Watching Zia

By Martin Kane

A good spot to watch the third round of the Mixed Pairs Qualifying was sitting between Zia and North. On Board 1, North was declarer in 3NT after a simple 1NT - 3NT auction.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª A K 8 4 © 7 6 ¨ A 10 2 § A Q 8 4
ª Q J 3 © Q 9 ¨ K J 7 6 4 § 10 7 5		ª 10 7 5 © K 10 8 5 4 3 ¨ 9 3 § J 3
	ª 9 6 2 © A J 2 ¨ Q 8 5 § K 9 6 2

East led a heart and, although declarer can block the suit either by playing the ace or the two, it's reasonable to try the jack for the ninth. Zia won the queen and was then able to clear the suit. Declarer has eight tricks at this point and the defense have the difficult task of getting East in to cash the hearts, with the cards definitely lying in declarer's favour. Zia could see that diamonds offered no chance of an entry and so on the ace of hearts, discarded the jack of spades (North a club). At this point declarer did not take his best chance of leading up to the spades twice and ducking the queen if West plays it, or falling back on Zia holding both the king and jack of diamonds. The actual line chosen was to cash four rounds of clubs and try the spades, but by this time Zia had disposed of his dangerous queen of spades. He was then able to claim the last three tricks when North played ace and another diamond, after seeing West discard on the second top spade.

Afterwards I asked Zia about the playing the jack of spades rather than the queen and he said "… the queen lets declarer know I have the jack and cross to dummy to lead up." A good tip as, at another table, for example, North started with the ace of spades and West unblocked the queen, which should have tipped declarer off as to the winning line.

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª 10 9 8 5 4 © A J 10 ¨ J 10 8 2 § 7
ª A Q 7 6 © K 4 2 ¨ K 7 6 3 § J 5		ª K 3 2 © 7 3 ¨ A 4 § A K Q 10 8 4
	ª J © Q 9 8 6 5 ¨ Q 9 5 § 9 6 3 2

On Board 22, Zia was playing in the ambitious contract of 6NT. North led the ten of spades and for once Zia thought for a while before winning in hand with the ace and returning a careful six of spades. North fumbled briefly and despite have 9854 left under dummy's K32 ducked the trick. So did Zia! Twelve tricks.

This time Zia says "North played the jack of spades so quickly I knew it was single". Great table presence.

BG smothers BG

By Brian Glubok

When Brian Glubok faced Bill Gates in the first session of the Mixed Pairs qualifying, I fully expected something mystical to happen. After all, Bill and I share more than our initials. Both of us have played with Fred Gitelman, both were educated in Massachusetts in the Seventies (I studied at Amherst while Bill was launching Microsoft at Harvard) and we both have an entrepreneurial streak (I have a paper route in lower Manhattan while Bill is founder-chairman of the world's largest corporation).

On the first deal of our set, Bill made all 13 tricks in a vulnerable heart slam. This slightly spectacular result was surpassed on the second deal, where Gates declared 2©.

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª 7 3 © Q 4 ¨ A Q 10 3 2 § Q 10 8 5
ª J 10 9 4 © A J 7 ¨ 9 8 4 § J 9 2		ª A K © K 9 3 ¨ J 7 6 § A 7 6 4 3
	ª Q 8 6 5 2 © 10 8 6 5 2 ¨ K 5 § K

West	North	East	South
	Gates		Osberg
		1NT	2§ (1)
Pass	2©	All Pass

(1) Majors.

My partner, Jane Thompson of Canada, led her top two spades. She then cashed the §A and shifted to a diamond. Gates won and played diamond winners and the §Q, discarding two spades from dummy. Along the way, he ruffed a club in dummy, leading to this five-card ending:

	ª --- © Q 4 ¨ 10 3 § 10
ª J © A J 7 ¨ --- § J		ª --- © K 9 ¨ --- § 7 6 3
	ª Q © 10 8 6 5 ¨ --- § ---

Gates ruffed the §10 in dummy, both opponents following. He then led a trump from the South hand. I rose with the ace and played a spade for Jane to ruff, which she did, with the ©K. This was the two-card ending.

	ª --- © Q ¨ 10 § ---
ª --- © J 7 ¨ --- § ---		ª --- © --- ¨ --- § 7 6
	ª --- © 10 8 ¨ --- § ---

Jane had to return a club and I was skewered in the extremely rare ending known as a smother play. Suddenly, my "certain" trump trick evaporated.

All in all, it was indeed a mystical round: a vulnerable slam occurs on perhaps one in a hundred deals - rare but not unheard of. The position that occurred in the second deal, by contrast, is so rare that bridge player might play an entire lifetime without seeing it. A smother play, it is fair to say, is as rare as a Seattle street without a Starbucks.

Tigress Bridge

Zia and Judi Radin were lying fourth going into the last session of the Mixed Pairs final and still very much in contention for the title. Canada's Rhoda Habert and Joey Silver were not in contention, but they dealt a serious blow to their opponents' chances on this deal.

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª J 9 6 5 3 2 © 2 ¨ 10 9 8 § J 6 4
ª K 8 © Q J 9 7 4 ¨ J 2 § A 8 3 2		ª 10 7 4 © A 6 5 3 ¨ A 7 4 § Q 10 5
	ª A Q © K 10 8 ¨ K Q 6 5 3 § K 9 7

West	North	East	South
Silver	Zia	Habert	Radin
1NT	Pass	Pass	Dble
2©	Pass	Pass	Dble
Pass	2ª	3©	Pass
Pass	3ª	Dble	All Pass

Joey opened an off-centre weak no trump and when that came around to Judi Radin she doubled for penalty. Joey decided to run from the double and bid his long suit, which saw Judi double again. Zia was happy to bid his long spade suit and to compete in the suit when Rhoda went 3©. Now the tigress pounced with a sharp double. She led a trump and Zia went up with the ace and returned the ªQ to Joey's king. He switched to the queen of hearts to Rhoda's ace. Now, what is the winning defence at this point?

With the ©K established for a discard and, eventually, the diamonds to produce all the side-tricks declarer needs, it is necessary to get two defensive club tricks before declarer can get to dummy.

Rhoda switched to the queen of clubs to the king and ace and Joey returned a club. Zia had to run that to the ten and Rhoda cashed the ace of diamonds for down one and the magic +200 on a partscore deal. Note that a low club switch would not have been good enough. Declarer plays low from dummy and the best West can do is to put in the eight - winning leaves a quick entry to dummy for the king of hearts - but now the club suit is frozen and the defence has no answer.

What a Start!

The first set of the Power Rosenblum and everyone is looming for a good start. This was the first significant swing deal of the match between England's KAUFMANN and GRAVESEN of Denmark.

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

West	North	East	South
Kaufmann		Rosen
	4§	Pass	5§
Dble	Rdbl	All Pass

I never actually saw this auction before. The Danish North opened with a natural 4§ pre-empt and his partner raised to game. Peter Kaufmann made an aggressive take-out double but, from his point of view, this was unlikely to come to too much harm as he held decent defence with two aces and his partner would only bid at this level if he had plenty of distribution and thought he could make something. What business has the pre-emptor got in redoubling? After all, at this vulnerability the 5§ raise could have been made on §Kxxx and out. Well, the redouble caught the English pair well and truly as South had just what was needed to make eleven tricks for a very nice +800.

At the other table Dick Shek opened a Precision 2§ as North and he and Gus Calderwood chalked up +460 in 3NT, only to lose 8 IMPs.

Kaufmann and Rosen got their revenge a few boards later when they bid smoothly to a grand slam on this next deal.

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

West	North	East	South
Kaufmann		Rosen
1NT	Pass	2§	Pass
2©	Pass	3ª	Pass
4§	Pass	4NT	Pass
5§	Pass	7©	All Pass

One NO Trump was 15-17 and 2§ Stayman. When Neil Rosen found a heart fit he splintered and the 4§ cuebid was just what he wanted to hear, filling in his side suit as it did. He used RKCB and, on discovering three key cards, bid the grand. There were no problems in the play so that was +2210.

In the other room the Danes had a mix-up and stopped in 6§+1 for 13 IMPs to KAUFMANN, who led by 36 IMPs at the half-way stage of the match.

Duck and Sluff

Current World Seniors Teams champion, Gene Freed brought us this hand from the Can-Am Regional.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª J 7 © K 10 4 ¨ Q J 8 4 § K 9 4 2
ª A Q 4 © 7 ¨ K 9 6 5 3 § Q J 7 6		ª 9 8 © Q J 9 6 3 2 ¨ A 2 § A 8 5
	ª K 10 6 5 3 2 © A 8 5 ¨ 10 7 § 10 3

West	North	East	South
	Erickson		Freed
	Pass	1©	1ª
Dble	1NT	2©	2ª
3NT	All Pass

Nels Erickson led the jack of spades, which was allowed to hold the trick. He continued with a second spade to the ten and queen and declarer played the queen of clubs. When that held the trick declarer switched his attention to diamonds, playing three rounds. North returned a low club to the ten and jack and now declarer led a heart to the queen and Freed ducked! A second heart was played to North's ten and Erickson led the §9 to dummy's ace. On this trick Freed pitched the ace of hearts! Down to nothing bit hearts, dummy had to play a heart and Erickson won the king and cashed the §K and ¨Q for two down and an excellent score for North/South.

It isn't often that you get the opportunity to duck an ace only to discard it two tricks later.