Opponents convention card: Jack
Opponents playing strength: Excellent
My hand: ♠ J T 5 3 ♥ K Q 4 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 5 2
Partner opens a weak 1NT in 2nd chair. My balanced 15 count plus his balanced 12-14 sure sounds a lot like 3NT.
East leads the A of diamonds.
| NORTH ♠ A K 8 ♥ J 7 6 5 ♦ Q 9 6 5 ♣ A 8 | ||
| EAST ♦ A | ||
| SOUTH ♠ J T 5 3 ♥ K Q 4 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 5 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1NT1 | Pass | 3NT |
| Pass | Pass | Pass | |
| 112-14 | |||
I have 9 easy tricks once the two red aces are knocked out and they have no way to set up any tricks beyond those 2 aces. I can get an extra trick if hearts split 3-3 or if something wonky happens with the T of diamonds. I can also get an extra spade trick for sure by losing to the Q and can get two if I finesse the Q and the 9 drops on the first 3 tricks. Where I attack first depends on what suit the enemies lead after this first trick, so let's see what happens. A-J-4-5. He plays another diamond. 8-K-2-6.
Is it risky to play on spades first? If I float the J around then I can only lose to East and he has nothing scary to return. A diamond sets up my 9 so he has to play something else and I'll still have both black suits double stopped so I can easily lose a heart afterwards. So I'll do that first. J-7-8-2. Ok, I have 10 tricks now. Time to lose a heart. K-9-5-A. East fires back a diamond so I have 11 tricks.
The game doesn't believe me so I have to play it out for a while. Making 5.
| NORTH ♠ A K 8 ♥ J 7 6 5 ♦ Q 9 6 5 ♣ A 8 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q 9 7 4 ♥ 9 3 ♦ T 4 3 2 ♣ J 4 3 | EAST ♠ 6 2 ♥ A T 8 2 ♦ A 8 7 ♣ T 9 7 6 | |
| SOUTH ♠ J T 5 3 ♥ K Q 4 ♦ K J ♣ K Q 5 2 |
Jack disagrees with my 3NT bid. He wants me to start with Stayman. I guess it's possible we've got the distribution to make a major game better than 3NT but I doubt it. I really think with my flat hand with lots of middling honours that no trump is the place to be.
Ranking after board 12/60: 5/16 with 58.93%
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