Don't get fancy

I played bridge at the club last night. I usually only play live bridge a couple of times each month. During the week, it's so convenient to play online, and on the weekend, I'm often playing poker.

The second round, I held:
♠Q 10 ♥A 7 5 4 ♦10 4 3 ♣K Q 10 7.

No one was vulnerable and my right-hand opponent opened 2♠. I passed as did LHO and partner doubled. RHO passed, and it was my turn. What would you bid? I bid 3♥. We were playing lebensohl, and so I showed some values. Also, I wasn't sure how much the ♠Q was worth. My second choice would have been 3NT (gulp) because LHO couldn't raise spades -- let's keep moves like that our little secret, okay? All in all, however, I like the 3♥ bid.

LHO now bid 3♠, and it was passed back to me. I passed, too. Bawk, bawk.

I led the ♣Q (Rusinow leads) and this is what I saw:

                Dummy
                ♠ A 3
                ♥ 9 8 6 3
                ♦ A Q J 2
                ♣ 6 5 2
MOJO
♠ Q 10
♥ A 7 5 4
♦ 10 4 3
♣ K Q 10 7

I immediately thought aha! When declarer plays a spade towards the ace, I can drop the ♠Q. Now, if South had ♠K J 9 x x x, he will lead another and finesse by playing the 9, and I'll win a spade trick. If I play the 10 the first time, he might figure out to drop my other honor.

Jonathan Weinstein has a new bridge blog called JLW's Bridge Blog, and so far, it looks pretty good. He posted a nice piece in which he discussed making a falsecard when holding the K-10 doubleton. In the comments, some of us mentioned doing the same thing with Q-10. You can read what he wrote here.

Is this my chance to be a hero? Should I go for the newspaper play?

Partner overtook with the ♣A and returned the 3. Declarer played the 9 and I won my 10. I cashed the ♣K and partner discarded the ♦8, upside down count and attitude.

I followed partner's suggested defense and played a fourth round of clubs. Declarer discarded a heart from dummy and partner ruffed with the ♠4 and returned the ♥K, declarer dropping the jack. Another heart was ruffed by South, and he led a spade to the ace. There was no point playing the ♠Q now because there are only two more spades left and the K-J will pick them up.

South led another spade, and, after some thought, he played the ♠K, dropping my queen. He took a diamond finesse which lost and claimed down two for plus 100 our way. Here are all four hands:

                ♠ A 3
                ♥ 9 8 6 3
                ♦ A Q J 2
                ♣ 6 5 2
♠ Q 10                         ♠ 9 8 4
♥ A 7 5 4                      ♥ K Q 10 2
♦ 10 4 3                       ♦ K 9 8 7
♣ K Q 10 7                     ♣ A 3
                ♠ K J 7 6 5 2
                ♥ J
                ♦ 6 5
                ♣ J 9 8 4

Notice that playing the ♠Q would have been a disaster. Declarer did not have the 9, so he had no losing option. Sometimes we want to make the fancy play when a less-than-fancy play would work just fine. I'm just sayin'.

There were nine tables in play and 8 was top on a board. Plus 100 was worth 4.5. If I doubled, we would have scored 7 instead. I can't deny my chickenhood. My conservative bidding cost us 2.5 matchpoints. One pair bid and made 4♥ our way. Deep Finesse says, however, that you can only make three. DF doesn't lie.