Matchpoint Strategy: Act Like You Know What You're Doing

In this morning's side game in Eugene, I picked up this stellar hand:
8743 T98652 -- K53

Everyone's vulnerable, and partner deals:
1D (1S) P (3S)*
4C (4S) P (P)
5C (X)** XX (P)
P (5S) X

*old-fashioned limit raise
**hesitation, betraying uncertainty

I knew that 5C wasn't going to fare well. At matchpoints, there can't be much difference between the result of 5CX and 5CXX, so I confidently pulled the XX card to entice my RHO to rethink his action. When he pulled to 5S, I doubled to make sure my partner knew to put the brakes on, and we happily collected all the matchpoints when declarer can only find ten tricks.

Friendly Defense Inspires Rap Tribute

Yesterday I was playing in a pair game with my new friend Max from Salt Lake City. We've been having a ball at the Eugene Regional, though playing in a regional directly following the summer NABC has been an adventure. I had to struggle to maintain my composure yesterday when the following play happened.

Playing matchpoints, I dealt and opened with 1H. The auction proceeded:
1H (1S) X (4s)
5C (P) P (P)

Dummy hit with:
A J8 AJ9865 Q984

I held:
4 K9532 74 AKJ65

I won the spade lead and drew two rounds of trump, ending on dummy. I'm fairly confident the hearts are offside on this auction, so I think my best bet is to try and throw my LHO in with a diamond. I lead the 5 from the table, and it goes 3 - 4 - 2.

AWESOME. Thanks to my RHO ducking from KQT3, I'm home free for all of the matchpoints. I was amused, and sent the story to my buddy Greg, who put it to a beat. I was going to post it, then I realized the lyrics are a little too explicit for this family friendly website. But anyway there's a rap song out there now about this little play. Maybe I'll make the lyrics available on my Facebook page... :)