Match 2 - Board 64

Board 64
Opponents vulnerable

♠ A 10 4 ♥ 10 ♦ Q 9 8 7 4 ♣ K J 10 8

LHO opens one club. So much for my plan to pass the board out. Partner overcalls one heart, and RHO makes a negative double. I bid one notrump, and everyone passes. LHO leads the deuce of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
1 ♣	1 ♥	Double	1 NT
(All pass)

One heart? What's that? A lead-inhibiting overcall? Partner was hoping I would bid three notrump and he wanted to stop the heart lead? A take-out double would make more sense, after which we would probably land in a diamond partscore.

I have an easy route to seven tricks: four diamonds and three spades. So my objective is going to be to keep the opponents from taking seven tricks first. Potentially they can take four hearts, a diamond, and two clubs. I will need either to avoid losing to the diamond king or to avoid the loss of two club tricks.

When I first saw dummy, my instinct was to rise with the spade king, preserving the spade entry to my hand. If I play low from dummy and East plays the jack, he will drive my only sure entry prematurely. On reflection, however, that might not be such a good idea. If I rise with the spade king, I give up on picking up the diamonds. That means I must find a club honor onside, else the opponents can cash seven tricks. But if I need luck in the club suit anyway, what have I gained by preserving my spade entry? I might as well play low at trick one. If I'm able to win the trick with the spade ten, I have a chance to pick up the diamonds and not worry about the club suit. If not, I'm no worse off than I would have been rising with the king. In fact, I'm better off. I still might find king doubleton of diamonds onside. Only if that fails am I forced to rely on a lucky lie of the club suit.

I play low from dummy, East plays the five, and I win with the ten. I lead the queen of diamonds--three--ten--king. Oops. East shifts to the six of clubs.

Either this is East's highest club or it's low from honor-seven-six. Given West's opening bid, my percentage guess is to play East for the queen. But if that works, I  take only seven tricks. I doubt plus 90 will be much of a score, since it's hard to see anyone doing worse than plus 110 in diamonds. While it's unlikely East has the club ace, it's not impossible. If he does, I can score 120 by playing the king. In addition, there is some chance that playing the king will entice the defense to persist in clubs rather than shift to hearts. This last hope is probably a pipe dream. I can't construct a plausible layout where it makes any sense to persist in clubs after I play the king. But I have seen such plays work at the table, even against supposedly competent players.

I play the king. West takes the ace and plays the five of hearts to East's jack. What's this heart suit? West has ace-king fourth and East has queen-jack third? Why wouldn't West cash the heart king before leading a low one? I might have a singleton queen, after all. The only reason I can think of to lead a low heart from ace-king fourth is to preserve communication if partner has queen doubleton. Since there would be no need to preserve communication if West has the club queen, this means East has it and I could have made this contract.

East plays the five of clubs. I doubt he's underleading the queen, so my inference must be wrong. The low heart shift was apparently just a mistake. I play the ten, since East can't have that card. If he did, he would have led it, smothering dummy's nine. I know it can't matter, but playing the right card is a matter of pride. West takes the queen and cashes three hearts. Down one.

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

Minus 50 is worth four matchpoints. We beat the pair who allowed two spades to score and the pair who defended one notrump, making one. (As Howard Chandross used to tell me, some hands are a race to see which side can get to one trump first.) As I suspected, the normal contract was three diamonds making three. Even if I had somehow managed to make one notrump, it would not have improved my score. I needed plus 120 to do any better, so my judgment to take an anti-percentage guess in clubs to try for that score was correct.

Should three diamonds necessarily make? I assumed so as I was playing the hand. But that's not entirely clear. Say the defense starts with two rounds of hearts, tapping declarer. If declarer cashes three spades and crossruffs, he'll make it. But what if he decides to play for a dummy reversal? Diamond to the ten, heart ruff, diamond to the jack, heart ruff (with his last trump), spade to dummy, cash the diamond ace. Making four (or five if the club finesse works).

That's a perfectly reasonable line. But look what happens if East is wily enough to duck the first diamond. Diamond to the ten (wily duck), heart ruff, diamond to the jack. Now East wins and plays a third trump.  We are down to this position:

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

Is declarer in trouble? Must he lose two clubs and a heart for down one? Actually, no. He can play three rounds of spades, ending in dummy, and lead a heart, pitching the jack or ten of clubs. The defense can no longer score the club queen.

Why couldn't partner have doubled one club? Three diamonds would have so much more fun to play than one notrump.

Score on Board 64: -50 (4 MP)
Total: 510 MP (66.4 %)

Final rank: 1st (Woo hoo!)

For the next event, I'm trying something new. Stay tuned.