Event 3 - Match 8 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 8 ♥ Q J ♦ Q J 6 ♣ Q 10 9 7 6 5 4

One heart by partner; double on my right. I bid two clubs, which Jack plays as non-forcing.

Partner bids three diamonds, natural and game-forcing. I have a huge hand on this auction: four honors in partner's suits and a singleton in the unbid suit. I could show slam interest by bidding four hearts. Even if you play fast arrival after a fit has been found, fast arrival makes no sense in auctions like this. A preference to three hearts can't promise slam interest, because you need it as a neutral move, giving partner a chance to rebid diamonds, to support clubs, or to bid three notrump. So, if four hearts is weak, you have no way to show slam interest in hearts below game.

Does a jump preference do this hand justice? If not, I can make a more aggressive slam try by bidding three hearts, then bidding on if partner signs off. Given the opponents' strange silence, the singleton spade is going to be hard for partner to envision. So perhaps I should bid three hearts and follow with four spades over partner's next bid.

The problem is, I'm not used to non-forcing two-over-ones. So I'm not sure what partner needs to bid three diamonds. Does it show the same hand as a jump shift after a one-level response? If so, I'm certainly worth a bid past game. I might even be worth a slam drive. I can make six diamonds opposite as little as

♠ x x ♥ A K 10 x x x ♦ A K 10 x x ♣ --,

which doesn't even qualify as a jump shift. On the other hand, perhaps three diamonds simply shows enough to force to game opposite a light two-over-one. In that case, as the limited hand, I'm not even allowed to bid past game on my own initiative. That would be a violation of captaincy. The answer depends on whether two diamonds by opener would be forcing or not. I think it should be, which would make three diamonds a slam try. But who knows what partner thinks?

I settle for four hearts, although I'm a little nervous about it. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the ace of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
Christian	Phillip	Floyd	Jack
		Pass	1 ♥
Double	2 ♣1	Pass	3 ♦
Pass	4 ♥	(All pass)
1Non-forcing

This doesn't look like a jump shift to me. So I gather partner thought two diamonds would not be forcing. Even so, two diamonds looks like enough. How unhappy would partner be if I passed it? If I had four diamonds, I would raise. If I didn't, I would show a preference to hearts with a doubleton. The only time I would pass two diamonds would be with a singleton heart, three diamonds, and a hand where neither two notrump nor three clubs appealed. If I have that hand, how high do you want to be?

The fact that partner doesn't even have his bid and we are still in no serious danger at the five level suggests I was too conservative. Three hearts, followed by four spades, was probably the right auction.

RHO plays the spade deuce, and I play the four. West shifts to the seven of diamonds. To eschew the obvious heart shift, West must have the heart king, doubleton or singleton. I play low from dummy, East plays the five, and I win with the king. I lead the seven of spades. West carefully covers with the nine, and I ruff in dummy as East follows with the three. I lead the queen of hearts; East plays the three.

It gains to finesse only if East has a doubleton king of hearts. I doubt that's the case, both from the auction and from West's failure to shift to a heart, so I go up with ace. The king doesn't drop, and no one can ruff a diamond. Making five.

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

Of all the ways to handle the West hand, making a take-out double and never bidding spades would not have occurred to me. I assume he intended to bid spades when he doubled. My partner's jump shift must have frightened him. (I don't blame him. It frightens me as well.)

Our teammates play four spades, down one. So we pick up 11 imps.

Table 1: +650
Table 2: -100

Score on Board 4: 11 imps
Total: +15 imps