Bridge Match 1 - Board 50

Board 50 – Dealer East – NS Vul

My hand: ♠ K J 9 8 5 ♥ T ♦ K 4 ♣ T 8 7 6 5

East passes and I don't have a bid so I pass too. West opens 1 heart, partner overcalls 1 spade and East bids 2 hearts. I jump to 4 spades, West doubles for penalty which gets passed out. East leads the 2 of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
1♥	1♠	2♥	4♠1
Double2	Pass	Pass	Pass
1Possible preemptive
2Penalty

I have 5 spades and maybe a diamond. I can cross ruff a lot of hearts and clubs, but not enough to get to 10. I have a heart loser, a club loser, and probably 2 diamond losers. So, I think I'm going down and want to try to hold things to down 1.

The heart goes 2-T-K-5. West returns a spade. (Jerk!) 4-3-2-5.

I fire around a club. 5-Q-K-9. Guess my club loser is gone! If I had 4 entries to hand I could ruff 4 clubs on board and get to 10 tricks assuming I didn't get overruffed with the T, but I don't. If clubs split 4-3 I can set up my 5th club. East's 9 should show an even number of clubs, and if they split 5-2 I think I have a ruffing finesse but I'd have to know to play for it.

If the A of diamonds is onside I make easily. If it's offside then I still make if the Q of diamonds is onside. Otherwise I can fall back on clubs being 4-3. This seems better than risking overruffs right away, so I go for it. 2-9-K-A. West cashes the A of clubs. This gives me the tempo I needed to cross ruff the hand. Only problem there is the risk of an overruff if East started with 2 clubs and has the T or if West started with 3 hearts and has the T. West opened a heart so that can't happen. He would have to be 1-5-2-5 with East being 2-3-6-2 for the first to happen, too. I think I can count out the hand to see if that's plausible by playing on diamonds though.

At any rate, I ruff low. A-6 of spades-3-6. I ruff a heart to hand. 3-8-8 of spades-6. A diamond back. 4-5-J-Q. East returns the T of spades. I should have expected that. I still have clubs to fall back on, assuming I win this in hand. T-K-4 of hearts-Q. I ruff a club. 7-2-A of spades-4. I ruff a diamond back to hand. 8-3-9 of spades-6.

Now a club back. T-7 of hearts-7 of spades-J. My 8 of clubs is now high and I have a trump as entry. Making 4, doubled.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my initial diamond play. He wants me to draw trump. That may be right. It removes some wins but prevents the overruff too.


The replay goes the same except they don't get doubled. I guess I look shiftier than Jack does? Jack swindles the K of clubs at their table too. Jack loses a club as well, but in doing so endplays East in diamonds, forcing him to lead away from his Q. Of course, this play would have failed miserably if West had the Q of diamonds and East had the A instead of the other way around. I'd have made an overtrick and he would have gone down. In fact, since East had only shown 3 points to that point in the hand and West had shown 13 it really seems like they should have been split the other way. Oh well, lucky for them I guess.

Nick: 790
Jack: 620
IMPs: +5 (-27 total)