Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 30 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither side vulnerable

♠ J 4 2  ♥ A 10 8  ♦ A 6 5  ♣ K J 10 6

Two passes to me. I open with one club, and LHO overcalls with one diamond. Partner bids one spade, and RHO bids two hearts.

I double, showing three-card spade support. RHO bids three diamonds--pass--pass back to me. I have shown my hand; I have nothing further to say. I pass, and partner leads the king of spades.

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

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

The spade ace is declarer's last dummy entry. If he has the ace-queen of clubs, he will probably use it to take a club finesse. 

He does. He wins with the spade ace. I encourage with the four, and declarer plays the five. He then leads the nine of clubs from dummy. Double-dummy, I must cover this, since declarer could let the nine ride. But if he has AQ7x, covering might expose me to some kind of end position. Perhaps that's not possible. But there is no need for me to figure that out. Declarer isn't looking at my hand, so he isn't letting the nine ride. From a practical standpoint, there is no reason to cover. I play the six, and declarer wins with the queen. Partner plays the seven.

I expect declarer to play ace and ruff a club. But he plays the deuce of diamonds to the king, partner following with the seven. Why didn't he ruff a club? Does he have a doubleton? He has at most two spades, since partner has at least four. He has at most two hearts, since he didn't raise them. Unless he's 2-2-7-2, he has a club to ruff. Perhaps he knows the ruff will cost a trump trick. If he has QJ10xxx or QJ98xx, a ruff rates either to gain or to break even. So his diamonds must be worse than that.

Should I win this trick? It's often right to duck a stiff honor, since it gives declarer communication problems. Say declarer has this hand, for example:

♠ x  ♥ Q x  ♦ Q J x x x x  ♣ A Q x x

If I win, declarer has an easy nine tricks. If I duck, declarer may be afraid to ruff a spade to his hand for fear of tapping himself out. Instead, he may lead a heart. Then I can hop with the ace and lead the club king. Declarer will win and lead the queen of diamonds. Now I can take my ace, cash clubs, allowing partner to pitch a heart, then give partner a heart ruff, holding declarer to eight tricks.

Ducking does have a risk. If declarer has, say, 

♠ x x  ♥ J x  ♦ Q J x x x x  ♣ A Q x

he may continue with the five of hearts from dummy. Now my plan of hopping with the ace will not be a success.

Since he can place me with the heart ace for my opening bid, that's not a hard play from him to find. Still, that hand looks more like a two-diamond overcall than a one-diamond overcall. So I take my chances and duck.

Declarer continues with a low heart from dummy. I hop with the ace--deuce--six. I shift to the king of clubs--ace--five--eight.

Declarer leads the queen of diamonds, pitching dummy's seven of hearts. I take the ace, reaching this position with me on lead:

	NORTH Robot ♠ 8 6 3 ♥ K 9 4 3 ♦ -- ♣ --
		EAST Phillip ♠ J 2 ♥ 10 8 ♦ 6 ♣ J 10

I cash two clubs. Unfortunately, partner follows to both of them, declarer pitching the seven of spades on the last club. Declarer was 2-2-6-3, so I can't give partner a ruff. Declarer has the rest. Making three.

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

Minus 110 is worth 79%.

The support double turned out to be important. Some chose to pass two hearts, either because they didn't know they were playing support doubles or because they didn't wish to make one with a "4333" shape. When they pass, South passes also, and partner competes with three clubs. Now, knowing his partner has tolerance for hearts, North competes to three hearts, scoring 140.

South should have passed even after my support double. Perhaps he was anticipating that the auction would go two spades--pass--pass back to him and felt that, if he was going to balance with three diamonds, he might as well bid it now to take away our bidding room.

Often it's a good idea to bid immediately to the level you're willing to compete to. But I'm not so sure I would want to compete to three diamonds over two spades. If I did, surely it would be better to pass now, showing heart tolerance, so that partner can correct back to hearts if he has a singleton diamond. 

In retrospect, I'm not sure I did the right thing in ducking the diamond king. It's hard to say. Partner's seven of clubs at trick two should be count. If I trust him, declarer can't be 1-2-6-4, so there is nothing to gain by ducking the diamond. Even if I think it's unlikely declarer has jack doubleton of hearts and will lead a low heart from dummy, there is no need to take that risk if I'm not gaining anything. On the other hand, the robots don't always give accurate count when following suit. So I'm not sure I should trust the seven. Defending with robots is difficult.