Article Collection 7A46 by Richard Pavlicek

From Richie to Rich

My son’s name is also Richard (formally with Jr. appended). As a child and through his early teens he went by “Richie,” but as an adult he prefers “Rich” — if you think about it I guess we’d all prefer to be rich — so I’ve updated the references here. Hmm… Maybe I could get rich myself and make this into a movie… yep, I’ll call McCauley Culkin right now and offer him the lead role in Richie Rich II.

Rich, now 29, lives in San Mateo, California. He works in neighboring San Francisco as a software engineer for Pinnacle Technologies, a company that does earth-fracture analysis for major oil companies. (OK, I don’t understand it either, but in essence they make decisions where to drill for oil.) Although we live on opposite coasts of the U.S., we play bridge regularly over the Internet on OKbridge and get together four or five times a year for major bridge tournaments and the Christmas holidays.

Twelve-Year-Old Squeeze

At 12 years of age Rich has two years of experience as a bridge player. This is his third tournament victory, and he has accumulated about 240 masterpoints (just 60 short of the requirement to become a Life Master). He was South on today’s deal.

Rich is an eighth-grade student at Nova Middle School and is studying computer science among his regular curricula. His current goal is to become a computer mathematician.

5 by South

Both Vul	A K 10 8 6 J 5 4 3 K Q 7 5
Q J 9 7 3 9 2 9 8 7 J 9 8		4 2 A K Q 10 8 7 6 2 A 10 2
Lead: 9	5 5 4 3 A K Q J 10 6 6 4 3

West All Pass

North 1

East 4

South 5

After a one-spade opening by North and a jump to four hearts by East, Rich was not going to be shut out. With typical youthful abandon, he bid five diamonds. In fact, if the overcall had been six hearts, I think he would have bid seven diamonds… because it was his turn.

West led the heart nine and East shifted to a trump at trick two. Rich won and led a club to the queen and ace. East then continued with a high heart which was ruffed in dummy.

The bidding and West’s high-low in hearts made it obvious that an attempt to ruff another heart in dummy would fail, so the contract was still a trick short. Rich drew the outstanding trumps, cashed two top spades (discarding a club), and ruffed a spade, but this brought forth no miracles.

Rich remembered his daddy once said to “run his trumps” to make the opponents discard, so that’s what he did.

When the last diamond was led, West had to keep the spade queen so he discarded a club. The spade 10 was thrown from dummy. East now felt the pinch; he had to keep a high heart so he, too, let go a club. Dummy won the last two tricks in clubs.

The defense, of course, was flawed. East could have beaten the hand by leading a heart at trick two or by returning a club after winning the ace. Nonetheless, the kid gets an “A” for accomplishment.

Life Master at Thirteen

Rich was South on today’s deal and opened the bidding one club. West jumped to three spades, and North doubled. This was a penalty double in the partnership methods, but Rich used good judgment to pull it with his freakish distribution — he tried four hearts. This was music to North’s ears, and a routine check for aces with Blackwood led to the heart slam. East chose to double, based more on impulse than logic.

6 x by South

Both Vul	K 10 9 8 A J 10 4 3 A J 2 K
A Q J 7 6 5 4 — 7 6 Q 10 9 7		2 7 6 5 2 K Q 10 9 8 5 4 3
Lead: A	3 K Q 9 8 3 A J 8 6 5 4 2

West 3 Pass Pass

North Dbl 4 NT 6

East Pass Pass Dbl

South 1 4 5 All Pass

West led the  A and then shifted to a diamond, won by dummy’s ace. Rich cashed the  K and led a heart to his eight to disclose the bad trump division. A low club was ruffed with the  10 and a heart was returned to his nine. Another club was ruffed with the ace and dummy’s last trump was led to the South hand to draw East’s remaining trumps and the South hand was high.

The play was unspectacular, just sound technique; but observe that declarer would fail if he led just one round of trumps before cashing the  K, or if he tried to cash both clubs early or attempted a complete crossruff. The exact play sequence was crucial.

Did you notice that the slam could be defeated? West must lead a second spade and East must throw off his club. Rich then would face a hopeless task, unable to cash the  K with trumps out. But kids are entitled to get lucky sometimes, too.

Precision Defense Sparkles

6 x by South

None Vul	K 9 7 6 5 4 3 — K Q 9 7 4 K
A Q J 8 A K 8 4 2 — A 6 4 2		10 2 Q J 9 7 5 J 2 Q J 10 7
Lead: K	— 10 6 3 A 10 8 6 5 3 9 8 5 3

West 1 5 Dbl

North 1 NT 5 All Pass

East 2 Pass

South 5 6

The 1  opening showed 16+ HCP and Rich bid 1 NT to indicate a two-suiter with spades and diamonds. (The structure allows all two-suiters to be shown: two of any suit would show that suit plus the next higher, and 2 NT would show clubs and hearts.) East bid 2  (nonforcing) and Gary jumped directly to 5  with his great fit. When West raised hearts, Rich bid spades to show his lopsided shape and Gary corrected to 6 . West judged that his partner could not make 6  (would you have guessed the singleton  K?) so he doubled the “crazy” opponents.

Alas, or hooray, depending on whose side you’re on. Six diamonds was cold with careful play. Gary ruffed the opening heart lead then ruffed spades at every opportunity, eventually establishing the long suit. Only a club was lost as North-South chalked up plus 1090.

At the other table the opening bid was 1  and North jumped directly to 4 . East raised to 5  and South chose to double (reasonable with a spade void). The tremendous diamond fit was never found. North led the  K and even though declarer lost to the singleton  K, the doubled contract was easily made for plus 650, a net gain of 1740 points or 17 IMPs.

Slam Bidding Gadgetry

6 by South

None Vul	A Q J 3 A K 8 7 2 3 A 10 3
9 6 5 J 9 3 Q 8 6 5 4 8 2		K Q 6 5 4 K 9 7 2 Q 9 6 5
Lead: 5	10 8 7 4 2 10 A J 10 K J 7 4

West Pass Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 4 5 5 NT

East Pass Pass Pass Pass

South 1 4 NT 5 6

Rich’s unusual jump to 4  showed a singleton or void in diamonds and four-card spade support. Despite my topless spade suit, I sensed the good fit and bid 4 NT (key-card Blackwood); Rich answered 5  showing zero or three key cards (obviously three). Still concerned about the weak trumps, I next bid 5  to ask for the spade queen; 5 NT confirmed this card and also showed the  K in our methods, so we reached the slam. (Without the spade queen Rich would bid 5  and I would pass.)

West led the  5 to the king, ace; then a spade was led to the jack and king. The diamond return ruffed out the queen; then the  A was cashed to reveal it would have been better (though illogical) to cash it first. Next came the  A; heart ruff (with  10); spade to jack, then hearts were continued to establish the long heart. This provided 12 tricks without needing to guess clubs.

Play or Defend?

4 by South

	Q 10 4 3 J 3 2 A K 10 9 Q 7
8 7 6 7 5 J 7 6 A 10 9 6 2		K J 9 5 Q 9 Q 8 4 K J 8 4
Lead: A	A 2 A K 10 8 6 4 5 3 2 5 3

West Pass Pass

North 1 4

East Pass Pass All Pass

South 1 2

Question: Would you rather play or defend? That is, after the  A lead, can 4  be made with best play, or can it be beaten with best defense?

On my  A Rich played the four — a good play to discourage a continuation despite holding the king-jack — so at trick two I switched to the  6; ten, jack, ace. Declarer drew trumps in two rounds and led the  2; seven, three, five. I led a third spade to trap the queen, and there was no way for declarer to succeed. So it seems you should defend, right?

Well, no. The contract can be made with a clever sequence of plays. After winning the  A, declarer draws trumps and must unblock the  J. Next a club is led to East, who has only one safe exit: a low diamond to the jack, ace. Then declarer leads all of his trumps to reach a three-card ending. North remains with the  Q and  K-10. If East keeps the  K and  Q-8, he is thrown in with a spade for the endplay; or if he blanks the  Q, declarer can drop it.

Suit Establishment

4 x by South

	A K Q 6 5 A Q 7 6 5 Q 7 5
10 7 3 8 3 J 9 3 A K 10 9 4		9 K Q J 9 6 4 K 10 4 2 6 3
Lead: A	J 8 5 4 2 A 10 7 2 8 J 8 2

West Pass Pass Pass

North 1 Dbl 3 Pass

East 2 Pass Pass Dbl

South Pass 2 4 All Pass

When East’s weak jump overcall was passed around, I reopened with a takeout double. Rich bid his spades and happily accepted my game invitation. Oops! East made what experts call an “offside double” — he knew our decision to bid game was close and he could see we were headed for bad breaks. Sometimes doubles based on table feel can be lucrative. Not this time.

The defense attacked quickly with three rounds of clubs, East ruffing; then the  K went to South’s ace. Rich had seven top tricks and could see that ruffing three hearts in dummy (i.e., a crossruff) would be doomed by the poor spade spots in his hand. So he focused on the diamond suit:  A; diamond ruff;  A; diamond ruff. When the suit split 4-3 he was home: heart ruff; diamond ruff high; then draw trumps and claim.

This was not a difficult deal, but it provides an instructive point for the average player. If declarer were to draw just one round of trumps (or ruff a heart) before starting diamonds, he could not succeed. Try it! Establishing the long diamond requires perfect timing.