Bridge!

I played with Norman against Gilmorehill in a match on Monday night. We lost 12-4. Our first defeat of the season, despite already having played two strong teams (GUU and St Andrew). It's looking hopeful that we might manage to play in the first division for another season. 

There was one hand that I'm quite proud of, although it's one that I should always make (and I'm not particularly proud of the auction. I'm actually quite grateful to Jim McMenemy, who took so long to find his return at trick 4 that I had a chance to go through all of the possibilities, and find the right line in the end.

Here's the NS cards:

And here's the auction:

Our auction was not exactly textbook - I think I should probably have passed 5♣ and let Norman decide, but I wasn't completely confident he'd always double, and I didn't like the fact that he didn't know we had a (likely) double fit. When dummy came down I could see we'd given up at least 500 and probably 800, so I'd better make 5♥.

John on my left led a small ♠, which I won on the table, and played a ♣ immediately. Jim went into the tank for what I think was literally 5 minutes thinking about his return, before returning the ♠Q. So, what are my chances in 5♥?

Well, there's a 3-3 spade break. Then I can get away one of my ♦s on the last ♠. But that's really not very likely given Jim's double. Jim could have a singleton ♦ honour, then I can finesse in ♦, and the ♠ is my only loser. A lot more likely is the 3-2 ♦ break, but it's now too late for me to take advantage of that (unless John has the 3rd ♦ and doesn't have another ♠ to return). Maybe I should have tried ducking a ♦ at trick 2, but that was risky in case someone could ruff (likely given that opps bid to the 5 level on not very many points).

There are also some remote squeeze chances - if Jim does have 3♦ and 4♠, then he can be squeezed between those two suits, but that really doesn't seem very likely at all. It's even less likely when he follows three times when I draw trumps...

So, the play has gone - ♠ to the K, ♣ ducked, !Q returned to the A, AKQ of ♥, RHO following twice. What do you do next?

I cashed the ♦K, both defenders following small, and then I led the ♦T. John actually made life easy for me now by covering with the queen. If he covers with the J I actually still have a guess (if I believe he's capable of covering with the J from Jxx), but by this point I had decided how I was playing the hand, and was going to get it right anyway (I'm going to assume he was showing me some respect, and assuming that I was always getting it right. 

I ducked this ♦,  and when as expected Jim showed out and John didn't have another ♠ to return, I could claim the rest with the aid of a ♦ finesse.

The full hand:

This hand is relatively straightforward if you're paying attention, but it's exactly the sort of hand I usually get wrong. If Jim had made a passive ♥ return, it would actually have made my life more difficult, as I'd still have had the option of ducking the ♦ (or playing for the unlikely squeeze). I think I should still get it right, but we'll never know if I would have.

♣♦♥♠