22nd June 2016

Pachabo (IMPs/Point a board) N/S Vul Dealer South (board rotated for convenience)


S AQ10543
H AJ6
D K8
C J3
   


   
S KJ987
H Q32
D Q93
C K2


South
West
North
East
1S Double
2NT (1)
Pass
3S Pass
4D (2) Pass
4S (3) Pass
Pass
Pass

(1) Sound raise to three spades or more
(2) Slam try, control in diamonds, no club control
(3) No interest in slam

West leads the club six to East's ace and the five of clubs is returned.
You clearly have ten tricks, but part of the Pachabo scoring is point a board, so making the overtrick is important.  How do you play?

This deal is from the Pachabo Cup competition which is the inter county teams of four competition for the championship winning team from each EBU county.  Manchester's team had qualified by winning the Goldstone Trophy and were here playing a strong Leicester team in a four board match.

Solution and analysis

For his double, West is marked with the diamond ace and the heart king, so draw trumps and lead a diamond towards the king.  West cannot afford to take this, so when the king wins return to hand with a trump and lead a heart to the jack.  Now run all the trumps to squeeze West without the count.

The end position, with West to discard is


S

   

H
A6
   
    D 8
   
    C
   
S

    S

H
K10
    H

D
A
    D
J
C
Q
    C
98
    S

   
    H
Q3
   
    D
Q
   
    C

   
If West discards a club, then a diamond forces him to lead a heart, if he lets a heart go, then South gets two heart tricks.  In practice West threw the diamond ace, in the slight hope that his partner had the diamond queen, South now made a heart and a diamond trick.

In the other room South made eleven tricks when East returned the diamond jack at trick two and South finessed the diamond nine later to get a heart discard.
Remarkably all four boards in this match were tied.