bridge

July 2, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xK 10

uQ 5 3

vK Q 9 7

wK Q J 10

WESTEAST

xA 8 7 5 4x9 6 3 2

uJuK 9 4

v6 3 2v8 5 4

w7 4 3 2w9 6 5

SOUTH

xQ J

uA 10 8 7 6 2

vA J 10

wA 8

The bidding:

SOUTHWESTNORTHEAST

1uPass3NTPass

4uPass4NTPass

5xPass6uPass

PassPass

Opening lead: Ace of x

The motto of the Seabees is “We do the impossible; miracles take a bit longer.” South must have been a member of that select group on this deal from a club rubber-bridge game.

The auction was simple enough. North’s jump to three no-trump over the opening bid showed 16-18 points. South felt his hand would play better in his long suit, and his takeout to four hearts made North upgrade his heart fragment headed by the queen and, on learning his partner held three aces, settled in the small slam in hearts.

West led the ace of spades and, when dummy appeared, South saw that his contract was not worth a tinker’s damn. However, there was one distribution that would allow the contract to make — a singleton heart knave with West.

Declarer won the spade continuation in dummy and led the queen of hearts, pinning West’s jack. Whether or not East covered with the king was immaterial. If he did not, declarer would simply lead another heart and finesse the ten. If he did, declarer would win with the ace, cross back to the table and then finesse for the nine of hearts. Just another ho-hum slam.

2010 Tribune Media Services