Some days, you soon realize that you should not have gotten out of bed. Look what happened to me this morning. I got up, made a pot of coffee and decided to log in to Stepbridge for a few hands before getting some real work done. That proved to be a major mistake. Matchpoints, playing in the individual game with random partners.
This contract looks hopeless but things improve when a small heart is led to the ♥K, and a spade is returned for your ♠A. Now what?
Partner leads the ♦8, ♦7, your ♦K and the ♦10. Next you cash the ♦A (♦Q, ♦2, ♦9). Now what?
So far, the problems were on the opposite side of the table, after a flat board, it is your turn to solve a problem. 1NT was 15-17, partner leads the ♥2, attitude. ♥8 from the dummy, you insert the ♥J and declarer wins with the ♥A. Next the ♣2, ♣3, ♣J and you win the ♣K. Now what, remember that this is matchpoints.
Ready to see what I had to deal with? Here we go.
Why one would bid on over 3♣ with such a misfit is beyond me. Partner has about the best possible hand for a weak jump and there are still nowhere near 9 tricks. Still, things have improved a lot after trick 1 and 2. Now you only need to find an entry to the dummy and hope to find ♣Jx or ♣Jxx somewhere. Finding the entry looks simple, both the ♥5 lead and the outstanding high cards suggest that the ♥A is with west. All you have to do, is to lead a small heart now, and there is nothing west can do.
What you should not do, is play the ♥Q in an attempt to force the ♥A. A clever west will duck that trick. Guess what partner played in trick 3? After the ♥Q was ducked, dummy could be thrown into the dustbin and partner ended down 3, for a while 2.7% score on the board. Making would have been 99%.
Next hand. After 2 rounds of diamonds, it is time to switch something. There is a bit of a hurry here, as you can see that any remaining club honors must be with partner and that the club suit will provide a lots of discards for declarer’s losers. If declarer has a trump loser, that obviously won’t go away. However, a spade trick might go away if we do not set this up now.
Can this cost us a trick? No, not really. If declarer’s trumps are solid. he has ♠Qx(…), returning a spade may give a trick to the ♠Q but it is extremely likely that declarer could otherwise discard the ♠Q as a loser on the long clubs.
Simple? I’d think so, but not to this partner, who returned a third diamond into the triple void. Declarer did have a trump loser, but by the time south won it, the _A was still in dummy and the defensive ♠-trick could not be collected. Making 4 meant exactly 0% for NS, defeating the contract would be well over average, as most tables missed this game or defended a diamond contract.
And finally this board. ♥2 lead to the ♥J and ♥A. ♣2, ♣3, ♣J and ♣K. Time to take stock.
Most high cards are visible by now. With ♣Qxx, declarer would have led the ♣Q, so partner is marked with that card. She is also marked with the _Q based on the opening lead. That leaves ♠AQJ, ♥A and ♦K for declarer which doesn’t quite add up to 15, but ok, so be it. Shapewise, will have 2 or 3 cards in both minors, probably not more than 4 hearts and thus at least 4♠. That makes his shape 4♠-4♥-2♦-3♣ or 5♠-3♥-2♦-3♣ or similar.
How many tricks does declarer have? With 4432, 4♠, 2♥ and 5♣ tricks for 11, with 5332 he has a 5th spade and 12 tricks. In the latter case, you must cash the ♦A now, otherwise you won’t make it, in the former case, you can either cash it now or win it in trick 13.
With that in mind, you cash the ♦A and declarer claims. All this worked proved to be overkill, as declarer only had 11 tricks. The score isn’t too good, 8%, as at most tables west didn’t upgrade to a 1NT opening, east bid clubs and south was able to stick in a diamond bid.
Before the next board was dealt, north puts a message in the chat-bar saying that I should have returned a heart at trick 3. When I would have won the ♦A later, her ♥Q would have been good. When I respond that I have a doubleton heart and declarer has 11 tricks before I get in, there is another comment: I haven’t done anything right so far so I’m kicked out of the table.
Time to get another coffee, blacklist a few people and start work.