Bridge Match 1 - Board 20

Board 24 – Dealer West – All Vul

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

West opens 1 club. Partner overcalls 1 diamond. East bids 2 clubs. I get in there with 2 hearts. It gets passed around to East who goes to 3 clubs. I hope to have two red suit fits but even if I don't I have a 9 card diamond suit so I'm 'legally allowed' to bid to the 3 level by The Law. I bid 3 diamonds which gets passed out. East leads the T of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
1♣	1♦	2♣	2♥
Pass	Pass	3♣	3♦
Pass	Pass	Pass

Overcalling with no honours in your suit is a little sketchy. I have at least 2 trump losers and quite possibly 3. I have anywhere from 1 to 3 spade losers as well depending on how the suit is layed out and played. On the winner side, I have at least 3 heart tricks, probably 4 and maybe 5. I have 2 trump tricks, maybe 3. I have a club. And I can score a couple club ruffs on dummy as well, so assuming I don't get butchered in spades and diamonds I can make this.

I win the opening lead. T-2-3-A. I do not want to break spades myself and I can't cash hearts while they still have trump left so I should draw trump. How should I play the suit?

If it splits 2-2 it doesn't matter. I have just 2 losers that way.

If it splits 3-1 then playing up to the Q is good when the J is stiff or when East has the J and a 3 card suit. Floating the T is never better, I don't think.

If it splits 4-0 then I have 3 losers if West has them and 2 if East does, assuming I lead up to the Q.

Really, I can't lose to the 3 (unless they get a ruff I guess) and I can't possibly beat the A or the K or realistically get them to crash. (Maybe lead the Q from board and hope West covers from KJx or AJx?) So I can only deal with the J, which I can only do by leading up to the Q when East has it or getting it to crash on a 2-2 split. So, I lead up to the Q.

T-3-Q-K. West shifts to the 2 of spades. I randomly stick in the 7 without much thought. In retrospect this is a mistake and I should put up anything else. At any rate it gets covered by the 8. 2-7-8-K.

Now I know for sure I don't have 3 spade losers. I also know for sure I have 2 as soon as I give up the lead. My options now are:

Draw trump, immediately losing when they split 3-1 and making just in when they split 2-2.

Go after a pitch on the hearts. Cashing the three top hearts lets me get rid of a spade and if they ruff they're ruffing with a natural trump trick. (Unless diamonds split 2-2, but then I still make since I lose just 1 spade and 3 trump.) If hearts split 3-3 though, I can actually pitch both spades and lose just 3 trump tricks for up 1. Or if they split 4-2 with the J being doubleton and in the hand with only 1 trump the same happens. The only bad scenario is when hearts split 5-1 and diamonds split 2-2. Then they get 3 trump and 2 spades for down 1 when I would have made otherwise.

That doesn't seem very likely. (14.5%*40.7% = ~6%) So 6% of the time I'll lose 5 IMPs. I gain the same number of IMPs any time diamonds are 3-1 and hearts are 4-2 or better. (49.7%*84% = ~42%) I also pick up an overtrick for an extra IMP with this line and not with the exit a diamond line some chunk of the time. This is clearly right.

6-J-A-2. Is West being cute or is it really a 5-1 split? I don't think the card he plays matters (except he probably doesn't have 4 hearts I guess?) so I press on. 8-3-K-5. Huzzah! And another. Q-9-9 of spades-4. Hearts split 3-3 so I get my overtrick. I play another heart and pitch my last spade. Oddly, no one ruffs in. Huh. I exit a diamond and they both follow. What? I have the rest, making 5.

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

Professor Jack (man, I want to call him Captain Jack for some reason) disagrees with my 2 heart bid. He doesn't think my hand is strong enough for that bid and instead wants me to cuebid 3 clubs. SCREW YOU JACK! GAH! I don't understand his cuebids, but I replay it to see what it would mean. It's alerted as a constructive raise with 9+ points, 3+ diamonds, and no 6 card major. That actually sounds like a 2 diamond bid to me, so I check that out. Turns out it's 'preemptive' despite being the next bid in sequence and shows 3+ diamonds with 7-12 "fit points".

On the replay the auction goes differently (North doesn't overcall, but does balance with 2 diamonds) but they end up in 3 diamonds nonetheless. The play goes differently as when West gets in with the K of diamonds he returns a club instead of a spade. Declarer ruffs and draws trump, getting the 2-2 split. East cashes the A of spades when he wins the trump. Declarer screws around before cashing his hearts so he's actually set up to go down if they don't split 3-3. Luckily for him they do. Making 4.

Nick: 150
Jack: 130
IMPs: +1 (-26 total)