Bridge Match 2 - Board 40

Board 40 - Dealer West - None Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Fair

My hand: ♠ A Q 4 ♥ J 8 2 ♦ J 7 6 ♣ Q 9 5 2

East opens 1 spade in 3rd chair. I can't bid with this hand. West raises to 2 spades and East moves on to 3 hearts which must show a pretty darn good hand. I still can't bid, but I hope they get out of hand. West settles into 4 spades. I don't think I can double.

I lead the 6 of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♠	Pass	3♥	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	Pass

6-3-Q-A. Declarer returns a club. 4-5-7-T. Partner decides to draw trump, presumably meaning he has heart tricks that he doesn't want ruffed out. Ok partner, I'm in. I draw 3 round of trump. Partner pitches the 3 of hearts on the third round. Declarer pounds out a diamond. 2-7-8-K. Partner returns a club. I hope he has the K of clubs or he's just given declarer an entry to the long diamonds. 3-8-Q-A. Looks like he does because declarer leads a heart, not a diamond. 5-7-T-J.

Ok, I'm in. I can force declarer to ruff by cashing a diamond, but then he's up if he has the high club. The other option is to play a club myself. I think my goal here is to not finesse partner out of his presumptive heart trick so I play the club. 2-J-K-8 of spades.

Declarer is eventually forced to lose a heart to partner. Down 3!

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

4 spades down 3 is a solo top board. Everyone did play in spades but they varied between 2, 3, and 4. 3 boards made 10 tricks, 3 made 9 tricks, 1 made 8 tricks, and ours only made 7. Declarer misplay maybe? Or did we just defend way better than everyone else? I feel like we did play it well.


Professor Jack agrees with me all the way!

Ranking after board 40/60: 2/16 with 56.25%