A Very Expensive Board

Pages: Page 5 of 5

Dealer: East
Vuln: N-S
Scoring: IMPs
  1. spade7
  2. heartA K 6
  3. diamondA K Q 10
  4. clubA Q J 10 8
  1. spade9 4 2
  2. heart8 7 5
  3. diamondJ 9 7 3 2
  4. club9 4
club diamond heart spade NT
N 7 6 7 3 7
S 7 6 7 3 7
E - - - - -
W - - - - -
Green square in centre
  1. spadeQ J 10 6 5 3
  2. heart9 4 2
  3. diamond8
  4. club6 3 2

Contract: 4spadex
Declarer: East
Lead: spadeA
  1. spadeA K 8
  2. heartQ J 10 3
  3. diamond6 5 4
  4. clubK 7 5
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
2spade* Pass
3NT Dble Pass Pass
4spade Dble Pass Pass
Pass

* weak

. . . and indeed you have. When partner continues with king and another spade the defence will extract their maximum possble number of tricks, but 1400 is still a long way short of a guaranteed 2220. Even had you bid 4spade originally, how is South supposed to react? A jump to 6NT or even 6heart is plausible, but North will need courage to bid one for the road.

Apparently in my county's match both opposition pairs bid 7NT with our pairs gleaning 1400 and 1470. A very expensive board with the way the Tollemache is scored - cross-IMPing with both opposition pairs!
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