Aug 12 2011
An Odd Duck
| Board 14 North Deals None Vul |
♠ K 9 6 5 3 ♥ — ♦ A 2 ♣ K 8 7 6 4 2 |
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♠ A Q 7
♥ K 9 7 2 ♦ J 5 ♣ Q J 10 5 |
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♠ J 8 4
♥ A Q J 10 8 5 4 ♦ 10 3 ♣ 3 |
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| ♠ 10 2 ♥ 6 3 ♦ K Q 9 8 7 6 4 ♣ A 9 |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | 3 ♥ | 4 ♦ | |
| Pass | 4 ♠ | Pass | 5 ♦ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
| 5 ♦ by South |
Let’s count: I have seven diamonds and two clubs, though RHO is threatening to ruff my second club. The AS is likely on my left due to the preempt on my right. Hmm, I’m surprised LHO never supported hearts, with four of them, i wonder why? I can also ruff one or both diamonds. All in all, this should be enough tricks, if i can manage to cash them.
My instinct is to ruff a heart now, but then how will i get back to my hand? I think the KC is getting ruffed, so that’s no good. RHO will exit a diamond (if he can), and then they’ll have a heart to cash when they are in with the spade Ace.
So my first play is to lead a spade toward the King. LHO flies Ace and continues with the JC. This pretty much confirms my suspicion that rightie had a stiff club.
Well, if i play the King and rightie ruffs, i’m probably still OK. I’ll have to ruff two hearts in dummy, but that will get me home. But what if he’s ruffing with a singleton diamond? That would give him 4711 shape, but it’s possible. In that case, i’ll still have a diamond loser. More likely is that he’ll have 2 or 3 diamonds. In that case he’ll probably return a diamond. I can still ruff one heart, but that will leave me a trick short.
I decide to make the strange-looking play of ducking the club and letting LHO win his Jack. (It feels like a play required by Bridge Master 2000, like ducking an Ace when you have a singleton.) Everyone seems confused for a moment, but West shifts to a low spade.
Whew. He might have continued clubs and RHO might have ruffed with a singleton J or T to get the uppercut, and then i would have been in the same sinking boat. However, it appears that fearful holding is not to be worried about.
I win the KS. RHO follows low and it looks like spades are 3-3. I haven’t seen a middle honor yet and LHO would have led one if he had both. I suppose they could still be 2-4, but that seems unlikely with this defense.
If spades are 3-3, then RHO is 3721 and diamonds have been 2-2 all along. I have multiple winning lines now as i can set up either black suit. I opt to set up clubs by ruffing a low club. Then i pull trumps in two rounds (they were 2-2), ending in dummy, and pitch both hearts on top clubs.
An interesting hand. I’m still wondering if i played it right. Ducking the club was odd; was it necessary? I need to do that if RHO is 4711 with a small diamond (win the KS, ruff a club, ruff a heart low, AD, KC pitching a heart, club ruff, claim), but i also have to decide that is the distribution very early on. I catered to it, but then didn’t follow through. I don’t think there is much i can do if RHO is 4711 with a singleton J or T, due to the uppercut.
If diamonds are 4-0, i need to play the KC at Trick 3. This would mean RHO was 4702, probably. I could manage to set up clubs and execute the loser-on-loser play. (Well, maybe; I’m probably still going down. LHO will be 2443 and be able to overruff black suits when i try to get back to my hand.) My table feel was that RHO had a singleton club, though, and i trust that.
So what if i assume the diamonds are 2-2 or 1-3? Let’s say RHO is 3721 as he actually was. Ducking the club led to the actual result, so it didn’t hurt. If RHO returns a spade or heart i can always ruff two hearts in dummy, but he’ll probably return a diamond. I can win the diamond return in dummy, ruff a club, ruff a heart, ruff a club (setting them up), pull trumps and then go to the KS to pitch my last heart on the long club. If RHO has three diamonds, say 2731 , i need to play the KC. For the simple fact that my actual line would fail against this holding.
Conclusion: i worried too much about RHO having a stiff club and a stiff diamond, which would give him four spades, which he is very unlikely to have due to his preempt. Ducking the club didn’t hurt against the actual lie of the cards, but would have cost against 2731.
Bridge is hard.