Both vulnerable. South deals.

Both vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x 9 7 5
u A 9 7 6 5 2
v 6 4 3
w A
WEST EAST
x 10 6 4 3 2 x Q 8
u K Q 10 u J 8 4 3
v J 9 8 5 v 7 2
w 3 w 7 6 5 4 2
SOUTH
x A K J
u Void
v A K Q 10
w K Q J 10 9 8
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
2w Pass 2u Pass
3w Pass 3u Pass
4v Pass 4u Pass
6w Pass 7w Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of u
Among the most colorful characters of the early days of contract bridge was the great Harry Fishbein. Possessor of more than 200 berets, he was never seen without one, so much so that you thought he must sleep in them. But this peculiarity concealed one of the shrewdest bridge minds of his day. Here is a simple example of what he could do without so much as a moment's thought.
The bidding was logical. North had one story to tell, and he told it three times. When Fishbein ignored it and leapt to six clubs missing the ace of trumps, North correctly decided that that card, with another ace on the side, merited a raise to seven.
West led the king of hearts. There was only one entry to dummy -- the ace of trumps. The slam hinged either on the spade finesse or dropping the jack of diamonds. Obviously, finding either a 3-3 break or a singleton or doubleton jack of diamonds was far superior to the spade finesse, and that was the way Fishbein intended playing the hand. However, he first adopted an extra chance.
Declarer played low from dummy at trick one and ruffed in hand. Before doing anything else, he cashed the ace and king of spades. When the queen dropped, he could claim. The ace of trumps was the entry to dummy to discard the 10 of diamonds on the ace of hearts, and declarer returned to hand with the ace of diamonds to draw trumps and claim the grand slam.
& copy; 2005 Tribune Media Services
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