Why don't you try the phantom ruffing finesse?

Here's yet another exhibition of poor bridge, where I attempt to throw away the contract twice, then refuse the opportunity to go only one off, only to be saved by an amusing mis-defence and a lie of the cards which is not only lucky but completely inconsistent with the bidding ...

It's the quarter final of the Portland Bowl. Our Trinity team are playing against a strong Durham A side, and after 24 boards we are 12 IMPs down. But the first two boards of the last set have gone well at our table (+200 on a part score board, and then making 6) so things should be fairly close at the start of this board:

	K J 9 7 A K J 5 3 2 A K 5
E-W Vul	A 10 8 10 9 7 3 J 9 5 7 3 2

I am sitting South, and we perpetrate the following auction:

West 1 1 Pass

David H North Dbl 3 4

East Pass Pass All Pass

David C South 1 3

You will notice that my partner has seriously overbid his hand. Fortunately I have also seriously underbid mine, and we seem to have ended up in a respectable contract. Against 4, West leads the queen of diamonds, which holds, and switches to a small trump.

Now, at this point, I spent ages trying to decide whether to play the ace or the jack from dummy. If East has the queen of hearts, then all four spade tricks will be needed, and a diamond must also be ruffed in dummy. It shouldn't be too hard to pick up the spades, playing West for the queen as he has bid the suit. But there may be complications if East has four trumps. It seems that the best play at trick two is the jack of hearts from dummy. If East wins with the queen then we plan to use the ace of spades as an entry to ruff the diamond (high) and then draw trumps ending in hand so that we can take the spade finesse. On the other hand if East ducks the heart, we can play off the two top trumps and then turn to spades (again playing West for the Q), intending to discard a club from hand. The defenders will only be able to take two diamonds and the queen of hearts.

Of course, that's not what happened at the table. The mental effort of deciding which honour to play from dummy was too much for me, and instead I played small. East won with the queen and played back a diamond, West ousting my nine with the ace. Cashing a top trump in dummy revealed that East started with four, and so I have indeed butchered the contract at trick two: if I try to take a diamond ruff there will be no way back to my hand to draw trumps.

Is there still a chance? Yes, on the bidding East is likely to have precisely two spades, and if one of these is the queen then I can get two spade entries to hand by taking the finesse through him. It's not much of a chance because West's free bid of 1 strongly suggests that he has at least four to an honour. But still, it is a legitimate play for the contract.

But even this chance was wasted on me, as I played the jack of spades to the ace and then ran the ten (which held). And now, for some reason (trying to go two off), I decided that it was about time I ruffed my jack of diamonds.

	K 9 K J - A K 5
	8 10 9 J 7 3 2

So the jack of diamonds is played from hand, and West contributes the four. Yes, the four of diamonds. Now, hang on a minute. West led the queen of diamonds and then won a trick with the ace. Doesn't that mean he ought to have the king as well? All thoughts of ruffing the jack of diamonds are abandoned, and instead a club is pitched from dummy. East follows small, and the jack of diamonds has won the trick!

Making a trick from J-9-x opposite x-x is something of a surprise, so it's time to reconsider whether there's any chance of making this contract. Well, no, there isn't really, because if West started with four spades I can't play them without East ruffing, whereas if I draw trumps then I'm stuck in dummy and have to lose a spade trick.

What are the chances of West having bid 1 with only Q-x-x? Pretty slim, you might have thought, but obviously he hasn't been given the nickname "Psychic" for nothing ... My spade lead holds the trick, and I cash the rest in dummy.

	K J 9 7 A K J 5 3 2 A K 5
Q 4 2 4 A K Q 4 Q J 8 6 4		6 5 3 Q 8 6 2 10 8 7 6 10 9
	A 10 8 10 9 7 3 J 9 5 7 3 2

So that's another 7 IMPs in, our opponents are totally demoralised, and we go on to win the set 44-0 (the only minus on our card was a -2220, but thanks to Toby and Teymur that was a flat board!), which is more than enough to reach the semi-final.