Bridge Match 1 - Board 29

Board 29 – Dealer North – All Vul

My hand: ♠ T 8 ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ K T 9 4 ♣ K 7 4 2

Partner opens 1 club. If I had a 4 card major I should bid it instead of diamonds but I don't. Partner jumps to 3 no trump. Yikes! East leads the 3 of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
	1♣	Pass	1♦1
Pass	3NT	All Pass
1Walsh

I have 1 spade, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds and an eventual club. I might be able to get a second spade with favourable lies of the cards. (A in West hand or J/9 in East hand or by forcing East to lead away from the A again.) If any of the other suits split 3-3 I can get a long trick in them. I can finesse in diamonds either way to try to pick up extra tricks, or I can get an extra diamond by dropping Jx or Qx.

First order of business, how do I play spades? By the rule of 11 I know West has 3 cards higher than the 3 of spades and so does East. There's no particular reason to assume the 9 or J are in either hand. I think I'll play East for A9xx or A9xxx so I insert the 8 from board. West plays the 9. Boo! I win the Q.

I want to set up my club trick and I'd really rather not let West get in so I want to lead up to the Q. If he has the A and hops then I get an extra club trick by doing so and hopefully spades split 4-4 so I'm not just down. I play a heart to dummy. 2-3-Q-4. Then the 2 of clubs back. 2-3-Q-9.

Ok, so West has the A of clubs. If I lose a diamond to West I'm down. If I lose one to East I'm down if he returns a club but not if he returns a spade. I play a diamond from hand. 6-J-K-2. The J is an interesting card... Assuming the 2 is count and shows an odd number of diamonds they're either 3-3 giving me an eventual long diamond or they're 5-1 and I'll have to lose one to West eventually but I'll get a third anyway. If they are 3-3, who has the Q? Would East hop with the J from Jxx? If so then there's nothing I can do since he's going to win it. It's only right to play to the A if he has specifically QJ tight, but then West gave false count. I should finesse. 4-5-8-Q.

East returns a heart. 9-5-T-A. I cash the A of diamonds. A-3-9-7. My long diamond is set up but it's stranded on board for now. Thinking back, both opponents signalled odd for hearts and have both played 2 hearts, so hearts are also probably 3-3. I cash the K. K-6-7-J. I cash the 13th heart. 8-T of clubs-T of spades-2 of spades.

East either started as 4-3-3-3 or 5-3-3-2. West was either 4-3-3-3 or 3-3-3-4. So East has left either 3 spades and a club or 4 spades. West has 2 spades and 2 clubs or 1 spade and 3 clubs. Pretty sure I'm down no matter what I do. I lead a low club. 5-J-4-A. West returns a spade. 7-6-5-T of diamonds. Another spade. 4-K-A-7 of clubs. East cashes the last spade. Down 1.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my diamond play. He wants me to cash a heart after winning the Q of clubs. He also doesn't want me to play a diamond back after winning the K. He also wants me to win the A on the same trick instead of finessing. Finally he wants me to insert the K of spades instead of the 6. I was hoping East would duck and West wouldn't have any spades left but I guess that's probably a pipedream and I gave up the chance of winning when West had the A of spades all along.

The auction is different but they end up in 3NT anyway. They're playing it from the South hand though so West is on lead. Dummy inserts the Q on the spade lead and East ducks it. Declarer attacks clubs the same as I did, going to board with a heart. He then also played a diamond. Screw you, Captain Jack. He does return to hearts instead of diamonds though. Instead of cashing his 13th heart he cashes the A of diamonds. He goes back to hearts and everyone pitches a spade. He throws East in with the Q of diamonds. East returns the J of clubs, ducked around and then another to his partner's A. A spade through gives them the rest of the tricks. Down 1 also.

Walsh let us right side the contract and it almost let us make. I had to guess if East had the 9 or J of spades and if I was right we would have made because the right hand was playing.

Nick: -100
Jack: -100
IMPs: 0 (-16 total)