Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 10 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 8 2  ♥ A J 10  ♦ 10 8 4  ♣ A K 10 6

I open with one trump. LHO bids three diamonds. The tooltip says this shows "strong rebiddable ♦; 14-16 total points." Partner and RHO pass.

Make one of my diamonds a heart or a spade, and I would double for takeout. With a ruffing value, I have a good hand for offense. And with four top tricks, I have a good hand for defense if partner chooses to pass. But with this hand, holding three diamonds, I have no reason to act. Not only do I know I want to defend, but I also know that if I double, partner isn't sitting. He needs three diamonds to convert at the three level. And when I have three myself, he probably doesn't have them.

I pass, and partner leads the three of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Phillip	Robot
		1 NT	3 ♦
(All pass)

There are 18 HCP missing. Declarer is limited to 15 HCP. since he would presumably have doubled with more. So partner must have at least 3 HCP. If that translates into a defensive trick, we are probably beating this. I have four top tricks to contribute unless declarer has a stiff club. And if he does, we may have an extra trick in hearts.

Declarer can't have five hearts, so partner's three of hearts must be from length. Three, four, or five hearts are all possible. I play the ten, and declarer wins with the king. 

Declarer leads the seven of diamonds--nine--jack--four. What will declarer do with this entry? If he has king third of spades, he will lead a spade toward his king, hoping to duck out my doubleton ace later. Even with king doubleton, he will probably lead a spade to his king. It can't hurt and might set up an end position later.

Declarer leads the five of diamonds. He squandered his entry, so I think I can assume that, if he does have the spade king, he has the jack as well and doesn't need to lead up to it.

I follow with the diamond eight. Declarer plays the ace; partner, the three. So partner has no trump honors. Where are his 3 HCP? Either he has the spade king or he has the club queen and the spade jack. Since I've already concluded that declarer can't have the spade king without the jack, the latter is impossible. So I'm placing partner with the spade king.

Declarer cashes the king of diamonds to draw my last trump. Partner pitches the eight of hearts; dummy, the four of spades. I wish partner would learn how to discard here. If he began with five hearts, he should play the deuce, clarifying his holding. But I know he wouldn't, so I have no idea how many hearts partner has.

Here is the current position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ Q 7 6 ♥ Q 9 ♦ -- ♣ J 8 3 2
		EAST Phillip ♠ A 8 2 ♥ A J ♦ -- ♣ A K 10 6

Declarer leads the queen of clubs, partner plays the four, and I win with the king. If declarer has a stiff club, it won't hurt to lay down the club ace. Declarer can ruff, establishing dummy's jack, but he has no dummy entry.

I lay down the club ace. Declarer follows with the nine, and partner plays the five. So declarer is either 3-2, 2-3, or 1-4 in the majors. If he's 2-3 or 1-4, I can exit with ace and a spade. We take two hearts and one or two tricks in spades.  

What if he's 3-2? Then we have only one heart trick, but we have a shot at three tricks in spades. I must play a low spade to partner's king, get a heart return to my jack, then lead the heart ace, which declarer ruffs. Now declarer must break spades. If partner has jack-nine left, we'll take two spade tricks for down two. Otherwise, we'll take only my ace for down one.

To summarize: if declarer has three spades, I must shift to a low spade. If he has one spade, a low spade doesn't hurt. If declarer has two spades, a low spade doesn't hurt as long as partner returns a heart, which should be easy for partner to find.

I shift to the deuce of spades--five--king--six. Partner continues with the nine of spades. I take my two aces. Down one

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

We gave declarer a spade trick by breaking spades, but it couldn't be avoided. Plus 100 is worth 75%.

One defender managed to beat this two tricks by falsecarding with the heart jack at trick one. Declarer took the bait. He won with the king, drew five rounds of trumps, and played a heart to the nine. East took the heart ten and tapped declarer with the ace. Declarer now found himself in this position, needing one more trick to hold his contract to down one:

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

He can manage this by leading a low spade from his hand and ducking in dummy. But he didn't find that play, so he finished down two.

Despite the fact it gained a trick, I don't care for the falsecard. Falsecarding at trick one is fine if you know you need a miracle to beat the contract or if you know partner won't be involved in the defense. But neither is the case here. You expect this contract to go down. And if partner wins an early diamond trick, you want him to play another heart. How will he know to do that if you've played the jack at trick one?