Board 110

Board 110
Neither vulnerable

♠ A K 9 3 ♥ Q 9 ♦ Q J 7 ♣ K Q 5 2

I open one spade in second seat.  Partner bids two diamonds, and I rebid two notrump, showing a strong notrump. Partner bids three spades, presumably checking for a fifth spade. I bid three notrump, and partner raises to six notrump.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 ♦	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 ♠	Pass	3 NT
Pass	6 NT	(All pass)

Six? That's why I took Blackwood off the convention card, so we could bid four notrump with hands like this. I would have accepted, of course, but it would have been nice to have had some say in the matter.

If the spade finesse works, I have twelve tricks. If it doesn't, I will need three-three clubs or a club-heart squeeze. I rise with the ace of clubs. East plays the three. I lead the jack of spades--four--three--queen. West continues with the six of clubs--low--eight--king. It appears that West led a doubleton club and that East has jack-ten left. If so, I will need East to have the heart king for the squeeze to operate.

How likely is it East has the king of hearts? A small doubleton is a dangerous lead against six notrump. (To see why, just move dummy's club nine to my hand.) Perhaps West chose a club over a heart because he has the heart king. If so, I might still be able to make my contract by transferring the threat in hearts. I can lead the heart queen, forcing West to cover, then hope that East has the jack and ten of hearts and is squeezed. Since this line requires three cards to be right instead of just one, I would have to be fairly sure that West has the heart king before I adopted it.

I might as well postpone my decision as long as possible. I cash the ace, king and nine of spades. West follows to all three rounds; East follows once, then pitches the deuce and six of hearts. I can't attach too much significance to the heart deuce, since East has no reason to advertise possession of the king. I play the queen of diamonds and a diamond to the king. West plays five-deuce, and East plays six-ten. My guess is that West gave count with five-four-three-deuce and that East followed up the line with ten-six doubleton. I play a low diamond back to my jack. East pitches the seven of hearts.

The moment of truth has arrived. We're down to this position:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ A 8 ♦ K ♣ 9
WEST ♠ -- ♥ ? 5 3 ♦ 4 ♣ --		EAST ♠ -- ♥ ? ? ♦ -- ♣ J 10
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ Q 9 ♦ - ♣ Q 5

I assume West has the five and three of hearts, since Jack seems to discard spots from the bottom up after his initial signal. The question marks are the king, jack, and ten of hearts. East has two of those cards. So, a priori, he is two to one to have the heart king. The question is how much does West's failure to lead a heart change that?

I suspect West would lead a heart from three small in preference to a doubleton club. But a lead from jack third or, to a lesser extent, from ten third isn't very appealing. So I don't have a good reason to play him for the heart king. In addition, if East has sneakily concealed the three or five of hearts, then he has only one of the three honors, and leading the queen can't possibly work.  Accordingly, I'm going with the a priori odds. I lead a low heart to the ace and cash dummy's last diamond. Wrong. Down one.

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

I don't what feels worse, not to have thought of the winning play or to have thought of it and to have rejected it. Note, by the way, that if I had chosen to lead the queen of hearts, West should duck.  His play is irrelevant when I have queen-ten or queen-nine.  And covering takes me off a guess when I have queen-jack.

At the other table, my opponents employ some gadget I'm not familiar with. South opens one notrump, and North bids two spades, described as "minor-suit asking." South bids three hearts, showing four clubs and denying four diamonds. North bids four notrump, which is key-card Blackwood in clubs. (While I did remove Blackwood from my team's card, I left in on my opponents' cards. No need to impose my prejudices on them. The fact that Jack would treat this four notrump bid as Blackwood strengthens my conviction that I was right to remove it.) South bids five spades (two key cards and the trump queen). North bids five notrump, and South bids six diamonds (one king). North bids six notrump.

West leads the deuce of diamonds. Declarer wins and cashes three clubs. West pitches a diamond on the third round. Declarer then cashes four diamonds. East pitches the deuce of hearts and the deuce of spades; West, the five of spades. Declarer now leads the ten of spades. When East plays the four, declarer rises with the ace. Has he found a way to make this? If he plays king and a spade, West is endplayed. West needed to hold the fourth spade for an exit card.

For some reason, South decides it was East who began with queen fourth of spades. He plays a heart to dummy and leads the jack of spades, apparently intending to finesse. When East shows out, he's down two.

This is becoming my new way to pick up IMPs. Bid a slam and go down one fewer than my opponents.

Me: -50
Jack: -100

Score on Board 110: +2 IMPs
Total: -31 IMPs