Defensive Errors #2. Under Leading All Hope

The sky was overcast. 

The temperature outside was surprisingly hot.

Inside, drool lined the floor. Bridge players, anxiously wait to pick up cards after a long holiday weekend, dripping with saliva at the thought of finding a snowman (doubled and set for 800).

Maybe today's the day... Today's the day we finally set those know-it-alls at table 8 and show them how awesome we are at defense. Wouldn't that be a great way to start the week? 




After a few rounds, it started to feel like a down 1 kinda day. Nothing flashy or intense. Down 1 is good bridge.

Down 1 doubled is even better. (cue evil cackling)

So Lefty passes, partner passes, Righty opens 1C. Before it was my turn I had already decided I was passing over anything except maybe a spade.

My hand is a pretty uninspiring 13 count.

Nothing to write home about, unless of course you screw up the defense and are trying to run a bridge blog. 

I've seen many people make takeout doubles with hands like these. It's ugly. I can double a 1S opener because I'm SHORT IN MY OPPONENTS SUIT. (2 or less!)

Doubling 1 of a minor with a hand like this will only mislead my partner. He will expect me to have at least 3 cards, hopefully 4 in each major, and if the bidding gets competitive (let's say he has a shapely 10 count) he may compete too high (because he counted me for points and support for the other suits) and will be very sad to be playing in a 4-2 fit.

But if partner bids spades, you can always bid another suit, right? Then he'll get it! 

No!

Double and bid = 16+ HCP!

Now partner's semi-decent 10 count really grows up and you are in game! Probably still in a 4-2 fit!

I make my Happy Pass because I trust my partner will balance if he has anything, or if it comes back to me, I can do something later. 

Lefty bids 3C, which is alerted as Inverted Minors (Single Raise = 10/11+, forcing, Double Raise = 5-10, Non forcing, both promise 5 obviously)

I don't mind inverted minors. I play them with probably half of my partners. 

I hate playing it over interference - you have so many other ways to find a forcing bid or describe your hand. And I hate playing them as a passed hand. If you passed originally with a decent 11 count, you can always find another bid - 2NT or any new suit works just fine. What if partner opened light in third seat? Now you are at the 3 level with 14 points. Yay!

Ok, inverted minors rant over.

Anyways...

Partner comes to the rescue with a Double. Awesome! My happy pass worked and now I can surprise him with my (now) inspiring 13 count. I suspect he's pretty short in clubs.

Righty now bids 4C.

I know partner isn't throwing in a double with the type of gross 7 count he's been picking up most of the day. As a passed hand I expect about 10 from partner. 

10 + 13 = 23.  40 - 23 = 17.

My opponents should have about 17, 9 points too short for the 4 level. The 4C bid is a little mysterious, but she can't be short in everything, right? Finding 4 tricks shouldn't be that difficult so I happily double.

The opponents are vulnerable by the way. Uh oh... 

As you've probably surmised by now I did not make the winning lead. Not feeling great about the other suits, I fell back on longest and strongest. I'm sure* partner has something in hearts so I don't think I'm giving anything up.

The 6 of hearts screams for me to quickly pick it back up.

Too late. Dummy comes down with...

I'm feeling even better about my double. But then the 10 of hearts wins the first trick. 

I no longer feel good about my double.

Declarer plays a low club from the board. Partner shows out, pitching a medium sized diamond. We play upside down so that's usually discouraging, but partner could be protecting all of his other riches.

Declarer puts in the Queen and I win the Ace.

I don't want to lead. I don't want to play this hand. I want to go home and not write about it.

I have one last chance at glory. We can still set this puppy and +200 is still good.

I settle on the 9 of spades, which rides around to declarer's 10.

I'm puking my breakfast of coffee and cheese balls all over the floor at this point. Edward yells at me to stop. I do. He threatens to burn my alert card. I burn it for him.

Declarer pulls my trump, then plays the Jack of spades off the board. Partner wins the Ace.

He sits and thinks. We have one last chance to be heros. 

Partner leads a heart to declarer's Ace. She ruffs a heart and plays a spade from the board to her 8. She plays the King of spades, pitching a diamond from dummy, gives up a diamond, making 4. Doubled!

The best part about this hand was that our opponents didn't remind us that the contract was doubled as some so often do. I don't even think they told us the score. I assumed it was some number in the 700s and just wrote down zero.  Of the five other tables, I didn't expect anyone else to achieve our same result.

We should always set it 3 for a snowman. Let's see how...

When partner is in with the Ace of spades he can save down one by playing a diamond (Two diamonds, two black aces). His reasoning was that he didn't want to lead into the Ace. If I have the Jack, the diamond has to come through dummy. 

My thought was that partner should know I have something outside of the Ace of clubs for my double and should see that the other suits are hopeless. 

Ok, so I might have the jack of clubs. That's 5 points... What else can be deduced? 

The 9 of spades should deny a spade honor. The missing spots in spades are 8 6 and 2. The 10 won the first trick. Top of nothing? Whatever combinations of spade spots I have, I'm not leading the 9 with the King. K98? K92? Middle Up Down (MUD) is not meant for holdings with an honor.

I led a low heart on opening lead from what? Axxx? I wouldn't put it past myself, but it seems unlikely. I probably didn't under lead from AKxx, or AQxx or KQxx or QJxx - AJxx is unlikely. (I think you're supposed to lead the Jack from that holding?)

I can't* have too many points in hearts, maybe 4 at the most? Plus 5 in clubs? Jack of diamonds would make it 10... am I gutsy enough to double on that? I don't know. I would expect me to have a source of tricks but then again maybe I just trust partner's double.

A heart return is 'safe' maybe, but as you can see the spade position makes the whole hand. I have sympathy for partner's logic.

When I'm in with the Ace of clubs at trick 3, I can lead or under lead my Ace of diamonds. Is my Ace of diamonds going anywhere? Maybe. I don't really want to lead it because declarer could have KJx. The Q on the board is sort of ominous but maybe I can reason that leading a diamond is just as good as anything.

I should take another moment to reconsider partner's shape and point count. He has nothing in hearts or clubs.. Although he could be 5-5 in the majors, it's unlikely, so he should have 4 or 5 diamonds. If he has solid spades they aren't going anywhere so at this point a spade lead is sort of a neutral lead. Maybe based on this I take a shot at diamonds...

These can both save us for down 1.

But how do we destroy this contract the way it deserves to be destroyed?

Opening lead.

Ok so I'm never leading a club. Duh.

And we can see that a heart is damning. I should keep in mind that partner really only promised length (not strength) in the majors. Against a suited contract I should consider avoiding this holding (KJxx). I need the heart to come through declarer.

On opening lead I'm more likely to under lead (rather than lead) the Ace of diamonds on this hand. Some people think this is sneaky but it works sometimes and makes the opponents guess. I have the Ace of clubs and I (should) feel confident that my diamond trick isn't gonna disappear on dummy's 5 card side suit (that she doesn't have). Declarer will probably want to draw trump before screwing around so I can always get in with the club after seeing what the diamond situation is and cash the A.

There are a lot of different scenarios where I would never do this. This is a pretty specific auction and I feel confident about setting it quite a few.

But by the same logic that I will get in with the Ace of clubs, I should fall back on my "safe" lead of my doubleton spade. I'm not giving anything up. If partner is finessed, declarer can always do that herself -- unless dummy shows up with a spade void (which seems impossible on this auction for many reasons). I have first round control of trump and although I'm not really looking for a spade ruff, this is the best time to lead a doubleton with ruffing hope.

Partner can duck the opening lead of the 9 of spades. 

Declarer plays a trump, I win and can again do anything except play a heart, but I should return a spade to avoid breaking the other suits. 

Partner wins the Ace, returns a spade (hopefully he's thought ahead and kept the 5 instead of the 7 so that I take it as suit preference for the LOWER of the non trump suits - diamonds) which I ruff, and seeing the suit preference feel better about under leading my Ace of diamonds - but even if I don't, still don't touch hearts - to partner's King, he can play one more spade which I ruff, dummy over ruffs, and now declarer has no where to pitch a losing heart, will fall back on the heart hook, losing to my king, and oh yeah, one more diamond for down 3 - Snowman.

That's the dream scenario and even if the diamonds play differently, or partner doesn't play the 4th spade, we still get it 2, and that's still a top.

All because I led my not-so-worthless-doubleton.

As you can see, we're cold for 5 Hearts. Isn't life neat like that?

------

Ok, so one more tale of shame.

Sitting South NV vs V I pick up:

Partner passes, Righty opens 1S. I bid 1NT. My correct bid is X, which my partner so dutifully reminded me. If I double, my thought process was that I don't really have a rebid because if I take a second bid, I'm showing more points. I guess I can always double a second time. 

Pass isn't really an option. If Righty opens and I have the wrong 14, I will generally pass and hope to show my hand later. 

I don't have a stopper but I usually hope to play these hands in a suit contract. The optimistic, trick opponents and your partner, sneaky snake 1NT overcall. 

Lefty raises to 2S. Partner bids 2NT which I alert as Lebensohl (one of my favorite conventions, but rather complex at times) which forces me to bid 3C, usually to relay with a weak hand (he can pass 3C or bid a new suit which I must always pass), sometimes to inquire about stoppers. It's nice because now when partner bids 3C or 3D freely, he promises some values vs. 2NT relay - 3C - pass is drop dead.

In this sequence it smells like weak. MmmMmmm.

After Righty figures out what silliness 2NT is, she bids 3S, and while looking at 4 quick tricks, and assuming(Oh No!) partner has one for me, I double. How hard can it be?

My double is aggressive and will allow me no defense slip ups. I'm batting .666 (!) on doubles today - well, actually .500 because partner pulled one that could have been profitable - and I feel like we need some good scores. Average minus isn't gonna do it today. I have to protect the +110/130/150 that we probably deserve from 3C, so 3S down one isn't gonna do it undoubled. 

Gotta punish those part scores so that down one becomes bad bridge. 

I lead the Ace of clubs to:

Yay! Only 4 points! Looks like my double will be paying me in gum! (...those commercials? nevermind...)

Partner thinks for a moment and plays the Q, declarer plays low. I know he wouldn't do this without the J and probably the 10. I think that this may be suit preference but it turns out I'm wrong. I decide I don't want to continue with clubs because my King isn't going anywhere and I want to attack the other suits first. 

So I switch to a low heart, which goes to partner's Queen, declarer's King. She draws trump, plays a low diamond toward her King, I win my Ace, cash the club, return a diamond to declarer's queen. She plays a heart, I win my Ace and play another heart to her jack, she cross ruffs the rest of the hand.

Here it is:

A trump lead isn't gonna hurt.

An unsupported Ace will. 

The Ace of clubs is fine, but you can see why I should never switch to a heart. If partner has the King of hearts, It's not going anywhere. Partner has shown me the only way to his hand. I can listen to him and play a club, or I can ignore him and just exit a spade.

Seeing all four hands makes it a little easier but at the time I was unsure how the minor cards were sitting.

Partner can easily have 6 clubs which is why I can't play 3 rounds of clubs when he gives me the Q instead of count. I can still play 2 rounds of clubs and exit a spade, and let declarer sort everything out. The key in these situations is finding a safe exit that doesn't give anything up - not the hero play to find some low percentage defense.

My best play is a low club after opening lead. It's safe, and at this point I don't know what to do. Partner has a better picture with his hand and can make an intelligent decision. All he has to do is not touch hearts. The Jack of diamonds is the best return (you're guessing in clubs, hoping partner didn't start with 4 and that you're giving a ruff/sluff - a spade is ok too) because when I win declarer's King I can feel safe about returning it. Partner promises the 10 when he leads the Jack here.

Declarer can draw trump, ruff a club, and ruff a diamond in pretty much any order, but then must fall back on figuring out the heart situation. 

If she plays a low heart from dummy, partner plays low and we get two heart tricks from AQ or A10. If she plays the Jack, partner must cover, driving out the K to my A, promoting my 10.

So we'll take two heart tricks, two clubs and one diamond for +200.

It seems so simple when you look at it later, but rather than fishing, I need to make the sure play.

Sometimes making an unusual lead, putting up a prayer or doing something unorthodox is needed to succeed on defense.

This is not one of those hands.