Board 125

Board 125
Both sides vulnerable

♠ Q 10 8 7 5 ♥ Q 5 ♦ 6 5 ♣ A 8 7 5

Two passes to me. I could open one spade.  But, playing this style, I don't typically open hands in third seat that I wouldn't open in first or second, unless perhaps I have concentrated strength.

Passing proves to be a good idea, because LHO opens one spade in fourth seat. Partner doubles, and RHO bids one notrump. I like my defensive prospects, but I'd like to get them a little higher than one notrump. I bid two clubs. After two passes, RHO bids two spades. That looks like a fine spot. I pass, and two spades ends the auction. Partner leads the jack of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	1 ♠
Double	1 NT	2 ♣	Pass
Pass	2 ♠	(All pass)

Three clubs, a doubleton spade, and two defensive tricks! If I held the North hand, I would just defend two clubs. That seems likelier to yield a plus score than declaring two spades.

I win with the club ace, as declarer plays the deuce, and return the club five. Partner takes declarer's queen with the king then plays the ten. I never know what I'm supposed to play in this situation. Do I play the eight to show a heart card, or do I need better hearts than that--queen-ten, say--so that a heart shift by partner is more plausible? Subtle suit-preference signals have never been my forte. Fortunately, Jack isn't going to pay attention anyway. I decide to play the seven. Declarer follows with the three.

Partner shifts to the ace of hearts. Having played the club seven, at least I needn't feel complicit in partner's decision. Or perhaps I am complicit.  If partner thinks the seven denies a heart card, maybe he thinks he has nothing to protect by avoiding the heart suit.  This is all very confusing.  I hate suit-preference signals. I invite anyone who has firm understandings about these things to comment.

I play the five, and declarer follows with the ten. King-ten doubleton, I presume. That's a relief. He was probably guessing that suit correctly even if partner didn't lead the ace.  Partner appears to have five hearts. That makes him 1-5-4-3, leaving declarer with 5-2-3-3. Partner has at most two high card points more than he's shown up with so far, so we have no diamond tricks. We need to take two spade tricks to beat this.

Partner plays the four of hearts to my queen and declarer's king. Declarer cashes the spade king, on which partner plays the jack. I guess I have my two spade tricks now. Declarer plays the seven of diamonds--nine--king--five (I don't think partner really cares about my diamond count). He then leads a spade from dummy. There's nothing to gain by splitting, so I play the seven. Declarer inserts the nine, cashes the spade ace, then plays diamonds. I get my two trump tricks for down one.

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

As North should have expected, his two spade bid turned a plus into a minus. I wasn't making two clubs.

At the other table, my teammate opens in fourth seat with a weak notrump. West does well to pass; bidding could land his side in a fair amount of trouble.  If I were West, I wouldn't bid over a weak notrump as an unpassed hand. But I would certainly bid as a passed hand. (Or as an unpassed hand over a strong notrump. You need a better hand to bid over a weak notrump than you do over a strong notrump, because you have to worry about having game on power. Over a strong notrump, you presume you don't have a game without an excellent fit, so your bidding can be primarily obstructive.)

Once West chooses to pass, the danger should be over; East should not balance. Without a singleton, he can expect to do at least as well on defense as on offense.  He seems to agree. North passes, as does East.

Against one notrump, West leads the deuce of diamonds. That seems like a strange choice. What happened to fourth best from longest and strongest? Declarer wins with dummy's king. Declarer rates to have four diamond tricks (by finessing the ten if East doesn't show up with jack doubleton). So it seems declarer should play on hearts for his seventh trick. If he plays a heart to the ten, he'll wind up with eight.

Instead, declarer leads a spade to the nine. West wins with the jack and shifts to the ten of clubs. East takes his ace and continues with the eight of clubs. I don't understand the carding.  I know from previous deals that Jack doesn't play ten or nine shows zero or two higher at trick one.  Does he play it in the middle of the hand?  And why the club eight instead of the five?  How is West supposed to know that declarer isn't the one with four clubs? In any event, West cashes his two club tricks.

West should now play diamonds and let declarer play the majors for himself. After a diamond shift, it's conceivable that declarer will go down. But West continues the weirdness by shifting to the four of hearts--deuce--queen--ace. I don't see what layout West was playing for.  Even if declarer does have seven tricks without attacking hearts himself, how does shifting to a heart help?

Declarer takes East's queen with the king, then drives the heart ace to establish a seventh trick. He finishes with a heart-diamond squeeze against West for his eighth, obviating the need for a diamond finesse. Making two and picking up six imps. Not bad. Three boards left, and we've narrowed our opponents' lead to a single imp.

Me: +100
Jack: -120

Score on Board 125: +6 IMPs
Total: -1 IMP