Had a fun
extended set (34 boards) with Jeff against Vince Demuy and Francois Gauthier. The bridge was somewhat less than stellar, but the boards were very interesting and we ended up 10 IMPs and change to the good.
Here's my favorite board of the set:
2nd at unfavorable:
J87 / J432 / AQ9 / K94
Francois passed on my right. I passed. Vince opened 1 Heart. Jeff doubled. Righty bid 2 Hearts.
Yuck.
I've got an 11 count, so pass is out. 2NT is likely off the first 5 Heart tricks. The Spade Moyse (if it exists) is unattractive because Jeff will be tapped out on the go.
I doubled (responsive.)
Lefty passed and Jeff bid 3 Clubs. Might be a silly spot, but Jeff could easily be 3-1-4-5 or 4-1-3-5 on this auction.
Righty now bid 3 Diamonds.
I considered hacking that, but I didn't think they'd arrived at their final destination yet. I was hoping for a (very unlikely, admittedly) 4 Heart call from Lefty, which I would happily double.
Lefty bid 3 Hearts passed around to me. Green or red?
Now I asked myself. 'I wonder what kind of cheese Vince Demuy opens in 3rd seat at favorable?' They could easily be robbing us blind here. My Diamond cards look well positioned. Trumps are breaking poorly. We should have over half the deck.
I pulled a Ken, broke tempo for 7 or 8 seconds, and doubled.
Jeff flickered before passing and I couldn't help but laugh out loud, given the subject of yesterday's blog. I'm about 90% sure this CAN be beat. Let's hope it WILL be beat.
Jeff led the 9 of Hearts.
T93 / K87 / KT654 / 73 Dummy (RHO)
J87 / J432 / AQ9 / K94
Vince won the Ten of Hearts in hand and led the Deuce of Diamonds up to the Ten and Queen, Jeff showing an odd number.
I continued Hearts, and Vince won the 8 and led a small Diamond off Dummy.
T93 / K / K654 / 73 Dummy (RHO)
J87 / J4 / A9 / K94
No sense in flying Ace here. Even if Vince started with Jx, I'd just be setting up a pitch for him.
I played low and Vince won the J. Doh!
Now Vince played the 8 of Clubs from hand. Jeff thought about it for a while and much to my relief, played low, letting me win the trick with the 9 so I could knock the last trump (and last entry to dummy) off the board.
T93 / - / K65 / 7 Dummy
KQ6 / AQ / - / J2 Declarer
Now Vince's only legitimate shot to score 8 tricks is to run the Ten of Spades. Of course, he'll end up with 6 tricks that way if the Spade Jack is off. He cut his losses and played the Trey to the King and Jeff won the Ace and exited safely with his last Diamond.
Vince ruffed, drew my last trump, cashed the Queen of Spades, and conceded the last 3 tricks.
+300 was 'only' win 5, but among the sweetest 5 I've won.
http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=5312119&when_played=1191784109Jeff's hand
A542 / 9 / 873 / AQT65 What, me worry?
