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Play with the stars
This deal was played in the Zeke Jabbour “Play with the Stars” charity event – supporting the fight against Parkinson’s disease. I had the honor of writing the deal analysis (which is archived at the commongame.com, Jan. 26, 2014).
This was board 24, rotated for convenience. With neither side vulnerable, you (South) hold:
♠ A 10 9 3 ♥ J 9 3 ♦ K 2 ♣ K Q 6 2
After partner opens 1♣, and RHO passes, you respond 1♠.
Now, LHO jumps to 2NT. What’s that?
Presumably it’s “unusual” for the two unbid suits (hearts and diamonds).
Opener passes and RHO chooses hearts, bidding 3♥. And you?
You don’t want to repeat the spades, and raising clubs would get you past 3NT. That leaves double. This isn’t a pure penalty double. It just shows extra values/cards. Except when there are specific partnership agreements in place, doubles below game in competitive auctions are rarely for penalty.
Partner takes out your double to 3♠. Let’s say you raise to the spade game and everyone passes. The ♥A is led and you see:
Thankfully, partner has four-card spade support. After laying down the ♥A and getting a discouraging signal, West tries the ♦A, getting another discouraging card. He then plays a heart to knock out dummy’s ♥K. Over to you.
You should draw trumps, starting with dummy’s king. Why? Because if they are 4–1, you expect RHO to have the length. Not only might he have ♠Q–J–x–x, making this a smart move, but he might have ♠Q–x–x–x or ♠J–x–x–x. Playing spades this way will enable you to pick up the entire suit for no losers when LHO produces a singleton honor. On the ♠K, though, everyone plays low. You continue spades, and RHO inserts the ♠J.
You could duck this, but it really doesn’t hurt to win the ace and continue with the 10. Even if spades are 4–1, you are in decent control. Let’s say you do win the ace and LHO follows low. Great – spades were 3–2. Now what?
This is time for an important play. If clubs are anything but 4–0, you will soon be claiming (losing only the high spade). But there is a good chance clubs are 4–0. LHO indicated the red suits and showed up with two spades. Also, with four diamonds and only three hearts, RHO would likely have preferred diamonds – yet more reason to believe that LHO’s distribution is 2=5=6=0. You should start clubs by leading the ♣2 from your hand. If everyone follows, you are fine. But, in fact, LHO shows out!:
You win the ♣A in dummy and play a club. If RHO splits (from ♣J 10 5 3), you win in hand. You ruff your last heart in dummy, then play another club towards your hand for no club losers.
This was the Real Deal:
You always had to lose the two red aces and a trump trick. By playing carefully in clubs, you make your contract for an 83% board.
Courtesy of Jay Whipple and the wonderful District 9 support staff, you can see tons of information when deals are part of The Common Game (www.thecommongame.com).