Friday 10 March 2017

Just one hand

So this is a bit of a "bonus"...
Paul Gipson has recently brought my attention to the Free Daylong tournaments on BBO. So far I've played two IMP events and finished with a positive score in the one where I was actually paying attention to what I was doing. I've also played one MP event and scored respectably in that.
I have just finished the Tuesday event for the 7th March (at time of writing - although obviously I can't publish this post until after it is completed), and had this interesting South hand:

A7642
AQ4
4
KQ82

Board 4, All Vul.

East opens a pre-emptive 3 Diamonds. A 3 Spades bid is tempting. It would get across my 5 card suit and although it promises 12-14, fifteen isn't too much of a lie here. However, with the singleton diamond and tolerance for all other suits, I double for takeout. Partner bids 4 Clubs, and really I should pass. That being said, if partner has shortage in the majors I feel 5 Clubs should at least have some play, so that is my call. As is the nature of the tournament, the computer swapped my seat so that I could declare.

K83
J53
Q62
A1054

A7642
AQ4
4
KQ82

East led the Jack of Diamonds to my singleton 4, West's Ace and 2 from my Declaring hand. A diamond was returned, I ducked and East's 8 was ruffed by dummy's 2 of clubs. I test clubs with the King, which draws East's Jack - looks like a 4-1 split.

Now I have a choice of lines. I could look to ruff the Queen of Diaomnds and hope it is not over-ruffed, or I could look to make sure that East never gets in. The key is the robot's bidding system. The robots play 3 Weak 2s, which significantly increases the likelihood of the 3 Diamonds bid genuinely holding 7 cards. Therefore, I cash the Queen of Clubs and note the 9 of Spades discard from East. I draw trumps, pitching the 4 of hearts and East discarding two diamonds. Now I cash King of Spades and am relieved to see East follow with the 5, but not so sure about the Queen from West. I now have to hope that the computer has been programmed not to pre-empt with a 4 card major, because if East has 4 spades, I'm coming down by quite a number. However, he shows out on the next round, which I win with the Ace, and I proceed by exiting a spade to West. That's two tricks for the defence, but West has only hearts left and must play into my AQ tenace, which together with my established spade suit makes 4 more tricks and +600.

There's always something satisfying about an endplay, as it requires piecing the exact hand together, much like a squeeze (which incidentally, this endplay is a cousin of).
I love it when a plan comes together!

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