Board 9
Opponents vulnerable
Opponents vulnerable
| ♠ 9 5 4 ♥ 8 3 ♦ 7 5 2 ♣ A K 9 8 6 |
Partner opens one heart, and RHO overcalls two diamonds. With three diamonds and two defensive tricks, I'm quite happy to pass. If partner has diamond shortness, I will hear from him. If he doesn't, defending two diamonds may be our best chance for a plus score.
LHO raises to three diamonds, partner bids three hearts, and RHO bids three spades. I could bid four hearts, but four clubs leaves partner better prepared to act over four spades or five diamonds. This bid should show heart tolerance. If I couldn't bid clubs on the previous round, I wouldn't be bidding them now with a misfit.
LHO doubles and partner passes. I assume he would run to four hearts with a singleton club. RHO passes, and I bid four hearts. LHO bids five diamonds, passed around to me. Obviously I'm not bidding five hearts. Should I double? If the opponents think they can make five diamonds and partner agrees with them, I don't see any reason to suspect they're wrong. Probably only one of my clubs is cashing. Whether they can make this or not is apt to depend on how good partner's spades are, which is something only he knows. If I were confident we were making four hearts, I might double in an attempt to protect our score. But I have no particular reason to think we were making it. Accordingly, I pass.
My first inclination is to lead a trump, hoping that partner has good spades and that we can stop spade ruffs in dummy. One opening lead I would never consider would be a high club. Dummy has good clubs, declarer has no place to pitch whatever club losers he has in his hand, and I may need the club entry to lead a second trump. A heart lead might be right, since declarer may be able to pitch dummy's hearts on his spade suit. But if his spades are that good, we probably can't beat this. So I go with my first instinct and lead the five of diamonds.
| NORTH
♠ 10 2 ♥ 10 5 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ Q J 7 3 2 |
||
| WEST
♠ 9 5 4 ♥ 8 3 ♦ 7 5 2 ♣ A K 9 8 6 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♥ | 2 ♦ | ||
| Pass | 3 ♦ | 3 ♥ | 3 ♠ |
| 4 ♣ | Double | Pass | Pass |
| 4 ♥ | 5 ♦ | (All pass) |
Dummy is no surprise. Declarer plays the eight--four--jack. If declarer has only five diamonds, he presumably has only four spades. If we assume partner would not have passed four clubs doubled with a singleton club, that gives declarer a 4-3-5-1 pattern. Declarer plays a second diamond to dummy's nine, and partner pitches the four of hearts. Declarer plays a heart from dummy. Partner hops with the ace, and declarer plays the seven. A poor choice. He should play the deuce, the card he's known to hold. (Partner would not have discarded his second lowest heart on the previous trick.) I now know that declarer begain with king-seven-deuce of hearts, so it appears I was right about his shape. I play the heart eight.
Partner returns the queen of hearts to declarer's king. Declarer plays the five of clubs. I wouldn't hop without both honors, so there is no point in false-carding. I play the club king, and partner plays the four.
Declarer has three major suit cards that he might potentially want to ruff, so I play my last trump. Declarer wins in dummy, and partner throws the club ten. Declarer plays a spade to the queen, cashes the ace, and ruffs a spade. He now has one heart and one spade left in his hand. He leads the club queen, pitching his spade loser. I win and must return a club to dummy, allowing him to pitch his heart loser. Down one.
| NORTH
♠ 10 2 ♥ 10 5 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ Q J 7 3 2 |
||
| WEST
♠ 9 5 4 ♥ 8 3 ♦ 7 5 2 ♣ A K 9 8 6 |
EAST
♠ K J 8 6 ♥ A Q J 9 6 4 ♦ 4 ♣ 10 4 | |
| SOUTH
♠ A Q 7 3 ♥ K 7 2 ♦ A J 10 6 3 ♣ 5 |
A high club lead would have allowed declarer to make this for the very reason I suspected: I need the entry to play a second trump. A heart lead, though, would have beaten it, provided partner wins the ace of hearts at trick one and shifts to a trump, a play that should not be difficult for him to find. (Although, as it happens, partner would not have found it. I replayed the board to see. After a heart lead, he wins with the ace and returns one.)
We get 11 matchpoints. Only one other pair beat five diamonds. Of the five pairs who allowed it to score, four defended it doubled. So, strangely, most of our matchpoints came not from my opening lead but from the decision not to double. We would have still won nine matchpoints had we allowed them to score this contract.
Score on Board 9: +100 (11 MP)
Total: 82 MP (75.9%)
Current rank: 1st
I must admit I find Jack's bidding judgment disappointing.
ReplyDeleteLook at North last bid.
Which reasonable player, having raised partner and doubled 4C would bid 5D over 4H?
Surely North has shown all his offensive potential already.
I replay these hands with Wbrdige5, which is free. Here North doubles every time you reach 4H, which is 3 down on best defense.
Rainer Herrmann
I don't mind five diamonds. That's probably what you would have bid had RHO passed over three spades, so how bad can it be to bid it now? As for four hearts, there are a variety of ways to achieve down two, but I don't see a route to down three. What am I missing? Not that it rates to matter much at this vulnerability.
ReplyDeleteHaving raised the 2D overcall to 3D, I do not think North has any reserves to bid on to an 11 trick game, neither does the 3S bid in my opinion improve North's hand (dubious club values, doubleton heart).
ReplyDeleteGranted, double dummy, 4H doubled is down 2, but this is not the way the game is played...
Against 4H doubled, South will probably lead his singleton club in response to North's double of 4C.
If declarer now finesses in hearts, which he should (risky of course, but would you really shun it after South bid diamonds and spades, particularly if North doubled 4H?)
South wins, under-leads his diamonds to North, who does not return a club but a spade.
Now the defense gets a ruff in each black suit, the King of hearts, a diamond and two spades.
I admit, that East might shun the heart finesse, reflecting that
- he can not repeat the trump finesse
Against that
- 4H doubled might be held to down one or could possibly make if the heart finesse wins. (Just exchange the king of hearts for a small heart in the North hand in the actual layout)
- Going down two or three should not matter much for your match-point score.
All thing considered it looks to me that the heart finesse is indicated single dummy. But it is also be true, that North might not return a a spade to guarantee down two.
Rainer Herrmann