Sunday, November 16, 2014

Bridge Match 3 - Board 29

Board 29 - Dealer North - All Vul

Opponents convention card: Dutch Doubleton
Opponents playing strength: Good

My hand: T 7 A J 9 7 6 5 3 Q J T 9

It's two passes to me, and I have a really sketchy preempt here. Jack empty sixth while red is unappealing, but they're also red and the odds of them having a major game are pretty likely I would think. Part of me wants to lie a little and go all the way to the 3 level here. I think Byung might do that! And if it was white on red I really would do that. But in this case I think I need to start at 2 and leave any craziness to partner if he has diamonds to match. West doubles my bid, partner raises to 3 diamonds, and East passes. West doesn't give up and bids 4 hearts. Unfortunately it seems like they got to their game after all. I sure don't feel comfortable saccing in 5 diamonds doubled, so I let it sit.

Partner leads the A of diamonds.
NORTH
A
EAST
K J 9 8 6 5
9 7 5
4 2
7 3
SOUTH
T 7
A
J 9 7 6 5 3
Q J T 9
WestNorthEastSouth
PassPass21
Double32PassPass
43PassPassPass
1Weak two
2Preemptive
3Strong, new suit after double

A-2-3-K. That K either means declarer started with KQ doubleton or that partner only raised to 3 with AQT8 support. We'll need to have a talk if that's the case. Partner shifts to a spade. 4-5-7-A. Declarer draws trump. 2-8-9-A. I think my hope now is partner somehow has the A of clubs and we can finesse declarer's K? Or are we trying to cut communication in spades? If partner has 3 trump he can keep declarer from ever getting to dummy once declarer is out of spades. That sounds good. T-Q-2-6. There's one spade left, hopefully partner has it. But that would make him 3-3-4-3? And declarer therefore 2-6-1-4? Or maybe 3-3-3-4 against 2-6-2-3? Actually, those both seem reasonable enough. Declarer draws some trump. 3-4-5-5 of diamonds. Then he fires back a diamond. 4-6-T of hearts-8.

Partner, I am officially disappointed in you. Declarer then cashes a club. A-8-7-9. And plays another. 5-2-7-Q. Leading a diamond back would be a ruff and sluff, so I guess I play a club. J-6-4-7 of hearts. Declarer is finally in those glorious spades... And he ruffs it. Turns out he was 2-7-1-3. They make exactly 4.

And I'd like to note that we only go down one trick in 5 diamonds. And you know who knows that to be true? JACK! It was on him to make a more aggressive action than one single diamond raise with AQT8 and an outside K. There are SO MANY TRICKS available on a hand like this.
NORTH
4 3 2
8 4
A Q T 8
K 8 4 2
WEST
A Q
K Q J T 6 3 2
K
A 6 5
EAST
K J 9 8 6 5
9 7 5
4 2
7 3
SOUTH
T 7
A
J 9 7 6 5 3
Q J T 9
All 8 tables played in 4 hearts. But 4 of them made 6, and 1 of them made 5, so we get 12 MPs.


Jack disagrees with my 2 diamond opener. My suit sucks, so I should pass. I agree that my suit sucks, but in 3rd seat with 3 cards in the majors I think you still have to bid something. Then Jack disagrees with my spade return when I got in with the A of hearts. At that point I was still expecting him to only have 3 diamonds and constructed a hand where cutting spade communication was important. He wants me to return a club, which wins under the under construction where declarer has the K of clubs. Well, wins is a bit strong there? I guess at some point partner might get in and need to exit a club which gives them the club king when they don't deserve it? Maybe the key is we're playing MPs here, so not giving them an overtrick is a fine plan and the club return has the chance of doing that...

Ranking after board 29/60: 5/16 with 53.69%

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