Free Weekly Instant Tournament - December 2 - Board 7

Board 7
Both vulnerable

♠ K 10 9 6 4 3  ♥ A Q 5  ♦ A 5  ♣ 8 5

I open with one spade, and partner bids one notrump. I bid two spades, and partner raises to four. Partner probably has a three-card limit raise. Once I've shown a sixth spade, a three-card limit raise becomes a game drive.

Everyone passes, and West leads the diamond three.

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

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

Hmm. Partner upgraded his two notrump rebid to a game drive. I think that's a mistake. The sixth spade doesn't significantly improve your hand when you have only two trumps. Fortunately, this is a decent game, but that's because I have a clear acceptance over three spades.

I play the diamond ten from dummy. If East has the queen, he should duck this. I get three diamond tricks whether he covers or not, but it must be better to tangle up the suit and give me communication problems. East doesn't see it that way. He covers with the queen, and I take the ace.

It's tempting to cash my diamonds and pitch a club. But that could work out badly. For one thing, West may have a doubleton diamond and score a ruff with the club ace onside all along. For another, after I take my pitch, I'm in the wrong hand to start trumps. I'd like to play the first trump from my hand to guard against ace-jack tight on my left. But if I cross to my hand with a heart, I expose myself to a possible heart ruff. 

Even if no one has a singleton heart, I could run into problems. Say I lead a heart to my hand, then a spade to the queen and ace. East plays a second heart. I win in dummy and finesse against the spade jack. It loses, and West gives his partner a heart ruff--or crosses to the club ace and gets one himself.

Perhaps I'm better off postponing the pitch. I could lead a spade to the queen at trick two. Playing a spade now could work out badly also. If West has the spade ace and East has the club ace, West could hop and lead a club, making me wish I'd taken my pitch. But there is only a 25% chance both aces are wrong. And even if they are, why should West find the winning defense? If he had some club holding where shifting to a club is safe (queen-jack-ten, for example), he would have led a club at trick one. So hopping and shifting to clubs has to entail some risk.

Whenever declarer might take an early pitch but doesn't, it suggests either that he can't (on this deal, for example, that I have ace third of diamonds) or that the pitch is unnecessary (on this deal, that I have the club ace). So West might reason that hopping with the spade ace and shifting to clubs is unlikely to be the right defense.

It's a common mistake to forget that the opponents can't see your hand. Worrying that they will find some double-dummy defense is fine if you can cater to that possibility with virtually no risk. But that's not the case here. The risk in taking the pitch may be small, but it's not insignificant. The risk that the opponents will find the killing defense probably is insignificant.

I play the spade three--deuce--queen--ace. East plays the diamond eight. I win in dummy as West follows with the seven. At this point, I have to take the pitch. At least I now know that West didn't start with a doubleton diamond.

Could I set myself up for an uppercut by taking the pitch? Suppose West has three diamonds and jack-eight fourth of spades. I take my pitch and lead a spade. East shows out. I take the king and concede a trick to the jack. If East has the club ace, West can now lead a club to him for a fourth diamond, scoring his spade eight. But If East has the club ace, there was never anything I could do. I could stop the uppercut, but then I would have to lose two club tricks. So there is no reason not to take the pitch.

I cash the last diamond, pitching a club. East follows with the six; West, with the nine. I lead a spade from dummy and East follow with the eight.  I finesse the nine, and West pitches the heart eight. So I have another spade loser plus a club loser unless East started with three hearts. If he did, he can't ruff in until I pitch my last club. Unfortunately, West's heart eight, assuming it's a count card, makes that unlikely.

I cash the spade king as West pitches the club deuce. I've reached this position:

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

I cash the ace of hearts--seven--three--deuce. West echoed, so it appears he began with four hearts. On the other hand, why would West pitch a heart from four? He doesn't know I don't have the spade jack. If I had it, pitching from four hearts allows me to make six.

I cash the heart queen--four--six--ten, then play another heart. West follows with the jack. So he did have four hearts. I see. He must have the club ace as well. He knew he was getting squeezed if my spades were good, so pitching a heart couldn't hurt.

I play the king. East ruffs and plays a club to his partner's ace. Making four.

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

Plus 620 is worth 64%. One declarer made five. After reaching the end position above, he conceded a trump trick rather than attempting to run the hearts. East won with the jack and failed to return a club, so declarer got his discard.

After West's heart pitch, perhaps that was a better line. Since the robots almost always give count on their first discard, the only way hearts could be three-three was if West had jack-ten-eight of hearts. And if he did, he might have led one. Conceding the trump trick was my best shot. 

I forgot that East couldn't see my hand.