Free Weekly Instant Tournament - June 9 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

Once again, the board I'm supposed to discuss this week, board 8, has nothing of particular interest. You bid an obvious slam and claim at trick two. So I'll discuss board 4 instead. There should be plenty to say about this board, because it's the one that took me the longest to play.

♠ A 10 6 5  ♥ A 6  ♦ A 10  ♣ Q 7 6 4 3

Three passes to me. I open with one club, partner bids one heart, and I rebid one spade, which partner raises to three.  I have 14 HCP, including three aces, plus a side five-card suit. Or, if you prefer,  I have six losers. However you want to look at it, this hand is a clear acceptance. I bid four spades and everyone passes. LHO leads the king of clubs.

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

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

I probably need three-two spades to have any chance to make this. So let's assume that. 

I have only three losers: a heart and two clubs. But coming to ten winners may be difficult. This looks like a deal where I should be counting winners, not losers. If I take two hearts and two diamonds, I'll need six trump tricks to make this. That probably means four trump tricks in one hand and two ruffs in the other. 

East plays the club jack at trick one. Since West might have king-queen of clubs instead of ace-king, East can't afford the jack from jack-small. So this is either a singleton or jack-ten doubleton. It's probably a singleton. Leading from ace-king-nine fourth in my suit would be strange. So I'll assume clubs are five-one.

I expect West to cash the club ace and play a third club for a possible trump promotion. But he doesn't. At trick two, West shifts to the eight of diamonds. That's something of a relief. Now I must decide how to score six trump tricks. With club shortness on my right, I'm not going to be able to score ruffs in dummy. Can I draw trumps in dummy and score two ruffs in my hand?

Say I win with the diamond ace, play a diamond to the king and take a heart finesse. I need to hope it works, since, if West wins, he will surely play ace and a club now. Let's say the queen holds. I then ruff a diamond and cash the heart ace. I'm out of side entries to dummy, so I must return to dummy with ace and a trump. Now I ruff a heart. We've reached the following position. We reach a similar position on a different sequence if East covers the heart queen.

	NORTH Robot ♠ Q 4 ♥ J ♦ -- ♣ 8
	SOUTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ Q 7 6 4

There is one trump outstanding, but I can't get back to dummy to draw it. Since West has four clubs left, East must have the last trump, and I can't avoid a trump promotion.

Perhaps I'm better off hoping West has the heart king. If I can score three heart tricks, I need only one ruff in my hand. 

Suppose I draw three rounds of trumps to put a stop to any trump promotion, then play ace and a heart. If West takes the king, I have ten tricks. If he plays low, I can hope the king ruffs out. So I make this if he has king doubleton or king third. 

What about king fourth? I play ace and a heart. He ducks. I win with the queen and ruff a heart. The king doesn't drop, but I'm still OK, because West has at most two diamonds. I play a diamond to dummy and toss him in with the last heart. He must give me the club queen for my tenth trick.

Given West's failure to overcall with one heart, I'm not gong to worry about king fifth of hearts. So, given my previous assumptions, drawing trump and playing ace and a heart will work any time West has the heart king. That looks like the right line.

Assuming, of course, that it's possible for West to hold the heart king. Is it? That diamond shift at trick two was strange. It set off alarm bells. What could have prompted it?

If West had the heart king, he would be looking at three tricks. Ace and another club would look like an obvious way to try for a fourth. On this layout, it puts me to a guess. If I didn't have the spade ten, it would work by force. Whatever West was trying to accomplish with that diamond shift, I can't see his making it with any hand that includes the heart king.

If East has the heart king, that means my only chance is to score six trump tricks. I already decided scoring four trumps in dummy and two ruffs in my hand is problematic. Perhaps I can score four trumps in my hand and two ruffs in dummy with the king and queen of spades. If West is 2-3-3-5, I can score the low trumps in my hand by ruffing red cards. I may need to find the spade jack onside to score the spade ten.

I play a low diamond from dummy, and East plays the queen. I take my ace and play the diamond ten, West covers with the jack. I win with dummy's king, and East plays the five. Now queen of hearts--ten--six--three. If the opponents are giving count in hearts, then East has king-ten-nine-deuce, making him 3-4-5-1 and West 2-3-3-5 as I had hoped.

I ruff a diamond to my hand. East plays the three; West, the nine. I cash the ace of hearts--five--four--deuce. If my construction is correct, we've reached this position:

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

I've taken five tricks. I need five more

What happens if I exit with a club? If West wins and plays a low club, I pitch a heart and East ruffs. Now trumps are two-two, so five tricks are no problem. I can draw trumps in two rounds and score my remaining three trumps separately. 

What if West wins and plays the club ace? Now my club queen is good, so again five tricks are easy. I ruff with the king, then ace of spades, spade to the queen, leaving one trump outstanding. Now I ruff a heart to my hand and pitch the dummy's last heart on my club queen as East ruffs.

And if West wins and shifts to a trump? That picks up the spade jack, giving me four top spade tricks. All I need to do is ruff a heart with the six for my fifth trick.

The only exit that gives me a problem is a heart. If West plays a heart, I ruff with the six, ruff a club high, then ruff the last heart with the spade ten and hope it holds.

I play a club. West hops with the nine, and East pitches the seven of diamonds. West shifts to the spade seven--three--jack--ace. I ruff a club with the spade king and ruff a heart with the six. That's three tricks, and the ace and queen of spades are two more. Making four.

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

Plus 620 is worth 93%. The spade jack is onside, so I would survive a heart exit in the end position.

Drawing trump and playing West for the heart king is, at first blush, an attractive line. Playing East for the heart king doesn't see you home even if you're right. You still need some luck to avoid a trump loser. But if you play West for the heart king and are right, that's all you need (given our previous assumptions).

Still, that's a line that wouldn't occur to a lot of players. With queen-jack fourth opposite ace doubleton, a player who is counting losers rather than winners might not even consider ace and low toward dummy. After all, that gives up on the possibility of having no heart losers. But unless you can ruff or pitch both of those small hearts, avoiding a heart loser through a finesse against East may not accomplish anything. You will end up losing the fourth round of hearts instead of the second.

If that line does occur to you, the next step is to spurn it by realizing that West's defense virtually marks East with the heart king. The declarers in these free weekly tournament are not typically very good. So, while most of them went down, only one declarer went down by finessing West for the heart king. The rest finessed against East, probably not seeing the alternative, then went down by mishandling the crossruff.