A void: Don't leave home without one

I played at the club last night and held:
♠K 10 7 5 2 ♥K Q 10 9 5 3 ♦7 6 ♣ ---.

Partner opened 1♦ and right-hand opponent overcalled 1♠. What would you do? In the discussion later, I found that some players bid 2♥. While I don't think that's awful, I prefer a negative double. I'm old and conservative a cautious bidder on possible misfit hands. Just sayin'.

Next, LHO bid 2♣, partner rebid 2♦, and RHO raised to 3♣. Now what?

I bid 3♥. If you bid 2♥ the first time, you're going to have to rebid 3♥ anyway, but by bidding as I have, partner won't play me for the world's fair.

It was passed out in 3♥ and LHO led the ♣K (low cards are approximate):

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

I ruffed the opening lead, ruffed a spade in dummy, ruffed a club and ruffed a second spade. I ruffed a third club back to my hand, and then drew trumps. I was out of trumps and these were the cards I was looking at:

                ♠ ---
                ♥ ---
                ♦ A Q J
                ♣ 10 9
==
                ♠ K 10 7
                ♥ ---
                ♦ 7 6
                ♣ ---

I led a diamond to the ♦J and RHO showed out! I exited with a club and RHO played the ♣Q and LHO played the ♣A. Lefty had nothing but diamonds, so he returned one. I took the marked finesse and claimed. Dummy was good -- making six!

Here's the complete deal:

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

"Making six?" asked my partner. When they say it like that, you wonder if they were thinking it should have been bid. The answer is that it made, but according to Deep Finesse, a different defense would set 4♥. Nevertheless, I agree that a score of plus 230 is a funky-looking number. We did score a 6 on an 8 top; the two scores that beat my plus 230 were a 250 and a 300 (when the opponents bid too much).

North had a void, East had a void and I had a void. West must have surely felt left out!

Here's the deal presented in the BBO Handviewer:



Click next to review the play trick by trick.