Sunday, May 27, 2012

Event 3 - Match 6 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 8 3 K 10 4 3 8 6 4 ♣ 10 5 3

I pass in first seat, LHO opens one spade, partner bids two diamonds, and RHO bids two hearts. I pass, LHO bids two spades (alerted as forcing), partner bids three diamonds, and RHO passes. Since the opponents are in a forcing auction, partner isn't bidding in an attempt to buy the contract at three diamonds. He must have interest in reaching five diamonds even opposite a hand that couldn't raise on the previous round. Should I bid four diamonds? I don't like not owning up to support for partner's suit after he has taken such aggressive action. Still, my third diamond is the only feature that argues for bidding. What few values I have are defensive. If partner saves over a game on the basis of my raise, he might well be making a mistake. So I pass again. LHO bids four hearts, which ends the auction.

It is often a good idea when trumps aren't breaking to feign an ability to ruff, since it may talk declarer out of a safety play. Accordingly, I lead the eight of diamonds rather than the four.


NORTH
Thomas
♠ A Q 7 6 4 2
A J 8
10 9 2
♣ 2


WEST
Phillip
♠ J 8 3
K 10 4 3
8 6 4
♣ 10 5 3




West North East South
Phillip Thomas Jack Adrian
Pass 1 ♠ 2 2
Pass 2 ♠1 3 Pass
Pass 4 (All pass)
1Forcing

I'm glad to see it is declarer, not dummy, who is short in diamonds. Otherwise my falsecard probably wouldn't accomplish anything and might, in fact, simply confuse partner. Given this dummy, I almost surely did the right thing.

Declarer plays low from dummy, partner overtakes with the jack, and declarer plays the seven. Declarer has a singleton diamond and at most two spades. So either he has six hearts or he is 2-5-1-5.

Partner continues with the queen of diamonds, and declarer ruffs with the five of hearts. I follow with the diamond six. Declarer plays the deuce of hearts. The fact that declarer isn't working on spades suggests he has the king. If he had two small spades, he would probably attack spades now, since his communications are limited. If he had a small singleton and a 1-6-1-5 pattern, he would probably set about ruffing clubs in dummy before drawing trumps.

I play the three of hearts. Declarer plays the ace from dummy and partner follows with the queen. So declarer is 2-5-1-5. Since he has no trump honor, he must have the ace-king or ace-queen of clubs. How will the play go from here? Perhaps declarer will play a club to his hand (finessing if he has ace-queen) and lead another heart. If so, I can hop with the king and play a third heart. Declarer can't run spades while I have a trump, so, unless his clubs are solid, he will play a spade to his king and give me my trump trick, expecting that I have only black cards left and that he will be able to take the rest. Instead, I will produce my surprise diamond, and we will take lots of tricks.

Declarer plays a club from dummy--six--ace--three He then cashes the king of clubs, pitching the diamond ten from dummy. I wasn't expecting that. Partner follows with the club queen. Declarer then plays the jack of clubs. Now that I really wasn't expecting. Declarer is 0-5-1-7? He bid two hearts on nine fifth and never bothered showing his ace-king-jack seventh suit?

We have no tricks coming outside of the trump suit, and I don't see how I can score all three of my trumps. So it appears declarer is making this. I ruff. Declarer overruffs, ruffs a spade to his hand, and leads more clubs. As long as I don't ruff again, I'll score both my trumps, since declarer will be down to two trumps at trick twelve. Making four.


NORTH
Thomas
♠ A Q 7 6 4 2
A J 8
10 9 2
♣ 2


WEST
Phillip
♠ J 8 3
K 10 4 3
8 6 4
♣ 10 5 3


EAST
Jack
♠ K 10 9 5
Q
A K Q J 5 3
♣ Q 6


SOUTH
Adrian
♠ --
9 7 6 5 2
7
♣ A K J 9 8 7 4


Perhaps I shouldn't argue with success, but I don't care for South's auction. Over two diamonds, I would start with three clubs. When partner bids three spades, I have a tough decision to make. Four hearts is a possibility. Some might play that as a cue-bid agreeing spades. But I doubt Jack does, and I know I don't. My partnership notes say, "When trumps have not been agreed, a new suit at the four-level is a cue-bid showing support for the last bid suit if and only if (1) you have bid notrump or (2) you have bid and rebid a suit."

Even so, I'm not sure I would choose four hearts. It's not clear I want to play in hearts unless partner can introduce the suit himself. So I might bid four clubs.That wouldn't work out too well this time, since four hearts is the only game we can make. Our teammates' auction, whatever it was, didn't work out too well either. They played five hearts down two, so we lose 13 imps.

I don't know if my teammates reached the five level on their own steam or if they were pushed. Maybe this result is my fault. Perhaps I was too cautious in refusing to raise diamonds because of my heart stack. After all, I caught partner with a singleton queen of hearts and we still couldn't beat this. Still, I'm not sure bidding four diamonds would have helped. Partner has a pretty good hand for defense, so he might be reluctant to save anyway.

Double-dummy, saving is wrong, since the defense can beat five diamonds four tricks. But they might bid on, in which case saving is a huge winner. And, even if they don't, the best defense is hard to find, especially on this auction. North, when he is in with the heart ace, must play a low spade for his partner to ruff. If he cashes the ace first, he loses his second spade trick.

Should he find this? If South cashes two clubs and switches to a heart, North might work it out once he scrambles back on his chair after falling off. But how does South know the second club is cashing? If he switches to a heart at trick two, North will have a very hard time envisioning this layout.

Table 1: -620
Table 2: -200

Score on Board 3: -13 imps
Total: -2 imps

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