Sunday, August 29, 2010

Jennbridge: Trying for Nine On-Line

I was fooling around on Bridge Base last night when I had a pleasant experience. A BBO friend invited me to his table where I was partnered by a well-known expert and we had about 35 kibitzers. I was dealer and picked up this nice hand:

♠  T72
♥  AQ84
♦   A52
♣  AKJ

I opened 1 Club, partner bid 1 Spade, I rebid 2NT and she raised me to 3NT.  LHO led the jack of hearts, and I saw: 

♠  Q954
♥  K2
♦  Q6
♣  97643

♠ T72
AQ84
A52
♣ AKJ

I wanted to set up the clubs and the heart king was my only sure entry to dummy, so I won the first trick in my hand with the ace, then started the clubs with the ace.  RHO showed out, pitching a heart (a critical error as it turned out), so the clubs weren't going to come in and I had to find a Plan B.  I saw a possible 9 tricks: 2 spades, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs.  To get  there, I had to start the spades.  I led the deuce.  LHO won the king and continued a second heart (a diamond would have been better).   I won dummy's king, played a club to my king and played the ten of spades (to unblock).  It went jack, queen, ace.  RHO returned a heart, I won the queen and LHO followed with the ten.  My 8 of hearts was now good, so I was up to 8 tricks. If the spades came in 3-3, I would be up to 9, so I played my last spade to dummy's 9.  LHO showed out, but I still had a chance.  RHO had a good spade, but all his remaining cards had to be diamonds.  So I played dummy's last spade.  RHO won and returned a diamond, perforce.  I played low, holding my breath, and when LHO didn't produce the king, I was home with 1 spade, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs. 

My expert partner sent me a nice message:  "I'm impressed!"  That's a great thing to read in front of 35 kibitzers!


Good luck! 

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