BRIDGE

BRIDGE

Neither vulnerable, South deals

NORTH

xQ 10 9 7 5 2

uA 5 2

vJ 10

wK 4

WEST EAST

xJ x6 4 3

uK 8 4 uQ 10 9 3

vA Q 9 7 5 v8 6 2

wQ 9 7 5 w10 6 3

SOUTH

xA K 8

uJ 7 6

vK 4 3

wA J 8 2

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1NT Pass 2u- Pass

2x Pass 4x All pass

-Transfer to spades

Opening lead: Jack of x

An expert bridge player learns to trust his judgment, even when that judgment calls for unconventional play. South in today’s deal was Norwegian expert Espen Erichsen.

Erichsen drew the inference from the lead that West had no attractive alternate lead, meaning that West had an honor in each of the side suits. Declarer won the opening spade lead with dummy’s queen and ran the jack of diamonds. West won with the queen and shifted to a low heart. South ducked this to East’s queen, and East returned the 10 of hearts. Declarer played low from his hand and won in dummy with the ace.

Erichsen might have taken the club finesse for his contract, but he had already decided that West held the queen. Instead, he cashed the ace and king of spades, crossed back to dummy with the king of clubs, and ran dummy’s remaining spades. This was the position with one spade to go:

NORTH

x7

u5

v10

w4

WEST EAST

xVoid xVoid

uK u9

vA v8

wQ 9 w10 6

SOUTH

xVoid

uJ

vK

wA J

South discarded the king of diamonds on the last spade, and West was in the hot seat. A red-suit discard would be instantly fatal so he shed the nine of clubs. Reading the position as though he had x-ray vision, Erichsen led a club to his ace, dropping the queen, and had his well-earned contract.

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