Match 2 - Board 21

Board 21
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 6 4 ♥ K 5 2 ♦ J 3 2 ♣ 7 6 5 3

Partner opens one notrump (12 - 14) in first seat, and RHO passes. I pass, as does LHO. How bad can this be? It seems we've reached a normal contract and given the opponents no information. RHO leads the ace of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
			1 NT
(All pass)

I'm not sure what the lead of the ace means conventionally. But, since East plays the five on this trick, it appears West has ace-king-queen. I "discourage" with the four. West continues with the king of diamonds; East plays the seven. West continues with the diamond queen, and East plays the ten. If West began with five diamonds, I can't afford to lose any more tricks other than the spade ace. It appears my seven tricks will consist of two clubs, four hearts, and one spade, so I'm going to pitch one club and two spades from my hand. Does it matter which card I pitch first?

East is going to have to find two discards, and I want to make it as hard as possible for him. Clubs will look like a dangerous suit to pitch from. It could cost a trick to pitch from jack third (I could have ace-king fourth) or from king third (I could have ace-queen fourth). Since I have no choice but to pitch a club from dummy on the next trick, pitching a club from my hand now renders either of those dangerous holdings unlikely and simplifies East's discarding problem. Accordingly, I pitch the three of spades.

West continues with the eight of diamonds, I pitch dummy's three of clubs, and East pitches the three of hearts. Unless he has queen fifth, the heart queen is probably going to be on my left. Although that is hardly a sure thing. It's possible any discard looks dangerous to East. And it's also possible he's being sneaky.

If West does have the heart queen, I hope it's not queen-nine or queen-eight fourth. Otherwise I'm going to take only three heart tricks. I may need an extra spade trick if that's the case, so perhaps I should keep three hearts and three spades, hoping to find queen-nine doubleton of spades onside. I could pitch a club now and, on the next trick, decide which major to hold. But it's hard to imagine what would happen to persuade me to pitch a heart. Rather than leave an option open that I can't imagine taking, I'd rather continue with the illusion that clubs is a source of tricks for me. I pitch the eight of spades.

West leads his last diamond. I pitch another club from dummy, and East pitches the heart eight. I'm certainly playing West for the heart queen now. That means I must play East for the spade ace, else West would have doubled one notrump. With the ace of spades alone, East might have pitched a spade to keep his partner from shifting to a spade from the queen. Failure to do so suggests that East thinks it's possible spades are running. Given I'm looking at the spade jack, that means East should have both the ace and the queen. I hope I'm wrong about that. Since Jack isn't a very sophisticated signaler, there is a chance I am.

I pitch the club eight from my hand. West shift to the jack of clubs, East plays the king, and I win with the ace. Does it matter whether I take the spade finesse or the heart finesse first? Not if the heart finesse is winning. But if it's losing, taking the heart finesse first will at least establish a trick. Can I afford to cash the heart ace in case East is pulling a fast one with queen third? No, I can't. I need the heart ace as an entry to my hand. I lead the jack of hearts--four--deuce--nine. Actually, that was a mistake. I should have led the heart ten, because it's harder for West to cover the ten. I can think of layouts--wildly unlikely layouts--where it's necessary to retain the king of hearts in dummy.

Now the moment of truth. I float the jack of spades. As expected, East has both spade honors, so I finish down one.

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

This wasn't a normal contract, since a one club opening gives East a chance to overcall. Minus 100 is worth only one matchpoint. Most pairs are minus 90 against two diamonds. Two pairs managed to beat two diamonds, presumably by cashing their five tricks, then leading the thirteenth heart for a trump promotion. Our opponenets have had several bad results from weak notrumps. Now it's our turn, though it would be a different story if we weren't vulnerable.

Score on Board 21: -100 (1 MP)
Total: 164 (65.1%)

Current rank: 1st