Opponents convention card: Dutch Acol
Opponents playing strength: Intermediate
My hand: ♠ J 9 4 3 ♥ K T 8 6 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ J 3
I open a weak NT in second seat. Partner responds 2 clubs, Stayman. I bid 2 hearts and partner jumps to 4. Easy as pie.
West leads the J of diamonds.
| NORTH ♠ A K Q T 5 ♥ J 7 4 3 ♦ K 4 ♣ A 5 | ||
| WEST ♦ J | ||
| SOUTH ♠ J 9 4 3 ♥ K T 8 6 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ J 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1NT | ||
| Pass | 2♣1 | Pass | 2♥ |
| Pass | 4♥ | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | |||
| 1Stayman | |||
Well hello there double fit. And partner has a 17 count? Shouldn't we be considering slam? Anyway I have a club, 3 diamonds, and 5 spades. They didn't lead a club so I don't have to worry about that loser for a while, either. So all I need to do is deal with the trump suit and I'm up.
I feel like I should know how to properly handly this suit, but I don't. Am I supposed to float the J of hearts? If I had the 9 that's probably right, but as is there's a very good chance I lose a trick to the 9 if I do that and East covers with the Q. So probably I should win on board and just lead up to the T. Then lead up to the K? Sure. I win the diamond on board and lead a low heart. 3-9-T-2. Interesting. Now am I supposed to go back to board (risking a spade ruff in a 4-0 split) to repeat the finesse against the Q? Or just give up 2 heart tricks now and be done with it. The problem with giving up 2 heart tricks now is they can set up a club at the same time. Maybe the right play is going to be ruffing a diamond to get back to board? That's only a problem on a 7-1 diamond split which sure feels like it should be less likely than a 4-0 spade split. Ok, run it.
Blargh. East shows out of hearts after I do that so there's no finessing him anyway. But he doesn't fire back a club when he gets in so they only get the 2 heart tricks anyway. Making 5.
| NORTH ♠ A K Q T 5 ♥ J 7 4 3 ♦ K 4 ♣ A 5 | ||
| WEST ♠ 8 6 ♥ A Q 5 2 ♦ J T 8 2 ♣ 7 6 2 | EAST ♠ 7 2 ♥ 9 ♦ 7 6 5 3 ♣ K Q T 9 8 4 | |
| SOUTH ♠ J 9 4 3 ♥ K T 8 6 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ J 3 |
All 7 other tables played in 4 spades, not 4 hearts. 2 of them made 5, 4 made 4, and 1 went down 1. So we get 12 MPs.
Jack disagrees with my opening bid. I only have 11 points and we're playing 12-14. Sure, but I like bidding! Later on he disagrees with my play of ruffing a diamond. He'd rather I pitch a club. Ruffing high only makes sense when East has the remaining hearts and only 2 diamonds which isn't very likely but was what I was playing against. Pitching is better in all other situations. Because then I can safely use the A of clubs as a board entry without risk. Yeah, that sure would have been better. Even if East ruffs with a little heart I'm only in trouble if he then leads a spade to his partner's void. Which is possible, so my play wasn't strictly inferior, but it's really not very likely.
Ranking after board 58/60: 1/16 with 63.55%
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