Free Weekly Instant Tournament - July 5 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 2  ♥ 8 6 2  ♦ A K Q J 3 2  ♣ K J 6

Three passes to me. I open with one diamond, and partner bids one spade. This is a good hand, but not quite good enough to rebid three diamonds. Three diamonds shows seven and a half to eight tricks. This hand has about seven.

I bid two diamonds, and partner bids two hearts. The tooltip says this bid is forcing to three notrump. Obviously it can't be, since partner is a passed hand. But I'm just as happy partner thinks it is. That means I can bid two notrump and give him a chance to rebid a five-card heart suit. If two notrump were not forcing, I would have to bid three notrump, possibly leaving partner to guess whether to pass or bid four hearts.

I bid two notrump, and partner bids three diamonds. Partner is 5-4-3-1 or 5-4-4-0 and is presumably concerned about three notrump because of his club shortness. While I don't have a sure double club stopper, the fact that my diamonds are solid may mean that a single stopper is good enough. So I bid three notrump. Everyone passes, and LHO leads the three of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
Pass	Pass	Pass	1 ♦
Pass	1 ♠	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	2 ♥	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 ♦	Pass	3 NT
(All pass)

I don't care for partner's three diamond bid. With a stiff ace of clubs, he should raise two notrump to three. Three diamonds will worry me unnecessarily about the club situation and will often steer us away from three notrump when we belong there.

I have nine top tricks. I have two ways to try for a tenth in hearts: (A) I can lead a heart to the queen, or (B) I can lead a heart to the nine, in case jack-ten or onside, then lead to the queen later if that fails. 

There are two problems with (B). For one, it can't work double dummy (unless spades are blocked), since the opponents will be able to cash three spades when East wins the heart trick. I'm not too worried about that, though, because the opponents are unlikely to find the winning defense. East is apt to return a club after winning the heart. A more serious problem is that, if East wins with the ten or jack and returns a club, a heart to queen now risks my contract. The only way to finesse against the heart king safely is to do so right away.

I'm inclined to try (B) anyway. The robots are bad at deceptive discarding. After I run six diamond tricks, I'll probably know whether the heart king is onside or not. So I might as well give myself the extra vig of finding jack-ten onside.

I win the club ace in dummy, as East plays the four. The deuce is still out. If East wanted to play a low a club, he might have played the deuce rather than the four, so West probably has the deuce. That means clubs are probably five-four. Although the robots do card strangely, so that's hardly a sure thing.

I lead the five of diamonds from dummy. East plays the eight. Which card should I win with? The ace is clearly wrong. It telegraphs that I have no finesses to take. The king is marginally better, since I could be missing the ace. But the queen is better yet. It leaves open the possibility that I'm missing the ace or the king.

I win with the queen, and West follows with the six. I lead the six of hearts, and West inserts the ten. I guess I didn't have to worry about whether to finesse the nine or not. I cover with the queen, and East follows with the five. We've reached this position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ J 10 5 4 3 ♥ A 9 7 ♦ 10 9 ♣ --
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ 2 ♥ 8 2 ♦ A K J 3 2 ♣ K J

I have ten tricks. Can I find an eleventh? I could play ace and a heart, hoping the ace drops West's king or that the suit is three-three. But that again risks the defense's finding a spade shift and holding me to nine tricks. Will they find it?

If hearts are three-three and West wins the trick, he knows there is no future in the club suit. So he may find a spade shift. What if East wins the heart with jack fourth? Then West gets a chance to pitch a club. That should suffice to get a spade switch. Setting up the heart isn't likely to work. Is there a safer way to try for another trick?

The count isn't right for a squeeze. I just have to hope the opponents mis-discard. I'll run all my winners except for the club king. Then, if I judge it's safe to do so, I'll exit with a heart or a spade and hope to score two club tricks. If that's my plan, I must cash the heart ace before running diamonds. I want to be in my hand when I make the critical decision in the end game.

It doesn't hurt to cash one more diamond, though. I lead the nine of diamonds from dummy. East discards the seven of spades, and I play low from my hand. The six of spades is still out. The robots tend to discard count. So if East has the six, he probably has four spades. If not, he probably has five.

I cash the ace of hearts. East plays the four; West, the king, the card he's known to hold. I can't be sure whether West began with king-ten or king-jack-ten of hearts.

I play a diamond to my hand, as East discards the seven of clubs.

On the fourth diamond, West discards the five of clubs. I still haven't seen the deuce. But I'm still assuming West has it for the time being. I pitch a spade from dummy, and East discards the spade nine. Still no six. If East had four spades, he might have completed his echo or, more likely, pitched another club or a heart. I'm inclined to think he has five spades and is 5-3-1-4, making West 2-3-3-5.

On the penultimate diamond, West discards the spade eight; East, the club eight. If West started with ace doubleton of spades, I have him now. He's down to

♠ A  ♥ J  ♦ --  ♣ ? x x

I can cash the last diamond and toss him in to get a club lead into my king-jack. No, wait. He can't have ace doubleton of spades. I already concluded that if spades are 2-5, West must have the six. So the only way West can have a doubleton spade is if he has eight-six.

I cash the last diamond. West finally pitches the elusive club deuce, confirming he started with five clubs. East pitches the heart three.

I'm still not sure of the spade count. But I'm pretty sure West has the club queen. East wouldn't have stiffed it if he had it. So there are two possible layouts:

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

or

	NORTH Robot ♠ J 10 ♥ 9 7 ♦ -- ♣ --
WEST Robot ♠ ? ? ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ Q x		EAST Robot ♠ ? 6 ♥ J  ♦ -- ♣ x
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ 2 ♥ 8 ♦ -- ♣ K J

Either way it can't hurt to exit with a spade. I can't lose the club king, and if East can't or doesn't gain the lead in spades, West will have to lead into my club tenace at the end. A heart exit would be a mistake, however. In the first layout, East could pitch his last club on the heart jack and take the last three tricks.

I exit with the spade deuce. West plays the queen. East overtakes with the king, taking his partner off the endplay. Making four.

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

Plus 630 is worth 71%. I'm not sure what East would have done if I had played ace and a heart after the heart finesse won. Would he have returned his partner's suit or would he have found the spade shift?

Since one measly overtrick was worth 71%, I was right not to find out. I wish I could give you a reason one overtrick was such a good result, but I can't. Everyone was in three notrump. And, for reasons I can't fathom, six declarers simply cashed out and never bothered with a heart finesse.