Board 76

Board 76
Our side vulnerable

♠ Q 10 4 2 ♥ 6 3 ♦ A K 9 5 2 ♣ 9 5

Partner opens one notrump in second seat. RHO passes. Not the kind of deal I want to see given the state of the match. There is no reasonable alternative to bidding Stayman and driving to game. I have to hope there's an opportunity for a swing in the play. I bid two clubs, partner bids two diamonds, and I bid three notrump. West leads the three of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

It doesn't seem there's going to be much to the play either. I cover West's three of spades with the four. (A tribute to Edgar.) East plays the jack, and I win with the king. Given the lead, West isn't likely to have jack-ten fifth of diamonds, but it doesn't hurt to start the suit by cashing the queen just in case. Everyone follows. On the second diamond, West pitches the deuce of hearts. I play low from dummy. East wins and shifts to the queen of hearts. I can't afford to duck this. I win and cash out. Making three.

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

The result is the same at the other table except that declarer misplays the diamonds. He plays a low diamond to the king at trick two.

East-West were the ones with the opportunity to produce a swing on this board, since a heart lead would beat three notrump. The conventional wisdom is to chose the stronger of two five-card suits but the weaker of two four-card suits. I think the conventional wisdom is right about this, so I have to agree with the spade lead. But I don't agree with the auction. I think West should bid over one notrump. Admittedly, this is not a good hand for Cappelletti, which is what Jack is playing. But it's a terrific hand for Astro. You can bid two clubs, showing hearts and a minor, then, if partner relays with two diamonds (denying heart support), you can bid two spades, getting all three of your suits into the auction. If responder doubles two clubs, you might even find your club fit at the two-level, since partner can pass to show no heart support and a willingness to play clubs if that is your minor.

As Astro was originally conceived, if responder doubles two clubs, advancer is supposed to redouble with five or more clubs and to pass with precisely two, three, or four. If two clubs doubled is passed around to the Astronaut, he is supposed to pass with five or more, to redouble with precisely four (allowing his partner to run with a doubleton), and to bid his cheapest suit of two or more cards with fewer than four.  If this run-out gets doubled, the described procedure repeats. This method works pretty well, but almost no one who plays Astro today is even aware of it. The method might occasionally force you to play a redoubled contract when you'd rather not, but that feature puts pressure on the opponents as well.  Sometimes they might take a shot at defending two of a minor doubled, since that isn't game, but would be unwilling to defend it redoubled. This is especially true if they play, as some do, that a double of two clubs shows interest in penalizing hearts but says nothing about how prepared you are to defend clubs.

On the given deal, if West bids an Astro two clubs, North will probably cue-bid two hearts (assuming they play two hearts as a cue-bid). It would be nice if East simply doubled. In practice, however, he will probably bid three hearts on the strength of the double fit. If North-South double this, they can't do any better than plus 300. If they go on to three notrump, they do even worse, since the defense has pinpointed the killing lead.

Me: +600
Jack: +600

Score on Board 76: 0 IMPs
Total: -135 IMPs