A good bridge player knows how to talk a good game.
A better bridge player knows better.

My Big Fat Mouth

Friday night is the best night for club bridge in Vancouver. Tonight, we had 20 tables and my partner and I came first overall in our section. It is a Vancouver tradition to have a drink at the pub in the honour of the winners, even if the winners are not among us. Tonight we will drink to us.

Dan Watson, a local player, comes with us and wants to hear about an interesting hand.

"Here's a neat position. The only relevant cards in my hand were the DAQ. I heard: 1D on my right; 1S by me; 2D on my left; 2S by pard; 3D on my right; WHISTLE. I led a spade which declarer won in her hand. This was the diamond position:"

"I started thinking about which diamond to play. Declarer almost surely held a 5­card or longer diamond suit for the auction, so the only way I could possibly get an extra trick in the suit was if partner held the stiff DJ. When it comes time to play a diamond, I'll play the DQ and maybe she'll think partner has stiff DA and duck. The play will cost me nothing because no defensive ruff is available and I can stop any attempted cross­ruff."

"Declarer led the D9. I played the DQ smoothly, and she started thinking."

"'Wow', I thought. 'I guess partner has the stiff DJ afterall.' But declarer called for the DK and wasn't foiled. My play didn't gain this time, but it could have. If I had led the DQ, she surely would have got it wrong."

 LEFTY(dummy)
D K 10 8 6 5
ME
D A Q
 PARD
D ?
RIGHTY
D ?


My friend Dan found this to be an interesting, but tricky play to make. "Most club players would play the DA with your holding. On that assumption, I'm surprised that declarer got it right at the table. Nice play."

The following Tuesday, I was playing at the club. We were East­West, and my partner and I were having a horrible set when we arrived at Dan's table on the fourth round. He was on my left.

He opened 1S and his pard made a 3S limit raise. Dan accepted with 4S. This was the spade position:

Again, declarer was known to have a 10­card fit and there was no possibility of losing a trick by playing the SQ when a spade would eventually come through me. Again, I hoped that partner held that stiff SJ.

Dan led a spade off dummy and I played the SQ smoothly. Dan pondered over this and I thought to myself, "Wow! Finally, a glimmer of hope for such an awful set." But Dan eventually played the SK dropping pard's SJ not to mention my highest hopes!

 RIGHTY(dummy)
S 10 8 7 6 5
PARD
S ?
 ME
S A Q
DAN
S ?


"Dan, you made an incredible play. Did I not play the queen 'smoothly' enough for you?"

He said, "No, your play was smooth. I just couldn't stand to lose to such a 'good' play."

Me and my big fat mouth.

What's interesting is that the SK was the right technical play. Assuming that your defender is capable of playing low from either SAQ or SAJ, then the correct play can be determined by using restricted choice.

When Dan leads a low spade from dummy and I follow with an honour, his choice of card matters only if I have a doubleton (see diagram). It is equally likely that I be dealt any doubleton.

However with SQJ, I could have played the SJ roughly 50% of the time or the SQ roughly 50% of the time. This means that Dan's play of the SK is roughly a 2-1 shot in his favour.

 RIGHTY(dummy)
S 10 8 7 6 5
PARD
S J
S Q
S A
 ME
S A Q
S A J
S Q J
DAN
S K 9 4 3 2


The Fallible Genius - a chronicle by Brad Bart
March 2, 1999