Free Weekly Instant Tournament - December 13 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither side vulnerable

♠ K 8  ♥ K J 9 3  ♦ A K Q 10 8 6  ♣ K

Three passes to me. I open with one diamond, and partner bids one spade. I bid two hearts, and partner bids two notrump.

In the robots' methods, this bid is artificial, showing any hand not worth a game force opposite a reverse. It should deny five or more spades, but the robots don't play that way. This quirk of theirs makes their methods over reverses pretty much unplayable. It leaves opener with no sensible way to handle a minimum reverse with three-card support for responder's suit.

Fortunately, I don't have that hand. With 19 HCP and a good six-card suit, I have a clear three notrump call, so that's what I bid. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the five of clubs.

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

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

Dummy's club king holds the trick, with East playing the deuce. If the five of clubs is West's lowest club, there is no reason East needs to know that. So I play the six, retaining a card lower than the five. 

Incidentally, if you usually play upside-down attitude, this is a situation where you should make an exception. When dummy wins with a singleton honor, you will often need to play your middle card from three to unblock. With queen-ten-deuce, for example, you must play the ten if your partner has ace-nine fifth. So when dummy holds a singleton honor at notrump, you should switch back to right-side-up attitude. Whatever your methods are, East's deuce should deny the club queen.

Where do I stand? If diamonds come home, I have seven tricks. I need to find two more. I can drive the ace and queen of hearts to set up two heart tricks, but that means the opponents are taking four tricks in high cards: two hearts and two black aces. If they can set up a club trick, I'm down.

The straightforward play for nine tricks is to go after two spade tricks, playing East for the spade jack. But another possibility that has a certain appeal is to play a low heart from dummy to my ten. This line will probably fail with best defense, but the best defense may be hard to find. For starters, if East has the heart ace, he may think I have the queen and hop to play a club. He probably shouldn't, since the heart queen can't be my ninth trick. But that's only one way this play might gain. If East has the heart queen and plays low, I'm cold. My ten will drive West's ace, setting up my eighth trick in hearts, and there is nothing the defense can do. If they play a club, they give me my ninth trick. If they don't, I have time to set up a spade or another heart.

What if West captures my ten with the queen? He might then beat me with a club continuation. But he will probably think I have the heart ace and was taking a finesse. If so, then a low club continuation will let me make six. If West has the spade ace himself, he may cash out or exit passively. If doesn't, he may play a spade, playing his partner for the spade ace and the club jack.

It's not clear whether the straightforward spade finesse or the sneaky pseudo-finesse in hearts has a better chance of success. But why take a legitimate fifty-fifty line when I have a swindle I can try? I lead the three of hearts from dummy.

East plays the five, and my ten drives West's queen. East shifts to the ace of spades. My ruse worked. He thinks I have the heart ace and he's cashing out. I play low from dummy and East plays the deuce.

West now cashes the club ace. Here is the current position, with dummy to play:

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

If diamonds break, it makes no difference whether I pitch a heart or a small diamond from dummy. If they don't, pitching a diamond gives me a chance to survive. If West continues clubs, I can pitch two more diamonds on the queen and jack of clubs, then drive the heart ace. East must have the heart ace, since West didn't open the bidding. So I needn't worry about setting up a club winner for West.

I pitch a diamond, and East follows with the club three. The three? That's a revealing card. It's the only club left lower than West's five, so it means West led a three- or four-card suit and all my clubs are good. I have three pitches from dummy if West continues clubs. He does. He continues with the club ten.

Maybe instead of worrying about ensuring my contract I should be thinking about making an overtrick. I can pitch dummy's three hearts on my clubs and take the rest if diamonds come home. It's true I risk going down if diamonds don't split. But now that I know West has only four clubs, a bad diamond break is less likely. Besides, if the defense is offering me a gift, it would be ungracious of me not to accept it. So I pitch three hearts from dummy on my clubs, then play a diamond.

Diamonds split, so I make four.

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

Plus 430 is worth 93%. West was apparently convinced I had the heart ace. And perhaps my diamond pitch on the club ace solidified that illusion. So he thought he had nothing to lose by playing another club, just in case his partner had the queen.

It turns out the spade jack was onside, so I gave the defense a chance to beat me in a cold contract. I'm still not sure which line is better. But my line worked. Better than I expected, in fact.

Starting next week, I'm trying something different. Instead of playing in BBO's Free Weekly Instant Tournament, I'm going to play a Challenge Match against Jazlene Ong. Jazlene has represented Singapore three times in the World Youth Teams, finishing second in 2018. She also hosts a YouTube channel, where she recaps matches she has played. I will discuss the boards from my point of view on Gargoyle Chronicles, and she will discuss them from her point of view on her channel.

This should be fascinating. One thing I miss about playing online is the midnight post-mortems in Chinatown after the evening session. Everyone has a different perspective on the game. And there is no better way to improve than discussing deals you have played with someone else who played them as well and who will undoubtedly have noticed something you missed. I'm very much looking forward to this series. Even without the shumai.

See you next week.