June 2, 2011

On Board 14, with no one vulnerable, my RHO opens 1C, and I hold:

♠ 8 4 3
♥ K Q 10 9 6
♦ 8
♣ K 7 6 5

I only have 8 HCP, but my King of Clubs is well-situated and I have a very chunky 5-card suit, so I think a 1H overcall is pretty clear.

My LHO bids 2D and partner now bids 3C.  I suppose there could be some merit in playing this as natural, since opener could have opened 1C with only 3 of them, but Rob and I play that bidding the opponent's suit shows a Limit Raise or better.   It isn't clear to me the difference between him cuebidding 3C or 3D here, and it is probably something we should discuss.  Anyway, RHO asks about this bid and then raises his partner to 3D.   My shortness in diamonds drives me to push on to 3H.  Partner is not going to get excited by this bid of mine and raise me to game; he realizes we are in a competitive auction and that I am merely demonstrating that from my point of view it is safe (based on vulnerability and my hand) for us to be at the 3-level.  This buys the auction and LHO leads the Jack of Clubs.  Here is what I see.

♠ Q 10 9 2 ♥ A 8 2 ♦ Q 7 ♣ Q 10 3 2

 ♠ 8 4 3
 ♥ K Q 10 9 6
 ♦ 8
 ♣ K 7 6 5

I duck the trick in dummy, as does RHO.  I suppose he is afraid of taking the Ace and setting up the suit for me?   But if he has four clubs, he could give his partner a ruff.  Hmmm...not sure what is going here.  Anyway, I take the King, and since there seems to be no reason not to, I start on trumps.  This takes three rounds, with RHO having three of them to the Jack.

So far so good, or did I already mess up the hand? 

If clubs are divided 3-2, then I will win two more club tricks after knocking out the Ace of clubs.   That will give me three club tricks and five trump tricks, so I still need to win a spade trick.  If clubs don't split 3-2, then I actually need to win two spade tricks.  That is only going to happen if LHO holds the Spade Jack.

In the latter case (which is much more likely, because if RHO has only 3 clubs, he can only have 3 diamonds since he opened 1C, but that gives LHO 7 diamonds, and I doubt he would sell out to 3 Hearts)  I am going to need to take some spade finesses, which means I need to get back to my hand.    Hmm...seems I did misplay it.

Looking at all four hands, is there any way to guarantee the contract after RHO ducks the Club Ace?  If not, is there any way to make the contract with a defensive error?  I.e., is there something to try?

	♠ Q 10 9 2 ♥ A 8 2 ♦ Q 7 ♣ Q 10 3 2
♠ K J 7 5 ♥ 5 3 ♦ K J 9 6 3 2 ♣ J	N  W E S	♠ A 6 ♥ J 7 4 ♦ A 10 5 4 ♣ A 9 8 4
	♠ 8 4 3 ♥ K Q 10 9 6 ♦ 8 ♣ K 7 6 5

I'll leave this open for comments for a little while and will continue it later.