Femmes Fatale

Playing in a regional pairs event with a new and strong partner, we qualify for the barometer final with a tiny carryover. Going into the last round, we are one-half of a matchpoint out of first place and a pack is breathing down our neck. Jill Meyers and Kay Schulle arrive at our table. The first board is a pretty flat 3NT, but we can make a minor suit slam and would even get there if they did not preempt. The last board is this:

	K1065 Q83 K643 86
J2 K10542 ?52 K109		873 76 ?8 QJ7542
	AQ94 AJ9 Q1097 A3

West	North	East	South
Schulle	Partner	Meyers	Me
Pass	Pass	Pass	1NT (15-17)
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	3	Pass	4
All Pass

Kay, West, leads the

J and I draw trumps in three rounds, ending in dummy, West beginning with a doubleton. On the third round of spades, West contributes the

5, which, in their methods, is encouraging in hearts. Being agreeable, I play a heart to the Jack, which loses to the King. She returns a heart and I play a third round, East showing out this time and playing the

5, requesting a club shift. Being agreeable, I cash the

A and play another club. East wins this with the Jack. West followed with the Nine and Ten on the first two rounds. After a little thought (half a second is an eternity for this pair,) Jill exits with the

Q. I ruff in dummy, pitching a diamond from hand while West plays the King. This looks to be a true card, especially considering the previous spots. I continue with a diamond to the Queen, which holds, and the

10, which gets the last small diamond from West.

The whole hand is now known except for two cards. Who has the A, and who has the J? What clues are there? How about the bidding? I check their convention card. Voila! They are playing 10-12 1NT openings. I doublecheck about this and find that they only play those not vulnerable, otherwise, they play 15-17 and 2 Over 1 Game Force. So much for that. How about the opening lead? The J is a very dangerous lead. (I always ask for unsupported trump honor leads, but this time I wish they hadn't.) This suggests that she had a dangerous holding in the side suits from which to lead. Jxx and Axx are both terrible leads into a strong notrump, so that is inconclusive. Additionally, after we have possibly struggled into game on a 4-4 fit, a trump lead is often best, so I don't know how much inference I can draw from this. What about the defense so far? They have defended well, I am afraid, and it would have been a masterstroke to duck the Q from Axx, but trivial from Jxx. Grumble. I wish that I did not have this problem with the event on the line.

Finally, I decide that perhaps West would have bid with an 11-count and a five-card major, and run the Ten. Wrong. Down one. We end up fifth. If I play the King, we win the event. Nice defense.