Free Weekly Instant Tournament - January 18 - Board 6

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ Q 9 2  ♥ 8 7 2  ♦ A K J 9  ♣ K 5 4

RHO passes. I open with one diamond. Partner responds one spade, and I rebid one notrump. LHO chimes in with two clubs.

The tooltip confirms what I suspect: LHO has no idea what this auction means. He thinks it shows five or more clubs and ten or more HCP. He probably has a hand where he wanted to overcall on the previous round but he considered his hand flawed in some way. Possibly the suit quality is below standard.

This kind of bidding makes no sense at all. If you're going to make an overcall you consider unsound, why let the opponents exchange information first? Not only is it more dangerous to bid now than it was on the first round, it is also less productive. An immediate two club overcall would have taken the one level away from us. Passing allowed responder to get his suit into the auction cheaply and allowed me to limit my hand with a one-notrump rebid.

That's not to say this auction doesn't exist. But it should show at least a sound opening bid with primary diamonds and secondary clubs. Clubs might even be a four-card suit. Just because your opponent opened with one diamond doesn't mean diamonds isn't your side's best strain. And it can be hard to get there without the agreement that unsolicited belated actions show primary length in opener's suit. It is certainly a more useful agreement than playing that such actions announce to the opponents that you are making a questionable call.

Over two clubs, partner bids two spades and buys it. RHO leads the club queen.

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

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

Note that an immediate two club overcall would have worked much better. Partner would bid two spades, which I would raise to three. With his diamond fit, partner would probably decide to bid on and we would reach a hopeless game.

East plays the club three at trick one, and I win with the ace. I could play a diamond to dummy and take a heart pitch on the the club king. But the opening lead suggests East has seven clubs, and West's silence suggests East has at least two hearts as well. So the chance East has a singleton diamond is quite high. If he does, breaking diamonds may enable him to get two diamond ruffs when the defense takes the spade ace. I'll be trading one heart loser for two diamonds losers, which is not a good trade. On a bad day, East might even be void in diamonds. Then I could go down trying to take my pitch.

What if I play a spade instead? If West has the ace and ducks, I'm in dummy to take my pitch. Will he duck? Almost surely. He's not looking at my hand and doesn't know my problem. From his point of view, I might be intending to insert the spade nine, losing to East's jack. Or hopping might drop his partner's stiff king.

And even if the spade ace is offside, a spade lead doesn't necessarily cost. East may ask himself why I seemed uninterested in taking a pitch on the club king. He might conclude that his partner is the one with the singleton and might try to give West a club ruff rather than cash hearts. 

Since a spade will surely work if West has the spade ace and might work even if he doesn't, it looks like a better play than opening myself up to diamond ruffs.

I play a spade--eight--nine--ace. Will East play a club now? No. He cashes the heart king, then plays the queen. West overtakes with the ace to cash to jack. East doesn't let him cash it, however. He makes the good play of ruffing his partner's trick to lead a club. I ruff with the ten and claim. Making three.

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

Plus 140 is worth 46%. My first below average board in this set. East has a doubleton diamond, so I could have made four by crossing with a diamond to take my pitch, as some did. I stand by my choice, however. I think a spade at trick two is the better play, even though it was wrong this time.