Bridge Match 1 - Board 17

Board 17 – Dealer North – No Vul

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

Partner passes and East opens 1NT (15-17). I have a decent number of points but flat distribution so I pass. West also passes and partner bids 2H. East passes. Partner's bid should be Cappalletti showing hearts and a minor. I can't see us having a game with partner being a passed hand so I'm happy to play 2H. I pass, so does West, and East leads the A of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1NT	Pass
Pass	2♥1	All Pass
1Cappelletti

I have 4 hearts, a very slow spade, and 2 diamonds. I have no hope of a club trick, but I can possibly ruff a couple clubs. I may be able to set up a long diamond or two and can ruff those as well. Unfortunately North's hearts aren't really good enough for a cross-ruff I don't think. As far as losers go I have 2 spades and 2 clubs and that's it, but I will lose more stuff after I lose trump control...

At any rate, the first trick goes A-6-3-J. Another spade. K-Q-5-2. East switches to the A of clubs. A-2-5-6. And another. 7-8-K-3. West has at most 2 more points. He returns the J of clubs. Could East have only had 2? No, he needs to have the Q still, so I ruff low. J-3 of hearts-9-4.

All I need to do now is draw trump and I have 8 tricks. K-7-5-4. 6-T-A-2. Q-9-8-4 of spades. I cash out. Making 2.

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

Turns out I can set up diamonds with a single ruff if I need to, but I have to do it before I draw trump to keep an entry to them so not worth the risk in 2H. I probably would have tried in 3H though.


Professor Jack thinks I should have bid 3H instead of 2H. I can't imagine why I would want to do this. Preemptive maybe? It can't be invitational since with partner being a passed hand we can't have game on strength and my hand is flat as a pancake.

He also would have drawn trump in a different order, by starting with the 6 of hearts. I guess this makes sense in case of a 5-0 split? Really I was going to draw at least 3 rounds of trump in any other case so it doesn't matter. Oh well.


On the replay they're playing natural over 1NT. So, 1NT gets passed out.

My hand starts by leading the 2 of clubs. Declarer cashes 4 clubs. He's in a good way, except he then cashes the top 2 spades and gives up the lead. Defense has 7 top tricks and cashes them. Down 1.

I replayed it and if declarer just passively exits a heart he makes. If he plays a diamond he makes. Grr. This should have been +5 IMPs, though only because we're playing a better system.

Nick: 110
Jack: 50
IMPs: +2 (-6 total)