Slim Slam by Foxymoron

22 yards in cricket is often more than you think, especially if you are trying to run a quick single. 22 points in bridge is more than the minimum to make a slam, but not usually enough. On the above hand the two major suit fits provide 12 tricks but only if both of them behave. Spades are about 50% to come in and hearts are about 68%, so the overall chances are not great, about 35%. Ryan Stephenson and Ken
Barnett reached slam in hearts, the auction beginning 1S-(2NT)-3D* showing a game force with hearts. West's 2NT was particularly unusual! South raised 3H to 4H and North bid RKCB despite the void. Ed Sanders led the ace of clubs and continued clubs and Ryan ruffed, cashed the heart queen, ruffed a diamond and drew trumps. One of the problems with Bridgebase is that it times you out after 8 minutes. This is normally enough, but here it was not, and the software awarded an average, leaving the TD to decide if that was fair. In the seven-card ending, having drawn trumps, declarer should lead the eight of spades, to avoid the suit being blocked. This caters for a singleton queen of spades or spades 2-2 and  brings home the slam. The TD decided that this line would be chosen by a competent declarer, and awarded the slam.

Ruff and Sluff
by Foxymoron

My neighbour's dog has coronavirus. He was very wheezy today, and I asked him how he was feeling and he said "Ruff!" Time to change the subject, methinks. Slough is an interesting word. Apart from being one of the few words that can change its pronunciation when it has a capital letter, it also has different meanings without a capital letter, and different pronunciations. Slough, pronounced sluff, is the term for shedding skin, as snakes do, To complicate matters, slough meaning wet swampy ground, can be pronounced slow (rhyming with cow) or sloo (rhyming with loo). I am getting a bit bogged down in more ways than one, so back to the bridge.

We were all taught as beginners not to concede a ruff and discard, a ruff and sluff, which uses the meaning of slough "to cast off", but the winning defence on a hand from the EBU SIMs pairs today was to do so twice!

It generally pays to go to the three-level at match points and I was quite happy to compete to 3H here. I must admit I would have gone on to three spades as either West or East, but they gave in. West cashed the top two spades, East showing an odd number, and made the normal switch to the jack of clubs. I put in the queen, more in hope than expectation, and East won.

Now the winning defence is to concede a ruff and discard by playing a third spade. Say South ruffs and leads the king of hearts. Now, as Stefanie pointed out at the time (and Sally did in the booklet to be fair), West can win and concede a second ruff and discard by playing a fourth spade. East will uppercut with the nine of hearts and declarer is beaten. Finding this defence would be worth around 70% of the matchpoints and would be well-deserved. If you are greedy and want 100% then you have to double first and then find it!

This leads me on to slough, pronounced sluff. In addition to shedding skin, some snakes also squeeze their prey, and such an opportunity presented itself on the following hand. But the timing must be right. The python moves incredibly fast in crushing a rodent before the latter can get its teeth into the python's neck.

North opened 2NT in our room. We play this as 23-24, so that when we open 2C it is either 20-22 or 25+. This seems to work quite well and we have had a few successes playing in 3 of a minor after the former. I decided to bid 3C, 5-card stayman, and then 3NT on the South hand. I could have shown four spades, but with around 30.5 points, computer simulations suggest that no-trumps usually makes the same number of tricks. On this occasion it did not matter and East led a spade to the ten and ace. Stefanie  played a club to the queen which held, although that was no guarantee of the ace being onside. She now sensibly cashed three rounds of hearts to see where she stood in that suit and they broke. Now, fatally, she cashed the fourth heart which squeezed dummy in an unusual way, and she only made 11 tricks, still worth about 70% strangely. The line for 12 tricks was to lead the ten of clubs now. Say East wins and exits with a club. Now you win the king of clubs, cash one top diamond, and the ace of spades say, and only now play the last heart in the four-card ending. East must pitch a diamond and now you pitch a spade from dummy, and cross to the queen of spades, squeezing West in clubs and diamonds. A non-simultaneous double squeeze. Of course, if you are self-kibitzing, you would bid and make 6NT, to make sure of your top.

Double Trouble
By Foxymoron

One of the best articles explaining what to do when the opponents pre-empt is the following by the excellent bridge writer and teacher, Larry Cohen:

Doubles
When your opponents preempt, there is a place on the convention card to mark whether double is "Takeout" or "Penalty."  (There used to be a box called "Optional" -- I lobbied hard to get that ridiculous choice removed - what the heck is "optional?" -- anyway, it is now gone).

If you mark "Penalty," maybe your last name is Fishbein. Harry Fishbein invented a convention whereby a double of a preempt is for penalty (and the next suit is for takeout). What do I think of this unpopular convention? Let's just say that even Fishbein didn't play FISHBEIN!

When the opponents preempt, a double is for takeout. Period. Whether in direct seat or balancing seat, nobody plays double for penalty.

On what level? Surely on the 2- and 3-level everyone plays double for takeout. What about the 4-level?

4-Level Doubles
A double should still be takeout. Some teachers espouse that doubles of 4H  are takeout but doubles of 4S  are penalty. What do I think of that one?

What would you do if RHO opened 4S and you held:  ª3 ©AK54 ¨AQ74 §K842? You would double, of course. But, to call this a "Penalty" double makes no sense. You would be delighted to hear partner remove to 5H with, say:  ª862 ©QJT872 ¨KJ2 §3.  You would make 5H  instead of collecting (at best) a measly penalty. If your double of 4S  is "Penalty," partner won't remove it. So, it is silly to define doubles of any pre-empt as penalty. (What are the odds that you will get dealt a trump stack when your opponent also has a very long, usually good suit? Infinitesimal!) If you ever do get dealt a penalty double, you have to calmly pass, hopefully in tempo, and pray that your partner doubles for takeout. You will then be able to convert (by passing) for penalties. If they buy it undoubled, so be it--you can't cater to everything. In case you are wondering, a bid of 4NT would show a 2-suited takeout (at least 5-5).

The following hand from the Woodberry Pairs this week had the Cohenites taking out the double and getting 88% while the Fishbeinites were left with less than 10%:

There is not a lot to the play. If North can find the diamond switch he can beat 5C two, but this will always be a good result for EW as 4S was making, and -590 was not a good result as three pairs found to their cost.

The moral is to take out your partner’s take-out doubles, but first of all partner should double when he does not mind if you take it out or leave it in.

Duck Soup
by Foxymoron

I think for about the third time in a row, I went off here in a game I could make; and again I did not give the hand my best shot.  The auction was fairly typical but plenty of Wests led a diamond, which led to an overtrick when declarer set up the clubs, mundanely. Now declarer has a double spade stop and can not be beaten. I faced a low spade lead, and needed in theory to duck the first trick to succeed. Now I can win the second spade, concede a diamond, win the third spade, and run four rounds of hearts, triple squeezing West. He can come down to ♠JT ♦J8 ♣KQ. Now I can duck a club, and the defence only has four tricks.

The defence is pretty hard if I win the first spade and lead a diamond immediately. West has to duck. Now best is to cash four rounds of hearts, but West discards the jack and ten of spades, and keeps three clubs. Now his partner can be reached in spades with the 98 and has two hearts to cash. Of course none of this happened when I was at the helm, as I just played for a favourable club position, but I think I need ♣KQx ♣KQ, ♣KT or ♣QT onside,  or ♣KQ offside if I read it. With the hearts 0-6, I guess the first two of these are unlikely.

I must admit I would lead a diamond on the above hand, as did many Wests, and that gets only 15% of the match-points. At least when I did not find the club layout I needed, I managed to salvage 30% by playing the strip squeeze on West for one off.