The Mohan Advani Memorial Pairs event is a high point in the Mumbai bridge calendar. Quite apart from being extremely well organised, it is played in the spirit of celebrating a truly exceptional individual. As dealer, with none vulnerable, you find yourself looking at ♠Q64 ♥AQ9 ♦Q10 ♣AJ984. You open proceedings with 1NT and lefty is quick to butt in with 2♠. After considerable thought partner bids a Lebensohl 2NT, asking you to bid 3♣. You wonder whether he is angling for a game in hearts or has a weak hand with long diamonds. His next bid is a bit of a surprise — 4♦, which you interpret as being a slam try in diamonds. Extending slam try mode you cue bid 4♥ and are enthused by partner’s 4♠ cue. It seems likely that partner has a top honour in spades and ♦AKJ to 7 diamonds. If the diamonds are less robust, he is odds on to have a picture card in either hearts or clubs. What is the percentage bid playing matchpoints? 6NT was my choice at the table. The intrepid choice of final contract was something I came to regret as dummy was spread out:
♠A10 ♥53 ♦KJ765432 ♣Q!
The 4 of hearts was led, a source of short-lived relief. After winning the 10 with the Q, I tabled a diamond immediately won by lefty with the Ace and both opponents following. A second heart hits the deck with RHO contributing the knave. 11 tricks are now in clear sight — 7 diamonds, 2 hearts and a trick in each of the black suits. The quest for the twelfth trick should be driven by your conception of LHO’s hand.
Surely, he started with a 6 card spade suit headed by KJ and a stiff ♦A. Can he possess the King of Hearts given his choice of lead? Since that prospect seems unlikely, LHO must have the ♣K for his overcall. If such is the case, your hapless LHO is destroyed by a black suit squeeze. On the run of the diamonds, the last 3 cards in dummy will be ♠A10 and the bare ♣Q. If the spade Jack has been discarded prior to this ending, cashing the Ace in dummy sees you home. If not, cash the other black Ace dropping the King in spectacular fashion and claim your adventurous contract! LHO was dealt ♠KJ9852 ♥42 ♦A ♣K763.
The fortnightly Pairs at the Bombay Gymkhana is proof positive of why club bridge is enjoyable. Playing against two India internationals, you hear partner open 1♦ with only opponents vulnerable. RHO passes and you wonder what the right action is holding ♠A10653 ♥- ♦82 ♣AK6542. Your LHO, a semi-finalist at the Seniors event in the most recent Bermuda Bowl, appears a trifle fidgety and keen to get a monkey off his back. You muster up a 2♣ response and in the blink of an eye LHO has bid 4♥, suggesting a blockbuster given the adverse vulnerability. Partner seems somewhat discomforted by the aggressive action but after a brief pause bids 5♣. Righty is keen to join the party now and not surprisingly raises his partner to 5♥.
What should you be bidding next? If partner gives you the 2 top honours in diamonds and ♣Q, the grand slam in clubs should be better than even money. Even ♦AQ, ♠K and ♣Q in partner’s hand should give you a decent shot at 7♣. Once you weigh the gains from the long-term bragging rights that scoring the grand might provide, 7♣ is a cinch. The full hand was:
Also Read: Bridge At The Top
Playing in a friendly pairs event at Malabar Hill Club, you choose to open 1♣ holding ♠AJ9 ♥KQ ♦K83 ♣76432. After East overcalls in diamonds and is raised by his partner, you land in the optimistic contract of 4♠. The lead of the ♦10 suggests East holds AQJ in the suit. East wins the second diamond with Queen and returns a low club, won by West with the King. A third diamond forces declarer to ruff. How should declarer play to combine his chances?
The situation is quite akin to the circumstances confronting the professional investor — rational decision making in the context of partial/incomplete information (read uncertainty).
First, it might be useful to summarise what is known. East seems to hold at least 8 cards in the minors and since a 4-1 trump break makes the contract hopeless, it is best to assume that trumps divide 3-2. In addition, declarer needs to cater for a 4-2 ♥ break or the heart Jack dropping doubleton. Since West is far more likely to hold 4 hearts given our earlier assumptions, it seems best to cash the top hearts in dummy and await developments.
When both opponents follow to two rounds of hearts, you are confronted with the problem of how to tackle trumps!
Since it might be necessary to ruff a heart with spade Ace in dummy, declarer should bank on East holding Qxx in trumps. Is this consistent with what we already know? The return of a low club at trick three suggests the presence of a club picture in the East hand. Add 7 points in diamonds, nothing meaningful in hearts and the likelihood that the trump Queen is placed on declarer’s right is odds on. Given this hypothesis, run the spade Jack and if it holds, continue by playing the 9 of trumps overtaking with 10 in hand. Now a heart ruffed with the Ace and a club ruff allows you to draw trumps and claim.
The East hand turns out to be ♠Q85 ♥87 ♦AQJ96 ♣Q85.
Also Read: Simple, But Not Easy
“A fact, once logically arrived at, should not be extended beyond its natural significance.” (A Murder of Quality, John le Carré , 1962)
I suspect this might have something to do with discovering the mantra for beating the stock market as well as superior card play!
Sanjoy Bhattacharyya is Managing Partner at Fortuna Capital and an avid bridge player.
The views expressed here are those of the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of BloombergQuint or its editorial team.
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