Jennbridge: An Unexpected Bonus

Enroute to a win in the Fast Pairs at the Monterey Regional yesterday, I made a bid which turned out well in an unexpected manner.

At favorable vul., Bob opened 1NT, 14-16, and I held:

♠ 6542
♥ 9875
♦ KQ93
♣ 6

The field was weak and there were more mistakes than usual, perhaps due to the pressure of playing a little faster than normal.  Things were going pretty well and I decided to bid Stayman.  When partner bid 2 diamonds, I passed and hoped for the best.

But wait!  LHO balanced with 2 hearts and we all passed.  Maybe she didn't comprehend the fact that I almost certainly had 4 hearts, but the various inferences were not lost on my partner.  Knowing that I had to be short in clubs, he didn't waste any time leading the ace of clubs!

North
♠ 6542
♥ 9875
♦ KQ93
♣ 6

South
♠ K97
♥ A6
♦ A62
♣ A9732

He continued with the deuce of clubs (suit preference for lower ranking suit--in this case, diamonds) which I ruffed.  I returned a diamond to his ace and ruffed the club return.  I then cashed one of my diamond honors and we still were due the ace of hearts for 6 tricks and plus 100.  This netted us 14 out of 15 matchpoints as we really couldn't make anything our way.

Declarer (East) held QJ10/KQJ103/75/Q104
West held A83/42/J1084/KJ85

Note that if I hadn't bid, East probably would have balanced with 2 hearts anyway.  This would almost certainly have made as we wouldn't have had a roadmap to the killing defense!

See you at the table!