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The jolly old fellow reminded me that while the auctions varied slightly, 3♠ from the South side was a common contract. Per Santa, the lead was a high heart (the King in this case) followed by a shift to the ♣8, 3, 2, 10. Santa asked if I recalled my plan as declarer.
I shrugged, noting it had been a while. Santa advised “this is not the naughty or nice test, just try to give it a go,” so I did. The ♣8 could very well be a singleton, I supposed, so I believe I risked playing a spade to dummy’s Queen. Santa reassured me that the spades were 3-2, West following with the 9, East playing low. That made my plan a bit easier. In addition to the ♥K, I was likely to lose a spade (unless the king was doubleton) and a diamond, so my real problem was getting rid of some heart losers.
I decided to cash the ♠A next, Santa advising that the King did not fall. I proudly announced I would come to my hand in clubs in order to ruff two hearts. It did not matter if LHO ruffed with his trump King at some point, as I could always claim my contract, losing the ♥K, the ♠K, plus a high diamond and another heart at the end.
Santa gave me a rather sarcastic double clap and mentioned “at least you beat some of your cohorts who managed only eight tricks. Your score was above average (67% in the common game), but you gave yourself no possible chance for an overtrick. This is matchpoints, dude, and Ho Ho Hovertricks mean everything in this game.”
Santa continued: “When I played this board at North Penn, my score was +170 and…”
I immediately interrupted. “You played at North Penn? I didn’t see you there!” Santa laughed, replying: “Oh, yes you did. In the off-season, I wear jeans and a casual shirt, my beard is fully trimmed, and so is my belly. Ozempic works wonders, you know. And of course my ACBL registration is the name on my birth certificate, not Santa Claus.” I was dumbfounded.
Santa persisted: “Let’s go back to trick three. After the high heart, you won the club switch in your hand, but your next play was critical. It was time to Ho Ho Hopen up the diamond airway to enable yourself to ruff diamonds in hand.
“You were focused on drawing two rounds of trumps and ruffing hearts. You could do so easily because the opponents had opened up the heart airway at trick one. Not many bridge players would even consider the importance of playing the singleton ♦Q right away, but not only does it allow greater flexibility in your line of play, it cuts off the opponents’ transportation. You are in charge - and it’s the only play that allows you to take ten tricks against best defense.”
I had to admit playing my stiff diamond at trick three did not occur to me. I was too concerned about a possible club ruff. Santa pointed out that if West held K109, K10x, or K9x and did ruff a club, he would be ruffing with a natural trump winner.
Just then, coming right down Santa Claus Lane was the full diagram for my view; I was about to hear Santa’s story. You can follow his line of play by clicking here and continuing to click the “Next” button.
“As the cards lay,” boomed Santa, “I was going to collect ten tricks no matter what the defenders tried. At trick three, my ♦Q went to East’s Ace and a club did come back. I took it with my Ace, West following. I next played a spade to the Queen, winning, and ruffed a diamond back to my hand. Then came a spade to the Ace and another diamond ruff, West following with the ♦K.”
Santa informed me that “West’s hand was now an open book: he must have started with ♠K109 and ♥AK-5th, and he had played three diamonds and two clubs. Thus, my LHO’s remaining cards were clearly the ♠K and ♥Axxx or AJxx.” Here was the position with Santa on lead having lost just two tricks:
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