Bridge Match 2 - Board 36

Board 36 - Dealer West - All Vul

Opponents convention card: Standard American Yellow Card
Opponents playing strength: Adequate

My hand: ♠ A T 4 3 ♥ A Q 9 5 ♦ Q 7 4 ♣ 9 5

West opens 1 club, partner passes, and East reponds 1 spade. My hand is decent but unexciting and certainly isn't allowed to bid after they bid a major. They end up settling into 2 diamonds. I don't think I could have bid at the second turn either? But maybe the right MP spot to play is going to be 2 hearts for our side and I'm going to be sad.

I lead the 9 of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
1♣	Pass	1♠	Pass
1NT	Pass	2♦	Pass
Pass	Pass

9-Q-2-7. Lead through strength indeed! West gives up a spade, presumably so he can start ruffing them on board. 5-Q-7-4. Partner returns a club, presumably hoping I led a stiff and we can ruff things first. Sorry Jack. J-8-5-K. Now declarer draws trump. 6-8-A-4. Ruff a spade. 2-3-9 of diamonds-6. Cash a club, pitching a heart loser. A-3-7 of hearts-7 of diamonds.

I'm in, and I have nothing useful to do. I still don't think leading a heart is a good idea. So I make him ruff a spade. T-K of diamonds-K-8. He plays another club. 4-T-J of diamonds... Should I overruff? I'm going to get thrown in with it eventually and that seems bad. Might as well win it now while I have an 'exit'? I win and make him ruff another spade. He cashes a club, ruffs a heart, and is up because I set up his spades.

Oh partner, why didn't you play a heart when you got in? Lead through strength! Or draw trump? They were clearly setting up to ruff a lot of spades. Oh well. Making 3.

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

I didn't like our chances of getting a good result here but we actually managed to get 8 MPs. A couple EW made 4 diamonds and one NS pair went down in 1NT. Two other pairs made 3 diamonds. And then 2 EW pairs actually played 2 spades and went down.


Professor Jack disagrees with cashing the A of spades at the end. He wants me to play a low heart. Cashing the spade is wrong when declarer has 5 of them but is probably fine if he has 4 and still has Kx of hearts in hand? I probably could have figured that out from partner's signaling. Oh well.

Ranking after board 36/60: 1/16 with 58.13%