Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Bridge Match 1 - Board 123

Board 123 – Dealer South – No Vul

My hand: J T 9 8 5 K 7 6 3 2 A J T

I pass and West opens 1 club. Partner overcalls 1 diamond and East bids 2 clubs. I bid 3 clubs which I'm hoping is Michael's but I have a sinking suspicion it isn't. West bids 4 clubs and partner doubles. I have to imagine that's for penalty but I can't see sitting for it. I pull to 4 hearts. Partner goes to 5 diamonds which gets passed out. East leads the 3 of spades.

NORTH K A J 9 Q 7 6 4 2 8 7 5 2




EAST
3

SOUTH
J T 9 8 5
K 7 6 3 2
A J T



West North East South
Pass
11 2 31
4Double2 Pass 4
Pass5 All Pass
1Constructive Raise
2Penalty

I have 4 diamonds and 2 hearts. I can probably set up a couple more hearts and maybe I can set up spades. Alternatively I can just try to cross ruff the black suits. Loserwise I could lose 1 diamonds, I will lose 1 spade, and I may lose a heart. I'll probably lose trump control at some point and lose some other stuff too, sadly. I think my plan is going to be to try to set up spades.

3-5-A-K. West shifts to the A of clubs. A-2-9-T of diamonds. I play out the J of spades. West plays low. Should I ruff or take a ruffing finesse? If I take the finesse and it fails East will return a club and I'll end up losing the K of diamonds for sure for down 1. I could hope East has Qxx of spades and try to ruff out the Q. This lets me take the diamond finesse which will let me pick up specifically Kx onside only. I can't see 11 tricks this way. So I think I need to just pitch a club and hope. J-2-5 of clubs-Q. East returns the 8 of hearts for some reason. 8-2-Q-A. I now have 5 major suit tricks set up. If I can avoid a diamond loser I'll make. They have 5 diamonds between them, and I can only possibly pick up stiff K or Kx in East. Kx is way more likely, so I go for that. 2-5-J-K. Oh well.

West comes back with a club. Q-7-4-A of diamonds. I'm actually going to lose another diamond now, unless the 9 is now stiff. I cash a spade to pitch my last club and then need to find a way back to board. If East has the last spade I can ruff a spade to board and draw trump. If hearts aren't 4-1 I can just play a heart to board. East's heart shift has me worried about the heart being ruffed, so I play a spade. 8-6 of clubs-4 of diamonds-7. I cash the Q of diamonds and East shows out. West has two trump left. They're actually the 9 and 8 of trump, so they're both high and I will lose 2 more trump tricks. But this time I'm not going to repeat the mistake from a few boards ago and will cash winners, forcing him to ruff in. I get 2 of the last 4. Down 3.



NORTH
K
A J 9
Q 7 6 4 2
8 7 5 2

WEST
A 4 2
Q
K 9 8 3
A Q J T 6

EAST
Q 7 6 3
T 8 5 4
5
Q 7 6 3

SOUTH
J T 9 8 5
K 7 6 3 2
A J T


Professor Jack disagrees with pulling the penalty double. On the play he disagrees with my method of getting to board to try to draw trump at the end. He would have just pitched a heart winner on the spade. Seems weird, but I guess he's playing for 4-1 diamonds.


On the replay my hand makes the same cue-bid, knowing what the bid actually means. He doesn't pull the penalty double, which could be good. There is a line to make 4 clubs doubled, lets hope Jack finds it. (Actually, I think I'm wrong and the best he can do is down 1... Frowns.)

North leads a diamond to his partner's A. South returns a diamond and declarer ducks and ruffs. He then tries to draw trump, finding the 4-0 break. He then drops the stiff K of spades, ruffs his last diamond, and then exits a heart. North cashes a heart on which declarer pitches his last spade loser. He has 5 winners in hand and can draw all the trump. Making 4, doubled. Guess there was a way to make!

Nick: -150
Jack: -510
IMPs: +8 (-33 total)

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