Match 2 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ A 10 ♥ A Q J 9 7 5 ♦ J ♣ 7 6 4 3

RHO opens one heart in first seat. I pass. The auction continues one spade--pass--one notrump back to me.

Two clubs seems like the obvious choice. This is pretty much the hand this bid should show (i.e., a hand where I would have opened one heart and rebid two clubs if RHO hadn't beaten me to it). I doubt Jack knows this, but my hand has too much potential just to sit back and let the opponents steal from us. Even if partner doesn't understand what my bid is supposed to mean, he should have a fair picture of my hand anyway from the opponents' auction. Once LHO fails to support hearts, partner will know the opponents have at most seven of them. Although partner might not appreciate the fact that two hearts by him should be natural, possibly a "preference" with a small doubleton.

Over two clubs, LHO bids three spades, partner bids four clubs, and RHO bids four spades.

We have a fair chance to beat this. Partner leads a heart. I win and shift to a diamond. When I take the spade ace, I play a club to partner's putative ace for a diamond ruff. Or I might be able to do some damage to declarer's trumps by persisting in hearts at trick two. Of course, partner needn't have the club ace, and declarer needn't follow to the first heart, so our prospects are hardly good enough to warrant a double. I pass, LHO passes, and partner bids five clubs. Oh, come on, partner. If you're going to do that, bid five clubs the first time. Why give opener a chance to show spade support at the four level?

RHO passes; I pass. LHO doubles, ending the auction, and leads the four of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
		1 ♥	Pass
1 ♠	Pass	1 NT	2 ♣
3 ♠	4 ♣	4 ♠	Pass
Pass	5 ♣	Pass	Pass
Double	(All pass)

RHO plays the heart ten, and I win with the queen (a less revealing card than the jack).

East is probably 3-5-3-2. He could be 3-5-2-3, but that would mean West doubled with 6-1-5-1, which is unlikely. To give West sufficient values for his three spade bid (and to prevent East from having a strong notrump), I need to credit West with one of the three minor-suit honors. That gives East either

♠ ? x x ♥ K 10 x x x ♦ A x x ♣ A x,

♠ ? x x ♥ K 10 x x x ♦ K x x ♣ A x,

or

♠ ? x x ♥ K 10 x x x ♦ A K x ♣ x x.

There are ten ways for East to have ace third of diamonds, ten ways for him to have king third, and five ways for him to have ace-king third. So, a priori, East is four-to-one to have one honor in each minor. If we consider the auction, the odds are even higher. With two small clubs, East might (I would go so far as to say should) raise spades rather than rebid one notrump.

The question now is: can they make four spades? It all depends on the location of the ten of diamonds. If East has it, yes; if West has it, no.

I need to get started on diamonds, so I play the diamond jack. West plays the three. I play low and East wins with the king. He shifts to the deuce of spades. I win with the ace as West plays the nine. West is still four-to-one to have the remaining diamond honor. Because of restricted choice, the fact that East won with the king rather than the ace does not change the odds. It's going to be a struggle to hold this to down one, but perhaps I can manage if East has the diamond ten (as I must assume he does anyway to keep this from being a phantom sacrifice).

I lead the heart ace, West ruffs with the nine, and I overruff with the ten. I now lead the queen of diamonds. My plan is to pitch a spade, letting West take his ace. If East does have a singleton ten remaining, I will be able to establish diamonds with one ruff. Unfortunately, East covers the queen with the ace. Oops. I guess I should have led a low diamond. Now I'm in trouble. I ruff and play a trump. West takes his ace. It costs nothing to unblock dummy's eight, so I do. East follows with the deuce.

West shifts to the eight of diamonds. I cover with the nine, and East plays the ten. Whew! I was wrong about the minor-suit honors, but at least I was right about the ten of diamonds. I ruff and draw the last trump. There's no way to avoid the spade loser, so I'm down one.

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

Did I misplay this? Yes, I did. The queen of diamonds was the right way to handle the diamond suit, but I shouldn't have been playing diamonds at all. If clubs are two-two as I assumed, I can guarantee down one by playing a trump at trick two, unblocking the eight if West plays the ace. The opponents shift to a spade. I win, draw the remaining trumps, then lead a third round of clubs to my seven and drive the king of hearts, pitching dummy's spade. My hearts are now good.

Why didn't I see this? I didn't think I had the tempi to set up hearts, because I assumed I would re-enter my hand by ruffing diamonds. The key is to reach my hand with the gratuitous third round of trumps. This saves a tempo and enables me to pitch dummy's spade loser. Somehow I missed that. That's what happens when I take a month off.

Could East foil this plan by playing low on dummy's eight of hearts at trick one? No. That would be a better effort, but I have a counter. I play as above except that I ruff a heart in dummy (with a middle spot) after winning the spade ace.

Now for the critical question. Were we beating four spades? Not if I defend as I envisioned during the auction: a heart to me and a diamond shift. If we avoid breaking diamonds, however, declarer will probably play a diamond to the ten at some point and go down. So, while minus 200 is par on a double-dummy basis, it rates to be below par in practice.

And it is. We score four out of 12 matchpoints. Although, surprisingly, defending and defeating four spades would not have improved our score. Two pairs played four spades, one making four, the other making five. But the other four pairs reached three notrump, going down either two or three. I'm not sure why that was such a popular contract, since I can't even construct an auction to get there.

Score on Board 2: -200 (4 MP)
Total: 16 MP (66.7%)
Current rank: 3rd