Board 46

Board 46 (Click to download pbn file)
Neither vulnerable

♠ K Q 10 9 7 6 5 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 8 4 ♣ 8 5

RHO opens one diamond, and I bid three spades. LHO makes a negative double, which RHO pulls to four hearts. Everyone passes. There doesn't seem to be too much point in leading a spade. I might set up a spade trick, but if any one of the three other players has a singleton, I won't be able to cash it. I decide to try the eight of clubs. Clubs rates to be partner's best suit. It may establish club tricks for partner, or I may be able to get a ruff:

	NORTH ♠ J 8 ♥ A 10 3 2 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ J 9 6 2
WEST ♠ K Q 10 9 7 6 5 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 8 4 ♣ 8 5

West	North	East	South
			1 ♦
3 ♠	Double	Pass	4 ♥
(All pass)

Declarer plays the deuce from dummy, partner wins with the ace, and declarer drops the queen. Partner shifts to the three of spades. It's strange that he didn't return a club in case I had a singleton. Perhaps he has a singleton spade. If so, a spade shift can't hurt if I have the ace. He can always ruff the second spade and try for a club ruff at trick four. And if I happen to have ace-queen of spades, perhaps three rounds of spades is our best defense. Come to think of it, if partner has a singleton spade and five clubs, he can be fairly sure I don't have a stiff club. That would mean declarer opened one diamond with 3-4-3-3.

Declarer wins with the ace, and I encourage with the ten, just to let partner know I'm not mad at him for not returning a club. Declarer plays the six of hearts--five--ace--four, then the deuce of hearts from dummy--eight--queen--nine. He now cashes the king of clubs. Since he's abandoning trumps, it appears partner began with king third and saw no reason to hop on the second round.

Declarer plays the deuce of diamonds to the queen. When that holds, our hope of beating this is gone. In fact, our hope of holding this to four is gone. Even if declarer is 3-4-4-2 with king empty fourth of diamonds, there is no defense. He can ruff the fourth round of diamonds in dummy and play a trump. Partner will have nothing but clubs left and will have to lead into dummy's jack-nine of clubs, letting declarer pitch both his spades.

As it happens, declarer doesn't need to do anything so fancy to make five. I was wrong about partner's holding a singleton spade. Declarer is 2-4-5-2 and needs only one spade discard.

	NORTH ♠ J 8 ♥ A 10 3 2 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ J 9 6 2
WEST ♠ K Q 10 9 7 6 5 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 8 4 ♣ 8 5		EAST ♠ 3 2 ♥ K 8 4 ♦ J 9 3 ♣ A 10 7 4 3
	SOUTH ♠ A 4 ♥ Q J 7 6 ♦ K 10 7 6 2 ♣ K Q

It seems to me partner made a mistake in not returning a club. There's no reason I couldn't have a singleton club and the spade ace, in which case we need the ruff to beat it. In fact, I don't necessarily need a singleton club. A doubleton club and the heart queen is good enough. If declarer plays hearts by leading low to the ten, I score my queen on an overruff. If he doesn't, we score two trump tricks. Perhaps there's a layout where a spade shift at trick two is necessary to beat it, but I can't think of one offhand.

At the other table, my hand overcalls with one spade. North doubles, and South bids three hearts, which North raises to four. West also chooses to lead the eight of clubs. Again, East wins with the ace and shifts to a spade. This time, however, declarer is less afraid of a club ruff and more afraid of handling problems should king-fourth of hearts be onside. He leads the jack of hearts for a finesse. North wins with the king and returns a spade, holding declarer to four.

Bidding one spade instead of three gained a trick in the play by virtue of being less descriptive.  But it gave the opponents more room to investigate the proper contract, which, as it happens, they didn't need.   After three spades, they might have been propelled into four hearts with less and might have had serious problems if either hand had only three hearts.

Me: -450
Jack: -420

Result on Board 46: -1 IMP
Total: + 115 IMPs