The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
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Assigning blame since April 20, 2007

Threading the Needle

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This entry was posted on 6/25/2007 11:34 PM and is filed under The Ugly.

I have mixed feelings about this hand from Friday.  I don't think Jeff is blameless, but we'll look at it from my side.  Let's see if you judge it more successfully than I did.

You pick up in third at favorable:

A6 / 73 / QJ963 / Q762

2 passes to you. 

This is a pretty normal aggressive 2 Diamond bid to me at these colors.  5-4 is much better than 5-3-3-2.  You're in third.  The colors are right.  The shortness in both majors argues for preemption.  About the only negative is you wish you had a little better texture, but I'm not a big believer in waiting for the perfect hand. 

Lefty bids 2 Hearts.  Jeff bids 2 Spades.  Righty bids 4 Hearts.  Now what?

4 Spades might be a successful dive, but I've only got 2 of them.  If this is a successful save, it's probably one of those -500 vs -620 hands (a 'threading the needle' hand) and those are more tempting at matchpoints (where they can win a board) than at IMPs where they might win 3 IMPs (if successful) or lose 10 or more (if phantom.)  I passed without much thought. 

4 Hearts is passed around to Jeff and he bid 4 Spades.  Righty Doubles.  Any bright ideas?

It never occurred to me not to pass here.  I've already passed 4 Hearts, so Jeff knows I don't have primary Spade support.  I figured my Ax had to be better than he had any right to expect. 

4 Spades doubled was passed out and I got to see Jeff's hand:

A6 / 73 / QJ963 / Q762

QJ975 / T4 / AKT8 / 95

The opponents cashed 2 Hearts and his RHO switched to a Diamond.  He won in hand and ran the Queen of Spades, winning.  When he continued Spades, his RHO showed out.  Doh!

At that point the best he could do was play Diamonds and trade ruffs with his LHO.  He would have ended down 4, but he lost focus at trick 12 and blew an extra trick.  Sticks and wheels.  Ouch.

5 Diamonds, of course, is at worst down 3 (trumps were 3-1) and you might get out for down 2.  Not that the save was a huge success.  Even -300 is only win a couple and -500 is lose a couple.  But better to lose a couple than to lose 5 and change for defending 4 Hearts or to lose 12 and change for -1100. 

If you're wondering, yes, 4 Hearts was cold.  They might not get there if I pass, but any competent pair will:

KT432 / K95 / 7 / AT83

8 / AQJ862 / 542 / KJ4

2-2 Hearts means you always score 6 Hearts, 3 Clubs (even with likely misguess) and a Diamond ruff.

 
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