The Hitchhiker’s Guide - part 4: the Tiger wraps it up

I have just finished reading a really excellent book on defense called Tiger and Fly by Krzysztof Martens. There are two parts, each with examples of the style of defensive play of one of the eponymous characters. The bulk of the book is devoted to the Tiger. He (or she) is a bold defender with a predator’s eye for deception and camouflage. He will cunningly ambush declarer by drawing a false picture of the deal then pounce at the last moment just as declarer is, he thinks, about to wrap up a successful contract.

Naturally, I was keen to show my feline mettle at my next club game. Here is the setting. I was sitting East, dealer, at favorable vulnerability and holding the following nice collection against one of the best pairs in the room:

♠ AK97 ♥ QJT62 ♦ K9 ♣ 85.
I opened 1♥ and partner raised to 2♥. We play Bergen raises so this bid showed only three hearts or a very flat hand. Unfortunately, this being the first round, I had momentarily forgotten that and was thinking we were playing constructive raises. Anyway, this was passed around to my LHO who doubled. Partner passed and RHO bid 3♣ which was alerted as showing five clubs. I only have thirteen points, but I am certainly better than a minimum opener so I doubled. By agreement, this is cooperative asking partner’s opinion about defending or bidding on. I usually have one or two clubs and will have something in each of the unbid suits. Partner passed and it was my lead. I do think I was a little over-aggressive in this action (especially given that we play Bergen) but this story isn’t about the bidding. It’s about the defense.

It seemed natural to lead a high spade and get a look at the dummy. Dummy came down with:

♠ QT2 ♥ A95 ♦ J85 ♣ AJ72
and the first trick was made up of A-2-8-4. We play UDCA so the 8 is probably a suggestion to switch. Now is the time to heed the usual warning for defending doubled contracts: DON’T PANIC!

I panicked. I led a heart and that was that: -670 and obviously a bottom.

Tigers don’t panic however. They own their territory and they know it. People don’t wander in with their reopening doubles and expect to get out alive. The tiger laid down the ♦K, continued to partner’s ace and received a diamond ruff. Five tricks in for the magic 200 and a clear top.

Why did the Tiger succeed when I failed? Mainly because he didn’t panic, of course. But he carefully analyzed the hand, too. It looks like we have three sure tricks in spades and diamonds. We need two more. Based on the auction, we can count on partner for two of the missing honors. What could these be, practically speaking? The ♥K, the ♦AQ and the ♣K are the relevant missing cards, although the ♦Q is a slow trick and will likely come too late to do us much good. Assuming that declarer really does have five clubs, the ♣Q cannot be a factor. If partner has the ♦A, we should be able to get a diamond ruff, providing our trumps don't get drawn first. Let’s consider what pairs of cards will get us the five tricks we need:

♥K ♦A

Down one if we cash second spade (2S, 2D, ruff); down two if we switch to ♦K immediately (♥K scores).

♥K ♦Q

Cannot defeat the contract (2S, 1H, 1D).

♥K ♣K

Down one provided we switch to hearts before the ♠Q is established (2S, 1H, 1D, 1C).

♦A ♦Q

Down one provided we switch to ♦K before losing the lead (2S, 2D, ruff); most probably down two.

♦A ♣K

Always down one (2S, 2D, 1C); down two if we switch to ♦K before losing the lead (2S, 2D, 1C, ruff).

♦Q ♣K

Cannot defeat the contract (2S, 1D, 1C)

Ignoring the sequences which result in down two (or making), we are left with a decision. If partner has the ♦A (three cases out of four), the contract is always going down provided that we switch to diamonds before losing the lead. The only time this would be fatal would be when partner has the two round-suit kings (the remaining case) without the diamond queen too. That's to say that any time partner has three of the four honors, the contract is going down anyway when we lay down the ♦K.

What if partner has only one of the honors? Well, obviously, if it's the ♦A and we switch to the king, it will be going down. As Martens points out, this is an application of Occam's Razor. If we can defeat the contract by assuming only one honor, then that's the way to go.

Wouldn't it have been better to cash the ♠K to see what would come next? Partner would play the trey, suit preference for diamonds, the lower-ranking suit. Was there any risk that declarer would show out on the second round of spades and draw trumps? If declarer only had a singleton spade, partner would have had five. Given that my double guaranteed at least three spades, we would then have had a double major suit fit of 16 cards. Far too much offense to risk passing for penalties.

But while it would be safe to cash the king and get the happy news that a diamond shift was right, in the one case where diamonds was wrong, we would now have given up the possibility of getting a heart trick. So, since the Tiger was planning to play on diamonds anyway, there was no need to continue spades.

In fact, partner didn't have two "cards." She had only the ♦A! This, together with the spade jack, made up her entire hand. Was it right, then to pass the double? In the long run, probably not. In 3♥, most pairs were making 140 although they should be down one. But minus 50 would be preferable to minus 110 of course (and much better than minus 670.

But partner actually got us to the theoretical top spot: all set for 200. Now, if only she'd been playing with the Tiger!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Bridge - part 3

Part two of this series added some thoughts on safely cashing out in doubled contracts. Today I want to add a useful principle which I call "The Principle of the Disappearing Trick." Not the kind of trick whereby rabbits disappear under handkerchiefs — but the situation where a cashing trick becomes uncashable. This hand just came up with a random partner from the internet about whom I know nothing at all. Matchpoints.

First of all, you might ask yourself if you should sit for the double. If North has just the two red aces, they might make 3♥ while we will be down only 1 in 4♣ (may be better to bid on). If North has the ♠A and one other trick, then 3♥ is down just 1 (100) — unless we can ruff some spades — but we will be making 4♣ (130) (again, may be better to bid on).

You (random partner) decide to pass the double. If you step through the first couple of tricks, you will find yourself on lead at trick 3 with the exhortation in the comment area "DON'T PANIC!"

Ask yourself "what can go away?" If partner has a natural trump trick, it can't go away. If he has a promotable trump trick it will go away if we don't act quickly enough. What about the side suits? If partner has the ♦A, it's not going anywhere. What about the spades? Declarer presumably has five so they can't all be pitched on those diamonds. Is there any other way that our spade trick(s) (assuming we have some) are going away? Yes, if we try to promote partner's trumps by playing a third round of clubs. Declarer may be able to ruff high in hand and pitch one spade from the dummy. That defense, therefore will at best break even unless partner doesn't have either the ♠A or the ♠Q. But in that case, what is he doubling on? Five points?

So, let's look at this another way. First of all, there's an inference that declarer doesn't have much extra, either in points or distribution — he was content to let us play 3♣. Let's assume that North has the ♦A and that it will cash (we don't know if West is 5512, 6412 or 5422 yet). If North has the ♠A too, we need to cash out, starting with the ♠K for down one at least. If he only has the ♠Q then he'll have to have a natural trump trick. Based on all of these considerations, the ♠K is by far the best continuation as, if all goes well, we can also get some spade ruffs!

Here's the complete hand. If you step through again to trick 3, you can now press the GIB button to see what will happen with various continuations. Notice how the ♠K will result in down 3 for a magnificent 500 which would have scored 15/17. A diamond is OK providing North now under-leads his ♠A to give you just one spade ruff. Anything but a club results in at least +100 for a 7.5/17 matchpoints. Needless to say, random partner continued with a club giving us a total goose egg.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Bridge - part 2

Part one of this series was published over a year ago. I don't recall if I had a sequel in mind at the time, but here is a totally new sequel. The key mantra, which every fan of the increasingly inappropriately named Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy (there are five parts), is of course DON'T PANIC!

Nowhere in bridge does this exhortation have more relevance than in defending a doubled part-score. When you're in this situation, two things are absolutely essential:

• you must have confidence that you are in the right spot and that the contract is going down (usually at the part-score level, you only need the contract to go down one but sometimes, when the opponents are not vulnerable, you actually need them to go down two);
• you must not panic.

I hope my partner from the following hand will forgive me for bringing this up. But it seems to me that both of us to some extent panicked on this hand which swung the entire matchpoints against us.

I have annotated some thoughts after the first trick. But basically, West knows almost exactly what my hand is — this is one of the hidden benefits of the cooperative double [there will be more hidden benefits in the next blog]. I don't have four spades (I would have raised to three) but I have stuff in the minors (and, based on the lead, the SK). In addition, East could have the DK, CQ, or a high heart, perhaps two of these. It's possible that declarer has a singleton in a minor, although the double would be somewhat questionable with a five-card suit on the side. One thing about playing doubled contracts at matchpoints is that it is much more like playing IMPs or Rubber bridge. You know precisely the number of tricks needed. In this case, exactly five. These will be two spades, the two minor suit aces, and either the DK or a high heart. Can any of these go away? Not the trump obviously, not the spade. A minor suit ace could disappear conceivably but if it's the club, there's not much we can do from our side. No, the only danger is losing a diamond trick if we have one.

Cashing out is not always as easy as it might be. If at this point, the DA is laid down and, in response to an encouraging signal, a small one continued, East may assume a doubleton diamond. Better perhaps is a low diamond, although there's a small chance that declarer will score a stiff K! I think the best approach is to play DA and a spade. Partner will not assume a doubleton diamond and will probably cash the DK and switch to a club (the ace will be the setting trick so there will be no need to play low). However, West continued a spade (not fatal but essentially wasting a tempo). I won the K and now had to switch to a minor suit, although I suppose another spade would not have been fatal either. If partner had the DA, why had he not played it at trick 2? Probably he had AQ of clubs, although that would leave him only a 10-count (possible for a third-seat opener I suppose). I led a small club and here is where the exhortation DON'T PANIC comes in. Trust me to have an honor in clubs and put in the T. This would automatically hold declarer to six hearts, and two black suit queens. But partner went up with the ace. Now, the tempo is critical — we are actually behind schedule in cashing our tricks and given time, declarer can get off a diamond. So now it is essential to start the DA. As you can see, this didn't happen so we went from +200 (a top) to -730 (a bottom).

This sort of thing has been the unfortunate result in many hands. I like to get those 200s so tend to make aggressive doubles. Against a doubled part-score contract, it doesn't take a genius to recognize that letting them make will be a bottom. So there is never any danger of making an even worse error that gives away an overtrick. You'd suffer the same bottom. So, always assume that the contract will go down with relatively normal play: building and cashing tricks. Trust that partner has his bid, because if he hasn't and they make overtricks, it can't get any worse.

The hitchhiker's guide to Bridge: part 1

The instruction DON'T PANIC was written in large letters on the front page of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, according to Douglas Adams in the novel of that name (1979). It is also a good thing to remember at times when playing bridge.

There are probably several different aspects of the game where the exhortation is relevant. One is defending a contract with a good side suit. There is a tendency to panic unless we have a good count on declarer's hand. Another common situation is defending a doubled part score, especially when partner is the chief hawk and our hand is dove-like.

The situation that is the subject of this blog occurs during the auction. It's a common mistake of beginners in bridge to keep running from doubled contracts. Just the other day, I doubled a contract at the two-level (we were slated to earn 500) but the opponents panicked and ended up in the exact same suit, but one level higher. We enjoyed our 800.

Here's a situation where the BBO robots demonstrated that they too are subject to this type of panic attack. The hand occurred in a robot tournament, costing me a decent showing. To add insult to injury, the tournaments now require the human to play all the hands so I was the one playing the ridiculous contract. Assuming that 4♦ gets doubled it would have been worth approximately 12 IMPs to us (-100 against a vulnerable game). 4♠ doubled should also have been -100 although the two times it was played resulted in -500. That would have been worth 4.8 IMPs. The actual contract of 5♥X (-800 although I could have escaped for -500) was worth -4.1 IMPs.

It was all so unnecessary – and a direct result of panicking. 4♦ hadn't even been doubled yet. You would think that my robot partner would be happy to have three cards in each of my announced suits. But no, he bids his own suit. When that gets doubled (surprise), he pulls to the strain that he previously eschewed. That gets doubled and he pulls yet again.



Are there any lessons to be learned (by the robot) here? The first lesson is that when partner has promised a two-suiter and voluntarily bids one of the suits "to play", then that suit is at least as good as the other suit and will usually be better. How do we know it's "to play?" In this case, it's clear from the auction that the opponents hold most of the cards and that the robot is broke. A raise would be unthinkable and a preference is only desired with significantly better hearts than diamonds.

The second lesson is that three card support (here in each of partner's suits!) is very good to have. Don't try to bid your own suit, unless it's at least eight cards long!

The third lesson is that once the opponents start doubling, they are likely to double everything in sight. The fact that they doubled 5♦, doesn't in any way suggest that 5♥ would play better. And that's going to be doubled too.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy playing these robot tournaments. The robots are patient, they are fast. They never criticize my inept play. Occasionally they go off the rails, as above, but mostly I love them for being competent, if not brilliant, and dependable partners.