Bridge Match 3 - Board 28

Board 28 - Dealer West - NS Vul

Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Advanced

My hand: ♠ A 7 6 ♥ 7 6 5 3 ♦ J T 8 ♣ A J 7

East opens 1 diamond in 3rd seat. My hand may have 10 points but it's terrible. I pass. West bids 1 spade, East goes to 3 spades and West goes the rest of the way to game.

Partner leads the 9 of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	Pass

If my memory serves, leading the 9 shows the T so I don't need to insert the J. I want to keep my A to cover the K later, so I guess I need to float this around to declarer's Q. 9-4-7-Q. Declarer decides to play on diamonds. 5-3-K-8. And now a heart. T-5-A-4. Back to diamonds. Q-4-2-J. And now ruff a heart to board. 2-8-2 of spades-3. Cash the A of diamonds, pitching a club. Finally, draw some trump. 3-6-8-4. Partner shows out on the second round of spades so I now know declarer started with 5 of them. So he still has 2 round cards in his hand, but at best we're only taking those 2 as tricks. And my A of trump. I guess my best play is to win this spade and then throw him on board with a trump to keep him from ruffing another heart? Sure. Oh, it turns out the diamonds are up... Oops. He makes 6.

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

On the plus side, 4 other tables let the opponents make 6. The other 3 tables held them to 5. So if I just hop with the A of clubs on the first trick or when I win the A of spades I get a (tied for) top board. As it is we get 4 MPs.


Jack disagrees with my play on the opening trick. He wants me to play 'third hand high' and insert the J. Does he forget that we're playing Rusinow leads? He then dislikes my signal in hearts. He wants me to play high to show an even number. I thought I was, by playing 5 instead of 3 but he wants it to be more clear. I guess the 7 isn't any different from my side of things but could be for partner. Finally, when I win the A of trump Jack doesn't like me putting dummy in with the two high diamonds. Ok, fair, that was me being tired/sick/disoriented and not thinking through the hand. My bad.

Ranking after board 28/60: 6/16 with 52.55%