Board 48

Board 48 (Click to download pbn file)
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 9 6 ♥ A Q 9 7 ♦ J 7 ♣ A J 9 7

Partner opens one diamond in second seat, and RHO passes. I bid one heart, and partner rebids one notrump, which I raise to three. West leads the four of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♦
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 NT
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

I have four heart tricks and three aces off the top, so I need two more tricks. I consider hopping with the club ace to prevent a spade switch. But that's probably not a good idea, since I can't guarantee establishing more than one extra trick in diamonds. East rates to have the spade length anyway, and I can finesse diamonds through him, so I'm not desperate to avoid a spade switch. Still, I'd like to avoid one if possible. Perhaps if I disguise my club strength by playing the nine from dummy, East will continue clubs. I play the nine of clubs, East plays the queen, and I drop the five.

My subterfuge doesn't work on East. He shifts to the spade eight--deuce--queen--six. But it does seem to work on West. He shifts to the six of clubs. Both the eight of spades and the fact that West didn't continue spades suggest that West has the king. It appears West began with king--eight---six--four of clubs. I can ride this to my ten, then knock out the diamond king to come to nine or ten tricks. Unfortunately, if I win this trick in my hand, I can't conveniently take a diamond finesse, so I would have to give up on making five. Can I afford to play the jack from dummy to leave open the possibility of taking the rest of the tricks? If West doesn't have the club king, he probably began with eight-six-four and his eight is dropping, so playing the jack won't cost. It will cost only if he made both a strange lead and a strange continuation, and Jack isn't all that tricky with his carding. It seems wildly unlikely it will cost the contract to play the jack, and, besides, this hand is getting boring. I want to see if I can develop some kind of end position to hold my attention. I play the jack--deuce--ten. Now jack of diamonds--king--ace.

Now I can cash the spade ace, run hearts, and cash the club ace. I will come down to

	NORTH ♠ J ♥ -- ♦ 7 ♣ 7
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ Q 9 8 ♣ --

If West began with the diamond ten, he is caught in a progressive squeeze. He has either stiffed the ten, or he has set up a black card in dummy, allowing me to cash it and squeeze him again. I'm not about to finesse the diamond, so If East has the ten, I'm held to three unless he has ten third of diamonds remaining, in which case I'll make four.

I cash the spade ace, and the king falls on my left. That changes things. Now I have an extra trick to cash and can come down to a two-card end position. If West began with the ten of diamonds, he is squeezed in the minors. Or I can guess to finesse at the end with no risk of going down if I'm wrong.

East actually makes it easy for me by pitching a diamond. When he follows to the club ace, I know he was 5-2-3-3, so I have a show-up squeeze. Making five.

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

I realize this was an inconsistent line. I wasted a card to give myself a minuscule extra chance of making my contract. Then I risked the contract ever so slightly for an extra overtrick.  I have to confess that I wouldn't have played the club jack in a real match.  Because Jack is so reliable, I think the risk was actually zero that West had anything other than king-eight or singleton eight remaining.  Part of the fun of this match is figuring out Jack's weaknesses and exploiting them to the fullest.  Whenever I find myself making a play against Jack I wouldn't make against a human, I'll try to remember to say so.

The auction and lead are the same at the other table. Declarer does not find the sneaky nine of clubs play, so after East wins the queen of clubs and plays a spade to West's queen, West sees no future in clubs. He switches to the eight of hearts. Declarer wins in dummy with the nine and leads the jack of diamonds. East declines to cover, so the jack holds. Declarer continues with a diamond to the queen and has tricks to burn. Making five for a push.

Me: +460
Jack: +460

Result on Board 48: 0 IMPs
Total: +115 IMPs