Match 2 - Board 33

Board 33
Neither vulnerable

♠ A 10 5 ♥ Q 7 6 5 2 ♦ 8 7 4 ♣ 8 5

Partner passes, and RHO opens an old-fashioned 16 to 18 one notrump. I pass, and LHO raises to three. I lead the five of hearts.

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

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

Three notrump! Unless declarer has an eighteen count, I don't expect other pairs to be in this game. We'd better beat it.

I'm going to break with the usual format of this blog and give you a defensive problem. I have to do it this way, because if I tell you my thoughts as the play progresses, it will spoil the problem. Partner plays the jack of hearts, and declarer wins with the ace.  Declarer leads the queen of clubs--eight--deuce--four, then the six of clubs--five--jack--ace.  Partner plays the eight of hearts to declarer's ten and your queen. What do you do and why?  The why is important. 'What' doesn't count unless you get the 'why' right. (Well, actually it does in real life; but it doesn't here.)

Now let's back up and go through the play again the Gargoyle Chronicles way. I lead the heart five. Partner plays the jack, and declarer wins with the ace. Declarer obviously has ace-king-ten. He can't disguise his holding from me, but he should have won with the king to disguise his heart strength from partner. Winning with the ace marks him with a second stopper (either the king or something like ace-ten-nine fourth).

Declarer leads the club queen. I give count with the eight, and partner follows with the four. A bell should go off at this point. It appears that partner has ducked the club ace. As a general rule, when defending three notrump, third hand doesn't go around ducking tricks without a good reason. For one thing, how does he know he's not ducking declarer's ninth trick? That consideration doesn't apply here because of declarer's foolish falsecard of the ace at trick one. But, if he had won with the king, partner might have to worry about a layout such as,

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

Another reason it might be wrong for third hand to duck is that it might be important for him to win the first trick for the defense in order to retain his partner's entry:

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

To make this, declarer must guess which minor-suit ace West has and lead that suit at trick two. He guessed wrong. But if East ducks, declarer can switch to diamonds and make his contract.

So why is partner ducking? The likeliest reason is that he has the diamond king and wants to deprive declarer of a dummy entry. In a layout such as,

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

partner must duck to prevent declarer from reaching dummy for a diamond finesse. In a layout such as,

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

partner can't stop declarer from reaching dummy. But declarer needs two dummy entries to take all his diamond tricks. Ducking kills one entry, and that's good enough.

For the time being, I'm going to place partner with the diamond king on the basis of his duck. Although I'm going to stay open to the possibility that I'm wrong. Partner may have some other reason for ducking that I haven't thought of yet.

Declarer continues with the club six. He can't have queen doubleton, since partner would have played the three at trick two. And declarer would not play this way from queen fourth without the ten. So declarer must have either specifically queen-ten-six-three or queen third.

Partner takes dummy's jack with the ace and plays the eight of hearts. That means declarer began with ace-king-ten-nine. Declarer plays the ten and I win with the queen.

If I'm right that partner has the diamond king, it looks right to return a heart, putting declarer back in his hand. Is that good enough to beat him? It's good enough only if declarer is three-three in the minors and if partner has the spade queen. In that case, declarer can take only three hearts, two clubs, and three diamonds for eight tricks.

If I'm wrong about the diamond king, is there anything I can do? Declarer will have nine cashing tricks, but there is room in partner's hand for the king-queen of spades. So if declarer does have the diamond king, I may beat it by switching to ace and a spade.

Partner is just as likely to have been dealt king-queen of spades as he is to have been dealt king of diamonds-queen of spades. But if I play partner for the former, I don't care what declarer's shape is in the minors. If I play partner for the latter, I'm playing declarer to be specifically three-three in the minors. So, a priori, my percentage play is to switch to spades. Still, I can't imagine why partner would duck the club with king-queen of spades. I think the inference that he has the diamond king is strong enough to go against the a priori odds. I return the seven of hearts (suit preference, since I think partner knows the heart count already).

Declarer plays the four of spades from dummy, partner plays the spade deuce, and declarer wins with the heart king. He plays the nine of clubs (which confirms he started with three) to dummy's jack.  As long as we're doing defensive problems this week, here's another: What do you discard on this trick?

 It seems natural to discard a diamond, but I don't want declarer to know I don't have the king (assuming he isn't as clever as I am and hasn't deduced that fact from partner's play at trick two). So I pitch the spade five.

By holding on to all of my diamonds, I'm hoping to persuade declarer that this is the layout:

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

The defense needs three tricks. If declarer takes the diamond finesse, I duck. If he repeats the finesse, I win and play a heart. We get four tricks for down two. If, after taking one finesse, declarer thinks this is what is going on, he may refuse the second finesse. He may take the diamond ace, cash the heart, and play a diamond, trying to endplay me for down one. I don't know if declarer will fall for this or not, but it doesn't hurt to give him the option. Most defenders wouldn't clutch their three small diamonds. So, unless declarer has a lot of respect for my game, he might well fall for it.

Declarer plays the diamond queen--three--deuce. I play the seven. Whatever card partner plays on the next diamond will be higher than the four, so it may look as if his last diamond is the four and he is giving present count. (Hee. Hee.)

To my surprise, declarer abandons diamonds. He plays the seven of spades--six--nine--ten. Interesting. For whatever reason, declarer has decided I have the spade ace and he has no chance to make this. He's found a way to hold it to down one no matter who has the diamond king. I clear the hearts. Declarer plays a spade to my ace. I cash the heart and declarer takes the last two tricks for down one.

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

Not surprisingly, almost every other pair played a notrump partscore. The only other pair who played three notrump made four, so we have another top. Why aren't real tournaments this easy?

This hand is good illustration of one of the primary themes of this blog: the importance of asking questions about what is going on and drawing inferences as the deal unfolds. If partner's duck at trick two strikes you as strange and if you stop to ask yourself why he's ducking, this becomes an easy deal. But if you wait until you win the heart queen before you start piecing the clues together, it is a very difficult deal. It is always hard to draw inferences from things that happened several tricks ago. This is why I spend so much time in this blog drawing inferences about what is going on even when I have no decisions to make.

Score on Board 32: +50 (12 MP)

Total: 274 MP (69.2%)

Current rank: 1st