These guys are good

This is my personal favorite from the forthcoming book version of Larry Cohen’s My Favorite 52. As I’ve said before, I really like the material in this book, but this one was the standout for me.  This was the one that made me sit up and say ‘Wow. Now I know why these guys win all the time.’

This deal comes from the World Open Pairs in Lille, 2000.  Larry and David Berkowitz led this event almost from wire to wire — they stumbled in the very last round to finish second.  If you want more details, buy the book 🙂

Meanwhile, earlier in the event, when things were going well, Larry picked up

West				East
♠	9 6 5			♠
♥	Q			♥
♦	9 7 6			♦
♣	A K J 9 5 2			♣

Red against white, after two passes, he got to open a Precision Two Clubs — 6+ clubs and 11-15 points.  This is a nice bid for the occasion — highly descriptive, and preemptive too.  And unlike those who open a standard-type One Club, Larry is going to get the lead he wants.  LHO doubled, and David raised clubs.  North wasn’t going quietly though: he balanced with another double,  South bid Three Spades, and David doubled this on the way out.  Hmm… wonder how many clubs are going to cash on defense, and where the rest of our tricks are coming from?  I’m going to walk you through the defense the way Larry does from here.

West	North	East	South
		pass	pass
2♣	dbl	3♣	pass
pass	dbl	pass	3♠
pass	pass	dbl	all pass

So what do you lead?

Given that partner has raised, a top club probably isn’t the killing lead; maybe you should lead a trump, though?  Larry decided on the  ♥ Q.  He didn’t know how he was beating this without getting some ruffs. (This isn’t the hard part yet, BTW. I’ll let you know when that comes.)

Dealer:  E Vul:  E-W		North
		♠	A K 2
		♥	J 9 8 2
		♦	A K 10 3
		♣	8 6
West				East
♠	9 6 5			♠
♥	Q			♥
♦	9 7 6			♦
♣	A K J 9 5 2			♣
		South
		♠
		♥
		♦
		♣

As Larry points out, this is an attractive dummy for the defense.  It has only three trumps, it has two clubs, and its relatively small number of high cards suggests partner has some strength.

Partner wins the  ♥ A as declarer follows with the  ♥ 6 (watch the spots carefully, now).  Partner returns the  ♥ 3.  Declarer plays the ♥ K and you ruff with the  ♠ 6 (you are signalling in trumps to show an odd number).

What now?

Well, yes, of course partner was asking for a club so you lead one.  Does it matter which one?

Okay, this was the key play.  No points for just leading back a low club, we know partner (who raised clubs) must have the queen, there’s nothing else he could be signalling.  The key here is to lead back the  ♣ J.  Can you see why?

Partner is going to win the  ♣ Q  and give you another heart ruff.  His only potential re-entry for another heart play is in clubs — specifically he might have the ♣ 10.  Obviously you are known to have the ace and king already.  Your play of the ♣ J tells partner that declarer doesn’t have it, and so his ♣ 10 is important, and is an entry , the possession of which he should signal.  So now when partner returns the ♥ 7 and declarer plays the ♥ 10 you realize that he led back his highest remaining heart.  Ergo, no ♣ 10.

That’s good news and bad news.  No more heart ruffs, but you can cash the ♣ A since you know declarer has that missing ♣ 10.  Now try the ♣ K.  This puts declarer in a very tough spot, since he started with three clubs.  He can ruff high, which will set up a spade trick for the defense (as it happens) and lead to down two — unlikely to be a good score.  But if he can get away with ruffing this low in dummy, he can get out for down 1 and minus 100.  For this to work, he needs you to have opened 2♣ on a five-card suit — but at matchpoints, in third chair, with a good suit, who knows?  And if you didn’t, then David raised on a doubleton queen…

So declarer tried ruffing with dummy’s three, got overruffed with the four, and another heart came through.  He ruffed with the queen, but now his heart winners were gone, and he had to take a diamond finesse.  That lost, and David played yet another heart through to promote a trump trick.

This was the whole deal:

Dealer:  E Vul: E-W		North
		♠	A K 2
		♥	J 9 8 2
		♦	A K 10 3
		♣	8 6
West				East
♠	9 6 5			♠	J 10 4
♥	Q			♥	A 7 5 4 3
♦	9 7 6			♦	Q 8 2
♣	A K J 9 5 2			♣	Q 4
		South
		♠	Q 8 7 3
		♥	K 10 6
		♦	J 5 4
		♣	10 7 3

That was down four, and all the matchpoints to Larry and David.  A great matchpoint deal all round, though:  David made a frisky raise that paid off bigtime when the opponents decided to compete rather than defend Three Clubs.  Pretty nice penalty double, too, don’t you think?

But the WOW! factor in this deal for me is that ♣ J — the discovery play to let partner know he should signal if he has the 10.  Even Larry says he’s proud of it, and I don’t blame him.  I know it would never have occurred to me.  Ever.

Yes, these guys are good.