Bridge Blog 480: Right or wrong?

Partner Celine Murray took me to task for my decision to plow ahead to 4 Spades, down one, on this hand Wednesday morning – Board 6 in the third round against Dave Donaldson and Mary Davey-Carr. I should have picked up on her Heart bid and let her play it at 4 Hearts, she said. She thinks it would have made 4 Hearts. But I wondered, so I copied it down. Let’s see if she’s right.

East-West is vulnerable and I’m the dealer, sitting East. I open this hand with a strong 2 Club bid.

Spades: A-Q-J-9-8-4. Hearts: A-Q-10.

Diamonds: A-Q-8. Clubs: 3.

Mary, sitting South, doubles. Celine, instead of bidding 2 Diamonds (waiting), like I expected, offered 2 Hearts. So she’s got five of them with two of the top three honors, right? But I’ve got Spades. I bid 2 Spades. Celine goes 2 No Trump, if I recall correctly. But I want to trump Clubs, which I won’t be able to do if I accept her Heart invitation. Plus, she can’t have two of the top three honors in the suit. I go 4 Spades and Mary leads a Club. Here’s Celine’s hand.

Spades: 7. Hearts: K-9-8-6-3.

Diamonds: J-10-3-2. Clubs: A-6-2.

Unfortunately, I get a bad trump break. Here are the other two hands.

North

Spades: K-10-6-5-3-2. Hearts: 4-2.

Diamonds: 6-4. Clubs: K-10-9.

South

Spades: None. Hearts: J-7-5.

Diamonds: K-9-7-5. Clubs: Q-J-8-7-5-4.

Everybody plays it in Spades. Two pairs stop at 3 Spades and make it. Me and two other pairs go to 4 Spades, down one. One unhappy twosome goes down two.

    So what about Hearts? Let’s find out. If Dave leads a Spade, Mary trumps it. If she returns a Club, Celine wins and maybe leads a Club to trump in the dummy. Then she draws Hearts in two rounds, staying in the dummy, and leads a Spade to trump. Now she can do the finesse low to the Queen of Diamonds, which loses. If Mary returns a Club, she also loses that. But then what? Another Club? Celine trumps in her hand, runs the Diamonds, making 4 Hearts. She was right.
    That would have been a top and a boost to 61.83%, making us third in A, ahead of the club’s overall morning winners, Judi Marshall and Bev Cohen. Wouldn't matter. We still get more points for being first in B.