The Club Jack stars at the club Swiss

My favorite hand and least favorite hand from a recent club Swiss each featured the same card, ♣J:

First the favorite …

Vulnerable against not, South opened a 14½ to 17 1NT as dealer and played it there.

I led the ♥2 and saw this dummy.

	North ♠ QT5 ♥ 97 ♦ QJ842 ♣ Q54
West ♠ K973 ♥ KT42 ♦ 7 ♣ KJ86

Declarer chose to play the ♥7, topped by the ♥8 and won by the ♥Q.   Tricks 2, 3, and 4, were ♦T and ♦9 ducked nicely by partner and a third diamond won by partner’s ♦K (our 1^st trick).  I discarded two spades up the line.  Partner returned the ♥6 and I topped the ♥J with the ♥K.  What do you lead in this position?

	North ♠ QT5 ♥ — ♦ J8 ♣ Q54
West ♠ K9 ♥ T4 ♦ — ♣ KJ86

You were dealt 10 HCP, dummy has 7, declarer has 14½ to 17.  That leaves 6 to 8½ HCP for partner.  You know he already has shown ♦AK and so he has very few, if any, more high cards.

Declarer does not possess as much information as you do, of course, about the allocation of high cards between your hand and partner’s.  Can you take advantage?

At this point I switched to the ♣J!  Declarer eyed this and played small from dummy, winning the ♣A.  Now he played a spade: 2, 9, T, and won by partner’s ♠J.  Partner returned a heart:  3, 5, ♥T (our 4th trick), pitch from dummy.   I returned a small club and declarer ducked this in dummy, allowing partner to win his ♣T, for our fifth trick.  Partner cashed the ♦A for our sixth trick and returned a club where I could cash two more for +200!

	North ♠ QT5 ♥ 97 ♦ QJ872 ♣ Q54
West ♠ K973 ♥ KT42 ♦ 7 ♣ KJ86		East ♠ J62 ♥ 863 ♦ AK53 ♣ T72
	South ♠ A84 ♥ AQJ5 ♦ T96 ♣ A93

Declarer had guessed poorly, from Trick 1-on.  Still, we did well to force the guesses.

And now, my least favorite hand …

Lew Gamerman, a long-time rubber bridge player who has turned to duplicate bridge with great success over the last few years, held this hand:

South ♠ A42 ♥ K ♦ AKQJ ♣ AQJ96

He heard this auction:

West	North	East	South
P	P	1♥	Dbl
3♥	4♠	P	4NT (keycard for spades)
P	5♣ (1 or 4 keycards)	P	5♦ (asking for ♠Q)
P	6♣ (explained as showing ♠Q and ♣K)	P	??

What call would you now make?

Lew chose to pass!

	North ♠ K98753 ♥ Q96 ♦ T7 ♣ K7
West ♠ QJ6 ♥ T853 ♦ 943 ♣ 852		East ♠ T ♥ AJ742 ♦ 8652 ♣ T43
	South ♠ A42 ♥ K ♦ AKQJ ♣ AQJ96

Well-judged.  As you can tell, the bidding by my side was, well, rambunctious and there was a bit of partnership confusion by advancer about the meaning of the 6♣ call, but I give credit to Lew for recognizing the value of his ♣J.  Had his partner owned ♠KQxxx, the spade slam would have been dependent upon avoiding a 4-1 trump split, while the club slam – even if the ♣K were singleton – offers a better chance.  Lew was rewarded even though our teammates avoided the doomed spade slam.