Bridge Match 2 - Board 54

Board 54 - Dealer East - EW Vul

Opponents convention card: Bridge World Standard
Opponents playing strength: Fair

My hand: ♠ 6 5 4 ♥ Q 9 6 5 4 ♦ K J 7 ♣ 7 3

East opens 2 diamonds, weak. My hand sucks so I have no reason to bid. West jumps to 4 spades so I guess East preempted his partner. I again see no reason to bid.

Partner leads the Q of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
		2♦1	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	Pass
1Weak

Q-4-3-A. Declarer shifts to a diamond. T-2-Q-K. I may be able to get a club ruff if partner led from KQx so I return a club. 7-4 of diamonds-J-5. Turns out partner lead a club from KQJxx and declarer decided to pitch a diamond loser rather than ruff. Partner shifts to a heart which feels like a big mistake when dummy has 1 heart and 1 spade. 2-3-Q-T. I won? What?

Ok, so partner for some reason underled his AK of hearts to get me on lead. Why would he do that? I really want to draw trump here to stick declarer with a heart loser but it feels like partner is trying to get me in to lead something through declarer. A diamond? Does partner want a ruff? I don't think I believe him enough to let declarer ruff a heart though, so I draw trump. 6-K-3-9. Declarer draws more trump. A-Q-3 of diamonds-5. 7-8 of hearts-6 of clubs-4. Declarer draws lots of trump, takes his A of diamonds, and then has to lose a heart at the end. Down 1.

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

Four tables played in 4 spades, with three of them going down 1. The other four tables all played hearts from our side going down a ton. So we split a top board with 2 other tables for 12 MPs.


Jack disagrees with my spade return at trick 5. He wants me to return a diamond. It turns out my play is a loser when declarer has an 8 card spade suit, but if declarer had an 8 card spade suit he had 10 top tricks and didn't need to finesse the diamond. If he only has 7 spades then he has to have a loser somewhere (I know partner has the high club and heart and I have the high diamond) unless he gets to ruff it. So taking away dummy's trump should guarantee down 1.

Ranking after board 54/60: 1/16 with 62.43%