Event 3 - Match 5 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither vulnerable

♠ K J 10 8 ♥ K J 8 ♦ A 9 ♣ A K 8 5

Our new opponents, Sam and Stephen, play English Acol. I open one club. Sam makes an English Acol overcall of one heart, passed back to me. I bid one notrump. Ostensibly, this shows a hand where I would rebid two notrump had partner responded, but with a maximum strong notrump I might stretch a little. Sam isn't through yet. He bids two hearts--pass--pass. If partner thinks it's right to defend, I have no reason to overrule him. I pass. Partner leads the three of clubs (third and lowest).

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

West	North	East	South
Jack	Stephen	Phillip	Sam
Pass	Pass	1 ♣	1 ♥
Pass	Pass	1 NT	2 ♥
(All pass)

Declarer plays the jack from dummy. Partner would lead the ten from ten-nine, so declarer must have at least one of those cards. Since I'm marked with oodles of high cards, declarer would probably play low from dummy if he had just the nine. So I suspect declarer has the ten--probably ten third. He is hoping partner led from the king, in which case playing an honor from dummy guarantees a dummy entry.

This is the kind of problem computers are as yet unable to solve, because they assume the defenders are double-dummy. Since I am a heavy favorite to have both club honors, it must be better to play low from dummy at trick one to give me a problem. I can prevent a dummy entry by inserting the eight. But that would be a mistake if declarer has a doubleton club.

I would like partner to shift to a spade if he gets in, so I want to make a club continuation unattractive. Accordingly, I win with the ace rather than the king. Declarer thoughtfully plays the deuce, so I now know for sure that clubs are three-three.

If I can keep declarer off dummy, I have two heart tricks, two clubs tricks, and the diamond ace. So I need only one more trick. If declarer has a doubleton spade, I have that trick, assuming I can avoid being endplayed. Can I? Say I play ace and a diamond. Declarer wins and plays the club ten, which I must duck. If he plays another club, I must win and play a fourth club. This gives declarer a ruff-sluff. But so long as partner can beat dummy's trump spot, we're OK. I think partner should be able to beat dummy's trump spot.

If declarer has a singleton ace of spades, however, I will need to score two diamond tricks. In that case, my best defense is to exit with a spade, forcing declarer to break diamonds himself. That may seem like quite a position to take. But, in fact, declarer almost surely has a singleton in either spades or diamonds. With a 2-6-2-3 pattern and a good enough hand to bid a second time, he would probably double. And a singleton diamond is unlikely. The only singleton diamond declarer can have is the queen. With any other singleton, partner would have a natural diamond lead.

Essentially, I must decide which hand to cater to:

(A) ♠ A x ♥ A Q 10 x x x x ♦ Q ♣ 10 x x

or

(B) ♠ A ♥ A Q 10 x x x x ♦ K x ♣ 10 x x

(A) is more likely, since partner might have led a diamond from queen-jack-ten fourth. So, in (B), the only plausible diamond x's are the jack and the ten. In addition, I'm not even sure I can do anything about (B). Say I lead a spade. Declarer wins and exits with the heart ten. My only safe exit is the spade king. Declarer ruffs and plays ace and a heart. Now I'm endplayed. So if I play for (B), I need partner to have the heart ten. Clearly I'm better off playing for (A). And that's just as well. If I concluded I should shift to a spade and it turned out to be wrong, I would have a very hard time explaining that play to my teammates.

I play the diamond ace. Declarer plays the four; partner, the deuce. Declarer is probably 1-7-2-3. If I'm right that partner would have led a diamond from queen-jack-ten, then declarer's remaining diamond must be the queen.

I lead the diamond nine--queen--king. There! What did I tell you? Partner plays the jack of diamonds. I might need the fourth club for an exit, so I pitch the eight of spades. Declarer ruffs with the four of hearts.

Declarer makes a futile attempt to reach dummy by playing the nine of clubs to the queen. I take my king and play the club eight back to declarer's ten. Declarer plays the five of hearts, and partner plays the nine. What's this all about? If declarer is indeed 1-7-2-3, I should overtake and play a club in case partner has queen-nine of hearts. But why would declarer give me that chance? Why not just play ace and a heart instead of ducking one? Could it be wrong for me to overtake and play a club? Yes. If declarer made a flaky two heart bid with 2-6-2-3, he could ruff my club return with the heart queen, then play ace and heart to endplay me. That seems more likely than that declarer exposed himself to a trump promotion for no reason. So I play the eight of hearts.

Partner plays the ten of diamonds. I pitch spade jack. Declarer ruffs and leads the heart ten. I win with the jack and play a club. Declarer ruffs with the queen and cashes the heart ace. Partner follows with the nine, so I guess declarer is 2-6-2-3 after all. We get a spade trick for down two.

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

West	North	East	South
Jack	Stephen	Phillip	Sam
Pass	Pass	1 ♣	1 ♥
Pass	Pass	1 NT	2 ♥
(All pass)

Nice crocodile coup, partner! Had partner failed to play the nine of hearts, I would have to win the trick with the eight. After I exit with my last club, ace and a heart would endplay me.

Declarer's two heart bid with 2-6-2-3 was foolish. Competing for a partscore shows a significant gain only when both contracts make. If that is unlikely, then the best result you can expect from competing is a virtual push: a small plus or a small minus at both tables. When the opponents are in one notrump and you have no singleton, chances are that if you make your contract, you are beating one notrump, so it usually wrong to compete without a singleton. An unbid six-card suit can be a reason to break this rule. But South had already shown his hearts, and North was unable to raise. So South knew he couldn't have a big heart fit.

Since one notrump makes and since partner didn't quite have a double, South's result is in the "virtual push" category. One notrump can be held to two on a passive defense, but it makes four after a normal heart lead (giving declarer an entry with the heart nine to play spades); so I expect to lose two imps. In fact, we lose three. Somehow declarer managed to score 210. South must have led hearts, then continued hearts out of sheer frustration when he was in with the spade ace.

Table 1: +100
Table 2: -210

Result on Board 1: -3 imps
Total: -3 imps