Column Collection 7C01 by Richard Pavlicek

Bridge Columns (1986-87)

You should find a lot of instructive reading — each article is like a bridge lesson — as well as some occasional bits of bridge history and humor. I hope you enjoy them. But don’t wait for the movie!

Plan Before Playing

1. 4 by South

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

West All Pass

North 1 NT

East Pass

South 4

Against the routine four-spade contract, West led the heart jack and dummy’s queen was captured by the ace. The appearance of three small diamonds in dummy inspired East to return that suit and he selected the nine, which was covered by the 10 and queen. The lead of a high card on defense suggests weakness in that suit, so West alertly returned a club. Declarer now paused to consider his alternatives, but it was too late. There was no way home from this point, and in fact declarer went down two when he tried the club finesse and another diamond was returned.

The defense was excellent, but it could have been foreseen if declarer had done his planning at trick one. Without the early diamond lead from East declarer’s chances would be much brighter, and this could be prevented by ducking the opening lead to allow West to win the heart jack. (If East overtakes with the ace, he will give declarer his contract by setting up two heart winners.) Declarer is now in the driver’s seat, and the contract is virtually assured with proper technique. Follow the play:

West does best to shift to a club, taken by the ace; then the heart king is led to ruff out the ace. A spade is led to dummy’s jack and the heart queen is cashed to discard a club. Declarer continues with a club ruff; spade to the nine; club ruff; and a spade to the ace. This leaves dummy on lead with one trump and three diamonds remaining in each hand. A diamond is led to the ten (or the king if East plays the jack) and West is endplayed when he wins the trick. Any return gives declarer his contract.

The Splinter Bid

The organization required to run this is mind boggling; but the World Bridge Federation is confident of a complete success. Special booklets which analyze the deals have been printed for all the players. Local participating clubs include the Ft. Lauderdale Bridge Club, Tamarac Bridge Club and Pompano Beach Bridge Club. Anyone can play.

Today’s deal illustrates a modern bidding gadget, the splinter bid. North’s jump to four diamonds, by prior agreement, showed a singleton or void (a “splinter”) in diamonds and the strength for a normal jump raise in spades. Observe that three diamonds would be a jump shift response, so a bid of four is scarcely needed as a natural bid.

2. 6 by South

E-W Vul	K J 9 2 A 10 8 3 3 Q J 7 2
6 4 9 7 4 K J 9 7 A 10 6 5		Q Q J 6 5 Q 10 5 4 K 9 8 4
Lead: 4	A 10 8 7 5 3 K 2 A 8 6 2 3

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 4 5

East Pass Pass

South 1 4 NT 6

The effect of a splinter bid is that partner can better evaluate his hand with regard to slam prospects. South could picture his line of play at once — his diamond losers could be ruffed in dummy and partner’s high cards should account for no more than one loser in the other suits — hence, the immediate Blackwood four-notrump bid. When North showed one ace, South confidently bid the slam. Six spades is an excellent contract despite only 23 combined high-card points; and three of those points (Q-J of clubs) are unnecessary.

The play was as predicted. West found the best lead of a trump and East’s queen was captured by the ace. Declarer went about his ruffing chores: diamond ace; diamond ruff; heart ace; heart king; diamond ruff; heart ruff; diamond ruff; etc. Only mild care was required to avoid a heart overruff by West.

Sound Technique

To appreciate the enormity of this total, consider that a victory in a typical club game is worth less than one full masterpoint, and a victory in the highest rated national championship is worth 150 masterpoints. To attain the rank of Life Master, the highest player classification in the A.C.B.L., a player must win 300 masterpoints. Ten thousand is something else!

Passell was South on today’s deal which occurred last February in the Mexican Nationals in Acapulco. After his hefty one-spade opening, the nonvulnerable opponents put up a smoke screen in clubs in an attempt to steal the contract. When South doubled, North retreated to five spades — a questionable action, giving up a bird in the hand (+500 for down three) in the hopes of making a vulnerable five spades (+650). But North was vindicated by Passell’s accurate play.

3. 5 by South

N-S Vul	9 7 4 A 9 8 6 9 6 5 3 8 2
8 6 3 Q 5 10 4 A K 10 7 6 5		J 10 7 4 2 Q J 7 2 Q J 9 4
Lead: K	A K Q 10 5 2 K J 3 A K 8 3

West 3 Pass

North Pass 5

East 5 All Pass

South 1 Dbl

South ruffed the second club lead and drew three rounds of trumps ending in dummy. Not privileged to seeing all four hands, declarer continued with a low heart to the jack. This was not a success as West won the queen and continued with another club.

It now looked as if declarer would fail since the heart suit does not come home to provide a discard for South’s diamond loser. But wait. Before testing the hearts South led his last trump — a routine play for an expert, but frequently overlooked by the average player. East could not bear the pressure; he was the helpless victim of a squeeze. Whichever red suit he discarded gave declarer his 11th trick.

Good Card Reading

Levee was South on today’s deal and opened one spade. Brier, North, responded one notrump which was forcing for one round — a popular treatment used in conjunction with five-card majors. The two-club rebid on a three-card suit was dictated by the system, and North’s jump to three spades showed 11 or 12 points with three-card trump support. South could have passed this, but she liked her hand and carried on to game.

4. 4 by South

Both Vul	K 10 4 A K J 7 J 5 2 6 5 3
9 5 10 6 2 Q 7 6 Q J 9 8 7		J 8 7 Q 5 4 3 A K 10 4 4 2
Lead: 6	A Q 6 3 2 9 8 9 8 3 A K 10

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 NT 3

East Pass Pass Pass

South 1 2 4

Four spades appears to be doomed as the cards lie, but Levee brought it home with some good card reading. West shunned the lead of the club queen because of South’s two-club bid and chose instead the heart six. From declarer’s point of view this could not be a fourth-best lead, and a glance at the opponent’s convention card (an explanation of partnership agreements which is required at all tournaments) showed that they used a leading method known as “M-U-D.” This stands for “middle-up-down,” which means that the middle card is led from three small cards. (This allows the leader the option of next playing the higher card to distinguish between three small cards and a doubleton.)

On this reasoning declarer felt sure the heart finesse would fail, and her best chance was that West had led from three hearts including the 10. Accordingly, she won the heart king and drew two rounds of trumps with the ace and queen. A heart was led to the ace, then the jack was returned: queen; ruff; 10. Dummy’s heart seven was now established as declarer’s 10th trick.

Greed Pays Off

The tournament player must show no sympathy toward his opponents and look for every opportunity to seize an advantage in the bidding and play. As declarer his goal is not really to make the contract, but to win more tricks than other declarers will win holding the same cards. How this is accomplished does not matter — the numbers on the score slip do not tell stories.

Today’s deal from the recent Epson World Simultaneous Pairs is a good example of declarer’s greed. Against the routine three-notrump contract West led the diamond six, ducked to East’s king. A heart was returned and declarer successfully finessed the queen.

5. 3 NT by South

N-S Vul	K 3 2 7 6 A J 8 Q 9 7 3 2
10 8 9 4 2 Q 10 7 6 2 J 10 4		A 7 6 5 K 10 5 3 K 5 3 8 6
Lead: 6	Q J 9 4 A Q J 8 9 4 A K 5

West Pass Pass

North Pass 3 NT

East Pass All Pass

South 1 NT

Instead of asking himself, “How can I guarantee my contract?” a good tournament player would think, “The clubs will probably run for five tricks; I can rake in three heart tricks with another finesse; and the diamond finesse should work for two tricks. If I could sneak a spade through, that would bring the total to 11; then I could run all my tricks and try to squeeze somebody. This way I might win 12 tricks for a top board.”

Accordingly, our greedy declarer led a sneaky jack of spades at trick three and played low from dummy. East could have and probably should have won this; but he did not realize the danger and ducked. Good-bye! Declarer cashed the ace-king of clubs, finessed the jack of diamonds, and ran all the remaining winners in dummy. South’s last three cards were the A-J-8 in hearts, and East was forced to throw a heart to keep the spade ace. Finally, the heart finesse gave declarer the rest of the tricks.

That’s how tournaments are won.

Restricted Choice

The first three bids were routine, then South improvised a three-club bid to explore further. (Any new suit bid after a raise is forcing.) This allowed North to express that he liked his hand by jumping to game — the Q-J-10 of clubs took on greater value after South bid the suit. Now it was up to South. He liked his diamond holding, the fifth spade, the abundance of aces, and even the two tens. His jump to slam showed good judgment.

6. 6 by South

Both Vul	K 7 5 4 K 3 A 9 7 2 Q J 10
Q Q 7 6 5 Q 8 6 4 K 7 4 2		J 9 3 J 9 8 2 J 10 3 8 5 3
Lead: 5	A 10 8 6 2 A 10 4 K 5 A 9 6

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 2 4

East Pass Pass Pass

South 1 3 6

Six spades is a good contract, basically requiring either a two-two spade division or a successful club finesse — roughly about 70 per cent — but this was not to be. The three-one spade break and losing club finesse appear to doom the contract; yet a knowledgeable declarer should prevail. Nothing can be done about the club finesse; but take a closer look at the spade suit. With West holding a singleton queen, declarer can avoid a loser by first winning the king and then finessing against East.

Sure, that works as the cards lie; but what if West held the queen-jack doubleton? Too bad then, but the odds favor the finesse. The little-known rule of restricted choice states, “If declarer is missing two touching cards and an opponent follows suit with one of them, the partner of that opponent is more likely to hold the other card.” The logic behind this is difficult to accept, but it works like this: If West held the queen and jack, he had a choice of plays and might have played the jack; with a singleton queen he had no choice — therefore, the latter is more likely. A similar reasoning would apply if West had played the jack on the first round.

Skeptical? A lot of people are; however, the rule has proved to be sound, both in theory and in practice.

Singleton King

7. 4 by South

Both Vul	J 6 4 2 K J 4 J 6 5 A 7 4
10 9 8 2 A 7 4 3 Q J 8 6 5		A Q 8 7 5 3 3 K 9 2 10 9 3
Lead: 10	K 9 A Q 10 7 6 5 Q 10 8 K 2

West Pass

North 4

East 2 All Pass

South 3

East’s opening bid was a weak two-bid, showing about 6 to 11 high-card points and a six-card suit. (In this popular method all strong hands are opened two clubs, which is artificial and forcing.) South overcalled in his long heart suit and North had ample values to raise to game. North thought about bidding three notrump, but J-x-x-x was a tenuous spade stopper.

The play was identical at both tables. The spade 10 was led to the ace, the return was ruffed, then West shifted to the club queen. The defenders eventually won the ace and king of diamonds to defeat the contract. The play seems cut and dried — declarer could do nothing to avoid losing two spades and two diamonds.

Wrong. Declarer might have succeeded if he had made a clever play at trick one. The lie of the spade suit should be obvious from the bidding (the 10 had to be a singleton), so the only hope was to paint a different picture for East. Under the spade ace South should drop the king. The advantage of this is not immediately clear, but it should give declarer some time to maneuver. Indeed it should!

As East would you not assume that partner had led from 10-9 doubleton? In that case leading another spade would allow declarer to obtain a discard on dummy’s jack. Undoubtedly, East would shift suits — probably to the club 10. South then wins the club king and draws three rounds of trumps ending in dummy. A low spade is led and… what would you do as East? Of course you would duck, and South wins the nine.

What’s the Game?

8. 3 NT by South

Both Vul	10 2 A K 5 4 3 K 10 A 8 6 3
K Q J Q J 10 6 Q J 8 7 9 4		8 6 5 4 3 9 2 9 5 Q J 10 7
Lead: K	A 9 7 8 7 A 6 4 3 2 K 5 2

West Pass Pass

North 1 2 3 NT

East Pass Pass All Pass

South 2 2 NT

Problem: What game can be made on this deal? Try it yourself before reading on. (Later you might use it to stump your friends who do not read this column.)

Your first guess was probably four hearts, a likely candidate with a five-two trump fit. But no, it cannot be made. There are eight easy tricks — three natural trump tricks plus the aces and kings in the side suits — and declarer can obtain a ninth trick with careful play; but the 10th trick will elude even the finest declarer. Try again.

Five diamonds? Or five clubs? Either contract seems improbable since an additional trick is required. And you’re right; five of a minor is out of the question.

Well, what’s left? You guessed it — four spades is the only makable game. In a three-two trump fit!

Assume West makes the best lead of the spade king. Win the ace and cash all of your top tricks in the side suits, ending in the North hand. Lead a heart and ruff with the spade seven (unless East ruffs with the eight, then simply overruff); ruff a diamond with the spade ten; then ruff another heart with the spade nine. The opponents are helpless to prevent this, and declarer escapes with 10 tricks — as Ripley would say, believe it or not.

Bridge can be quite perplexing. Just when you think you understand it, a deal like this comes along.

Moysian Fit

9. 4 by South

Both Vul	3 A J 2 A J 7 6 3 K 8 7 4
K Q 10 6 7 6 5 4 9 5 Q 10 2		J 9 8 5 4 8 3 Q 10 8 A J 9
Lead: K	A 7 2 K Q 10 9 K 4 2 6 5 3

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 2 3

East Pass Pass Pass

South 1 2 NT 4

After four routine bids, North’s three-heart bid showed exactly three hearts (with four he would have raised earlier). North’s previous two bids showed five diamonds and four clubs, so he was marked for a singleton spade. South correctly reasoned that a notrump contract would be difficult with the obvious spade lead, and he chose the Moysian fit.

West led the spade king and declarer quickly took advantage of dummy’s singleton: spade ace; spade ruff (with heart ace); heart to nine; spade ruff; diamond to king. The remaining trumps were drawn; but when the diamond finesse failed, declarer went down one. He still fared better than he might have at three notrump (likely down two), but he should have succeeded.

Moysian fits are delicate contracts. With only a slight superiority in trumps (seven to six) declarer must time the play carefully to keep things under control.

After winning the spade ace, declarer should immediately lead a low diamond to dummy’s jack — if the finesse wins, great; but if it loses, there is no damaging return. East wins the diamond queen and might as well return a diamond (nothing really matters). Declarer wins the diamond king, ruffs a spade with dummy’s ace, draws four rounds of trumps (throwing clubs from dummy), then runs the diamonds. Declarer makes only one spade ruff, but altogether he wins 10 tricks and his contract.

Routine Holdup

The bidding is straightforward; but notice North’s raise to two notrump with only seven high-card points, predicated of course by the potential of his five-card club suit.

10. 3 NT by South

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

West Pass All Pass

North Pass 2 NT

East Pass Pass

South 1 NT 3 NT

West leads the spade three to East’s king, and declarer faces his first obstacle. Most declarers do not win the ace because of their instinctive tendency to hold up their stopper. But this is not the time for a holdup play. First, the lead of the three suggests only a four-card suit, in which case declarer is in no danger; second, a clever East player may shift to a heart — and that is trouble. Win the ace!

The next hurdle is the choice of suits to establish. There are seven top tricks, so declarer needs to develop two more to make his contract. The diamond suit will provide the needed two tricks if the outstanding cards divide three-three, and will provide one trick with a four-two break. The club suit will provide two tricks with a three-three break, as long as declarer concedes the first round to the opponents to keep an entry to dummy. Of course a three-three break in either suit is against the odds. Which suit would you play first?

The key here is to combine your chances. By playing on clubs first, declarer can succeed if either minor suit divides evenly. Duck a club at trick two. Notice that East-West can win only four tricks (three spades and one club) before relinquishing the lead. Declarer can then test one of the minors; if it fails, he falls back on the other. Two chances are better than one.

Observe that cashing the top diamonds first is wrong. If that suit divides four-two, declarer’s only chance is to revert to clubs; but now the opponents can win five tricks — three spades, one club and one diamond.

Throw-In Play Nets Slam

11. 6 by South

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

West 2 Dbl All Pass

North 2 NT 4 NT

East Pass Pass

South 4 6

West’s opening bid was a weak two-bid (6-11 high-card points and a six-card or longer suit) and North overcalled in notrump. This caused Friedberg, South, to become ambitious. He envisioned a slam contract in spades, and his jump to four clubs was the Gerber convention to ask for aces. West doubled (a decision he would later regret) to show an honor in clubs in case his partner became the opening leader. North showed three aces, and South placed the final contract.

West chose the passive lead of the heart 10 and declarer rose with dummy’s ace — clearly, East held the heart king and the lead might have been a singleton. Two rounds of trumps were drawn with the ace and king, then a low heart was led from dummy. East was obliged to duck (else establish two heart winners) and South’s queen won. The fall of West’s nine convinced declarer that East held the remaining hearts so declarer looked elsewhere for his 12th trick.

The location of the club king was marked from West’s double, and declarer attempted to put West under discarding pressure by running all of his trumps, reducing everyone to four cards. West kept Q-10 in diamonds and K-10 in clubs; Dummy kept A-J in diamonds and A-4 in clubs.

Declarer then executed a throw-in play by winning the diamond ace and exiting with a diamond (discarding his remaining heart). West did not enjoy this trick, for he was forced to lead away from his club king and give declarer his contract.

Sound Technique Prevails in Difficult Deal

12. 4 by South

N-S Vul	K 10 8 2 6 Q J 6 5 J 8 5 4
9 6 5 K 8 7 4 7 2 K 10 9 3		Q J A J 5 3 2 K 10 9 8 7 6
Lead: 7	A 7 4 3 Q 10 9 A 4 3 A Q 2

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 2 3

East Pass Pass

South 1 NT 2 4

The bidding was straightforward, though aggressive. After South’s notrump opening (15-17 points), North gambled to use the Stayman two-club response with only 7 high-card points (normally 8 are recommended) and was rewarded when South bid spades. North invited game and South accepted with his quality 16 points.

West led the diamond seven; queen; king; ace; and declarer thought about his plan. The complexity of this deal was apparent so an exact prognosis was impossible. All declarer could do was to follow sound technique and hope for something good to happen. Dummy was entered with the spade king to lead the singleton heart toward the closed hand. East hopped with the ace (an error that will be seen later) and returned a diamond to dummy’s jack.

Declarer continued with a low club to the queen and king, and West exited safely with a trump. Declarer was pleased with the favorable trump situation, but problems still lay ahead. West’s trump was drawn with dummy’s 10, then declarer led a diamond hoping for an even break. East won and returned his last diamond which South ruffed and West discarded… hold it there… just what should West discard?

West remained with 10-9-3 in clubs and K-8 in hearts. If he threw a club, dummy’s long club would be good; if he threw a heart, a heart ruff would establish the queen. And so, a favorable yet unforeseeable ending was reached by applying sound general technique — with a little luck.

Bold Bidding Tarnished by Lackluster Play

South was an experienced bidder and his unorthodox opening was a calculated risk. Yes, it could result in disaster; but more often it would show a profit for his side. Getting in the first bid is a distinct advantage as the opponents are immediately put on the defensive.

13. 4 by South

Both Vul	9 8 3 K 7 K Q J 10 A K 9 3
K Q J 6 4 6 9 2 J 10 7 6 4		10 7 Q 9 8 5 2 A 8 5 Q 8 5
Lead: K	A 5 2 A J 10 4 3 7 6 4 3 2

West Pass

North 4

East All Pass

South 2

North routinely raised to game and West led the spade king. South quickly grabbed the ace and cashed two rounds of clubs to discard a spade. Trumps were tackled by winning the king and finessing the jack — oops, bad news when West showed out. A diamond was led to East’s ace, and two more rounds of spades allowed East to shed a diamond as South ruffed. Declarer could not avoid the further loss of two trump tricks for down one.

South mentally chalked up the result as unfortunate; the bad trump break clearly scuttled the contract. Not true. If South is going to bid like that, he had better improve his dummy play.

Declarer’s mistake came on the first trick. It was impossible to avoid one spade loser so he should have ducked the opening lead and won the second round. The holdup play is routine at notrump but often overlooked at a suit contract as a means of breaking up the enemy communication.

Declarer then proceeds as before: cash the clubs to discard a spade; heart king; heart finesse; diamond to East. The difference is that East cannot return a spade to his partner, so assume he returns a club (nothing matters) which South ruffs. Declarer leads diamonds until East ruffs, then the last two tricks are won with the A-10 of hearts over East’s Q-9 — making four hearts.

How To Bid and Declare a Slam With No Points

14. 6 by South

E-W Vul	— A K Q J 4 A K 9 8 5 A Q J
A K 10 7 5 7 6 5 J 7 9 7 3		Q J 6 2 9 8 3 Q 10 3 K 6 5
Lead: K	9 8 4 3 10 2 6 4 2 10 8 4 2

West Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

North 2 2 3 4 6

East Pass Pass Pass Pass All Pass

South 2 3 3 4

South made the negative response of two diamonds, then North showed his real suit with two hearts. South was obliged to bid again and three clubs was dictated by our methods to show a very weak hand. This is known as “cheaper minor, second negative” and it avoids the necessity of bidding notrump with a worthless hand.

North continued with three diamonds (forcing) to show his two-suiter and South offered a preference to three hearts. North’s four clubs was an ace-showing bid and South, no doubt wondering if the auction would ever end, indicated his meager support for diamonds. This inspired North to jump to six diamonds after which South wanted to crawl under the table — he had just made four bids with no points and was now in a slam. (Note that South is declarer because of the two-diamond bid.)

West led the spade king, ruffed in dummy, and declarer drew two rounds of trumps with the ace and king. When both opponents followed to these tricks, the slam depended only on the club finesse. South came to his hand with the heart 10 and led a club to the jack — too bad, down one.

My partner’s play was reasonable and would have worked if West held the club king. But it was also possible to take the club finesse through East — run the hearts and discard three clubs from the South hand (it makes no difference if East ruffs), then play the ace and queen of clubs for a ruffing finesse. The choice between these two plays is nearly a toss-up; but I prefer the latter because West has already indicated spade strength with his opening lead. Hence, the club king is more likely to be with East… or at least that’s easy to say now.

World Championship Underway in Miami Beach

Spectators will be accommodated with “Vu-Graph” shows. These are large-screen projection of deals as they are being played, with expert commentators providing analysis. Good news: Admission is only $2.00 for each show, held daily at 10:30 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. Bad news: You will have to pay more than that to park your car.

Today’s deal is from the final round of the 1984 World Bridge Championships held in Seattle. It was Poland versus France for all the marbles, as the favored U.S. team had previously been upset by Austria in the quarterfinal round. When Poland held the North-South cards, the bidding proceeded as shown with South coming to rest in four spades — doubled by West since he rightly felt that his side had the majority of high cards.

15. 4 x by South

Both Vul	Q 8 7 3 10 A Q 10 7 2 K 8 3
A 6 2 A 4 3 2 K 5 4 3 J 9		5 K Q 9 6 5 J 9 A 7 6 5 2
Lead: J	K J 10 9 4 J 8 7 8 6 Q 10 4

West 4 Dbl

North 1 4 All Pass

East 1 Pass

South 1 Pass

The French West player found the killing opening lead of the club jack. East won the ace under which South dropped the queen, a routine falsecard on the principle of playing the card one is known to hold; i.e., both defenders knew from the first trick that declarer held the club queen.

East of course was not duped to believe that the queen had to be a singleton; but he erred by shifting to the heart king. The defenders now could not obtain a club ruff, and declarer easily made his contract after forcing out the spade ace and taking the diamond finesse.

East should have returned a club at trick two — specifically the club seven, a suit-preference signal indicating that his reentry was in the higher ranking side suit (hearts). If West had led a singleton club, he then could underlead his heart ace to obtain two ruffs. In the actual case West could win the trump ace and underlead in hearts to obtain one ruff.

P.S. Poland won the championship.

If You Can’t Succeed On Your Own, Get Help

16. 3 NT by South

E-W Vul	5 4 Q 8 3 K 5 A Q 9 8 5 4
J 10 9 6 6 J 8 7 3 K J 6 3		K 8 3 K J 10 9 4 10 6 2 7 2
Lead: J	A Q 7 2 A 7 5 2 A Q 9 4 10

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 2

East Pass Pass

South 1 3 NT

West led the spade jack to South’s queen, then the club 10 was led to dummy’s queen as West wisely played low. (Note that it does not help declarer to let the club 10 ride since he has no more clubs to lead.) The club ace was cashed, South shedding a heart, and another club was led to discover the bad news. On this trick East discarded the heart nine, a come-on signal, and South threw a spade. West dutifully shifted to his singleton heart: three, 10, ace.

Eight tricks were there for the taking — two spades, one heart, three diamonds and two clubs — but Root was in no hurry to cash out for down one. Instead he deviously returned a heart into the jaws of East, who hastened to cash the rest of that suit.

Meanwhile, West was feeling a little pinch; on the run of the hearts he let go all of his spades to protect the minor suits. When East finally exited with a spade to South’s ace, West was hopelessly squeezed. He was forced to part with a diamond to keep his club winner, and declarer scampered home with four diamond tricks and his contract.

Despite declarer’s elegant play, East was the culprit for squeezing his partner. This could have been avoided in two ways and provides a good lesson on squeeze defense.

First, East could have refused to cash his last heart, thus relieving the pressure on his partner. Second, after cashing all his hearts, East could have returned a diamond, which destroys declarer’s communication for the squeeze.

U.S. Wins World Bridge Team Championship

The event began with 140 teams from 55 countries and climaxed with a lopsided 128-deal final in which the U.S. defeated second-place Pakistan, 357-207. Completing the top 10 places were: 3. Sweden; 4. France; 5. U.S.; 6. (tied) U.S. (my team) and Indonesia; 8. U.S.; 9. (tied) Poland and Canada.

Today’s deal occurred in my team’s match against Switzerland and, though it created no swing, it serves as a lesson in proper technique. Both teams reached four spades with the North-South cards. Faced with a trump loser and missing the ace-king of diamonds, it appears that declarer must guess which defender to finesse for the club queen to make his contract. Not so, as both South players demonstrated.

17. 4 by South

Both Vul	A 4 K 7 6 3 J 7 2 A J 10 4
Q J 2 Q J 9 5 K 9 5 3 6 5		9 3 10 8 4 A 10 8 6 Q 9 8 2
Lead: Q	K 10 8 7 6 5 A 2 Q 4 K 7 3

West Pass All Pass

North 1 1 NT

East Pass Pass

South 1 4

West led the heart queen to South’s ace, then declarer set about his plan by winning the heart king and ruffing a heart. The trump king was cashed, followed by a trump to the ace and another heart ruff as East threw a diamond. A trump was conceded to West (throwing a club from dummy), and declarer spread his hand — claiming four spades.

This kind of claim might not be allowed by the average player (and, incidentally, should not be made in a casual game); but with only experts at the table, it was quickly acknowledged as valid.

At the point that West won his trump trick only minor-suit cards remained, thanks to declarer’s elimination of dummy’s small hearts. West had two choices: He could lead a club which gives declarer a free finesse by playing dummy’s 10; or he could lead a diamond which allows declarer to establish a diamond discard for his losing club. Either way, the contract is guaranteed.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To Our Slam

It was a struggle to keep up with the jungle of bidding systems — some good, some terrible — employed by our guests. Sometimes they bid one club to show hearts; or opened one notrump with 8 to 10 points; or even passed to show a strong hand. One of the very far-out systems employed a one-heart opening to show 0 to 7 points with any distribution. Fearless, these foreigners! Some of the auctions were incredible to witness, as today’s deal when it occurred in the Open Pairs.

18. 1 by South

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

West All Pass

North

East 1

South 1

Sitting East I was hardly amused (nor was my partner) with the disastrous result we achieved; but in retrospect I can join in the chuckle. South, whose name I cannot (or do not want to?) remember, appeared to be a fine, upstanding gentleman from Indonesia, certainly not a man who would overcall one spade with the South hand. Nevertheless, this bizarre action caught us off guard.

It may seem that my partner, Bill Root, should have done something with the West hand; but his trap pass was the proper action when using “negative doubles.” In theory, partner would be short in spades and make a reopening double (for takeout), which West then would pass for penalty.

Unfortunately, “theory” didn’t work this time. East also had length in spades so it was implausible to him that West had made a trap pass. With no attractive action, East likewise passed and there we were — defending against one spade when we were laydown for six spades (seven if you finesse spades). Sure, we beat them seven tricks; but our score of plus 350 was an absolute zero. Most East-West pairs bid the routine slam to score 980; and those who bid only game scored 480. Yuk!

We shrugged it off and recovered to make a respectable showing… but I know they’re still laughing in Indonesia.

The Disappearing Loser

19. 4 by South

Both Vul	A 7 2 7 4 2 A 9 3 K Q 8 2
J Q J 10 5 Q 10 7 2 A 10 9 5		Q 10 9 4 9 8 6 8 6 5 J 7 4
Lead: Q	K 8 6 5 3 A K 3 K J 4 6 3

West Pass Pass

North 2 4

East Pass All Pass

South 1 2 NT

Mabel was South and opened one spade, her partner responded two clubs, and she rebid two notrump to show a balanced hand with stoppers in the other suits. North considered raising to three notrump, but the partnership played “five-card majors” and his heart holding was weak — hence, he opted for the spade game.

West led the heart queen to South’s ace, and a low club was led to dummy’s king as West ducked. Declarer returned to her hand with the spade king to lead another club, taken by West who returned a heart to South’s king. A spade was led to the ace, bringing bad news as West threw a diamond, and declarer discarded her losing heart on the club queen.

At this point it was obvious that two trump tricks had to be lost in addition to the club ace, so the contract appeared to depend on the ill-fated diamond finesse. Not really. Declarer put on her black silk hat, uttered a few magic words, and the diamond loser disappeared… well, almost.

Declarer ruffed dummy’s last heart in her hand, then cashed two top diamonds ending in dummy. South and East remained with a diamond and two trumps, and East’s trumps were high. In essence South held three losers, but a club lead from dummy made one of them disappear. If East ruffs, South discards; if East discards, South ruffs.

Presto!

Unblocking Maneuver Foils Throw-In Attempt

20. 3 NT by South

Both Vul	A 9 K 9 4 3 A Q 2 A 6 5 2
K 8 7 5 4 3 — K J 6 K 10 9 3		10 2 Q 10 8 6 5 10 5 4 3 J 7
Lead: 5	Q J 6 A J 7 2 9 8 7 Q 8 4

West 1 Pass All Pass

North Dbl 3

East Pass Pass

South 2 3 NT

West led the spade five: nine, 10, jack; and declarer began with a heart to the king, discovering the lie of that suit, as West threw a spade. The heart three was returned for a finesse of the jack and West threw a club. Declarer was convinced that it would be futile to attack clubs — West was marked with the king from the bidding — so he decided his best chance lay in a throw-in play against West.

South continued with the diamond nine: jack, queen; then cashed the diamond ace. Unfortunately for declarer, West was Bill Root of Boca Raton and the diamond king came tumbling down under the ace. Declarer cashed the spade ace and exited with a diamond; but thanks to West’s careful unblocking, East won the 10 and the contract was eventually down one.

Three notrump can be made with perfect play. It is necessary to play three rounds of diamonds early without allowing East to gain the lead to shift to the club jack. One sequence is to lead a diamond at trick two and duck when West plays the jack. Win the spade return, cash the heart king, finesse the heart jack, finesse and win both top diamonds, then return to hand with the heart ace. Unless West has unguarded the club king, exit with a spade… and even Mr. Root would be endplayed.

Trump Elopement Combines Two Losers Into One

21. 4 by South

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

West Pass All Pass

North 1 2

East 1 Pass

South 1 4

This proved to be a flat board, as every North-South pair reached four spades and made 10 tricks, losing a spade, a heart and a diamond. The result is not surprising since the three mentioned losers appear to be inevitable no matter how declarer plays. But, as is so often the case, the untrained eye can be deceived. Through a technique known as “trump elopement” declarer can eliminate the diamond loser; or more accurately, combine the spade and diamond losers into a single trick.

Declarer wins the heart lead (capturing East’s 10) and begins his campaign with a club to the ace and a club ruff. Dummy is entered with the spade king to ruff another club, and with the spade ace to ruff the last club. South then exits with the heart nine to East, who does best to return a diamond to South’s king.

Declarer has already “eloped” with all of his own trumps (by ruffing clubs) and now it is dummy’s turn. A heart is led and ruffed in dummy when West discards a diamond. Observe that West cannot profit by ruffing in front of dummy with his master trump — declarer just throws a diamond. Finally, a diamond is led to the ace to lead the last heart and complete the elopement.

The last diamond in dummy is happily conceded to East’s queen and also West’s high trump. Let them fight over it!

Broward Foursome Wins in Miami Beach

They compiled a record of 6 3/4 wins (out of a possible 8) to top a strong field of competitors. The annual tourney is held in memory of the late Robert Reynolds, one of Florida’s greatest players.

Today’s deal, although not from the winners, occurred in the same event and provides a good lesson in technique. South opened with two spades, a “weak two-bid” showing a six-card suit and 5 to 11 high-card points. (The strong two-bid is almost obsolete among tournament players because it rarely occurs.) North might have attempted to place the contract in notrump, but the raise to four spades was quite reasonable.

22. 4 by South

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

West Pass

North 4

East All Pass

South 2

After West’s lead of the diamond five, declarer won the king and led a heart to the king — a good play because, if it wins, declarer can discard his remaining heart on the diamond ace and then concentrate on losing no more than three tricks in the black suits. Unfortunately, East won the ace and returned a diamond on which South discarded a club as West’s jack forced dummy’s ace. The spade jack won the next trick when West ducked, and a diamond was ruffed in the closed hand as West threw a club.

Declarer’s play was perfect so far; but he next tried the heart finesse, losing to East’s jack, and the contract no longer could be made. It looks better to try the club finesse, however, this too is an error. Declarer instead should play to win all of his trumps by ruffing — on the surface a formidable task, but actually very easy because of the known diamond position. Lead a club to the ace; ruff a diamond (If East ruffs, overruff, cash the trump ace and concede a club); heart to the queen; and ruff the last diamond.

Finally, exit with a club and South must win two more tricks with the A-Q of trumps.

Local Tourney: Special Events For Newcomers

Sessions begin at 1:30 and 8:00 P.M. on Friday and Saturday; 12:30 and 6:30 P.M. on Sunday. If you need a partner, come about a half hour early and one will be arranged for you. The best news: Smoking is not permitted inside the building.

Today’s deal was played by Jeanni St. Jean of Pembroke Pines during the Florida finals of the North American Open Pair Championships held last weekend in Tampa.

23. 5 by South

E-W Vul	J 7 A J 10 8 3 Q 8 7 K 6 2
10 8 6 5 4 9 4 2 6 3 9 7 4		A K Q 9 3 — K J 10 5 Q 10 8 5
Lead: 5	2 K Q 7 6 5 A 9 4 2 A J 3

West Pass 4 All Pass

North 4 Pass

East 1 Dbl Pass

South 2 Pass 5

After a routine two-heart overcall, she was raised to game by her partner. East doubled to show a good hand and West took it out to four spades. When this was passed around, South might have given up; but — call it courage or women’s intuition — she persisted to five hearts. This decision looks wrong since both four spades and five hearts appear to be unmakable, but St. Jean vindicated her judgment with some fine declarer play.

South ruffed the second spade lead and routinely drew trumps in three rounds as East discarded spades. It was tempting to play diamonds now because the fourth diamond might be established to provide a club discard from dummy; however, East was marked with the diamond king from the bidding and declarer could not afford the loss of two diamond tricks. Declarer decided that her only chance was a throw-in play against East.

Accordingly, declarer won the club king, finessed the jack and cashed the ace to eliminate that suit entirely. She then led a small diamond from her hand and played the seven from dummy. East was endplayed. A diamond return would ride to the queen; a club return would allow South to ruff in her hand and discard a diamond from dummy.

Provocative Deal Poses Play-or-Defend Problem

24. 3 NT by South

Both Vul	K 8 2 9 7 2 A Q 10 7 5 K 2
J 9 4 6 4 9 4 A 10 9 7 4 3		10 6 5 3 J 10 8 5 K 8 3 Q 6
Lead: 10	A Q 7 A K Q 3 J 6 2 J 8 5

West Pass

North 3 NT

East Pass All Pass

South 1 NT

Of course you’d play, right? Declarer ducks the club lead to East’s queen; West wins the next club with the ace (it would do him no good to duck); and South wins the third club with the jack. The rest is easy because the diamond finesse is lost to East, who has no more clubs to return. In fact declarer makes an overtrick. Satisfied?

You shouldn’t be. East missed an opportunity to make a fine defensive play. On the first club lead he should not put up the queen. This violates a couple of basic principles: “Third hand high” and “Don’t finesse against partner”; but an expert should find this play. He would reason that (1) if South held the club ace, nothing matters; and (2) if West held the club ace, he could not also hold another ace as an entry (that would give South only 14 points for his one-notrump opening) so the only hope is to let South win the club jack on the opening lead, after which partner might be able to overtake the queen with the ace to run the suit. So, you should defend.

Wait a minute. Declarer can block the club suit by playing the king at trick one, then West cannot overtake his partner’s queen without setting up the jack. So, you should play.

Hold everything. East can counter the last move by throwing the queen under the king, after which the suit can be run with a finesse through South’s jack. We’re back to defending.

Touché! Declarer gets the final thrust: Duck the opening lead in both hands. That’s right; let West win the club 10 and there is no defense to beat you. Admittedly, this play would be impossible to find at the table — you’d look like a fool 99 per cent of the time — but it works here.

Losing Two Finesses Is Unlucky But Not Fatal

25. 4 by South

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

West Pass

North 1 NT 4

East Pass All Pass

South 3

West led the heart jack, which held, and continued the suit to make South ruff. Trumps were drawn in three rounds, ending in the South hand, then the diamond jack was led to East’s king. East returned another heart which South had to ruff with his last trump. After running the diamond suit, declarer was obliged to try the club finesse; this lost and West was able to cash a heart for the setting trick.

Unlucky? I suppose, because declarer was a favorite to have at least one of his finesses succeed; but the ill fate was avoidable with proper technique. The principle involved is to keep a trump in dummy; in other words, do not draw three rounds of trump at the outset. This tactic is often effective when the defenders force declarer to ruff — called a “forcing defense” — because it limits the number of times they can do this.

The correct play is to draw two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy, then lead a club to the jack. When this loses, West must return a heart to give the defenders any chance and South ruffs. (If West returns a club, declarer simply draws the last trump before finessing diamonds.)

Declarer now remains with one trump in each hand and West still has a trump; but it is not time to draw trumps yet. Lead a diamond to the queen. East wins, but he can do no damage; if he leads another heart, declarer can ruff in one hand then cross to the other hand to draw West’s trump.

23-Point Slam Proves To Be Unbeatable

26. 6 by South

N-S Vul	J 10 9 6 4 K 2 K 7 Q 8 6 5
5 3 2 10 9 5 4 3 J 10 7 4 3		A K Q 8 7 Q J 7 A 5 2 9 2
Lead: 2	— A 8 6 3 Q J 10 9 8 6 4 A K

West 2 Pass All Pass

North Pass 2 NT 5

East 1 3 Pass

South Dbl 4 6

Despite only 23 combined high-card points, six diamonds was an excellent contract… at least with a spade lead. South ruffed the opening lead and cashed two top clubs. A heart was led to the king, a heart to the ace, then a heart was ruffed in dummy. It was simple matter to ruff South’s remaining heart in dummy, and the only loser was the trump ace.

What about a trump lead? If the defenders begin with ace and another diamond, declarer is unable to ruff any hearts in dummy. Of course he can throw one of his heart losers on the club queen; but this still leaves him a trick short and the slam should fail. On the surface this is true, but a careful analysis shows that declarer can succeed through a squeeze — a double squeeze, to be precise.

After leading all but one diamond and cashing two top clubs, North remains with:  J,  K-2,  Q-8. On the last diamond lead West must unguard hearts (in order to protect clubs), then North’s club eight has done its work and is discarded. East has no problem on this trick, as he still retains the spade ace and a heart stopper.

But wait! A heart is led to the king and the club queen is led to squeeze East. He must keep the high spade (else North’s jack is good), so he too must unguard hearts. The last trick is won by South’s heart eight.

Could there be a guardian angel for overbidders?

Innocent-Looking Deal Produces Unusual Ending

27. 3 NT by South

N-S Vul	8 7 4 2 A Q 10 3 J 9 K Q 7
A K Q 5 9 7 Q 7 6 5 J 8 2		J 6 K 8 6 4 2 10 3 10 6 4 3
Lead: K	10 9 3 J 5 A K 8 4 2 A 9 5

West 1 All Pass

North Dbl

East 1

South 3 NT

The final three-notrump contract was aggressive; but it had its chances, especially after West led the spade king. This blocked the spade suit and prevented the defenders from cashing four fast tricks. A low spade (or another suit) lead would have been better, but West can hardly be criticized for his choice.

West shifted to the heart nine at trick two, ducked to the king; then East cashed the spade jack (West could not afford to overtake) and shifted to the diamond three. Letting this ride to the jack was obviously a losing option, so declarer won the ace and proceeded to cash his winners. Only eight tricks were in view (three hearts, two diamonds and three clubs ); but perhaps some pressure could be put on West, who was marked from the bidding and previous play to hold the missing high cards.

The ending is not typical for a squeeze because declarer has two losers remaining — normally declarer must be able to win all but one trick — although strange things sometimes happen when a defender is forced to discard.

As the clubs and hearts were cashed, West had to make two discards: The first, a diamond, was painless; but next West had to let go one of his spade winners to protect diamonds. At this point South remained with  10,  K-8; West held  A,  Q-7; and North held  8-7,  J. A spade was led to West, who had no effective defense — a low diamond would be taken in dummy to win the spade eight; the diamond queen would splash honors around the table and South’s eight would be high.

Nicely played… but it didn’t really happen that way. The defense went sour when East chucked the spade jack on the opening lead. So Christmas came early for declarer, as he could establish his ninth trick in spades with little effort.

World Champion Player Becomes ACBL President

Today’s deal occurred in the 1986 World Open Pair Championships in Bal Harbour. Wolff, South, became declarer in four spades, which was inauspiciously doubled by East. South won the opening heart lead and crossed to dummy with a diamond to lead the club jack: queen, king, ace. A trump shift now would have foiled Wolff’s best efforts; but West tried to cash a heart trick, ruffed by South.

28. 4 x by South

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

West Pass 2 Pass

North Pass 3 4

East Pass Pass Dbl

South 1 3 All Pass

A lesser player might have ruffed a club in dummy at this point, which results in East eventually winning three trump tricks. (Readers should play it out to see this.) But Wolff visualized the ending he wanted to reach, and this required that he reduce his own trump length.

Accordingly, declarer led a diamond to dummy and ruffed a heart as East threw a club. Next came a club ruff and another heart lead: East could not gain by ruffing, so he threw another club and South ruffed. South’s last club was ruffed in dummy, and the last heart was ruffed (perforce) and overruffed by South. Finally, South exited with a diamond, ruffed by East, and South had to win another trick with K-x in spades.

Winning Defense Found By Deductive Reasoning

29. 3 NT by South

Both Vul	J 6 K 6 A Q 10 8 6 4 10 6 2
Q 5 4 3 Q 9 8 2 5 J 9 8 7		K 10 8 2 10 7 5 J 9 7 2 A 3
Lead: 2	A 9 7 A J 4 3 K 3 K Q 5 4

West Pass

North 3 NT

East All Pass

South 1 NT

The reader asks: 1. Was West’s opening lead correct? 2. Was West’s spade discard correct? 3. Was there any way East should know to shift to a spade after winning the diamond jack. (This defense would defeat the contract because declarer is unable to cash his nine tricks due to entry problems.) The deal provides a good lesson in deductive reasoning on defense.

First, West’s lead was correct. Lacking a long suit, it is normal to lead an unbid major suit against a notrump contract; and the heart suit held more promise than spades because of the superior spot cards.

West had a difficult discard to make. Usually it is wise to discard from a suit you do not want led, thus retaining the length in the suit you want partner to lead; but this case is exceptional. A heart discard is unattractive because it might cost a trick no matter who held the ace. (Note that East would play the same on the first trick if he held A-10-x in hearts.) A club discard is unattractive because it would relinquish West’s stopper in that suit, and the club seven might be misinterpreted as strength-showing.

The blame goes to East. The entire distribution could have been deduced when West showed out of diamonds. The lead of the heart two indicated a four-card suit, and West would have led a longer suit if he had one; hence, West began with 4-4-1-4 shape. It follows that the spade-five discard could not have been West’s lowest from a worthless holding; hence, West held a spade honor. Therefore, East should have shifted to a spade.

Diamond Suit Is the Key To Make or Break Slam

30. 6 by South

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

West Pass Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 3 5 6

East Pass Pass Pass Pass

South 1 4 NT 5 NT 6

West led the club three, taken by the ace, and declarer drew trumps in two rounds then cashed all his club and heart winners ending in the South hand. A diamond was led: ten, queen, king; then a diamond return by East left declarer with another loser — down one. The reader emphasized West’s play of the diamond 10 and noted that, if West had played low, he would have ducked the diamond completely.

The contract was well played until a point, and West indeed made a fine play in diamonds. Had West played the diamond eight, declarer could guarantee his contract by ducking since there was no lower diamond outstanding — either East would win and be endplayed or (rare) show out and unveil the diamond position. In this respect declarer’s reasoning was perfect.

Declarer went wrong in finessing the diamond queen when West played the 10. He could have increased his chances by winning the ace, returning to his hand with a trump, and then leading a diamond to the queen. This still succeeds whenever West has the king (just like the finesse); and it also succeeds when East has a doubleton king. Observe in the actual diagram that East would be endplayed after winning the diamond king — he must return a club or a heart, which allows declarer to discard his remaining diamond loser and ruff in dummy.

Anxiety To Ruff Can Be Costly on Defense

31. 4 by South

Both Vul	J 7 2 8 4 K 8 5 A 10 7 6 3
Q 3 Q 10 3 J 10 7 K J 9 8 5		6 4 K 9 7 2 A Q 9 6 4 2 4
Lead: J	A K 10 9 8 5 A J 6 5 3 Q 2

West Pass 3 All Pass

North Pass 3

East 2 Pass

South 2 4

The defense began with the diamond jack which held, then a another diamond to force South to ruff. Declarer led a low heart to the eight and nine, and East correctly returned a trump which South won with the ace. The goal of a defender is to counteract declarer’s plan (apparently to ruff hearts in dummy) so this was sound defense. Declarer cashed the heart ace, ruffed a heart and returned to his hand with a diamond ruff.

When South’s last heart was led, West pounced on the trick with his spade queen — after all, the queen was destined to fall under the king anyway. I suspect that most defenders and readers (come on; be honest) would do the same thing in the West seat. West of course did make an extra spade trick; but he was forced to give the trick right back by leading a club (that’s all he had left) which rode to South’s queen. This tit-for-tat exchange left declarer with the upper hand — making four spades.

Let’s go back a few tricks. Instead of ruffing the fourth round of hearts, West should discard a club and let declarer ruff with dummy’s last trump. Declarer’s only chance is to continue with ace and another club; but East ruffs the second club and returns a diamond which allows West to score his spade queen after all. So patience earns another reward, and the contract is defeated.

Defensive tip: Before you ruff, think about what you will lead next.

Proper Play of Slam Confounds Analysis

32. 6 by South

Both Vul	K 10 4 3 A J 3 A J 6 K 10 2
Q 8 6 2 9 5 4 Q 8 7 4 6 5		A J 9 7 Q 10 7 10 9 5 2 4 3
Lead: 5	5 K 8 6 2 K 3 A Q J 9 8 7

West Pass Pass Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 NT 2 3 3 NT 4

East Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

South 2 3 3 4 6

The right play? As I see it there are three reasonable lines to consider: A. Cash the ace-king of hearts then, if the heart queen does not drop, win the diamond king and finesse the diamond jack (to discard a spade). B. Lead a spade to the king — if East wins the ace, then take the heart finesse; if West hops with the ace, declarer reverts to line A (with slightly better chances because of squeeze possibilities); if West ducks the ace… claim! C. Lead a low diamond to the jack (retain the king for deceptive purposes) — if it loses and East does not return a spade, declarer still succeeds if the heart finesse works.

Mind boggling! It is apparent that each of the alternatives is better than even money; but none appears to stand out over the others. I calculate line A to be 59.8 percent; however, the other two lines cannot be determined precisely because of unknown factors. For example, in line B, how often will West hop with the spade ace if he has it? I would guess only about half the time, in which case line B is superior to line A. Similar arguments can be stated for line C; but enough is enough.

In summary, if our reader chose any of the proposed lines, he played it well; but I suspect he chose line B, which is the only one that fails as the cards lie. This just proves what we knew all along: The “right” play is the one that works.

The Battle For Trump Control

33. 3 by South

E-W Vul	9 8 4 3 9 8 7 4 3 5 A J 9
6 2 K J 10 6 Q J 8 7 K Q 5		A J 5 A 5 2 10 2 10 8 7 6 2
Lead: 2	K Q 10 7 Q A K 9 6 4 3 4 3

West Pass Pass Pass

North 1 2 3

East Pass Pass All Pass

South 1 1 3

The recommended bidding is shown. North barely has enough for a one-heart response; but his hand improves when South bids spades, so the raise to two spades is justified. South should bid three diamonds to describe his shape and invite game, and North rejects by returning to three spades. In real life the contract was one spade (making three) at one table and four spades (down two) at the other — but the play is the thing. Assuming best defense, can declarer win nine tricks in spades? What do you think?

At both tables West led a trump, but the paths parted. At one table East won the ace and returned a trump, taken by South. The diamond ace was cashed, followed by a diamond ruff and a trump back to the South hand. When the diamonds did not split, a diamond was conceded to West to establish the suit and nine tricks were won.

That was too easy. At the second table East ducked the spade lead completely, allowing South to win the seven. Declarer cashed the ace-king of diamonds (throwing a heart) then ruffed a diamond with the spade eight, on which East discarded a club. (If East overruffs with the jack, declarer can set up and use the diamond suit.) A heart was led and declarer finished with only eight tricks. Was it the fine defense? Or could declarer have played better? Place your bets!

Declarer can succeed, but the road is a muddy one — there are no yellow bricks. Win the spade seven; ace-king of diamonds (throw a club); ruff a diamond (East discards a club); spade taken by the ace; heart; heart (discard a club); ruff the next heart; ruff a diamond (again East must discard); heart ruff; diamond nine (throw a club) and the dummy is good after East ruffs.

Entry Problem Requires Careful Technique

34. 6 NT by South

N-S Vul	9 8 3 10 7 5 4 A Q 10 9 7 4
J 7 6 2 J 8 6 10 9 8 4 8 2		10 5 4 K 9 2 7 6 5 2 K 6 5
Lead: 10	A K Q A Q 3 K Q J 3 A J 3

West Pass Pass Pass

North 4 4 NT 6 NT

East Pass Pass All Pass

South 3 NT 4 5 NT

When the deal occurred in a local team-of-four game, South properly opened three notrump to show “game in hand” and balanced distribution. North held only six points, but the possibility of finding a trump fit increased the chances for slam. The response of four clubs was Stayman (just like two clubs over one notrump), and South rebid four diamonds to deny a four-card major suit. Four notrump was natural (not Blackwood) and South pushed onward with five notrump, meaning… well, neither player was sure at the time. North should have bid six clubs — an excellent contract — but instead he greedily tried six notrump.

West found the troublesome diamond lead, and the club 10 was led for a successful finesse. Another club was led to the jack as East again played low. Declarer now had 13 tricks, except for one small hitch — he couldn’t get to the dummy! There still was hope of winning 12 tricks, so declarer cashed all of his winners except the heart ace to reach a three-card ending, in which each player held only hearts. Inexplicably, South then led the heart queen (an inferior play) and had to lose two more tricks. Note that a low heart would have worked nicely, giving declarer the last two tricks with the forced heart return.

Did you spot the earlier error? All this fancy card play at the end could have been avoided if declarer had manipulated the club suit correctly. Lacking entries to dummy, the proper play is to lead the queen and underplay with the jack from the South hand. (East of course must not play the king.) The club 10 is led for a second finesse; but now the lead is still in dummy, and a straight heart finesse brings home the slam — simple, once you think of it.

Singleton Kings Give Declarer a Nightmare

Only about 10 percent of duplicate players ever attain this rank, and most who do usually require many years of playing. Therefore, it is newsworthy that Yvonne Godlove of Ft. Lauderdale reached this plateau at age 26 — after playing only a year and a half! She went “over the top” last weekend while playing at the Ft. Lauderdale Bridge Club. Yvonne (nee Hernandez) was recently married to Ed Godlove, so another round of congratulations is in order.

When asked for an interesting deal, Yvonne remembered today’s deal on which she sat West, defending against four hearts. She modestly noted, “We didn’t do anything brilliant — we just won all the tricks we were offered.” True, perhaps, but the defense was brutal.

35. 4 by South

Both Vul	Q 9 3 Q 10 8 6 A Q 3 A 9 8
K 7 2 9 6 4 J 10 7 6 5 4 2		J 10 7 4 2 9 5 4 K 8 7 5 K
Lead: 6	A 8 6 5 A K J 3 J 10 2 Q 3

West Pass Pass All Pass

North 2 3 NT

East Pass Pass

South 1 NT 2 4

West began with a club lead, ducked to the king. Would you have hopped with the ace if you were declarer? I doubt it. East then returned a spade, also ducked to the king. In this instance declarer should have taken the ace — a good defender would not lead from the king around to the queen in dummy — but we’ve all made worse mistakes. Now the fun began. West led a club, ruffed by East, and the spade return was ruffed by West. West then led a diamond and declarer, already defeated, tried that finesse too. East won the king and gave West another spade ruff. Down three! Declarer probably checked to see if he still had his wallet.

This debacle for North-South could have been avoided with better bidding. The Stayman convention is not recommended on hands without ruffing potential (4-3-3-3 shape), so North should have raised directly to three notrump to end the bidding.

Good Card Reading Averts Losing Finesse

36. 6 by South

N-S Vul	9 K J 9 8 A 7 5 2 J 9 6 2
Q J 10 8 6 5 6 Q 8 6 3 K 5		7 4 3 2 10 3 2 J 9 10 8 4 3
Lead: Q	A K A Q 7 5 4 K 10 4 A Q 7

West 2 Pass Pass Pass Pass

North Pass 3 3 4 NT 6

East Pass Pass Pass Pass All Pass

South 2 2 NT 3 4 5

Dolman, South, opened with a strong, artificial two-club bid and West overcalled in spades. North held ample values to bid, but lacking a long suit he chose to pass it around to South, who bid two notrump to show a balanced hand. Three clubs was Stayman and South showed his heart suit. This delighted North, who cue-bid three spades to show slam interest. South cooperated with a control-bid in clubs, and North placed the final contract after checking for aces with Blackwood.

Six hearts was a fine contract, but destined to fail. Most declarers would attempt the club finesse and, with the unfriendly club lie, succumb to defeat. Dolman, however, reasoned: West, because of his overcall, was likely to hold the club king; and further, because of his known spade length, this card was likely to be a doubleton (or singleton). He backed his judgment in the play. After drawing trumps in three rounds, he continued with the ace and a low club toward the jack. When the king popped as expected, the rest was easy — he later threw his diamond loser on the club jack. Well done.

Six hearts making six was worth 1430 points and an excellent matchpoint score. It should be noted that East-West had a profitable sacrifice bid of six spades. While this is routinely down five (doubled, of course), the score is only 900 points. Nonetheless, good duplicate players know that slam sacrifice bids are rarely rewarding because not all pairs will bid the slam; and sometimes the slam will be defeated, as was the case here for most North-South pairs.

Sound Technique Brings Home Skimpy Slam

Today’s deal was played at the Village Bridge Club by Alan Dayton of Palm Beach. When he picked up the South hand, all he could think of was passing every time it was his turn. Little did he know! When the bidding ended he found himself declaring a slam contract — with only three points.

37. 6 by South

E-W Vul	A J A 9 8 5 4 A Q J 8 5 A
K 8 5 2 10 6 2 10 3 K J 8 2		Q 9 7 K Q J 7 9 4 Q 9 6 3
Lead: 3	10 6 4 3 3 K 7 6 2 10 7 5 4

West Pass Pass Pass

North 2 2 3 6

East Pass Pass Pass All Pass

South 2 3 4

North’s two-club opening was strong and artificial (as used in conjunction with weak two-bids) and two diamonds was a negative response. When North showed his heart suit, South had to bid again and three clubs was “cheaper minor, second negative” — a popular convention to prevent a weak hand from bidding notrump. North showed his diamond suit; South raised with his excellent trump support, and North ambitiously contracted for slam (translation: North overbid).

West led a trump — a good choice, anticipating the deal to be exactly as it was. But Dayton kept his cool; he knew his only hope was to establish the heart suit, and he proceeded to demonstrate proper technique. The diamond lead was taken in dummy to preserve the diamond king for ruffing purposes. (This was a key play as the cards lie.)

Then followed the heart ace, heart ruff, club ace, heart ruff and a club ruff. The next heart lead was ruffed with the king, and dummy was entered with the spade ace to draw the outstanding trumps and claim. The heart nine was good, and a spade trick was conceded to the opponents.

Poker Tactics Are Useful at the Bridge Table

One of the final two teams was captained by Jack Schwencke of North Palm Beach; the other, by Peter Pender of San Francisco, whose squad included six world champions. Despite a gallant effort, the Schwencke team lost by a small margin — still, a commendable achievement.

On today’s deal from the final match Jack Schwencke, South, demonstrated that bridge and poker have a little in common. It is not always sufficient to bid what you can make; you also must consider what your opponents might make. South did just that and proceeded to bluff his opponents out of the bidding.

38. 4 by South

N-S Vul	A 9 J 9 6 4 J 10 9 5 K 10 2
J 8 6 2 10 8 3 Q 8 4 A Q 5		K Q 10 3 — A 7 6 2 J 9 8 6 4
Lead: 2	7 5 4 A K Q 7 5 2 K 3 7 3

West Pass Pass

North 3 4

East Dbl All Pass

South 1 4

The raise to three hearts was a limit bid, a modern treatment to show 10-12 points, and East made a takeout double to indicate support for the unbid suits. Schwencke reasoned that he probably could make four hearts; but his lack of defensive strength made it likely the opponents would succeed in whatever they bid. Therefore, he tried to muddy the water with a phony bid of four clubs. This achieved its desired effect in quieting West, whose ace-queen of clubs now seemed to be more useful on defense behind South’s mythical suit. North naturally returned to four hearts, and South was left undisturbed.

The opening spade lead was ducked to the queen, and East put declarer to the test with a low diamond return. This might have succeeded against some, but Schwencke was nobody’s fool — king. The rest was easy with the club ace onside. Making four hearts was a big pickup since his teammates, unhindered by any bluffing tactics, made a spade contract as East-West at the other table.

Low-Level Double Reaps Bonanza

39. 2 x by South

N-S Vul	8 7 4 9 7 5 3 K 10 9 4 10 3
K 9 6 5 3 4 Q 7 3 A 9 4 2		10 2 A Q J 8 2 A 8 5 2 Q 5
Lead: 4	A Q J K 10 6 J 6 K J 8 7 6

West Pass Dbl Dbl

North Pass Pass All Pass

East 1 Pass

South 1 NT 2

West led his singleton heart to the ace, and East shifted to the spade ten; jack, king. West returned a spade to South’s ace, and a club was led to the 10 and queen. East returned the heart queen; king, ruff; then East ruffed the spade return. The heart jack was cashed (West threw a diamond), and the next heart lead was ruffed by South with the king (else West would ruff with the nine). West was not lured to overruff with the ace, but instead he discarded a spade to promote his trump holding.

South, hoping the outstanding clubs would fall together, led a club to West’s nine; then West cashed the club ace before leading a spade to force South to ruff with his last trump. East won the last two tricks with the diamond ace and a heart to complete the debacle. South was held to just three tricks — that’s down five, minus 1400 points!

There are two good lesson pointers here. First, notice how West capitalized on South’s intervention. Many players get away with bids like South’s because of less enterprising opposition. Low-level contracts provide many missed opportunities for penalty doubles.

Second, South used poor judgment in overcalling — he held sketchy values; balanced distribution; his partner was a passed hand; and he was vulnerable. In fact he got what he deserved… for a change.

Expert Declarer Falls