Playing matchpoints at a sectional I pick up S: ATxxx H: — D: 98xxx C: Jxx.
I’m second seat and NV vs NV, and RHO is thinking. I expect a 1 Heart opener, should I bid 2 Hearts (showing spades and a minor?). I have the right shape, but partner would expect more (granted not much more). More importantly, if we get outgunned I’ll have given away the show. I could also just bid 1 Spade over 1 Heart… in my gut, I decide I’m just too weak.
As expected, RHO opens 1 Heart and I pass smoothly. LHO justifies my decision by bidding 1 Spade. Partner passes and RHO bids 2 Spades. Wonderful! I pass and LHO grabs a stack of bidding cards and bids Six Hearts which goes pass-pass to me. I’m disappointed this isn’t some number of spades.
But wait. I know what must be the exact spade distribution. LHO had at least four spades. Partner could have doubles six hearts for a spade lead if she was void, so she has one. RHO raised spades, but raising on three (particularly something like Kxx) is fairly frequent.
So, spades are four to my left, one for partner, three to my right (and five for me).
Given that, I have a set. So I should double.
But that only gains 50 points. I’m probably already getting a top because other people will bid my hand and not discover the spade layout, and the field may also stop in game. Still, this a) seems like a totally solid deduction and b) allows me to show off. Finally, c) if slam somehow makes then we may be getting a zero in any case.
Double it is, and that ends the auction.
I lead the spade ace and the play is swift and — as expected — brutal. But not in the expected way, because dummy puts down
S: — H: JTxxxxx D:AQxx C:Ax
Dummy psyched the 1 Spade response to prevent a spade sacrifice against 6 hearts. The first real psych I’ve seen in the wild in years … and boy did it pay off.
Six hearts doubled making seven for an absolute bottom.
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