BRIDGE

BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable, North deals.

NORTH

xA K 5 4

uQ 8 7 6

vQ J 2

w10 2

WEST EAST

xQ J 9 3 x8 7 6 2

uJ 4 3 2 u9

v10 3 v9 7 4

w9 6 5 wA J 8 7 3

SOUTH

x10

uA K 10 5

vA K 8 6 5

wK Q 4

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1v Pass 1u Pass

2u Pass 4NT Pass

5v Pass 6u All pass

Opening lead: Six of w

Papa the Greek, Themistocles Papadopoulos, was the favorite opponent of the Hideous Hog in the brilliant works of Victor Mollo. Papa was said to be the only man capable of false-carding with a singleton. In today’s deal, taken from an important European tournament some years ago, several declarers had to decide whether Papa might be sitting East.

The defense started with two rounds of clubs, declarer winning the second. The slam is solid if the trumps can be brought in without a loser. No problem when the trumps split 3-2, plus there are some 4-1 splits that can be handled. The normal play is to cash the ace and then lead to the queen. This will expose four trumps to the jack in the East hand and make a finesse for the jack routine.

When South laid down the ace and the nine appeared from East, South had to stop and think. Was the nine a singleton? If so, declarer must cash the king of spades next and he can pick up the jack in the West hand. The problem is that there is a well-known defensive false card in this situation. East, with four to the jack-nine, will drop the nine to try and put declarer off the winning line. Five out of seven expert declarers continued to guard against East having four spades and led low to the queen, going down. Only two treated the nine as an honest card and cashed the king on the second round of trumps. Five out of seven played for larceny rather than honesty!

2016 Tribune Content Agency