My hand: ♠ 4 3 2 ♥ A Q 8 7 ♦ A K Q 4 3 ♣ 5
Two passes to me. I open 1 diamond. West passes and partner bids 1 heart. East gets in there with 3 clubs (weak)... I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to open 3C but wants to overcall them after we've each bid a suit. I guess I have a hard time finding out if we should be in 4 hearts or not now, but if he just opens 3C I don't even know hearts is an option. I decide to blast to 4 hearts and everyone passes. East leads the A of clubs.
North ♠ A J 9 7 ♥ J 9 5 3 2 ♦ 5 ♣ K J 4 | ||
EAST ♣ A | ||
| SOUTH ♠ 4 3 2 ♥ A Q 8 7 ♦ A K Q 4 3 ♣ 5 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | 1♦ | |
| Pass | 1♥ | 3♣ | 4♥ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
I have 1 spade, 3 diamonds, a club (thanks to the lead), and somewhere between 3 and 5 hearts. I can get an extra trick by ruffing a club in hand. I can get another one by setting up my long diamond if they split 4-3. I might be able to ruff a spade on board as well.
Loserwise I'm losing a club for sure. I have 3 spade losers but they're slow so I can probably pitch them. I may lose 2 hearts if... Wait, how do I lose 2 hearts? If I lead up to the Q and then cash the A I lose 2 to stiff K in West. Just cashing the A means I lose 2 to any singleton that I don't guess. That's worse, and I don't see any other viable plays. Well, lets see what happens...
A-5-6-4. East shifts to a spade, which is unfortunate. Now I have pressure to find the right play now. I consider ducking this but I doubt he'll play another spade. He'll probably shift to a diamond and prevent me from finessing hearts. So I win. K-2-8-A.
Cashing the K of clubs only hurts when East started with 8 which seems unlikely. K-7-3 of spades-T.
I play the 2 of hearts and East plays the T. I can no longer lose 2 heart tricks. I don't see what West can do to hurt me if he wins the K here, so I finesse as planned. 2-T-Q-K.
He cashes the K of spades and then shifts to the J of diamonds. I guess if East was void this would be rather unfortunate and I'll wish I'd just safetied by skipping the heart finesse. He doesn't ruff it. I draw two more rounds of trumps and claim. Making 4.
| NORTH ♠ A J 9 7 ♥ J 9 5 3 2 ♦ 5 ♣ K J 4 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q T 8 6 ♥ K 6 4 ♦ J T 8 6 ♣ T 6 | EAST ♠ K 5 ♥ T ♦ 9 7 2 ♣ A Q 9 8 7 3 2 | |
| SOUTH ♠ 4 3 2 ♥ A Q 8 7 ♦ A K Q 4 3 ♣ 5 |
On the replay the auction goes the same. The play changes at trick one when East decides to lead his stiff heart instead of cashing the club A. West wins with the K and returns a spade. Jack finesses and loses to the K. Now East cashes his A of clubs. Jack is up. Making 4.
I go back and force East to return a spade instead of cashing his A of clubs. It doesn't matter since diamonds split 4-3 and Jack can set up his 5th diamond.
I go back again and force West to play a club when he gets in on trick 1. It still doesn't matter since diamonds split 4-3.
I go all the way back and force East to lead a low spade. For some reason Jack drops the J under the Q. Nothing matters. This hand is destined to be 4H making it seems.
During the bidding I considering doubling 3C but I was worried it would be a penalty double. I replayed to find out and it was. We put them down 2 for only -500. I went back and bid 3H and partner raises to 4. I went back and passed and he bids 3NT. I pull to 4H. Given all that I think blasting to 4H was probably wrong...
Nick: 620
Jack: 620
IMPs: +0 (9 total)
I'm torn between bidding 4 and bidding 3. I think in the end, I'd go with 4 because as good as your hand is, you need all of your partner's points already to make 4. If your partner wants slam, he'll need to find more values himself.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the H situation though. The real danger here is the 4-0 break, but you can catch that on both sides even while cashing the ace first. I think this means you should duck the first spade. As you played it, if East had KQT of spades, you'd lose 2 more spade tricks.
In matchpoints, I'd toss up the A, cash the K of clubs (pitching the dangerous 3rd spade) and then finesse the J hoping for a ton of overtricks.
I wasn't going to lose 2 spade tricks since I was going to pitch a spade from South on North's K of clubs before letting them get the lead.
ReplyDeleteTurns out you're right about always being able to pick up hearts for 1 loser by cashing the A first, so East didn't have any dangerous continuations. I probably should duck to maintain my tenaces in both black suits since it pretty much locks in making 4 and going for the overtrick isn't a great plan at IMPs.
I wasn't going to look for slam, I was actually considering that we might only want to play in 3H if partner had a minimum. Turn his A of spades into the J of diamonds, for example, and we lose 4 tricks off the top and still have to deal with the K of hearts. Since partner would bid on with the hand he did have I don't risk missing a good game by just bidding 3. I do risk missing some sketchier games though, so it still might be right at IMPs to just blast. 3H has to be right at MPs though.
I agree that you could lose 4 tricks off the top if your partner's hand is *complete* garbage, but I think its a risk you have to take. That's what happens when your opponents preempt.
ReplyDeleteIs it a risk I have to take though? If you can trust partner to bid game himself most of the time when he has the hand for game then it's not really a risk at all. You put the ball in his court and trust him.
ReplyDeleteNow, if he _should_ bid on if I only bid 3H is another question entirely.
Well, I think your partner should pass on an awful lot of hands if you bid 3C. I think your hand has lost the space it needed to discuss what you want, and 3H is just too big a box around your hand for your partner to go up with a moderately week hand. (all he needs is KH +A... or even AS with KH onside!.
ReplyDelete