Barry County Bridge
By Gerald Stein, ACBL Bridge Instructor
North
S: Q 10 4
H: 9 8 6 2
D: 10 9 4
C: A 9 2
West East
S: A 2 S: K 7
H: K 3 H: 10 5
D: A K Q J 7 D: 8 5 3 2
C: J 10 7 3 C: K Q 8 6 5
South
S: J 9 8 6 5 3
H: A Q J 7 4
D: 6
C: 4
In William Shakespeare’s masterpiece The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, young Prince Hamlet is confronted with his Uncle Claudius’s wrongful deeds. “The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King,” Hamlet says to himself. (Act III, Lines 633-634). In today’s bridge hand, Princess South says to herself much the same: “The lead’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the bidding of the West.”
The bidding with South the dealer, North-South vulnerable, went as follows in both played hands:
South West North East
Pass 1D Pass 1NT
Pass 2NT Pass 3C
Pass 3NT Pass Pass
Pass
The contract is 3NT played by East but pushed to the limits by West. Let’s see the Play of the Hand.
Princess South looks at her hand carefully and deliberates about the opening lead. Long-schooled in playing bridge and especially playing in No Trump hands, she first considers the standard lead of the 4th card down in her longest and strongest suit. That would be, of course, the spade suit with the 6 of spades as her potential lead. But the Princess South knows her Shakespeare, and she knows that the “lead” is the thing a defender must always keep in mind. She looks at her strong heart suit, and she considers the interior sequence of the Q J of Hearts as a potential game-killing lead. Which lead should the Princess South choose? The standard lead or the judgment lead? Let’s look at both scenes in this mini-drama.
At Table One, Princess South chooses the unusual lead of the Queen of Hearts. East is in trouble immediately. He knows that “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.” He has no choice but to look at the dummy with all of those diamonds and clubs and know that he is in bridge trouble with that lead. What happens is, of course, a great defensive lead for the North-South team. East covers the Queen of Hearts with the King from the dummy, and North and East both play a heart. A small club from the dummy is led by East in hopes of knocking out the Ace of Clubs allowing him to run the clubs, diamonds, and two spade tricks. North appreciates his partner Princess South’s lead and immediately takes his Ace of Clubs and returns a heart to his partner. The North-South team has won the applause from the groundlings and takes four heart tricks and the ace of Clubs to set the East-West team down one trick for minus 50 points. Happiness reigns in the North-South Kingdom.
At Table Two, another South player forgets that she ever heard of Shakespeare and relies on the old standby of 4th down from the longest and strongest suit. She leads the six of spades, and East sits back with a huge inner smile. He has escaped the wrath of the North-South team; he takes the Ace of Spades from the dummy, and he immediately leads a small club from the dummy driving out North’s Ace of Clubs. North has no clue that South has hearts and even if he were lucky enough to know that, the damage has already been done. North leads a spade back, and East grabs the King in his hand, runs all of the diamonds and all of the clubs and ends up making two overtricks instead of being set. This time the East-West Kingdom is the one who is rejoicing.
While one team was rejoicing and one was crying in both scenes from our little drama, the best contract for the East-West team is 5 Clubs making five for a good safe game. Five diamonds goes down one with another spectacular lead of the Ace of Clubs, a club ruff by South, and the Ace of Hearts. “The lead’s the thing!”
Gerald Stein
720 Words
January 23, 2012
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