BRIDGE

Both vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

xA J 6

uA K 5 3

v8 7 5

wA 5 2

WEST EAST

x7 5 xQ 10 3 2

uQ 7 2uJ 10 9 4

v10 4 v6 3 2

wJ 10 9 7 6 4 wK 3

SOUTH

xK 9 8 4

u8 6

vA K Q J 9

wQ 8

The bidding:

NORTH WEST SOUTH EAST

1NT Pass 2NT Pass

3w Pass 3u Pass

3NT Pass 4v Pass

4uPass 5vPass

5u Pass 5x Pass

6v Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Jack of w

In an early round of the Vanderbilt Knockout teams at the recent ACBL Spring North American Championships in Houston, the top-seeded Nickell team found themselves down 67 IMPs at the halfway point in their match. Fortunately, the second half produced a number of swing hands and they made the most of them. Here’s an early example.

With Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell North-South, they landed in six diamonds after an auction that started with a strong no trump and an inquiry for five-card majors. Four diamonds promised exactly a five-card suit and a chancy slam, necessary because of the state of the match, became the final contract.

East won the opening club lead with the king and shifted to the jack of hearts, taken in dummy. Three rounds of trumps were drawn, the queen of clubs was unblocked and dummy was entered with the remaining high heart. The ace of clubs was cashed, with both declarer and East discarding a spade. Since West had shown up with six clubs, spade length was likely with East and, therefore, the queen. South came to hand with a heart ruff and cashed the last trump, discarding the jack of spades from the table. That squeezed East in the majors and the slam rolled home.

At the other table the final contract was three no trump, making with three overtricks on a similar squeeze. That was 12 IMPs to the Nickell team.

SCrt 2009 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES