Event 3 - Match 3 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither vulnerable

♠ K 9 ♥ Q 8 4 3 ♦ K 4 2 ♣ J 9 8 5

Partner opens one diamond, I bid one heart, and partner bids one notrump (15-17). I'm worth only two notrump. But with such weak hearts, inviting is dangerous. If I bid two and partner accepts, LHO, knowing we don't have extras, can double any time he has a heart stack. If I raise to three, he must be more cautious about doubling. It's not the increased penalty I'm worried about so much as giving LHO a chance to direct the lead. I might go down doubled after a slow auction when I would have made three notrump had I just bid it.

I bid three notrump, and everyone passes. RHO leads the deuce of spades, fourth best.

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

West	North	East	South
Marcus	Phillip	Nathanial	Jack
			1 ♦
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	1 NT
Pass	3 NT	(All pass)

Partner has a minimum in high cards. But with ace-ten-nine fifth of diamonds, I assume he would have accepted an invitation, so we were always getting to game. Still, this isn't much of a contract. With a normal break in diamonds, I have only seven tricks. Each suit offers some potential for an extra trick. West might have led from queen-jack fourth of spades, diamonds might come home for five tricks, or the club ace might be onside. The heart king may be onside also, but that will probably be of no use. If I have three spades losers in addition to the club ace, I can't afford to give up a trick to the king of hearts. I may, however, be able to take a second heart trick via an endplay.

I will probably need a spade entry to dummy later, either to take a second diamond finesse if I find West with a singleton diamond honor or to lead a club toward my king. So I might as well play low to this trick and see if I got lucky in the spade suit before I delve too much further into this deal. I play the nine, and East plays the jack. So much for a third spade trick.

Where am I going to find two more tricks? If I can't bring home the diamonds for five tricks, I will need the club ace onside and an endplay in hearts, which means I need some kind of defensive entanglement in the club suit. Does queen doubleton of clubs in the West hand do it? Say I take the spade ace and play three rounds of diamonds. The opponents continue spades. I win in dummy and play a club. East must duck, else I get two club tricks. I win with the king and play a second club to West's queen. If he has the heart king and no entry to his partner in the spade suit, he will be endplayed. He can get off the endplay by unblocking the club queen under my king. But maybe he has queen-ten doubleton. Or maybe even a singleton queen, in which case I can toss him in with the ten of spades (though I will have to guess which holding to play for). This isn't likely to work, but I don't see anything better.

I take the spade ace and play the five of diamonds to dummy's king. West plays the three; East, the seven. I play the deuce of diamonds from dummy, and East plays the queen. I win with the diamond ace, and West follows. I play the diamond ten. West wins with the jack, and East pitches the three of spades. That's good. Assuming West has the spade queen, the opponents have no communication in spades.

West plays the four of spades to dummy's king--six---five. Does it matter which club I lead from dummy? If I lead the nine, East may think I have king-ten third, in which case, with ace-queen, he might hop with the ace to keep me from retaining the lead in dummy to repeat the finesse. If he does, then West, with his putative king of hearts and ten of clubs, has two suits he can't afford to lead. It's not entirely clear I can exploit that fact. But at least it will give West a problem.

I lead the nine of clubs. East plays the ten. That's not good. There's no way East would play the ten from ace-ten fourth or fifth. So the layout I was hoping for isn't there. My plan isn't going to work. Is there anything else to try?

What if West doesn't have four spades? What if he led from queen third (prefering the unbid major to his own long suit) and spades are now blocked? Is that possible? Could East have pitched a spade winner? Let's give East something like

♠ J 8 7 6 3 ♥ J x x x ♦ Q 7 ♣ ? 10

He certainly might pitch a spade on the third diamond with that. If that's what he has, do I have a chance? Suppose his '?' is the ace. I play the club king, then play another club. He wins. If he plays a spade to his partner's queen, West will be endplayed. It shouldn't be hard for him to see that, however. It should be pretty easy to find a heart shift.

Suppose his '?' is the queen. Now I can duck this trick, allowing me to smother his queen later, establishing two club tricks in dummy. Again, if East plays a spade, I'll make it; and if he plays a heart, I'll go down. He might find a heart switch in this layout also, but it's a little bit harder. In general, the earlier you put someone to the test, the more likely he is to go wrong. Since it's fifty-fifty whether he has the ace or the queen, ducking seems like my best shot. I play the six of clubs; East plays the deuce. East plays the seven of spades to his partner's queen, and I pitch dummy's three of hearts. I don't think this is going to work. East would have played the eight of spades with eight-seven left, so West probably has the eight.

And indeed he does. He cashes it. I pitch the four of hearts from dummy; East plays the five of hearts. If East began with only four spades, he can't have a doubleton club. He is probably 4-4-2-3 or 4-3-2-4. He put up the ten of clubs from queen-ten because he thought I was psychic and might duck the nine to his partner's ace. If he is 4-3-2-4 and West has the heart king, we are down to this position:

	NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ Q 8 ♦ -- ♣ J 8 5
WEST Marcus ♠ -- ♥ K x x x ♦ -- ♣ A		EAST Nathanial ♠ -- ♥ J x ♦ -- ♣ Q x x
	SOUTH Jack ♠ -- ♥ A 2 ♦ 9 6 ♣ K 3

I can hold this to down one by pitching a club. West can cash his his club ace, but he will be endplayed. If East is 4-4-2-3,

	NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ Q 8 ♦ -- ♣ J 8 5
WEST Marcus ♠ -- ♥ K x x ♦ -- ♣ A x		EAST Nathanial ♠ -- ♥ J x x ♦ -- ♣ Q x
	SOUTH Jack ♠ -- ♥ A 2 ♦ 9 6 ♣ K 3

my only chance is to stiff the heart ace and hope West doesn't work it out. I must hope he thinks I began with three hearts and two clubs and decides to cash the club ace rather than exit with a heart. I can't imagine he would get the position wrong. (Why would I have ducked the club ten with king doubleton of clubs?) So I'll go for the legitimate line. I pitch the three of clubs. West cashes the club ace--eight--seven--king, then leads the four of clubs to his partner's queen. Down two.

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

My counterpart at the other table made four notrump. That's some pretty impressive declarer play! Somehow he must have induced a diamond lead. Maybe he opened one notrump, then bid two spades over Stayman.

While I doubt Jack actually did that, I do think bidding two spades over Stayman is a reasonable and underutilized swing action at matchpoints. With top tricks and a potential ruffing value, you could easily wind up taking one more trick in a four-three spade fit than in notrump, especially if the opponents don't know you're in a four-three fit. The bid has less constructive potential at IMPs, since you need to take two more tricks in spades than in notrump for it to gain (and, specifically, ten tricks rather than eight). Of course, either at IMPs or at matchpoints, the bid has considerable potential for gain if partner doesn't raise it, either by inducing a favorable lead or by getting the opponents to miscount your hand.

Table 1: -100
Table 2: -430

Result on Board 1: -11 imps
Total: -11 imps