A Wild Ride in an Instant IMP Game

I often play in ACBL instant games on BBO as they are quick and I like to see how my placement moves up and down throughout the 12 boards.  This game was wild as I made it to the top spot early, then plummeted to the bottom, then...well...you will see.

I was in first place by board 3 as my robot opponents overbid and went down four in 4♠.

Then...disaster on board 5.

I jumped to 4♥ with the strong South hand and went down 3 for -300.  This was a loss of 12 IMPs and plunged me to the bottom of the pack.  I looked at how pairs got to the best spot of 4♠ and saw that at other tables, my hand made a jump rebid of 3♥.  I think my hand is far too strong for that, but when North then rebid 3♠, South had an easy 4♠ bid. With an expert partner I would rebid 3♦, a strong jump shift, but I was worried about doing that with the robots.

I started making a comeback with hands like these. Here are a couple of 3NT hands that won IMPs.

Plus 600 won 10.6 IMPs. As you can see, I only had to lose 3 spades and 1 heart.

Plus 430 won 6 IMPs on this board.

I regained first place with the penultimate board.

A tricky 4♠, but if you keep in mind that you have 3 trump tricks to lose, and so can lose no others, it gives you a guide to the play.  I ruffed 2 diamonds and was happy to see trumps break 3-2.

Plus 420 was worth 9 IMPs and I was back in first place for the final board.

The situation was simple.  If I got a good score, I would win.  If not, I wouldn't. The last hand was amazing.

With my 24-point monster, I was unsure what to rebid after I opened 2♣.  You can never be sure of bidding with the robots (unlike humans..ahem...), but at least you can click on all of the bids to see what they are supposed to mean.

At any rate, I rebid 3NT, and my robot partner transferred me to spades.

The ♥J was led, covered with the ♥Q and ♥K and won by my ace. At first glance I could see there was plenty of work to do, but I had no idea what was in store for me.

I started with the ♠A, followed by the ♠3 which West won with the ♠K.  And then the sky fell...RHO showed out! Spades were not only 5-1, but West started with the ♠KJ1092!

Before I could bemoan my fate, West returned a diamond which I won with the ♦10.  Was there any hope for this doomed contract?

I started thinking about all of the possibilities and realized that it was noteworthy that West hadn't cashed (or returned) a heart.  With nothing better to do, I cashed a high diamond, and...East showed out! 

Wow!  Now I have a count on the hand! (Pause here if you are practicing counting.)

West started with 5 spades, 4 diamonds, presumably only a singleton heart, so therefore, 3 clubs.  Maybe there is something I can do. Maybe I can score some of those spades with ruffs.

I cashed another high diamond and ruffed a diamond with the ♠6.Then came the ♣K and ♣A followed by a club ruff with the ♠7.  I now have 9 tricks and...drumroll please...the ♠Q is my 10th trick!

Plus 620 was worth 8.8 IMPs.  One other person made 4♠ and a few made 3NT (the best contract).  All others went down. Looking back on the hand, the West hand, that held all of the good spades, couldn't use them as I went back and forth to the board cashing my minor suit winners and ruffing them.

Needless to say, I won the instant IMP game and retired with my hard-won .90 masterpoint.

See you at the table!