BBO Daylong Tournament 1 - Apr 7, 2021 - Board 4

Board 4
Both vulnerable

♠ 6 4 2  ♥ Q 8  ♦ A Q 8  ♣ A Q 9 8 6

One heart--pass--one spade to me. It's dangerous to overcall at the two level with a balanced hand and a moderate five-card suit. But it's also dangerous to pass with a sound opening bid in high cards. Partner could easily have an opening bid with some heart length and have been unable to act over one heart. If he does and I pass, we could miss a vulnerable three notrump. I would not overcall with the majors reversed, since, with three hearts, the chance that partner was stymied with a decent hand is reduced. Perhaps I shouldn't overcall with this hand either. But the fact that this is a best-hand tournament, so LHO can't have more HCP than I do, tips the scales. I bid two clubs.

LHO bids two spades, promising four. RHO bids three hearts, and LHO bids four spades.

Queen doubleton of hearts calls for an aggressive lead. Whatever minor-suit tricks we have might disappear if we don't cash them. Leading from an ace-queen third suit seems too aggressive, so I try the club ace.

	NORTH Robot ♠ A J 9 8 ♥ K J 10 7 6 4 ♦ 10 ♣ K 4
WEST Phillip ♠ 6 4 2 ♥ Q 8 ♦ A Q 8 ♣ A Q 9 8 6

West	North	East	South
Phillip	Robot	Robot	Robot
	1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠
2 ♣	2 ♠	Pass	3 ♥
Pass	4 ♠	(All pass)

There are four cover cards missing: the heart ace, the diamond king, and two trump honors. A  game invitation by responder typically contains three, which leaves partner with one--probably not the heart ace, given South's three heart bid.

Declarer plays low from dummy. Partner plays the deuce; declarer, the three. If there is any logic to partner's plays at trick one, I haven't figured it out yet. I would play partner's deuce as discouraging, suggesting a diamond shift. With nothing in diamonds, I would encourage in clubs. I know partner doesn't think that way. Thankfully, he doesn't play suit preference here. But I have no clue what his card actually means. 

If declarer has five spades, I might easily lose the diamond ace if I don't cash it. Five spades, six hearts, and a club adds up to twelve tricks. Cashing the ace and continuing the suit might even be productive. If partner's card is the diamond king, declarer will probably pick up my heart queen and make an overtrick if left to his own devices. But two rounds of diamonds gives him a problem. If he ruffs in dummy, draws three rounds of trump, and misguesses the heart queen, we will have diamonds to cash. One way to avoid this outcome is to ruff, then float the jack of hearts at trick three. If it loses, dummy still has trumps left to take the diamond tap. The downside is I might win with queen third and give partner a heart ruff. But, given my two club overcall, that's unlikely. If declarer chooses this line, we'll hold him to four.

Even if partner doesn't hold the diamond king, it doesn't appear that leading diamonds will do any harm. I play the diamond ace--ten--deuce--three, then the diamond queen. Declarer pitches the heart four from dummy, partner plays the seven, and declarer wins with the king. I suspect declarer has the diamond jack as well. With just the king, he would probably ruff in dummy to retain his stopper. Although, on second thought, maybe not. Partner's one cover card is apparently a trump honor. If it's the king, declarer might be winning this trick in his hand so he can take a trump finesse.

Declarer leads the spade five--deuce--nine--queen. Not the king? Funny that declarer placed me with the spade queen. After my overcall, I would expect him to play spades the other way. Partner plays the diamond jack- (guess I was wrong about that card)--five--eight--eight of spades. Here is the current position:

	NORTH Robot ♠ A J ♥ K J 10 7 6 ♦ -- ♣ K
WEST Phillip ♠ 6 4 ♥ Q 8 ♦ -- ♣ Q 9 8 6

What's going on? I don't think Declarer would bid three hearts without three. And I don't think he would be taking a first round finesse in trumps with five. So he rates to be 4-3 in the majors. If he was 4-3-4-2, he has a diamond left. If he draws trump, then misguesses the heart, he could lose a diamond as well and finish down two. Since it appears partner has the long diamond, that makes it attractive to take the heart finesse against him. Once declarer discovers I have three trumps, it is quite likely I am 3-1-3-6, so a heart finesse against partner will be doubly attractive. Maybe we'll actually beat this contract.

Declarer plays the spade jack and overtakes with the king. He then plays the jack of clubs to the king, partner following with the seven. That's a puzzling play. He doesn't know what's going on in hearts yet, so it might be important to retain the club entry for later. I can't imagine how cashing the club king can ever be the right play.

He now leads the jack of hearts, leaving the last trump outstanding. I harbor some hope of winning this trick. But no. Declarer wins with the ace and plays another heart. My queen pops up. So he wins and draws the last trump. Making four. I'm not sure what this line was all about, but it worked.

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

Minus 620 is worth 84.2%. Most declarers made either five or six after a poor start by the defense. Some Wests led a trump, picking up partner's queen. A trump lead betrays a lack of concern for the danger of dummy's heart suit. Others led the club ace and continued clubs. This effectively picks up partner's trump queen as well, since declarer wants to keep partner off play to prevent a diamond lead through his king. Not that you know that. But you do know attacking diamonds rates to make things harder for him.

Two defenders beat four spades after starting with the diamond ace and continuing diamonds at trick two. It's surprising this defense induces declarer to go down. I would expect declarer to ruff in dummy with the jack, then pass the eight of spades to retain control if trumps don't split. When that works, the safest line is to draw trumps and play West for the heart queen to avoid a guess in clubs. Now you make six. Unfortunately, I didn't check how the play went at those two tables after the first two tricks, and I no longer have access to the results on BBO for this tournament. So I don't know what line declarer chose instead.

In retrospect, I think the diamond ace is a better lead. Partner didn't raise clubs, so if we have a suit we can hammer away at to give declarer a problem, diamonds is probably it. But even if I led a diamond, I'm not sure I would continue the suit at trick two. While not cashing the club ace might make declarer's life more difficult, it might also result in declarer's taking the rest. If I do decide to cash it, then I transpose to the position I was in and presumably get the same result.