Another From Terra Linda

Here is another hand I held at last week's game with Dave at Terra Linda that is an intersting bidding problem. With none vulnerable, I picked this up in fourth seat:

♠  AKJ3
♥  AQ6
♦   87543
♣  A

Dave passed, and RHO opened 1 Heart.  How should I plan the auction?

There is no good action.  I could overcall 1NT, but this hand seems suit-oriented, and could play much better in spades than no-trump when partner would be too weak to use Stayman, say with xxxx/xx/Qx/Jxxxx.  I could overcall 1 Spade, but that seems like an underbid and is mis-descriptive.  I could double, but I didn't have a good follow-up plan if partner didn't respond in spades.   With this shape, I could follow up with 2 Diamonds without promising extra strength (an equal-level conversion), but this would also be mis-descriptive with that awful suit, or follow up with 2NT, which is also mis-descriptive with the singleton ace.   After thinking about this for a while, I finally decided to double and rebid 2NT if partner bid the dreaded 2 Clubs.  This sequence should promise 19-20 HCP,  but the prime cards and positional value of the spade jack and heart queen would allow me to upgrade even though the singleton ace was a liability.

Well,  the auction did indeed go pass, 2 Clubs by Dave, pass back to me, so I followed my plan and rebid 2NT.  Dave, who had passed originally, now made me really unhappy by jumping to 5 Clubs!   Everyone passed, and I reluctantly put this hand down as dummy.  But I felt a lot better after Dave made six!  He held

♠  AKJ3
♥  AQ6
♦   87543
♣  A

♠  8
♥  72
♦  A92
♣ Q986543

The opponents led a low spade.  He finessed the jack, cashed the club ace, pitched his two diamond losers on the AK of spades, played a diamond to the ace, then a low club.  LHO had to play the king (he started with K7), so Dave was able to draw the last trump with the queen and take a winning heart finesse through LHO to make 12 tricks.  This got us 10 matchpoints out of 12.

Next report will be from New Orleans.  Jenn and I are trying our luck there in the Mixed Board-a-Match teams and the Swiss Teams. 

Good luck!