Bridge Match 1 - Board 59

As a point of information my new computer died a week ago, so I'm back to the settings from my laptop.

Board 59 – Dealer South – No Vul

My hand: ♠ 8 ♥ A J 7 ♦ J 9 6 5 2 ♣ A K T 2

I open 1 diamond. West doubles and both partner and East pass. This is an interesting situation. What can I bid that makes any sense? The opponents likely have at least half the deck pointswise and should have better trump than me, but no other spot can possibly be better. I might want to redouble in the hopes the opponents run? More likely I'll have to play 1 diamond redoubled and lose a lot of points. I pass. West leads the Q of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
			1♦
Double	Pass	Pass	Pass

Well, partner's J of clubs means I only have 1 club loser which is something. Assuming I can draw out trump without losing control (ha!) I can take 4 offsuit tricks and probably only go down 2. Or maybe I can crossruff with East...

At any rate, Q-7-3-2. T-2 of hearts-K-5. East should have A-8-4 of diamonds left. If I don't touch diamonds I will get 2 tricks there. East shifts to a spade. 2-8-K-4. West shifts to a heart. K-3-3 of clubs-A.

I'm in, and East has already pitched a club. Given that he had a heart void it seems likely that East is 4-0-5-4 and West is 4-4-2-3. So I can probably cash 2 clubs now, but then I'll lose 2 more clubs. Alternatively I can duck a club and as long as East has the Q of clubs then I still get my 2 clubs and won't lose the last one. It will get ruffed, though...

Or I can draw trump. I can safely lead the J, and still get my 2 trump tricks if I don't lead them again. What is East even going to return? A trump gives me a trick, a club lets me riskily finesse, and a spade lets me pitch a heart... Seems ok?

J-5 of clubs-4 of hearts-A. East returns a spade. Did I mean it when I said I'd pitch a heart? Yeah, I think I did. 3-7 of hearts-A-5. West cashes the Q of hearts. Q-5-7 of spades-J. And then the T of hearts. T-6-J of spades-?. I can ruff in and score 2 diamonds and 2 clubs for down 2. Can I get 5 of the last 6 tricks? Well, what can West return if I pitch a club?

I have the high spade, so East needs to ruff, letting me draw his trump. I'm guaranteed the same 4 tricks. The same is true with a heart return, as I have the high heart. And if he returns a club I get 3 clubs and a trump for 4 tricks. I don't really see how I get 5 no matter what I do but pitching doesn't seem like it can hurt.

West comes back with the 9 of clubs. 9-J-Q-K. I lose the 8 of diamonds and get the rest. Down 2 doubled.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my heart pitch on the spade lead. He would have ruffed in. He also disagreed with my club pitch, and would have ruffed in. In both cases it didn't matter, I still only take 5 tricks.


The auction is the same on the replay. The play goes a lot differently but it really doesn't matter. Declarer scores AAK and 2 trump just like I did for down 2.

I decided to replay myself and redouble to see what would happen. Partner runs to 1 heart and they end up playing 4 spades after about 4 signoff bids. They go down 2. But really I think they should have played 2 spades and made. Either would be better than what happened though!

Nick: -300
Jack: -300
IMPs: 0 (+10 total)