Free Weekly Instant Tournament - January 18 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither side vulnerable

♠ --  ♥ A K Q 8  ♦ A J 10 8 7 3  ♣ A J 6

The auction begins one spade--pass--two spades to me.

I have two options. I can double, intending to follow with some number of diamonds if partner can't bid hearts. Or I can bid three diamonds, intending to double on the next round. As a general rule, you should time your auctions so that they end with double. That way, you aren't committed to offense. If you bid then double, partner can pass if the hand is a misfit. If you double then bid, partner doesn't have the option of defending. 

With this hand, however, there are problems with the bid-then-double approach. For one thing, if I bid three diamonds, I can't be sure of getting another chance to act. I may buy it in three diamonds cold for four hearts. For another, even if I do get a chance to double on the next round, we may still miss a heart fit. Partner may be worried I have only three hearts and may elect to support diamonds rather than bid a weak four-card heart suit.

I do have quite a good hand for offense: four losers and a good suit, so I'm not too worried about taking away partner's option to defend. I'll go for the double-then-bid approach.

I double, LHO passes, partner bids three clubs, and RHO bids three spades. I bid four diamonds as planned. To my surprise, LHO doubles. Everyone passes. and LHO leads the ten of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
Robot	Robot	Robot	Phillip
1 ♠	Pass	2 ♠	Double
Pass	3 ♣	3 ♠	4 ♦
Double	(All pass)

LHO probably has all the outstanding diamonds for his double. And RHO has four spades for his three-spade bid. So LHO is either 5-2-4-2 or 5-1-4-3. He probably would have led a spade from ace-king, so I'll assume East has a spade honor. With his diamond void, East doesn't need any other high cards. So West could have one or both club honors.

With the bad trump break, I have five losers, not four: three diamonds and two clubs. So I can't see making this. But if I can get West to break clubs for me, I'll avoid one of those losers and get out for down one.

I unblock the nine of hearts from dummy. East plays the deuce, and I win with the queen.

I need to ruff a heart in dummy, so I cash the heart ace. If West ruffs, I don't mind. It's with a natural trump trick. He doesn't ruff. He follows with the heart seven; East, with the five. So West is 5-2-4-2.

Now a low heart. West declines to ruff in front of dummy. He pitches the spade deuce instead. I ruff in dummy and lead a diamond. East shows out as expected, pitching the spade seven. I play the ten, losing the the queen. Here is the presumed position:

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

West can't afford to play a diamond or a club. So he perforce switches to a small spade, the three. I play the jack from dummy. East covers with the king, and I ruff. Now the seven of diamonds endplays West again. He wins with the nine as East discards the eight of clubs. We've reached this position:

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

Again, West can't afford a trump or a club, so he exits with the ace of spades. I ruff. Now ace and jack of diamonds endplays him a third time:

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

West must lead either a club, giving me a club trick, or a spade, giving me dummy's spade queen. He chooses a spade. I pitch one of my club losers on the spade queen and finish down one.

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

Most players in four diamonds doubled went down two. Some got higher. Minus 100 is worth 68%.

The reason this result isn't better is that some doubled two spades, then doubled again over three spades and played it there. That worked out fine this time, but it strikes me as an awfully dangerous way to live. We can argue about whether it's right to bid diamonds now or later, but not bidding them at all makes no sense to me. How can you expect partner to make an intelligent play-or-defend decision when you have good six-card suit you haven't told him about?

Be sure to play this week's Free Weekly Instant Tournament by Thursday. We can start comparing results next week.