Almost all bidding decisions are influenced by an understanding of the play of the hand. This can be as basic as the knowledge that an 8-card fit plays better than a 7-carder, or the expectation that an opponent will lead his partner’s suit. Even beginners soon learn to use the opponents’ bidding to evaluate the positional value of honors and decide between aggressive and conservative calls.
More experienced players look for other clues and try to draw inferences about how the whole hand will play out. In rare cases, an expert can even predict all 13 tricks, as John Kranyak did in the 2013 United States Bridge Federation championships. No discussion of visualizing the play is complete without a mention of this remarkable deal, where Kranyak actually planned the entire play – based on a trump squeeze – before making his final bid.
♠1096 ♥3 ♦KQ9842 ♣AQ9 |
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♠QJ542 ♥AJ1094 ♦7 ♣32 |
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♠73 ♥K87 ♦653 ♣87654
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♠AK8 ♥Q652 ♦AJ10 ♣KJ10 |
East South West North
Pass 1C 2C 2S
3H 6D All Pass
West's 2C overcall was a Michaels cuebid (both majors) and 2S by North (Gavin Wolpert) showed game-going values with 5+ diamonds. Kranyak, South, thought he had a good picture of partner’s and LHO’s hands, and he saw a line of play that would make 12 tricks.
When dummy came down, Kranyak said, “That’s the exact hand I played you for”. The three worthless spades didn’t disappoint him because he had already considered that possibility, and he liked his chances if LHO had ten major-suit cards. He wasn't worried about missing a grand slam because he thought partner would surely raise 6D to 7D if he had the extra values for that contract.
“The main part of my thinking was that if there was a spade loser, it would be taken care of via a squeeze,” Kranyak explained. “I might have to take a first-round club hook, but that seemed to be odds-on, too.”
West led the ♥A and the squeeze developed just as Kranyak had planned. After ruffing a heart, he cashed four diamonds and three clubs, forcing West to pitch down to one heart and ♠QJ5. Now, Kranyak led to his ♠K and ruffed another heart, which established his fourth heart as the twelfth trick.
Note that declarer held the 13th heart at the end, so it didn’t matter that RHO’s ♥K fell on the second heart ruff. Kranyak added:
“I do wish I would have dropped the queen of hearts from my hand at trick one. The squeeze would still have worked, and that would have been truly world-class.”
The ability to plan a squeeze
during the auction is one trait of a world-class player. Seeing the chance to
carry it out with a bit of showmanship is another. Brilliantly bid and played,
John.
© 2016 Karen Walker