Bridge Match 2 - Board 52

Board 52 - Dealer West - All Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Intermediate

My hand: ♠ T 9 3 2 ♥ J 6 5 4 ♦ K 9 4 3 ♣ 3

West opens 1 diamond, partner overcalls 1 spade, and East responds 2 hearts. My hand is not very good, but I do have a fit for partner and 4 cards in their suits. Probably they have a club fit and I want to make it harder for them to find it. Partner should have 5 spades for his overcall so 3 spades seems like the place to be! West and partner both pass but East has other ideas and jumps to 4NT which is alerted as ace asking for no trump. I said my piece so I pass. West shows 1 or 4 aces and East settles into 6 diamonds. I don't think I can double, but I sure hope they bid too much and go down!

Partner leads the queen of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
1♦	1♠	2♥	3♠
Pass	Pass		Pass
	Pass	6♦	Pass
Pass	Pass
1Ace asking for no trump
21 or 4 aces

Q-A-2-5. Declarer switches to a heart. 2-5-K-9. Now he draws trump. A-2-T-3. This method of drawing trump means I have 2 trump tricks; now I need to hope we have an outside trick too. He plays another round of trump. 5-8-Q-K. Dummy is out of trump so I guess I should play a spade. T-4-7-3 of hearts. Hmm. I don't know what declarer's plan is, but it seems to have backfired. I fire another spade through. 9-8-J-7 of hearts. Partner cashes another spade with declarer pitching a club from hand. Nothing makes any sense.

He does ruff the next spade, after I've pitched a club myself. He fires a club around which I ruff. I return a heart to declarer. Rather than draw my trump he plays another club. I ruff it too. Then I play another heart and it turns out partner has the J of diamonds!

They do finally get the A of clubs on the end. Down 6.

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

Every other table made a contract from their side. 5 tables made 6 clubs, 1 table made 7 clubs, and one went up 2 in 4 hearts. They definitely had a club fit and I guess my preempt made them miss it? Huzzah! 14 MPs to the good!


Jack disagrees with my signal on the opening trick. He wants me to encourage since I have the T. I feel like my holding in spades is as bad as it can be for my earlier bid and I have no reason to encourage, so I stand by my decision to signal low.

Ranking after board 52/60: 1/16 with 61.4%