PP 2nd Final Board 6

Board 6
Dlr E
Vul E-W

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
		Pass	Pass
1♥	Dbl	2♣	Pass
4♥	All Pass

2♣ was a 4 card constructive or better raise.  Now that I see it here, I think we should not play that wide a range over a double.

In any event, they didn't find any ruffs and I found the ♣J for 650 and 12.5/17


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PP 2nd Final Board 5

Board 5
Dlr N
Vul N-S

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
	Pass	1♦	1♠
2♠	Pass	3♦	Pass
3♥	Dbl	Pass	Pass
3NT	All Pass

♠J led to my K.  I must have run some diamonds before playing a spade and so made only 3.  Had I immediately set about establishing another spade I would have made 4.  Oops.

400 was worth 4, vs 11.5 for 430.  I imagine some of those 430s were heart leads. 


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PP 2nd Final Board 4

Board 4
Dlr W
Vul Both

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
Pass	Pass	1NT	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♥	Pass
4♥	All Pass

+620 was worth 11/16.  630 was a great result for someone, seems like that should be more findable.   Apparently 3 pairs went -100, and 4 settled for a partscore.  Not sure how any of those happened.




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PP 2nd Final Board 3

Consider just the West hand for a lead problem.


Board 3
Dlr S
Vul E-W

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
			2♥
Pass	2♠	Pass	3♣
Pass	3♥	Pass	4♥
All Pass

Apparently 2♠ was forcing and South was unsure whether 3♥ was forcing.  What would you lead from the West hand?

I chose the ♥A, and then continued hearts.  I like this choice as it seems to safely kill any ruffs in dummy but I still rate to get my 2 natural tricks.  Sadly, with partner's spots we had 3 natural tricks. 

Declarer played a club next, partner winning the ace and then the ten.  Next trick was ♣9-J-Q.  Sadly, I now played a spade.  I was thinking declarer could have taken his spades earlier if it was important to him, but of course he couldn't.

+100 was worth 4.5/17, +150 would have been worth 12.  This was a big error.


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PP 2nd Final Board 2

Board 2
Dlr E
Vul N-S

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♥	Pass
1♠	2♣	2♦	Pass
3♠	All Pass

North cashed 1 club (RHO playing the ten), then switched to ♦6.  How would you play?


Fearing a ruff and wanting to ensure my plus, I flew ♦A and drew trumps, which split 3-3. Next I led a diamond to the queen which held as LHO followed with the 2 and RHO followed very slowly with the 8. Now what?



I played another diamond, RHO won the K and played the ten. On this, pitch a club and RHO must lead a heart into your tenace.

Stopping in 3♠ was worth 11, but making 4 was good for 16/17 matchpoints.

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

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PP 2nd Final Board 1

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

Board 1
Dlr N
Vul None

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♠	Pass	4♠	All Pass

A 3rd/low ♥3 lead runs around to the 9 and your jack. How do you play?

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

I still have no idea what's right.

After winning ♥J I played a diamond to the king and a club to South's Ace. Then they played 2 more diamonds tapping me, and I was worried about losing a trump and having some trouble on the 4th diamond.  So I banked on 3-3 hearts and crossed in hearts to lose a spade finesse, then only needed one club trick to go with 4 trumps, 4 hearts, and the ♦K.

If I lost a spade hook at trick 3, they'd tap in diamonds and now I'd have to guess to ruff a diamond high and hook the ♠9 to get home.

Perhaps for this reason playing a diamond is wrong. I could see crossing in hearts to play a club, or even playing a club out of your hand to retain communication. If they push clubs you have more flexibility to retain control, plus they might not be able to ever overruff. Say you lose the first, ruff the 2nd, and hook in spades.

Note that 4th best leads would have made this hand a lot harder.

In any event, 420 was good enough for 15/17. As for bidding game, well +140 would have been 10.5 -- most common result appears to be 4♠ down 1. Read more!

PP 1st Final Board 26

Board 26
Dlr E
Vul Both

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

Franco	North	Andy	South
		1♣	2♥
All Pass

South successfully preempted us out of our spade fit and earned a good board for his choice.

2♥ by South, +3, -140, 5.5/17


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