Import 9F32 Main
No Roses This Time
by Steve BeckerImport 9F32 Main |
| by Steve Becker |
When the defenders allow declarer to make a redoubled slam missing two cashable aces, the guilty parties can only hope all memory of the painful incident will quickly fade away. The last thing you’d expect is that one of the victims would voluntarily divulge the details of the disaster in a daily newspaper distributed to 10,000 bridge players attending a national tournament.
On this deal from the 1986 Spingold Team Championship, Richard Pavlicek of Fort Lauderdale FL was East and started his side off on the wrong foot by passing North’s opening club bid. At his next turn he tried to make up the lost ground by leaping to four clubs, which elicited a cue-bid of five clubs by South, supposedly showing first-round control of the club suit.
| North deals |  K 6 5 4 | West | North | East | South | |
| E-W vul |  Q 10 9 | Root | Pavlicek | |||
 A 10 4 | 1  | Pass | 1
| |||
| K 6 5 | Pass | 1 | 4 | 5
| ||
| J 8 3 2 |  | — | Pass | 5 | Pass | 6
|
| A 2 | 3 | Pass | Pass | Dbl | Rdbl | |
| Q 9 7 6 2 | K J 8 5 3 | All Pass | ||||
| 9 2 | A Q J 10 8 7 4
| |||||
| A Q 10 9 7
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| K J 8 7 6 5 4
| ||||||
| Lead: 6 | —
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| 6 ×× South | 3 | |||||
When South subsequently bid six hearts, Pavlicek doubled, hoping his partner (Bill Root) would work out that he wanted a spade lead. South muddled the waters even further by redoubling. At this point we quote Pavlicek’s own account:
“There we were, defending six hearts redoubled with two cashable aces and a ruff for frosting, but it didn’t work out that way. Bill reasoned that a void in diamonds was far more likely than spades, so away went my spade ruff and the club ace. We did manage to score the ace of trumps to stop an overtrick. Minus 1570 was not a pleasing result when we’re cold for six diamonds or six clubs.
“Next time I’ll just overcall one diamond and avoid all this nonsense.”
| Import 9F32 Main | | Top No Roses This Time |
© 1986 Steve Becker