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.