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