Costly undertricks

Author: Larry Cohen
Date of publish: 08/01/2019
Level: Intermediate

See if you can defend better than one of my ACBL Bulletin colleagues did. This deal was from the 2018 Spingold semifinal. West held:

♠ A752  
♥ KQJ106  
♦ A  
♣ K73.

With both sides vulnerable, his partner opened 2♠ (!) in second seat. In this position, partner should have a good hand, so slam is definitely in the picture. RHO overcalled 2♠ and our (anti)hero cuebid 3♠. LHO bid 4♠. When a passed hand comes in with a new suit at a high level, it should promise support (spades); it can't be only diamonds or he would have preempted in diamonds initially. Opener bid 4♠, RHO bid 4♠ and my colleague jumped to 6♠. This was passed around to the overcaller who now tried 6♠, doubled and passed out. What would you lead?

Vul:Both
Dir: North
♠ 983
♥ 7
♦ KJ876
♣ Q1065
♠ A752
♥ KQJ106
♦ A
♣ K73
 

Expecting the declarer to be able to set up diamonds, a low club was selected. Dummy played low and partner won the ♠A and returned a low club to the 9 and king. Now what?

With partner likely to have the ♠A, I would think West should be trying to get a diamond ruff. He can cash the ♠A and then play a heart to get a ruff. Which heart? Something to make sure partner wins--like the ♠Q. Partner will think declarer has the ♠K, so will win the ace and see no other choice but to issue a diamond ruff for down 5 (1,400 in the form of 2 clubs, 1 in each major, the ♠A and a diamond ruff).

 

This was the Real Deal:

Vul:Both
Dlr: North
♠ 983
♥ 7
♦ KJ876
♣ Q1065
 
♠ A752
♥ KQJ106
♦ A
♣ K73
  ♠ --
♥ A98432
♦ 532
♣ AJ82
  ♠ KQJ1064
♥ 5
♦ Q1094
♣ 94
 

Notice how turned on South was by North's thoughtful 4♠ call. Personally, I think East's hand is too good for a 2♠ preempt (3 first-round controls!). Anyway, the other East-West pair reached 6♠ and made 1460. My ACBL bulletin colleague failed to find the winning defense. After winning the ♠K, he played the ♠K next (killing partner's entry for the diamond ruff). Defeating the contract only 1100 lost 8 IMPs. Down 1400 would have been a loss of only 2 IMPs (and down 1700--available by getting 2 diamond ruffs would have been a gain of 6 IMPs). The team on the losing end of this swing lost the match by only 2 IMPs. Taking just one more trick on defense would have landed them in the Spingold final!