Posted 10:27 PM by Floyd

The Giants have played three games in Pac Bell Park. I have played three games at the Palo Alto bridge club. Tuesday afternoon I played with my friend Eric and finished second. Last night I played with my wife and we finished second. Today I played again with Eric, and this time we won.

You'll remember Eric from my post on watching a Giants playoff game. Before the game, I asked Eric if he had watched last night's game. He said he had to skip a few innings for health reasons.

Here's a simple problem from today's game. Scoring is matchpoints, no one is vulnerable, and you are third to speak with:

Q85 95 AQ932 Q76.

Your partner opens 1N, which you play as 12 to 14. RHO passes, you pass, and LHO reopens with 2. Partner and RHO pass. Double would be penalty, so you try 3. This runs around to RHO, who competes with 3. Now what?

It's not clear that you can beat 3. But at matchpoints, you must still double! Your side has 22 to 24 of the 40 high card points, so you know it is probably your hand for a plus score. If 3 is going down two, it is essential to double -- the undoubled score is only +100, which is less than +110 or +120 available from your partial.

You double and all pass. Partner leads a small diamond and the following dummy appears:

K4 AQ J75 JT9832.

You win the ace of diamonds and LHO follows small. Your partner's lead is consistent with three or four diamonds. What now?

You must return a trump. It's likely that declarer will want to ruff spades, and it's also important to take entries off the table before clubs can be established (though this is much less likely).

At the table I doubled and led a trump back at trick two. Declarer lost three spades, a heart (partner had Kxx), a diamond and a club for +300 and a top for us.