Saturday, November 20, 2010

Bridge Match 1 - Board 71

Board 71 – Dealer South – All Vul

My hand: K 9 4 3 2 T 4 Q 9 7 5 4 3

Man, what a terrible 6-5 hand. I can't justify opening at the 1 level with this. Do I want to preempt and risk missing a heart game? No. So I pass. West opens 1 spade, partner passes, and East bids 2 diamonds. Maybe I should have preempted after all. I hope cuebidding diamonds will show the other two suits, so I bid 3 diamonds. West makes a penalty double, partner passes and so does East. I run to 4 clubs. West bids 5 diamonds, partner makes a penalty double, and East retreats to 5 spades. I pass. West goes on to 6 spades. Partner doubles again for penalty. East passes and now I have a conundrum...

Why is partner doubling? Clearly everyone thinks my 3 diamond bid wasn't showing hearts and clubs and showed a good hand with diamonds. I have no tricks for partner here, can he take 2 on his own? If not they score up 1680. I can go down five and make IMPs in that case. Can I take 8 tricks in clubs or hearts? Only if partner has a lot of hidden support. I guess I pass.

Partner leads the A of clubs.

NORTH
A
EAST
Q 9 8 6 4
Q J 5
K Q 8 2
J

SOUTH

K 9 4 3 2
T 4
Q 9 7 5 4 3


West North East South
Pass
1Pass 2 3
Double1Pass Pass 4
5Double2 5 Pass
6Double3 All Pass
1Penalty
2Penalty
3Penalty

A-J-7-2. Partner shifts to the A of hearts. A-5-9-8. Good thing I didn't sac! Partner continues hearts. T-J-K-7 of spades.

Declarer draws trump. 3-2-Q-3 of clubs. 4-4 of clubs-K-T. Declarer shifts to diamonds. 3-6-Q-4. 2-T-A-5. 7-6 of clubs-8-2 of hearts. Guess declarer is up. Down 1.


NORTH
T 2
A T 7 6
6 5
A K T 8 6

WEST
A K J 7 5 3
8
A J 9 7 3
2

EAST
Q 9 8 6 4
Q J 5
K Q 8 2
J

SOUTH

K 9 4 3 2
T 4
Q 9 7 5 4 3


Turns out we only lose 3 tricks if I sac because partner has both a double fit with me and an 11 count. Why did he pass over 1 spade?


Professor Jack disagrees with my 3 diamonds bid. He wonders what I had in mind and would have chosen 2NT. Then after I got doubled in 3 diamonds he would have pulled to hearts, not clubs. Finally he disagrees with my signal in clubs. He wants me to encourage since I have the Q and therefore I should play the 9 instead of the 7.

I have a few issues with that. First, I shouldn't encourage at all since dummy is now void in clubs. Maybe I should play high to show the K so he doesn't have to worry about pitches but this signal should be something else. Second, the 7 is high! (I knew he wanted to know about my Q for no good reason so I did signal encouraging...)


On the replay my hand never bids. They have a nice passive auction and end up in 4 spades which easily makes up 2. (North tried to cash the K of clubs giving declarer a ruff and sluff. He pitched his only heart.)

I tried playing around and it turns out both 2 spades and 3 diamonds are naturally somehow. 2NT is unusual and if I bid it I end up having to choose to pass or sac over 6 spades undoubled knowing partner has good heart support. (He voluntarily bid hearts twice.) I think I probably give him choice of sacs by bidding 7 clubs. I end up down 3 doubled which is a loss of 4 imps instead of a gain of 13.

Nick: 200
Jack: -680
IMPs: +13 (+31 total)

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