Being evaluated

My first week in Seattle, I went to a bridge club that promised partners and ended up playing with someone who showed up without a partner.  The pickup partner was a very pleasant person, but not a great player. The game itself was also very uneven with lots of poor players. Norman Bridge Club, the club that could, has spoiled me, so I decided to look for another club.

Mercercrest was recommended on BridgeWinners and sure enough, when I asked whether I could play, I got a better response.  One of the rotating directors offered to play with me to see who I would best match with later.

Playing with an obviously better player, the first board of the evening has me opening 1C in 3rd seat with ♠543 ♥J63 ♦85 ♣AKQ85.   LHO bids 1H, partner bids 1S, RHO doubles and they end up in 3D.

Partner leads the Ace of spades. Dummy comes down with ♠QT8 ♥QT ♦KT932 ♣T62.  Seeing the queen in dummy, partner switches to the 3 of clubs.  Under your Queen of clubs, declarer drops the Jack.  What do you play next?

The Jack, I decided, could be a false card since declarer was protected by the 10 of clubs in dummy, so I attempted to cash one more club.  Disaster, as declarer proceeded to discard his spade on his good hearts.  The hand was:

	♠543 ♥J63 ♦85 ♣AKQ85
♠QT8 ♥QT ♦KT932 ♣T62		♠972 ♥AK987 ♦AQJ4 ♣J
	♠AKJ6 ♥542 ♦76 ♣9743

Needless to say, trying to cash the Ace of clubs was a boneheaded move.  I simply needed to lead a spade to allow partner to cash her spade.  My Queen of clubs was clear, and so partner knows to lead back a club. Declarer's hearts are not going away if partner has a winner in that suit, but if declarer's hearts are solid, dummy's spades will vanish.

A few more such boards and I was thinking that things were not going well.  The partner I was going to be matched up with next time was probably going to be as poor a player I was being this evening. Towards the second half of the evening, though, I finally found my footing. This was the last board of the evening.

I was declarer on this deal:

	♠K9 ♥AJ ♦T7 ♣AKJT973
♠T764 ♥T874 ♦AQ96 ♣8		♠AJ53 ♥Q5 ♦KJ542 ♣62
	♠Q82 ♥K9632 ♦83 ♣Q54

I had the North hand.  What would you open?

Most of the field opened 1C and played in 3C or 4C, making 4.  I opened it 2C (4 losers) and played it in 5C.  I got a trump lead.  Plan the play.

Most of the field took the losing heart finesse or mismanaged entries and made only four on the layout.

I decided that the key was to discard diamonds on dummy's hearts.  And if hearts are 4-2, you need two dummy entries. So carefully save the 3 of clubs.  Take the first trick with the 9 of clubs and play two rounds of hearts ending up in dummy. Ruff a heart with the Ace of clubs, and be happy that the hearts do not break 3-3. Play a club (not the 3) to the Queen and ruff the fourth heart high. Finally, play the 3 of clubs to the 4, and discard a diamond on the fifth heart.  Finally, lead a spade to the king.  It loses, but you have your 11 tricks for a top.  The nice, flashy declarer play won't hurt your case.