Bridge Match 1 - Board 22

Board 22 – Dealer East – EW Vul

My hand: ♠ A Q 9 8 6 ♥ 5 3 ♦ Q 6 4 ♣ A 9 8

East passes. I open 1 spade. West passes. Partner bids 2 hearts. I bid 2NT. Partner bids 4NT which I think should be qualitative but I know from reading Philip's blog that it's going to be Blackwood. For NT, I assume, so I have 2 aces. I bid 5 hearts. Partner bids 6 hearts. That gets passed out.

I sneak a peek at the alerts after the hand. Turns out 4NT was ace asking for hearts. My 2NT did deny heart support... Good thing my Blackwood response was the same for hearts as for NT, eh?

East leads the A of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1♠
Pass	2♥	Pass	2NT
Pass	4NT1	Pass	5♥2
Pass	6♥	All Pass
1Roman Keycard for Hearts
22 Aces, no Queen

Well. I have 8 hearts tricks, a spade, and 2 clubs. That's 11 tricks, so I need to find a 12th somewhere. Potential options:

- Finesse spades, making 6 when the K is onside.
- Ruff out the K of spades. I only have 2 entries, so this actually only means ruff out Kx of spades.
- Hope clubs split 5-2 and the person with 5 clubs has one of the two pointed kings and I guess to keep the right Q so I can squeeze them.
- Ruff out the K of diamonds. This requires diamonds to split 7-2 with the K in the 2.

I think I'm just going to finesse spades, but I'll run a bunch of other stuff first and see if anything interesting crops up. But first, I have to follow to the diamond lead. A-6-3-2. East plays the K of diamonds. So much for all that thinking... I ruff, draw trumps, and cash my winners. Making 6.

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

I don't see any legitimate ways to make on the layout, though I guess as far as East was concerned I could have had 2 diamonds in hand and been planning to pitch one on the long spade.


Professor Jack agrees with me all the way!


The replay has a different auction. They aren't playing bergen raises, so North jumps to 3H to show a game force with 6+ hearts. South bids 3NT. North bids 4NT which is apparently ace asking for NT. Why his is for NT after showing a huge heart suit and mine was for hearts after showing 5 is a little odd to me. Why either are Blackwood at all is confusing, really. They end up in 6H anyway.

Play goes the same. Making 6 after ruffing the K of diamonds.

Nick: 980
Jack: 980
IMPs: 0 (-26 total)