I always warn my daughters that, when skiing, to be particularly careful the last run of the day, as that is when they are the most tired and most likely to not pay attention, fall, and injure themselves. The same advice could be given at the bridge table in reference to the last board of a long round.
Playing with Julie Arbit, Zach Brescoll and my daughter Allison at the Orlando regional in a Bracket 1 Knockout, I was dealt this pretty hand for the last hand of the 1st session.
We are down 22 imps at the half, perhaps in part due to my lack of sleep the night before, but had done well so far in the 2nd half. If we did well in this last board, I felt we had a chance to save the match.
Julie, to my delight, opened 1♣, my right hand opponent (RHO) made a weak jump bid of 2♦; I made a negative double, my left hand opponent (LHO) jump to 5♦ and Julie doubled.
Being sleep-deprived, I did not see Julie’s double card. When the bidding came back around to me, I bid 5NT (demanding that my partner pick a slam). Julie bid 6♥ and I corrected to 6NT, ending the auction.
My LHO led the ♥9 and this is what I saw:
I perked up. Not bad! If I can make this hand, we might win the match. Time to plan. Let’s see, we have only 9 tricks of the top (3 spades, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs), assuming that the marked diamond finesse is right. I’ll have to bring the entire club suit home and either 3 hearts or 4 spades to make 12 tricks. So the 1st order of business is to find the club Queen.
I covered the ♥9 with the ♥10, East covering with the ♥J and I took the Ace.
I asked East what West leads from an empty tripleton and he said top of nothing. So I counted West for no more than 3 hearts, which means that East has at least 3 hearts also. East, having at least 9 cards in the red suits (6 diamonds for the 2♦ preempt) and only 4 in the blacks, is heavy favorite NOT to hold the ♣Q. So I led the ♣J. West thought quite a while and covered with the ♣Q, covered with the ♣A, East discarding a small club.
Next, I took the marked diamond finesse which won. Now, how to play the clubs? I had two options — play for the 3-3 split, or finesse the ♣8, hoping West had the ♣9. I decided the 2nd was best given West’s long hesitation and East’s known length in diamonds. And so I finessed the ♣8, East showing out. Phew!
From here I played too fast, and ended up down 1. Can you do better? Here is the play so far:
From this point on the contract is cold. I missed a very easy play. West’s lead of the ♥9 was a top-of-nothing lead and so I can place East with the ♥Q (he already played the Jack). So all I have to do is lead a low heart off the board. If East takes his ♥J, my ♥8 is good and I have my 3 heart tricks. If he does not, my ♥8 wins and I still have my 3 heart tricks.
Instead of doing this, I was so elated and proud that I’d figured out the club suit that I thought no further. I started cashing my winners, and ended up consuming all my entries and destroying my communications. I never enjoyed the ♥8 and took only 2 hearts. When spades broke 4-2 with West having 4, I ended up with a spade loser and a heart loser for down 1.
Here is the full hand:
There is no reason to rush with the clubs. When I’m in the dummy with the ♣A, that is an opportune time just to lead off the board towards the ♥8. Even if West made some weird lead from Q97x of hearts, I still have time to test both the hearts and the spades for a 3-3 break. As the actual cards lie, ♥8 is established, and, after carefully untangling my tricks, the contract is cold.
Moreover, playing towards the ♥8 early in the play obviates the sticky 2nd guess in the club suit. When I cash my my winning ♥8, my LHO shows out so I know that my right hand opponent started with 4 hearts. I can then cash 2 spades, ending in my hand. When RHO follows to both, I know he started with 2-4-6-1 distribution (trusting him to have 6 diamonds for his preemptive jump). I can finesse my ♣8 without breaking a sweat, since I know it will win.
We had a push on the board as the other side was also down one in the same contract. We did win the match, our teammates having had a fantastic set. No justice, Zach would say. But the bigger moral of the story is that particularly at the end of the long match, you must stay focused and to keep your eye on the ball. Here, I lost my concentration, played too quickly and my contract went down in flames.
— Tom Hunt
Charlotte Evening Bridge 