Board 96

Board 96
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 4 3 ♥ K J 10 5 2 ♦ Q 6 5 4 ♣ 6

Three passes to me. I don't have the 15 casino points (high-card points plus spade length) that one needs to open in fourth seat. But, given the state of the match, this is no time to be passing hands out. Besides, this would be a pretty dull blog entry if I did.

I open one heart. Partner responds one spade. That's a relief. I'd hate to hear that bid on my left. I pass, and we buy it for one spade. How bad can this be? West leads the deuce of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠
(All pass)

I play low from dummy, East plays the jack, and I win with the king. East would have played the ten if he had it, and West would have led the ten from ten-nine third.  So, for what's it's worth, I know West began with ten-three-deuce and East with ace-jack-nine. I have one diamond, one club, and one spade. If I can score four tricks on a crossruff, I'm home. I lead the nine of hearts, and East plays the four. There's nothing to gain by playing low. Even if the nine forces the ace, so what? What difference does it make whether I score tricks by cashing heart winners or by ruffing heart losers in my hand? Accordingly, I play the king, and East wins with the ace.

East shift to the five of spades. I cover with the six--nine--ace. I need to score two ruffs in each hand. Does it matter which hand I ruff in first? It matters only if someone has a doubleton in one of the round suits. If someone has a doubleton club, my chances are slim. But if someone has a doubleton heart, I might survive provided my last play is to lead a heart toward the jack doubleton of trumps in my hand.  To arrange that, I must start with a club ruff.

I lead a club--five--eight--ace. I play a low club and West follows with the king. That's not good. I ruff it, and East plays the three. Hmm. East echoed, so someone's falsecarding. That may be a first for Jack in this match. I ruff a heart to my hand and play another club. West follows with the nine. That's classy. Playing the king on the previous round couldn't hurt. He was just trying to worry me. I ruff in dummy, as East follows with the ten.

East surely has the jack of clubs.  He also began with the ace-jack of diamonds and the ace of hearts.  Since he passed in third seat, the remaining high cards--the queen of hearts and the king and queen of spades--must be with West. So the heart ruff is going to hold up.  I play a heart and ruff it. West drops the queen.

I've taken seven tricks and I'm down to this position, with the lead in my hand:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ J 10 ♦ Q 6 5 ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ J ♥ -- ♦ 8 7 ♣ Q 7

East has ace-nine of diamonds, the club jack, and a low heart.  So he has only one spade left, and it's not the king or queen.  It's hard to imagine taking another trick. But I play the jack of spades just in case I've misread something. West wins with the queen, and East follows with the eight. West cashes the spade ten, and East discards his heart loser. East has the ace-nine of diamonds and the jack of clubs left, and West still has a trump. There are no more tricks to be had. Making one.

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

The other table passes the board out, so we pick up two imps. 32 boards and 88 imps to go. We need to pick up an average of 2.75 imps per board to pull the match out.  My average so far is only 2.4 imps per board, and it's been hovering around there with some consistency.  (It was 2.4 in the first quarter, 2.6 in the second, and 2.2 in the third.) We're going to need some luck in the final quarter.

Me: +80
Jack: 0

Score on Board 96: +2 IMPs
Total: -88 IMPs