Some hands from the Valdosta sectional

Here are a couple of deals from the sectional in Valdosta last weekend.

Matchpoints W dealer EW vulnerable

East

South

West

North

Pass

1♦

Pass

1♥

Pass

1NT

Pass

2♣

Pass

2♥

Pass

4♥

Pass

Pass

Pass

North ♠ T87 ♥ K82 ♦ A432 ♣ AK9

West ♠ KQ65 ♥ T96 ♦ T85 ♣ 532

You lead the fairly normal ♠K. Partner follows with the 3 and declarer takes the A, then draws trumps in three rounds with partner showing up with Q3 and discarding an encouraging D6 (upside down attitude). Declarer plays a low spade from hand. Decision time.

 

Let’s take a minute to think about the situation. All we really know about the distribution is that declarer has 5 hearts and partner likes diamonds. Where is the SJ? We don’t know, but if partner has it, we ought to play low, just in case he started with a doubleton. If declarer has the SJ, there is no rush to take the Q unless declarer could get to discard it. Dummy’s clubs and diamonds don’t look to threatening, especially since partner encouraged in diamonds.

 

There is, however, one situation in which it is crucial to take the SQ now. If declarer started with ♠AJx and ♣Qx, our spade trick will go away on the third round of clubs. Declarer would also need a holding where discarding a diamond wouldn’t help, such as QJx or Qxx (given that partner has the K, both of those holdings have 1 loser whether you discard one on a club or not). Also, declarer might not even try to sneak a spade through with that holding, so the signs point toward ducking this trick. Sure enough, on this layout, partner held ♠Jx.

 

This other deal isn’t actually that interesting but it’s an auction you don’t see very often: P-3♥-P-7♥; P-P-P. I held ♠AKQ5   ♥AKQ   ♦A765   ♣A5. You can count 12 tricks off the top, and there are a few places you could get the 13^th trick, so I took a chance and bid the grand that no one else in the room bid. The preemptor could have the ♠J, ♦K, ♣K, 3 spades and a 3-3 split, 8 hearts, all making 7NT a laydown. The only way 7♥ could pick up is if partner has only 6 hearts and Kxx. Then you would need a club ruff for the 13^th trick. Granted, that’s pretty unlikely, but it was the reasoning behind bidding 7♥ instead of 7NT in a field where I figure bidding and making any grand would be 90% of the matchpoints.