Here's my favorite hand from the fourth set of 24. It was my board 6.
This hand, board 6 of the final set, was both elating and humbling.
I skipped Stayman with my flat shape and weak spades.
East led 4H, which ran to West’s 8 and North’s 9. Seeing dummy, I was glad to be in notrump. The spades were the interesting suit. There’s a case for plopping down the ace, hoping for KQ or king or queen singleton with West, and there are deceptive possibilities. But I didn’t want to commit to releasing AS that early, so I took an “intra-finesse.” This is a type of finesse that cannot win an immediate trick, but manipulates the intermediate cards in a way that may prove advantageous later. I led 3S to the 5, 8, and Q. Good – TS is where I want it. Now I was thinking about leading JS late in the play to finesse against a hypothetical KS with West, pinning TS at the same time. But not yet.
West returned 6H to the Q and K. Now I had to make my second decision. Do I duck, hoping to shut out the East hand and potentially setting the count for a simple squeeze, or win the trick, preserving TH as an exit card? The simple squeeze didn’t look promising, because my spade threat (A97) was longer than the stopper needed by the opponents (Kx or KT). So there wouldn’t be any pressure. I captured KH with the ace.
It was time to play the minors. The diamonds broke 3-3, East discarded a club on the fourth diamond, and I faced my third decision. If I discard a club, I can’t win the third club in hand to take my smother finesse in spades. I could make the play after two rounds of clubs, but I wanted maximum information before deciding. So that was out. If I discard a spade, I’m giving up on taking three spade tricks if West started with KQ doubleton, but I retain my chances if West began with KQx, which is twice as likely (because there are two possible low cards). And I retain TH as my wily exit card. So I bid farewell to the 2S.
Now I played clubs, ending in hand. East discarded hearts on both the second and third rounds of clubs. Interesting. We’re now down to three cards: Declarer’s hand (North) is A97 of spades, and I have J4 of spades and TH. I have three possible plays. I can lead the 4S, playing West for the bare KS (initial KQ doubleton). I can lead JS, playing West to have started with KQx.
And the third potential play is interesting. What if East has KS? If so, the TS is with it, and East still has JH.
I eliminate the first play (4S) for two reasons. One is what I said above: an initial holding of KQ doubleton is less likely than KQx. The other reason is more subtle. If West did start with KQ doubleton, I’ve surrendered my chance to take three tricks in the spade suit because I’ve blocked the suit by discarding 2S. I can still make two tricks, but I won’t catch the players who are taking three. Since I was trying to win, in my meandering way, I decided to take an optimistic view.
Let’s think about East. It seemed likely that he had either KT of spades and JH left, or TS and Jx in hearts. If he had the lonely TS, I could pick up the whole suit by leading JS as I originally planned. But if he had KT of spades, I could gain a trick by leading my lovely exit card, TH, and throwing him in to force him to lead from KT of spades. Which?
If he has TS and Jx in hearts, he began with KJ7xxx in hearts. Although he’s at unfavorable vulnerability, he might just have opened a weak 2H with this suit and a 5-count (including JD). I wouldn’t bid this way at matchpoints (too much chance of -200) and I would at IMP only if I’m desperate for a swing, but who knows what the bot might do? And one other point: He just might have discarded TS on the last club instead of a heart if he started with Tx in spades. It would be a mistake, because it reveals the spade position, but it’s a conceivable mistake. Neither inference is very strong, but together, they were enough to sway me toward leading the TH. When West followed suit, I knew all was well. East was endplayed with KT of spades. +460.
Epilog: I scored 86% for this board, a welcome boost. But the joke was on me. Five players scored 96% - how? They just banged out AS at trick two, then led toward JS. The Eastern bots made the mistake of playing KS, crashing partner’s QS. +490!