Free Super Sunday Daylong - May 29 - Board 11

Board 11
Neither vulnerable

♠ 10 4  ♥ 9 8 4 3  ♦ A K Q J 10  ♣ Q J

I open in first seat with one diamond. LHO bids one heart, and partner responds with one spade. RHO bids three-diamonds, showing four hearts and seven to nine support points. Since diamonds is the prime feature of my hand, I double. LHO and partner pass. East unsportingly runs to three hearts.

I've said all I have to say. I pass, LHO passes, and partner bids four clubs. That's strange. If partner wanted to bid clubs. why didn't he do so on the previous round? The opponents obviously were not going to play in three diamonds doubled. By passing, he took the risk that, at his next turn, the auction would be too high for him to show his club suit.

I know it's pointless to try to figure out what a robot is up to on a complicated auction. But let's imagine that we are playing with a reliable partner. What might we conclude from the fact that partner passed on the previous round?

Normally, one strives to introduce suits as early as possible because it might be right to compete if we find a fit. Since partner risked not finding a club fit, he presumably had no interest in competing even if we found one. In other words, if the opponents had bid four hearts, he was happy to defend. Quite possibly, he was intending to double.

This conclusion is contraindicated by my holding four hearts. But the robots have been known to overcall in chunky four-card suits. So it's possible partner is, say, 5-2-1-5 with top cards and fancied his prospects on defense.

Again, this is all moot playing with robots. And it's probably moot playing with a reliable partner as well, since, whatever partner's auction suggests, the only action that makes sense with this particular hand is to correct to four spades.

I bid four spades. Everyone passes, and RHO leads the heart ace.

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

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

As one might expect, partner does not have the hand he should for this auction. It's not entirely clear what he should have done. Perhaps pulling the double to four spades is the practical call. We might have a club slam if I have the right cards, but it will be hard to diagnose.

I'm off the club ace and possibly the spade king. I also have the fourth and fifth round of clubs to worry about, but I can probably manage to pitch them on diamonds. I have two entries to dummy: one in clubs, and one in diamonds. I need to use one to take the trump finesse and the other to take my discards. Does it matter which one I use first?

If I play a club now, the opponents might take the ace and play another. Now if the trump finesse loses, I might suffer a club ruff. So I need to use the diamond entry first.

I play a diamond to dummy. West plays the six; East, the nine. It appears one of the opponents is giving false count.

I lead the spade ten--seven--three--nine. I repeat the spade finesse and drive the club ace. Making six.

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

Plus 480 is worth 69%. I'm averaging 75% with one board to go.