Friday, November 27, 2009

Board 52

Board 52 (Click to download pbn file)
Both sides vulnerable

♠ J 10 8 3 9 7 Q 10 9 5 ♣ J 8 7

The auction begins one club--double--pass to me. I bid one spade, LHO doubles, and partner passes. This pass should deny four spades. Once opener has acted over one spade, partner should raise to two spades on any minimum with four-card support. RHO bids one notrump. I bid two diamonds. I would pass if I were sure one notrump would end the auction. I have no particular reason to disturb this with a balanced hand. But LHO might remove it, and we might miss a nine-card diamond fit if I don't bid them now.

LHO bids two hearts--pass--pass back to me. I've run out of suits to bid.  Bummer. I pass, and partner leads the king of spades:


NORTH
♠ A 9 2
10 8 6 5
8 7 3
♣ 6 4 2




EAST
♠ J 10 8 3
9 7
Q 10 9 5
♣ J 8 7

WestNorthEastSouth
1 ♣
DoublePass1 ♠Double
Pass1 NT2 2
(All pass)

Declarer plays low from dummy. Somebody has a spade he's not supposed to. I doubt declarer bid this way with 3-4-3-3, so my guess is partner is the culprit. I suspect declarer is 2-4-3-4 and partner is 4-3-3-3. Perhaps his flat pattern convinced him to break the Law and sell out below two spades.

If I had an entry, it could be right for partner to switch to diamonds from any holding except ace-jack.  Since I doubt I have an entry,  I'd just as soon not break diamonds for declarer, so I encourage with the jack of spades.  Declarer plays the six. Partner continues with the five of spades--ace--three--four. Declarer leads the deuce of clubs from dummy. Declarer isn't expecting partner to have three clubs and I'd like to keep him in the dark a little longer, so I play the eight. If declarer thinks partner has a doubleton club, he might worry that trumps are four-one.

Declarer plays the kings of clubs. Partner wins with the ace and leads the queen of spades. Declarer ruffs with the jack of hearts. Either he has a hundred honors in hearts or he's unblocking to reach dummy later with the heart ten. He cashes the queen of clubs--three--four--seven, then the queen and king of hearts, partner playing deuce--three. That makes four heart tricks, the spade ace, the club queen, and a ruff. Even if we can stop declarer from scoring any diamond tricks, we can't stop him from scoring his long club. So we aren't beating this.

Declarer doesn't draw the last trump. Presumably he wants to save his trump ace as an entry to his long club. He leads the nine of clubs--five--six--jack. I lead the ten of diamonds. Declarer plays the jack, and partner wins with the ace. The king of diamonds is declarer's ninth trick. Making three.


NORTH
♠ A 9 2
10 8 6 5
8 7 3
♣ 6 4 2


WEST
♠ K Q 7 5
4 3 2
A 6 2
♣ A 5 3


EAST
♠ J 10 8 3
9 7
Q 10 9 5
♣ J 8 7


SOUTH
♠ 6 4
A K Q J
K J 4
♣ K Q 10 9



I guess I was wrong. I did have an entry.  If partner had switched to a low diamond after winning the ace of clubs, we would have been able to take two diamond tricks when I gained the lead with the club jack.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure why he didn't switch to a low diamond at that point.  Assuming I'm four-four in my suits, the only time it's wrong is when I have specifically queen-jack-ten.  It's right when I have queen-ten-nine or jack-ten-nine and doesn't hurt when I have anything else.  I'm sure at dinner, partner will explain how he failed to find the diamond switch because he was tricked by my eight of clubs.

At the other table, the auction is the same except that my hand doesn't bid two diamonds over one notrump. South still bids two hearts. I'm not sure why he bid two hearts at either table.  He's unlikely to have a game, and either declaring one notrump (at the other table) or defending (at mine) seems like the safest route to a plus score.  He might have regretted bidding had his partner been 4-3-3-3, which was more likely than his actual pattern.

This declarer plays two hearts a little differently. He wins the first spade, draws three rounds of trumps, then exits with a spade. This messes up his timing so that the defense can get at their second diamond trick before his long club is established. Making two.

Me: -140
Jack: -110

Score on Board 52: -1 IMP
Total: +134 IMPs

2 comments:

  1. Out of curiosity, I downloaded the demo version of Jack. In about ten boards, it committed the following atrocities (playing SAYC).

    1. All partnership 1S-2D, 2H-2S, 3C-3H, 3S-pass.

    2. 1H-2D, 2H-5C on Jx.x.AK108x.AQ10xx. I held AKQx.KQ98xx.x.9x.

    3. 1C-1NT, 2C with a weak notrump and 44 in the rounded suits.

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  2. Strange. I don't approve of all its actions, but I haven't observed anything quite so weird. In the Settings menu, there is a Playing Strength command. I have 'World Championship' checked, which causes it to use the same settings it used in the Computer World Championships. Perhaps that helps. I don't know if that's available on the demo version or not.

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