Monday, May 29, 2006 12:31 AM
Hand Evaluation – Trump Suit ( Patterns )
PITBULLS:
As
stated many many times in my articles
, experts use patterns as
their basis of thinking on defense.
They play a game within a game “ to try and “see” the opponents hand via patterns taking clues from the bidding
, showing out of a suit , opening leads & signaling. Having a mental picture of declarers hand guides you
thru the defense like holding & reading a
blueprint .
This is an acquired skill through
practice & after memorizing the common patterns.
If
you have not mastered patterns yet , do yourself a favour so at
least apply them with the opponents
trump suit. This guides you to the
“tapping defense” . You have Axxx of trump & they are in 4 of
that suit after having opened a weak 2. The board has two trump
, you lead an off suit which declarer ruffs. Declarer leads the King of
her trump suit so you make her ruff again . So what
has happened ? The trump were originally 6-4-2-1 so you have switched the contract to
no trump as she is now down to the same trump length as you are .
Very
easy when you are looking at length in your own
hand .
What if you have a stiff in their suit & you suspect partner has 4 of them or partner doubles to tell you that she has 4 of them
? You still have an obligation to apply
patterns in the trump suit on partners
behalf .
This was demonstrated nicely today in an IMPS match. Chris Buchanan held ♠QJ9xxx ♥Qxx ♦x ♣xxx , everybody was vul . My partner opened 1♦ , Nancy Cook overcalled
1NT & I bid 3♦. Chris forced to game with 3♠ (
5 HCP ) so Nancy bid 3NT which I doubled. Chris bid 4♠ & I doubled. My
partner led a diamond & the board hit with ♠Kx
♥Kxx ♦Axx ♣KQ10xx . Chris won the Ace , led the spade king. I won the Ace ,
returned a diamond which Chris ruffed. A tentative count of the trump suit , you now know that Chris was 6-1-?-? . Chris now leads
a club to the board & you duck your club Ace. Partner shows 2 clubs so the
pattern is now complete. 6-3-3-1.
Chris leads a heart to his queen & your Ace . You
now make him ruff again so he is now down to partners length. He can
not draw trump by hooking the spade ten & knock out the club Ace as
you have switched the contract to 4NT.
Down –200 or –500 depending on how he plays the hand. Not applying patterns in
the opponents trump suit in a doubled contract, results in –790 , a 24 IMP swing & the match.
Here is Tom Gandolfo in action against Gary Karst & Ray Grace in 2♠X . The auction went
1♣-X-1♥-1♠
Tom
has ♠Q9xx ♥A10x ♦xx ♣AKxx so he knows from the auction
, Tom knows Gary most likely has a stiff ♥ ( 5-4-3-1 ) on the
auction so Tom leads a diamond . The board comes down with ♠K87x ♥Kxxx ♦Axx ♣10x & Gary ducks the
diamond & I win my jack & declarer lets it ride to the ♣10 . Tom wins his ♣K & returns a diamond won by
the ♦A on board.. Gary now leads a trump , I play
my ♠J so Gary wins his Ace . Gary continues with a trump so Tom splits
his ♠9 & the ♠K wins on board & I discard my 5th
heart confirming the original heart pattern as 5-4-3-1. Now declarer
leads the ♣10 , I follow , declarer plays small
& Tom ducks ! Declarer is now “dummy
locked “ .
He leads a small heart to his stiff ♥Q & Tom wins his ♥A & switches the
contract to 2NT by playing the ♠Q
& another. Lights out for declarer as the dummy
lock is now complete. Gary takes 3♠ tricks ,
1♦ , 1♥ & 1♣
trick for +500 our way . Applying
patterns ( counting out the hand) changes -670 to +500. Tom could have got sloppy
& taken the ♣A but returning the ♠Q & another one gets us
+200 as Gary gets 1 additional ♣ trick since the dummy lock
disappears. You can
not defend without “thinking in
patterns” . I must be 1-5-4-3 as I would not bid that way
with 4 of partners club
suit.
Patterns
are Bridge . Bridge is patterns. Counting out hands on defense is just as
much fun as doing the same on
offense.