Whoops

Playing in the finals of a national pair event, things are not going well. Our minor errors cost heavily, and the opponents' errors all gain for them. On this hand, my RHO is arguably the best woman card player in the world. Her husband opens a strong notrump, and before long we are defending 4S:.

S: Q7
H: AK4
D: A762
C: Q1092
S: A64
H: 7
D: QJ9854
C: 843
DummyCHODeclarerMe
1NT3H:4S:All Pass
I lead my stiff heart, of course. Dummy wins the ace. Partner contributes the 2 and declarer the 5. I assume partner's card is suit preference in case I have led a singleton, so I win the trump continuation. I plan to shift to a club. Which club? There's obviously room in my hand for the C:K, and I need to make sure that partner doesn't insert the C:J from C:AJx, so I shift to the C:8. Declarer covers, wins partner's C:J with her ace, and starts running winners.

I suddenly realize that my Trick 2 signal is going to cost a trick. Partner shows out on the second trump. After trumps are drawn, declarer cashes the D:K, crosses to the D:A, ruffs a diamond, and gets to the business of squeezing my partner in clubs and hearts. I carefully hold onto my clubs; maybe declarer won't realize her C:5 is high, but no, she triumphantly cashes it for her twelfth trick. The hand was

S: Q7
H: AK4
D: A762
C: Q1092
S: A64
H: 7
D: QJ9854
C: 843
S: 8
H: QJ98732
D: 10
C: KJ76
S: KJ109532
H: 105
D: K3
C: A5
Whoops. Sorry, partner. This zero is typical of the session. The opponents play very well and everything goes wrong for us, so despite a good final session, we end up 41st. Blech. May I have my C:8 back, please?
Copyright © 2019 Jeff Goldsmith