PP 1st Final Board 17

Board 17
Dlr N
Vul None

	♠ J 8 4
	♥ K 10 4 3
	♦ Q 6 3
	♣ K 7 6
♠ 10 3		♠ A 9 7 2
♥ Q J 8		♥ A 7 5
♦ K 4 2		♦ J 10 9 7
♣ Q 10 9 8 2		♣ J 4
	♠ K Q 6 5
	♥ 9 6 2
	♦ A 8 5
	♣ A 5 3

	Andy		Franco
West	North	East	South
	Pass	1♣*	Pass
1♠**	Pass	1NT	All Pass

* could be short
** transfer to 1NT

[Andy]

Ugh.  This was a very unpleasant board for us.  Franco led a low spade.  After a while declarer played low, and I stuck in the 8.  This seemed like the technical play.  However, it also seemed that declarer would play the 10 in almost all the situations where my sticking in the 8 is necessary.  So in a game where all the players are competent and no one is playing poker, it might be best to just play the J at trick one.

The trick one play didn't really matter in the suit, but it had a high second order cost.  When declarer led the ♣J out of his hand, I was afraid to lose my opportunity to play spades through.  I didn't want my partner to potentially get in in clubs first, so I didn't duck the ♣K.  This was very costly, as it became easy for declarer to establish clubs, and then when he guessed the red suits he ended up with 120.

[Franco]  This was only 2/17, though we had to go plus to get above average.