Bridge Match 1 - Board 119

Board 119 – Dealer South – All Vul

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

I open 1 club. Partner responds 1 heart, Walsh. East overcalls 1 spade which gets passed out. I lead the A of hearts.

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

West	North	East	South
			1♣
Pass	1♥1	1♠	All Pass
1Walsh

A-3-2-5. Partner doesn't want me to return a heart. I don't know that I care. I want my ruff, and if he has a high spade I get one. 7-4-T-K. Declarer draws trump. Q-4-5-6. K-8-T-2. A-J-3 of diamonds-7. And now back to hearts. 9-2 of clubs-6-J. Partner tries to cash his last heart. Q-3 of spades-7 of diamonds-8. Declarer shifts to a club. 6-9-4-T. Partner shifts to a diamond, establishing one for declarer. 5-2-A-6. I give declarer his diamond. 9-K-T-8. Declarer ducks a club. 5-A-7-3. I get my Q of diamonds and declarer gets his trump at the end. Just in. I guess pretty much any other lead and we can set them. Doh.

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

Professor Jack wants me to open 1 diamond.


On the replay my hand opens 1 diamond but the auction ends the same way. My hand leads the A of hearts off the top, too, and they also make 1.

Nick: -80
Jack: -80
IMPs: 0 (-20 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 103

Board 103 – Dealer South – EW Vul

My hand: ♠ Q ♥ A 7 3 2 ♦ K J 8 2 ♣ A 8 4 3

I open 1 club. Partner responds 1 heart, Walsh. I bid 2 hearts and he raises to 4. East leads the T of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
			1♣
Pass	1♥1	Pass	2♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass
1Walsh

I have 3 or 4 hearts, 1 spade, and 1 club. I can easily set up 2 and maybe 3 diamonds. I can set up a spade trick and can ruff a couple spades. Loserwise I will lose a diamond and at least one heart. I also have 2 spade losers, maybe 3 if I don't finesse. And they might ruff a diamond off the top. Lets see!

T-2-3-Q. Board has lots of high cards but surprisingly few entries. I can brute force a diamond entry later, but I need trump gone before I do that. I guess that's actually good enough, so I draw trump. 4-5-A-T. 2-K-6-J. West shifts to a club. I don't know if my long diamond is set up or not, so I want to delay my pitch. So I ruff in. 2-8 of hearts-9-3.

I play a diamond. 4-6-K-A. My diamonds are now set up. I have 8 tricks now on a cross-ruff. Making 5.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my opening bid. He wants me to open 1 diamond with 4-4 in the minors. I wanted to have a Walsh auction so I started with 1 club. he then disagrees with bidding 2 hearts. My hand is basically a bare minimum and partner could have a 6 count with Walsh. I think bidding low is wise. He wants mt to jump to 3.

He then disagrees with drawing trump and wants me to cash my A of spades, giving up completely on scoring the Q or J. Finally once I've drawn 1 round of trump he again wants me to play spades, though at least this time I can finesse.


On the replay my hand opens 1 diamond and jumps to 3 hearts. They end up playing 4 hearts. Their East choses to lead a spade away from the K, so declarer's Q scores. He draws 1 round of trump, ruffs a club, and draws a second from board, giving up a trick if West started with KJT. It doesn't matter, of course, and they make 5 as well.

Nick: 650
Jack: 650
IMPs: +0 (+17 total)