Challenge Match - Jazlene vs. Phillip - Board 6

Board five was a push, so I'm still down seven imps.

Board 6
Opponents vulnerable

♠ J 7  ♥ K Q J 6 4 3  ♦ K 2  ♣ K Q 10

Six heart tricks, half a trick in diamonds, a trick and a half in clubs. Seven in all, not quite good enough to open with one heart and rebid three hearts.

I bid heart, LHO overcalls with two diamonds, partner passes, and RHO bids two notrump. I have a pretty good hand, but partner couldn't act over two diamonds, and RHO's two notrump suggests hearts may not be breaking. So I pass, as does everyone else.

What should I lead against two notrump? Should I try a heroic low heart in case declarer has ace-nine fourth and partner has the ten? LHO might have removed two notrump if he had a stiff heart, so if declarer does have four hearts, partner probably has a singleton. Hoping it's a stiff ten is a bit much. I'm better off hoping declarer has only three hearts. But at least, if a low heart lead turns out to be right, I can say I thought about it.

I lead the king of hearts and see the following dummy:

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

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

Declarer plays a curious ten of hearts from dummy. Partner plays the eight; declarer the six.

If diamonds are running, we aren't beating this. Can we beat it if partner has jack third of diamonds? Declarer then has five diamonds and two aces. The tooltip says two notrump show 11 HCP. There are 15 HCP missing, so even if declarer has stretched a point, partner has at most five. That means he can't have both the club ace and the spade king. Declarer must have one of those cards, so he has eight tricks even after losing a diamond.

One possibility is to switch to clubs, playing partner for ace fourth. But if he has that, we can always cash clubs when partner wins his diamond trick.

What if partner has jack fifth of clubs? In that case, I must switch to clubs now to knock out the ace, giving us a heart, four clubs, and a diamond. Is that possible? That gives declarer a 6-3-2-2 shape. I don't think so. My best shot is to continue establishing hearts and hope partner has jack-ten fourth of diamonds, so that the diamond suit isn't a threat. 

I continue with the queen of hearts. Oops. That was a mistake. I'm supposed to lead the jack, since I want a club return when partner wins his diamond. Good thing partner pays no attention to my signals. Partner follows with the deuce of hearts and declarer wins with the ace.

Declarer plays the three of diamonds--deuce--nine--ten. Declarer can't have a stiff diamond. If he did, he would be finessing the queen, not the nine. So dummy's diamonds are now good. 

Partner shifts to the deuce of clubs, and declarer takes the ace. This is the position:

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

We're not beating this. So it's all about stopping overtricks now. After declarer runs the diamonds, I'm left with four cards. What should they be? If declarer has king-ten of spades, I must keep both spades, else declarer can cash the ace and finesse against partner's queen. So my last four cards will be

♠ J 7  ♥ J  ♦ --  ♣ K.

Actually that might not work. If declarer holds jack doubleton of clubs in the end position, he can duck out my king. I can't decide what to hold until I see what declarer keeps. If he holds three spades, I have to keep both spades. If he holds two clubs, I must keep both clubs. If he holds a heart, I must keep the heart jack. If I'll have to pay attention. And here I was hoping to catch a nap. Oh, well.

Declarer has played the club ace. I follow with the ten. (In real life, this card would be face down on the table and I would now turn it over. That's how a defender can pause play to give himself time to absorb what's happened without misleading declarer into believing he is thinking about the current trick. Those who designed online play forgot about this option. There should be a "play card face down" button.)

Declarer plays a diamond to the ace and cashes the queen. Partner plays six-jack in diamonds; declarer pitches the four of club; I pitch the three of hearts.

On the next diamond, partner pitches the deuce of spades. The robots almost always discard count cards, so partner is presumably 5-2-3-3 and declarer is 4-3-2-4. Declarer pitches the nine of hearts. If my construction is correct, declarer is down to four spades and three clubs. I pitch the heart four. Since declarer is out of hearts, I can now throw all my hearts if necessary. 

On the next diamond, partner pitches the spade three; declarer, the spade eight. Declarer still has three spades left, so I can't pitch a spade yet. I pitch another heart. On the last diamond, partner pitches the five of spades; declarer, the ten of spades. Declarer is down to two spades and two clubs. I can afford a spade now, so I pitch the spade seven. We are down to this position, with dummy to play:

	NORTH Robot ♠ A 4 ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ 7 3
WEST Phillip ♠ J ♥ J ♦ -- ♣ K Q		EAST Robot ♠ ? ? ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ x x
	SOUTH Robot ♠ ? ? ♥ -- ♦ -- ♣ x x

Declarer leads the three of clubs from dummy. What's he doing? Why not cash the spade ace? Is he trying to endplay me? Maybe he thinks I'm now down to

♠ K x  ♥ J  ♦ --  ♣ K.

If declarer is trying to endplay me, he must have the queen of spades. So this is the position:

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

The right defense is for me to win with the king of clubs and cash my heart. Partner must stiff his spade king and hold onto a club. Now if I lead the spade jack, declarer might get greedy, duck it, and go down.

Playing with a partner I trusted, that's exactly how I would defend. Partner can see that stiffing his spade king is our only chance to beat this, so he should go for it. But robots aren't that tough. If I win the club and cash a heart, partner is going to come down to a doubleton king of spades like a wimp.

What if I win the club king and lead the jack of spades immediately, without cashing my heart? Declarer might still duck and go down. This line is a lot less convincing than letting partner stiff his king. But playing with a robot, it's the best I can do.

Partner follows to dummy's club lead with the five, and declarer plays the jack. I win with the king and play the jack of spades.

Declarer doesn't bite. He hops with the ace. Making two.

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

Maybe I was too quick to go into stop-the-overtrick mode. We still had a chance to beat it that I didn't see. My goal should be to represent

♠ K J 7  ♥ K Q J 6 4 3  ♦ K 2  ♣ K 10

and entice declarer into endplaying me. 

How would I discard if that were my hand? I would probably pitch a spade early, so that's what I should do. If I pitch a spade at my first opportunity, a good declarer would be disinclined to think I had stiffed my jack. So in the end position, he would "know" I had king-jack of spades left and might well go for the endplay. And my lucky mistake of giving the wrong suit-preference signal at trick two would reinforce that illusion. (I would, of course, tell declarer I was thinking ahead and had falsecarded with the heart queen on purpose.)

Would declarer really risk his contract for an overtrick at IMPs? He should if he thinks the odds are good enough. Yes, you are risking six imps to gain one. But if you think it's ten to one you've read the position correctly, going for the overtrick is the percentage play. Why throw that 0.36 imps away?

What if you're wrong and go down? Then you have to be philosophical about it. I once lost a Spingold match by two imps. After we compared, my teammate told me that, on the last board, he had gone down in one notrump by playing for a "sure" overtrick. When he showed me what had happened, I couldn't blame him. He had made the right play. On a different day, that overtrick might have swung the match in our favor, and I would be congratulating him on his thoughtful play. So I could hardly take issue now. Besides, it was Edgar Kaplan. I would assume he had done the right thing even without seeing the deal.

Be sure to go to Jaz Plays Bridge and see what Jazlene does on Board 6. Let's hope she doesn't bid a fearless three hearts over two notrump and pick up a couple of imps.