Bridge Match 1 - Board 26

Board 26 – Dealer East – All Vul

My hand: ♠ K T 3 ♥ K T 7 3 2 ♦ 3 ♣ A 6 5 3

East passes. I'm tempted to open 1 heart but I suspect partner will go overboard if I do, so I pass. West opens a diamond, partner passes and East responds a heart. I no longer have anything I can say. West bids 2NT and East goes to 3NT. Everyone passes. Partner leads the J of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
1♦	Pass	1♥	Pass
2NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

J-4-3-A. Hopefully partner lead from KJT but I bet it was from JT9. Declarer decides to attack spades. 6-4-J-K. Now what do I do? I can't return partner's suit. Spades seems wrong since declarer is playing them. Hearts is not something I want to break. How about clubs? If partner has anything in clubs they're well positioned over declarer's stuff. I like it. I return the 3 of clubs.

3-K-2-4. Partner's 2 should deny anything in clubs, but maybe he has the J. If I get in again I'll play another one.

Declarer starts attacking partner's suit. 8-7-Q-2 of hearts. So, partner lead from JT9 and not KJT.

Declarer then leads the 2 of spades off board. 2-3-A-7. And another. 8-Q-5-T. Dummy's 13th spade is set up now.

Partner goes back to clubs. 7-8-A-9. I play another. 6-Q-J-T. My 13th club is now set up. If I get in with the K of hearts they're down.

But first declarer is going to cash diamonds. K-6-5 of hearts-3 of hearts. Then he shifts to a heart. 4-6-J-K. I cash my club and then dummy is up. Down 1.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my second pass. He would bid 2 hearts. I guess cuebidding their suit is natural in this situation?


On the replay they have the same auction. Guess Jack isn't listening to Captain Jack. North makes a different lead, playing the J of clubs. The rest of the play is different but they take the same 5 tricks for down 1.

Nick: 100
Jack: 100
IMPs: 0 (-19 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 25

Board 25 – Dealer North – EW Vul

My hand: ♠ A ♥ J 9 8 7 2 ♦ 8 ♣ K J T 9 8 7

Partner passes and East open 1 diamond. I hope 2NT is unusual showing 5-5 or better in hearts and clubs. West then jumps to 5 diamonds. Partner doubles, presumably for penalty. I don't know that I trust his penalty doubles but I don't really feel like heading to 5 hearts or 6 clubs. I lead the J of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1♦	2NT1
5♦	Double2	All Pass
15-5 Hearts and Clubs
2Penalty

J-3-6-A. Declarer starts drawing trump. J-8-2-K. Partner decides to draw trump too. T-5-7 of clubs-Q.

Dummy leads a heart off board. 3-5 of spades-K-2. I wonder why partner didn't ruff. I guess both opponents have 4 hearts so I get a heart trick eventually if he never ruffs. Another heart. 5-7-A-3 of diamonds. Ruffing the ace is good; it doesn't cost me my heart.

Partner draws more trump. 6-9-8 of clubs-A. Declarer goes back to hearts. 4-4 of clubs-Q-8.

Then he exits a club. 2-9-4 of diamonds-5. Dummy plays a spade. 2-4-Q-A.

I cash my J of hearts. J-6-T of spades-T. Then I cash the 13th heart. 9-3 of spades-Q of clubs-7 of spades. Is declarer out of trump? What is he doing? Whatever it is, I cash the high club. K-8 of spades-7 of diamonds-6 of spades. Partner then cashes his high spade. Down 5, doubled.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my lead. He says the J of clubs is the systematic lead but would lead the A of spades instead. I eventually used the A of spades as an entry to cash multiple hearts so I like how it worked out. It may be wrong in general though.

He also disagrees with my club pitch and would pitch a heart instead. I did cash that heart, but I guess I could have cashed clubs too. Whatever, I stand by those choices.


The auction is sadly the same on the replay. I was hoping for a big hand. The play is different since my hand leads the A of spades. He then shifts to the 2 of hearts which forces his partner to ruff. North cashes the K of spades, my hand pitching a club. My hand then ruffs a spade. Then they ruff a heart. They try to ruff another spade but South is out of trump. They take the K of diamonds as well but nothing else. Down 4, doubled. I'm surprised at how much one extra undertrick is worth, so I guess this was a decently big hand anyway.

Nick: 1400
Jack: 1100
IMPs: +7 (-19 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 24

Board 24 – Dealer West – No Vul

My hand: ♠ A Q J 5 4 3 ♥ A ♦ K 4 ♣ K T 6 3

West passes and partner opens 4 hearts. East passes. I assume this is massively preemptive with an 8 card heart suit. I really want to bid on but I don't think we're making slam unless partner has something like x-KQJxxxxx-xxxx-A. Which doesn't look much like a preempt to me and isn't even cold for slam. Everyone passes and East leads the A of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	4♥	All Pass

Ooooook. He only has 7 hearts and he has an 11 count. And he has a side 4 card suit. I'd open that one heart, not four.

At any rate, I have 6 heart tricks. 4 diamonds. 1 spade. 1 club after the lead. Unfortunately I will lose the A of clubs and the K of hearts (unless there's a 4-1 split with a stiff K!)

Shouldn't be much to the play. A-6-9-J. Switch to a diamond. 6-K-7-2.

I draw a round of trump. A-7-2-4. I guess my only worry now is I'm going to get ruffed before I can get to board twice to draw 2 more rounds of trump. Clubs is probably my safest route over, so I play the 3. 3-Q-3 of hearts-8. I play out a heart. Q-9-3 of spades-K. West returns a diamond and East doesn't ruff. Making 5.

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

Professor Jack agrees with me all the way!


On the replay the auction goes a lot differently. North opens 1 heart instead of 4. Ultimately North ends up pulling 3NT to 4H and South doesn't go crazy and try for slam. Oh well. The auction, for the curious, was
P-1H-1S-2C
P-2H-P--3N
P-4H-P--P
P

On the play East starts by leading the T of spades. Things look different but it doesn't much matter. Defense takes A of clubs and K of hearts and goes home. Making 5.

Nick: 450
Jack: 450
IMPs: 0 (-26 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 23

Board 23 – Dealer South – All Vul

My hand: ♠ 7 ♥ K J 8 6 ♦ A 9 8 ♣ J T 8 6 4

I pass. West opens 2 clubs, strong. Partner passes. East bids 2 diamonds, waiting. Jack refuses to clarify what that means. I pass and West bids 2 spades. East bids 3 hearts which appears to be game forcing with a heart suit. West bids 3 spades, East goes to 4 which is passed out. Partner leads the 9 of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
			Pass
2♣1	Pass	2♦2	Pass
2♠3	Pass	3♥	Pass
3♠	Pass	4♠	All Pass
1Strong
2Waiting
3Forcing

Unless partner underlead his A it looks like declarer has 3 club tricks. Oh well, not much I can do about that. 9-2-T-A. Declarer exits a diamond. 4-K-J-?. If partner lead a stiff club then I could overtake and give him a ruff. But if he wanted me to get in, why didn't he duck the diamond? Hopefully he'll return a trump to cut down on diamond ruffs in dummy. I play the 8.

Partner doesn't return a club or a trump. Instead he plays the Q of hearts. I encourage. Q-3-8-A. Declarer ruffs a diamond. 5-3-3 of spades-9. Then he draws trump. 9-7-A-8. And another. K-T-3 of clubs-?. Declarer can have at most 2 clubs left in his hand and has 2 high clubs on board so I don't see any reason to keep my clubs. I pitch the 4. Declarer plays a club. 7-5-Q-8. And another. K-8-q of diamonds-2 of diamonds.

It turns out partner has the Q of spades so he gets to take it as well. Declarer has the rest since he started with 7 spades. Making 5.

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

Professor Jack disagrees with my attempt to overtake the club. He wants me to signal low with the 4. I don't see how it matters. More critically, he also disagreed with letting partner win the K of diamonds. He wanted me to win. I guess his plan is to give partner a ruff and have partner still have a trump trick. I did think of doing this and dismissed it. Turns out doing so gives declarer an easy 12th trick but he didn't need it since he had a trump loser.


On the replay the auction is the same. The play differs at the start with Jack following Professor Jack's plan. He does return a club, hoping partner lead a singleton. It really doesn't matter as declarer still has 2 losers. Making 5.

Nick: -650
Jack: -650
IMPs: 0 (-26 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 22

Board 22 – Dealer East – EW Vul

My hand: ♠ A Q 9 8 6 ♥ 5 3 ♦ Q 6 4 ♣ A 9 8

East passes. I open 1 spade. West passes. Partner bids 2 hearts. I bid 2NT. Partner bids 4NT which I think should be qualitative but I know from reading Philip's blog that it's going to be Blackwood. For NT, I assume, so I have 2 aces. I bid 5 hearts. Partner bids 6 hearts. That gets passed out.

I sneak a peek at the alerts after the hand. Turns out 4NT was ace asking for hearts. My 2NT did deny heart support... Good thing my Blackwood response was the same for hearts as for NT, eh?

East leads the A of diamonds.

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1♠
Pass	2♥	Pass	2NT
Pass	4NT1	Pass	5♥2
Pass	6♥	All Pass
1Roman Keycard for Hearts
22 Aces, no Queen

Well. I have 8 hearts tricks, a spade, and 2 clubs. That's 11 tricks, so I need to find a 12th somewhere. Potential options:

- Finesse spades, making 6 when the K is onside.
- Ruff out the K of spades. I only have 2 entries, so this actually only means ruff out Kx of spades.
- Hope clubs split 5-2 and the person with 5 clubs has one of the two pointed kings and I guess to keep the right Q so I can squeeze them.
- Ruff out the K of diamonds. This requires diamonds to split 7-2 with the K in the 2.

I think I'm just going to finesse spades, but I'll run a bunch of other stuff first and see if anything interesting crops up. But first, I have to follow to the diamond lead. A-6-3-2. East plays the K of diamonds. So much for all that thinking... I ruff, draw trumps, and cash my winners. Making 6.

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

I don't see any legitimate ways to make on the layout, though I guess as far as East was concerned I could have had 2 diamonds in hand and been planning to pitch one on the long spade.


Professor Jack agrees with me all the way!


The replay has a different auction. They aren't playing bergen raises, so North jumps to 3H to show a game force with 6+ hearts. South bids 3NT. North bids 4NT which is apparently ace asking for NT. Why his is for NT after showing a huge heart suit and mine was for hearts after showing 5 is a little odd to me. Why either are Blackwood at all is confusing, really. They end up in 6H anyway.

Play goes the same. Making 6 after ruffing the K of diamonds.

Nick: 980
Jack: 980
IMPs: 0 (-26 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 21

Board 21 – Dealer North – NS Vul

My hand: ♠ K 9 4 3 2 ♥ T 6 ♦ A T 9 4 ♣ 8 6

Two passes to me. I pass. West opens 2NT, partner passes, and East raises to 3NT. I don't feel like getting slaughtered so I pass. Partner leads the J of spades.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	Pass
2NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

From the lead I suspect declarer has AQ tight in spades and partner has JT87. I hope I can trust partner not to block the suit as long as I preserve my 9, as I'm going to play the K in case somehow partner has AJTx. J-5-K-A.

Declarer switches to a heart. Q-4-2-T. And then to a club. T-7-3-8. And another. 2-9-K-6.

Back to hearts. 8-6-A-5. And a club. J-Q-A-?. I'm going to need to find 3 pitches on the clubs. After that it seems likely declarer has 2 heart tricks and a spade in hand. I need to keep my A of diamonds and one other card. Should be a low diamond in case partner has the K I guess. Accordingly I will pitch 2 diamonds and then all my spades.

Interestingly, after cashing his clubs he switches to a low diamond instead of a heart. What does this mean? Note, declarer pitched a heart and a diamond on the clubs. He can't have all high hearts left or he wouldn't have pitched one, so partner must have a heart trick. K maybe? I hop with the A of diamonds and declarer drops the Q. 3-A-Q-7.

I play a low spade. 3-Q-8-6. Declarer cashes the K of diamonds. K-J-6-T. Then he cashes 2 hearts. Not sure what he was doing pitching winners away but I guess he had plenty of them. Making 6.

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

Professor Jack has no problem with anything I did. Hands with no real decisions are easy!


The replay is basically the same. 3NT +3.

Nick: -490
Jack: -490
IMPs: 0 (-26 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 20

Board 24 – Dealer West – All Vul

My hand: ♠ K 6 3 ♥ K Q T 7 6 ♦ Q 7 6 4 ♣ 2

West opens 1 club. Partner overcalls 1 diamond. East bids 2 clubs. I get in there with 2 hearts. It gets passed around to East who goes to 3 clubs. I hope to have two red suit fits but even if I don't I have a 9 card diamond suit so I'm 'legally allowed' to bid to the 3 level by The Law. I bid 3 diamonds which gets passed out. East leads the T of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
1♣	1♦	2♣	2♥
Pass	Pass	3♣	3♦
Pass	Pass	Pass

Overcalling with no honours in your suit is a little sketchy. I have at least 2 trump losers and quite possibly 3. I have anywhere from 1 to 3 spade losers as well depending on how the suit is layed out and played. On the winner side, I have at least 3 heart tricks, probably 4 and maybe 5. I have 2 trump tricks, maybe 3. I have a club. And I can score a couple club ruffs on dummy as well, so assuming I don't get butchered in spades and diamonds I can make this.

I win the opening lead. T-2-3-A. I do not want to break spades myself and I can't cash hearts while they still have trump left so I should draw trump. How should I play the suit?

If it splits 2-2 it doesn't matter. I have just 2 losers that way.

If it splits 3-1 then playing up to the Q is good when the J is stiff or when East has the J and a 3 card suit. Floating the T is never better, I don't think.

If it splits 4-0 then I have 3 losers if West has them and 2 if East does, assuming I lead up to the Q.

Really, I can't lose to the 3 (unless they get a ruff I guess) and I can't possibly beat the A or the K or realistically get them to crash. (Maybe lead the Q from board and hope West covers from KJx or AJx?) So I can only deal with the J, which I can only do by leading up to the Q when East has it or getting it to crash on a 2-2 split. So, I lead up to the Q.

T-3-Q-K. West shifts to the 2 of spades. I randomly stick in the 7 without much thought. In retrospect this is a mistake and I should put up anything else. At any rate it gets covered by the 8. 2-7-8-K.

Now I know for sure I don't have 3 spade losers. I also know for sure I have 2 as soon as I give up the lead. My options now are:

Draw trump, immediately losing when they split 3-1 and making just in when they split 2-2.

Go after a pitch on the hearts. Cashing the three top hearts lets me get rid of a spade and if they ruff they're ruffing with a natural trump trick. (Unless diamonds split 2-2, but then I still make since I lose just 1 spade and 3 trump.) If hearts split 3-3 though, I can actually pitch both spades and lose just 3 trump tricks for up 1. Or if they split 4-2 with the J being doubleton and in the hand with only 1 trump the same happens. The only bad scenario is when hearts split 5-1 and diamonds split 2-2. Then they get 3 trump and 2 spades for down 1 when I would have made otherwise.

That doesn't seem very likely. (14.5%*40.7% = ~6%) So 6% of the time I'll lose 5 IMPs. I gain the same number of IMPs any time diamonds are 3-1 and hearts are 4-2 or better. (49.7%*84% = ~42%) I also pick up an overtrick for an extra IMP with this line and not with the exit a diamond line some chunk of the time. This is clearly right.

6-J-A-2. Is West being cute or is it really a 5-1 split? I don't think the card he plays matters (except he probably doesn't have 4 hearts I guess?) so I press on. 8-3-K-5. Huzzah! And another. Q-9-9 of spades-4. Hearts split 3-3 so I get my overtrick. I play another heart and pitch my last spade. Oddly, no one ruffs in. Huh. I exit a diamond and they both follow. What? I have the rest, making 5.

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

Professor Jack (man, I want to call him Captain Jack for some reason) disagrees with my 2 heart bid. He doesn't think my hand is strong enough for that bid and instead wants me to cuebid 3 clubs. SCREW YOU JACK! GAH! I don't understand his cuebids, but I replay it to see what it would mean. It's alerted as a constructive raise with 9+ points, 3+ diamonds, and no 6 card major. That actually sounds like a 2 diamond bid to me, so I check that out. Turns out it's 'preemptive' despite being the next bid in sequence and shows 3+ diamonds with 7-12 "fit points".

On the replay the auction goes differently (North doesn't overcall, but does balance with 2 diamonds) but they end up in 3 diamonds nonetheless. The play goes differently as when West gets in with the K of diamonds he returns a club instead of a spade. Declarer ruffs and draws trump, getting the 2-2 split. East cashes the A of spades when he wins the trump. Declarer screws around before cashing his hearts so he's actually set up to go down if they don't split 3-3. Luckily for him they do. Making 4.

Nick: 150
Jack: 130
IMPs: +1 (-26 total)

Bridge Match 1 - Board 19

Board 19 – Dealer South – EW Vul

My hand: ♠ A J ♥ K J 8 7 5 2 ♦ ♣ A K 9 5 3

Now this is a hand. I open 1 heart. West passes, partner bids 2 hearts and East doubles. Philip Martin says periodically to only invite if partner's perfect minimum would make. Give partner AQx of hearts and 2 clubs and I can get to 10 tricks but not to 12. So, I think slam is probably out, but I find it hard to see 4 losers so I jump straight to game. If he has an awesome maximum maybe he'll bid on. He doesn't. East does though, and bids 5 diamond.

5 hearts making is 450 points. 6 hearts making is 680. Down 1 doubled is 200. Down 2 is 500. Down 3 is 800. How far down are they going? I'll give them 7 diamond tricks, a ruff on board, and maybe a spade and a heart? That's only down 1. But if they're getting a heart I'm not making 5 hearts. Is my pass here forcing? I think it should be but I don't know if Jack does. Lets find out. I pass. Partner doubles for penalty. Good! I lead the A of clubs.

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

West	North	East	South
			1♥
Pass	2♥	Double	4♥
Pass	Pass	5♦	Pass
Pass	Double	All Pass

A-2-8-7. I wish I could draw trump. Partner should only have 3 hearts, so declarer has a stiff. I play the 2 of hearts. 2-4-9-A. So, he had stiff A. Declarer draws trump. Q-5 of hearts-8-3. He switches to the 3 of spades. I don't think it can hurt to duck this so I play the J. 3-J-Q-2. Declarer plays a trump off board. 9-6-5-7 of hearts. Then he plays a club. 4-6-4 of diamonds-3.

Declarer draws more trump. K-8 of hearts-5 of spades-2. A-J of hearts-7 of spades-J. Then he throws me in with a spade. 4-A-8-T of clubs.

Assuming he drew all partner's trump declarer should have 2 trump and 2 high spades left. Nothing I can do. I cash a club anyway. That's what he has. Making 5, doubled.

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

Ugh, what a disaster. Partner doubled with 4 points and no tricks. I guess my pass was forcing. We make 5 hearts but not 6 so we did have a plus by bidding once more.


Professor Jack complains about my pass over 5D. He wants me to just bid 5H. He also disagrees with ducking the spade lead when I did and wants me to pop the A. It turns out that would have set them I think, since partner can't get finessed out of his J of diamonds anymore. Arg.


On the replay the auction is the same until 5D. My seat bids 5H and everyone passes. 5 makes easily, losing just the AQ of trump.

Nick: -750
Jack: 450
IMPs: -15 (-27 total)