Best play, or just most special play?
Not sure I made the best choice on declarer play of this hand from just concluded KO, but the situation was interesting.
I opened the South hand with a 15-17 1NT and West overcalled 2♣, alerted and described as clubs and a major, expected to be 5-5. Partner doubled, in this partnership the double being defined as Stayman. I bid 2♥ and partner made an aggressive raise to 4♥.
North
♠ Kx ♥ Axxx ♦ xxxx ♣ Qxx |
South
♠ QJxx ♥ KQJx ♦ AKT ♣ Jx |
West | North | East | South |
— | — | — | 1NT |
2♣ | Dbl | P | 2♥ |
P | 4♥ | All pass |
West began with two top clubs and then played a third. What do you pitch on the ♣Q?
Let’s assume that West is 5-5 in the black suits. If he is 5=2=1=5, then the best pitch is a diamond. After trumps are drawn, it will be easy to ruff the fourth spade in dummy and lose only the first two club tricks and the ♠A. But if West is 5=1=2=5, meaning trumps are 4-1, declarer will either have a spade winner ruffed or lose the fourth round of spades and the contract will fail. Might it be better to pitch the fourth round of spades on the ♣Q? If both missing diamond honors are onside, the ♦T dealt you by Brigidda, the goddess of bridge, will produce an extra trick. Of course, you might lose a finesse to ♦Q or ♦J, perhaps, in your nightmare, to a stiff diamond on a hand where trumps split 3-2 and straightforward pitch of a spade will work.
I hope I was not motivated by a Lust for the Special, but I decided to pitch a spade on the third club. Well, nothing mattered: West was 5=2=1=5, and East owned both diamond honors. Not sure if there was similar interference at the other table, but the board was pushed at 4♥ making.
As an aside, I note that the cooperative double idea of Phillip Martin, the focus of an earlier blog of mine, would have worked well on this hand. 2♣ overcall would presumptively have been passed around to me (this is assuming that partner would evaluate his hand as invitational strength only, which seems about right to me). With a doubleton club, I would double. Partner would know that opponents have an eight card club fit and would bid on by calling either 2♦ or cue bidding 3♣, depending upon how he chooses to value the ♣Q. At any rate, he would know that my hand, which has shown a doubleton club, has at least an eight card fit with his hand unless I am specifically 5=3=3=2. Meanwhile, we would have gained the ability to punish/double the opponents should, for example, partner’s rounded suits had been switched.