Thursday, January 7, 2010

Board 74

Board 74
Both sides vulnerable

♠ J 10 A 4 9 8 5 ♣ K Q 8 4 3 2

RHO passes. I have another chance to open hand I don't expect Jack to open. Unlike the flat 11-count I opened a few boards ago, I consider this opening perfectly normal, although I doubt Jack does. I open one club. Partner bids one diamond, and I bid two clubs. Partner bids three notrump, and RHO leads the five of hearts.


NORTH
♠ J 10
A 4
9 8 5
♣ K Q 8 4 3 2






SOUTH
♠ A 4 2
10 8 2
A 7 6 4
♣ A 9 7



West
North
East
South
Pass
1 ♣
Pass
1
Pass
2 ♣
Pass
3 NT
(All pass)


Not bad at all. Nine easy tricks, and they may well not get there at the other table. I duck in dummy. East wins with the jack, and I drop the eight. He continues with the three--ten--six--ace. If the carding is honest, hearts are four-four. I lead a club to the ace in case West has all four clubs. Both opponents follow low. On the second club, West pitches the three of diamonds. Since he probably would have led a five-card suit, this means he's 4-4-4-1. As a general rule, it's dangerous to lead fourth best with a "4441" pattern. As soon as declarer discovers your singleton, he knows your full shape. If you think you can afford to mislead partner, you're better off leading third best.

It's going to be hard for the opponents to drop a trick in this end position. Each opponent will have to pitch down to a doubleton in one of my ace thirds, allowing me to establish a trick by ducking. In addition, each opponent will have to have pitched a heart, so that they have only one heart to trick to cash when they get it in.

The normal way for me to pitch on the clubs would be to pitch a heart and a diamond, waiting until the last minute to decide which ace-third to hold onto. Since the opponents can't possibly make a mistake unless they misread my pattern, I can't afford to pitch that way. I need to represent a 2-3-5-3 pattern, the only other pattern consistent with my auction that I could possibly portray. With that pattern, I could afford to pitch two diamonds early, so that's what I'll do. Again, it's hard to imagine this making any difference. But my job is just to obfuscate. The opponents will have to think up their own mistakes.

On the third club, West pitches the three of spades. On the next two clubs he pitches two more spades, the six and the seven. He's pitched down to a singleton spade, so he should be left with 1-2-3-0. East pitches the five of spades and the deuce of diamonds, leaving him with 3-2-1-0, and I pitch two diamonds as planned. West must have queen-jack third of diamonds to think he needs to save three of them. That means East has a singleton king left.

On the last club, East pitches the ten of diamonds. So much for his having a singleton king left.  I guess I've misread the position. I pitch the deuce of hearts, and West pitches the eight of spades. I'm not sure what I've got wrong, but whatever they have left, I can't possibly do better to take my two aces. Making three.


NORTH
♠ J 10
A 4
9 8 5
♣ K Q 8 4 3 2


WEST
♠ 9 8 7 6 3
K 7 6 5
K Q 3
♣ 6


EAST
♠ K Q 5
Q J 9 3
J 10 2
♣ J 10 5


SOUTH
♠ A 4 2
10 8 2
A 7 6 4
♣ A 9 7



That was the problem. West did have a five-card suit he chose not to lead. I suppose I might have worked that out if it had been important.

At the other table, the auction proceeds

West
North
East
South
Pass
Pass
Pass
1
1 ♠
2 ♣
2
3 ♣
(All pass)


If you take North's pass as a stylistic given, it's hard to criticize the auction.  It almost makes you feel bad for the opponents, doesn't it?

East leads the king of spades, which declarer ducks. He shifts to the queen of hearts. West plays the seven, and declarer takes his ace. He now leads a low club, and, when East plays the five, he inserts the seven from dummy. I can't imagine what this play is all about. Is Jack so convinced I'm getting to three notrump that he figures the board is lost anyway unless West shows out on this trick? I don't think Jack even reasons that way. If you're reading this, Kuijf & Kuijf Software, let me repeat an earlier observation.  It would be nice to have a way of querying Jack about its decisions.

In any event, the seven holds, so Jack makes three clubs.  Ten IMPs for our side.


Me: +600
Jack: +110

Score on Board 74: +10 IMPs
Total: -135 IMPs

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