Jennbridge: Falling Queens

I found myself in a slam with these cards yesterday (board 21):

♠AK10xx
♥Kxx
♦10xxxx
♣void

♠J
♥AJ1082  
♦A9x
♣AKJx

I had dealt and opened 1♥.  Partner, Larry H.,  bid 1NT and I showed my strength with a jump shift to 3♣.  Larry now bided time with a rebid of 3♥.  I bid 4♥ and he surprised me with a bid of 4♠.

While I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, partner was sending me the message that he liked his hand and he had a spade control, undoubtedly the ace.  I liked my hand rich with aces, so bid 4NT.  He bid 5♥, showing two controls without the trump queen and I bid 6♥.  The ♦K was led.

♠AK10xx
♥Kxx
♦10xxxx
♣void

♠J
♥AJ1082  
♦A9x
♣AKJx

It looked like there was a lot of work to do.  I probably had a diamond loser and I needed to pick up the hearts.  During the auction RHO had asked more than one question about Larry's 4♠ cuebid so I was concerned that spades were splitting badly.

With no clear way forward, I started on clubs.  I played the ace, king (pitching diamonds) and a small club to ruff on the board and was pleased to see the queen fall on my left on the third round.  Not yet willing to tackle the hearts, I tried spades to see what I could learn.  I played the ace, king of spades (pitching a diamond) and another spade to ruff and was delighted to see the queen of spades fall third on my right!

Now the hand was coming together.

♠10x
♥Kx
♦10x
♣void

♠
♥AJ108
♦x
♣J

If the hearts broke no worse than 3-2, I would make it by pitching my last diamond on the 10 of spades.  I therefore hopefully cashed the ace of hearts and when I played a heart to the king, the queen of hearts fell on my right!  I now could not only discard my last diamond on the 10 of spades but could return to my hand to draw the last trump and claim.

Plus 1460 was worth all the matchpoints.  Only one other pair bid the slam and they made only 6.

Sometimes the hand reveals its secrets as you play it out.  In this case the Bridge Gods were smiling on me as all of the missing enemy queens met their demise.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Ron Smith blog

Great news for bridge enthusiasts!  Ron Smith, the well known and entertaining San Francisco bridge professional and musician, has started writing a bridge blog.  He has decades of great stories so it should be quite fun.  I'm also pleased to report that he features this blog and the Losing Trick Count booklets as he is a big fan of losing trick count.  Here's the link to Ron's blog:

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6a1cd6ff9387d4623b3bfac81&id=a2e0b0e7a5&e=4678m9f0b42

A hand from the club yesterday.  Partner opens 1♣ and I hold:

♠AJ9
♥KJ109x
♦Kxx
♣Jx

I respond 1♥ and he reverses into 2♦.  I bid 2NT, forcing, showing values as well as a spade stopper, and he raises to 3NT.  A diamond is led.

♠xx
♥AQ
♦AQJx
♣Axxxx

♠AJ9
♥KJ109x
♦Kxx
♣Jx

Clearly I have 11 tricks, but as we are playing matchpoints, I look for that extra trick.  There are chances for an extra trick in spades so I win the diamond on the board and lead a spade to the 9.  The king wins!  This is good news because later I will lead a spade to the jack trying for my 12th trick.  A heart is returned and eventually I do score my 12th trick when jack of spades wins.

Plus 490 was an 87.5% board.  Always be on the lookout for that extra trick in pair games.  Leading twice toward the AJ9 is always worth a try.

See you at the table!