Bridge Match 2 - Board 10

Board 10 – Dealer East – All Vul

Opponents convention card: Jack
Opponents playing strength: Adequate

My hand: ♠ A K 2 ♥ A J 7 ♦ K 7 ♣ J 9 7 3 2

East opens a multi 2 diamonds, which I think is banned around here. He either has 6-11 points with a 6 card major or a 25-26 count without a 6 card major. I don't know how I'm supposed to defend against this bid. I know he can't have the big hand since I have a 16 count. I'll double and hope that makes sense?

West bids 2 hearts, a non forcing relay. Partner passes. East bids 2 spades. Now what? Is double for penalty? Is it takeout? Would I want to bid it in either case? I don't know. I'll double anyway. It gets alerted and passed out.

I lead the 3 of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
		2♦1	Double
2♥2	Pass	2♠	Double3
Pass	Pass	Pass
1Multi
2Nonforcing Relay
3Penalty

3-A-K-4. Well, guess I found partner's singleton, huh? That means East should have 3 clubs, 6 spades, and 4 red cards. Partner should have 2 spades, 1 club, and 10 red cards. Declarer decides to draw trump. 8-4-3-A. Time to give partner a club ruff! 7-5-6 of spades-8. Partner returns a heart. 8-K-A-5.

Assuming my distribution assertions are correct we're not getting another spade beyond my K. We're not getting any clubs. We need to take two tricks in the red suits, and declarer only has 3 red cards. And he has the A of diamonds on board. So partner needs both red queens. And I need to not let declarer ruff a heart. So I guess I should draw trump and exit the J of hearts. Trump first. K-9-2 of diamonds-5. That doesn't look too encouraging. Now the heart. J-9-2-Q. Declarer draws my trump then finesses the 9 of diamonds to partner's Q. Partner tries to cash the T of hearts, but declarer is out. Dummy is up. Making 2, doubled.

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

We are the only NS pair to get a negative score, so we get a bottom board. 1 NS pair made 4 hearts. 5 of them were in 2NT making just in or up 1. One EW pair was in 3 spades down 1. If we could have set them the double would have taken us from 1MP to 12MP. So a reasonable gamble I guess?

Professor Jack disagrees with my first double. He says it's conventional and I should bid 2NT instead. I don't know what convention we're playing over the banned multi, and he isn't telling me what it is. When I hover over my double it gives me a huge list of what it could mean, and my hand meets a couple of the potential options. He also dislikes my second double and wants me to pass. He then disagrees with my opening lead, which he says is the right one systematically but would rather have me draw trump. Which would cost us a trick. He then disagrees with my second club play. I played the 7, he wants me to play the J. I knew declarer had the T and 8 in hand, so the J wouldn't help. It gets covered and the T in declarer's hand becomes high. It also wouldn't hurt? Unless declarer is dumb and hops with the Q. But that's possible! I shouldn't take that option away for no gain.

Ranking after board 10/60: 9/16 with 44.29%