6 / 
AK9765
/ 
K82 / 
1053 Combine Your Chances
Playing pairs at favorable vulnerability, I hold:
6 / AK9765
/ K82 / 1053
in second position. The dealer passes, and I open 2
(although I expect some might choose 1). After
a pass by my LHO, partner thinks for a long time and leaps to 5.
That’s a “trump inquiry,” asking me to bid 6
if I believe we won’t lose more than one trump and to consider 7
if trumps are solid. Unfortunately, I forget this meaning! I take it as a more
general grand slam try (like leaping from 1NT to 5NT) and cooperate by bidding
6. Partner is surprised, but he is not too befuddled
to bid 6. LHO leads the trump 3 and dummy comes
down:
| A Q 5 2 Q 8 4 2 A A K J 2 |
||
 |
||
| 6 A K 9 7 6 5 K 8 2 10 5 3 |
W |
N |
E |
S |
P |
2 |
||
P |
5 |
P |
6 |
P |
6 |
AP |
Despite my bidding blunder, we have landed it a good spot.
6 is a lock, but not 7.
Trumps are solid and I can ruff my losing diamond, but I have a club loser to
deal with. There are good chances to get rid of it, but on the whole I’m
happy we stopped in six.
I draw trump in two rounds, West discarding a diamond on the second trump. Now I can finesse in spades or clubs for an overtrick, but which finesse to take? As is so often the case, the correct answer is neither one. I can check first for some good luck in spades while holding the club finesse in reserve.
I cross to the A (just in case
the Q in singleton), cash the A,
and ruff a spade in hand. Nothing exciting happens, but there is one more chance.
I go back to the A and ruff another spade. Lo
and behold, on this third round of spades, the K
drops on my left. That gives me all the tricks (I can discard a club now on
the Q), but I don’t like claims to be too
lengthy, so I quickly cash the K, ruff a diamond,
and cash the K. The Q
drops on my right, so now I have 14 tricks! OK, I claim the rest.
+1010 turns out to be worth 6.5 matchpoints out of 7, because there are several +980s and a +680. Too many people just can’t resist a finesse, and the club finesse, which is off, seems more natural than the winning spade finesse (because there are no losers in spades), so I’m guessing the +980 declarers succumbed to the club finesse.
Moral: before choosing between finesses, see if you can combine your chances by playing for a lucky drop in one suit, while keeping the chance of the finesse in the other suit.
The full deal was:
| A Q 5 2
Q 8 4 2 A
A K J 2 |
||
| K 9 8 3 10 7 6 5 3 9 8 7 6 |
|
J 10 7 4 3 J 10 Q J 9 4 Q 4 |
| 6 A
K 9 7 6 5 K 8 2
10 5 3 |
[Alexandria Regional, B/C/D Pairs, 7-1-2005]