Bridge In The Fast Lane

Our friend Haig Tchamitsch, who often produces good bulletin hands himself in North American tournaments was on the receiving end on this deal from the second session of the Mixed Pairs Qualifying. Unfortunately, he could not remember who the opposing declarer was and it proved to be beyond the wit of your reporter to calculate who this should be from the starting positions and movement.

Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª Q J 3 © Q J 9 8 7 5 2 ¨ - § 10 9 7
ª K 10 7 6 4 2 © 10 ¨ J 10 6 3 2 § A		ª 9 5 © K ¨ A K Q 9 8 7 4 § Q J 6
	ª A 8 © A 6 4 3 ¨ 5 § K 8 5 4 3 2

South opened 1§ and Haig overcalled 2ª as West. North jumped to 4© and East bid 4ª. Now South leapt to 6© and Haig doubled. Well, that looks OK, does it not, because even if partner gets off to the wrong lead there are still two club losers.

Sure enough, where a spade lead would have guaranteed the defeat of the contract, East actually tried to cash a diamond. Declarer ruffed and led the queen of hearts to the king and ace. Back to hand with a heart, declarer led the ten of clubs and, you've guessed it, East covered and declarer ducked in the dummy. When the bare ace fell, declarer was able to finesse against the remaining club honour and had twelve tricks. As you can imagine, -1660 was not worth many matchpoints to Haig and his partner.

Writers Can Also Play

Alan and Dorothy Truscott are both renowned as bridge writers, particularly Alan. Their efforts on this deal show that they can also play a bit. The story was related to us by their opponents, David and Daniela Birman from Israel.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª J 2 © A J 6 ¨ K Q 2 § J 10 5 3 2
ª Q 10 8 7 6 3 © 10 9 2 ¨ J 9 7 § 7		ª A 4 © K 8 7 ¨ A 10 6 3 § Q 9 6 4
	ª K 9 5 © Q 5 4 3 ¨ 8 5 4 § A K 8

West	North	East	South
David B	Alan T	Daniela B	Dorothy T
		1§	Pass
2ª	Pass	Pass	Dble
Pass	3§	All Pass

I guess that double dummy you would make 3NT if played by North, however, that is pretty well impossible to achieve. Given their opponents' auction, the Truscotts did very well to get into the bidding and to a making contract, particularly as that contract was in a suit bid by the opposition.

Daniela led ace and another spade to dummy's king. Alan led a heart to the jack and king, won the heart return and ran the jack of clubs. After three rounds of clubs he could cash the hearts to pitch his low diamond. That was nine tricks for +110. Allowing East/West to play and make 2ª would have been a disaster for North/South, so all credit to Dorothy for finding that balancing double.