Sunday, November 17, 2013

Bridge Match 2 - Board 27

Board 27 – Dealer South – None Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Adequate

My hand: K Q 6 3 2 9 7 5 4 2 Q T 8

West opens 1 club in second seat. Partner overcalls 1 spade and East makes a negative double. I don't think I have anything interesting to tell partner so I pass. West bids 1NT which gets passed around to me. I still have nothing to say.

Partner leads the A of diamonds.

NORTH
A



EAST
T 9 6
A T 9 8
6 3
A 9 6 5

SOUTH
K
Q 6 3 2

9 7 5 4 2
♣ Q T 8


West North East South
Pass
11 Double1 Pass
1NTPass Pass Pass
1Negative

Am I supposed to encourage here? This is our suit for sure but I don't know that I have an entry and I certainly have no honours. On the other hand I don't want partner shifting to a different suit so discouraging seems wrong too. I guess I should play fairly high. A-3-7-T. Partner continues diamonds. K-6-2-Q. Oh my. If partner still has J8 left in his hand then I do have an entry! The 9 of diamonds! Partner comes back with the 8 of diamonds. Oh well. I guess maybe I should win to play a spade? 8-6 of spades-9-3 of spades.

Yeah, ok, so partner does in fact have the J of diamonds left but blocked the suit. Who replaced Jack with Andrew?

Ok, so now the question is... Pound out partners diamond so I have a trick to cash if I win one of my Qs? Or actually play my spade? Maybe Jack has a plan and wanted me on lead before cashing my diamond because he's going to be squeezed or something? I think this is where I shake my head, sigh, and play a diamond. 5-4 of spades-J-9 of spades. Partner plays a high spades. Q-T-K-A. Declarer plays a heart. 7-5-A-3. And a club. A-8-2-7. Now a heart. 8-2-K-4. Declarer plays one more heart for me. But wait... If I win this trick and cash a diamond I then have to play a heart to dummy which lets him finesse my clubs... We take 2 tricks and they make. What if I duck this? He has to lead a club or a spade. Presumably partner likes the spade and the club lets me set them. I like it! J-2 of spades-9-6.

Declarer plays the J of clubs. J-4-5-Q. I cash my two red tricks and give declarer his K of clubs. Down 1!

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

WEST
A 5 4 3
K J 7
Q T
K J 3 2

EAST
T 9 6
A T 9 8
6 3
A 9 6 5

SOUTH
K
Q 6 3 2
9 7 5 4 2
Q T 8


We were the only NS pair to get a positive score, so we get the full 14 MPs. Other results include NS playing 3 diamonds 5 times and going down 1 every time, EW making 2 hearts, and EW playing 3NT making 5. I don't know how that happened!

Professor Jack disagrees with some things. To start he wants me to discourage diamonds because I don't have an honour. He then wants me to duck when the 8 of diamonds comes around. And finally he disagrees with my heart signal. He wants me to play high to show an even number. I played the 3 for that very reason, but I guess that really isn't as clear as the 6 so my bad on that one.


Ranking after board 27/60: 4/16 with 53.97%.

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