Event 3 - Match 9 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ 7 ♥ Q 10 7 2 ♦ A 10 9 8 5 3 ♣ A 4

I open one diamond in second seat. Partner bids one spade; I rebid two diamonds. Partner raises to three diamonds and buys it. The opponents must have about half the deck. Strange that they didn't put up much of a fight. LHO leads the queen of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Daniel	Jack	Marcin	Phillip
		Pass	1 ♦
Pass	1 ♠	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	3 ♦	(All pass)

To make this, I need either to avoid two trump losers or to avoid a heart loser. In general, when missing the king and jack (and with the ace and queen in opposite hands), the best play for one loser is ace and another with a nine-card fit and a double finesse (lead the queen, then finesse the ten if it loses) with an eight-card fit. If we ignore the bidding, this rule gives the correct answer here: Ace and another loses to king-jack third on my right; the double finesse loses to king-jack third on my left. Those holdings cancel out. Either play loses to a void on my right. The two holdings that make a difference are a void on my left (where the double finesse is the winner) and king-jack doubleton on my left (where ace and another is the winner). Since king-jack doubleton is more likely than a void, ace and another is the better play in isolation.

If we take the bidding into account, the king-jack thirds in opposite hands do not cancel out. West's pass over one diamond makes king jack third on my left more likely than king-jack third on my right. Fortunately, this makes ace and another even more attractive. If it made ace and another less attractive (for example, if the ace and queen were switched), then it would be harder to decide what to do, since the considerations from the auction would be difficult to quantify.

East plays the club six. Assuming he is encouraging, he should have either king-six doubleton or king-six-five. With four or more clubs, he would have a higher spot to play.

I see no reason to win the first trick. If I duck, maybe West will switch to a diamond to stop heart ruffs and solve my problem in that suit. So I let West's queen hold the trick. West shifts to the spade ace; East plays the four. Why is West shifting to spades? There doesn't appear to be any hurry to cash spade tricks. He might have ace doubleton and be aiming for an overruff. But if East has king fifth, why is he discouraging?

Whatever West was up to, he changes his mind. He shifts back to clubs, playing the five to East's king and my ace.

I'm not too worried that anyone has a singleton heart. So I might as well take a heart finesse now. If the jack holds, I can cash the heart ace, play a diamond to my ace, and take a ruffing finesse in hearts, conceivably making the contract even if I have two trump losers. I play the seven of hearts--eight--jack--king.

East shifts to the ten of spades. The ten? West shifted to the spade ace holding ace-king? Well, that explains the shift. He probably has ace-king fourth and was hoping to give his partner a ruff. It's interesting that Jack is unable to alter his lead agreements according to context. He leads ace from ace-king on opening lead, so he does the same thing at trick two, unable to reason that the agreement makes no sense when dummy has the queen.

The attempt to give his partner a ruff is futile, of course, since I would never rebid two diamonds with three-card support for partner's major. And "never" is not an overbid.

Lowenthal and I once had this auction:

John	Me
1 ♦	1 ♠
2 ♦	3 NT
4 ♠

"I thought we never rebid two diamonds with three spades," I said as John began to table the dummy.

"Absolutely!" agreed John. "How would I know what to do over three notrump if I had three spades?" Then he laid down

♠ J x x x ♥ x  ♦ A Q J 10 x x x ♣ x.

But I digress. I ruff East's spade with the five of diamonds; West follows with the spade three. I cash the diamond ace--deuce---six--jack. My only loser now is the diamond king. Making three.

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

West's hand looks like a pretty normal one spade overcall to me. The spades are good enough for a four-card-suit overcall, and the side five-card club suit offers some total-trick protection. (Often a fifth card in a side suit is as good as an extra trump.) If West overcalls, partner will bid one notrump, and East will cue-bid two diamonds. I will bid three diamonds (which is strictly competitive after partner's one notrump response). East, thinking his partner has five spades, will go on to three spades. This turns out to be an excellent decision, since both three diamonds and three spades are making.

Our teammates, unfortunately, also sold to three diamonds. The board is another push, the fourth of this match.

Table 1: +110
Table 2: -110

Result on Board 6: 0 imps
Total: +8 imps