Event 3 - Match 8 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 9 8 7 2 ♥ K 6 4 2 ♦ A K J ♣ 6

I open one spade, partner bids two notrump, showing a strong spade raise, and I bid three clubs, showing shortness in clubs. Partner bids Blackwood, I show my one keycard, and partner bids six spades.

West leads the club deuce. In theory, this is fourth best. Against human defenders, I wouldn't necessarily expect the deuce to be an honest count card, especially since I'm known to have a singleton. I would, however, expect West to have the king or queen. With neither card, he would presumably lead high to solve a potential trick-one problem for his partner.

	NORTH Jack ♠ A K Q 10 4 ♥ A 10 9 ♦ 7 4 ♣ Q 8 4
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ J 9 8 7 2 ♥ K 6 4 2 ♦ A K J ♣ 6

West	North	East	South
Floyd	Jack	Christian	Phillip
			1 ♠
Pass	2 NT1	Pass	3 ♣2
Pass	4 NT3	Pass	5 ♦4
Pass	6 ♠	(All pass)
1At least fourcard support, gameforcing
2Singleton or void
3Ace asking for spades
41 or 4 aces

That was quite an aggressive Blackwood call. I have a control-rich minimum and slam is still only a little better than a finesse. Take away the diamond jack or change the heart king to the queen, and slam would have almost no play.

I play low from dummy; East takes his ace and returns the club seven. I ruff with the spade nine, and West drops the club nine. It looks as if West has king-jack-nine-deuce and East has returned second highest from ace-ten-seven-five-three.

It is a little strange that East returned a club. A diamond looks more natural, regardless of whether East has the queen or not. Perhaps East simply doesn't trust me not to have psyched my three club bid. I'm flattered. I've seen people psyche splinters. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone psyche a rebid over Jacoby two notrump.

My primary chance to make this is the diamond finesse. I might also find a singleton heart honor somewhere, or queen-jack doubleton of hearts, or a red-suit squeeze. In any event, there is no reason not to start trumps. I lead the seven of spades--three--ace--club three.

The three-zero trump break doesn't present any major problems, but it does reduce some of my flexibility. If I ruff the club queen and draw trumps, for example, I must start hearts by cashing the king first. Otherwise I destroy my squeeze

I play the club queen--five--spade eight--club jack. I haven't seen anything to counter my assumption about the club split. I'm going to assume I'm right and that East started with ace-ten fifth.

I play a spade to dummy; East drops the diamond deuce. He wouldn't pitch a diamond from four, since that would allow me to establish a diamond trick via a ruff if I had ace-king fourth. He probably has three diamonds or five. For the time being, I'll assume he is either 0-5-3-5 or 0-3-5-5. Although I'm not sure why he would pitch anything other than a club from either hand.

On the third spade, East pitches the five of hearts. A heart pitch is dangerous from honor third. For all East knows, I have king fifth. And it is potentially revealing from three small, since I might have a guess for the queen. So it appears East is 0-5-3-5. His reluctance to pitch clubs is still puzzling.

I play a fourth spade. East finally pitches his club ten. I pitch the heart deuce; West, the diamond three. Now West gets into the act clutching his worthless clubs. West would be more hesitant to make a gratuitous diamond pitch from three than from five, so it appears West is 3-1-5-4 and East is 0-5-3-5. If so, this is the position I have reached:

(A)

	NORTH Jack ♠ 4 ♥ A 10 9 ♦ 7 4 ♣ --
WEST Floyd ♠ -- ♥ ? ♦ Q x x x ♣ K		EAST Christian ♠ -- ♥ Q ? x x ♦ x x ♣ --
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ K 6 4 ♦ A K J ♣ --

But wouldn't West have led his singleton heart with that hand? It seems strange that he would pitch a diamond from three. But perhaps he did. If so, then this is the position:

(B)

	NORTH Jack ♠ 4 ♥ A 10 9 ♦ 7 4 ♣ --
WEST Floyd ♠ -- ♥ Q J x ♦ ? x ♣ K		EAST Christian ♠ -- ♥ x x ♦ ? x x x ♣ --
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ K 6 4 ♦ A K J ♣ --

There is no red-suit squeeze in either position, since West, after his diamond pitch, can no longer guard both red suits. So there is no reason to worry about preserving my squeeze entries. I can afford to cash the heart ace first. If West plays an honor, then I can worry about what to do. (West, of course, should play an honor from (B) just to give me an option.)

I might as well cash the diamond ace before tackling hearts to gather more information. I play the four of diamonds--nine--ace--eight. The six and five are still out. Perhaps both defenders gave present count. I play the six of hearts--three--ace--eight. Since West did not play a heart honor, I must hope for (B) and guess the diamond queen. It's possible that West saw the squeeze coming and pitched a diamond early. But that's would require a parlay: He needs both heart honors, he needs the diamond queen (which the odds are 5 to 3 against all by itself), and he needs to have made a thoughtful play. It is surely more likely that East has the diamond queen.

I play a diamond from dummy, East follows with the six. I still haven't seen the five, and I suspect West has it. I play the jack. West follows with the five. Making six.

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

As I said earlier, partner's Blackwood call was too aggressive. For slam to be cold, opener needs four controls plus a queen. Four controls all by itself is better than average for a minimum opening bid. With four controls plus a filler, opener would surely cooperate with a slam try even with bad trumps. So I would bid three hearts over three clubs with responder's hand. With something like

(A)

♠ J x x x x ♥ Q x x ♦ A K J x ♣ x

or

(B)

♠ J x x x x ♥ K x x ♦ A K x x ♣ x

opener will bid three spades, and I will give up. With

(C)

♠ J x x x x ♥ K Q x ♦ A K x x ♣ x

he will cooperate with four diamonds, and I will drive to slam. (I've changed opener's four-card suit to diamonds because that's his likeliest pattern opposite responder's 5-3-2-3. So that's what I would be envisioning as responder.)

What will partner do with the actual hand? Will he bid three spades or four diamonds? The truth is, I don't really care. Your objective in slam bidding is to reach slams that are cold and to avoid slams that are hopeless. If you can come anywhere near accomplishing that goal, then it won't matter much what you do on deals where slam is a near tossup. If you occasionally bid a 45% slam or miss a 55% slam, the effect on your score in the long run is negligible. Since I have a plan to avoid slam opposite (A) and (B) and to reach slam opposite (C), I'm happy. I'll let the chips fall where they may on hands in between those extremes.

Of course, the effect on your score in the short run is another matter. Since slam happens to make, I'm glad we bid it and disappointed to discover that our opponents bid it as well.

Table 1: +980
Table 2: -980

Score on Board 3: 0 imps
Total: +4 imps