Even Duboin Nods
By Marc Smith
Watching the world's top players perform can be enlightening in
a number of ways. On today's hand, we can all learn two quite different
lessons by observing Italy's Giorgio Duboin, a multiple World Champion
and one of the world's best young players.
Vul: None, Dealer North
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ª 7 5
© J 7 6 5
¨ Q 4 2
§ Q 9 8 5 |
ª 10 8
© Q 10 4 2
¨ A J 5
§ J 7 4 2 |
|
ª J 4 3 2
© K 8
¨ K 10 8 3
§ 10 6 3 |
|
ª A K Q 9 6
© A 9 3
¨ 9 7 6
§ A K |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Furness |
De Falco |
Helness |
Duboin |
|
Pass |
Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
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Duboin landed in 3NT having shown first a balanced 23-24 and then
his 5-card spade suit. Furness led the ©2, East put in the eight
and Duboin took the trick with the ©9. How would you have continued?
When West's ten appeared on the second round of spades, Duboin
decided that the suit was not splitting, which renders the contract
quite hopeless. Championships are not won by giving up, though,
and thus Duboin sought another string for his bow. His solution
was both imaginative and extremely effective - he led a low diamond!
When West followed with the ¨5,
Duboin put up dummy's queen and now this 'hopeless' contract was
cold. East could won with the ¨K
and returned a club. These cards now remained:
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ª
-
© J 7 6
¨ 4 2
§ Q 9 8 |
ª
-
© Q 10 4
¨ A J
§ J 7 4 |
|
ª
J 4
© K
¨ 10 8 3
§ 10 6 |
|
ª
Q 9 6
© A 3
¨ 9 7
§ A |
Declarer has lost just one trick so far. If he now plays off his
three remaining winners and then exits with a red card, West wins
and can cash three red-suit tricks, but he must then concede the
last two tricks to dummy's ©J and §Q.
When he led the diamond, Duboin was playing precisely for this
type of diamond layout. Of course, the defenders could still have
defeated the contract - West had to rise with the ¨A or put in the
¨J on the first round of the suit. To do so hardly looks like the
obvious thing to do, though, and surely this play would have succeeded
against all but the most alerts of defenders.
At the start of this write-up, I mentioned that we could all learn
two things from this deal. The second is something that will give
heart to all of us lesser mortals - even top players suffer from
lapses in concentration. That is exactly what happened to Duboin
here - after winning East's club exit he continued by playing the
ªQ and a fourth round of spades. East won with the ªJ and exited
with the ©K and declarer was again reduced to eight tricks. And
thus a potential candidate for a brilliancy prize turned into just
another flat board!
The Thinker
Bulletin Editors rely on several sources for copy, not least the
players themselves. If Joey Silver comes to you with a hand you
can be sure it will be a story worth printing. Take a look at these
two from the match between Canada and Norway. The star of the show
is Tor Helness.
Dealer North. All Vul
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ª K Q 9 3
© -
¨ K 9 6 5 2
§ J 6 4 3 |
ª J 7 6 4 2
© J 4 3
¨ J 8 3
§ 10 7 |
|
ª 8 5
© A K 10 9 8 7 2
¨ A 10 4
§ 2 |
|
ª A 10
© Q 6 5
¨ Q 7
§ A K Q 9 8 5 |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Gitelman |
Helness |
Silver |
Furunes |
|
Pass |
1© |
1NT |
Pass |
3©* |
Pass |
5§ |
Pass |
6§ |
All Pass |
|
Three Hearts showed a shortage and when South jumped to Five Clubs,
Tor, who is a careful player, took a long time before getting it
right by going on to the slam. As Joey said, the thing about a good
player is that when he starts thinking he will almost always arrive
at the winning solution.
Dealer South. All Vul
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ª A 9 4
© 10 7 6
¨ A 8 6 2
§ K Q 4 |
ª 8 2
© 8 5
¨ K J 10
§ A J 10 9 8 7 |
|
ª Q J 10 7 6
© K J 3 2
¨ 7 5
§ 6 5 |
|
ª K 5 3
© A Q 9 4
¨ Q 9 4 3
§ 3 2 |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Gitelman |
Helness |
Silver |
Furunes |
|
|
|
Pass |
Pass |
1¨ |
Pass |
1© |
2§ |
Pass* |
Pass |
3¨ |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
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North's pass denied three-card heart support. East led a club and
declarer won with the king. His next move took a very long time,
but it was very effective - the ten of hearts. East did his best
by playing the king, but declarer took the ace and played a club.
West put up the ace and returned a club. Declarer won in hand and
played a heart to the nine, pinning the eight. He could return to
hand with a spade and play his last heart, ducked by East. There
was still a spade entry to dummy for the fourth heart.
Say that declarer had attacked diamonds rather
than hearts. If East held the king of diamonds, West would be a
heavy favourite to hold the king of hearts. However, if West was
forced to win an early heart trick with the king, there was a decent
chance that the king of diamonds would be onside.
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