No. 8 Bob Hamman Pt2 Gleaned by Bob Denby
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No. 8 Bob Hamman Pt2 Gleaned by Bob Denby Bob Hamman (1938 -) Oft quoted as the greatest player in the world, perhaps of all time, the seemingly unremarkable, quietly intense septuagenarian from Dallas has the unruffled ability to play bridge like a human computer by not sorting his hand and is so good that Paul Burka has said “How do I know he is? It is that every time I have played him, he has inspired the same emotion: FEAR”. How it all began: Bob says it started harmlessly enough. A friend asked, if I played bridge, I said, “No, but I’ve seen you play hearts and other games and I fancy I can beat you at bridge too, so what are the rules.” Thus, I made a fool of myself and thought “damn, there’s a lot to this game.” So, the long journey began, sharpening his skills including the game’s psychological side, by playing money bridge, for stakes he could ill afford. Within five years he was competing with the best in the USA. This mind set is probably testimony to the fact that in 1986 Bob created SCA Promotions, a unique prize-indemnity insurer which is now one of the world's largest companies for prize insurance. Never, ever, give up: There is a famous sports saying, it ain’t over til it’s over, first uttered by American baseball legend Yogi Berra, and it is so true in bridge. The following hand was played by Bob, as South, over forty years ago, against Lew Mathe who later became Bob’s partner. After three passes, Bob, opened a strong 1NT, and the Stayman response led to the spade game. Mathe, sitting West, began with the two top hearts, East giving count. Bob deduced from the way the hearts where played that Mathe held the top three but not the diamond ace, as he would have opened, and probably not the queen, as well. Therefore the contract was doomed, if West switched to diamonds. But Bob never gives up and when, at trick three, Mathe played the spade jack, won in dummy, Bob then ruffed a heart, cashed the spade ace and ran four clubs throwing dummy’s diamonds. This was the position with four tricks to play: When Bob played a diamond to the king East was hamstrung. If he won and played the queen, that would be ruffed in dummy and a spade to king would mean Bob would have the diamond jack for his tenth trick. Underleading the queen would result in a similar outcome, with the jack winning, the trump king then drawing West’s last trump, leaving the final trump in dummy as the tenth trick. Even allowing for the defensive error, Bob had made an apparent hopeless contract. Bob’s defensive genius at work: the following hand is from Bobby Wolff’s book of his favourite deals. South ended up in the contract of five diamonds doubled, having opened a club, and East/West had bid to four spades. Wolff on lead, led the spade seven, dummy played low, and Bob reading the card as Bobby’s lowest, correctly inserted the jack which declarer trumped. Declarer then played ace and another club, ruffed in dummy with the diamond eight. Now what would you do in the East seat, overruff and then play a heart, a spade, or even a diamond? Bob did none of the above. He discarded a spade! Declarer was in dummy. East still had three trumps. What can he do? If he crosses to hand in trumps and ruffs another club he is finished, as ruffing another spade would result in loss of control and the contract would be down three for -800 If Bob had overruffed, which many would do, declarer would be relieved to get out for only one off. For his memorable defence, Hamman’s team won by 7 IMPs and went on to win this this tight US Trials match by just 5 IMPs. One for the notebook After a four heart opening by West, South arrives in the small diamond slam. On the lead of the heart ace, Bob in the East seat dropped the king. West continued with the heart queen which declarer ruffed with the ace and Bob followed suit with the nine. After a lengthy pause declarer led the diamond two and put up king - sadly wrong, and another contract bit the dust. So, the question is how many lesser players would do that. Plays like this are certainly not everyday occurrences, but they tend to confirm that there’s always something new to learn about this wonderful game called bridge. But here is another for the notebook. In the final session of the 2010 ACBL NABC Orlando: Teams - Senior Knockout there was a big swing on one board, see the hand below, for Bob and Zia Mahmoud, playing on the Meltzer Team. A simple auction in that South opened a club, Zia, West, bid a diamond, North, two hearts, a “mixed raise” showing club support along with an invitational raise in hearts. Bob naturally jumped to 4 spades with his nice 8 card suit and neutral vulnerability, blocking out the likely heart fit. With 15 HCP and spade tenaces behind Bob, South doubled. In the Closed Room, East was one off, doubled, in three spades – a risky proposition since South opened 1 NT and North held game-going values. South led the heart ace and North gave an ambiguous signal with the five. As a result South switched to ace and another diamond figuring partner was looking for a ruff. Winning with the king, Bob saw an opportunity to set up the diamond suit if they split 3-3 North-South, with the club ace as entry. After ruffing the third round with the spade ten, Bob then sneakily played the spade five, sure that the finesse was pointless. Finding his subterfuge had succeeded, Bob gratefully cashed the spade ace dropping the jack, with the king outstanding. Bob entered dummy with the club ace to play a winning diamond, pitching the losing heart, to make his doubled vulnerable game, and garner a 14 IMP swing. How about you? Would you have Bob’s flair, creative vision, and steady nerves, to play the spade five. Hamman's Law is one of Bob's popular contributions to bridge. The adage says, "If you have a bidding decision to make, bid 3NT if it's a plausible choice." Bols Tip: His second, is When in Rome, do as the Romans do. That is, when you are playing bridge, concentrate on what cards you should play or bids you should make and not waste your energy on what your partner should or should not do. Apologies or Revenge When you’re the victim of a lucky declarer, who takes two or three finesses to score a game or slam, the declarer will often apologise afterwards. A typical response being being “no problem, just swings and roundabouts” or something similar. In the long run, the cards will equal out; if you have patience, you will be able to exact revenge against the declarer who gave you a bad result. On one such occasion in a Vanderbilt Team match Soloway and Goldman were up against Bob and Bobby Wolff. On a previous hand, Hamman had to rely on a hundred-to-one shot to make a slam contract. Then less than an hour later, Soloway took his revenge by scoring a seemingly impossible doubled game contract. Of course, these two pairs facing each other were all veterans and friends, since they played for many years together as members of the famous Dallas Aces. Now they were opponents, and when friends are opponents, they may joke a bit at the table, but their will to win, for some strange reason, becomes even greater than usual. After two passes, Soloway, South, bid one club and Wolff overcalled one heart. Goldman, North, jumped to three hearts, a splinter bid in support of clubs. In this case the splinter showed massive trump support for partner, because one club could have been made on a three-card suit. Bob, East, holding a terrific hand, bid the heart game. Soloway, appreciating his good trumps and weak heart holding facing shortness, now bid five clubs, and the competitive auction ended when Hamman doubled the final contract and everyone passed. (Note with careful play, East can make twelve tricks in diamonds.) The opening lead was the heart king. Bob allowed that to win, because he did not mind if partner shifted, but Wolff continued with another heart at trick two, which was ruffed in dummy. Soloway now took stock. He could see only two distributions that would allow him to make his contract: (1) the ace-queen of spades doubleton in the East hand and (2) the queen doubleton in the West hand. Can you see how he made his contract? He proceeded to strip the hand of red cards. He cashed the diamond ace and ruffed a diamond. Then he drew two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy, and ruffed another diamond. Next came his last heart, ruffed in dummy. Finally, he led the spade six from dummy. It was important to lead the six and not an honour. Hamman followed with the seven, and Soloway put up the king. His only chance to make the hand was queen-doubleton on his left, so he played for it. After winning the king, he played another spade and Wolff had to win his queen and provide a ruff and discard.