Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Adequate
My hand: ♠ 9 4 ♥ A J 9 8 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ 9 5 4 2
East opens 1 club. I don't see what I could bid so I pass. West bids 1 spade and East bids 1NT. Do I want to bid now? My hand is still flat but we probably have half the deck? I guess if they sit here they probably don't have a fit, so we probably don't have a fit. Setting them in 1NT may be our best outcome. I pass and West bids 2 hearts. East retreats to 2NT. The claim from looking at what their bids mean is that West has 4-9 points with both majors and East has 13-15 points with no majors.
Presumably they're going down unless they're both at the high end of those ranges. Have they goofed enough that we can get a top board just by having them in 2NT instead of 1NT? Or should I double? I expect the double to convert an average to a top when we set them and an average to a bottom when they make. I think if I had a 4th diamond or if partner was on lead I'd probably double them. But I'm probably going to screw up the lead so I don't.
It does get passed around. Am I supposed to attack 'our suit'? Play low and give up having an entry to partner's hand in the suit? Play high and give up my tenace? Play a different suit entirely (probably clubs) and assert partner has an outside entry to lead diamonds himself? But if he has that entry anyway then pounding out diamonds is probably good anyway. It's only going to really hurt if declarer really needs the K of diamonds as his 8th trick. But leading up to his clubs is probably going to help him too...
I decide to lead the A of diamonds.
| WEST ♠ K Q J 7 3 ♥ K 7 5 2 ♦ T 4 ♣ 8 6 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ 9 4 ♥ A J 9 8 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ 9 5 4 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1♣ | Pass | |
| 1♠ | Pass | 1NT | Pass |
| 2♥ | Pass | 2NT | All Pass |
A-4-3-7. That 3 is low, so partner is discouraging diamonds. What does that mean? If he had an honour I have to assume he'd want to encourage. Could he have something like KJ93? Then declarer would have 8765 and chose the 7 presumably at random? If declarer is bad and played his lowest diamond then partner could have something like 9653. Declarer would then have KJ87? In almost any layout I want to delay and not set up declarer's J.
Dummy does not have strong hearts, so I guess I should switch to that. 9-2-Q-6. Partner fires a diamond back. 9-J-Q-T. Ok. Maybe partner discouraged diamonds because he wanted me to switch suits? Back to hearts! J-K-T-3. Declarer is in and attacks spades. J-A-2-9. Partner is in and switches to clubs. 7-Q-2-6. Declarer cashes out. Making 3.
| NORTH ♠ A T 5 ♥ Q T ♦ 9 8 6 5 3 ♣ T 7 3 | ||
| WEST ♠ K Q J 7 3 ♥ K 7 5 2 ♦ T 4 ♣ 8 6 | EAST ♠ 8 6 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ K J 7 ♣ A K Q J | |
| SOUTH ♠ 9 4 ♥ A J 9 8 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ 9 5 4 2 |
6 of the EW pairs played in 3 spades with 4 of them going down, one of them making, and one of them making doubled. The last pair played 3NT making 4. We beat that table and the one that were doubled into game so we get 4MPs. Holding them to just in would have been worth 2 more but we needed to set them or convince them to play spades to get a good result.
We could have set them if I don't lead a diamond. If I lead a heart and we manage the suit properly (9 to the Q, T to the J) I can pound out the K of hearts before partner loses his A of spades. Then a diamond back to my hand gives us a spade, 3 hearts, and 2 diamonds while they only have 5 tricks. *sigh*
Captain Jack wants me to double 1NT. He wants me to lead the 2 of diamonds. When I switch to hearts he wants me to play the A or the 8, not the 9. And when I get in a second time he wants me to play the 2 of diamonds, not a heart. It turns out if I'd played the 3rd diamond partner would have had his suit set up while he still had the A of spades. So we could have taken 3 diamonds, 2 hearts, and a spade to set them. Doh!
Ranking after board 25/60: 9/16 with 50.29%
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