Robots take advice from the Rabbi

One of the mistakes that new players make is when they have a combined 10-card holding missing the king, they try to drop it instead of finessing. I don't remember the exact percentages, but it's considerably better to finesse.

Bridge has lots of great colorful names for various plays. One of them is called the Rabbi's Rule. It says when the king is singleton, play the ace. You can even buy a tee shirt from Zazzle that sports this whimsical advice (see here).

Playing against the robots recently, I made a takeout double of 1♥ and the robot's partner raised to 2♥. My robot partner passed, and the first robot rebid 2NT. I doubled again, and it went all pass. Here are the two hands from declarer robot's perspective (rotated) after I led the ♦K:


I switched to the ♣9 and my robot partner won the king. He returned a club to the queen and my ace. I continued with the ♣J and 8, then took the setting trick with the ♦K and exited with a low diamond (the club suit blocked).

The robot declarer won that and led the ♥7 to his ace, dropping my king, ouch.

Here are all four hands in their original position:


I don't know how the declarer knew to drop my king as I'm more likely to double again with a void than a stiff king, no?

Kapow

Players like to complain when the robots do crazy things. Yes, sometimes they don't play well, but often the make plays that an average club player wouldn't find, such as this one.

The auction was 1♣ Pass 3♣ (preemptive) to me. I held:

♠J 7 ♥K J 8 ♦A K Q 7 6 5 4 3 ♣ --

What would you bid? I'm old and conservative, so I bid only 3♦. The surely auction won't end there, will it? Unfortunately, everyone passed, West led the ♠K, and this was what I saw:



It looks like it might make 5♦, but look what happened. West continued with the ♠A and the ♠Q. On the third round of spades, East ruffed with the ♦10 and that set up a trump trick for his partner. Here are all four hands:



East's play is called an uppercut. Bridge is filled with colorful expressions such as this. Don't you love it.

I'm still not sure how to get to 3NT. A 4♠ contract might also make, and I got a bad score.

Crisscrossing the Internet

Playing online with the crazy robots, I held:
♠A K Q J 8 ♥J 8 6 ♦A 7 5 2 ♣7.

Partner opened 1NT -- what would you do? In robot-land, you always have the best hand. Therefore, you know North holds exactly 15 high-card points, so slam would be dicey at best (a combined 30 HCP). I raised to 3NT, ending the auction.

The robots often do things that humans think are crazy. Recently, I led a club from Q 8 7 2. Dummy had the stiff 10. My robot partner held J-9-X-X didn't cover and declarer won three tricks with A-K-X-X opposite a singleton 10.

But the bots do good things, too, as you are about to see. Here are all four hands:


East led a low spade. North won with my ace and played five rounds of the suit. West discarded two clubs and two diamonds. Declarer continued by running the club suit. After two rounds, this was the position:



On the next-to-last club, dummy and West discarded a diamond. On the last club, dummy threw a diamond (baring the ace), but what could West play? If he discarded a diamond, North can play a diamond to the ace, cross back to his ♥A to cash his good ♦J. So, West was forced to discard a heart. Now it was easy for declarer to play the ♥A and another, setting up dummy's jack. The crazy robot had executed a variation of that rare bird, a criss-cross squeeze!

I put the deal in Deep Finesse and it said declarer had to play it basically the way it did (although it could run clubs first). DF also says that a diamond lead will hold it to five. A heart lead will hold it also, but only if the ♥10 or ♥9 is led. A low heart won't work.

If squeezes fascinate you, check out Bridge Squeezes Complete, written by Clyde Love and edited by Linda Lee and Julian Pottage at Masterpoint Press. It's also available as an e-book.

I hate trump leads

Playing online with the feared robots, I held:
♠A J 6 ♥9 6 3 ♦A K 6 ♣Q 10 9 5.

My right-hand opponent opened 1♥. What would you do? Normally, making a takeout double with 4-3-3-3 isn't a good idea, especially with only three spades. I did have 14 high-card points, however, and defending with a robot partner is dicey at best -- get in there! My LHO passed and North bid 1♠. RHO rebid 2♦, ending the auction.

I think trumps leads are usually a poor choice. It's not that you finesse your partner, but what usually happens is that you lose a tempo. You should be trying to set up your side's tricks, not helping declarer by drawing trumps.

Some auctions scream for a trump lead, however, and this was one:


I led the ♦K, the ♦A, cashed the ♠A to extract that card from declarer's hand, then exited with a low diamond.

Declarer played the ♥A K Q and another. Partner won the heart, shifted to a low club and declarer misguessed by playing low. I won my ♣Q and returned a club to partner's ♣A for down one and a score of 100%. Even if declarer had guessed clubs and made +90, we would have scored 72.73%.

Maybe I should rethink trumps leads? Nah -- I still hate 'em.