Weekly Free Instant Tournament - Apr 8, 2022 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither vulnerable

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♠ A K 3  ♥ K 5 4  ♦ Q 6 4  ♣ K 5 4 2

Two passes to me. I open with one notrump, and LHO bids two diamonds, showing both majors. In theory this shows at least five-five, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the robots bid it with five-four. Partner bids two hearts, which the tooltip says shows 10-11 HCP and is forcing to three notrump. That's not an especially helpful explanation. Three notrump would show that also. It would be nice to know what the difference is.

RHO bids two spades. Since we are in a force, I could pass to see if partner wants to double this. But delicate auctions with robots have a way of getting out of hand. We probably belong in three notrump, so I'll just bid it before partner gets other ideas.

Three notrump ends the auction. West leads the spade jack.

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

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

I don't care for partner's two-heart bid, whatever he meant by it. It's better simply to bid three notrump and not give East a chance to bid two spades or to double two hearts, letting his partner know which of his suits to lead. 

Clubs is my most promising source of tricks. If I can take three clubs tricks, then three spades and the diamond ace brings me up to seven tricks. I can knock out the heart ace and the diamond king to develop two more, assuming I have time to do so. If I only have two club tricks, I will need an extra trick in one of the red suits.

I might as well start by winning the spade queen and attacking clubs. East plays the spade deuce at trick one. When I lead the club jack, he plays the six. I play the deuce, and West wins with the ace. That's a good start. But I'm still not sure how many club tricks I have. East might have started with queen-eight fourth.

West continues with the spade ten, and East plays the five. East knows I have the ace, but he doesn't know about the king, so I win with the ace. 

If the diamond king is offside, I will have to lose the lead twice. If West has five spades, I can't afford for the second time to be to him, so I need to knock out the heart ace before playing diamonds. The problem with playing hearts first is it risks letting the opponents set up heart tricks. If I lead a heart to the queen and West has ace-jack fifth for example, he now has four hearts tricks ready to cash. What if I lead the king of hearts out of my hand? The worst that can happen is West takes the ace and plays another heart. I finesse the ten, it loses, and East has a third heart to play, setting up a long heart in West's hand. But even if that happens, I'm OK. I've lost three tricks, so I can afford to take a diamond finesse. West has no entry to his long heart.

I lead the heart king. West takes the ace, and East follows with the eight. West continues with the spade six. This is the position with dummy to play:

	NORTH Robot ♠ -- ♥ Q 10 ♦ A J 9 7 ♣ 10 9 7
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ K ♥ 5 4 ♦ Q 6 4 ♣ K 5 4

What should I pitch on this trick? If clubs are three-two, I have nine tricks after knocking out the diamond king. But if they aren't, I need either to find the heart jack onside or to score a third diamond trick. Unfortunately, I can't cater to both possibilities. Since clubs are blocked, I can't afford a club pitch. I must pitch a heart or a diamond, abandoning the prospect of an extra trick in that suit. Since West has heart length, the heart finesse is a heavy favorite, so I pitch the diamond seven. East follows with the five, and I win with the king.

Now for the diamond finesse. Four of diamonds--eight--jack--king. East shifts to the club eight--four--three--nine. Clubs came home, so I have nine tricks. If the heart jack is onside, I have ten. I might as well cash as many tricks as I can. Since the robots assume declarer is double dummy, West may see no reason not to pitch down to a stiff heart. If he does, I can drop the offside jack.

I cash both clubs. West pitches two hearts, presumably coming down to two hearts and two spades. I play a diamond to queen, hoping to see one more heart pitch, but West pitches a spade. I still have the diamond ace in dummy, so it's safe to finesse the heart ten. I do, and it holds. Making four.

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

100%! The overtrick was immaterial. No one else made three notrump, since everyone played on diamonds before hearts. I know the level of declarer play is not high in these events, but I'm still surprised no one else made this. Knocking out the entry to the danger hand first is a bread-and-butter technique.