Sunday, December 15, 2013

Bridge Match 2 - Board 31

Board 31 – Dealer South – NS Vul

Opponents convention card: Dutch Doubleton
Opponents playing strength: Fair

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

I open 1 diamond. Partner responds 1 heart. I bid two clubs which gets passed out. Huh.

West leads the 4 of spades.

NORTH
A K J T
J 9 8 6 2
5
9 7 4
WEST
4


SOUTH
Q 9
A

K Q T 6 3 2
♣ J T 8 2


West North East South
1
Pass1 Pass 2
PassPass Pass

Well, we sure have spades locked up. I have 4 spade tricks, 1 heart trick, and 1 club trick. As far as losers go I have 1 diamond and 3 clubs and none of those are going away unless they misplay their clubs. So there are 3 tricks up for grabs and I need 2 of them. Well, and I need to not have my spades ruffed away.

I actually don't see how I get 2 of the tricks by playing suits. I can set up a diamond? Maybe my best play is to go for a crossruff? I have lots of little red cards that aren't doing any good. I may be able to squeeze out some extra clubs that way. I lose a spade by not drawing trump for sure. But I may be able to end up with 3 spades, 1 heart, and 4 clubs on the crossruff? That just needs them to each have 3 of each red suit... That's not entirely unreasonable. This also has the potential to work against some brutal club split too? Maybe? Eh. Let's see what happens.

4-A-8-9. That 8 is scary. It's the biggest spade they have and there's no reason for East to encourage. So that makes me worry that he has a singleton. Well, losing a diamond and seeing what happens is still probably the best play. It's not like I can draw all his trump if he has a stiff spade anyway. 5-A-2-7. Well, now I have 2 diamonds setup! East returns a heart. 5-A-T-2.

Ok, East didn't return a spade which really makes me think he only had one. West played low on diamonds so he probably has an odd number. Hopefully 3. I do have 8 tricks if nothing bad happens, should I start drawing trump now? What if East is out of spades? He's probably something like 1-4-3-5 in that case. But then why didn't he draw trump? I guess he needed to establish his hearts first. That's scary. Ok, I don't think I can draw trump. I guess I should cash high diamonds. K-9-6 of hearts-4. Q-J-8 of hearts-8. Diamonds did split 3-3, that's good. Another diamond is just giving them a ruff and sluff. Well, I have no way to draw trump so if spades get ruffed they get ruffed... I play one. Q-5-K-6. J-3-3 of diamonds-2. Oh. Well then. I need 2 more tricks and don't think I can get them. Oh well, down one is good bridge. I'll ruff a heart first. 9-7-2 of clubs-Q. Ok, turns out I can get them. Good stuff. I just need to cross ruff high and I'll get another club. I play a diamond. T-7 of spades-9 of clubs-K of clubs.

East draws trump 3-J-Q-4. A-7-6-8. West cashes a heart but I ruff high. West wins the last trick with his club. Making 2.

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

WEST
7 5 4 2
K Q T
J 9 7
A Q 5

EAST
8 6 3
7 5 4 3
A 8 4
K 6 3

SOUTH
Q 9
A
K Q T 6 3 2
J T 8 2


7 of the 8 tables played 2 clubs. 3 of them went up 1, 3 were just in, and 1 went down 1. The last table went down 3 in 2NT. So we get 6 MPs. Not great, but not terrible.

Captain Jack agrees with me all the way!

Ranking after board 31/60: 3/16 with 54.84%.

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