Misleading

As a beginner we are all taught not to underlead an ace against a suit contract. As we get older we sometimes convince ourselves that it's a good idea - and about once every hundred deals it is. This comes from the first session of the Open Pairs qualifying.

Board 21. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª K 6 4 © A Q 10 ¨ A K 9 3 § 8 7 3
ª A 3 © K 4 3 2 ¨ 10 8 5 4 § Q J 2		ª Q J 10 7 5 2 © J 9 5 ¨ J 7 2 § K
	ª 9 8 © 8 7 6 ¨ Q 6 § A 10 9 6 5 4

West	North	East	South
Cannell		Carruthers
	1NT	Dble*	2§
Pass	Pass	2ª	3§
All Pass

East's double promised one suit or both majors - and any method that lets you get two bids out of such a moth eaten collection must have some merit.

As befits a member of the Bridge Magazine panel of experts West led the three of spades. Declarer saw no point in putting up the king so East won with the ten. There was nothing obvious to do, so East switched to the king of clubs. Declarer won and played three rounds of diamonds, disposing of his losing spade. Then he played a club and West took the jack and queen before exiting with a heart. Declarer put in dummy's ten and East won with the jack and returned a spade. Declarer, who 'knew' East was endplayed into leading away from the ace of spades or the king of hearts happily discarded a heart and West finally took a trick with the card that the rest of us would have led at trick one.

Seeds of Doubt

It is amazing how often a declarer can be deflected from a simple line of play if a defender plants the wrong impression in their mind. Here is such a case from the second qualifying session of the Open Pairs.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	ª 10 6 4 © A 5 ¨ 7 6 4 3 § Q 10 7 3
ª K J 9 8 2 © 10 6 4 ¨ K J 5 2 § A		ª A Q 7 © J 8 ¨ A 10 8 § K 6 5 4 2
	ª 5 3 © K Q 9 7 3 2 ¨ Q 9 § J 9 8

West	North	East	South
	Smith		Czerniewski
			2©
2ª	Pass	3©*	Pass
4ª	All Pass

North led the ace of hearts and the defenders played three rounds of the suit. In an attempt to confuse declarer North ruffed his partner's winner. Declarer overuffed, and convinced that North was holding Qxxx in both minors took a diamond finesse through North. Taking three tricks gave North/South a very fine score.

Of course, declarer missed his way. After overruffing he should play a club to the ace, a spade to dummy, ruff a club, spade to dummy and ruff another club. Now he has eleven tricks without any guess in diamonds.

Slammed Out

By Barry Rigal

When you are playing against the Polish superstars of Burgay, you can't afford any accidents. My team lost by 38 IMPs in the round of 16 but we were left kicking ourselves as we had four (count them!) 25 IMP swings away during the course of the match.

One swing was just unlucky - our opponents bid a grand slam that needed trumps two-one with the king onside, which rolled home for 13 IMPs away instead of 17 IMP in. Two of the others will not be spelled out in too much detail; suffice it to say that one of our partnerships played in a cuebid (is the auction 1§ - 1ª - 2§ - 3¨ forcing?), and one of our pairs let through 6NT despite leading the suit in which we had the ace and king to cash. But the most painful deal from my experience was Board 29.

Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª A K 3 © A 7 5 4 ¨ 6 § A J 8 4 2
ª Q J 10 9 5 2 © Q J 10 8 ¨ 10 4 § Q		ª 4 © 9 3 2 ¨ K 9 8 7 5 3 § 10 9 7
	ª 8 7 6 © K 6 ¨ A Q J 2 § K 6 5 3

West	North	East	South
Pszczola	Rigal	Kwiecien	Stansby
	1§	Pass	2§
2ª	3©	Pass	4¨
Pass	4ª	Pass	5§
Pass	5¨	Pass	5©
Pass	5ª	Pass	7§
All Pass

Maybe I was too pushy to look for a grand slam and maybe JoAnna should have tried 5NT over 5ª. Anyway, in 7§ on a spade lead I won, crossed to the king of clubs and paused for some time before deciding to play for the ¨K to be right. I played three rounds of hearts ruffing in dummy then ran the trumps. This was the ending:

	ª K 3 © 7 ¨ 6 § -
ª Q J © (?) ¨ x (x) § -		ª - © (?) ¨ K x x (x) § -
	ª 8 © - ¨ A Q J § -

Who has the thirteenth heart? If West, then two rounds of diamonds via the finesse squeezes him. If East has the heart then cashing the ace of spades squeezes him in the red suits.

After much agony I got it wrong, which at least meant that the rest of the team had someone to blame.