Bridge Match 1 - Board 82

Board 82 – Dealer East – NS Vul

My hand: ♥ K 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♦ Q J ♣ A 6 5 4

East passes so I get to open. My options are pass, 1 heart, or 3 hearts. Pass is right out and I'd definitely open 1 heart if all 10 of my points were working. But with QJ doubleton I think I'll go with a preempt. It gets passed out. West leads the 5 of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	3♥
Pass	Pass	Pass

Well, I have a diamond loser, 3 club losers, and anywhere from 1 to 4 heart losers. Probably 2. I can deal with one loser by pitching on the A of spades and another by pitching on the A of diamonds, assuming I somehow had an entry to the two A after dealing with my QJ of diamonds. Realistically this entry would be in clubs, but at that point I need the K onside. At any rate, I can't imagine setting up a ruff so I should deal with trump first. I'll save the pitch for later. 5-3-K-2 of hearts.

I lead a heart to the Q. 3-T-Q-6. Ok, didn't think far enough ahead, apparently. I now want to play a club to hand and draw more trump, but I might just lose 3 more clubs off the top if I do that. So, I will cash the A of spades now. A-4-4 of clubs-6. Club to hand. 2-8-A-3.

Now more trump. 4-J-2 of diamonds-9. West now cashes the A of hearts. A-3 of diamonds-2 of spades-5.

West shifts to the 5 of diamonds. I can't see any reason to not finesse. 5-6-T-Q. Maybe East is trying to prank me? I don't care to find out. I play a diamond. J-8-A-4. I ruff a diamond back to my hand, West having the K. I cash a round of trump just in case, and then finesse a club. 6-J-Q-9. I give up a club at the end. Making 4.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my opening and would have chosen 1 heart himself. I can respect that, but not for his reasoning which is that my suit was too bad for a preempt.


At the other table my hand chooses the third option and passes. North ends up opening 1 diamond in 3rd seat and after a lot of bidding by all 4 players South ends up declarer in 4 hearts. Declarer ends up breaking clubs from the South hand by leading low. This causes West to play low and South guesses wrong by inserting the Q. Defense end up taking 2 clubs and 2 hearts for down 1.

Nick: 170
Jack: -100
IMPs: +7 (+39 total)