Moysian Magic

After two passes, I open 1♣ with ♠AJ ♥K74 ♦A ♣AT97653.

LHO overcalls 1♠, partner makes a negative double, and RHO raises, annoyingly, to 2♠.  What now?

Might be nice to be playing good/bad 2NT but that is not on our card, and 3♣ seems lame.  Or so that was my thought.

With noone vulnerable, my thinking was that an in-tempo 4♥ had two ways to win: it might make, or it might produce a “transfer to 4♠“.  3NT?  Well that was worth considering, but I could guess at two risks: (1) opponents’ spade suit could be set up after two rounds; and (2) partner’s clubs might well be insufficient to run the suit.  I have heard that it is possible for a negative double of 1♠ overcall to deliver five hearts, after all, right?

All pass.  Small spade lead.

West	North	East	South
1♣	1♠	Dbl	2♠
4♥	All pass

West ♠ AJ ♥ K74 ♦ A ♣ AT97653

East ♠ K95 ♥ JT96 ♦ KQ532 ♣ 4

The spade card was surprising, making 3NT more attractive than expected, even with the fear of insufficient club support being realized.  I had hoped for five hearts, but partner delivered only the four promised.

How does one get to ten tricks on these cards?  After some thought — is there such a thing as a 4-3 fit that plays quickly? — I thought of three spades (thanks to the spade lead into my tenace), one club, and, should diamonds split, three diamonds.  That is seven side suit tricks, leaving me to need to produce only three trump tricks.  I noticed that partner had produced some nice heart spots.  Perhaps the ♥A is onside so that the ♥K is a trick, a second round of clubs could be ruffed low and then that leaves the ♥JT9 for a tenth trick by power.  Yep, that would work and could be the winner if North is, say, 5=3=3=2 and South is 3=3=4=3.

I won the ♠J, ♦A, and ♣A in succession.  Then a club ruff with dummy’s ♥6, North following with ♣J and South with the ♣Q.  Then the ♦K for the first five tricks.  However, I was troubled by what I had seen in diamonds, North having played the ♦T, then ♦J.  With my missing all the diamond spots from the six through the jack, perhaps the play of spots should be disregarded, but I decided that diamonds were not 4-3 but were instead 2 with North and 5 with South.  (I was right: diamonds were 2-5.)  Let’s see, that would make the distributions possibly 5=3=2=3 for North and 3=3=5=2 for South.  The opponents are getting antsy, and I don’t blame them.  Bridge is not an easy game.  Maybe I should learn to bid better.

I tried ruffing a low diamond with the ♥7 in my hand, but was overruffed by North’s ♥8.  North continued with the master club, the king.  (A small heart to the ace — a hard play to find when looking at Qx –, followed by a heart back will scuttle the contract.)  I ruffed the ♣K in dummy with the ♥9.  South discarded a diamond (a spade seems to me to be a better discard, but I don’t think it matters).  I came to hand with the ♠A.  I played a good club from hand and North decided to ruff up with the ♥Q.  I am not sure if this is best play.  She returned a spade to dummy’s king, upon which I pitched a club.  The position now, with the lead in East was:

West ♠ — ♥ K4 ♦ — ♣ T

East ♠ — ♥ JT ♦ Q ♣ —

I have lost only to the ♥8 (overruff of the third round of diamonds) and to the ♥Q (pre-ruff of a good club). I led the ♦Q and the opponents were helpless.  South’s last three cards were ♥A53.  if South ruffs with the ♥A (what happened at the table), I can pitch my club and claim with high trumps.  If South instead ruffs with ♥5 (or even ♥3), I can overruff with the ♥K and one of East’s ♥JT will be my tenth winner, while South’s ♥A is my only other loser.

I will have to think more about what happens if North does not pre-ruff with the ♥Q when I led a fourth round of clubs.

Postscript:  Later on, I thought of a different line of play that might make ten tricks on the actual layout, even though diamonds are 5-2.  (The “might” qualifier is important, as will be demonstrated.)  The alternative line focuses on setting up the club suit.  That’s a common approach in 4-3 fits — using a side suit as a surrogate for trumps — and maybe I should have considered it.

Let’s say that after winning Trick 1 with the ♠J, I choose the unorthodox play of playing a small(!) club from hand.  I win the return in my hand and then ruff a small club with the ♥6.  That survives and now my clubs are established.  I lead a heart to my hand.  Time to show the whole hand:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ Q8742 ♥ Q82 ♦ JT ♣ KJ8
West ♠ AJ ♥ K74 ♦ A ♣ AT97653		East ♠ K95 ♥ JT96 ♦ KQ532 ♣ 4
	South ♠ T63 ♥ A53 ♦ 98764 ♣ Q2

Let’s review the tricks, through the time that declarer West leads a heart from dummy East:  ♠J, small club lost, win return in hand — let’s say a spade return won with ♠A, club ruff with ♥6, ♠K, ♥9.  Assume that that trick is won with ♥K, then ♥4 to ♥Q.  North is in the lead in this position:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ Q8 ♥ 8 ♦ JT ♣ K
West ♠ — ♥ 7 ♦ A ♣ AT97		East ♠ — ♥ J ♦ KQ532 ♣ —
	South ♠ — ♥ A ♦ 98764 ♣ —

What can North do?

• If she leads a spade, either South ruffs with the ace, after which West can reach his hand and claim, or South discards a diamond.  If South chooses to discard a diamond, West will ruff and lead good clubs.  if North ruffs with the ♥8, East, and then South can overruff, but West can then claim since South will have to lead a diamond to West. If, OTOH, North refuses to ruff in, then more clubs are played until the ♥A is played.  I think the correct nomenclature might be that the ♥8 is smothered.
• If she leads a heart, South wins and is endplayed into leading to the good West hand.
• If she leads a diamond, West wins the ♦A and plays the ♣A, which South must allow to hold.  Now another good club is played.  Again North has no winning answer, as the ♥8 is smothered.  OTOH, if she ducks, East plays a diamond and South’s ♥A must draw air.
• If she leads a club, East discards a diamond and either South ruffs with ♥A or the ♣A wins in West and clubs are continued for smothering of the ♥8.

That’s pretty cool.  Could the defense have done better?

Yes, the defense can do better.  The position shown above demonstrates the futility of South remaining with a singleton high trump.  Let’s explore the position at Trick 6, when the ♥9 was led from East, if South had risen with the ♥A instead of ducking.  In with the ♥A, South can continue a second heart.  West wins the ♥K, producing this alternative six-card end position, where it is North that holds the master trump rather than South:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ Q8 ♥ Q ♦ JT ♣ K
West ♠ — ♥ 7 ♦ A ♣ AT97		East ♠ — ♥ J ♦ KQ532 ♣ —
	South ♠ — ♥ 5 ♦ 98764 ♣ —

When West, in the shown position, leads clubs, the ruffing threat posed by South’s ♥5, a nonnatural trump trick, defeats the contract.  Arranging for North, rather than South, to be the defender who retains the master trump, leads to a winning result for the defense.