A Newspaper Hand

We are playing the B/C/D pairs at the 2005 Pittsburgh Nationals. The Directors ask us if we would mind playing North/South in both sessions. Would we mind playing for free? Would we mind seeing the hand records in advance?

In the evening session, I pick up

AK876 / 32 / AK95 / A8

as dealer, both vulnerable, and I open 1. My partner bids 4, a splinter, showing game-forcing strength and a singleton diamond. We should have enough high cards for slam; the only question is the hearts. I bid 5 to allow partner to show the A if he has it, which he does by bidding 5. Come to think of it, 4NT would have been better, because partner might have bid 5 over 5 to show a diamond void, and then I wouldn’t have learned what I really needed to know. But no harm done. I go to 6 and all pass. After the lead of the 4 I see:

	J 10 5 2 A K J 10 8 Q J 10 5

	A K 8 7 6 3 2 A K 9 5 A 8


W	N	E	S
			1
P	4	P	5
P	5	P	6
P	P	P

I win with the A and cash the AK of trumps. The opposing trumps are 2-2, so the Queen comes down. The contract is secure (my only loser is a club) and I can finesse in hearts or clubs for an overtrick. But I can only try one finesse—if it loses, the other won’t get me back the trick! So which one?

The correct answer is—neither. I can combine the chances by cashing the K and then ruffing a heart in hand to see if the Q drops. If it doesn’t I still have the club finesse in reserve.

Lo and behold, on the third heart, East drops the Queen. I ruff a diamond over to dummy and discard my losing club on the 10. Making seven for +1460.

And for a change we get a good score—11.5 matchpoints out of 12! There were a lot of +1430s, but only two +1460s. Some people just can’t resist a finesse, and both finesses were wrong—a real newspaper hand.

We finish at 60.1%, our best session of the tournament.

The full hand was:

	J 10 5 2 A K J 10 8 Q J 10 5
Q 3 8 7 6 4 4 3 2 K 7 4 2		9 4 Q 9 5 Q J 10 7 6 9 6 3
	A K 8 7 6 3 2 A K 9 5 A 8

[Pittsburg NABC, B/C/D Pairs, 3-19-2005]