Free Weekly Instant Tournament - January 18 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K J  ♥ Q 2  ♦ A 10 7 4  ♣ K J 10 9 7

Partner opens with one club in second seat. With my major-suit holdings, it could be right to bid notrump before partner does. Perhaps, if two notrump were forcing, I would choose it. But it isn't. And blasting three notrump is too unilateral for my taste.

I raise to two clubs, showing a limit raise or better. Partner rebids two notrump and I raise to three. RHO leads the four of hearts.

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

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

I have nine tricks once I knock out the spade ace. The four is the lowest outstanding heart, so hearts are four-three one way or the other. That means the opponents can't cash enough tricks to beat me when they get in. This hand is going to be about overtricks. My first chance for an overtrick is for West to hold the heart king. I rise with the queen. East covers with the king.

It appears blasting three notrump would have worked out well. Those who do that might make four, and it's hard to see anyone's doing worse than plus 600. So unless I can find an overtrick somehow, this will be a below-average result.

No shift by East does any damage, so I see nothing to gain by winning this heart trick. In general, if you can't see any reason to win a trick, you're better off ducking. Accordingly, I play the three.

East continues with the heart seven. If I duck this trick, West may win and switch to a diamond. I will have no choice but to play low. East may then win and switch to back to hearts, setting up a fifth trick for the defense before the spade ace is knocked out. So this heart I can't afford to duck. I rise with the ace. West drops the jack.

That's a good sign. If West started with jack-nine-four, the hearts are blocked and the defense will be able to cash only one heart when they get in with the spade ace.

I lead the spade five. West hops with the ace. I unblock the king to maintain flexibility (although it's hard to see how it will ever matter), and East plays the seven. West cashes the heart nine I pitch the four of diamonds from the dummy, and East follows with the six. West shifts to the spade deuce. I win with dummy's jack, and East follows with the three. This is the position, with the lead in dummy:

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

West apparently did start with jack-nine-four of hearts, and East has the ten left. I have all the tricks but one, so the count is right for a squeeze. But I don't have the entries. I have no way to get to my hand after cashing five clubs.

Maybe I can put some pressure on East anyway, though. Suppose I cash four rounds of clubs, ending in my hand. East must come down to four cards. He doesn't know I don't have four spades. So he might decide to keep two spades and a heart and come down to a stiff diamond. I then have to guess whether to play him for a stiff king or a stiff jack.

I start by leading the club seven to my ace, then the four of clubs back to dummy's nine. Both opponents follow. If East has four spades as I hope, then he is 4-4-3-2. I lead the ten of clubs, and East discards the five of diamonds. I play low from my hand, retaining the queen to win the fourth trick. West discards the three of diamonds. 

East, I hope, is now down to a doubleton diamond and a doubleton spade and must decide on the next trick which suit to unguard. I lead the jack of clubs from dummy. East throws the heart ten, and I win in my hand with the club queen.

Well! That wasn't the mistake I was expecting, but it'll do. I have the rest.

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

Plus 630 is worth 96%. It turns out even plus 600 is above average, since some managed to go down in three notrump or even to miss game altogether. It's not a good field. 

Did East actually have a guess in the end game? Here was the position when I led the club jack and East had to make his critical discard:

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

If I held a low spade instead of a low heart, East indeed had to pitch the heart ten. But that's not possible. If West held the last heart, he would have played it after cashing the nine. It must be tough playing bridge when you are unable to draw the simplest of inferences.

As I looked over the play at other tables, I saw that almost every declarer started clubs by cashing the ace and queen. That's careless. You must arrange to win the fourth round of clubs in your hand to have any chance at an overtrick. Yes, I was lucky that East made an unlikely error. But the opponents' errors do you no good unless you are poised to take advantage of them.

One declarer did find an interesting way to make an overtrick. When West led the heart four, declarer played low from dummy. There was now no way to stop him from establishing his eight of hearts. East played the ten, and declarer ducked. East continued with the king, smothering dummy's queen, and declarer ducked again, as West played the jack. Unluckily, when declarer later won the ace, felling the nine, he didn't realize that his eight was high. So he made only three anyway.