Bridge Match 1 - Board 42

Board 42 – Dealer East – All Vul

My hand: ♠ K ♥ T 8 6 4 3 ♦ T 9 6 ♣ A T 4 2

East passes. My hand sucks so I pass too. West opens 1 diamonds, partner overcalls 1 spades and East bids 1NT. I pass again. West jumps to 3 diamonds and East goes to 3NT. I suspect I'm going to make Byung unhappy with my 3NT lead again, but I go with the 4 of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
1♦	1♠	1NT	Pass
3♦	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Nice diamond suit, West. 4-5-J-A. Declarer plays a diamond. 2-6-J-7 of spades. They have 8 tricks for sure. How could we set them? Well, partner has to have the A of spades and the K of hearts to do so. His play of the J of hearts would also show the Q in that case. I have the A of clubs and the K of spades so we have 5 tricks when we get in, unless partner crushes my K of spades and declarer has the Q. In that case I can take a 3rd heart as long as I keep it. Or we could take the K of clubs if partner has it. I need to pitch 4 cards so I can't keep both of those plays alive. I think I'll pitch a heart and 3 clubs starting with the T.

After running all his diamonds he plays a spade off board. Partner crushes my K with his A and then fires out the Q of hearts to declarer's K. Declarer cashes his T of spades. And then his J of spades. You see, partner pitched down to the stiff A of spades. Making 5.

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

We set them on a club lead since we have 7 top tricks. Possibly if I led my stiff K as well we set them, depending on where I shift.


Professor Jack disagrees with my lead. He says my lead was the systematic one but he thinks the K of spades would work out better.

He then questions why I pitched the 3rd club instead of a 2nd heart. He claims it will cost 2 tricks. I guess it will, but only because partner threw away his Q of spades to accomplish the same thing.


The replay goes to crazy town. My hand doubles 1NT as a competitive double, ostensibly showing 10-14 points. Maybe a stiff K is worth 3 for being a K and 3 more for being a stiff? West makes his same diamond bid and North jumps in there with 5 clubs. East doubles.

East starts by cashing his AK of hearts. He then leads a diamond which gets ruffed. North cashes the stiff K of spades and finesses West for the club Q. It works so he draws trump, cashes the Q of hearts, and wins the rest of the tricks. Good work, East. Way to set up 3 tricks for them by cashing your AK of hearts.

I backed up and forced him to lead a diamond. Down 2. A spade lead is down 1. So two 'bad' leads caused a double game swing.

Nick: -660
Jack: 750
IMPs: -16 (-30 total)