{You're sitting across from a pair of average but inventive opponents who have fixed you in the past with some of their innovative bids and plays. You are playing with your favorite partner using a modified 2/1 card. You figure that you're about even in the match up to this point.} [Event "IMPS, Club game"] [Dealer "N"] [Vulnerable "NS"] [Deal "N:KT53.A6.98652.J3 42.T875.JT43.765 A76.43.AKQ7.KQ84 QJ98.KQJ92..AT92"] [Declarer "S"] [Contract "5D"] [Result "11"] [Annotator "Greg Foltz"] [AnnotatorNA "greg_f@fc.hp.com"] [Description "PBN demo of a mini-movie; PBN conversion by veugent@IAEhv.nl"] [Hidden "WNE"] [Auction "N"] Pass Pass {Your call?} 1D {You decide that 1NT is not *quite* right with 18HCP and 4QT and start the Auction with 1\D.} 1H 2D =1= {2\D shows at least a limit raise in \D per your partnership agreements.} Pass {Your call?} 2H { Uncertain about where the best spot is (3N, 5\D, 6\D are all likelyspots), you decide to force to game with 2\H. You have no firm agreements with this pd about whether this is a Western Q bid.} {What would 2\H mean in your partnership?} {What would 3\C mean in your partnership?} =2= {LHO mulls over the explanation of 2\H, and then bids: 3\H} 3H 3S Pass { What do you make of your pds 3\S call? Your call?} {What would 4\C or 4\D mean in your partnership?} {From your pds 3\S call, you assume that pd does not have a secure \H holding which could be shown by a bid of 3NT. 3\S should indicate 4+ \S in addition to 4+ (likely 5+) \D. Pd might still have a magic hand which could roll up 6\D. Something like KQxx x Jxxxx Axx is a possibility.} 4D { You assume that since you're in a game forcing auction, pd won't pass you below game so you try out 4\D to see what that elicits from pd.} Pass 5D Pass {Your call?} Pass Pass [Note "1:inverted D raise"] [Note "2:game forcing - says nothing about H"] [Play "W"] HK { PBN: un-hide the North hand to reveal the dummy.} { How do you like your prospects? Plan the play.} { You note that the other table might be failing in 3NT with a \H lead. Your pd may have taken the best view holding the \HAx. Making 5\D could well win the board and the match. The \H lead is ugly. Any other lead would allow you to draw trumps and establish a \C for a \H pitch from dummy. Making 5\D is going to be uphill work with the possibility of losing 1\S 1\H and 1\C. You consider ducking the \HA or trying for some elimination position which could eliminate a \S loser.} HA {The duck seems unlikely to help so you win the \HA in dummy and} H5 H3 H2 {but LHO pitches a small \H. Ulp. The pressure just went up a notch. Is there _any_ way to make 5\D now?} {What now, genius? LHO rates from the auction to hold all or almost all the outstanding HCP. RHO holds JT43 of \D. You'll need 2 dummy entries for the \D finesses and 2 are available in the \SK and \CJ. Do you want to spend all of your precious dummy entries for finessing \D?} D2 D3 DA {start trumps with a small one from dummy to the A in hand. RHO follows small} C2 CJ C5 {It wins. LHO quite properly holds off the \CA. Life would be easier if LHO had flown with the \CA. Then 2 \S losers could be discarded from dummy on your KQ of \C.} C4 {No other plan makes sense, so you decide to lead a small \C toward the J.} H9 D9 DT DK {The \D9 brings up the \DT from RHO which you take in hand.} S8 SK S2 S6 {A small \S to the K and} S9 D5 DJ DQ {\D5 is covered by \DJ and High \D from hand.} {LHO pitch 2 \Hs and a small \S on the 3 rds of \D.} { How do you rate your chances of holding your losers to 2? What now? It seems that RHO may have made a mistake in covering the 3rd rd of \D from dummy with the J. You now have an additional trump entry to dummy with the \D8. Can you make him pay for it? A glimmer of hope starts forming in your mind. Maybe, just maybe, you can bring this contract home on a squeeze or endplay of some sort onyour LHO. What would you need to endplay or squeeze your LHO? You consider exiting a \H at this point which might work out if LHO wins and then has to lead a \S or \C. A problem arises if RHO wins the \H and exits a \S. So that plan seems out. Maybe you can squeeze LHO in the black suits if he was dealt something like: QJx(x) KQJxx(x) void ATxx Either 4-5-0-4 or 3-6-0-4 with LHO might work. Looking at the threat situation, you see that you might have 2 threats against LHO with the \ST in dummy and the fourth \C in hand. First, though, the count needs to be rectified for any sort of squeeze to work. Is this the time to rectify the count or do you want to draw the last trump? Well, it looks like a positional squeeze on LHO is out because dummy holds the long \D and you'll have to discard in front of LHO. After all of your hard work, it still looks like you're going to need some help from your opponents. Perhaps a little flim-flam pseudo-squeeze will bring this contract home. But first a bit of deception can be tried.} CA {Alas, LHO wins this trick, and } C3 C6 CQ { So you try the \CQ. You hope that LHO ducks this as then you could ruff both losing \Cs with dummy's remaining trumps and only lose a \H and a \S.} HQ {cashes his \HQ.} H6 H7 H4 { You hold your breath. A \S honor return will take out your entry to hand and spoil your plans. You hope your LHO isn't good enough to see this.} CT S3 C7 CK {LHO exits with the \CT which you take with the K in hand. Pitching a small \S from dummy.} C9 { Whew! You needed to work hard on this hand and still needed some luck and some help from the opponents. Congratulate yourself for a job well done! Moral: Don't give up, even when things looks impossible. Give your opponents enough chances to make mistakes and sometimes they will.} - - D7 { When you lead the \D7 from hand, LHO holding: QJ J - 9 has a legitimate problem. Up to this point, the \HT and \C8 remain outstanding and LHO may not be able to tell which card you hold. A better opponent would have a count on the hand and will discard correctly. After long study, LHO pitches his ...}