Bridge Match 1 - Board 88

Board 88 – Dealer West – No Vul

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

West opens 1NT and East bids 2 clubs Stayman. My hand is too flat to get involved so I pass. West bids 2 diamonds showing no major and East jumps to 3NT. Partner leads the 3 of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
1NT	Pass	2♣1	Pass
2♦2	Pass	3NT	All Pass
1Stayman
2No 4 Card Major

Partner has 3-5 points, 4 spades, and 3 hearts. I'd guess he's 4-3-3-3. Declarer only has 2 spades and one of them is the 2. Declarer is going to make if he has 5 solid diamonds with the A of hearts and the AK of clubs, and if he has that there's nothing I can do to stop him. If he doesn't then I think he's just toast. At any rate... 3-T-K-7. I play another spade. 9-2-6-A.

Declarer decides to attack clubs. 3-2-A-7. 4-5-8-T. I'm in and we have 2 tricks to cash. Is there any reason to not cash them? Well, I don't partner to play a diamond. I can set up a trick in either hearts or clubs and set them any time it's possible. I'm not setting up any tricks for them by doing so, so I don't think it can hurt. Partner managed to block spades, so I don't have any entry to my hand to cash the club so I need partner to be able to play a heart to me. I play the K of hearts. K-A-5-3. Declarer plays on hearts himself. 2-7-8-Q. I play a spade to partner. 8-9 of hearts-J-4. Q-9 of clubs-5-7 of diamonds. Partner throws dummy in with a heart. Declarer is up. Down 1.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my spade return at trick 2 and wants me to shift to the Q of clubs. He then disagrees with my choice to play the K of hearts and wants me to again play the Q of clubs.


The auction is the same on the replay. What does Jack have against inviting? My seat shifts to the Q of clubs when he gets in with the spade K. He then gets back in with the T of clubs and shifts to a spade. Declarer can then finesse him out of his second club trick. It doesn't matter since declarer can't find a 9th trick. Down 1.

Nick: 50
Jack: 50
IMPs: 0 (+24 total)