Match 2 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ Q 10 6 5 ♥ K 10 5 2 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ Q 4

Partner opens two notrump (20-22) in fourth seat. Since we have at least 29 high-card points between us, we can probably take as many tricks in notrump as we can in a four-four major-suit fit, so I simply raise to three notrump. West leads the jack of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

My decision to raise to three notrump didn't effect the final contract, but it may give me an advantage in the play, since the opponents don't know declarer doesn't have a four-card major. According to the opponents' card, the club jack says nothing about the king, so I play the queen. East covers.

At IMPs, I would duck in the vain hope that clubs are eight-one or that they are seven-two and I can keep West off play. But at matchpoints, the strategic advantage of retaining a club exit is too great to surrender lightly. It's unlikely West began with seven or eight clubs, and it would be annoying to develop some kind of end position and then notice I didn't have a small club to throw the opponents in with. So I win the first trick.

I can't afford to lose the lead, so I need to the king of diamonds to be onside to come to eight tricks. My ninth will have to come either from the long spade or from picking up the diamonds.

What is my best play to pick up the diamonds? If the suit splits three-two, there are three possible ways to run the suit:

(A) Lead low to the jack, picking up king doubleton onside.
(B) Lead the queen. If it's covered, win with the ace and cash the jack, picking up king empty third onside.
(C) Lead the queen. If it's covered, win with the ace, return to dummy, and finesse again, picking up king-ten third onside.

Note that, provided the suit splits three-two, all three plays are equally likely to succeed . There are three small diamonds, so each play wins in exactly three layouts. (C) frequently offers the advantage of allowing you to pick up king-ten fourth onside. But that's not the case here, since I don't have enough dummy entries.  (A) might enable me to pick up a singleton king onside. If I lead low from dummy and the king appears, I can win and float the nine. Normally I wouldn't even consider that play against a good opponent, since the falsecard with king-ten doubleton is too well known. But, in this case, it's worth considering, since East might be afraid to falsecard for fear I have ace-empty sixth of diamonds. In any event, I decide to postpone my decision until I get some kind of count in the side suits.

I lead the spade king (more likely to elicit an honest count card than the ace). West plays the seven; East the nine. On the spade ace, West plays the three; East, the four. I suspect both opponents are giving honest count. As we've discussed previously, the proper way to card is for the hand with the jack to give false count while the other hand gives honest count. This combination makes it impossible for declarer to read the position. I continue with a third spade. West pitches the three of clubs.

The three of clubs? Surely he would keep enough clubs to beat me if he gained the lead, so he must have started with at least six. That means he started with at least eight black cards while East started with at most seven, so I should play East for diamond length. I lead the diamond queen--king--ace--six.

I can't handle a four-one diamond break. So, a priori, it's a complete toss-up whether to return to dummy for a finesse against the ten or whether to cash the jack. But West might have pitched a diamond from two small in preference to a club. And, other things being equal, I'd just as soon retain the heart entry to dummy. So I cash the diamond jack. West drops the ten. So far so good.

I cash the third diamond, and West discards the four of hearts. On the next diamond, he discards the jack of hearts. So he started with jack doubleton? If so, then East began with a 4-4-3-2 pattern. I pitch a club from dummy, and East pitches the three of hearts. On the last diamond, I pitch a heart from dummy; both opponents pitch clubs. There are only three hearts outstanding. Either my hearts are good or East has queen third of hearts and the high spade. I play a heart to dummy's king. West shows out, so I exit with the spade ten, forcing East to lead away from his queen of hearts. Making six.

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

Was it necessary to win the first trick to preserve the throw-in? I suppose not. If I win the second trick and play the same way, I can finish with a simple squeeze in the majors against East. Since it didn't gain, perhaps it was wrong to win the first trick. Switch the ten and five of diamonds, for example, and I would be going down on my line, whereas I would make four had I ducked.

Of course, there are layouts where I would be happy I didn't duck. For example, give West:

♠ 7 3 ♥ Q J 4 ♦ 10 6 ♣ J 10 9 8 6 5

Now, assuming I play spades and diamonds as I did, retaining the club exit allows me to make six in the endgame. Actually, my "decision" to win the first trick was more of an instinctive reaction than a decision. As a rule, I tend not to cater to seven-two breaks if doing so requires me to give up other chances. But I'm not entirely sure I was right this time, since the chances I'm giving up are rather obscure. At a different vulnerability, my decision would be more defensible, since it is more likely we would have heard from West in the auction if he began with seven clubs.

This turns out to be a top. Two pairs made five notrump, two made four notrump, one made four spades, and one played three notrump, down two.

Score on Board 6: +490 (12 MP)
Total: 51 MP (70.8%)
Current rank: 1st