Sunday, December 29, 2013

Bridge Match 2 - Board 35

Board 35 - Dealer South - EW Vul

Opponents convention card: Standard American Yellow Card
Opponents playing strength: Adequate

My hand: A T 8 6 5 5 4 Q T 4 Q 6 4

Partner opens a weak NT in 3rd seat. My 8 with his 12-14 is a decent shot at making 1NT. Probably a better chance at making 2 spades though? It's not like I have reliably entries in NT so we should take an extra trick in spades I think. I'm convinced. West decides to get frisky and bids 3 clubs. Partner competes to 3 spades which gets passed out.

West leads the J of clubs.
NORTH
J 7 3
Q 9
A K 8 5 3
A 8 3
WEST
J
SOUTH
A T 8 6 5
5 4
Q T 4
Q 6 4
WestNorthEastSouth
Pass
Pass1NTPass2
33PassPass
Pass

I have 3 diamond tricks, a club trick, and probably 3 spade tricks if they split 3-2. I need two more tricks from somewhere. I can get a club by floating this around to my Q and I might well be able to get 2 more diamond tricks as well. As far as losers go I have 2 heart losers, 2 club losers, and likely 2 spade losers. That's 2 losers too many. The club goes away if I float this club around and a spade goes away if I pull off a finesse? I can also pitch some losers in diamonds if those get set up. My problem is I'm going to have to give up the lead when I draw trump and then they might well cash out. Certainly if I hop the club here I'm in big trouble. So I guess I have to duck. J-3-K-4. East shifts to a heart. J-4-K-9. West cashes a heart. A-Q-3-5. Now a club. T-A-2 of spades-6.

Ew. I guess I really should have seen that coming what with the 3 club bid out of nowhere. Well, I'm up other than spades. I ruff the heart return on board then lead the J around. East covers and I win my A. I return to dummy with a diamond and play another spade around, catching East's 9 with my T. West shows out. I lose to East's K for down 1.
NORTH
J 7 3
Q 9
A K 8 5 3
A 8 3
WEST
4
A K 8 2
J 6
J T 9 7 5 2
EAST
K Q 9 2
J T 7 6 3
9 7 2
K
SOUTH
A T 8 6 5
5 4
Q T 4
Q 6 4

This felt really bad but it turned out to be a good board for us. 6 pairs played 3 spades and they all went down. 2 went down 1, 2 went down 2, and 2 went down 2 doubled. One EW pair made 3 hearts up 1 and one EW pair went down 1 in 4 hearts. This was worth 11 MPs for our team. Woo!


Captain Jack agrees with me all the way!

Ranking after board 35/60: 1/16 with 58.16%

No comments: