[Foxx]

This hand is from the second round of the knockout matches that took place over the final weekend of the nationals, sixth bracket from the top. Make this slam and you will put the match out of reach at the half, and cruise into the final four. But if you go down, you'll have to work the rest of the match for a berth to Sunday's action.

Scoring: IMP

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 W [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]N [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]E [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]S
 [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]1[sp]
 P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]2[cl] [space] [space] [space] [space] P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]2[sp]
 P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]3[sp] [space] [space] [space] [space] P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]4[di]
Dbl [space] [space] [space] [space]4[he] [space] [space] [space] [space] Dbl [space] [space] [space] [space]4[sp]
 P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]4NT [space] [space] [space] [space] P [space] [space] [space] [space] 5[cl]
 P [space] [space] [space] [space] [space]6[sp] [space] [space] [space] All Pass

West leads the ♥8.

We play two-over-one, so 3♠ showed extra values, and 5♣ showed zero or three key cards (0314).

Comments on, and criticisms of, the bidding are welcome, by the way.

[whereagles]

I'm gonna let it ride to the J. That takes care of 2 diamond losers and I'll deal with the 3rd from the fall of the cards. In principle, I'll finesse the club through LHO, but...

[pclayton]

Lots of work to do here.

I'll risk 6-1 hearts and duck T1. RHO is forked in a way - he can give me 3 heart tricks by winning or two by ducking, but he loses his trick.

If RHO wins and they don't have a heart ruff, I need to find the ♣K (which may show up in a pop-up squeeze against LHO if LHO has the ♦KQ or the ♦K/Q 6 times).

If RHO ducks the heart, I have several possibilities:

1. Hook the club (either way). If it loses and a diamond comes back, I'm hosed and lost my chances for a squeeze.

2. Ruff a diamond. You can duck a diamond to keep communications or play Ace and another which guards against ♦'s 6-1. I really don't know what is best.

I'm not that concerned. In Bracket VI I doubt they are ducking the heart anyway.

By the way, if the heart loses to the King, I'm going to assume LHO has the ♣K. If you had clubs bottled up, wouldn't you tend to not want to give declarer an extra trick in hearts - if you think pard has a diamond trick coming?

[Foxx]

Well, here was the deal.

Scoring: IMP

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Had I made this contract, my posting of this hand here would have been a lot less likely.

I got drawn in too much by the idea of escaping the heart loser and trying to ruff two diamonds in dummy, more or less completely missing the better prospect of giving up the heart on the go and getting three diamond discards on dummy's round suits later. I began with the critical miscue of flying up with the ♥A at trick one, although I followed up by meritoriously getting the clubs right, continuing with the ♣A, then the ♣Q covered by RHO and ruffed low.

I now had to get back to dummy to junk my heart loser on the ♣J before I could give up a diamond, and the only available entry here (without taking a cavalier finesse for the ♠10) was the ♠Q. Thus I crossed to the ♠Q, cashed the ♣J pitching the ♥J, ruffed a heart in hand (the ♥K coming down tripleton was an extra chance) then ducked a diamond. LHO won, he could have sunk me immediately with a trump return, but got out with a heart to the 9, 10, ruff. Now came the ♦A, and a diamond ruffed low in dummy ---- and overruffed with the ♠7 by East. Ouch. In the end I was able to ruff my last diamond in dummy for one down.

The line I would have needed to get home (without clairvoyance with respect to the trump position) was tortuous, labyrinthine, and razor-sharp. I had to duck the opening lead to the ♥K (things become more complex if East finds the highly unlikely duck). Assume a trump return, or rather a diamond. I would have to hop with the ♦A, perhaps draw a round or two of trump with honors in hand, then cross to the ♣A and lead the ♣Q, covered and ruffed. Next, unblock the ♥J, cross to dummy with the ♠Q and run the ♥AQ and ♣J to toss the losing diamonds.

Epilogue

Our team would go on to win the round, and also narrowly win the semifinal against a crafty old team, who had a pair of poker experts playing against us at our table. The final was easily within our grasp, but I ran out of mental stamina and committed several elementary mistakes, as could be expected in the first four-round knockout I had ever played in. We still racked 'em up for our run through our bracket though. I did increase my masterpoint total by 50% in my five days of play in San Francisco. I had 44 going in; now I hold 66.