Better Bridge in Barry County April 12 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

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

 

Lead: Pick it!

The second-to-the-last hand of the day with North-South vulnerable provided a lot of discussion at the BC Bridge Club. The hand had been played seven times, and all seven declarers had been set. What had happened at the bridge tables?

While six of the tables had played in diamonds at the four and five level, one table played spades in the East-West seats. Looking at the wild distribution of this hand might lead us to some basic conclusions on bidding and play of the hand put together.

The bidding went as follows at Table One:

Dealer: West	West	North	East	South
	Pass	2C!	Pass	2D
	Pass	4NT!	Pass	5D
	Pass	Pass	Pass

Using a strong 2C bid, North elected to try for slam with his highly and wildly distributional hand. Knowing that his partner South would be playing the hand, (partnership agreement is that 2D is a waiting bid), North wanted to find out, if,  by chance, South had a couple of key aces. If the aces were not there, then 5D would be a final bid.

When South responded to the Blackwood Convention with 5 Diamonds, she acknowledged one ace. Which one of the three missing aces was North’s guess, but by then it was too late, and he passed knowing that he had put his partner into a tough, probably unmakeable, contract. All passed, and the play began with a contract of 5 diamonds in the South.

West wasted no time by leading his singleton heart, and East was poised and ready, taking the first two heart tricks with the Ace and King of hearts, and then leading a small heart for a West ruff. West seeing the bare King of clubs on the board, easily led the Ace of clubs, and North-South claimed the rest, down two tricks vulnerable for a minus 200 points.

Five of the six other tables did much the same, bidding to the five level in diamonds and being set two tricks for a minus score.

One creative East-West team saw things differently, however, and they entered the bidding as contenders. Over North’s opening bid, East threw in a spade overcall and found support from his partner West. They arrived at a four spade contract, only to be doubled by South. She was sitting behind East with the Ace and Queen of spades, good, for sure, of two tricks plus whatever North might have. The nonvulnerable East-West team for all their sacrificing ended up down one trick for a minus 100 points. They ended up with the worst East-West score as all of the other East-West teams had played their cards right and claimed the prize of a plus score. All in all, the BC Bridge Club (the Be Careful Bridge Club) posted their motto on the door: “To the Victors belong the Spoils.”

 (Last week’s Bridge Question answer: Source of the quotation “Things fall apart”? W.B.Yeats, Irish poet, used the line in his poem “The Second Coming.” Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe used Yeats’ line as the title of his novel Things Fall Apart.)

Bridge Question for this week: Where does the saying “To the victor belong the spoils” come from?

Gerald Stein March 24, 2012 619 Words