bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. East deals.

NORTH

x7 5 2

uQ 6 5

v9 8 6 2

wQ 7 4

WEST EAST

xK Q J 8 6 xA 10 9 4 3

uJ 10 8 3 uVoid

v4 3 v7

wJ 5 wA K 10 9 8 3 2

SOUTH

xVoid

uA K 9 7 4 2

vA K Q J 10 5

w6

The bidding:

EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH

1w Pass 1x Pass

3v Pass 3x Pass

4x 6v Dbl Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Jack of w

This deal was played at New York’s renowned Regency Club. It was originally reported in Bridge World Magazine by Charles Lochridge, who sat South. He said that, when he jumped to six diamonds West, Sam Fry, was so startled he doubled without giving the situation a second thought. Lochridge’s partner, Ted Lightner, who invented the Lightner double, gazed at Lochridge as though he had been stabbed in the back.

“West opened the jack of clubs and, when I got a look at the dummy I was so impressed with my own brilliance that I forgot to cover. When his jack held the trick, Fry went into a coma.

“How long this might have lasted there is no way of telling, but I could see that Lightner was suffering unbearably (and besides, my own time at the bridge table is extremely valuable) so I spread my hand and claimed the balance. No one has ever accused Sam of being unable to count to 13! He shifted to a heart, which his partner trumped!

“I managed to grab Lightner before he jumped out the window, and tried to console him with the fact that the opponents could have made six spades. But even today, after all these years, every time Lightner sees me his mumbled greeting sounds suspiciously like ‘you big jerk!’”

2012 Tribune Media Services