Free Weekly Instant Tournament - June 23 - Board 2

Board 2
Our sides vulnerable

♠ K  ♥ A J 5 3  ♦ K 9 4 3 2  ♣ K 10 3

RHO passes.

1-4-5-3 is an awkward pattern in standard methods. My plan is to start with one diamond and rebid one notrump over partner's likely one-spade response. A one-notrump rebid makes it easier to find a heart fit than a two-diamond rebid would. Partner will expect a doubleton spade, but perhaps the stiff king will be good enough if he insists on playing spades.

I bid one diamond, but it is the opponents, not partner, who bid spades. LHO overcalls with one spade, partner makes a negative double, and RHO raises to two spades.

The right call is three hearts. Three hearts does not show a hand that would have raised a one-heart response to three. It might be a hand that is barely worth a jump raise, but with most jump raises, you should simply bid game.

I know some play good-bad two notrump here, but there are three reasons I don't like that convention.

First of all, the name is silly. Why should I trust the judgment of someone who can't think of a better name?

Second, I think a natural two notrump bid is useful in this auction, and I'm disinclined to give it up.

Third, and most importantly, I dislike bids that show a desire to compete but don't tell partner what strain I want to compete in. If I bid a meaningless two notrump and LHO bids three spades, how is partner supposed to know what to do? Whether it's right for him to bid or not will often depend on which suit I was intending to sign off in. In competition, I like to stretch to get my suits into the auction. If that means I have to overbid a little with a good hand, bidding four hearts with a hand that isn't quite worth a game drive, then so be it. An aggressive four heart bid is a good tactical call anyway, since it puts pressure on the opponents. It's hard to know whether or not to save when even declarer isn't sure whether the game is making.

Still, even though the right call is three hearts, I haven't had good results bidding aggressively opposite robots in this position. They tend not to give me much leeway, raising to game for no particular reason. Fortunately, I have noticed that the robots balance quite aggressively in this position. Responder tends to double again even with a minimum for their first double. So I'm not too worried about selling out to two spades. Opposite a robot partner I think it's safer to pass, intending to bid three hearts over his likely reopening double.

I pass, LHO passes, and partner bids three clubs. I correct to three hearts, and everyone passes. LHO leads the four of clubs.

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

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

See what I mean? It wouldn't occur to me to act again with partner's hand. You invited partner to bid a second suit and he declined. Why should he be wrong? And if I did act with this pattern, I would double. Three trumps and a singleton in partner's suit suggests defending, so I want to give partner that option. I'm about a king shy of a second double, however. So I would simply pass. The robots get this auction backwards. Opener is better placed than responder to decide whether to compete, so opener needs to be free to take aggressive action and responder should respect his decision.

Now to the problem at hand. The first thing to note is that the opponents have broken the Law. They sold to three hearts with nine spades between them. That observation may come in handy when I have more information and try to construct the layout.

The club lead is probably a singleton. Leading dummy's longest suit is not usually a good idea. I play low from dummy, RHO plays the queen, and I win with the king.

The robots don't falsecard here, so I was wrong that the lead is a singleton. West has led from jack third or fourth. I suspect fourth. Leading from jack third in dummy's suit in preference to a suit your side has bid and raised would be a very strange choice. Leading from jack fourth, hoping to find partner with shortness, makes more sense. So West's likeliest patterns are 5-1-3-4 (making East 4-4-4-1) or 5-2-2-4 (making East 4-3-5-1). I'm inclined to assume the former. A four-one heart break would explain why the opponents sold out. With a trump stack, East might have decided to ignore his fourth spade and take his chances on defense. So my working assumption is East is  4-4-4-1.

It looks right to start with a heart to the king, then a heart to my jack. If West shows out as I expect him to, I can cash the hearts ace and start running clubs. East will ruff in at some point and I'll wind up with four heart tricks in my hand, one ruff in dummy, and four clubs tricks. Nine in all. 

If West follows low to the heart finesse, I can draw the last trump and make an overtrick.

Am I in trouble if the heart finesse loses? Now West can give his partner a club ruff. But that means I no longer have to draw the third trump, so I can score two ruffs in dummy. I take three heart tricks in my hand, four club tricks, and two ruffs. Nine tricks.

I lead the heart three--six--king--deuce. Now the heart four--eight--jack. West pitches the three of spades. The spade deuce is still out. Probably East has it and West has pitched lowest from five. The robots like to pitch count cards.

I cash the heart ace, and West pitches the six of clubs. Now to run the clubs. I lead the club ten and pass it. East pitches the five of diamonds, That's the lowest diamond and the robots seldom falsecard on their first discard in a suit. Am I wrong about the layout? Does East have five diamonds? That makes him 3-4-5-1 and West 6-1-2-4. It's hard to believe West would sell out with a six-four. Perhaps East has queen-jack-ten-five of diamonds and didn't want to waste an honor giving count.

I lead a club to dummy's ace, and East pitches the spade four. The deuce is still out. That's consistent with either 4-4-4-1 or 3-4-5-1. In the former case, the four was the start of an echo. In the latter case, West's three was the start of an echo. On the fourth club, I pitch my spade king. East pitches the spade eight; West, the spade five. Somebody is still clutching the deuce.

On the last club. East finally decides to ruff, as West pitches the spade six. We have reached the following position with East on lead. I need two tricks to make my contract, and I can make both trumps separately. So an overtrick is the only concern.

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

East shifts to the diamond queen. He probably can't have both the ace and queen of diamonds on the auction, so I have nothing to gain by covering. I play low, and West follows with the ten. That looks like ace-ten doubleton. Perhaps West did sell out with six spades. If so, the defense is in trouble. If East continues diamonds, West's ace will ruff out. If he shifts to a low spade, I will pitch a diamond, letting West win the trick. He will then have to set up either my diamond king or dummy's spade jack.

East continues with the diamond seven. I insert the nine. West plays the ace and I ruff in dummy. Making four.

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

100%! East could have stopped the overtrick by ruffing the second club and playing a spade while West still had a club exit. Now I have no way to score a spade or diamond trick. The overtrick was immaterial, however. I was the only one to go plus. If you bid three hearts over two spades, partner raises to four with his misfitting minimum. So most of the field was in four hearts, and no one managed to make it.

This was my second 100% in this set. I scored 100% for plus 150 on board one. I suspect it will be downhill from here.