At the 2005 Denver Nationals, I ran into Barry Rigal (a well-known bridge writer). He asked me, "Larry--have you ever seen a contract where you want to go down?" I didn't recall anything specific, but it seemed like something that could happen, especially at duplicate scoring.

Sure enough, the very next day, I played this deal in the Blue Ribbon Pairs:

Vul: Both Dlr: North	J 9 A K 8 A J 9 3 K Q 10 3
				A 6 Q J 9 4 Q 6 5 4 2 6 5

What is the correct contract? At matchpoints, usually 3NT is a good bet, but here there is a problem. The defense will likely lead spades, knocking out your only stopper. If diamonds run, you will have 10 easy tricks for +630. However, diamonds are less than 50% to run (you need not only the king onside, but a little more).

If diamonds don't come in, 3NT will fail by TWO tricks (presuming spades 5-4). The defense gets 4 spade tricks, a diamond and the club ace.

The best contract (at any form of scoring) is probably 4 in the 4-3 fit. My partner and I reached 5--probably second best. How is 5?

Again, assume a spade lead. If diamonds come in, you can draw trump and play hearts to throw a spade loser. You will lose only a club trick and make 12 tricks for +620. Sure enough, in our 5 contract they led spades. I won and played a diamond to the jack. I was hoping to go down!

Do you see why? I expected most pairs to be in 3NT (that's just the way it is at matchpoints). If diamonds run, the "field" would be +630--and I'd get a near bottom for my +620 (I'd even lose to pairs in SIX diamonds). If diamonds were unfriendly, I'd go down, but I'd get a great score. I'd be down only 1 for minus 100. Meanwhile, the 3NT declarers would be down at least two, minus 200 (as would pairs in 6). Surely, this was the time to root for failure. Down would be a near top, making would be a near bottom.

Now for the good-news, bad-news department. The diamond finesse loses at trick two. This should mean happy days, right? Wrong! This was the full layout:

Vul: Both Dlr: North	J 9 A K 8 A J 9 3 K Q 10 3
K Q 10 7 6 5 8 7 A J 9 8 7					8 7 5 4 3 2 10 3 2 K 10 4 2
				A 6 Q J 9 4 Q 6 5 4 2 6 5

The &%$#&! spades were blocked! Everyone in 3NT made it. The defense led spades, yes, but there was no way to beat 3NT. The field was +600. We were -100 and got almost no matchpoints. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more deals where I want to go down. Maybe the next one will have a happier ending.

Updated: March 2022