Event 3 - Match 1 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ Q 6 5 ♥ 9 ♦ Q J 9 8 3 ♣ Q 8 7 3

RHO opens with a Polish club, showing, as I understand it, either a weak notrump or a normal one club opening or a good hand. Such an ambiguous call screams for me to act, but no bid appeals, especially at this vulnerability. I pass. LHO responds one heart (natural). Partner passes, and RHO bids two diamonds (artificial), showing a game force with at least three hearts. I double. This might not be such a good idea. With queens in the other two suits, I might regret talking partner out of his normal lead. But I hate going through an entire auction without bidding or doubling something.

LHO bids three notrump. This should be mildly slammish. Even if you generally play fast arrival (which I don't), fast arrival should not apply here. Two notrump can't promise slam interest, because it's needed to allow further exploration for the right strain. Thus, if one doesn't play three notrump as slammish, one has no unambiguous way to show extras without bidding past game. But who knows what Jack thinks? Everyone passes three notrump, and partner leads the deuce of diamonds.

	NORTH Jacinta ♠ A 7 3 ♥ A 7 2 ♦ A 6 ♣ A K 6 4 2
		EAST Phillip ♠ Q 6 5 ♥ 9 ♦ Q J 9 8 3 ♣ Q 8 7 3

West	North	East	South
Jack	Jacinta	Phillip	Sophie
	1 ♣1	Pass	1 ♥
Pass	2 ♦2	Double	3 NT
(All pass)
1Polish Club
2Relay. At least threecard support and strong.

Presumably declarer has the diamond king. As I understand Jack's leads, partner would lead high from three small. So he has either ten third or four small diamonds. (I guess he could have a singleton, too. But, in that case, we might be defending two diamonds redoubled.) Declarer plays low from dummy. It crosses my mind to make a discovery play of the eight. If I'm right that partner can't have three small, the eight can't hurt. And if declarer wins with the ten, I will know right away that partner has four diamonds.

It crosses my mind, but I'm not going to do it. Perhaps it comes from playing with Lowenthal. But I prefer to give partner more leeway on opening lead than that. Not to mention how silly I'd feel if Sophie had brazenly bid three notrump with ten third. I play the jack, and declarer wins with the king. Declarer plays the three of hearts to dummy's ace. Partner plays the four. It appears declarer has four hearts and partner has five. Declarer continues with the deuce of hearts from dummy. It probably can't hurt to pitch a spade. I surely can't afford a club, and I may need the long diamond trick. So I pitch the five of spades. Declarer wins with the queen, and partner follows with the six. Jack plays up the line after his initial count signal, so declarer must have the five of hearts, presumably king-queen-five-three. Now I know enough about the hand to start counting tricks. Declarer has one spade, three hearts, two clubs, and two diamonds. I must assume partner has the spade king, else declarer has nine tricks.

Declarer plays the five of clubs--ten--king. Partner should have either a singleton ten or ten-nine. The eight and seven are too important to part with, so I play the three. Declarer plays the seven of hearts. If declarer had jack-nine of clubs remaining, she would have played a low club from dummy, establishing her ninth trick, so clubs must be two-two. That makes declarer 4-4-3-2. After this trick, declarer will be out of entries to her hand, so I needn't worry about holding on to diamond winners. As long as we prevent declarer from developing a trick in the black suits, she's going down. I can't afford another spade, since that will give declarer a trick if she has jack-ten. I pitch the nine of diamonds. Declarer wins with the king, and partner plays the ten. The ten? What happened to playing up the line?

Declarer plays the five of hearts, and partner pitches the four of diamonds. I see. Declarer has six hearts. Time to reevaluate. Declarer has eleven cashing tricks, twelve if she has the spade king. Our objective now is to stop the overtricks. It would simplify my analysis to know if declarer had the spade king or not. Do I have any clues? The play is more consistent with having twelve cashing tricks than with having eleven. With eleven cashing tricks, the normal procedure is to duck a trick to set up a potential squeeze. So I would expect declarer to duck a club. In addition to setting up a possible squeeze, this would offer her the chance of finding three-three clubs. The fact that declarer isn't ducking a club suggests she has twelve cashing tricks and is trying to take thirteen. It also means that my inference above about two-two clubs was wrong. The reason declarer didn't duck a club was that she doesn't intend to lose any more tricks.

On the other hand, the spade king gives her an awfully good hand. King-queen-jack-ten sixth of hearts and two kings? Six playing tricks opposite a hand willing to force to game opposite a simple response? Surely she would have made a more serious slam move with that hand. I'm changing my mind. I'm going to assume partner has the spade king. But if declarer has only eleven tricks, why isn't she ducking a club? Instead of going for a squeeze, she must be intending some kind of endplay.

What is declarer's shape? Partner's diamond four should show an odd number remaining. But Jack's present count signals aren't always reliable. Fortunately, logic confirms the message of his signal. He would be disinclined to pitch a diamond with ten doubleton remaining, leaving me to guard diamonds by myself. So he must have started with four. That makes him either 5-3-4-1 or 4-3-4-2, leaving declarer with either 2-6-2-3 or 3-6-2-2. The latter seems more likely. Partner might have pitched a spade from five. And, if I'm right that declarer is planning an endplay in spades, she must have three. There can be no endplay with jack doubleton of spades. So I am going to assume that declarer is 3-6-2-2, but I will keep 2-6-2-3 in the back of my mind as a remote possibility.

Declarer pitches the deuce of clubs from dummy; I pitch the three of diamonds. On the next heart, partner pitches the four of spades. Declarer plays the four of clubs from dummy; I pitch the club seven. On the last heart, partner pitches the five of diamonds, and dummy pitches the six of clubs. This is the position I'm assuming, with me still to play.

	NORTH Jacinta ♠ A 7 3 ♥ -- ♦ A ♣ A
WEST Jack ♠ K ? ? ♥ -- ♦ x ♣ 9		EAST Phillip ♠ Q 6 ♥ -- ♦ Q 8 ♣ Q 8
	SOUTH Sophie ♠ ? ? ? ♥ -- ♦ x ♣ J

Which minor should I unguard? If my construction is correct, it doesn't matter. So I might as well assume my construction is wrong. This is where the back of my mind comes in handy. I've already decided that there is a remote possibility declarer was 2-6-2-3. Accordingly, I'll guard clubs and pitch a diamond. (If this is wrong, I can always blame partner. What's he doing holding on to the nine of clubs anyway? He should have pitched it. Then I would know for sure declarer didn't have another club.)

Before I play, however, I need to think about what's going to happen in the end position. This is a familiar matrix. It appears declarer has jack-ten third of spades and is hoping to catch partner with king-queen. She has kept both minor-suit aces in dummy to prevent partner from pitching down to king-queen doubleton of spades. Partner must hold king-queen third of spades and two minor-suit cards. If partner is void in one of the minors, declarer now cashes that ace, forcing partner to come down to a singleton in the other minor. Declarer then cashes the other ace and leads a spade to the jack, endplaying partner. Nicely done.

Except that the endplay isn't going to work, since I have the spade queen. So, when declarer leads a spade from dummy at trick eleven, I have two choices: (1) hop with the queen and cash my club, holding declarer to five; or (2) duck, hoping declarer plays partner for both spade honors. If she does, we'll take the last three tricks, holding declarer to four. If she doesn't--if she rises with the ace when partner leads a spade at trick twelve--she'll drop my queen and make six.

At matchpoints, this problem would be a nightmare. At IMPs, it's much easier. If I trust my teammates to reach six hearts, then it makes no difference whether we hold declarer to ten tricks or eleven. Either way, we gain 11 imps. If I let declarer make six, however, we gain only 10 imps. So there is nothing to gain by ducking. My proper play is to hop and cash my club.

Now I'm ready. I pitch the eight of diamonds. Declarer plays the ten of diamonds to the ace, and partner follows with the seven. Declarer cashes the club ace--eight--nine--jack. Apparently partner miscarded on the first club trick, though that doesn't change anything. Declarer now plays a low spade from dummy. As planned, I hop with the queen and cash the club queen. Making five.

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

Declarer had jack-nine of spades. I didn't think of that. I should have ducked. Then we would see the kind of stuff partner is made of. Declarer would play the nine, and partner must win the trick with the king, not the ten. When he returns the eight, it would take an awfully suspicious declarer not to duck. I apologize, partner, for not giving you the chance to find that play. (Between you and me, there isn't a chance in the world partner would have found it. He should be grateful I didn't duck. I saved him from embarrassing himself.)

As expected, our teammates are in six hearts, making six, so we pick up 11 imps.

Table 1: -460
Table 2: +980

Result on Board 2: +11 imps
Total: +8 imps