A Painful Swing
The scene was the final quarter of the Semi-final match of the Senior KO in Denver. We trailed by 25, having lost our substantial first-quarter lead in the second set and making no headway in the 3rd quarter. The quarter started with a big decision by our opponents. With N dealer and none vul and South held the following:
A4
AKQ62
K82
AJ5
He heard partner open 2D Multi, and inquired with 2NT. Partner rebid 3H, showing a maximum hand with spades. South now placed the contract in 6S. I do not know their style or agreements, but someone had it wrong in this long-standing partnership, since North tabled this hand:
KQ10953
J
A3
8762
Our teammates, Gene Freed and Jim Murphy, bid well to 7S which seems to be about 75%. Alas, the spades were 4-1 with no stiff J, so we suspected that we had lost another 14, instead of winning 11.
It was a painful start to the final segment, and put extra pressure on the remaining decisions.
I’m not sure any comment is required other than people in Senior Events are, by definition, beginning to lose it. :)
December 28, 2005 Jack Oest
It looks to me like without the hj this would be a little under 60%, and even worse without the st, so that makes it pretty tough to bid!
On the other hand, two little hearts would be a lot better than one, so I do think it makes sense to check key cards and bid seven.
December 29, 2005 Jonathan Weinstein