Board 1
Neither vulnerable
♠ K 5 ♥ A 9 ♦ K 7 6 4 2 ♣ A 9 4 2 |
Two passes to me. I open with one diamond, and partner bids one spade.
We had a similar deal a few weeks ago where I chose to rebid one notrump instead of my lower-ranking four-card suit, and I received a number of objections. (Not well-articulated objections. Simply comments like "One notrump is wrong.") On that deal one could argue for either rebid. This time I think one notrump is clear. Half my high cards are in my short suits. And I have decent secondary support for spades. If we belong in two spades in a five-two fit, we won't get there if I bid two clubs.
I bid one notrump, and partner bids two hearts, non-forcing. I correct to two spades. I'm glad I rebid one notrump. If partner is 5-4-1-3, he would pass two clubs, and if he's 5-4-2-2, he would correct to two diamonds. I suspect in either case I would rather play in two spades.
But partner doesn't pass two spades. He bids three hearts, invitational with a fifth heart. I have a maximum in high cards and two fitting honors in partner's suits. But having no third card in either suit is a liability. We are probably high enough at the three level. I correct to three spades and partner passes. RHO leads the five of hearts.
NORTH Phillip ♠ K 5 ♥ A 9 ♦ K 7 6 4 2 ♣ A 9 4 2 |
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SOUTH Robot ♠ A Q 10 7 3 ♥ J 10 6 3 2 ♦ 8 ♣ Q 7 |
West | North | East | South |
Robot | Phillip | Robot | Robot |
Pass | |||
Pass | 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♠ |
Pass | 1 NT | Pass | 2 ♥ |
Pass | 2 ♠ | Pass | 3 ♥ |
Pass | 3 ♠ | (All pass) |
It looks as if I'm going to lose two hearts, the diamond ace, a club, and possibly a spade. I could conceivably set up the diamond king for a club pitch. But I'm in danger of losing control. It's not clear I can afford the tempo of playing a diamond to the king.
I don't think East is leading a low heart from honor doubleton or from both honors. So there isn't much point in finessing the nine. I rise with the heart ace. East drops the queen, and I play the deuce.
The four of hearts is still out, so it appears the lead was from a five-card suit and the queen was a singleton. If I pick up the trump suit and drive the king of hearts, I can take five spades, three hearts, and the club ace for nine tricks. If West has five hearts, it's likely East has spade length, so my best play in spades is to cash the king and finesse the ten. That is, assuming I can handle four-two spades. Can I?
After four rounds of spades, say I lead a heart to the nine and West ducks. I need to get to my hand twice--once to drive the heart king and a second time to cash my heart. I have only one trump left, so I'll need to find the club king on my right and use the club queen as one of my entries. If spades are three-three, I don't need the club king onside.
Even though the finesse is the right play in the spade suit, the fact that it works only half the time even when it's right makes playing for the drop better. Playing for the drop works any time the suit is three-three or when West has jack doubleton and the club king is onside.
I cash the king of spades--eight--three--nine. Why are they playing their high spades? I lead the five of spades from dummy, and East plays the six. Would East play 86 from J864 or J862? What if his partner had Q9? I would win the second trick with the ace and could now drive East's jack with my 107x. If East had saved the eight, he would have a second trick.
East can't afford the eight from jack fourth, so even if I were intending to finesse the ten, I would now change my mind.
I play the ace; West plays the four. I cash the queen--jack--diamond from dummy--deuce. This deal is a good illustration of the folly of blindly falsecarding. You must decide whether you want to feign shortness or length. If you want to feign length, as here, you must play low cards, since you often can't afford high cards from length.
While East's play of the eight was an error, he might have gotten away with it if his partner hadn't outed him. East could afford the eight from J98x, but West's play of the nine told me that wasn't the case. While it turns out I wasn't going to finesse, the defense didn't know that. The two errors combined might have talked me into the winning play.
I'm up to nine tricks. Can I afford to try a diamond to the king? Say I lead a diamond to the king and ace. East taps me with another diamond. I lead a heart to the nine and it holds. Nope. I'm in trouble. I can't afford to play a diamond. I have to lead a heart to the nine.
I play a heart. Dummy's nine wins and East discards the three of diamonds. That looks like a five-card diamond suit, making West 3-5-2-3. Here is the current position, with the lead in dummy:
NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ K 7 6 4 ♣ A 9 4 2 |
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SOUTH Robot ♠ 10 7 ♥ J 10 6 ♦ 8 ♣ Q 7 |
West presumably has K87 of hearts, two diamonds, and three clubs remaining. If he has the club king, can I endplay him? I can't let East in to put a club through, so I must hope West has the diamond ace as well. Say I lead the diamond king off dummy to West's ace. If he exits with his diamond, I can endplay him. So he must exit with a low heart instead. I win and cash a spade, and West pitches a club. We've now reached this position:
NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ 7 6 ♣ A 9 4 |
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WEST Robot ♠ -- ♥ K 8 ♦ x ♣ K x |
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SOUTH Robot ♠ 7 ♥ J 6 ♦ -- ♣ Q 7 |
When I cash my last spade, West simply pitches a heart, giving me a heart trick I can't make use of. There is no way I can extract that last diamond, so I can't endplay him.
Perhaps I'm better off hoping East has ace-queen or ace-queen-jack of diamonds and the club king. If I play a low diamond from dummy, he may hop with an honor for fear I'll score my singleton, then exit with a club, playing his partner for the queen.
That seems like my best option. I play the four of diamonds from dummy. East plays the five. That didn't work.
West wins with the jack and continues with the queen of diamonds. I doubt if he would do that with the club king, but it's my only chance. I ruff in my hand and lead the jack of hearts. West wins and plays a club. I duck, and East wins with the king. Making three.
NORTH Phillip ♠ K 5 ♥ A 9 ♦ K 7 6 4 2 ♣ A 9 4 2 |
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WEST Robot ♠ J 9 4 ♥ K 8 7 5 4 ♦ Q J ♣ 10 5 3 |
EAST Robot ♠ 8 6 2 ♥ Q ♦ A 10 9 5 3 ♣ K J 8 6 |
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SOUTH Robot ♠ A Q 10 7 3 ♥ J 10 6 3 2 ♦ 8 ♣ Q 7 |
Plus 140 is worth 79%.
If you rebid two clubs instead of one notrump, partner bids three hearts, natural and invitational. So three spades would appear to be the normal spot. Strangely, only one other declarer played it, and he went down three. Half the field was in three notrump, which three declarers managed to make. The other half was in three or four hearts, down several.