Match 2 - Board 39

Board 39
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K 8 6 5 ♥ 8 7 4 3 2 ♦ K ♣ A 6 2

I pass, LHO passes, and partner opens one notrump (12-14) in third seat. I bid two clubs, and partner bids two hearts. I was intending to pass two spades. But, with a ninth trump, my hand is worth a raise. I bid three hearts, and partner goes on to four. RHO leads the queen of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♥
Pass	3 ♥	Pass	4 ♥
(All pass)

Not your classic weak notrump opening. But it worked out OK.

I have four potential losers. I need the heart king to be onside, or I need to be able to establish a second spade trick for a club discard. I may be able to do that if East has ace doubleton or tripleton of spades. I will need some luck for this to work, like the opponents' unaccountably not continuing clubs or perhaps five-two clubs with the diamond ace favorably located. But it doesn't hurt to try. I can always fall back on the heart finesse if necessary.

I win with the club ace. East plays the eight, and I play the four. The eight presumably shows the ten. I play the five of spades--four--queen--ace. So much for developing a second spade trick. I expect West to continue clubs, since East's signal has told him it is safe to do so. But he plays the jack of spades--king--seven--deuce. Jack tends to play up the line after his initial count signal. So it looks as if East has nine-seven-four of spades and West has ace--jack--ten--three.

I could take a heart finesse now. But I don't see any reason not to exit with the king of diamonds first. If I put the opponents on play, maybe they will do something stupid. Perhaps West will win with the ace and try to cash the ten of spades, crashing his partner's nine. Even if they don't do anything stupid, it's always a good idea to gather information if you can.

I play the king of diamonds--ace--five--ten. East plays the club ten--king--three--deuce. I ruff the three of diamonds to dummy, intending to take a trump finesse. To my surprise, West contributes the queen; East plays the deuce. Can West really have queen-ten doubleton of diamonds? It's possible, but I doubt it. That would mean East passed twice with ace-jack seventh. Even if he chose not to pre-empt in second seat, he could have overcalled with two diamonds on the next round. So I suspect what is going on is West has queen-jack-ten of diamonds. If so, he surely has only three. With longer diamonds, he would have preferred a diamond lead to a club lead from queen-jack-nine.

The fact that West has at most three diamonds means it is likely he has five clubs, which opens up an interesting possibility. If East is out of clubs, there is no need for me to take a heart finesse (unless hearts are three-zero). I can strip the hand and cash the heart ace. If the king drops, great. If it doesn't, I play another heart, endplaying East. Can I determine for sure whether East is out of clubs?

I know West has two or three diamonds. If he has two hearts, either I'm down or East has a singleton king and I have nothing to worry about. So I might as well assume he has a singleton or void in hearts. I also know he has no six-card suit, since East has already followed twice to each black suit. Thus there are only four relevant patterns West can hold: 4-1-3-5, 5-1-3-4,  5-0-3-5, or 5-1-2-5.

The latter two patterns, while possible, are unlikely, since West probably would have bid over one notrump with five-five in the black suits and an opening bid. 5-1-2-5 is particularly unlikely, as I said earlier, since it requires East to have passed twice with seven diamonds. So I'm going to focus on handling the first two patterns. If I can handle the latter two as well, fine. If not, I'm not going to worry about it. I should start by ruffing a spade to my hand to get a count in that suit.

(A) If East follows (as I expect him to, given his count signal), then I know West is 4-1-3-5 (or he has two hearts, in which case my play doesn't matter). I cash the heart ace. If the king doesn't drop, I ruff my last diamond and play a heart, hopefully endplaying East.

(B) If East shows out, he probably has another club. So there is no endplay, and I need the heart king to be onside. I ruff a diamond to dummy and play a heart to the queen. If West follows low, I'm home. If he shows out, I don't have an entry to repeat the finesse. But I don't need one. If East has three hearts, he is out of clubs. I cash the heart ace and play a third heart to endplay him.

What happens if West does have a doubleton diamond?  When I try to ruff the third round of diamonds to dummy, he may ruff in front of dummy with the nine or king. If so, I can pitch dummy's club loser. But if East is out of clubs, West can lead a club for an overruff. That means if West is 5-1-2-5 with a singleton king or nine or hearts, I'm going down.

I don't mind going down if he has a singleton king. My alternative line of taking an immediate trump finesse would not have worked either. But if he ruffs in with a singleton nine, I've gone down on a hand where the more straightforward line would have worked. As I said, I'm not going to worry about that. I think West is very unlikely to be 5-1-2-5.

So my discovery play of the king of diamonds paid off. I'm now going to make this on some layouts where West has a singleton king of hearts. Obviously, I didn't envision this when I chose to exit with the king of diamonds. When you embark on a journey of discovery, you never know where it might lead you.

I play a spade from dummy. It turns out, East did give false count in spades. He shows out, but, instead of pitching, he ruffs with the six of hearts. That makes it easy. I overruff and cash the heart ace, dropping West's king. Making four.

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

So East did pass twice with ace-jack seventh of diamonds! And West passed over one notrump with five-five in the black suits and an opening bid! What got into Jack? Not only that, East handed me the contract by ruffing the spade. I was expecting to go down on this particular layout. Giving East an opportunity to misdefend was a bonus for my line that I hadn't even considered. If I ever use this problem in an article, I'll switch the eight and nine of hearts, so I needn't rely on misdefense.

Every table played four hearts. Half the declarers made it; half did not. Strangely, everyone who went down failed by two tricks. Where does the extra loser come from? Somehow East must manage to ruff a winner. It took me awhile to figure it out, but I think I have it. Club queen to the ace. Spade to the queen and ace. At my table, West played the spade jack, perhaps hoping his partner had a singleton spade. What happens if, instead of a spade, West plays another club? I win and play a diamond to the king and ace. East then plays a heart. If I finesse, West wins, cashes his club, allowing East to pitch a spade, then gives East a spade ruff. Down two.

Should I finesse the heart in that position? I don't think I would. I would probably assume from East's failure to play a club that he doesn't have one. In which case, I would rise with the heart ace and, if the king doesn't drop, go for the strip and throw-in. It would take quite an imaginative East indeed, holding another club and the king of hearts, to envision that refusing to cash the club presents declarer with an attractive losing option.

Score on Board 39: +620 (9 MP)
Total: 315 MP (67.3 %)

Current rank: 1st