A few hands from Monday night

On Monday, I directed the local 199er game. An odd number of people showed up without partners, so I sat in with John. We came in first by less than half a matchpoint -- sorry, Colvilles! [I'm not eligible to win masterpoints in this game, but my partner is.] There were a few very interesting hands.

First, I held

none

QJ985

AKQJ64

T8

at favorable vulnerability. There were two passes to me. I opened 1D, LHO doubled, pard redoubled, and RHO bid 1S. It didn't seem right to beat around the bush here, so I just threw out 4H, hoping he'd pull to 5D with short hearts. It worked well... he held

A5

7642

85

K9542

On a spade lead, I pitched a club and lost only a club and two hearts.

Then came this hand:

K52

A7

A

AQJ9873

I opened 1C at all white, and partner bid 2NT. I wasn't sure how to find out if 6N would be any better than 6C, so I just shot out 6C. Everyone passed, and LHO led the jack of diamonds. I saw:

Q7

KQT3

Q963

KT2

K52

A7

A

AQJ9873

I was relieved to see that 6N would be down on a diamond lead. Twelve tricks were there for the taking -- seven clubs, three hearts, one diamond, and one spade -- but at matchpoints, garnering an overtrick can be very important. So I tried to find a thirteenth trick while making sure to not give up my twelfth.

I won the diamond in hand with the stiff ace, and led a trump to the ten [both opponents following - now there's only one left out]. I led a low diamond off the table, and RHO played the king! There's one hurdle crossed. I ruffed high in my hand (safety first! I severely doubt RHO made this play from seven diamonds to the KT, but you never know) and went back to the king of clubs, drawing the last trump. I cashed the queen of diamonds (RHO showing out) pitching a spade, and led out all of my trumps (throwing spades from dummy). Here's the position when I led my last trump from hand:

none

KQT3

9

none

K5

A7

none

A

So I led the last club. I knew LHO had the diamond ten left, so when she threw away a heart, I could safely pitch the nine from dummy. RHO looked rather uncomfortable, and I knew I had them. RHO also pitched a heart, and I led out the top hearts dropping RHO's jack for making seven. RHO needed to keep Jxxx of hearts and the ace of spades for her last four cards, and that's certainly impossible!

This isn't a true double squeeze, in that my LHO wasn't squeezed at all -- but if she'd had the heart length instead of her partner, she would've been squeezed between Jxxx of hearts and the ten of diamonds.

It's possible that this ending wouldn't produce 13 tricks if LHO had the ace of spades to go with the ten of diamonds and RHO had sole control of the heart suit, but in that case, I would've just had the twelve tricks I started with!