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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Bridge Match 3 - Board 20

Board 20 - Dealer West - All Vul

Opponents convention card: Dutch Doubleton
Opponents playing strength: Advanced

My hand: A 9 4 A 8 6 3 2 2 K 8 3 2

Partner opens a weak 1NT in second seat. My 11 points plus his 12-14 is maybe enough for game, and maybe not. Actually, it's probably not. Unless partner has a good heart suit with a maximum. But we can probably make 3 hearts regardless? And it feels like that bid should be invitational for hearts. Yeah, run it. Partner continues to 4 hearts.

West leads the A of clubs.
NORTH
K J 6
K Q J T
Q T 9 3
Q 6
WEST
A
SOUTH
A 9 4
A 8 6 3 2
2
K 8 3 2
WestNorthEastSouth
Pass1NTPass31
Pass4PassPass
Pass
15 hearts, game forcing

Turns out my bid was game forcing, not invitational. But partner has a 14 count with a killer heart suit, so we should be good to go here. We have one diamond loser, one club loser, and one spade loser. With this opening lead we have 9 winners. I can get an extra trick by ruffing a club, or with a dummy reversal by ruffing 2 diamonds in hand. I can also finesse a spade if it comes down to it. Let's see what they take off the top... A-6-T-3. He shifts to a diamond. 4-9-J-2. And back to a club. J-2-9-Q. Well, having the 9 of clubs drop here means my 8 is set up so I get an extra trick that way. Unless hearts split badly I'm up here.

They split 3-1, so I'm up. Draw 2 rounds of trump, ruff a diamond with the A, draw the last trump, ruff a diamond, cash 2 clubs and 2 spades and the rest of my hearts. Making 5.
NORTH
K J 6
K Q J T
Q T 9 3
Q 6
WEST
7 5 3
7
A 7 5 4
A 9 7 5 4
EAST
Q T 8 2
9 5 4
K J 8 6
J T
SOUTH
A 9 4
A 8 6 3 2
2
K 8 3 2
All eight tables played 4 hearts. 5 of us made up 1, 2 made just in, and 1 went down 1. So we get 10 MPs.


Jack disagrees with my heart bid because my hand isn't good enough to force to game. He wants me to start with Stayman. I'm not sure a 3-5 major split is good for Stayman, but maybe that's because I learned with strong NTs and transfers.

Ranking after board 20/60: 3/16 with 55.36%

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