Sunday, June 02, 2013

Bridge Match 2 - Board 3

Board 3 – Dealer South – EW Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième.
Opponents playing strength: Adequate.

My hand:  Q J  J T 7 3  A 9 4  9 7 5 2

Partner opens 1NT (12-14) in 3rd seat. East overcalls 2 diamonds, showing 6+ diamonds. I pass and West pulls to 2 hearts which comes around to me. We have half the points and around half of the hearts, so I double. West runs to 2 spades which also comes back around to me. I don't really want to double spades and if I could trust partner I think I'd let this sit. But I'm imagining him with a bunch of spades and didn't know he should double. Part of me thinks at match points that any positive score is optimal on this auction so maybe I shouldn't double. But they're in their third choice of a suit so I double anyway, which gets passed out. Partner leads the A of spades.


NORTH
A



EAST
8 5 2
6
K J T 7 6 5
A J 8

SOUTH
Q J
J T 7 3
A 9 4
9 7 5 2


West North East South
Pass
Pass1NT1 2 Pass
2Pass Pass Double2
22Pass Pass Double3
PassPass Pass
112-14
2Penalty
3Penalty

A-2-Q-3. Partner switches to clubs. K-A-2-3. Declarer decides he wants to ruff some hearts so he leads the singleton off board. 6-7-A-4. But instead of ruffing a heart he plays a diamond back. 3-2-K-?. Partner's 2 should show an odd number of diamonds, I think? Which would likely give declarer a stiff and partner 3. If that is true then partner still has diamonds stopped and I should really win. If partner only has 1 then winning and firing one back for a ruff is fine, too. My worry is that declarer is somehow going to set up diamonds. But with no outside entry to board that only happens if partner started with Ax of spades and lead the A for no reason. I wouldn't put that past Jack... But then I'll just blame him! I decide to win and get rid of diamonds myself. 4-T of clubs-Q-5. Partner draws trump. 6-5-J-K. Now declarer ruffs a heart. 2-9-8 of spades-3. Declarer cashes a diamond. T-9-8 of hearts-8. Rather than cash another he plays a club. 8-9-4 of spades-4. Declarer then draws partner's last trump, concedes a heart, and is up. Making 3.


NORTH
A 9 6
K 9 4
Q 8 2
K Q 6 4

WEST
K T 7 4 3
A Q 8 5 2
3
 T 3

EAST
8 5 2
6
K J T 7 6 5
A J 8

SOUTH
Q J
J T 7 3
A 9 4
9 7 5 2


Professor Jack disagrees with my double of 2 hearts. And my double of 2 spades. He doesn't like my 7 of hearts on the initial heart play (he wants me to play the T) and he really doesn't like my diamond return. Looking at how it played out I also don't like it. Since, you know, partner opened NT and therefore couldn't have had the stiff... Man, I am _so_ rusty. He wants me to return my spade.

2 spades doubled +1 was a solo bottom board. 2 spades +1 would have been in the middle, it turns out, since 3 NS pairs actually made it all the way to 3NT somehow.

I replayed the hand and for some reason West pulled to 2NT which we set 2 which would have been a top board. I replayed again with the 2Sx auction and tried returning a spade instead of the stupid diamond. They end up making +2. Because partner throws a tricks away for no reason I can understand. But even still, that means my diamond play cost nothing. I go back and force partner to lead the K of clubs instead of the A of spades. They go down 1. Which would have been a top, because of the double. I can understand cashing the A of spades on a misfit deal, I guess. It just worked out terribly in this case.

Ranking after board 3/60: 16/16 with 4.76%.

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