bridge

September 14, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

East-West vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

xA Q 9 6 5 2

uK 7 5 3

v10 8 4

wVoid

WEST EAST

xVoid xK J 10 8 7 4 3

uQ J 10 8 4 uA 9 6

v7 6 2 v9 5 3

wK 8 5 4 2 wVoid

SOUTH

xVoid

vA K Q J

wA Q J 10 9 7 6 3

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1x Pass 3w Pass

3x Pass 4v Pass

4x Pass 6w Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Queen of u

When experts are at work, strange things can happen. This deal is from the Spingold Team Championship some years ago.

At one table North opened the bidding with one spade. East suspected that the dealer could be psyching at favorable vulnerability, but elected to pass to await developments. To East’s surprise, South ended in six clubs in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

West led the queen of hearts. To make sure of defeating the slam, North rose with the ace even though the declarer played low from dummy, and shifted to a spade. Now West had to come to two trump tricks — down two for 100 points.

East was concerned that East-West were headed for a bad score because of their failure to double, but there was no need to worry. At the other table the North cards were held by Hall-of-Famer Alvin Roth, the apostle of sound opening bids. By his elevated standards, the North hand was nowhere near an opening bid, and a weak two-bid in spades was ruled out by the fact that he held a four-card heart suit into the bargain. So he passed, and here it was East who opened the bidding with one spade!

Sitting South was another Hall-of-Famer, Bill Root. He made a bid which might rank as the biggest underbid of all time — an overcall of two clubs! He was horrified when this was passed out, but delighted when he made the contract with three overtricks and gained 6 IMPs for his side!

2010 Tribune Media Services