[Trumpace]

Matchpoints. None vul. South dealer. N/S reach 5♦ via the following auction.

1D - (1S) - 2D - (2S)
3H - Pass - 4D - Pass
5D - All pass.

The player in question is West who holds:

QT9xx, JT9x, x, Axx

These are the four hands:

Scoring: Matchpoints

Lead spade.

---

West leads a spade, east wins ♠K, ♠A and return a third Spade.

Declarer ruffs with the ♦A, and plays the ♣J.

At this point west thinks, "Most tables will be in 3NT which is at least -2. So we need at least 2 club tricks. Low it is..." and plays a low club.

Declarer wins, draws trumps and then squeezes West between the ♣A and the fourth heart, making 11 tricks.

(endposition: 2 hearts and ♣KT in dummy, AKQx hearts in hand. West cannot both hold the ♣A and JT9x of hearts)

Was West greedy, bad or just unlucky?

[rogerclee]

West seems to have forgotten that presumably, NS play a strong NT, so I would just say he is just bad.

[mtvesuvius]

West was probably GIB... Otherwise all of the above.

[sathyab]

Trumpace, on Feb 27 2009, 02:59 PM, said:

Matchpoints. None vul. South dealer. N/S reach 5♦ via the following auction.

1D - (1S) - 2D - (2S)
3H - Pass - 4D - Pass
5D - All pass.

The player in question is West who holds:

QT9xx, JT9x, x, Axx

These are the four hands:

Scoring: Matchpoints

Lead spade.

---

West leads a spade, east wins ♠K, ♠A and return a third Spade.

Declarer ruffs with the ♦A, and plays the ♣J.

At this point west thinks, "Most tables will be in 3NT which is at least -2. So we need at least 2 club tricks. Low it is..." and plays a low club.

Declarer wins, draws trumps and then squeezes West between the ♣A and the fourth heart, making 11 tricks.

(endposition: 2 hearts and ♣KT in dummy, AKQx hearts in hand. West cannot both hold the ♣A and JT9x of hearts)

Was West greedy, bad or just unlucky?

A bit unlucky and didn't think it through fully. I doubt if declarer is bidding 5♦ at MP with 2 small spades and ♣Jx[x]. But having said that I wouldn't be too critical of him. He did try to reason it somewhat, while a lot of other players may have gone up with the Ace or played low without giving either play much thought.

[jdonn]

Trumpace, on Feb 27 2009, 02:59 PM, said:

Was West greedy, bad or just unlucky?

Just bad. Technically greedy too but I'm willing to overlook that since some greed is normal at mps.

[Echognome]

If West thought of the reasoning at the time, I will at least give him credit for thinking along the lines. Of course, as others have mentioned, the reasoning was faulty. However, I think it's a bit harsh to be too critical.

On the other hand, it's quite possible that West reasoning was made after the fact to cover up an error, in which case it's a shame that he felt he needed to come up with a reason. We all make errors.

[Edmunte1]

Definitely bad, declarer knows where ♣A is after 2♠ for partner, who showed already ♠AK, and 1♠ by us. Also it seems that West didn't learn to count tricks and never heard about squeezes.

[awm]

Why does west think that this auction will not be repeated at other tables?

How does west even know (at trick three) that south has a balanced hand? At that point south could easily have a 2452 or even 2461 pattern.

Generally if your opponents bid a game voluntarily and you set, you will get a pretty decent score. I think ducking the setting trick is a poor tactic even at matchpoint scoring.

And in any case, west overcalled and his partner has already shown up with ace-king of his suit. I think south will play west for the club ace (a card east can't even really have, on the bidding) if this is on a guess.

[Fluffy]

Congrats for the squeeze, well bid and well played.