bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xK 8 7 3

uK 4

v9 8 3

wK 10 4 2

WEST EAST

xQ 10 2 xJ 4

uQ 6 2 uJ 10 9 3

vA 6 5 vK J 10 7

wJ 8 7 6 wQ 9 5

SOUTH

xA 9 6 5

uA 8 7 5

vQ 4 2

wA 3

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1x Pass 3x Pass

4x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Six of w

Bridge and golf are a good mix. There are almost as many bridge experts who are mad about golf as there are golf pros who love to relax with a game of bridge. Perhaps the best among them are South African senior Harold Henning and Swedish Ryder Cup champion Jesper Parnevik. This deal is from a golf and bridge outing featuring Parnevik and a college friend, Bruno Potus, against U.S. bridge internationalists Larry Cohen and Marty Bergen. When the four sat down to bridge after golf, Parnevik, South, soon had the opportunity to demonstrate his skill with the pasteboards.

The Swedes were playing four-card majors with limit raises. North made an aggressive invitational raise of partner’s one-spade opening bid and South, holding three aces, had an easy raise to game.

A low diamond lead, away from the ace, was impossible to find on this auction. It would have enabled the defenders to collect three diamond tricks and a trump. After the club lead, however, Parnevik made one of the losers disappear.

The opening lead was won in hand and two rounds of trumps were drawn, everyone following. Leaving the master trump outstanding, declarer cashed the king of clubs and king-ace of hearts and then ruffed a heart in dummy. A club ruff in hand brought declarer’s trick total to eight.

When Parnevik now led his remaining heart, Cohen had a variety of ways to commit suicide. If West ruffed with the master trump, declarer would pitch a diamond loser from the table. Since discarding the jack of clubs would set up dummy’s ten for a diamond discard from hand, West was forced to part with a diamond. That permitted declarer to score the game-going tricks by ruffing the heart on the board and a club in hand.

That must be the equivalent of collecting an eagle on a long par five!

2011 Tribune Media Services