Wernher Qualification Adventures

Yesterday, Sean and I managed to qualify for the Wernher Open Pairs finals. The evening session was overall one of the worst sessions of bridge I have played in awhile but we were dealt about a 66% game so were okay to survive. However I did play one hand well, good for 21.5 out of 25. RHO opened 1C, I overcalled 1NT, and we staymaned to 4S. Really, though, getting to 4S and avoiding the singleton spade lead was the good part. I had already gone down on a cold contract by trying to beer and this time I wasn’t going to be deluded into taking an inferior line of play to possibly beer.

Dealer: N Vul: Both	North ♠ 5 ♥ JT84 ♦ Q954 ♣ JT97
West ♠ 9642 ♥ AK5 ♦ 63 ♣ AK64		East ♠ QT73 ♥ 73 ♦ AKJ87 ♣ 52
	South ♠ AKJ8 ♥ Q962 ♦ T2 ♣ Q83

North dutifully led the J of clubs and the play proceeded, club AK, club ruff, diamond AK, heart AK, heart ruff, diamond. South has no counter to this. if he doesn’t ruff, I ruff low, then ruff a club with the 10 and my 9 will score a trump trick at the end. If he ruffs with the 8, I overruff and do the same thing. If he ruffs with the J, I discard my club and he can only take his two top trumps. It’s kind of an interesting position. A trump lead allows the defense to play 4 rounds of trumps and make it a notrump contract, which has virtually no chance to make besides the pseudo-squeeze possibilities. But who would really lead the stiff trump on this auction?