Match 2 - Board 43

Board 43
Neither vulnerable

♠ A K 9 4 ♥ A K 3 ♦ 8 4 ♣ A 10 6 4

I open one spade in first seat; partner bids four notrump. Back on Board 108 of the previous match, I took Blackwood off our convention card when I discovered I was unable to raise opener's two notrump rebid to four without hearing how many aces he had. So, whatever this bid means, it's not Blackwood. I suppose it shows about 17 or 18 high-card points, probably with a 3-4-3-3 pattern, since he would surely make a two-over-one response if he had a biddable suit. In any event, it seems clear to raise to six notrump. Everyone passes, and West leads the three of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
	1 ♠	Pass	4 NT
Pass	6 NT	(All pass)

Four notrump? This hand arguably isn't even worth three notrump. Is this partner's way of insisting I put Blackwood back on the card? I don't have a clue what partner was thinking about.

RHO plays the diamond king. How are the diamonds divided? Jack tends to lead high from worthless holdings against notrump. I can't imagine he's leading from a jack on this auction, especially when he has a perfectly safe heart lead. So he must be leading from the ten. Even leading from a ten isn't that attractive, so I suspect he's short in hearts. He might prefer a diamond lead from ten third or ten fourth to a heart lead from two small. (I don't agree with this preference, by the way. I know some people shy away from small doubletons against six notrump for fear they will pick off partner's queen or his jack fourth. But I think that fear is misguided. If partner has length in a suit, declarer may well get a count and guess to finesse against partner anyway. Picking off partner's doubleton queen or jack, on the other hand, could be a disaster. That's a finesse declarer was apt to get wrong if left to his own devices.)

I have ten cashing tricks. If I can manage four spades trick, I have eleven. To come to twelve, I'm going to need a second club trick. Ostensibly, I need to hope West has both club honors. But, in practice, the double finesse may work even when the club honors are split. If West has the queen of clubs without the nine, he may not cover the jack for fear I'm fishing with king-jack-nine.

I take the diamond ace and play the jack of clubs. West plays the queen, I duck, and East plays the three. West now plays a card I'm surprised to see: the jack of diamonds. Surely he has the diamond ten as well. He really led low from jack-ten fourth against this auction? I'm glad he told me. I never would have figured it out. Now that I know he guards diamonds, I rate to be able to make this provided the club king is onside. If spades are three-three, I have twelve cashing tricks. If West has four spades, I can squeeze him in spades and diamonds. And if East has four spades, West probably has club length. So I can squeeze West in clubs and diamonds.

East plays the five of diamonds. I win with the queen and play the six of spades--deuce--ace--three I cash the heart ace--four--deuce--six, then the heart king--five--ten--seven. I'm virtually certain from West's weird opening lead that he doesn't have another heart. That means the opponents aren't giving honest count, and I don't blame them. I play the four of spades--eight--queen--seven. I'm down to this position

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

The moment of truth has arrived. If spades are three-three, I can cash my tricks in any order. If not, I must retain the entry in the suit West is squeezed in. If he has

♠ J 10 7 2 ♥ 7 6 ♦ J 10 x x ♣ K Q x,

I must play a club to the ten, cash the club ace, then run hearts to squeeze him. If he has

♠ 7 2 ♥ 7 6 ♦ J 10 x x ♣ K Q x x x,

I must play a spade to the king and run hearts. Is there any indication which hand West is more likely to hold?

While I find a diamond lead strange with either hand, I can almost think of a reason to produce it with the first hand. With stoppers in three suits, West is going to be in serious trouble on the run of the hearts. Perhaps it makes sense to attack declarer's communications in an attempt to break up a squeeze. Of course, if I were to lead a diamond for that reason, I would lead the jack, not a low one. The last thing I would want to do is to force partner to part with a diamond honor.

I decide to go for the spade-diamond squeeze. I play a club--deuce--ten--king. The opponents cash their two diamond tricks, and I'm down three.

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

At least I was right about West's pattern.

It occurs to me that, if West did have the hand I was playing him for, it would be a nice play to drop the jack or ten of spades under my queen. In theory, I wouldn't even need the squeeze now. I could finesse the spade and take four spade tricks. But I would never do that, since I would look pretty foolish if spades were three-three all along. So, in practice, the play would simply convince me that West didn't have four spades, and I would play for the wrong squeeze.

We are, of course, the only pair to go minus. Three pairs made four notrump; three pairs made five. Anyway, partner gets his wish. If that's what he thinks a natural four notrump bid looks like, I'm putting Blackwood back on the card.

Score on Board 43: -150 (0 MP)
Total: 334 MP (64.7%)

Current Rank: 1st

Post Script

In playing around with this deal afterwards, I discovered I could have made it. If, at trick two, I lead a heart to dummy and play a low club toward my jack doubleton, East hops with the king. I'm now cold on a spade-diamond squeeze against West if I work it out.

I had fleetingly thought about playing clubs that way. If both club honors on onside, it's just as good as leading the jack, and it gives East a chance to make a mistake when the honors are split. But I've never seen anyone make that mistake outside of the novice game. So leading the jack appeared to have better swindle potential.

Why did East hop? The only reason I can think of is he actually thought his partner might hold the diamond queen. It would be right to hop if I held

♠ Q J x ♥ Q J x x ♦ A J 10 x ♣ Q x.

I'm annoyed with myself. I should have found this line. I had my head in the sand, playing as if I were playing against a human. While a human might sometimes choose not to cover the jack of clubs, Jack would always cover. He assumes declarer is double-dummy, so he would not worry about taking away a guess. He would cover because it's right any time his partner has the king. Furthermore, while hopping with king fourth of clubs is a mistake a human would be unlikely to make, it is a mistake Jack could make quite easily. Jack doesn't draw inferences from his partner's plays, so he has no compunction about playing his partner for the diamond queen. I played correctly against a human but incorrectly against Jack.

Playing bridge is all about seeing the deal through your opponents' eyes. Doing this can be a little harder than normal when your opponent is a computer. But, after playing 171 boards against Jack, I understand how he "thinks" sufficiently that I should be more adept at it than I was on this deal. It would have been quite a coup to bring this contract home. The next time I'm faced with a problem like this, I'm getting it right.

Match 2 - Board 42

Board 42
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K Q 10 5 2 ♥ A 3 ♦ A 9 8 ♣ J 7 4

Most weak notrumpers would open one spade with this hand. But I prefer opening one notrump with all balanced minimums, even those with a five-card major. When I learned this style, I was told that you gave up something when you opened one notrump. But you got it back when you opened one of a major and partner knew you were either unbalanced or had extra high cards. My experience, however, has been quite the opposite. The negative inference when partner opens one of a major seldom seems to make any difference. But the one notrump openings themselves tend to work out surprisingly well. More often than you would expect, partner raises to three and they lead your suit. So here goes. One notrump.

Partner bids two clubs, I bid two spades, and partner bids three notrump. West leads the seven of diamonds.

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

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

See what I mean? The opening bid worked out just fine. If they had led a club, I wouldn't be very happy. But they didn't. It looks as if four spades rates to make five. So if I can make five notrump, I ought to have quite a good result.

It appears West has led highest from a weak suit, so East should have the queen and ten of diamonds. I'll capture his ten with my ace, then drive the spade ace. If the defense still doesn't attack clubs, I can lead a diamond to the king, trying to drop queen-ten doubleton to make six. If the queen doesn't drop, I can drive it to make five.

What if the defense switches to a club after winning the spade ace? Since I expect plus 660 to be an excellent result, I'm less concerned about making six than I am about maximizing my chance to make five. So, if the club shift comes from West, I intend to duck. I'm then cold for five provided I guess who has the remaining club honor. If East has it, he's squeezed in the minors. If West has it, I can cash the diamond king and the club ace, then execute a double squeeze with hearts as the double threat.

What if the club shift comes from East? Now I can't isolate the club threat. My best play in that event is to win the club shift and cash the diamond king (retaining my chance of making six). If the queen doesn't drop, I run spades, coming down to this position:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ K Q 10 7 ♦ J ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ A 3 ♦ 9 ♣ J 7

I now need to decide which defender has kept four hearts. If it's East, I cash the heart ace and toss him in with a diamond. If it's West, I cross my fingers and take a heart finesse. (Unless West started with the king-queen of clubs. If so, he has had to pitch one of his honors. If I work out that's what's happened, I can just set up my club jack and avoid the heart finesse.)

I suppose I didn't really need to carry the analysis quite so far. But I did want to have some idea of what the end position might look like before I played to trick one. It would be frustrating to realize all of a sudden that I needed a diamond entry to my hand and should have won the first trick with the king of diamonds.

I play low; East plays the queen. So all my plans have gone up in smoke. Did West lead second highest from ten fourth? Or did East falsecard? For a human expert, falsecarding with queen-ten doubleton would not be all that difficult, provided he thinks the seven is high (rather than low from nine-eight-seven). He can see I'm going to drop his queen. So why not play the queen now and give me a losing option? As usual, just play the card you're know to hold.

I know good and well Jack is incapable of this falsecard, however, which is too bad. This would be a more interesting problem if I had confidence in him. I play the five of spades--six--jack--ace. East returns the three of spades. I win with the king, and West plays the eight. I know I can just float the nine of diamonds. But I might as well pretend I'm worried about the falsecard just for practice. I cash another spade. East pitches the deuce of clubs. I'm guessing he's 2-4-2-5, which leaves West with 3-3-4-3.

On the next spade, West pitches the four of diamonds. What's this? Why would he ever pitch a diamond from four? If he did, dummy's diamonds are now good even without a finesse. The only time I need to finesse is if he began with ten-seven fifth. Is that possible?

I pitch a club from dummy. I expect to see another club pitch from East, since he knows I don't have four clubs. But he pitches the deuce of hearts. This suggests five hearts, which would make East 2-5-1-5 and West 3-2-5-3. It appears West did lead the seven of diamonds from ten-seven fifth. On the last spade, both opponents pitch clubs as I pitch a heart from dummy. I have enough information to float the nine of diamonds now even if I thought East was capable of the falsecard. I lead the nine of diamonds. West makes it easy for me by covering. Making six.

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

I suppose the seven of diamonds was a sensible lead. I would rarely lead high from a five-card suit. But with such a bad hand as well as a useful holding in the suit partner is most apt to want to shift to, I might make an exception. Add another high card to the hand, and I wouldn't be so pessimistic about establishing my own suit.

Everyone else, of course, was in four spades. One pair made five; everyone else made six. Plus 690 is a top. It's about time we got another one of those.

Score on Board 42: +690 (12 MP)
Total: 334 MP (66.3%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 41

Board 41
Opponents vulnerable

♠ 7 6 5 ♥ K 7 5 ♦ Q 5 3 ♣ Q 8 7 4

Partner opens one notrump (12-14), and RHO doubles. Our convention card says, unhelpfully, "Escape after double." I've figured out from previous deals that this means my pass is forcing, requiring partner either to run to a five-card suit or to redouble, after which we wing it. So I pass.

LHO bids two spades, passed around to me. With three small spades, I can't safely act. It would be nice to know that partner would have doubled for take-out with an appropriate hand. Then I could pass with some confidence. But Jack plays opener's double of two spades as a penalty double. It's hard to see how partner can even have a penalty double if I can't redouble one notrump. But these are the methods I'm stuck with. Instead of passing with confidence, I have to pass a bit nervously. Partner leads the four of diamonds (third and lowest).

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

West	North	East	South
1 NT	Double	Pass1	2 ♠
(All pass)
1Forcing

Declarer plays the jack. I win with the queen, and declarer plays the seven. Taking this finesse at trick one is a strange play. With three diamonds, it would be normal to go up with the ace or king. He might be able to pitch his third diamond on a club. And, if not, he can always take the finesse later. So my first inclination is to assume that declarer has a doubleton diamond and wants to take a quick pitch. But declarer's seven can't be from a doubleton. It would have to be from seven-deuce, giving partner ten-nine-eight-six-four. And from that holding, partner would have led the ten.

If declarer wanted to conceal his count from me, then playing the seven was an error. Let's continue our discussion of a few weeks ago and examine how declarer should know that. We start with a hypothetical layout. (In the actual deal, East, not South, has the three.)

	NORTH ♦ A K J
	SOUTH ♦ 10 7 3

West leads the four of diamonds, third best from four. Dummy plays the jack, and East wins with the queen. Suppose declarer wants East to worry that West has led from a five-card suit. (Perhaps he wants to entice him into embarking on an ill-advised cashout.) He could slap his forehead, feigning disgust. Or he could just follow Rule #1 of Rules for Scrambling the Opponents' Count Signals and play the three to "signal" an odd number in West's hand. The three is the only card that works. From East's point of view, if the four is West's lowest card, then declarer must have three-deuce doubleton. So if declarer doesn't play the three, East will know his partner doesn't have five.

But in the actual deal, declarer doesn't have the three; East has it. So declarer is looking at something like this:

	NORTH ♦ A K J
	SOUTH ♦ 10 7 6

Declarer no longer has a card lower than West's, so he can't follow Rule #1. He must fall back on a more basic rule: "Play the card you're known to hold," or, more accurately, "play the card you might be known to hold." If West has the nine, then declarer is marked with the ten, since West would have led the top of a sequence. So declarer must play the ten. It is possible he has ten-deuce doubleton, but, if West has the nine, declarer cannot hold seven-deuce or six-deuce. So the play of the seven or six risks marking declarer with at least three cards. (If East has the nine, declarer's play will not matter. Ten-deuce, seven-deuce, and six-deuce are all possible holdings.)

Why, you might wonder, doesn't the "card you're known to hold" rule apply in the first example? Actually, it does. In the first layout, if West has the nine, there is nothing declarer can do to conceal his length.  If the four is West's lowest card, then declarer must have the three and the deuce. If three-deuce doubleton would give West a sequence, then declarer simply can't have a doubleton. So declarer's only chance for concealment is to follow Rule #1 and hope that East has the nine.

Back to the problem at hand. I know from declarer's careless seven that he can't have a doubleton, so he has no quick pitches. What else can I conclude about his pattern? Since my pass was forcing, there is no particular reason South should have been in a hurry to run, especially to the highest-ranking suit. That means he is unlikely to have only four spades.

What about declarer's high cards? He has from four to six high-card points. Since I'm not playing with Lowenthal, I assume from partner's failure to lead a club that declarer has the ace or king of clubs. (You can't imagine how comforting it is to be able to draw inferences like that again.) That gives him at most a king in addition. So partner must have the heart ace and probably has the ace and queen. That makes a heart shift by me perfectly safe. If partner could have queen-nine third or fourth of hearts, a heart shift would not be safe.

While I know there is no hurry to cash hearts, it may make the defense easier for partner if I do so. If I can find something else more important to do, however, I shouldn't hesitate. If I don't shift to a heart, partner should suspect I have a heart honor. I would strain to shift to a heart from a worthless holding (possibly getting partner off an endplay). So failure to shift to a heart should be a red flag (both to partner and to declarer) that I have a heart honor.

Is there anything better to do? Could I give partner a club ruff for example? If partner has a doubleton club honor and a trump entry, then it might be right to shift to a club. Suppose partner has

♠ K Q x ♥ A x x x ♦ x x x x ♣ K x

Then a club shift beats two spades. Should I play for this? Not only is this a very specific hand, but it also runs counter to my assumption that declarer has five spades. If I had complete confidence in partner, I might shift to a club anyway rather than trust declarer's bidding. But I'm afraid drawing the inference that I have a heart honor is beyond Jack's capabilities. If I shift to club and partner doesn't find an immediate heart shift from a hand such as

♠ K x ♥ A Q x x ♦ x x x x ♣ K x x

then declarer will be able to set up a club for a heart pitch. The layout where a club shift is right is sufficiently obscure that I don't want to risk it.

Accordingly, I shift to the five of hearts. Declarer plays the six, and partner wins with the queen. Partner then shifts to the ace of clubs. What's this? Maybe partner does have a doubleton club after all. He's hoping I have the king and can give him a ruff. I discourage with the four, and declarer plays the five. Partner cashes the heart ace--ten--seven--deuce, then plays the three of clubs.

Partner is determined to get that club ruff, isn't he? I play low, expecting dummy to win the trick, but declarer wins with the king. What's going on? Why would partner play ace and a club with ace third? I certainly hope declarer is 5-2-4-2. If he has a third heart, he can now establish a club trick in dummy and pitch it.

Declarer cashes the king of spades--nine--eight--six. He then plays the six of diamonds to dummy, as partner plays the deuce. Oops. Partner has four diamonds, so declarer is 5-3-3-2, and we've dropped a trick. Declarer plays the ten of clubs. There is nothing to be gained by covering. I play low, and declarer ruffs with the deuce of trumps. Eventually we score a heart trick, holding declarer to his contract.

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

How could ruffing the club ever be right? Obviously declarer thought West could have ace-queen-third of clubs. Since Jack has no way of drawing inferences from his opponents' plays, he has no basis for ruling out ace-queen-third as a possible holding. It's always a little surprising when you see this flaw in Jack's design manifest itself. But the real surprise should be how well Jack plays despite this handicap.

How about partner's club continuation? Can that ever be right? Yes, it can--assuming he attaches no significance to my discouraging four of clubs. If I held this hand:

♠ K x x ♥ x x x ♦ Q x x ♣ K x x x ,

then three rounds of clubs beats declarer two tricks. On any other defense, declarer could play a spade to the jack and pick up spades for one loser. But if he does that after three rounds of clubs, I can play a fourth round of clubs for partner to ruff with the trump queen.

If declarer had made an overtrick, it would have been my fault. I know I want partner to cash hearts, so I should have played the king of hearts at trick two instead of a low one. Why rely on signals when you can force partner to do the right thing?

Only one other pair held spades to eight tricks. Three pairs were minus 140, and two pairs were allowed to play one notrump, going down either one or two. So we receive seven matchpoints for this result.

Declarer could have made nine tricks without any help from us. He had to refuse the diamond finesse at trick one and start on clubs. If partner wins the club ace and continues diamonds, he must refuse the finesse again. It's hardly clear to do this. Playing that way is essentially guessing that West holds the spade queen rather than the diamond queen. And why should he?

I suspect the declarers who made nine tricks did so not by superior guessing but by playing from the North side (after a one notrump overcall and a transfer). So the weak notrump strikes again!

Score on Board 41: -110 (7 MP)
Total: 322 (65.4%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 40

Board 40
Neither vulnerable

♠ 10 ♥ K J 10 9 3 ♦ Q J 10 7 5 3 ♣ 8

RHO opens two clubs, strong and artificial, in third seat. I have two choices:

(A) I can bid slowly, trying to find the right spot for our side. This means starting with two diamonds (hoping to keep the auction low), then showing hearts later (possibly via an unusual notrump sequence). We don't play methods that allow me to show both suits simultaneously. Even if we did, I'm not sure I would use them. Diamonds may well play several tricks better than hearts when partner has equal length in the red suits.

(B) I can forget about investigating the right spot for our side and go for maximum obstruction. Four diamonds seems like the right call if that's the route I choose. If I bid four diamonds, I have to be content to bury the heart suit. It makes no sense to make the opponents guess, then take them off the hook by making the last guess myself.

I'm pretty much on the fence with this one. (B) could certainly work out well. Having an undisclosed major sometimes makes it hard for the opponents to find a sensible call, since it may deprive them of a take-out double. But we could also wind up under-competing if we have a big heart fit.

I decide to go with (A). I'm not sure how necessary it is to preempt over a two club opening. Two club auctions are difficult enough even when the opponents stay out of your way. So why preempt? If I bid two diamonds and partner can't raise, the auction rates to stay low (Two diamonds--pass--pass--two spades seems like a serious possibility.), so I will be able to introduce hearts easily on the next round.

I bid two diamonds. LHO bids two spades, partner passes, and RHO raises to four spades. I guess I was wrong about the auction's staying low. I've painted myself into a corner now. There wasn't much point in bidding only two diamonds unless I was intending to introduce hearts on the next round. I bid four notrump. LHO doubles. Two passes to me. I bid five diamonds. LHO doubles again--pass--pass back to me.

I wonder if Jack understands this auction. Probably not. It's quite possible we have a heart fit and partner doesn't realize it. I should have thought of that earlier. Now that I'm in this mess, I have to make the best of it and figure out what my percentage action is.

(A historical note: Cliff Bishop once insisted to me that an immediate five diamonds over four spades on an auction like this promised hearts. The way to show a one-suiter, he contended, was to bid notrump (ostensibly natural), then run when doubled. Either this was standard expert practice before the invention of unusual notrump or Cliff was making it all up to shift the blame for our disaster. I never figured out which.)

It seems unlikely partner has three-card diamond support. He could have raised diamonds over two spades, and he could have run to five diamonds when four notrump was doubled. On the other hand, if he doesn't understand this auction, he could easily have four or five hearts. I hate to make a unilateral decision. But I find it hard to believe that five diamonds doubled is a good spot for us. There probably isn't much downside to pulling to five hearts. And the potential gain is huge. I can't believe I'm bidding this way in print, but here goes. Five hearts. LHO doubles again, ending our inelegant auction. West leads the six of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	2 ♣	2 ♦
2 ♠	Pass	4 ♠	4 NT
Double	Pass	Pass	5 ♦
Double	Pass	Pass	5 ♥
Double	(All pass)

Well, I was right about one thing. I don't think my five heart bid cost us many matchpoints. Minus 800 is the best I can hope for in either contract, and I'm unlikely to do even that well. I play the four from dummy, and East wins with the king. The opponents play fourth best leads, so I'm guessing West has queen fifth of spades and East has ace-king fourth. East shifts to the seven of hearts. I play the ten. West wins with the queen and returns the deuce of hearts to his partner's ace. This is a pretty good start for me. They should be tapping me. Instead, they're wasting all their entries. East plays the spade ace. I pitch my club, and West follows with the deuce.

East plays the diamond ace--five--deuce--six, then shifts to the nine of spades. If trumps are three-three (as they rate to be given the opponents saw no urgency in tapping me), I can hold my losses to one more trick. I ruff and cash the heart king. Trumps split. I drive the king of diamonds and claim. Down four. A triumph! Minus a mere 800.

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

I don't understand jumping to four spades with only three trumps. I must have telegraphed the fact I was intending to bid again. Pretty crafty, that Jack.

Obviously the opponents can do at least one trick better. East could have given his partner a diamond ruff. Or he could have simply not cashed the diamond ace. If he hadn't given me that tempo, I would have to let him score the club ace in order to keep control.

Is it possible for the opponents to do better yet? Since East has only three spades and West has no side-suit entry, the way to do better is to use clubs as a tap suit.

West knows enough about the hand to see that. He knows his partner has long clubs. And he knows that his partner will have to lead clubs from his side of the table if declarer gets tapped out. Surely it makes sense to use his only entry to put a club through.

Say, after winning the heart queen, that West shifts to the queen of clubs. I cover, and East wins with the ace. East continues with a club to the ten and jack as I pitch a diamond. If I play a heart off dummy, East hops with the ace and plays a low club while his partner still has a trump. I'm tapped out, and East's hand is high except for the four of diamonds. I score my trump tricks and eventually capture East's four of diamonds for down six. Minus 1400.

Should the defense really find this line? Yes, it should. In general, when you are playing a forcing game, you should imagine yourself as declarer and ask yourself how you would play the hand. If you imagine East as declarer and West as dummy, this line is not hard to find. What could be more natural than setting up "declarer's" hand? But, because we are conditioned to think along different lines as defenders, it's hard even to think of this line. Leading dummy's long suit (except perhaps as a communication-killing maneuver) is just not a tactic we give much thought to most of the time.

Of course, since it's matchpoints, the opponents had plenty of leeway. They could have dropped another trick and still wound up with a top. Most pairs made an overtrick in four spades. One managed a second overtrick (I presume after a club lead), and one pair played three notrump, making five. Three notrump, eh? That's a very nice result. I feel just terrible taking their well-deserved top away.

Assuming partner would have led a diamond had I passed four spades, my four notrump bid cost us eight matchpoints. I don't mind taking a flier so much if we were destined to score average or worse. But I certainly mind it when we were destined for a good result. Part of the reason I bid was it seemed likely we were poorly placed. I could have preempted and didn't, and the opponents appeared to be in their best spot. How could I possibly imagine I was ahead of the field?

Score on Board 40: -500 (0 MP)
Total: 315 MP (65.6%)

Current rank: 1st