Free Weekly Instant Tournament - September 19 - Board 4

Board 4
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K 6 5  ♥ A K Q 5  ♦ A Q 6 4  ♣ K 10

Alex covers the deal on YouTube. She must have been watching Sam Spade movies lately. She decided to go noirish on this one:

RHO opens with one club. I double, intending to rebid one notrump to show 19 to 21 HCP, balanced. LHO passes, partner bids one diamond, and RHO bids an impertinent one heart.

The opponents might be in trouble here. But they are only at the one-level, I have four-card support for partner's suit, and they could have a playable spot in clubs. It might not hurt to double just in case they are in trouble. But the robots don't do well when the auction gets complicated. It seems wiser just to bid my hand and keep the auction simple. 

I bid one notrump, and partner bids two hearts, which the tooltip says shows 5+ HCP and is forcing to three notrump. Why didn't partner just bid three notrump? No idea. But if he wants to know more about my hand, it would be remiss of me not to show him my good diamond support. So I bid three diamonds. Partner bids three notrump.

Still not sure what that cue-bid was all about. But if my three-diamond bid doesn't excite him, so be it. I pass, and LHO leads the deuce of hearts.

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

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

The sight of dummy does not enlighten me as to what partner had in mind with two hearts. He really wanted to force to game with 0 HCP opposite 19 to 21?

His proper bid over one notrump was two clubs. When the opponents bid two suits, the suit you can't have is a cue-bid, and the one you might have is natural. Here, partner can't have hearts when he didn't bid them over the double. But he might have clubs. And I've shown club tolerance with my one-notrump bid. So two clubs should be natural--and to play.

Anyway, I have to do what I can in three notrump. What's East's shape? With a stiff diamond, he might have doubled one diamond. Perhaps he's 2-4-2-5? Maybe he has a doubleton king of diamonds. If so, I can duck it out, then eventually throw the opponents in to lead a black suit for me. 

I play a low heart from dummy, and East plays the ten. A common mistake is to win the ace in this situation. That simply advertises you are well-heeled in the suit. With ace alone, you would be ducking. So the king or queen is more deceptive than the ace. The queen is marginally better. There are holdings where West will lead the queen from queen-jack, so, if East doesn't have the jack, he may already suspect you have the queen. If East had played the jack instead of the ten, the king would be better. Now neither opponent knows you have the queen.

I win with the queen. I'm going to try to duck out the diamond king, but I might as well cash the ace first. Good thing I do. West plays the deuce and East drops the king.

So East did have a stiff diamond. He surely would have doubled with 4-4-1-4, so he must be 3-4-1-5. I can now reach dummy with the diamond ten to lead up to one of my kings. Perhaps I can force the opponents to lead up to the other one. That would make three diamond tricks, three hearts tricks, and two kings for an impressive down one.

I play a diamond. West hops with the jack, and East discards the three of clubs. The three? The robots give count when discarding, so if he has all five outstanding clubs, he would be discarding the deuce. Is he 4-4-1-4 after all?

West continues with the three of hearts. I pitch a club from dummy, and East plays the nine. He shouldn't have that card. The ten at trick one was apparently a falsecard.

I win with the king and lead a diamond to dummy's ten. West plays the three, and East pitches the heart four. We've presumably reached this position, with the lead in dummy:

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

Which king should I lead up to? If I lead a spade to my king, the opponents will have three spade tricks. If I lead a club to my king, they will have only two club tricks. Seems better to lead a club.

I play a club. East hops with the ace, and West follows with the jack. East continues with the six of hearts, which I take with the ace. Now we've reached this position, with the lead in my hand:

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

If I cash the queen of diamonds and toss West in with a heart, he can cash one diamond, on which I pitch a spade. Then he must lead a spade, and I'll take the last two tricks for down one. Sounds good to me. That's what I do.

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

Minus 100 is worth 93%. Three notrump was a popular contract, but most declarers did not manage eight tricks.

Did East err in playing the third heart? He lost his second club trick that way. This was the position when East exited with a heart:

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

Can he beat me two if he plays another club? No, I guess not. I can't endplay West anymore. But I can endplay East, since he has all the spade honors. I cash the heart ace and the diamond queen. Then I lead a spade to the eight. East can't reach his partner and must give me my spade king at the end.