Bridge Match 1 - Board 27

Board 27 – Dealer South – No Vul

My hand: ♠ 6 3 ♥ K J T 9 4 2 ♦ A T 6 ♣ 9 5

I open 2 hearts. West overcalls 2 spades. Partner raises to 3 hearts. East raises to 3 spades. I pass, West goes to 4 spades and everyone passes. Partner leads the K of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
			2♥1
2♠	3♥2	2♠	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	Pass
1Weak Two
2Preemptive

K-2-5-A. Declarer goes after diamonds right off the bat. 2-7-J-?. Partner's 7 should be count, so I expect he has 2 diamonds. As such, declarer has 2 diamonds himself and I should win the second round. Alternatively if partner only has one diamond then I could win this one and give him a ruff. What tricks do we have? It looks like a club, a diamond, and a heart assuming partner ever gets around to leading one for me. We need one more which is either the A of hearts in partner's hand or a ruff. I think they're 2-2 so I duck this round. 2-7-J-6.

Declarer returns the Q of diamonds. I cover. Q-A-3-4. I return a club. 9-4-J-T. Partner cashes the A of hearts. A-7-J-8. Partner thinks a long time and then plays a club. That can't be right unless partner only bid 3 hearts with 4 of them. I pitch the 2 of hearts. 7-7 of spades-2 of hearts-3.

Declarer draws trump from board. 9-6-8-2. Then he ruffs a diamond. 5-T-T of spades-3 of hearts. Declarer ruffs another club. 6-Q-Q of spades-4 of hearts.

Unless partner underlead his A it looks like declarer has 3 club tricks. Oh well, not much I can do about that. 9-2-T-A. Declarer exits a diamond. 4-K-J-?. If partner lead a stiff club then I could overtake and give him a ruff. But if he wanted me to get in, why didn't he duck the diamond? Hopefully he'll return a trump to cut down on diamond ruffs in dummy. I play the 8.

Declarer plays a diamond off board. I don't know what good my trump is going to be so I ruff with it. 8-3 of spades-J of spades-5 of hearts. Declarer draws partner's last 2 trump and then cashes a club. Making 4.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my 2 heart bid. He says my hand should preempt and isn't suitable for a weak two. He wants me to open 3 hearts. I guess that suit's a lot better than some suits I'd bid 2 hearts on so maybe I should have, but Andrew yells at me when I do things like that.

On the play he disagrees with my ducking the first diamond. He wants me to win with the A. He also disagrees with my signal on partner's A of hearts. He says I should encourage and therefore play the 9. Is the J not encouraging too? I give up.


The replay has an identical auction. I wonder if my messing with the convention card is what is causing Jack and Captain Jack to make different plays. At either table I would bid 4 hearts in North's seat. He has Axxx support! Obey the Law, Jack. Obey the Law.

On the play Jack wins the A of diamonds and cashes out the same three tricks we got. Declarer gets the rest but has to work a lot less hard for it since his diamonds set up while he had a spade entry to board.

Nick: -420
Jack: -420
IMPs: 0 (-19 total)