| ♠ Q J 7 4 3 ♥ 9 7 ♦ 10 7 ♣ Q 9 8 3 |
Two passes to me. RHO opens one notrump. I would bid without reservation if I were one-three or three-one in the red suits. I'm not so crazy about bidding without a singleton, but I need shake things up a bit. Again, it's annoying that I'm playing Cappelletti, where I must consume the whole two level with a bid of two spades. If we were playing Astro, I could bid two diamonds and possibly find a fit in two of a red suit if the opponents start doubling. (That's one of the reasons I'd prefer to have a three-card red suit.) But what can I do? I bid two spades.
LHO bids two notrump, lebensohl. RHO bids three clubs, and LHO bids three notrump, showing a spade stopper. At least I've learned something from my adventure. Since partner could neither bid three spades nor double three notrump, it is unlikely we can beat this on a spade lead. Partner probably has a better hand than I do, so I'm better off trying to find his suit. If he weren't a passed hand, I might try a heart lead. But, given his initial pass, he's unlikely to have a good enough heart suit for a heart lead to be productive. Better to hope he has a suit I can offer some help in. I lead the three of clubs.
| NORTH ♠ K 5 2 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 9 4 ♣ A J 5 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q J 7 4 3 ♥ 9 7 ♦ 10 7 ♣ Q 9 8 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | 1 NT | |
| 2 ♠1 | 2 NT2 | Pass | 3 ♣3 |
| Pass | 3 NT4 | (All pass) | |
| 1Cappelletti | |||
| 2Lebensohl | |||
| 3Forced | |||
| 4Stopper, no four-card other major | |||
Declarer plays the jack from dummy, partner plays the king, and declarer plays the four. Partner returns the club seven--six--eight--deuce. Obviously partner has the club ten. The easiest way to try to beat this contract is to play partner for ace-ten third of spades. But that's not possible. Even if declarer did open one notrump with small doubletons in both black suits, he wouldn't be ducking this trick, since he must have nine tricks ready to cash.
Partner has at most five high-card points remaining. What can I give him that enables us to beat this? If he a top card, like the heart ace, declarer will surely have nine tricks after he knocks it out. We may do better if partner has fillers, giving declarer a shortage of tricks. Actually, declarer's play of the club jack at trick one suggests such a scenario. Declarer chose to try for an extra trick rather than maximize his chance of neutralizing the suit. Suppose we give declarer this hand:
| ♠ A x x ♥ A K Q x ♦ K x x x ♣ x x |
The problem with hoping for a hand like this is it leaves partner open to a red-suit squeeze. If I continue clubs, declarer can duck, pitching a spade. Partner is now finished. This should be an easy line for declarer to find given my auction. I guess it's going to be hard to find any layout where we can beat this by force. But perhaps declarer can misguess something. Let's give him
| ♠ A x x ♥ A K Q x ♦ Q 8 x x ♣ x x |
Declarer can still squeeze partner in the red suits, but he must play partner for the diamond king to do it. Another possible line for declarer would be to win and float the nine of diamonds, playing me for king-jack or king-ten doubleton.
If that's declarer's hand, the only thing I have to do is not shift to a diamond, which I wasn't planning on doing anyway. I continue with the queen of clubs. Declarer take the ace and pitches the four of hearts. He plays the four of diamonds--eight--king--seven. The eight? Please tell me that's not jack-eight fourth. Declarer plays the diamond three back to the ace, and partner plays the deuce. Declarer cashes the king and ace of hearts (three-six from partner) and plays the six of spades--three--ace--nine. He leads the nine of diamonds. I presume he was going to let this ride, but partner saves him the trouble by covering with the jack. Declarer takes the queen and six of diamonds and the spade ace. I take the last two tricks.
| NORTH ♠ K 5 2 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 9 4 ♣ A J 5 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q J 7 4 3 ♥ 9 7 ♦ 10 7 ♣ Q 9 8 3 | EAST ♠ 9 ♥ Q J 10 6 3 ♦ J 8 5 2 ♣ K 10 7 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A 10 8 6 ♥ A K 4 ♦ K Q 6 3 ♣ 6 4 |
Declarer played well. Rather than believe partner's carding, he got a count on the hand to make sure he played the diamonds correctly. If I had shown out the second heart, he would lead a spade to the king. If partner followed to that, he would know I had begun with three diamonds and he wouldn't take the finesse.
Partner's diamond eight made it easy for him, but he probably would have made it anyway. Given the variety of squeezes available to declarer, I don't see any defense that works. He might have a harder time counting the hand if I stay out of the auction. But then how would I know not to lead a spade?
As if to illustrate this point, West at the other table spurns the discovery bid. So he has no reason to avoid a low spade lead, presenting declarer with his ninth trick. Declarer wins with the ten in his hand, then cashes the queen of diamonds. Again, East drops the eight, giving declarer his tenth trick. Declarer makes four, and we pick up an IMP.
Me: -600
Jack: -630
Score on Board 80: +1 IMP
Total: -115 IMPs
After 16 boards of the second half, I've recouped a little over a quarter of my losses, so I'm on schedule to pull the match out. But this has been scary. I've been taking anti-percentage actions and getting lucky, which is exactly what Edgar said we shouldn't do. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find reasonable but different actions when you are playing the same system at both tables. It was an error not switching systems for the second half. For the rest of the match, my team is going to play Acol at both tables: weak notrumps, four-card majors, strong two bids. I'll let system differences produce the swings for me so I don't have to take quite so many bizarre actions. And I'm switching from Cappelletti to Astro. That way I can stop complaining about not playing Astro and can starting complaining about how Jack doesn't understand how it works.
The match will continue on Tuesday.
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