Match 2 - Board 57

Board 57
Opponents vulnerable

♠ 6 2 ♥ K ♦ K Q 9 8 4 ♣ K J 10 6 2

Partner passes, and RHO opens one spade. If partner were not a passed hand, I might bid two diamonds in an attempt to reach three notrump. Opposite a passed hand, I'm less worried about missing a game, so I bid a slightly overstrength unusual two notrump, LHO passes, and partner bids three clubs. RHO bids four spades. I pass, LHO passes, and partner bids five clubs. If you want to bid five clubs, partner, please bid it the first time. Auctions like this--both in bridge and on eBay--are one of my pet peeves.

Not to be outdone, RHO bids five spades. Everyone passes.

Declarer probably has a singleton or void in clubs. If partner has the club ace and it's cashing, it can probably wait, since I rate to gain the lead with the king of hearts. But if we need to develop diamond tricks, I may need to start the suit now. So I lead the king of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♠
2 NT1	Pass	3 ♣	4 ♠
Pass	Pass	5 ♣	5 ♠
(All pass)
1Unusual

That's quite a dummy to catch! An ace plus fillers opposite declarer's secondary length.

Declarer plays the ace of diamonds--seven--jack. Partner's seven should be a singleton. If we gain the lead, we are in a cashout situation, so we should be giving count. Even though I almost always give attitude at trick one, I make an explicit exception here. When the opponents play the five level or higher, I give count on the lead of a king. I do not assume that Jack plays this way, however, so I'm not sure who has the remaining diamond.

Declarer leads the seven of spades from dummy. Partner plays the ace--four--deuce. I don't see any reason partner would hop with ace doubleton of spades. While it is unlikely declarer would bid this way missing two spade honors, why take the risk if there is nothing to gain? So it appears declarer has eight spades.

Partner shifts to the queen of clubs. Again, a count card would be more helpful. If I had ace-jack of clubs, I might need to know which minor-suit trick to try to cash next. Why did partner lead the queen? Maybe he's trying to retain the lead in case I have the ace-king of clubs and a heart void. He expects me to overtake the queen if I don't have a heart void and to duck if I do. That might be a sensible plan in other circumstances. But I wouldn't have led the diamond king with a heart void. If I led a diamond honor at all, I'd lead the queen, forcing partner to overtake if he has the ace. More likely, I'd lead an alarm-clock fourth best club.

Declarer plays the ace. I encourage with the six. Declarer now exits with the seven of clubs. I win with the ten as partner plays the three. Why is declarer conceding a club trick? Could he be trying to ruff a club in dummy? That would give him an 8-1-1-3 pattern, leaving partner with 1-7-2-3. Is that really possible? Probably not, but I don't see any reason not to play a trump just in case. If declarer has a diamond loser, it's not going anywhere. I play a spade.

To my surprise, partner follows with the spade three. Declarer wins the trick with dummy's nine and leads the heart queen for a finesse. I take my king. I can place declarer with seven spades, two hearts (presuming he has the ace), one diamond, and two clubs. He has one card unaccounted for. If it's a club or a diamond, declarer has no low hearts, so he can't reach dummy for a discard. That means it doesn't matter which minor I try to cash. I try the diamond queen. Declarer ruffs and claims. Down one.

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

Two other pairs defended five spades and beat it, so plus 100 is worth ten matchpoints.

Maybe I was too hasty in assuming partner wouldn't hop with ace doubleton of spades. What if declarer had something like

♠ K Q J x x x x x ♥ A K x ♦ x ♣ x?

Now partner must hop. If he ducks, declarer can abandon trumps and pitch his club on dummy's fourth heart. I made the classic error of assuming partner knew as much about the hand as I did. I knew hearts weren't running, but partner didn't. 

Declarer made two mistakes on this deal. First of all, he should not have conceded the club trick. Had he led a spade to dummy and taken an immediate heart finesse, I would not have known which minor to cash (thanks to partner's leading the club queen instead of the eight). I suppose declarer was trying to execute a scissors coup. If he lost the heart finesse to a singleton king, he didn't want me to lead a club to partner's putative jack to get a ruff. But that's necessary only when I'm three-one in the majors. In addition, he's only saving an extra undertrick. Surely it's better to maximize his chance of making his contract.

Second, I think declarer should actually drop my heart king and make six. An alarm went off in my head when partner unexpectedly followed to the second trump. It should have gone off in declarer's head as well. There is no reason for East to hop unless he is afraid of pitches on dummy's hearts. If he has the heart king, he has no such fear. Furthermore, if he has the heart king, hopping actually hands declarer his contract.

If East takes the spade ace, he gives declarer a dummy entry with the spade nine with which to take the heart finesse. If he ducks, declarer can stay in dummy by letting the seven hold. But, when he takes two heart finesses, West scores a ruff for down one. That's not hard for East to see, so hopping with the spade ace marks me with the heart king.

To test this theory, I switched the king and three of hearts and replayed the deal. East indeed ducks the spade ace in that layout, as he must. 

Score on Board 57: +100 (10 MP)
Total: 446 MP (65.2 %)

Current rank: 1st