Match 2 - Board 13

Board 13
Both sides vulnerable

♠ A 7 3 2 ♥ K Q J 10 7 ♦ Q 2 ♣ 6 2

Pass by partner; one notrump (15-17) on my right. I don't expect to make a game opposite a passed hand, and I think I'm likelier to get a plus score defending one notrump than I am playing two of a major. So my inclination is to pass. As a general rule, I'm hesitant to bid over an opponent's one notrump opening without a singleton.

This is a pretty good hand, however, so I might bid even without a singleton if not for the fact that I have both majors. That probably sounds strange to you. And it should. As far as I know, I'm the only one in the world who thinks that holding both majors is a deterent to bidding over one notrump. Let me attempt to explain. Maybe I can actually win one or two converts.

Suppose my spades and clubs or my spades and diamonds were reversed. Now, if I pass, there is a serious danger that I will wind up defending two spades. Passing might not be so bad if the opponents weren't playing transfers, since I would have a chance to balance over two spades. But, if I pass and the auction continues two hearts--pass--two spades, I won't know whether the auction is about to end or not. It is surely less dangerous to bid on the first round than to bid now.

With the actual hand, however, I'm not too worried about defending two spades. LHO is less likely to have spades. And if he does transfer and pass, partner, if he has a singleton spade, may well balance. If I pass one notrump and wind up defending a partscore, that partscore will probably be either one notrump or three of a minor. I am delighted to defend one notrump with this hand, and I am moderately happy to defend three of a minor. Pushing the opponents up to the three level, after all, is much of what competitive bidding is all about. With this hand, I don't have to bid to push them. They'll get to the three level all by themselves.

Of course, if we defend three of a minor and it turns out we have a nine-card heart fit (and would have found it had I bid), then I will regret my pass. But that's a risk I'm willing to take to have a chance of defending one notrump.

I pass. LHO bids two spades, puppeting to three clubs. RHO duly bids three clubs, and LHO passes. I lead the king of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 ♠1	Pass	3 ♣2
(All pass)
1Weak with long minor
2Forced

Partner plays the deuce of hearts, and declarer wins with the ace. Declarer leads the queen of clubs to partner's ace. Partner has from seven to nine high-card points. I've just seen four of them, so he has three to five left.

Partner shifts to the three of diamonds. Declarer plays the ace, which suggests he has the king as well. If I'm right about that, then partner is marked with the spade queen plus one or both of the pointed jacks.

Declarer cashes the club king. Partner follows with the four. Declarer plays the five of hearts--seven--club seven--heart three. Obviously declarer began with three clubs. He has no reason not to ruff this trick high if partner has the club eight left.

Wrong. Declarer cashes the club nine. Partner follow with the eight, and declarer discards the eight of hearts. Pitching a spade might suggest I don't have the queen, so I pitch the ten of hearts.

If declarer ducks a diamond to my queen, should I underlead the spade ace or not? Since I know partner has the spade queen, it's safe to underlead unless declarer is 3-3-5-2. If he is, then underleading risks letting declarer take the rest of the tricks.

Let's assume declarer is 3-3-5-2 and look at this problem from his point of view. If declarer has three small spades or jack third, he risks going down by rising. Ducking my spade lead will guarantee his contract. Only if he has jack-ten third is it safe for him to play the king. Even then, he may guess incorrectly. So underleading must be the percentage play.

Delcarer plays the diamond six--nine--ten--queen. I shift to the deuce of spades. Declarer plays low from dummy. Partner wins with the queen and returns a spade to my ace. Making three.

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

We did have a nine-card heart fit. In theory it was right to sell out anyway, since they could double three hearts and collect 200. But, in practice, they won't double, so we should follow the Law and compete to three hearts.

Unfortunately, we were never going to do that. Had I bid, I would have bid two diamonds (Astro), showing spades and another suit. LHO would have bid three clubs or two notrump, depending on what they are playing, and we would have been out of the auction.

We will find our fit if I choose to treat my hand as a one-suiter and overcall with two hearts. And I'm sure there are some who would do that. But I don't like it. I would be more inclined to bid two hearts if I didn't expect to be on lead. But this hand has more potential opposite a spade fit than it does opposite a heart fit. So, if I'm bidding purely in an attempt to buy the contract, I don't think it makes sense to treat the hand as a heart one-suiter.

Three pairs played three hearts making. (Making? What am I missing? It should be easy for South to find a club switch when he's in with the diamond king.) The other three pairs played three clubs. One declarer managed two overtricks, so we get four matchpoints.

Result on Board 13: -110 (4 MP)
Total: 112 MP (71.8%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 12

Board 12
Our side vulnerable

♠ K 3 ♥ Q 6 4 ♦ A K 3 ♣ A K 10 6 2

Three passes to me. I open one club. LHO overcalls with one spade, partner doubles, and RHO passes. I bid two notrump, and LHO bids three spades. What's this all about? He wouldn't pre-empt in first seat, and he wouldn't pre-empt over my one club opening. But he's willing to bid three spades opposite a passing partner in the middle of a strong auction?

Partner bids three notrump, which ends the auction. West leads the queen of diamonds. Maybe he didn't pre-empt because he has a two-suiter? A seven-five pattern perhaps?

	NORTH ♠ Q J ♥ A J 3 2 ♦ 8 5 2 ♣ Q J 8 5
	SOUTH ♠ K 3 ♥ Q 6 4 ♦ A K 3 ♣ A K 10 6 2

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	1 ♣
1 ♠	Double	Pass	2 NT
3 ♠	3 NT	(All pass)

Was this opening lead a mistake? At first glance, it appears to be immaterial. I don't have the tempo to set up a heart trick and a spade trick. And hearts can hardly be three-three.  So, unless the heart king is unexpectedly onside, it appears I make exactly nine tricks after either a spade or a diamond lead. Unless, that is, I can get East to return a spade instead of a diamond when he wins the heart king. Perhaps that's not so unlikely. If East thinks I have ace doubleton of spades instead of king doubleton and if West has either five diamonds or queen-jack-ten-nine, then East must shift to spade to get his partner off the endplay. Let's hope East appreciates that fact.

What I can't afford to do is to cash clubs early.  If I give West a chance to discard, he will discard low spades to tell his partner that he doesn't need a spade shift.  I play a low diamond from dummy, East plays the four, and I win with the ace.  Normally I would win with the king to leave open the possibility that West has led from ace-queen-jack, but in this case I want to make sure that East knows diamonds aren't running. Maybe at a high level this is wrong, since East may wonder why I didn't make the normal play. But if he's that smart, more power to him.

At trick two, I play the four of hearts, and West follows with the eight. I play the jack from dummy, and East wins with the king. As I hoped, East shifts to the spade nine. Making four.

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

Should East have solved this?  He knows I have the ace and king of clubs once I don't attack clubs.  If I have the heart queen, then I have 16 high-card points outside spades.  The spade ace would give me 20 high-card points, enough for a two notrump opening bid. It's true that I've been known not to open two notrump with a perfectly normal two notrump opening bid. It's also true that I might not have the heart queen. I might, for example, have a 2-2-3-6 pattern and be ducking a heart to correct the count for a strip squeeze. But if, in the post mortem, East offered either of those as the reason for his play, I would suspect him of thinking it up after the fact. More likely, he simply didn't take the time to construct the hand he was playing for.

There is a wide variety of results on this board: three notrump making three or four; five clubs making five (Making five? Yes, I guess it does, thanks to the blockage in diamonds. A Morton's fork coup in hearts followed by endplaying West.); and four spades doubled, down two. The booby prize goes to the North-South pair who played four hearts, down one. Actually, I'm surprised there's only one of those. Three spades--pass--pass--double / pass--four hearts seems as if it would be a popular auction.

Only one other pair made four notrump, so this result is worth 11 matchpoints.  And a totally undeserved 11 matchpoints, since I misplayed it. As Gal points out in his comment below, the very same Morton's fork that enables five clubs to make enables me to take ten tricks in notrump by force.

Score on Board 12: +630 (11 MP)
Total: 108 MP (75%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 11

Board 11
Neither vulnerable

♠ A 8 6 ♥ A 10 9 5 ♦ A 10 6 3 ♣ 5 3

I open one notrump (12-14) in first seat, and everyone passes. West leads the deuce of spades.

	NORTH ♠ 9 5 4 3 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ 9 8 4 ♣ A J 9
	SOUTH ♠ A 8 6 ♥ A 10 9 5 ♦ A 10 6 3 ♣ 5 3

West	North	East	South
			1 NT
(All pass)

My opponents lead attitude against notrump, so this lead could be from a five-card suit. But that seems unlikely, since any five-card suit would contain an honor sequence. I play low from dummy, and East plays the ten. It appears East has jack-ten doubleton and West has led from king-queen-seven-deuce. I might as well win this while the spades are blocked.

I don't care for my chances. I have four aces and very little time to develop tricks elsewhere. The diamond spots make diamonds more convenient than hearts to attack from my hand, so I lead the three of diamonds. West plays the jack--four--five. I note that I haven't seen the deuce. Perhaps West has it, or perhaps East has signaled count.

West plays the seven of spades to his partner's jack, and East shifts to the deuce of hearts. I'm happy to see a low heart spot rather than a high one. It means that, after cashing his spades, West will probably continue hearts rather than shift to a club. Should I play the ten of hearts or the nine?

If I play the nine, no matter what card West wins with, East will know I have the ten. If I play the ten, East will have no inference about the location of the nine. So the ten reveals less to East. What about West? West may already know I have some card higher than the nine from East's failure to lead the top of a sequence. So the ten might reveal less to West as well.

I play the ten, and West wins with the queen. West cashes the spade king, and East pitches the deuce of clubs. Another card I'm happy to see. It is almost certain now that West will continue hearts after cashing his last spade.

On the spade queen, East pitches the six of clubs. I haven't seen the club four. Jack typically discards from the bottom up, so West probably has the four. What should I discard?

I must save my long heart, since I expect West to shift back to hearts, establishing it for me. I probably won't have time to set up the long diamond, but I can always hope. It would be nice to hold the long diamond as well. Given East's defense, I'm fairly confident West isn't going to shift to a club. But if he does, holding a second club won't help much.  He can always shift to an honor from honor-ten to prevent me from ducking. So I decide to discard a club.

My choice of spot cards makes no difference to West, since he knows I have both the three and the five. But I would like to conceal my club weakness from East if possible. Pitching high spot cards is generally how one does that, since it suggests that your remaining cards are higher still. So I pitch the club five.

As expected, West shifts to a heart: the seven. If the opponents' carding is honest, West began with queen-seven and East began with king-jack-eight-deuce. I play low from dummy and duck East's jack. East shifts to the queen of clubs. West plays the eight, and I win in dummy with the ace. If I'm right that West has the club four, he probably intends the eight as a signal, showing the king. I suspect West has the club ten as well, since East might not have discouraged a club shift so vehemently if he held queen-ten behind dummy's ace-jack-nine. That gives West an initial holding of king-ten-eight-four. He is unlikely to have a fifth club, given his initial spade lead. So West apparently began with a 4-2-3-4 pattern.

I lead a heart, East plays the eight, and I finesse the nine. West plays the club four. I cash the heart ace, West plays the club ten. I'm down to this ending with dummy to play:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ 9 8 ♣ J 9
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ A 10 6 ♣ --

If I've read the position correctly, West has the king of clubs and two diamonds left. If so, I can't take more than my diamond ace, so I might as well assume I'm wrong. For my play to matter, I must assume that West chose to lead a spade with a 4-2-2-5 pattern and that he sneakily discarded the ten of clubs from king-ten-seven (as, of course, he should). If so, then West has king-seven of clubs and a diamond left, and East has three diamonds. I doubt very much that that's the case. But what does it hurt to assume that it is?

I have two possible plays: (1) I can pitch a club from dummy, then play ace and a diamond, hoping West's singleton is an honor. Or (2) I can pitch a diamond from dummy, then play a low diamond, endplaying East if West's singleton is the seven or deuce. (I must pitch a diamond from dummy in case (2) to avoid losing all the tricks if West's singleton is an honor.) I can't think of any reason to go against the odds, so I adopt line (2). (King-jack, queen-jack, jack-seven, and jack-deuce are equally likely a priori. But West might have played the queen from queen-jack.) As I expected, it makes no difference. Down two.

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

We get three matchpoints, beating the pair who defended one notrump making two the other direction and tieing the pair who also played one notrump our direction. Everyone else played one diamond our way, either making or going down one. I am a little surprised that so many Easts sold out to one diamond.  After one diamond--pass--pass, I would balance with one notrump myself. Partner would probably raise to two.  Will this make?

It probably will in practice, because South will probably lead a heart. But best defense will beat it after a diamond lead. Declarer wins and plays a spade. South wins and plays another diamond.  Declarer wins, unblocks the spades, and plays a heart toward dummy's queen. If South ducks, declarer makes it easily, since South is squeezed on the run of the spades. To beat this, South must hop with his ace and immediately play a club.  (He can't cash his diamonds first, because he needs to retain communication.) Declarer does best to play the club king.  North takes his ace and plays a diamond to South.  South now cashes the last diamond and plays another club, killing declarer's entry while the hearts are blocked. Any other defense allows declarer to untangle all his tricks, provided he takes the right view in clubs.

Score on Board 10: -100 (3 MP)
Total: 97 (73.5%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 10

Board 10
Both sides vulnerable

♠ K Q 7 ♥ A Q 10 6 ♦ Q 5 2 ♣ J 5 4

RHO opens one spade in first seat. Some would double with this hand--you do have support for all the unbids suits after all--but I prefer to be cautious when I hold three cards in my opponent's suit, especially when I have secondary values there. In my view, there are two bad things that can happen if you double with this hand: (1) You catch partner with spade shortness (so that your spade honors are wasted on offense); or (2) you don't catch partner with spade shortness (so that your spade honors are getting ruffed away). Since my hand isn't good enough to overcall with one notrump, I don't see much point in bidding.

I pass, and so does everyone else. What should I lead?

The king of spades has a certain appeal. It might give away a spade trick, but it doesn't have to. Even the ten of spades in partner's hand may be enough to prevent that. And, if it does give away a trick, I might get that trick back by stopping a ruff in dummy. Furthermore, it's not as if I have a perfectly safe lead in a different suit. Dummy will be short of entries, so any lead might be taking a finesse for declarer that he would be unable to take himself. OK. I've talked myself into it. I lead the king of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
			1 ♠
(All pass)

Dummy plays the six; partner, the deuce; and declarer wins with the ace. I think I'm happy with my lead. We may have stopped a diamond ruff. And the sight of dummy would have made me nervous after either minor-suit lead. The opponents, by the way, are playing an Acol variation. So South might have only four spades, and he might have a strong notrump.

I'm anticipating a low diamond lead by declarer. I think I'm going to duck it to give partner a chance to win and play a spade in case he has ten-eight. But, before I've completely made up my mind about that, declarer plays the five of spades. Could it be right to hop? Yes. If partner began with jack-eight fourth and I duck this to partner's jack, declarer will be able to duck out my queen. But it could obviously be wrong to hop, and I have no idea what to lead if I win this trick. So I play the seven. Partner takes dummy's nine with his jack.

Partner shifts to the jack of hearts, declarer plays the king, and I win with the ace. I continue with the queen of hearts, and partner pitches the three of clubs. Partner would be unlikely to discard a club from a four-card suit, so I suspect he began with either three or five.

I suppose I could construct a hand where it's right to continue with the ten of hearts. But partner's low club suggests that dummy's club king is an entry, so a heart continuation is surely wrong if delcarer has five spades. And it might be wrong if he has four. I know partner has a high diamond honor (or six small), since declarer would have played ace-king and ruffed a diamond in dummy otherwise. If partner has the ace, a diamond shift is safe. If he has the king, perhaps he has the ten as well. I shift to the deuce of diamonds--three--ace--four.

Partner returns the eight of diamonds--nine--queen--jack. The eight of diamonds should be a count card, so partner should have begun with ace-ten-eight-seven-six. If I'm correct that he would not have discarded from a four-card club suit, that gives him an original pattern of 4-1-5-3, leaving declarer with 4-2-3-4. Declarer has the spade ace, the heart king, the diamond king, and the club ace: 14 high-card points. Since he didn't open with a weak notrump, he must have the club queen as well, so I now know declarer's hand:

♠ A 10 x x ♥ K 9 ♦ K 9 4 ♣ A Q x x

Declarer has no side losers left. All we can score is trump tricks. If I lead the ten of hearts to tap him, we will take two trump tricks for down one.

I lead the ten of hearts. Partner pitches the eight of clubs, and declarer ruffs with the eight of spades. He plays the six of clubs to the king, then leads the seven of hearts. Partner ruffs with the three, and declarer overruffs with the ten. Declarer plays the queen of clubs. Partner ruffs with the four spades, and we still have my spade queen to score for down one.

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

Something is nagging me about this end position. Finally I figure it out. I'm an idiot! I was double-dummy, and I misdefended. Find my mistake before reading on.

Instead of playing the ten of hearts, I should have continued with a third round of diamonds, establishing two winners in partner's hand. Declarer will pitch a club from dummy, reaching this position:

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

Declarer will presumably play a trump to my queen, pitching a heart from dummy.  Now I play the ten of hearts, allowing partner to pitch a second club. Declarer can't afford to ruff this, or he will finish down three. He must pitch a club himself, and we have our setting trick. I now continue with my last heart. Partner lets dummy win this, pitching his last club. If declarer could get to his hand to draw partner's last trump, he could claim. But he can't. He can postpone the inevitable by leading dummy's last heart and pitching one more club.  But he doesn't have enough hearts to pitch all his clubs.  So, eventually, he must lead a club, allowing partner to ruff with his four of spades for down two.

Of course, declarer would have enough hearts in dummy to pitch all his clubs if he hadn't discarded one when I won the queen of spades. Perhaps he would do better to pitch a club instead?  No. If he does that, I don't play the heart ten.  I play a club. If he wins this trick in dummy, he's down three.  If he wins in his hand to draw partner's trump, I get the last two tricks for down two.  It turns out dummy is squeezed when I win the queen of spades.

Why didn't I see this? Whenever I have a blind spot, I try to extrapolate the general principle that I overlooked. Yes, in this case, I could have simply worked the position out card for card, but I may someday encounter a similar position where I have less information. So it's worthwhile to find the principle involved.

I suppose the basic idea is that I lost a tempo by tapping declarer right away. Once dummy's hearts were established, declarer didn't need to continue drawing trumps, and my queen of spades was no longer an entry. Playing diamonds does not deprive me of my chance to tap declarer, because I must gain the lead with the spade queen. But tapping him immediately does deprive me of my chance to establish diamonds. The reason the extra tempo gains a trick is quite complicated. But that part isn't really important. Had I thought about the position in these terms, I wouldn't need to think any further to see that a diamond continuation can't do any worse than playing the heart ten and might do better.

Luckily, the lost trick doesn't matter. We are the only pair not to defend two hearts making, so this is a top. It's embarassing how lucky I've been in this match. Not only am I playing against a pair who isn't playing strong notrumps, but I'm sitting in the right seat. Had I held my opponent's cards, I would have opened one spade and would have wound up with a zero instead of a top.

Or maybe not. It occurs to me that some players would have doubled one spade. I wonder if Jack is one of them. I replay the board sitting in RHO's seat. I open one spade. Jack doubles. Partner passes, East bids two diamonds, and partner balances with two hearts, ending the auction.

So I needn't be too embarassed. At least I can accept some responsibility for this result from my decision to pass over one spade. The strange thing is: Had I known at the time that passing would result in defending one spade and doubling would result in defending two hearts, I probably would have doubled.

Score on Board 10: +100 (12 MP)
Total: 94 (78.3%)

Current rank: 1st

Match 2 - Board 9

Board 9
Opponents vulnerable

♠ 9 5 4 ♥ 8 3 ♦ 7 5 2 ♣ A K 9 8 6

Partner opens one heart, and RHO overcalls two diamonds. With three diamonds and two defensive tricks, I'm quite happy to pass. If partner has diamond shortness, I will hear from him.  If he doesn't, defending two diamonds may be our best chance for a plus score.

LHO raises to three diamonds, partner bids three hearts, and RHO bids three spades. I could bid four hearts, but four clubs leaves partner better prepared to act over four spades or five diamonds. This bid should show heart tolerance. If I couldn't bid clubs on the previous round, I wouldn't be bidding them now with a misfit.

LHO doubles and partner passes. I assume he would run to four hearts with a singleton club. RHO passes, and I bid four hearts. LHO bids five diamonds, passed around to me. Obviously I'm not bidding five hearts. Should I double? If the opponents think they can make five diamonds and partner agrees with them, I don't see any reason to suspect they're wrong. Probably only one of my clubs is cashing. Whether they can make this or not is apt to depend on how good partner's spades are, which is something only he knows. If I were confident we were making four hearts, I might double in an attempt to protect our score.  But I have no particular reason to think we were making it. Accordingly, I pass.

My first inclination is to lead a trump, hoping that partner has good spades and that we can stop spade ruffs in dummy. One opening lead I would never consider would be a high club. Dummy has good clubs, declarer has no place to pitch whatever club losers he has in his hand, and I may need the club entry to lead a second trump. A heart lead might be right, since declarer may be able to pitch dummy's hearts on his spade suit. But if his spades are that good, we probably can't beat this. So I go with my first instinct and lead the five of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		1 ♥	2 ♦
Pass	3 ♦	3 ♥	3 ♠
4 ♣	Double	Pass	Pass
4 ♥	5 ♦	(All pass)

Dummy is no surprise. Declarer plays the eight--four--jack. If declarer has only five diamonds, he presumably has only four spades. If we assume partner would not have passed four clubs doubled with a singleton club, that gives declarer a 4-3-5-1 pattern. Declarer plays a second diamond to dummy's nine, and partner pitches the four of hearts. Declarer plays a heart from dummy. Partner hops with the ace, and declarer plays the seven. A poor choice. He should play the deuce, the card he's known to hold. (Partner would not have discarded his second lowest heart on the previous trick.) I now know that declarer begain with king-seven-deuce of hearts, so it appears I was right about his shape. I play the heart eight.

Partner returns the queen of hearts to declarer's king. Declarer plays the five of clubs. I wouldn't hop without both honors, so there is no point in false-carding. I play the club king, and partner plays the four.

Declarer has three major suit cards that he might potentially want to ruff, so I play my last trump. Declarer wins in dummy, and partner throws the club ten. Declarer plays a spade to the queen, cashes the ace, and ruffs a spade. He now has one heart and one spade left in his hand. He leads the club queen, pitching his spade loser. I win and must return a club to dummy, allowing him to pitch his heart loser. Down one.

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

A high club lead would have allowed declarer to make this for the very reason I suspected: I need the entry to play a second trump. A heart lead, though, would have beaten it, provided partner wins the ace of hearts at trick one and shifts to a trump, a play that should not be difficult for him to find. (Although, as it happens, partner would not have found it. I replayed the board to see. After a heart lead, he wins with the ace and returns one.)

We get 11 matchpoints. Only one other pair beat five diamonds. Of the five pairs who allowed it to score, four defended it doubled. So, strangely, most of our matchpoints came not from my opening lead but from the decision not to double. We would have still won nine matchpoints had we allowed them to score this contract.

Score on Board 9: +100 (11 MP)
Total: 82 MP (75.9%)

Current rank: 1st

A note about comments

I've changed the settings on this blog to require my approval of each comment before it is posted.  This is not meant to discourage anyone from commenting.  Nor it is an attempt to exercise editorial control.  I did this because I have been bombarded with spam comments containing suspicious-looking hyperlinks.  I delete them whenever I see them, but that doesn't seem to discourage the perpetrators from trying again.

If you try to post a comment and don't see it right away, this is why.  I will approve all non-spam comments, but it may take 24 hours before you see it.

Match 2 - Board 8

Board 8
Neither vulnerable

♠ 10 7 4 ♥ K Q 5 3 ♦ Q ♣ Q 9 6 5 3

Partner opens one diamond in second seat. Pass to me. I respond one heart, and partner rebids one spade. I bid one notrump, which ends the auction. West leads the deuce of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	1 ♦	Pass	1 ♥
Pass	1 ♠	Pass	1 NT
(All pass)

If East has the ace, I might do well to duck this in dummy. But if West has it, rising with king will create more problems for the defense. To take two club tricks, the next club play will have to come from East. He may not have enough entries to play both clubs and hearts (assuming playing hearts is a good idea). In addition, if he has jack doubleton and fails to unblock under the king, taking two club tricks becomes even more problematic.

I rise with the king, and East plays the four. If I play the three, West will know East played his lowest club. So I follow with the five.

My basic plan is to take one club, three diamonds, two spades, and a heart. It could be difficult to do this, since the opponents can hold up in spades to deprive me of a second spade trick. But, if they do, perhaps I can manage an extra trick in hearts or clubs.

There are two ways I can start.  I can unblock diamonds, then play a spade; or I can use this opportunity to play a heart toward my hand.  If East has the heart ace, this might be a good idea, because I may need two heart tricks.  But if West has the heart ace, it will be a very bad idea.

I don't know at this point whether I need two heart tricks or not.  So which line is better? Actually, this decision is not hard if you think about the hand from your opponents' point of view, as you always should.  East knows his partner has only four clubs and you have five (unless West has led from ace third), so, if you play a diamond to the queen and a spade, what is East going to do when he wins the trick?  Looking at that dummy, he will surely play a heart.  So even if it's right for you to play a heart now, you probably don't need to. East will do it for you.  I play a diamond to the queen. East plays the seven; West, the four.

I lead the spade seven (getting the card out of the way just in case I need to finesse against the eight later on). West plays the three, I play the queen from dummy, and East wins with the ace.

As expected, East shifts to the deuce of hearts. This confirms that clubs are four-two. If West had led the deuce of clubs from ace third, East, with three clubs himself, would not know this and would probably continue the suit. His spurning a club return suggests that he has a doubleton and knows I have five. And, since West didn't lead the jack, East's remaining club is probably the jack or ten.

If I play the heart king and West has the ace, he will suspect I have the queen. I don't know if he will have enough confidence in this inference to duck, but I'm not taking any chances. I want to know who has the heart ace. It is much harder to duck the queen than the king, so that's the card I choose. West wins with the ace and continues with the heart ten. East follows with the four.

Unless West is being tricky, East has the heart jack. So, if I win this, East will have an entry to put a club through. When the defense wins the spade king, they will be able to cash two more hearts and two clubs, bringing their total to seven tricks. It's possible they can't cash all these tricks if East failed to unblock the jack of clubs. But, even then, I have no clear route to making this contract if I win this trick. All the defense has to do is duck the next spade to give me serious problems.

What happens if I duck the heart ten? Suppose, first, that West plays ace and a spade to strand me in dummy. I can then cash one high diamond and the long spade, coming down to:

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ K 9 8 ♣ 7
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ K ♦ -- ♣ Q 9 6

I need two more tricks. There are lots of way I might take them, depending on what cards the opponents have come down to. If West keeps a diamond, a heart, and two clubs, for example, I can cash the king of diamonds and play a club, covering East's honor, and score my king of hearts at trick thirteen. Or, if West keeps one diamond and three clubs, I can cash the diamond king, pitching my king of hearts, and score a club at the end. If he keeps one heart and three clubs, my hand is squeezed on the lead of the king of diamonds. In that case, I will need East's remaining club to be the jack, giving me a winkle. My exact play will depend on the other three cards in East's hand. If East has two diamonds and a heart, I can cash the diamond king (pitching a club), lead a club, and duck. If, instead, East has jack-ten third of diamonds, I can lead a club immediately and duck, scoring two diamond tricks in dummy.

West might choose to lead a low spade instead of ace and another to deprive me of a long spade trick. But that doesn't seem to help. Without going through all the possibilities, that play seems to make life easier for me by giving me an extra way to toss him back in the lead. In short, ducking the heart looks as if it gives me lots of chances, some, but not all of which, require East to have a singleton jack of clubs. Winning the heart requires clubs to be blocked. And I'm not necessarily home even then. So I duck.

West takes yet another approach to the defense. He cashes the club ace, stripping dummy of its exit. East follows with the jack.

West shifts to the five of diamonds. I win with dummy's ace. East plays the deuce as I discard a heart. I cash the king of diamonds, pitching a club as West discards the club eight. I need to find three tricks in this position:

	NORTH ♠ J 9 6 ♥ -- ♦ 9 8 ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ 10 4 ♥ K ♦ -- ♣ Q 9

I lead the nine of spades from dummy. If East has the spade king, I'm down. If West has it, he must duck, else I have an entry to my hand. I can then continue with the jack of spades, smothering my ten. If West has the king or king-eight of spades remaining (having foolishly failed to unblock the eight on the previous trick), he must give me the last two tricks in my hand.

As the cards lie, West can't even stop the overtrick now. He takes the spade king and plays a heart, My hand is high. Making two:

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

What if West, after cashing the club ace, had exited with king and a spade instead of a diamond? I would cash the long spade, and East would presumably pitch the jack of hearts. I would then cash a diamond, reaching this position, needing two more tricks.

	NORTH ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ K 9 8 ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ -- ♥ K ♦ -- ♣ Q 9

The opponents have three diamonds left, so a low diamond from dummy, pitching a club, guarantees my two tricks. If East has all three diamonds, he is endplayed. If not, whoever wins the diamond must put me in one hand or the other.

They couldn't beat me once East won the spade ace. Had he ducked the first round of spades, I don't see any way I can make it.

This result is worth a full 12 matchpoints, and that would have been true even without the overtrick.  One North-South pair defended one notrump making. The others declared either one notrump or two spades, down one in every case.

Score on Board 8: +120 (12 MP)
Total: 71 MP (74.0%)

Current Rank: 1st