The bad news is I only played one and a half boards today on BBO against Jeff and John Zaluski before I got them subbed into a Cayne team match.  The good news is that both boards were pretty interesting.

I was playing with David Willis (known in Ottawa bridge circles as 'David T', to differentiate him from the more senior Dave Willis (no relation.))  He's a fine player, a former partner of Waldemar and of Glen.

First board I picked up

QJ4 / K963 / K742 / T3

JZ opened 1 Polish Club on my right and I passed.  Jeff bid their system's version of 1 Spade.  David T was in for 2 Clubs passed to me.

This is surely natural.  2NT is remotely tempting, but not on the first board.  I passed.

Jeff now balanced back in with 2 Hearts passed to JZ who thought for a bit and bid 2NT, the bid I almost made.  Well, a minute ago I thought I was worth 2NT, so surely it's right to smash this.  This was passed around to JZ who decided that he had a Heart fit after all and bid 3 Hearts.  I had a red card for that too.  Float.

David T led the 4 of Hearts and dummy tracked:

2 / AQ2 / J98 / A87642

Yikes, not a bad hand.  Looks like David T found a great lead, though.  I just hope Jeff has 4 only Hearts and we still should be okay.

Jeff played a low Heart from Dummy and I Kinged it and fired back another trump (it's too late to go for the tap now, so might as well hope he just doesn't have 9 tricks.)  Jeff won in dummy, (David T following with the 5,) played a Spade off (naturally,) I split, he won Ace and ruffed a Spade with dummy's last trump.  Now he played a Diamond off.  Do you give count or not?

I hope you didn't fall for the old 'Do you give count or not?' routine.  You have a complete count on the hand already.  Surely Jeff is 5-4-4-0 (he bid Spades first, David T followed twice in Hearts, and you and dummy have 8 Clubs between you, the suit your partner overcalled in at the 2 level.)  To find the winning defense, you've got to use your imagination.

David T overcalled with ?xxx / xx / ?? / KQJ95  The only face cards that aren't accounted for are the King of Spades and the Ace Queen of Diamonds.  I think that Jeff's line of play and the bidding suggests that David T's most likely original holding was Kxxx / 54 / Ax / KQJ95, giving Jeff Axxxx / JT8x / Qxxx / -.  If that's the case, what's the right defense?

At first glance, it looks harmless enough to let David T win the Diamond (and if you've misjudged the position and David T has AQ or QT tight, so much the better) and play a top Club, allowing you to win the next Diamond and play another Club, tapping Declarer and making him lose control.  What does that analysis miss?

I ducked the Diamond, David T won his Ace and played a top Club.  Jeff won, pitching a Spade, and played the Jack of Diamonds off.  I won my King and played another Club, as planned.  Jeff ruffed and now cashed his last good Heart (I still had the 13th trump) followed by the QT of Diamonds (his 7th and 8th tricks) as I helplessly followed suit.  His last 2 cards were losing Spades, one of which I got to ruff with my good trump.  He scored 3 Hearts, a Spade, 2 Diamonds, a Club, and a Spade ruff.  Down 1.

So now if we go back to the critical juncture of the hand:

- / - / J98 / A87642 Dummy (on my right)

J / 96 / K742 / T3 Me

xxx / JT / Qxxx / - Declarer (visualized)

Kx / - / Ax / KQJ95 Partner (visualized)

To extract the maximum (+300) I needed to rise with the King of Diamonds and cash the Jack of Spades, now when I switch to the Club, David T will get in with the 2nd Diamond and be able to cash the 2nd Spade, allowing me to sluff a Diamond.  Now he can tap declarer and set up my long trump.  We'd score my King of Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 2 Spades, and the long trump that way.  We scored those tricks, but we compressed our 2 Spade tricks with my long trump trick.

Neat hand, on my best day I might get it right.  Today was not my best day.

+100 was still worth 2 and a half IMPs.  +300 would have been worth about 7.

The 2nd hand was just a bidding problem:

QT / T7543 / KJ974 / 9

You pass in 1st at favorable, pard opens 1 Spade in 3rd and Righty's in for 2 Clubs.

Double is a little pushy, but I wanted to get my hand off my chest (Ha!)  Lefty passes (no more opponents' bidding) and partner now bids 3 Clubs.

Do I now 'rebid' this ratty 5 card Heart suit?  I figured I'd already denied Spade support, so I ought to bid 3 Spades with my nice fat doubleton QT.  David T can now bid 4 Hearts if that's where he's coming.

Partner now bids 4 Diamonds.  Is this a cuebid in support of Spades or a real suit?  If I raise him to 5, will he bid 6 on any hand that would have given 5 play (since I've overbid already.)  Should I bid 4 Spades?  Surely it's too late to try to slide into 4 Hearts?  Ugh.  Luckily, at this point Jeff and John disappeared into the ether (team match beckoned.)  David T wanted to know what I had, so I passed so he could see.  I might have done the same at the table (though technically this auction is surely forcing,) I'm not sure.  Unfortunately, David T had enough to compensate for my overbidding.

QT / T7543 / KJ974 / 9

KJ432 / AKJ / AQ63 / 7

Take his Jacks away and game is pretty awful, but on the actual hand you definitely want to be there.  +130 (New opps came, so rather than be rude and boot them or leave 'in the middle of a hand' I just claimed) was 5 IMPs away.