Event 3 - Match 1 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither vulnerable

♠ A Q 8 6 ♥ A 10 7 5 3 ♦ Q 10 3 ♣ 4

LHO opens one diamond, partner overcall two clubs, and RHO passes.

I bid two hearts. This isn't forcing, which is fine with me. I doubt we can make a game unless partner can raise hearts or bid two notrump. Everyone passes, and LHO leads the ace of diamonds, which could be from ace-king.

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

West	North	East	South
Sophie	Jack	Jacinta	Phillip
1 ♦	2 ♣	Pass	2 ♥
(All pass)

East plays the diamond nine. I play the ten, the card I'm known to hold. West continues with the king of diamonds. East plays the five, and I play the three. East should have a doubleton and West should know this. With a potential overruff available, East should not encourage with queen third, tempting West to offer me a ruff-sluff. This is just the kind of thing Jack has trouble with, however. East probably would encourage with queen third, and West knows this. So she has a problem. She shifts to the deuce of spades. I'm quite happy to see that shift. My odds of making this contract have just gone up.

I play low from dummy, and East plays the king. With king-jack-nine, East would play the nine, since playing the king makes it impossible for her to play the suit again. This means West's spade is not a singleton. East might play the jack from king-jack-empty as a discovery play, but that's less clear. This discovery play is fine if you are the one to gain the lead next. But it can make things harder for partner if he gains the lead before you do. Thus the jack is not automatic from king-jack. You must weigh the pros and cons in context. (I have assumed, by the way, that East needn't worry that West has underled the ace. In this particular case--given the auction and given that dummy holds the ten--I can't imagine why she would do that.)

If hearts are four-two or better, I've made this. I can discard one spade on the club king, losing at most two hearts, two diamonds, and a spade. So my problem is how to make this if East has five hearts. Say I play a heart to the king, a heart off dummy, and East, with queen-jack-nine fifth, spits her honors. I take the ace, and West shows out. The diamond queen isn't going to cash. But the spade queen will cash. And two clubs will cash (else East would be 1-1-6-5, violating my assumption that she doesn't have a singleton spade). So I need to take two more trump tricks with my ten-seven-five. That's easy enough: I ruff a club and exit, waiting to score my trump ten. An uppercut on the third round of clubs would not hurt.

If West plays a heart honor on the first round of hearts, I can play a heart back to my ace and reach the same position. The problem occurs when everyone plays low to the first round and a half of hearts. If that happens, can I afford to let dummy's eight of hearts ride to guard against a five-one split? I can afford to lose two trump tricks, but I can't afford to lose three. If West wins the trick and gives her partner a diamond ruff, I need to be able to draw the one outstanding trump. But can I? What if West has a singleton club? After the diamond ruff, East returns a club to kill my dummy entry. Now I have to guess West's shape. If she is 3-3-6-1, I must play a spade to my ace, draw her trump, and play another spade. If she is 4-2-6-1, I must cash the club king while I'm in dummy.

Is there a line that works opposite either a singleton heart or a singleton club on my left? So far, West has shown up with ace-king-jack of diamonds and possibly the spade jack. If she doesn't have a heart honor, she must have the club queen for her opening bid. Perhaps I don't need to let the heart eight ride. If I play a heart to my ace and West shows out, I have three trump losers. But if West has the club queen, that's OK. I can finesse the club jack and pitch both small spades.

I play the three of hearts--deuce--king--four. then the eight of hearts to my ace. East plays the six; West, the queen.

I've made my contract. The only question now is whether I can manage an overtrick. One possiblilty is that hearts are three-three. I play the ten of hearts (more deceptive than a low heart), pitching a club from dummy to retain the spade tenace in case East has the jack. West pitches the deuce of diamonds. East wins with the jack of hearts and cashes the nine, on which West pitches the seven of diamonds.

East now exits with the nine of spades. A low spade might give me something to think about. She is down to all black cards, so she could conceivably be endplayed. But I decided at trick three she couldn't have king-jack-nine of spades. I hop with the spade queen and cash all my red cards. I know West began with at most two clubs, so this isn't really a squeeze. But it's almost as much fun. It turns out East has the club queen, so I make only two.

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

We played the wrong seven-card major-suit fit. I should be able to take nine tricks in spades. As is often the case, the four-three fit plays better than the five-two fit, because you have more flexibility. Say West starts with three rounds of diamonds. I pitch a club from dummy, and East ruffs. She switches to the nine of spades. If I duck it, I don't think I can make three any more. But suppose I play the queen. It holds, and I cash the ace. West has the spade jack left, but that's all the defense can get. I play the ace and king of clubs, ruff a club, heart to the king, ruff a club, and cash the heart ace. If West ruffs (or overruffs) at any point, dummy will be high. If she doesn't, I'll score the spade ten en passant for the ninth trick. If the defense gets off to a different start (say, a club shift at trick two), I can pitch a diamond on the club king and start crossruffing. The defense can never do better than two diamond tricks and two trump tricks.

Our teammates played two diamonds, down two. How did that happen? It's hard to see how it's possible to sell to two diamonds after a one diamond opening. Maybe our teammate opened a hefty weak two-bid. Anyway, the board is a push. We win our first match 26 imps to 13, netting 19 out of a possible 30 victory points. This puts us in a three-way tie for first place.

Table 1: +110
Table 2: -100

Result on Board 8: 0 imps
Total: +13 imps (19 VP)

Our opponents for the next match are Stella and Kate. (Interesting. Those happen to be the names of two of my ex-partners.) They play Majeure Cinquieme. Wish me bonne chance.

Event 3 - Match 1 - Board 7

Board 7
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K 10 7 ♥ A Q J 9 ♦ A K 6 4 ♣ 9 2

I bid one heart. This is a good hand for four-card majors. With a side suit like ace-king fourth, a four-three heart fit might easily be the right strain, and it may be hard to investigate without opening one heart. LHO doubles, partner passes, and RHO bids one spade. A bid of one notrump opposite a passing partner should show better than a strong notrump, and doubling without spade shortness is unthinkable. So I pass. If LHO passes as well, partner should suspect I have a strong notrump with three or more spades. (Not that my pass shows that. But my pass combined with the opponents' unwillingness to bid past the one level makes that my likeliest hand.) LHO bids two spades, which ends the auction.

Maybe this wasn't such a good hand for the system after all. A one notump opening might have shut the opponents out.

It's going to be hard to beat this without taking two heart tricks. But, since partner didn't raise hearts, there is a fair chance I have them. The likeliest heart split is 3-2-4 (in that order). That gives LHO a 4-3-3-3 pattern and RHO perhaps a 4-4-2-3 pattern. If my king-ten third of spades is worth a trick, I have book in hand and need to find only one trick from partner to beat this. Even the spade nine in partner's hand may be enough to give declarer a problem.

Should I start hearts right away to threaten a fourth-round overruff by partner? I might regret leading a heart if declarer has the king. (Although that's not necessarily true. I might find myself getting endplayed anyway.) I could postpone my decision by leading a high diamond. But that could work out badly also. Declarer probably wants to set up dummy's diamond queen for a discard and may be short of entries to her hand. Leading diamonds may just be doing her work for her. In addition, failure to lead a high diamond may get declarer to misplace the high cards. She may waste a hand entry taking a losing club finesse.

I have no real confidence in this decision. If a heart lead is wrong, it may be hard to justify in the post-mortem. Partners tend not to understand when you have an ace-king and lead something else. But it feels right, and Jack doesn't yell much. So I lead the heart ace.

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

West	North	East	South
Phillip	Sophie	Jack	Jacinta
1 ♥	Double	Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 ♠	(All pass)

What kind of dummy is that? I don't care for either of North's calls. The hand is not good enough for an offshape double or for a raise to two spades.

Dummy plays the six; partner, the deuce; and declarer, the three. The deuce is attitude. Since I already know partner's attitude, it's not very informative. I continue with the heart queen--king--five--four. Partner's five should be present count, so he should be out of hearts now. Jack is rather inconsistent about present count, however. Most of the time--though, curiously, not always--he seems to play up-the-line after the initial signal.

Declarer plays the club three--four--queen. If partner's four is honest, declarer rates to be 4-4-3-2. She seems to want to pitch her fourth heart before touching trumps. But what's the point of that? I must be wrong about her shape. Maybe she's 4-3-4-2 and wants to pitch her only heart before touching trumps. That makes more sense. I guess partner decided not to give count in hearts this time. I play the club deuce. (No reason to advertise my doubleton. Partner will find out my count soon enough.) Declarer plays the seven of clubs--nine--jack--five, then the club king--six--heart eight. I ruff with the spade seven.

It's hard to see where the setting trick is coming from unless partner has a trump trick. If he has the spade ace, I have nothing to worry about. Is there any way to exploit the spade queen in partner's hand? Maybe I can get declarer to play me for a stiff ten of spades. Perhaps I can entice her to lead the spade jack from dummy in a position where I can win the king and give partner a ruff with the queen. What if I lead ace-king and a third diamond, ignoring the temptation to try to cash my heart? If declarer thinks I have

♠ 10 7 ♥ A Q J 10 9 ♦ A K x x ♣ x x

then she will lead the spade jack. I can then win with my king and lead a fourth diamond for partner to overruff.

Can it ever cost to try this? How about if the heart is actually cashing and I have to ruff the fourth club with a natural spade trick? That gives declarer

♠ A Q x x ♥ x x x x ♦ x x x ♣ Q x

which is inconsistent with both the auction and the play. I play the king of diamonds--seven--deuce--five. Partner's deuce should be telling me that he is out of hearts. But Jack's attitude signals are not that sophisticated. He is probably just telling me he doesn't have the diamond jack. I play the ace of diamonds--queen--three--nine. The three should show three diamonds remaining. But I don't believe it. I think partner's just not in the mood for present count today. I play the diamond six. Dummy ruffs with the spade six. Partner follows with the eight; declarer, with the ten. Not that it would have mattered, but declarer should have played the jack, the card she was known to hold (assuming partner's diamond deuce was intended to deny that card).

This ploy might actually work. If declarer is missing the spade queen and thinks I am 2-5-4-2, leading the spade jack is the right play. A singleton king or queen in my hand does her no good, so she might as well play me for a stiff ten.

Declarer plays the heart seven and ruffs it with the spade deuce as partner follows with the heart ten. Ah! If partner follows, she knows I'm 3-4-4-2, and she can play ace and another spade. If he doesn't follow, she can still choose to play me for a stiff ten of spades by leading a low spade to the ten and jack. Partner wins and must either lead a spade for her or put her in dummy with a club. Nice discovery play, Jacinta. I didn't think of that.

Declarer now leads the spade three. Partner must have the space ace, since this play makes no sense of declarer has it. I might as well duck in case it's singleton, although I don't think that's likely. Even if partner does have queen doubleton of spades, I have no need to give him an overruff in diamonds. He can give me an overruff in clubs instead. I play the ten--jack--ace. Partner returns a club. I ruff with the spade king and concede the balance. Down one.

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

At the other table, our opponents play one notrump, making two. So we lose one imp. It does seem our teammates dropped a trick, doesn't it? The king of clubs lead and a spade shift seems like a normal start. How will declarer find an eighth trick now?

Table 1: +100
Table 2: -120

Result on Board 7: -1 imp
Total: +13 imps

Event 3 - Match 1 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 10 2 ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ J 7 5 ♣ A 10 9 8

RHO passes, I pass, and LHO opens with a Polish club (showing either a weak notrump, a natural one club opening, or at least 18 high-card points). Partner overcalls with one heart, and RHO bids three clubs, which is explained as showing 10 to 12 points and five or more clubs. I've never played Polish club, but I don't see how that treatment makes sense. Isn't partner's likeliest hand a weak notrump?

Given the opponents could be in a silly spot, I see no reason to stretch with three hearts. If we have a game, I'll hear from partner again. And I suspect we have a better shot at a plus score defending three clubs than declaring three hearts. Of course, I may regret not raising hearts if LHO bids three notrump and partner chooses to lead something else.

I pass, LHO bids three notrump--pass--pass to me. Exactly the auction I was worried about. Should I double to make sure partner leads a heart? I do have a double stopper in dummy's long suit. But for all I know they can take nine tricks outside the club suit. Or perhaps they can even afford to lose two club tricks if partner doesn't have a side entry. For that matter, why am I even so sure I want him to lead a heart? If he has, say, ace-jack-ten fifth of hearts and out, a heart might be the only lead to let them make it.

All in all, doubling seems like a bad idea. I pass, and partner leads the king of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
Jack	Jacinta	Phillip	Sophie
	Pass	Pass	1 ♣1
1 ♥	3 ♣	Pass	3 NT
(All pass)
1Polish Club

Since declarer appears not to have a natural one club opening (and can hardly have a weak notrump), she must have at least 18 high-card points, which leaves partner with at most six. If I credit partner with the king-queen of spades and a side jack, how many tricks does that give declarer? Four diamonds (I hope only four), two hearts, and one spade. All she needs is two club tricks, so I have to hope partner's jack is the club jack.

Dummy plays the three of spades. The fact that partner led the spade king without the jack or ten suggests he is leading a short suit, hoping to find me with length. If so, I don't like our chances, so I might as well assume that's not the case. Perhaps partner decided to lead the king rather than low from king-queen-nine fourth. I play the jack, and declarer wins with the ace. That's a surprise. Why isn't she ducking this trick?

Before I turn my card over, I need to figure that out. Any time declarer does something unexpected, it's time to stop and think. Often, there is only one explanation for declarer's play, and if you take the time to work out what it is, you will be double-dummy from that point on.

The usual reason for spurning a duck at trick one is that you are afraid of a shift. What shift could that be? Perhaps she is afraid of a heart shift, which would kill the entry to dummy's clubs. Maybe she has this hand:

♠ A x x ♥ A J x x ♦ A K Q x ♣ x x

She intends to play partner for the club ace, taking a spade, two hearts, four diamonds, and two clubs. But a heart shift at trick two might kill the only entry to the second club. (She might have a diamond entry. But not if I have jack fourth of diamonds.) Whether this is the right line or not doesn't concern me, since I'm not declaring. But it's certainly a reasonable line. And it's the only explanation I can think of for winning the first trick. This construction does give partner a rather questionable one heart overcall:

♠ K Q 9 x ♥ x x x x x ♦ x x ♣ J x

That looks more like a one spade overcall to me. But it wouldn't be the first time I disapproved of Jack's bidding.

Now that I know declarer's plan, I know what to do. When she leads a club to dummy's king, I'm going to duck. We don't have enough cashable tricks to beat this, and I have nothing constructive to do with the tempo. So there is nothing to gain by winning the trick. Declarer will then play a diamond to her hand and a club to the queen, allowing us to cash three clubs and three spades for down two. Come to think of it, this beats it one even if partner did lead a three-card spade suit. I guess it was pre-mature to give up on that layout. OK. I'm ready. I turn my jack of spades over.

Declarer plays the diamond queen, Why cash a diamond? Is she unblocking with ace-king-queen tight? No. Partner plays the four, which must be from four-three or four-deuce doubleton. I play the diamond seven, following the routine procedure of giving false count when holding the jack. (It's hard to see how it will matter here. But it pays to be consistent. In my opinion, partner is entitled to assume I don't have the jack if I give correct count.)

Declarer plays the five of clubs--three--queen. I duck as planned. Since I want declarer to think partner has the club ace, I play the eight of clubs, as I would if I had ten-nine-eight.

Declarer plays a diamond to her ace. I play the five and partner follows with the deuce. I expect another club, but declarer cashes the king of diamonds, on which partner discards the heart deuce. What's this? Declarer is now out of entries to her hand and hearts are still blocked. What's she up to? Time to pause and take stock again.

If declarer is stranding her heart ace, she must be intending to force us to play hearts for her. It appears she is abandoning the idea of playing for the club ace onside (And I thought I ducked smoothly!) Instead, she is playing me for the heart queen (or no spade entry, which seems wildly unlikely given my play at trick one). She is going to cash diamonds, cash the heart king, and play a spade. If partner began with a singleton club or with ace doubleton, then there is no way for us to avoid handing declarer her ninth trick. Say, for example, that partner began with a singleton club. Then this will be the position in the endgame:

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

When declarer leads a spade from dummy, there is no way for us to avoid giving her a club trick or an extra heart trick. She will end up taking two hearts or a heart and a club whatever we do. Pretty clever, that Sophie.

Except it isn't going to work, because partner has another club, and it's the jack, not the ace. So this will be the end position

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

When declarer plays a spade, partner will cash his spades, and I will pitch my queen of hearts. When partner plays the club jack, declarer will duck. But I will overtake and return a club to dummy's king, establishing my club nine as the setting trick.

Declarer's line fails because the heart ace is stranded. Could she have made this by not cashing the third diamond, retaining communication to her hand? We would reach this position:

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

When declarer plays a spade from dummy, I duck it to partner's nine. Partner switches to the club jack, which declarer and I must duck. Partner can't afford to cash the spades now, as he will have only hearts left. So he leads a low spade to my ten, and I exit with the jack of diamonds. Declarer can't take a ninth trick.

So declarer must cash three diamonds to strip me of my exit. But she must also retain a fourth-round diamond entry to her to hand to avoid stranding the heart ace. The way to do that is to take a finesse against my jack of diamonds. When she played the eight of diamonds from dummy, she needed to let it ride. She could then play a diamond to ace, a heart to the king, and a spade. There is no longer any defense. What a great hand!

Back to the actual problem. In case you've lost track, this is where we are, with declarer on lead:

	NORTH Jacinta ♠ 8 5 ♥ K ♦ 10 ♣ K 7 4 2
		EAST Phillip ♠ 10 2 ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ -- ♣ A 10 9

Declarer plays a diamond to dummy, and partner discards a second heart, the three. I need all my black cards, so I pitch the five of hearts. Declarer cashes the heart king--seven--six--nine. The nine? That's an unexpected card. It must be present count from four remaining, so partner began with six hearts. But the nine can't be his highest card, so he must have begun with jack-nine sixth. My whole construction is wrong. Partner is 3-6-2-2, making declarer 4-3-4-2. Furthermore, declarer has only a 17-count:

♠ A x x x ♥ A 10 x ♦ A K Q x ♣ x x

That's a pretty good 17-count, though. Perhaps she upgraded it. And it does give partner a less questionable one heart overcall. (Though Adam Meredith might still overcall one spade.)

Declarer leads the five of spades from dummy. I hop with ten. Declarer plays the four, and partner plays the nine. Yes. That confirms it. Partner is indeed 3-6-2-2. He wouldn't play the nine of spades with queen-nine-small left. Instead of playing a spade as I intended, I must play the heart queen, establishing partner's hearts before declarer can set up her long spade.

It is strange, however, that declarer made no attempt to make this contract. She could have played partner for the club ace (which wouldn't work) or she could have played for three-three spades (which would). The line of play she chose makes no sense at all unless she has the heart jack. I'm inclined to think partner miscarded, dropping the nine instead of the ten from ten-nine fourth remaining. Still, it can't be right to play a spade, since I'm 100% sure about the count. As weird as it is to signal with the nine while holding the ten, it's even weirder to give false count in hearts, then drop the spade nine under my ten for no reason.

I play the queen of hearts. Declarer wins with the ace, then cashes the jack of hearts. Oh, well. I pitch a club. Declarer plays a club to the jack, king, and my ace. Partner has a high heart and a high spade left. I'm not about to cash my last club and give him a chance to pitch the wrong thing. I play the spade deuce, and partner claims.

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

We were never beating this. But partner's nine of hearts could have caused an accident. Any card intended as high should deny the touching higher card. It's important to be disciplined about that, so that any deviation can be safely interpreted as some kind of alarm-clock signal.

Did I err in ducking the club? If declarer was 3-4-4-2 as I was assuming, I allowed her to make it, albeit by a line few declarers would find. Had I taken the club ace and returned a club, nothing bad could happen. (Taking the club ace and playing a spade works as well provided partner plays a club after cashing spades to get me off the club-heart squeeze. It's better if I play clubs myself to take the pressure off partner.) On the other hand, ducking and hoping declarer would play partner for the club ace was my only shot to beat it on the actual layout. I suspect ducking was the right play, but I still have to give myself a charge for not appreciating the risk I was taking.

Might declarer find the winning line with 3-4-4-2? Perhaps. If she is confident for whatever reason that I ducked the club ace, what else is there to do but try for an endplay? But to execute the endplay, she must guess diamonds. If partner is three-one in the minors, she must cash the top diamonds. If partner is two-two in the minors with both jacks, she must cash two diamonds and play the third diamond to dummy. And if partner is two-two with only the club jack, she must finesse against my diamond jack. Note that, as the cards lie, if the defense can be counted on to give honest count but do not play mandatory false cards with the jack, declarer can work out the lie of the diamonds. West plays the diamond four on the first trick; East plays five-seven. West must have the deuce and East must the jack. But if they do play mandatory false cards with the jack, South can't read the position. West plays the diamond four; East plays seven-five. She knows one defender gave correct count with two small and the other gave false count with jack third. But there is no way to know which defender is which. This is the principle behind the mandatory false card. It allows you to give honest count to partner without revealing the count to declarer. But I've never seen it work in quite this way before.

Our teammates also made three notrump, so the board is a push. A classic Gargoyle Chronicles deal! Lots of things to discuss. But the board is a push and every decision I made proved to be immaterial.

Table 1: -600
Table 2: +600

Result on Board 6: 0 imps
Total: +14 imps

Event 3 - Match 1 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 7 6 ♥ Q 9 8 3 ♦ K 10 4 ♣ Q 5 4

RHO opens one notrump (15-17) in second seat. LHO bids two hearts, a transfer to spades. RHO bids two spades, which ends the auction.

With nothing much to go on, I lead the eight of hearts, choosing my longest suit.

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

West	North	East	South
Phillip	Sophie	Jack	Jacinta
		Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 ♥1	Pass	2 ♠
(All pass)
1Jacoby-transfer

Partner has from 10 to 12 high-card points. Make that 10 to 11, since he's a passed hand. It's inconceivable he didn't balance with a singleton spade. So declarer has at most three spades.

Dummy plays the heart ten, partner plays the jack, and declarer follows with the seven. Partner switches to the ace of clubs. With ace-jack doubleton of hearts, partner would cash the ace and try for a heart ruff. With ace-jack fourth, partner might worry that declarer can ruff a heart and might switch to a trump. (He can't be sure I have four hearts, but it's likely, since queen-nine-eight third is a rather unattractive lead.) I am going to assume, therefore, that hearts are three-three, although I can hardly be certain about that just yet. Partner might have reasons I don't know about to prefer a club switch to a trump switch.

Why is partner leading the club ace rather than a low one? Perhaps he has ace doubleton and is looking for a ruff. Or perhaps he has the jack and sees no gain in leading low. Perhaps he would prefer to retain the option of switching plans if, say, declarer dropped an honor under the ace. Leading the ace from length without the jack would be dangerous, since it could cost a trick if I had queen doubleton or queen-jack doubleton. (Not to mention taking declarer off a potential guess, although that's something Jack wouldn't worry about.)

Declarer plays the eight. Do I want partner to continue clubs or to switch to diamond? Say partner plays a club and declarer hops with the king and plays another one to my queen. Partner still has the ace of hearts as an entry to put a diamond through. And I have a spade entry to cash it. So we won't lose my king of diamonds. If partner switches to a diamond, however, and if declarer has ace-queen-jack, there may be no way for us to stop my club trick from disappearing. Accordingly, I encourage with the five.

Partner continues with the seven of clubs, and declarer wins with the king. If the seven is an honest card, partner should have either (1) ace-seven doubleton, (2) ace-jack-seven,  or (3) ace-jack-seven fifth (where the seven is present count). He might also have (4) ace-seven third. As I explained earlier, I'm inclined to think won't have length without the jack. But I will include that holding anyway for the time being. I can always discard that possibility later if it becomes too hard to cater to it. That gives declarer:

(1) ♣ K J 8 3 2

(2) ♣ K 8 3 2

(3) ♣ K 8 (4) ♣ K J 8 x

(2) is impossible. Declarer cannot afford to falsecard the eight with that holding. So I'm left with (1), (3), and (4).

What else do I know? Since partner has shown up with nine high-card points and is a passed hand, he can't have both spade honors. Declarer also knows partner is limited to two additional high-card points. so, from his point of view, I am marked with both the diamond king and spade king.

I follow with the club four. Declarer cashes the spade ace. He needn't bother finessing with ace-queen. But he would probably make a more concerted effort to pick up spades if he had ace-jack. So I am going to assume he has ace-queen, ace-queen-small, or ace-queen-jack.

I play the seven--deuce--five. Declarer now leads the diamond jack. Whoa! What is going on? What's the hurry to play diamonds? For that matter, why play diamonds at all? All our round-suit tricks are ready to cash, so there is nothing to gain by setting up diamond tricks.

I play the king, and partner follows with the deuce, showing an odd number. I should be able to construct declarer's hand now. Declarer must have either

(1) ♠ A Q ♥ x x x ♦ A Q J ♣ K J 8 x x

(3) ♠ A Q ? ♥ x x x ♦ A Q J x x ♣ K 8 (4) ♠ A Q ? ♥ x x x ♦ A Q J ♣ K J 8 x

(1) and (4) are not possible. Declarer has nothing to gain by conceding a diamond with those hands. He would play clubs, intending to pitch a diamond on the club jack and hoping we must ruff with a natural trump trick. Playing on diamonds makes perfect sense with (3), however. Declarer must knock out the diamond before trumps are drawn, else we will be able to cash a club trick. Driving the diamond king allows him to pitch dummy's club if diamonds are three-three, if someone ruffs the third diamond with a natural trump trick, or if we make a mistake on defense. In fact, I suspect I can go even further and assume that the '?' is the jack. If it is the eight, declarer probably would not have cashed the spade ace. Cashing the ace risks allowing us to draw his trumps (heart to the ace and a spade to my putative king-jack) and cash the club.

I play the nine of hearts (the lowest card I can afford, to show an odd number remaining. The queen should show a doubleton.) Declarer plays king from dummy. Partner wins with the ace and returns the deuce to my queen. If my construction is correct, it doesn't matter what I do. So I must assume I'm wrong. It's hard to believe I'm wrong about declarer's having a doubleton club. Abandoning trumps to establish diamonds is simply pointless otherwise. But I might be wrong about the spade jack. If partner has it and I continue a club, declarer will ruff and play the spade queen, smothering the jack. If I play a diamond, allowing declarer to pitch his club loser, he must play trumps out of his hand and might misguess.

Of course, a human expert could not possibly misguess. If I had king doubleton, I could take two trump tricks by force by tapping him. So, against a human, I would play a club anyway. Even though I'm fairly sure it's not cashing, there's nothing else worth trying. Jack, however, cannot draw inferences from my defense. So he's perfectly capable of "misguessing" spades. I play the ten of diamonds--eight--seven--ace. Declarer cashes the queen of diamonds, pitching dummy's club, then plays the eight of spades from his hand, which I let ride to partner's jack. Down two.

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

My care in going for the extra trick was worthwhile, since our teammates played the same contract, down one. We pick up two imps.

Table 1: +100
Table 2: -50

Result on Board 5: +2 imps
Total: +14 imps