Bridge Match 1 - Board 12

Board 12 – Dealer West – NS Vul

My hand: ♠ T 7 6 5 2 ♥ K Q 8 4 ♦ K ♣ A 7 3

West and partner pass. East opens 1 diamond. I double. West bids 1 spade. Partner bids 2 hearts. East bids 2 no. I pass, West raises to 3. Partner passes. East pulls to 4 spades. Is the 5-0 trump split enough to double on? I think so. Everyone passes. Partner leads the 4 of spades.

	North ♠ 4
		EAST ♠ A Q J ♥ A 3 ♦ A Q 8 7 2 ♣ J 9 5
	SOUTH ♠ T 7 6 5 2 ♥ K Q 8 4 ♦ K ♣ A 7 3

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1♦	Double
1♠	2♥	2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	4♠	Double1
Pass	Pass	Pass
1Penalty Double

Guess it isn't a 5-0 trump break after all. I'm going to get to take a spade and a club for sure. I think I can brute force a heart, so I just need to score my stiff K of diamonds or to have partner show up with a club trick as well. Dummy wins this trick with the A of trump. 4-A-2-3. Dummy then plays the J of clubs.

Now, I know declarer has 4 spades. I think partner has 4 hearts, so declarer would have 3. He probably doesn't have a lot of diamonds since they didn't run from 4 spades doubled, so I'm thinking he has 2 diamonds and therefore probably 4 clubs. My ace isn't going away, so I duck. J-3-6-Q.

Partner returns the T of hearts. Dummy ducks. Partner shouldn't have the J for this lead, so declarer likely has Jxx. I insert the Q. T-3-Q-7. I draw a round of trump. 5-8-3 of diamonds-J. Declarer cashes the A of hearts. A-4-5-6.

He then cashes the A of diamonds. Boo! A-K-6-4. He plays the Q of diamonds. I ruff with the 6 and get overruffed with the 9. Huh. So declarer is 4-3-1-5?

He ruffs his J of hearts with dummy's queen. J-2-Q of spades-8.

Dummy leads the 5 of clubs. If I'm right about declarer's hand he has the K of spades and 4 clubs left. Partner has one club left. There's nothing I can do about my low club, it's going to lose a trick unless partner can win with his last club. So, I duck. 5-7-T-8. Declarer puts me in with the A of clubs.

I cash the K of hearts and declarer pitches a club. Whatever. We each get a spade trick at the end. Down 2.

	NORTH ♠ 4 ♥ T 9 6 2 ♦ J T 9 5 4 3 ♣ Q 8
WEST ♠ K 9 8 3 ♥ J 7 5 ♦ 6 ♣ K T 6 4 2		EAST ♠ A Q J ♥ A 3 ♦ A Q 8 7 2 ♣ J 9 5
	SOUTH ♠ T 7 6 5 2 ♥ K Q 8 4 ♦ K ♣ A 7 3

Professor Jack disagrees with my initial takeout double. He says it's for takeout. Of course it is! I meant it as takeout! I have both majors, a singleton in the bid suit, and 9 points outside of my stiff king. He wants me to bid 1 spade with my terrible, terrible suit. Overcalling on ten fifth is a good way to get partner to lead a spade against a suit contract and want to kill you.

He then disagrees with my second bid when I passed 2NT. He would bid 3 hearts. I felt that I'd stretched a little with my initial double and didn't really need to play a 4-4 fit.

He then disagrees with my penalty double, but at least there he says double is acceptable. He would have passed.


On the replay the auction goes differently. My chair overcalls 1 spade. West bids 1NT and East bids 3NT. North stayed out of the auction entirely.

North for some reason doesn't lead a spade. I'd like to see the justification for not leading partner's suit and also not leading your own 6 card suit...

The play goes about as expected except when dummy leads a club my seat hopped with the A. This gave declarer a chance to make by dropping North's now stiff Q. Instead when South eventually plays a club West finesses for the Q instead of dropping it. Down 1.

Nick: 300
Jack: 50
IMPs: +6 (9 total)