It’s been a while since I posted any hands. This one scored well.

E-W game, dlr S (rotated)

            ♠ K 7 x
            ♥ x x
            ♦ x x x
            ♣ 8 7 x x x
♠ J x x x                ♠ 9
♥ x x        [ ]         ♥ K Q J x x x
♦ A K J x                ♦ 10
♣ Q J 10                 ♣ A K x x x
            ♠ A Q 10 8 x
            ♥ A 10 x
            ♦ Q 9 x x x
            ♣ -

1♠    pass 2♠    3♠
4♠    dble All pass

A♦ led.

I wouldn’t have blamed Agent 99 for passing over 1♠ - ten losers and only 3-card support doesn’t really meet the requirements for a raise. But she chose a good moment for it, and made my life easy. I don’t think I can blame West for choosing the double rather than a venture to the 5-level. Taking the safe plus score seems quite reasonable, even opposite a distinctly distributional partner. East was rather frustrated, being sure that we had cut them out of a game or slam, but she was disciplined enough to stand the double. After all, she had shown her hand with her vulnerable intervention. However, the defence did not go nearly so well as West expected and East hoped.

Rather than opening one of her partner’s suits, West started with three rounds of diamonds, East ruffing the third round with her singleton trump. I took the ♥A at trick 4, and paused for thought. East had shown 5-5 (or better) distribution in the bidding, so had at most one trump remaining. Therefore, I cashed the ♠A to draw it, the ♦Q for a heart discard, and made two heart ruffs in dummy and two club ruffs in hand. At trick 11, West was trump-bound, and had to ruff the ♦9 and then lead into my remaining trump tenace. Down 1, not vulnerable, for -100 compared to -650 at most tables.

It is true that an opening heart or club lead would have led to a bigger penalty. But I don’t think I will do worse than three down (six trumps and the ♥A seems plausible), which is still cheap.

The next hand didn’t score well, but that’s because I butchered the play.

N-S game, dlr N (hands rotated)

♠ 10 4
♥ K
♦ K 6 5 4 3
♣ A J 10 9 8

[ ]

♠ A K Q 9
♥ A J 7 6 4
♦ A
♣ 5 4 2

1♦   1♥;
2♣   2♠;
3♣   6NT;

♥x led.

I’ll choose to believe that it’s her admiration for my dummy play that leads Agent 99 to open hands like that one. Actually, it’s not that far off – replace the ♥K with a small one, but add the ♦Q, and you have a very respectable opening even though there are only 10hcp. But the actual hand doesn’t really have the two defensive tricks that a vulnerable opening as dealer is supposed to show.

I won’t give the details of the debacle that passed for my dummy play. But clubs broke kindly, so playing for split honors and managing your entries properly gives you eleven top tricks (4 clubs, 2 diamonds, 2 hearts, and 3 spades). If you have unblocked the ♠10 and rejected the (losing) heart finesse (if the defence offered it to you), you can arrive at the last few tricks with a choice between playing to drop the ♠J or taking a finesse of the ♠9. And enough tricks have gone by that you should have a decent view of the opposing distribution. If you read four spades on your right, the odds favor the finesse – which wins, bringing in 12 tricks and a top. Nobody else tried a slam on this hand.