Doppelgangers

After our lucky slam hand, Roxie and I are having a good game with a bit of luck. But it’s always nice when you earn your good boards. I pick up S: Qxx H: AKT D: Jxx C: Q9xx in 2nd seat with both vulnerable. The auction is three passes to my partner, who opens 1 Diamond. RHO bids 1 Spade and I bid a slightly pushy 2 NoTrump. (Yes, I have 11 points, but my spade stopper is tenuous and I’m flat. Still, I think the field will bid it, so I bid it). Roxie raises to 3NT

LHO leads the spade 5 and I get the following dummy.

Dummy — S: Jx H: 9xx D: AKQ8x C: Axx

Spade 5 led

My Hand — S: Qxx H: AKT D: Jxx C: Q9xx

RHO wins the spade ace, cashes the spade king and then leads then Ten (LHO following throughout), which I win and … after some thought … pitch a club from dummy. I have nine tricks, but ten would be better. I play a diamond to the king and then back to the jack (so that I can pick up a 4-1 break if RHO has the stiff T or 9), but diamonds break 3-2, so I finish the diamonds. LHO’s first pitch is the club 7, which I ask and am told is “Odd/Even first discard” (Odd card encourages, even discourages)¹. I believe LHO, so the club king is behind me. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to void themselves in clubs, so I finish off the diamonds. LHO surprises me by pitching a fourth spade (RHO overcalled on a four card suit, vulnerable), but that makes it even more likely she’s in trouble. I play the heart ace king and small. LHO wins the queen.

Dummy C: Ax

C: KJ

Hand C: Qx

LHO leads the clubs jack, but I let it ride around to my queen. I’ve taken a spade, two hearts, five diamonds, and two clubs. 3N making would be a slightly above average 10.5, but making the overtrick is worth 16 matchpoints.

The technical name for what I did was a “Strip and Endplay” running a suit to force an opponent to discard a winner (in this case, a spade, but a fourth heart would have also been a winner) and then putting the opponent in and forcing her to lead away from an honor.²

A round later I pick up S: JTx H: Kxx D: K8x C: A983. This time nobody is vulnerable and Roxie is in second seat. Roxie again opens 1 Diamond, RHO overcalls 1 Heart and I bid 2 NoTrump. This seems vaguely familiar, but this time Roxie has nothing extra and passes. LHO leads a heart and I see.

Dummy — S: AQ87 H: Tx D: AQT9x C: Tx

Heart 7 led

My Hand — S: JTx H: Kxx D: K8x C: A983

RHO wins the ace and then plays the queen. This RHO won’t have overcalled a four card suit, of that I’m sure. Normally it would be right to duck this trick to cut communications between the defenders in the heart suit, but if I take the finesse and it looses RHO will cash his hearts, none needed. So I win, keeping the 3rd heart for a potential endplay.

The diamonds aren’t quite as good but again as per technique I play a diamond to the ace and a diamond back to the king, so that I can pick a 4-1 split. LHO does indeed have four to the jack and RHO pitches the five of spades.

I ask, and they are also playing Odd/Even, so now I know the spade king is offside. (RHO could of course be lying, but he’s pretty much a by-the-book player and I suspect mentoring LHO, so I take him at his word). This one isn’t quite the lock, but against that I feel the play has no risk, so I do the strip and endplay again. I run the diamonds, then lead a club to RHO’s queen and my ace, then I lead a heart.

RHO cashes two more hearts and the club king, then concedes the rest, flashing his hand

Dummy S: AQ

[-] RHO S: Kx

At this point he has to lead into dummy’s AQ. This time the Strip and endplay doesn’t earn me a co-top, but making two would be worth 7.5 and making the overtrick is worth 14.

I’m tickled pink in those doppelgangers. Strip and Endplays don’t happen every day. I take some pride in earning our 1st place and not just relying on lucky slam hands and mistakes.

1. Danny Kleinman — in his Chthonic persona — rails against these systems because sometimes you never have the right card, and so you get some “hesitation signaling” and I’ve tried them and found that while they are easy when they work, but they are too “emphatic.” Sometimes you just want to discard a card without saying too much. ︎
2. It would — of course — have been very embarrassing if I’d misread the situation and RHO won the heart queen and then cashed the fourth heart and the spade, and I’d lose the club ace. Obviously at total points I’d have never risked the contract for the overtrick, but at matchpoints you sometimes do that and in any case, given the opponents comportment, I felt the endplay was highly likely to work. ︎