keep your eyes on the ball

byJim Gordon

Beginners at all forms of ball games are constantly reminded of the warning in the title. A leading player could have used a timely reminder on the following deal:

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.
	♠ J ♥ 9 7 6 5 ♦ K 9 7 4 ♣ K J 9 5
♠ K 8 3 ♥ A K Q 4 3 2 ♦ 10 6 ♣ Q 10		♠ A Q 9 6 5 2 ♥ 10 8 ♦ A Q ♣ A 8 3
	♠ 10 7 4 ♥ J ♦ J 8 5 3 2 ♣ 7 6 4 2

West	North	East	South
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♥	Pass	3♣	Pass
4♠	Pass	4NT	Pass
5♥	Pass	5NT	Pass
7♦	Pass	7♠	All Pass

The above auction was one of three in any of the Bowl events to reach the best grand slam. (Both tables in the Brazil v Indonesia match of the Senior Bowl also reached 7♠.Three tables in the Bermuda Bowl reached 6♠, as did one table in the Venice Cup and one table in the Senior Bowl. One table in the Bermuda Bowl and one in the Venice Cup reached 7♥ – sometimes leading a trump against a grand slam isn’t such a good idea. The other two tables in the Venice Cup climbed to the dizzying heights of 4♥.)

In the Brazil v Indonesia match, the play at both tables was similar – two rounds of trumps, and two rounds of hearts – and unsuccessful. The declarers probably looked at the double-dummy analysis on the hand records and scoffed at the idea that anyone would find the winning line.

Our almost-hero, however, solved the deal but stumbled at the last hurdle. The opening lead was the ♣7 to the ten, jack and ace. Since the opponents didn’t seem to be ready to concede the contract, the first question was how best to guard against bad splits in the major suits. Declarer decided that 4-0 trumps was a possibility, so he started spades by playing the five to the king (This allows declarer to pick up four trumps in the North hand. If trumps are 2-2, the contract is cold against any heart lay-out, but declarer must be sure to keep a trump entry to dummy.) After finding out that trumps were 3-1, declarer wisely ran the rest of the trumps before playing on hearts. From the lead and the play to the first trick, he was reasonably sure of the lay-out of the club suit. If North also held four hearts and the ♦K, a triple squeeze would operate. Declarer pitched a heart, a diamond and the ♣Q from dummy. North pitched two clubs and three diamonds. The end position was:

	♠ ♥ 9 7 6 5 ♦ K ♣ K
♠ ♥ A K Q 4 3 ♦ 10 ♣		♠ ♥ 10 8 ♦ A Q ♣ 8 3
	♠ ♥ J ♦ J 8 5 ♣ 6 4

When declarer now played the ♥8 to the ace, fetching the jack from South, he had a free shot by playing the diamond from dummy. As we can see, this would have landed the contract!! Unfortunately, declarer lost focus and played a second heart, going down. By the time this article sees print, we’ll know if the 30-IMP swing was crucial to the result of the match.