Jeff Lehman

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.

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