Column 7B75 (10-27-85) by Richard Pavlicek

Fateful Deal Decides Match

Our teammates held the East-West cards on the bidding shown. After South’s takeout double, West jumped to three diamonds as a preemptive raise and North entered the auction with a responsive double — a modern gadget which shows equal support for the unbid suits (especially the majors). East jumped to five diamonds to continue the defensive barrage, and South took a stab at six hearts. West doubled, not just because he held five trumps, but his partner had opened the bidding and usually would provide a trick or two.

6 x by South

None Vul	9 6 5 4 Q J 7 3 A J 9 6 4
10 10 8 6 5 4 10 8 6 3 2 J 5		Q J 8 3 2 — K Q 9 7 5 4 K 3
Lead: 3	A K 7 A K 9 2 — A Q 10 8 7 2

West Pass 3 Dbl

North Pass Dbl All Pass

East 1 5

South Dbl 6

Despite the five-zero trump break, the contract could not be defeated. West led a diamond and South chose to ruff in hand (retaining dummy’s ace). Four rounds of trumps were led (South discarding a spade) to exhaust the suit except for West’s long trump, then the club queen was finessed. When this held and the clubs divided two-two, declarer continued to lead good clubs until West chose to ruff with his only trick. Making six hearts doubled gave the opposing team a fantastic score of +1210.

In the other room I held the North cards and my partner, Bill Root, of Boca Raton was South. East opened one diamond and South doubled, but our West opponent made an incredible leap to five diamonds.

This bold bid (“insane” might be a better description) was devastating. There was no way to discover our heart fit, and we elected to double five diamonds for a sure profit of +300 rather than speculate on six clubs (which makes).

The net result of this deal was a loss of 14 IMPs and we lost the 64-deal match by just 10 IMPs. It still hurts when I think about it.