BBO Daylong Tournament 1 - Jun 1, 2021 - Board 5

Board 5
Our side vulnerable

♠ A K 10 8 5 2  ♥ Q 3  ♦ Q 5  ♣ 8 7 2

Two passes to me. If I were in fourth seat, I could see opening two spades, since partner will expect a decent hand. But this a full opening bid, so it is too good for a third-seat weak two bid. 

I open one spade, and partner bids two diamonds. It might be right to pass this. But partner could have opened with a weak two-bid in diamonds and chose not to. If he has six diamonds, it's probably a bad suit, and he might have only five. I did briefly contemplate opening two spades, after all. So how bad can it be to bid it now? 

I bid two spades, and partner bids three diamonds, which I pass. Oh, well. I guess I should have passed two.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
			Pass
Pass	1 ♠	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	2 ♠	Pass	3 ♦
(All pass)

That's some three diamond bid! Why should partner assume diamonds are better than spades with ace-nine-eight sixth? He might be right, however, since West chose to lead the diamond jack. I cover with the queen and take East's king with my ace. I can now cash the ace and king of spades, pitching a heart, and possibly hold my losses to a heart, a diamond, and, if I'm lucky, two clubs. I play a spade--jack--ace--three. I lead the spade king, and East ruffs with the diamond four. 

Well! Nice three diamond bid, partner! Two spades would not have played well. There is no reason to shorten my trumps and be in danger of losing control, so I pitch the eight of hearts. West follows with the spade nine. East shifts to the jack of clubs.

Should I play the king or the queen? If I want East to think his partner might have the club queen, I should cover this with the king. If I want West to think his partner might have the club king, I should cover with the queen. East will probably know his partner doesn't have the queen when he doesn't continue the suit, so West is the only one I have a chance of fooling. I play the queen. West takes the ace and cashes the diamond ten. East follows. This is the current position.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ 10 8 5 2 ♥ Q 3 ♦ -- ♣ 8 7
	SOUTH Robot ♠ -- ♥ 10 ♦ 9 8 6 3 ♣ K 9 3

West plays the spade queen, and East discards the heart nine. West wasn't worried about setting up dummy's spades, because he knows I have no dummy entry. I could ruff this and cash the club queen, making if the ten drops and going down one if it doesn't. But there is no reason to ruff when I have a heart loser to pitch. As we've observed before, if you need your opponent to do something foolish, your chances are better if you leave him on play. 

This technique proves valuable once again. When I pitch my heart, West shifts to the club five, picking up his partner's ten of clubs. Making three.

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

What was West playing me for when he switched to a club?

♠ x  ♥ A T x x  ♦ A 9 8 x x x  ♣ Q x ?

With that hand, I would be pitching my club losers instead of my potential heart winners. But the robots draw no inferences from the play, so that kind of reasoning isn't available to them. 

While the club shift was a clear error, West wouldn't have made that error if I hadn't given him the chance to do so. I had to cover the club jack with the queen, not the king, and I had to leave him on play in the end position. Both of these plays I made on general principles, with no specific idea of what mistake I was trying to lure my opponent into making. But the general principles are worth keeping in mind: (1) Try to keep the opponents in the dark. (2) Give the opponents decisions to make. 

94% for plus 110. Somewhat surprisingly, no one passed two diamonds, which I thought was a reasonable choice at the time and which looks even better in hindsight. Most either took the same auction I did or opened two spades and played it there, going down anywhere from one to three. 

So opening two spades works out poorly not because the hand is too good but because spades, surprisingly, is the wrong strain. Funny how decisions sometimes work out for reasons other than the reason you made them.