bridge

bridge

East-West vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

x10 9 8 3

uQ 10

vA Q J 9

wA Q 2

WEST EAST

xQ 7 6 5 4 2 xA J

uJ 4 uK 9 7 3

v5 v8 7 3

w10 9 6 4 wJ 8 7 5

SOUTH

xK

uA 8 6 5 2

vK 10 6 4 2

wK 3

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1u Pass 1x Pass

2v Pass 3w Pass

3v Pass 4v Pass

4u Pass 5w Pass

6v Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Five of x

One of the things we learned when first we practiced to deceive is that, to fool the enemy, it pays to make your move early in the play. Not only do the opponents know less about the hand, but they might not be prepared for some sleight of hand.

The interesting move in the auction is North’s bid of four diamonds. That is a slam try — with nothing bigger in mind, North would either have bid three no trump or leaped to the diamond game. Although dead minimum in terms of high cards, South decided that the distribution merited cooperating with partner, hence the four-heart cue-bid and the jump to slam after North’s return cue-bid.

The slam mostly depends on the opening lead. With any lead except a spade, the contract would have had excellent play. After a spade lead it was terrible. Besides giving the defense a trick on the fly, it also stranded declarer with a heart loser.

The only legitimate play for the slam was to hope that the king of hearts was singleton, but there was nothing in the auction or the North-South distribution to suggest that was a likely possibility. Instead, South decided to rely on a bit of chicanery.

When West found the spade lead, declarer played low from dummy. East rose with the ace and returned the jack. Declarer ruffed, crossed dummy with a trump and immediately led the queen of hearts. We all know that East should cover but, since that was declarer’s first-bid suit, East decided doing that could not gain.

When East failed to put up the king, declarer let the queen ride. After the lady held the trick, the rest was simply a mopping-up operation. Dummy’s two spades were ruffed in hand with a trump serving as the entry and, after returning to the table with a club to extract the outstanding trump, declarer could claim the remaining tricks.

2011 Tribune Media Services