Bridge Match 1 - Board 66

Board 66 – Dealer East – NS Vul

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

I open 1 spade in second seat. Partner bids 2 spades as both opponents pass. I invite with 3 spades and partner passes. West leads the K of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1♠
Pass	2♠	Pass	3♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

Well, I have 3 diamond losers, a club loser, and a heart loser. I can trivially get rid of a diamond loser by ruffing one on board. I might be able to get rid of my club loser if I can set up a long heart to pitch it on, but that seems unlikely.

K-4-7-2. 3-8-A-5. East shifts to the J of spades. J-Q-6-2. A-5-3-3 of clubs. K-7-4-T of diamonds.

Now that trump is drawn I switch to hearts. Q-A-2-9. East fires back another heart. 3-4-T-J. That establishes the 8 of hearts on board, so I make up one.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my opening bid. He (correctly) notes that I have a 1NT opener. I donno though, with only 15 points and such a beefy spade suit I like opening 1 spade here. Of course, I didn't even think of 1NT (I'm going to blame it on playing weak NTs with Andrew).

While we're critiquing bids, what's with 2 spades, Jack? We're playing Bergen raises here, you should have bid 3 spades with 4 of them.


On the replay my hand opens 1NT. North bids Stayman despite only having a 4 count. I really wish declarer was 2-3-4-4 or 2-3-3-5 with a minimum here and they'd get screwed by that bid. Stayman should be invitational at least. South super-accepts the Stayman bid by jumping to 3 spades ostensibly showing 5 spades and a maximum. Nice maximum, Jack. I wish your partner only had hearts and not spades.

The play goes the same, including East throwing away a heart trick by signalling count with the 9. At least Jack was consistently terrible on defense this time. Up one.

Nick: 170
Jack: 170
IMPs: +0 (+21 total)