Foiled again

Cruising along in the late stages of a Regional Open Pairs, my partner and I sat down against two earnest ladies competing in the concurrent Flight C event. They were tired and defeatist to be playing us, so we did our best to lift their spirits, feeling rather good about things thus far. The first board out of the box I picked up    void  KQ6432  AJ32  642     in second chair, white versus red.

I opened 1 heart, my LHO bid 2 clubs. Partner bid 3 clubs, RHO bid 3 spades, and I bid 4 hearts. A few seconds later, partner placed me in 6 hearts, and the lead was the ace of clubs.

 

Ross’s partner
♠	AKQJ6
♥	A985
♦	876
♣	J
Ross
♠	void
♥	KQ6432
♦	AJ32
♣	642

 

East followed suit painlessly, and west continued with the club king. I ruffed in dummy, and prepared to lean forward to claim. However, east over ruffed the dummy with the heart ten, and I could feel the heat rising inexorably at the back of my neck.

Being an ‘expert’, I immediately looked for salvation for the post mortem, and did some rapid mental calculations to determine if it is higher percentage to ruff with the ace of hearts (hoping trumps are not 3-0, but avoiding an 8-1 club split). I wasn’t thinking too clearly, but my gut told me my play was defensible – albeit laughable. Truth is, I had not seriously considered these issues at trick one. (shame on me, but one would expect a more exuberant action than a quiet 2 clubs from AKQ10xxxx)

“It was my only hope partner, sorry I didn’t lead your suit”, said west.

My partner made a noble effort to keep a straight face, and we scored up 0.5 on a twelve top.

On the companion board, this same lady sitting west found herself in 7 hearts on the following layout. (hands rotated)

 

Dealer: north Vul: N-S		her partner
		♠	AQJ4
		♥	643
		♦	A1032
		♣	A3
Ross’s pard				Ross
♠	10863			♠	9752
♥	852			♥	97
♦	QJ85			♦	K64
♣	105			♣	Q764
		our heroine
		♠	K
		♥	AKQJ10
		♦	97
		♣	KJ982

 

She made short work of this hand. She won the trump lead, drew trumps, ran the spades, and hooked the club jack at trick twelve to bring home the grand slam.

This time we scored a complete zero. Most pairs bid the small slam. Those who ventured into 7 hearts all went down. They took the “expert line” of cashing two rounds of trumps then trying to ruff a club in dummy.

” Well done partner!” said dummy.

“Thanks, it was on a finesse.”

These boards brought us back to the pack as we headed to the last round. This time we were playing against the defending champions. The first board was flat, but the final board of the event was a cracker.

 

Dealer: west Vul: N-S		Defending champ #2
		♠	A87
		♥	x
		♦	KJ8
		♣	AKJ8xx
Ross’s partner				Ross
♠	KQJ			♠	xxxx
♥	AKxxx			♥	QJxxx
♦	xxxx			♦	Q10
♣	x			♣	Qx
		Defending champ #1
		♠	109x
		♥	109
		♦	A9xx
		♣	10965

 

Partner opened 1 heart in first chair, and north said double. I jumped to 4 hearts, which came back to north who perhaps rued not bidding 2 clubs at his first turn. He could now have made a reasonably comfortable double. Instead, he bid a discomfited double, and was charmed to hear his partner bid 5 clubs! All passed.

Partner led the heart ace, and shifted to the spade king. Declarer ducked the spade, playing the nine from hand. Partner next played the jack of spades, won in dummy with the ace.

Declarer peeled off six rounds of clubs, coming down to:

 

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	8
		♥	void
		♦	KJ8
		♣	void
West				East
♠	Q			♠	x
♥	void			♥	Q
♦	xxx			♦	Q10
♣	void			♣	void
		South
		♠	void
		♥	void
		♦	A9xx
		♣	void

 

My partner had been forced to throw away all his hearts and finally his fourth diamond on the run of the clubs, the pressure coming to bear on his spade honour and diamond length. Had declarer begun with Qx of hearts, I suspect the ending would have been rather pretty. (west squeezed in three suits)

Still, this declarer was no slouch. He decided from the discards that I had begun with 4-5-2-2 shape, and my partner (west) with 3-5-4-1 shape. The odds clearly favored the diamond queen in my partner’s hand. But that would not help south. If he finessed partner for the diamond queen, he would not be able to get back to his hand to enjoy the long diamond.

So he backed up his card reading, and played for his only legitimate hope. He played the diamond king from dummy, followed by the jack, picking off my Q10 doubleton offside! Making five, and no matchpoints for us once again.

As you might expect, our score did not stand up at the end. 3 zeroes in the final four boards will do that to you.

But I was genuinely thrilled to catch up with the two C flight ladies at the recap sheets, and shared their joy as they discovered they had won their event. From foibles come rewards.

Post mortem

The two ladies’ slam hands reminded me of one of my all time favorite hands from thirty years ago, playing with a very elderly lady admirer at the local club one night. She opened 3 spades vulnerable versus not, in first chair, and I held something like           void   Kxxx  xxxx   xxxxx.

My right hand opponent said double. (I noticed they were playing the dreaded Fishbein convention – a curse to all aggressive preemptors, as doubles of 3 level preempts are for penalties.)

With fear and sympathy in my heart for my poor partner, I passed and awaited the carnage.

God bless her, she had eight solid spades and out, but with a doubleton heart. The heart ace was onside and she chalked up her doubled contract (with 13 combined HCP) in ten seconds flat !