Free Weekly Instant Tournament - September 30 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

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

RHO passes. I have a balanced hand with 18 HCP, so I open with one club, intending to rebid two notrump.

LHO overcalls with one diamond, partner bids one spade, and RHO raises to two diamonds.

Two notrump, with only a single diamond stopper, looks less appealing now than it did when the auction started. If partner has no help in diamonds, I may need to take nine tricks off the top in order to make game in notrump. On the other hand, as little as jack doubleton of diamonds gives me an extra stopper. And there is still room to investigate other strains. Besides, what else can I do? I can hardly pass. And bidding two hearts suggests more shape. So I bid two notrump.

Partner bids three diamonds, which the tooltip says promises a fifth spade. I show my four-card heart suit, and partner bids three notrump.

With three spades, I would usually make a support double over two diamonds. If I chose to bid two notrump instead, my hand should have a heavy notrump orientation. So partner needn't check back for spade support just because he has five spades. If he has a flat hand with help in diamonds, he should simply raise to three notrump. This auction suggests he has some reason to believe notrump is the wrong strain.

If partner thinks notrump might be the wrong strain, I'm inclined to agree. Queen-jack doubleton is decent support opposite for a five-card suit, and my honor dispersion is perfect for spades: fast tricks outside the spade suit, slow tricks in the spade suit. Opposite a reliable partner, it is clear to correct to four spades. It is less clear opposite a robot, whose judgment isn't always reliable. But the opponents did bid and raise diamonds. Unless partner can contribute a second stopper, I suspect we can take more tricks in spades than we can in notrump.

I bid four spades, ending the auction. West leads the six of diamonds.

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

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

Wow! Partner drove to game with this hand? I'm touched by his confidence. At least I was right to correct to four spades. Partner has no side entries, so on most layouts the opponents could hold me to two spade tricks in notrump.

To have any chance, I'm going to need to run spades. Five spade tricks and four cashing tricks on the side will bring me to nine. I have a shot at a tenth trick in either clubs or hearts.

I see no reason to win this trick. I might as well duck to cut the opponents' communications. I play low from dummy, East wins with the queen, and I play the five.

East shifts to the four of hearts--five--nine--ace. Perhaps East didn't continue diamonds from the king for fear I had the jack. Still, if he wanted to make a passive shift, he could have led a trump. The heart shift suggests he is afraid the club suit is a threat, and he needs to go after heart tricks before I can take a pitch.

I lead the spade queen--five--deuce--nine. I continue with the jack, and East covers with the king. I take the ace, and West follows with the six. Obviously spades are three-three. West would not have dropped the nine from nine fourth, and East would not have covered with king fourth.

What is my plan now? My best chance for a tenth trick is in the club suit. I can lead a club to the eight, playing West for the nine and one of the high honors. If that fails, I still have the option of playing for three-three clubs or for someone to have king or queen doubleton. Of course that would require the hand with the club entry to have short hearts, else the defense could establish a heart trick and cash it upon winning the second club trick.

What should I pitch from dummy on the third round of spades? Obviously I must keep a long club. I would like to keep a long heart as well to give myself an extra chance. Say, for example, I lead a club the the eight and queen and East continues hearts. My main chance is to hook West for the club king. But I can give myself an extra chance by winning the heart and continuing the suit. If hearts are three-three, I don't need the club finesse anymore.

I draw a third round of trumps, pitching a diamond from dummy. As expected, everyone follows. This is the position.

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

I now lead the club deuce--six--eight--nine.

That's disappointing. If East plays another heart, I have a decision to make. Do I play for three-three hearts? Or do I go after a club trick, hoping the opponents can't cash their heart? Fortunately, East doesn't play a heart. He shifts to the four of diamonds.

I win with dummy's ace and cash the club ace. West drops the king, so I claim. Making four.

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

Plus 420 is worth 100%.  A fair number of players were down in three notrump. But, surprisingly, half the field played a partscore. They opened with one notrump and their partners transferred to two spades.

Presumably those who opened with one notrump counted the queen-jack of spades as only two HCP. I have some sympathy for this decision, since I am not a fan of slavishly counting high-card points. But you do have two tens to compensate. Besides, honors in short suits are not so bad in notrump as they are in a suit contract. While I might count queen-jack doubleton as only two points in an unbalanced hand, I count them at full value for determining my notrump range.

In retrospect, I'm I think my diamond pitch on the third round of spades was a mistake. Since the club finesse lost to the nine, it made no difference. But suppose it loses to an honor? The layout might be something like this:

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

If I play a club to the eight and queen and get a heart continuation, I can still make it double dummy. But if I play as I said I would (exit with a heart, playing for hearts to break or for the club king to be onside), I go down. Had I kept a diamond in dummy, I could ruff a diamond back to my hand to take the club finesse. Even though the club finesse loses, I still make my contract because East is out of hearts.

I think the above scenario is more likely than three-three hearts. A small doubleton makes for a more attractive heart shift than any three-card holding. So I should have pitched a heart on the third trump and held on to my entry.

Note, by the way, that if East had king-queen-nine of clubs in the above layout, he should win the club eight with an honor, not with the nine. Winning with the nine gives me no chance to go wrong.