Bridge bridge bridge bridge
You hold: ♠A8 ♥AKT9 ♦KJT ♣A432. RHO deals and opens 4♠.
I've got a great takeout double, but double is for penalty at this level, and it's not clear that I can actually beat four spades. So I try 4NT, in the expectation that partner will understand I have a balanced monster. LHO passes, and partner comes back with 6♦.
So he's got something like AQ-seventh in diamonds, a spade void (or king, but I don't think Mel would make that preempt on queen high), and either a heart void or something in clubs. That gets me to eleven-plus tricks, and partner should really have a little bit extra. I bid 7♦.
After some crosstalk, Mel sacrifices in 7♠ with favorable vulnerability. Hmm. I wasn't really planning to trump anything with my diamonds, and we'll only ever get 1400 by doubling. 7NT it is. Someone suggests they should try 8♠, but Craig says that's still illegal. No double is a good sign.
Craig of course leads some sort of medium spade, and Long hits with ♥Q2 ♦AQ98765 ♣QJT9. So that's twelve tricks, and I need to pick up either the hearts or the clubs. There's a finesse in both suits, but they seem like a bad idea: Mel is known to have at most five non-spades, and Craig at least eleven, so the odds are no better than five in sixteen, and that's not even considering the sacrifice in 7♠. Alternatively, I could try to squeeze Craig: after both black aces and seven diamonds, if he had both missing honors he'll have to either throw away the club king or unguard the hearts. This plan has the added feature that it either missing honor drops if it's short.
So I take trick one and unblock the king of diamonds, Mel discarding a heart. Now the jack of diamonds, and Mel discards another heart. Cross to the diamond queen, and another heart discard.
So that's four tricks, and Mel's discarded a heart every time. We've got six, so there's only three left out there. I claim.
D'OH!
I got to spend the rest of the conference explaining that I was the guy who thought 1+1+1=4, not the guy who thought 7-3=3.
And my career count of successful squeezes remains at zero. Dammit.
Also, I seem to be home for Thanksgiving. Is anyone else in town?
I've got a great takeout double, but double is for penalty at this level, and it's not clear that I can actually beat four spades. So I try 4NT, in the expectation that partner will understand I have a balanced monster. LHO passes, and partner comes back with 6♦.
So he's got something like AQ-seventh in diamonds, a spade void (or king, but I don't think Mel would make that preempt on queen high), and either a heart void or something in clubs. That gets me to eleven-plus tricks, and partner should really have a little bit extra. I bid 7♦.
After some crosstalk, Mel sacrifices in 7♠ with favorable vulnerability. Hmm. I wasn't really planning to trump anything with my diamonds, and we'll only ever get 1400 by doubling. 7NT it is. Someone suggests they should try 8♠, but Craig says that's still illegal. No double is a good sign.
Craig of course leads some sort of medium spade, and Long hits with ♥Q2 ♦AQ98765 ♣QJT9. So that's twelve tricks, and I need to pick up either the hearts or the clubs. There's a finesse in both suits, but they seem like a bad idea: Mel is known to have at most five non-spades, and Craig at least eleven, so the odds are no better than five in sixteen, and that's not even considering the sacrifice in 7♠. Alternatively, I could try to squeeze Craig: after both black aces and seven diamonds, if he had both missing honors he'll have to either throw away the club king or unguard the hearts. This plan has the added feature that it either missing honor drops if it's short.
So I take trick one and unblock the king of diamonds, Mel discarding a heart. Now the jack of diamonds, and Mel discards another heart. Cross to the diamond queen, and another heart discard.
So that's four tricks, and Mel's discarded a heart every time. We've got six, so there's only three left out there. I claim.
D'OH!
I got to spend the rest of the conference explaining that I was the guy who thought 1+1+1=4, not the guy who thought 7-3=3.
And my career count of successful squeezes remains at zero. Dammit.
Also, I seem to be home for Thanksgiving. Is anyone else in town?