO made a surprising bid of 2 Hearts.  Now I decided to get into the auction with 3 Diamonds.  Jenn surprised me with a raise to 4 Diamonds.  Since this was IMPs, I couldn't just leave it there, so I tried 5 Diamonds.  Everyone passed, Jenn produced:

 ♠ Axxxx
♥  void
♦  KQxxx

♣ Jxx

Nice trump support!  Jenn, considering that I had been a passed hand and hearing strong opposition bidding, made only a gentle raise.  We made six, losing only the ace of diamonds.  My counterpart at the other table chose to open my hand 2 Hearts, which I consider a serious breach of discipline in first position.  He got what he deserved.  Everyone passed, he went down 2 and we won 11 IMPs.

4.  In third seat, both sides vulnerable, I held:

♠ x
♣ void

Partner passed, and RHO opened 2 Clubs.  I decided to get into the auction with 2 Diamonds.  I knew it was their hand, but a sacrifice bid was possible.  LHO passed (showing some values), and Jenn raised to 3 Diamonds.  RHO bid 4 Clubs, so I took an advance save with 5 Diamonds.  LHO doubled, RHO bid 5 Spades and LHO raised to 6 Spades.  Rats!  Our bidding may have pushed them into a making slam.  If this had been pairs, I might have saved with 7 Diamonds, but in a team game, this is losing strategy.  You certainly are going for 500 or more, so you might as well hope the slam can be set.  I tried my best shot, my lowest diamond, hoping RHO had one so partner could win the ace and give me a club ruff.  Alas, he was 5=1=0=7 and the slam was cold.  Our teammates couldn't find their way to the slam, so we lost 11 IMPs.  Preempts are good tactics but sometimes they backfire. 

5.  I actually held 2 hands with 5 diamonds.  Here is the more interesting one.  I was dealer, both vulnerable, and held:

♠ KJxx
♣ AKx

I opened 1 Diamond, LHO passed, Jenn bid 1 Spade, RHO bid 2 Hearts, I bid 2 Spades (promising 4-card support since we play support doubles), LHO bid 3 Hearts, and Jenn bid 4 Spades.  RHO led the queen of diamonds, and Jenn, looking at:

♠ Axxxx
♣ xxx

had no trouble making 6 (spades were 2-2). This board was a push.

Good luck!