Played in the Open Swiss today.
We got STEAMROLLED by Balicki and Zmudzinski in round 2. I didn't play against them... I sat in Balicki's seat. That is some frightening stuff. I came back to the table and felt like I got my entry fee's worth when I asked my teammates how he declared.
Balicki declares this contract in 4S... I don't know the auction, but RHO has overcalled diamonds probably at the 2 level and LHO raised.
Axx AQx Jxx xxxx
KQTxx JT9x --- KJ9x
1. diamond led, ruffed
2. heart to the Q and K
3. diamond led, ruffed
4. small club out of hand, dropping the stiff ace (!!!)
5. diamond led, ruffed
Now dummy is reversed and Balicki can play 2 top spades, cross to the HA, draw the final trump (pitching a club), and cash 10 tricks. Godlike.
Here's a defensive problem I had. Opponents bid 1N 3N, we're on lead. I have Qxx Axx xxx JTxx. I elect to lead a 4th best club.
-------Axx
-------xxx
-------AQx
-------9xxx
Qxx
Axx
xxx
JTxx
-------
-------
-------(closed
------- hand)
First trick goes x x K A. Declarer now plays SA and a spade to the J, losing to our Q. Partner played lo-hi in spades (upside down count). What now?
It looks like declarer started with KJxxx of spades, so 4 spade tricks. He's marked with CAQ, so he's up to 6 tricks. DA is 7. I decided to play declarer to have the CAQ tight and to have to set up two heart tricks, so I led a second low club, dropping declarer's CQ to my delight! Declarer then showed up with the DK and had 9 tricks already.
Can I get this right? If I'm truly playing declarer to have a doubleton club, then partner will always have a third club to reach me. Can I afford to cash the HA to get partner's signal? But if I'm playing for the hand above, cashing the HA loses the tempo to beat this hand. What's more, partner will encourage with any holding with the K... but it's not enough. He has to have KQxx if declarer has the DK. That's what actually happened on this hand. We have 4 heart cashers we never got.
Update: I spoke with a friend... a small heart is interesting. If declarer has nothing in hearts, it will beat it outright. If declarer has HHx in hearts, when partner wins his presumed DK, he can push a heart through. Declarer will go down unless he reads the heart position and blocks it. Or declarer could have even two hearts! Then a heart is an easy beat.
I'm not liking my defense now, but at least it wasn't a zero defense. If declarer is KJTxx HHT/HH9 Jxx AQ my defense is necessary, just wildly antipercentage. Oh well.
We actually did pretty well, enough to win 2nd in X, 4th/6th overall.
I also Lightner doubled again. Got my ruff, then declarer wrapped it up. 0/3 so far. It only cost one imp (teammates did not reach it.) Oh well, it's a price I'm willing to continue paying.
Edit: I gave the 3N defense hand to Steph. She led a heart at T1. Easy game.
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I think we were silent in the auction. I lead the K from KQT (I think). Helen says if she returns a heart when she gets in, then it busts up the reversal, but I think then he can just draw trump and endplay me in clubs. He explained his line something like, "I needed a miracle."
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