Bridge Match 3 - Board 10

Board 10 - Dealer East - All Vul

Opponents convention card: Jack
Opponents playing strength: Excellent

My hand: ♠ 9 7 ♥ Q J 6 2 ♦ J 6 4 ♣ 9 8 7 3

East opens with a 3 spade preempt. Well, my hand is garbage, preempt away! Everyone else agrees.

I lead the 8 of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
		3♠	Pass
Pass	Pass

West has a 15 count and a different 7 card major. Feels like this was not our hand, and I have to hope they have a game they just missed. Anyway, clubs... 8-A-6-J. Declarer draws trump. 8-2-J-9. K-7-3 of hearts-3. A-3 of clubs-5 of hearts-Q. 4-7 of clubs-2 of diamonds-9 of diamonds. 5-4 of diamonds-Q of diamonds-5 of clubs.

Now East leads a heart. I know where 11 of the hearts are... Am I supposed to split here? If I do it's bad when the Q of clubs is an entry to the hearts. But if partner has the K of clubs it's fine. I think he does, so I'll split. 4-J-K-4 of clubs. Declarer ruffs a club back to hand and finesses a heart again. I play low so I can win the 4th heart trick. We take that one and a diamond at the end. Making 5.

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

We are the only table that didn't bid to game. Unfortunately 4 of the tables actually went down (5 hearts doubled down 1 once and 4 spades down 1 thrice). One table made 4 spades and two tables made 4 spades up 1. I guess we can take a heart ruff off the opening lead and then cash 2 diamonds? Where's the 4th trick? They have 10 tricks easily if they finesse a spade. I guess you can take a 4th trick if declarer plays for the drop. Oh well. We get 6MPs because our opponents stopped so low.


Captain Jack disagrees with my opening lead. He wants me to lead the J of hearts.

Ranking after board 10/60: 4/16 with 59.29%