Free Weekly Instant Tournament - August 30 - Board 3

Board 3
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 10 9 8 5 4 3  ♥ 8 3  ♦ K  ♣ A 6 5

I open with one spade in first seat. LHO doubles, and partner raises to two spades. RHO bids four hearts. With a ten-card spade fit, I can hardly sell to four hearts. Four spades might make or it might be a good save. So I accept the "transfer" and bid four spades. This is passed around to RHO, who doubles. Everyone passes, and West leads the deuce of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
			1 ♠
Double	2 ♠	4 ♥	4 ♠
Pass	Pass	Double	(All pass)

This isn't an auction where West would be tempted to underlead the heart ace. Since I can't get to dummy to take a spade finesse, it appears I will lose six tricks for minus 500. Four hearts will make, so minus 500 will be a good save.

There is no reason to put up the heart king. Retaining it may make things awkward for the defense. I play low from dummy. East wins with the ten, and I play the eight.

East shifts to the club queen. Ducking isn't 100% safe. West might overtake, give his partner a ruff, and get in with the diamond ace for a second ruff. No. I take it back. If that happens, the king of spades is dropping and I'm still getting out for 500. So ducking is safe. And if clubs are five-two, ducking might make it hard for the opponents to cash their second club in time, in which case I will get out for minus 300. 

I play low, and West plays the club deuce. East continues with the club four. I take my ace, and West follows with the three.

To have any chance of discarding my club loser, I need the diamond ace to be on my right. That doesn't leave West with much of a take-out double. Could he have doubled with

♠ K x  ♥ Q x x  ♦ J x x  ♣ K J x x x ?

If so, I can cash the spade ace, then lead the diamond king. East wins and can do no better than cash his heart ace. He must then put me in dummy for a club discard. This shows the advantage of not wasting the heart king at trick one.

That's a specific layout, though. There's a common swindle that may offer a better chance: Lead the diamond king immediately. The opponents don't know I have seven spades, so the stiff diamond will be unexpected. If West has the diamond ace and East has the spade king (which is likelier than the layout above), then West may duck, trying to deprive me of a dummy entry for a spade finesse.

I lead the diamond king--five--three--eight. It worked!

I cash the apace ace; West discards the six of hearts. I unblock the jack from dummy. 

It's hard to see how I can avoid losing three more tricks. I play a spade to the queen. East wins and returns a spade, which I win with the ten. 

 Maybe I do have a slight chance to save a trick. Here is the current position, with the lead in my hand:

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

I can play a heart to the king. If East wins and returns a heart, I can ruff and run spades. A human West would work out my last card is a club. With the club ten in dummy, there is no reason for East to shift to the club queen from queen third. And if, for some reason, he did, he should pitch his last club to let West know. But robots don't think like that, so West might go wrong. Even a human West might go wrong in desperation, reasoning that, unless my last card is diamond, he already lost the board when he ducked his ace. So his only chance for a decent result is to hope that I have another diamond, even though he is pretty sure I don't.

I play a heart to the king. East takes the ace and takes his partner off the "guess" by returning a diamond, which I ruff. There is no way West can misdiscard now. Down two.

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

Minus 300 is worth 82%. Four spades doubled was a popular contract, but only one other player held it to down two. The two pairs who did better opened a bizarre three spades and played it there. (I would open one spade even if you made the king of diamonds the deuce. Two aces is too much for a three-level pre-empt.)

I'm not sure why North didn't raise three spades to four at those tables. He was lucky it was West who had spade shortness. If it were East, North would regret not bumping up the auction.