Hoping for the worst

By Gary Mugford, Brampton ON

It's not often that declarer hopes for a 5-0 trump break, but it happened Monday night in the Can-Am Stratified Open Pairs.

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

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

I stretched the law of total tricks be competing to 3© after my partner, Danny Loannidis, also of Brampton, had made a three-card raise of my opener. East's 2ª bid prompted West to end the auction with a double.

Fearing that East had 5-1-5-2 shape, I nevertheless hoped hearts were 5-0. I won the opening spade lead in dummy and cashed two high clubs, playing a third round. West discarded a spade as dummy ruffed low. A spade was ruffed with the ©Q and the fourth club was ruffed.

I then cashed the ©K, which confirmed the "bad" trump split. I got off dummy with a diamond, waiting for West to have to ruff in and play into my heart tenace. Making 3© doubled was a near top.

The Force

By Wolf Stahl

The FORCE was with me on the last round of the Mixed Pairs Final. People were handing me impossible contracts any way I needed them.

For example, on Board 5 I got an unfavorable lead against my 3NT contract which, if continued, would cut me off from my hand and virtually required me to solve ª95 on table with ªA107643 in my hand for only 1 loser! So I played the nine from the table, hoping for the male player on my left to cover and bring about an honour-crash. He didn't and the female on my right won the trick with the king. She continued the attack on my communications, leaving me in an awkward spot. For all I knew the spades could be 4-1 with the male now still having QJ8, giving me three spade losers. He would be playing the jack when I led the five from dummy. As an alternative I tried a little ploy, playing the ©J from hand, having J7 opposite AK982 in dummy. The lady player didn't cover having Q1053…Bravo!

So without much confidence I reverted to my original "plan", if you can call it that. I took the ©A and led the ª5 from dummy. Sure enough, West played the jack and I had to take the ace. But East contributed the queen from KQ doubleton originally!! I claimed for 12 tricks and 178 out of 180 MPs.
The full deal:

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

On Board 1 I picked up:

I opened 1©, showing four-plus hearts. The lady on my left jumped to 3§ - weak - and the bidding came round to me again. I bid 3 NT and after the §Q-lead dummy appeared with:

After East contributed the §8 I had to take the ace for fear of a spade switch. Now what? The obvious way is to play the ¨K hoping to pin the singleton queen on the left. If that didn't work I would be two or three down. I checked the bidding and the number of points we had and saw that for once we were in a normal contract. So I had to go down less than the other declarers. I thought playing the diamonds to be two-two with the ace onside would be the better chance. So I led the ©J registering the signals. They seemed to be consistent with the pre-emptress to have a doubleton in that suit, giving her a 3-2-2-6-shape, if West didn't have a singleton diamond. I played the second heart round and now led the ¨7 (!) from dummy. My intention was to get West thinking in case he held AQ6 or AQ3 in that suit. He would have to believe that I was using my only entry to dummy to finesse twice against his queen. In that case he had to take the ace immediately. After much thought he played the ace, I unblocked the jack and now East played her singleton queen!! Amazed at my fortune I claimed for 11 tricks and 150 MPs.

The full deal:

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

Waking up at night I realized what West had been thinking. With his holding of ¨A63 he was seeing all the small cards of that suit, so there was no real bridge-reason for the ¨7 from dummy. He had also registered the even count of his partner in hearts, thus attributing me with six of that suit. Together with two side aces and my alleged singleton ¨K I would have nine tricks.

I'm still trying to work out why West played the jack on Board 5, however. I got a little clue in that he blamed his partner for the catastrophe, saying she should have played the queen from KQ…

Probably much of the FORCE in bridge, as in life, is to gratefully and gracefully accept the chances LADY LUCK is offering. And I suppose it is within the nature of man to blame especially the female partner in the Mixed when the FORCE isn't with him. I know I did so notably in the first round of the final. Sorry, Ingrid J

Power Rosenblum Round One

By Barry Rigal

One of the bigger match-ups in the first round of the Power Rosenblum saw my team facing the team featuring Steve Weinstein and Bobby Levin. There were a couple of interesting deals.

	ª 5 © 9 4 ¨ 9 8 7 6 4 2 § Q 9 7 2
ª K J 7 6 4 © A 10 6 5 ¨ A K Q 3 § -		ª A 10 8 3 © J 7 ¨ 5 § A 10 6 5 4 3
	ª Q 9 2 © K Q 8 3 2 ¨ J 10 § K J 8

West	North	East	South
Weinstein	Stansby	Levin	Rigal
		Pass	1©
1ª	Pass	3§	Pass
3¨	Pass	4¨	Pass
4©	Pass	4NT	Pass
5¨	Pass	5©	Pass
6ª	All Pass

Joanna Stansby led the nine of hearts to the seven, queen and ace. Steve Weinstein cashed the ace of diamonds at trick two but the fall of the jack convinced him that South was short in the suit and so was likely to have spade length, making the finesse a favourite to win. Weinstein therefore crossed to the ace of spades and finessed the jack on the way back to make his slam and pick up 11 IMPs, instead of losing the same number had he gone down as game was played at the other table.

Both tables did well to reach and make 6§ on this next deal.

	ª Q 5 © K 8 ¨ J 4 3 § A K J 9 4 2
ª J 9 © J 9 6 5 4 ¨ K 9 § 10 8 6 3		ª K 10 8 6 4 © Q 10 3 ¨ 10 8 5 2 § 7
	ª A 7 3 2 © A 7 2 ¨ A Q 7 6 § Q 5

On a heart lead, both declarers won the ace in dummy and drew four rounds of trumps. Next they played a diamond to the queen and king and, after winning the heart return, cashed the ace of spades as a Vienna Coup. Running the clubs now squeezed East in spades and diamonds to make the contract; no swing.

GIVE UP TO WIN

By PO Sundelin

Joanna Stansby executed what may prove the best played hand of this tournament. Here's her story:

Mixed 2nd qualifying session

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

The bidding:

West	North	East	South
	Lew		Joanna
		1¨	1ª
2©	2ª	Pass	3ª
4©	4ª	Pass	Pass
Dbl

The defence started with two rounds of hearts. "I ruffed" says Joanna. "I could count eight tricks in trumps and the minors, so I needed to get a couple of ruffs in dummy and/or a squeeze. West must have had some reason for his double, and since it wasn't aces it had to be foul breaks. I couldn't afford having my diamond ace ruffed so I just exited with a small diamond. East triumphantly continued the suit but I let her hold the trick, and then there was nothing they could do. I actually needed only one ruff since there was an automatic double squeeze where noone could hold clubs, so even if they return a trump after the first diamond I still make."
590 was worth 399 matchpoints out of 414.

It seems that a club return at trick 4 and 6 may make life more difficult for declarer as it breaks up the squeeze. "Not at all", says Joanna. " West's best defence is to throw clubs on the diamonds, which will produce the following ending:"

	ª K J 3 © 9 7 ¨ - § 9 5
ª 8 7 6 © Q J 10 5 ¨ - § -		ª 9 2 © - ¨ K Q J 2 § J
	ª A Q 10 5 © ¨ A 7 6 §

"I will now ruff a club high, and play a small diamond. West must ruff or else I take the rest on crossruffs. But I overruff, draw the trumps ending in dummy to enjoy the established club as my tenth trick."