Match 2 - Board 18

Board 18
Our side vulnerable

♠ A K 10 9 ♥ 5 4 2 ♦ K ♣ A Q J 9 4

I open one club in second seat. LHO bids one diamond, and partner bids one notrump. In the post mortem, Jack will tell me I should bid two spades at this point. I disagree. I think two spades should suggest doubt about notrump. With three hearts and the diamond king, notrump looks like the right strain to me. The only question is how high to raise. Point count undervalues this hand because of the concentrated values. Against that, honors in the opponents' suit are worth less when partner shows values there as well. I decide the hand is worth only two notrump. Partner goes on to three, and West leads the nine of diamonds.

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

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

East takes my diamond king with the ace, and I play the deuce. How easy will it be for East to find a heart switch? It depends upon his heart holding. It would probably be easier for him to switch from the king than from the ace. If he has the ace, he may think he needs that card as an entry.  From his point of view, I could have

♠ x x x ♥ K Q x ♦ J x x x ♣ K x x,

in which case three rounds of diamonds would be the right defense.

East cashes the diamond queen--four--three. The fact that he's cashing the diamond queen is encouraging. If he intended to switch to hearts, he probably would have done so without setting up my diamond jack first. Is there any pitch I can make from dummy to encourage him along this path? A spade pitch suggests I don't have the spade queen.  It also suggests I intend to play hearts myself. Why would I need to keep all three of dummy's hearts otherwise? Accordingly, I pitch the nine of spades.

East, to my dismay, cashes the heart ace--six--eight--four, then plays the nine of hearts. The ten is the percentage play by restricted choice. It is also the play indicated by East's defense. East would surely not cash the diamond queen if he were planning on underleading a heart honor. He cashed it because he was planning on cashing whatever red tricks he could off the top. I play the ten. West wins with the jack and cashes three more heart tricks. Down three.

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

Everyone played three notrump. Two pairs made four; everyone else was down three like me, so we get four matchpoints. Unfortunately, this drops us to second place. We seemed unbeatable only a couple of boards ago.

Did my spade pitch somehow make East suspicious?  Would a routine heart pitch have been more effective? Just to make sure, I replay the board, trying each of the twelve possible discards from the dummy at trick two. East shifts to ace and a heart whatever I do.

Score on Board 18: -300 (4 MP)
Total: 141 (65.3%)
Current rank: 2nd

Match 2 - Board 17

Board 17
Neither vulnerable

♠ A K 2 ♥ A Q 9 6 5 4 ♦ 8 4 ♣ K J

Two passes to me. I open one heart, LHO overcalls with one spade--pass--pass. One notrump seems about right. Two hearts is an underbid, and three hearts is an overbid. I could double, intending to correct partner's minor to hearts, but with no interest in playing either minor, that auction doesn't appeal. This hand is basically a heart-notrump two-suiter, so I bid my second "suit." One notrump.

Partner raises to two notrump. I have a minimum in high cards for this auction, but I carry on to game on the strength of the sixth heart. West tries a sneak attack. He leads the three of diamonds. (Not necessarily fourth best. The opponents play attitude leads against notrump.)

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

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

I play the five of diamonds from dummy. East wins with the king, and I drop the eight. It looks as if West might have ace-queen fourth and East king-jack fifth. West shifts to the ten of spades. This is something of a surprise. With jack third of spades in dummy, East knows spades can't be running off the top. He is apparently trying to establish the suit, hoping his partner has ace-queen fifth, or perhaps ace-queen or king-queen sixth, and that the defense has an entry. With king-jack fifth of diamonds, however, it would seem that diamonds would offer a better chance of establishing four tricks (not to mention that he might be cashing five diamond tricks off the top). So I must be wrong about his having king-jack fifth of diamonds. The shift doesn't make sense unless he has only four diamonds, making West five-five in the pointed suits. I check their convention card, and they do not play Michaels. So five-five seems like a lively possiblity.

Since East is hoping his partner has the ace-queen of spades, I must cooperate by playing the king, not the ace. True, the normal play with king third or doubleton would be to duck. But, if I'm confident both honors are behind me, I might play the king in an attempt to represent a stronger holding (like the one I have). I hope East's opinion of my game is high enough that he will give me credit for having made such a play.

West makes his own contribution to the illusion I'm trying to create by playing the spade seven. He knows good and well he wants a diamond return if his partner gets in. So encouraging in spades is a serious error.

Thanks to West's signal, I'm probably going to make this now if East has the club ace. Do I have any chance if West has the club ace? Will six rounds of hearts give him a problem? He will have to come down to five cards: two spades, the club ace, and ace and a low dimaond. That means he has to unblock the diamond queen, which shouldn't be a hard play to find. This line does have the advantage that I'm down only one if it fails. Or does it? To run hearts without disturbing my tenace in spades, I have to overtake one of dummy's heart honors. If East has ten fourth of hearts (not so unlikely given West is probably five-five in the pointed cards), that isn't going to work.

It's clearly better to hope East has the club ace. If I play the club king, he might even duck. Since he doesn't know I have six hearts, he might not realize that the king of clubs is my ninth trick. I play the club king--seven--deuce--ace. West shifts to the diamond deuce. Oops. West cashes his diamonds. Down two:

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

So what was East playing for when he shifted to a spade? If he wasn't planning on continuing spades if I played the king and his partner encouraged, what was the point of shifting?

This is our first zero. One pair made four hearts. One pair defended three spades and beat it a trick. Everyone else was down one in either three notrump or four hearts. Everyone? They do have three notrump down two off the top. And four hearts might go down two as well. Club to the ace, club ruff, cash two diamonds, and play another club. Declarer ruffs high and now has to decide whether West began with three hearts (draw two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy) or with two (draw one round of trumps, ending in dummy; club, ruff, overruff; another trump to dummy). If we had reached four hearts at our table, I probably would have chosen the first line and gone down two. Perhaps other Wests bid Michaels, cluing declarer in to their shape.

I could have salvaged three matchpoints by cashing out for down one, but I don't regret my decision. I don't think we did anything wrong on this board. Sometimes you're just destined to get a zero. At least we're still in the lead.

Score on Board 17: -100 (0 MP)
Total: 137 (67.2%)
Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 16

Board 16
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 4 2 ♥ 5 4 2 ♦ 10 7 6 ♣ A Q 5 3

LHO opens one notrump (15-17); RHO bids two hearts, a transfer to spades. I pass. LHO bids two spades, which is passed around to me. Without spade shortness, I have no reason to balance. I pass, and partner leads the king of hearts:

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

West	North	East	South
			1 NT
Pass	2 ♥1	Pass	2 ♠
(All pass)
1Jacoby-transfer

We lead ace from ace king (an agreement I don't care for). So partner should have the king-queen of hearts plus an additional five to seven high-card points. I discourage with the deuce of hearts. Declarer plays the three, and partner shifts to the eight of clubs.

I can't imagine this is a singleton, not so much from the opening lead as from the fact that partner didn't act over one notrump. If it's a doubleton, it might be useful to retain communication. I can't afford to duck this altogether, since partner might have king-nine-eight or jack-nine-eight. So, when declarer plays the four from dummy, I play the queen.

Declarer wins with the king and returns the jack of clubs, partner following with the deuce. If I could trust partner's carding, I would win and give him a club ruff. The deuce should show that he began with a doubleton, since partner should give present count here. But I know from past experience that Jack doesn't know that.

It seems more likely that declarer is trying to drill an entry to dummy to lead a trump toward his hand, and he probably wouldn't do that with king-jack fourth of clubs, because the risk of running into a ruff would be too great.

Of course, a clever declarer might lead the club jack with the specific intention of stopping a club ruff. Since declarer is off the trump ace, he knows there is no legitimate way to stop a club ruff if one is available to us. So it costs him nothing to lead the club jack, hoping I'll duck it. I myself executed a similar maneuver on Board Two of the first match. But I don't think Jack is that clever, so I duck. As soon as I duck, a paranoid thought occurs to me. Could partner have switched to a second-highest eight of clubs from nine-eight fourth? If he did, perhaps my combination of plays will teach him not to do that again.

Declarer plays the heart ace--nine--seven--five, then leads the eight of hearts. Partner plays the jack, and declarer ruffs in dummy with the six of spades. Declarer then surprises me by leading the ten of clubs. I win with the ace, and everyone follows.

Obviously I was wrong about declarer's trying to force a dummy entry, since he made no use of his entry once he was there. Have I been hornswaggled? Did he sucker me into ducking the club ace so he could endplay me with it? Maybe Jack is cleverer than I thought.

Do I have a safe exit? A spade switch will cost a trick if declarer has queen doubleton. It's safe if declarer has the king. But it seems unlikely he has the king. If he does, why didn't he lead a spade toward his hand when he was in dummy?

How about diamonds? Declarer has at least seven more high-card points. He's surely missing a spade honor, since he hasn't touched trumps. That means declarer must have at least four high-card points in diamonds. So he has either the ace or the king-jack. Either way, it can't hurt for me to switch to a diamond. Accordingly, I play the six of diamonds--five--king--eight.

Partner plays the heart queen, and declarer ruffs with the seven. As a general rule, it's wrong to overruff with a natural trump trick unless doing so allows you to separate trump tricks that will otherwise crash. That doesn't seem to be the case here, so I pitch the seven of diamonds. Declarer plays a diamond to his ace and a diamond back to the queen. I ruff, and we still have two natural trump tricks for down one:

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

Declarer made it easy fo us by playing diamonds. But, in fact, he had no way to avoid the ruff. This was the position, with the lead in dummy:

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

If he plays spades instead of diamonds, I can hop and play a diamond myself, scoring a ruff whenever partner has the spade king or when declarer has king doubleton and can't reach dummy to play the third round of trumps. (On this particular layout, I don't even have to hop with the ace. If I duck, we will eventually score my long club.) Note that it would indeed have been fatal for me to overruff dummy's seven of spades with my ace.

Declarer could have made his contract by playing on diamonds earlier. Ruffing the heart to dummy accomplished nothing and paved the way to our reaching this end position. With best defense, I don't think he can make it after he takes that first heart ruff.

We get ten matchpoints. Four pairs made two spades. One other pair went down, and one pair went down a trick in one heart. Presumably South opened one heart and bought it. It hasn't been a lucky session for weak notrumps and four-card majors--at least not for those sitting the other direction. Fortunately, partner and I have been spared those problems.

Score on Board 16: +100 (10 MP)
Total: 137 (71.4%)
Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 15

Board 15
Our side vulnerable

♠ 8 7 ♥ 8 7 ♦ 10 9 7 6 3 ♣ K 9 6 5

I pass in first seat--pass--one notrump (12-14) by partner. RHO doubles. Since Jack refuses to play my runout methods, I'm reluctantly playing his. I bid two clubs, showing either diamonds or both majors. LHO bids two spades, RHO bids two notrump, and LHO bids four hearts, which ends the auction. Partner, apparently concluding I don't have the majors, leads the king of diamonds:

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
1 NT	Double	2 ♣1	2 ♠
Pass	2 NT	Pass	4 ♥
(All pass)
1Diamonds or (spades and hearts)

Why didn't North simply pass two spades? Two spades should be intended as a signoff opposite a minimum double, so North shouldn't bid again without extras (more than a strong notrump) or a good spade fit. But it looks as if he lucked out. South is marked with eight to ten high card points. I suspect he has exactly eight, since even that gives him a rather hefty two spade bid. Partner has a doubleton king of diamonds. That means he won't have a doubleton heart, so declarer has only four. Declarer, in fact, should be precisely 5-4-3-1. I know his shape and his exact point count. I'd better get this defense right, or it will be very embarassing.

Dummy wins with the diamond ace. I encourage with the ten. (If anyone thinks suit-preference applies here, please don't tell me.) Declarer follows with the four, then plays the deuce of clubs off dummy.

Why is declarer playing clubs rather than the majors? One reason might be to kill my entry. If partner has two entries, he can use the first entry to play another diamond and the second entry to underlead his club ace for a diamond ruff. Declarer seems to be putting a stop to that plan via a scissors coup. It's hard to see any reason for declarer to play a club if he holds a singleton ace, so I might as well hop to prevent his taking a ruffing finesse against my king later.

I play the club king--ten--eight. I'm in for probably the last time, so if there's anything I need to do, now is my chance. If we're going to beat this, we must assume partner has a trump trick. So let's give him king-ten-nine of hearts. (Although I guess king-ten-six is good enough. Even king-ten-deuce might be good enough depending on how declarer plays.) That leaves partner with four high card points in spades. If he has the ace, two more tricks are all we're getting. Maybe king-jack-nine gives declarer more of a problem.

If that's what partner has, surely a spade switch, stopping a potential endplay, is my best defense. A spade shift might not suffice, but if I don't shift to spade, declarer can make it easily. Say I play a diamond. Declarer wins in dummy, ruffs a club, heart to the jack, ruffs a club, heart to the ace, and plays the last diamond. If partner refuses to ruff, declarer can toss him in with a club to lead from the spade king.

I shift to the seven of spades. (Partner already has a complete count. No need to help declarer.) Declarer plays the queen. That's a good sign. Partner wins with the ace. That's not. I guess we can't beat this. And indeed we don't. Partner does have a trump trick, but that's all we get. Making four.

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

Would the spade shift have beaten it if partner had king-jack-nine fourth of spades? Say declarer ducks the spade shift to partner's jack. Partner continues diamonds. Declarer ruffs a club to his hand, plays a heart to the jack, cashes the heart ace, then plays ace and ruffs a spade. We're down to this position with the lead in dummy, declarer needing three more tricks:

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

Declarer leads the diamond jack. If partner ruffs, he is endplayed. He must either set up a trick for declarer in one black suit or the other. If partner doesn't ruff, declarer can score two more tricks on a crossruff. Declarer might not choose this line, of course. If declarer thinks spades are three-three and hearts four-one, he might find a way to go down. That was the point of shifting to the spade seven instead of the eight.

What about the auction? Obviously two spades was a underbid, which North compensated for with his egregious overbid. But what should South do? My agreement is that, when partner doubles one notrump and responder pulls, we play exactly as if partner had opened one notrump and the next hand overcalled. (See Countering Interference over One Notrump.)

If one of my spades were a club, I would have a classic negative double of two clubs. (Yes, I play double as negative even when two clubs is artificial.) I can't afford to double with a singleton club, however, and this layout shows why. Double would probably end the auction, and I don't think we can manage down two.

With the given hand, I would pass and let West bid two diamonds. If partner has a doubleton diamond, he is expected to double for takeout, even with a minimum. I'm willing to drive to game opposite a doubleton diamond, so I would then bid three diamonds, intending to pull three notrump to four spades.

If two diamonds is passed around to me (as it would be here), I would double. This, also, is ostensibly for take-out, showing a doubleton diamond and support for the unbid suits, but I think I can handle the continuations. I can raise two hearts to three, I can raise two spades to four, and I can bid three spades (showing a game invitation with a fifth spade) over two notrump or three clubs.

We get three matchpoints for minus 420. Everyone bid game. But one pair played three notrump making three, and two declarers contrived to go down if four hearts.

An interest side note. I find myself applying unusual critera for choosing discards when playing with Jack. At one point late in this deal, I had an apparently immaterial choice of discarding from three diamonds or from a doubleton club. I chose to discard a club. The reason? Laziness. I knew declarer was going to play a club next. If I came down to a singleton, Jack would play my card for me automatically. If I held two clubs, I would have to click the mouse button.

Score on Board 15: -420 (3 MP)
Total: 127 MP (70.6%)

Current Rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 14

Board 14
Neither vulnerable

♠ J 10 4 3 ♥ A J 6 5 3 ♦ 5 ♣ K 7 3

RHO opens with one diamond. I double. This seems pretty routine, but Jack will object to this double in the post mortem. (Jack has a feature I only recently discovered where he criticizes your actions after the hand is over. Just like old times! Feels as if I should be sitting at P. J. Clarke's.) Jack prefers a one heart overcall, claiming that a double promises 11 high-card points. I thought the idea that a take-out double showed a better hand than an overcall went out some time in the 60s. Or is it back now? With a 4-5-1-3 pattern, I might choose one heart over double. But, if I did, it would be because most of my high cards were in the heart suit. It would have nothing to do with how good or bad my hand was.

LHO bids three diamonds, an invitational raise. RHO bids three spades, and LHO bids five diamonds, which partner doubles. Doubling a voluntarily bid five of a minor is usually a bad idea at matchpoints, because you may already have a fine result even if they make it. If everyone else is in three notrump making four, for example, doubling gains no matchpoints when you beat it and converts a top to a bottom when you don't.

Dummy rates to have a singleton heart for the five diamond bid. He is probably 3-1-5-4 or 3-1-4-5. Normally, that would be a reason to shy away from a heart lead, since it might set up winners in declarer's hand on which he can pitch dummy's spades. But declarer has already announced weak hearts by bidding three spades rather than three notrump, so it seems safe to lead the ace of hearts.

I do so, and dummy is a bit of a surprise:

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

West	North	East	South
			1 ♦
Double	3 ♦	Pass	3 ♠
Pass	5 ♦	Double	(All pass)

Over partner's three spade bid, I would just take a shot at three notrump. We might have hearts stopped. And if we don't, maybe four heart tricks is all they can take. If I were too lily-livered to bid three notrump, I would bid four diamonds, not five. The distinction between four diamonds and five would be a little more complicated if my hand weren't limited. But, since it is, four diamonds should show a balanced hand without a heart stopper (and should be passable), and five diamonds should imply a heart singleton. If I bid five diamonds with this hand and partner has enough to make it, he will probably bid six.

Partner plays the eight of hearts, and declarer plays the four. Presumably partner has king-eight-deuce and declarer has ten-nine-four. I continue with the six of hearts (present count)--queen--nine--deuce. Well, now. It looks as if declarer made a peculiar three spade bid; he should have bid three notrump himself. Partner should have begun with nine-eight doubleton of hearts. But, knowing Jack, he might also have begun with ten-nine-eight, since he seems to play up-the-line after the first round of a suit rather than give present count.

Declarer plays the deuce of clubs from dummy--five--queen--king. What's going on? My first thought is that declarer has a singleton queen and is preparing a crossruff. But I doubt partner, with ace-nine fourth, would duck his ace, since declarer would be marked with at most a singleton club. (Not to mention that the five presumably shows an odd number of clubs.) It appears, then, that declarer has ace-queen doubleton, or perhaps queen doubleton, and is playing clubs in order to establish the suit.

The only constructive thing I think of to do is to switch to a spade in case partner has the king. If partner has the club ace, he probably does have the spade king. Otherwise he might have hopped with the ace to play spades from his side. Come to think of it, if he doesn't have the club ace, he probably needs the spade king for his double. I know that leaves declarer with a strange-looking three spade bid, but we already know he has a strange-looking three spade bid. I see no reason to waste the jack of spades. Even if I'm wrong about the spades and declarer has king-queen fourth, he's not going to block the suit by playing the nine. So I lead the three of spades. Declarer plays dummy's ace--deuce (OK. So no spade king.)--five.

Partner surely has the club ace (though I'm not sure why he ducked). And we have whatever natural trump tricks he has. My job now is to persuade declarer that I'm void in diamonds. If he thinks that, perhaps he'll talk himself into some sort of endplay that won't work. So I need to convince declarer I'm 4-5-0-4.

Declarer plays the spade nine--six--king--four (honest count). He then leads the eight of clubs. I play the three (false count, hoping to represent king fourth originally)--ten--ace. Partner returns the nine of clubs. Declarer ruffs with the ace! Partner eventually scores the diamond queen for down two:

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

Declarer ruffed with the ace? I guess he was serious about my needing 11 high-card points for a take-out double. He actually thought I was more likely to double with

♠ J 10 x x ♥ A J x x x ♦ Q x ♣ K x

than with the hand I held! I'll let you in on a secret, Jack. I doubt that the presence or absence of the unsupported queen of diamonds would ever affect my decision to double one diamond. Any double with the queen is a double without the queen.

We get 12 matchpoints. One pair managed to go down three in three notrump. Everyone else bid three notrump and made it. As usual, the odds on partner's double were not good. He risked five matchpoints to gain two. And the gain would have been zero had declarer not butchered the end position.

Score on Board 14: +300 (12 MP)
Total: 124 MP (73.8%)

Current rank : 1st