Two Interesting Lines

Playing a set match (at IMPs) on OKBridge against very strong opposition, I am dealt

J1054

KJ653

AQ5

J Partner is in second chair and opens 1

. We have the bidding to ourselves. I respond 1

and he rebids 1NT. This partner opens very light; he has emphasized that 12-counts must only invite opposite his opening bids. Since we are playing two-way checkback, I bid 2

, relaying to 2

, and rebid 2

to show four spades, five hearts, and invitational values. Partner bids 3

. Preference for hearts makes my hand substantially better, so despite his failure to bid game, I shall do it. LHO leads a small trump and I see:

	76 AQ10 K1094 A843

	J1054 KJ653 AQ5 J

Dummy	Declarer
1	1
1NT	2
2	2
3	4
Pass

I would have bid his hand differently. I would have raised 1

to 2

and I would have bid 4

over 2

. Despite my preferences for bidding hearts, I see we've reached the second-best contract. 3NT is cold. 4

looks OK, but it would have been far better without a trump lead. Upon reflection, showing my spades was foolish. If partner has four spades and chose not to show them, mine are not good enough to introduce. Maybe I would have got a friendlier lead then.

There are nine top tricks in this contract. A tenth can be made in diamonds much of the time. On any other lead, I would have expected to be able to ruff a spade in dummy for ten tricks. Now that will be impossible. On the other hand, perhaps a dummy reversal will work. If I can ruff three clubs in hand, I will have three trumps in dummy, three diamond tricks, three ruffs, and the A for ten tricks. Entries are a problem; I'll need four entries to dummy, three to ruff clubs and one to draw the last trump. Since I can use only two trump entries and one has been destroyed by the lead, it appears as if I'm one entry short. But I see a way. I think I shall proceed with the dummy reversal line.

I win the first trick in dummy, cash the A, and ruff a club. I might as well exit with a spade to tighten up the end game, so I play a low spade. LHO wins the 8 and plays another trump. I win in dummy and ruff another club. The position is now:

	7 A K1094 8

	J105 K AQ5 —

If I cross to the

K and ruff the last club, the opponents will be able to ruff a diamond unless diamonds are 3-3, then play spades, causing me to lose two spades, a ruff, and the last diamond. Instead, I cash two high diamonds from my hand. If the

J drops, I have at least ten tricks, 11 if the person with four diamonds has the last trump (I can cash all four diamonds, then make my last two trumps separately). It doesn't drop, but I have another string to my bow. I lead a diamond toward the

K. If LHO has the last trump, he can't ruff; he'll just be ruffing a loser. That will allow me to cash my last diamond and make my two trumps for ten tricks. Alternatively, if whoever has the last trump also has four diamonds, the

K will hold and I can get two trump tricks for ten tricks. I don't need an entry to the

A, as I shall have no winners left other than it, so I need not draw trumps. Of course, if diamonds are 3-3, I have ten tricks. Unfortunately, the only losing case occurs; RHO ruffs the

K. Now I'm down one, as dummy has three losers and I only have one trump left. Rats.

Partner notes quickly, "playing spades works." I see that's true, but the alternative line requires some guesswork. Instead of playing clubs, at trick two I can play a spade from dummy. RHO follows small and my J loses to the A. I win the trump return in dummy and play another spade. RHO wins the Q. On this, the 8 drops from LHO. RHO continues with a third trump and LHO pitches a club. Since trumps are drawn, I can play on diamonds now. It looks as if LHO is relatively short in spades and is known to be shorter in trumps than RHO, so it's reasonable to play diamonds to be 4-2 with length on my left, but there's a better line. If I cash three rounds of diamonds and they are not breaking, I can ruff a club to hand and try to guess spades. My spades are the 10 and 5. The opponents have the K, 9, and 3 left. I'm pretty sure that RHO has the K, so I need simply to guess whether spades are 3-4 or 4-3. If the former, I have a good chance to drop the 9 under the 10, setting up my 5 by force! If the latter, exiting with the small spade will set up the 10. Getting this guess right in the endgame is surely better than the difference between the slightly more likely line in diamonds and cashing the honors, and, in fact, will probably work. I'd definitely play for the short spot to set up the 5, just because it's so much fun to set up the 5. Hmmmm...If I were to take this line, I should unblock the 5 under the honor on my right so as to be setting up the 4 to beat the 3!

The latter line has the additional chance that whoever is forced to win the second spade may not be able to play a third round of trumps. In that case, I'll get to ruff a spade in dummy after all.

The full hand was

	76 AQ10 K1094 A843
A98 94 J876 K762		KQ32 872 32 Q1095
	J1054 KJ653 AQ5 J

It turns out that pinning the spade spots works, judging diamonds works, and the dummy reversal plus Morton's Fork Coup does not. Rats. Despite the result, I think the unsuccessful line is best, although it is pretty close.