Free Weekly Instant Tournament - December 13 - Board 1

Board 1
Neither side vulnerable

♠ A J 7 6 3  ♥ K Q 7  ♦ K  ♣ 10 8 7 5

Two passes to me. I open with one spade, LHO passes, and partner bids two diamonds. This bid isn't forcing by a passed hand, and it seems high enough to me. But before I can pass, RHO chimes in with three clubs.

Really? He wasn't willing to open three clubs, but he's willing to come into the middle of a potential misfit auction when both of us have shown decent hands? Ten fourth of trumps, a singleton in partner's suit, and an ace in my suit, which could easily be facing a singleton in partner's hand, make this a clear double.

I double, everyone passes, and I lead the king of diamonds.

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

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

Declarer echoes with dummy's eight, partner plays the five, and declarer follows with the three.

What do I know about the layout? Partner has at least six diamonds and at most two spades. He probably has a singleton club, since RHO would have opened three clubs with ace-queen-jack seventh. That means partner is probably 2-4-6-1. The four-card heart suit is probably why he chose not to open two diamonds. 

Could partner be 2-3-7-1? That would mean we have a heart trick coming. But I doubt it. Chiming in at the three level between two bidding opponents is bad enough as it is. I can't see South's doing that without a singleton somewhere. And "somewhere" has to be hearts.

Could partner have a singleton spade, in which case I can give him spade ruffs? That would make partner either 1-5-6-1 or 1-4-7-1. Partner might pull with those patterns, but that's not clear. He is right to pull if I have this hand, but for all he knows I'm 6-5 in the black suits.

What about high cards? Partner should have 9 or 10 HCP for his two-diamond bid. If he has ace-queen of diamonds, he still needs a queen and a jack or two queens. 

What does declarer have for tricks? If he has ace-queen-jack sixth of clubs, he has six club tricks, one heart, and one spade. If he scores a diamond ruff in dummy, that's nine tricks. So perhaps I should switch to a trump at trick two. If declarer wins and plays another diamond, partner can win and put me in with the spade ace for a second trump play, stopping the ruff. But is that good enough? Perhaps declarer doesn't need the ruff. Perhaps he can make use of the heart suit instead. 

Say I switch to a trump. Declarer wins in his hand. Heart to the ace, ruff a heart, club to dummy, ruff a heart. Dummy now has two good hearts. He draws my trump and leads a spade toward the king. I have no entry to partner's hand to cash diamonds, so he makes an overtrick. In fact, even if partner has a stiff queen or jack of clubs to hold declarer to five club tricks, declarer can still come to nine tricks if I let him set up hearts. 

Forget the trump shift. I need to shift to a spade to kill the late dummy entry. That allows declarer to ruff a diamond, but if partner has a club honor, we can afford that. So long as we kill the heart suit, declarer takes one spade, one heart, five clubs, and a ruff for eight tricks. 

Switching to spades has the additional advantage that I might catch partner with a singleton. I play the ace of spade--four--nine--deuce. Now three of spades--king--queen--ten.

Declarer plays a spade off dummy, and partner ruffs with the queen of clubs as declarer pitches the nine of hearts. The club queen is a good card to see, but I'm surprised declarer is pitching a heart. Could he be 2-2-3-6 after all? 

Partner cashes the diamond ace. Declarer follows with the seven and I pitch a spade. Partner continues with the nine of diamonds and declarer follows with the jack. We've reached this position, with me to play to the current trick:

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

This doesn't add up. If declarer is 2-2-3-6, then partner just underled his queen of diamonds to declarer's stiff jack. Did declarer make a truly bizarre three-club bid with

♠ 10 2  ♥ x x  ♦ J 10 x x  ♣ A J x x x ?

I ruff with the club five, forcing dummy's king. Declarer cashes the ace of hearts and pitches the ten of diamonds. OK. 2-1-4-6 after all. I eventually score the club ten for the setting trick.

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

Plus 100 is worth 93%. Only one other player doubled three clubs. This field is a bunch of ninnies. The other doubler managed to beat it two tricks. At trick two, he shifted to the king of hearts. With the spade entry intact, declarer could now make this. But he took the heart ace, ruffed a heart to his hand, and led the club jack for a backward finesse, finishing down two.

The heart shift makes no sense. If declarer has a stiff heart, it accomplishes nothing. If he has doubleton, he simply ducks, and the defense can't take more than four tricks. The heart suit is a source of tricks for declarer, not for the defense. So you need to attack dummy's side entry.

But, while the spade shift was correct, ace and a spade isn't good enough. Declarer can win the spade, play ace and ruff a heart, play a club to the king, and ruff another heart, stripping me of my last red card. After he cashes his top clubs, we will reach this position:

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

Now he exits with a club, pitching dummy's small heart. I get the spade jack, but I must concede the last two tricks to dummy. I think declarer knew enough about the layout to find this line. A good declarer would have made the hand after my defense.

To beat the contract, I must shift to low spade at trick two. That both kills the heart suit and builds an entry to partner with the spade queen. Now if declarer goes for the end play, I can reach partner to cash his diamonds.

A low spade isn't 100%. If declarer has

♠ Q x x  ♥ 9  ♦ x x x  ♣ A J 9 x x x

ace and a spade gives us the first four tricks, and I still have a club trick coming. A low spade is not a success. So at least my defense wasn't hopeless. 

But I didn't see the endplay coming. If I had seen it, noticed a low spade shift would prevent it, and then chosen to play for ruffs anyway, that would be one thing. As it is, I have to count my defense as an error.