Better Bridge in Barry County April 26 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

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

 

Lead: Two of clubs with North-South Vulnerable


Captain M. North peered through the fog and the rain from the captain’s wheel on the USS: Barry County Bridge Barge. “Oh, brother,” he muttered half to himself. “Red sky at morning: Sailors take warning.” The wind and the rain had begun shortly after leaving port on Lake Thornapple for the weekly river cruise and bridge tournament. White caps and waves pushed against the bow. The bridge players were oblivious to it all. They were deep in concentration on their bidding and their cards. Captain North groaned again, “It will be a crossing rough today with this kind of weather.”

One of the bridge players looked up from Table One, closest to the Captain. “Captain North, did you just mention a cross-ruffing opportunity? I have just the hand to show you!” With excitement in her voice, Bertha O’Toole, a perky and infectious happy camper, looked at the Captain who was rolling his eyes at her enthusiasm. Captain North called her “Rosy” because of her optimistic point of view on bridge and on life.

“Haven’t you noticed the awful weather we are encountering today?” The Captain exclaimed. Rosy only smiled and replied, “April Showers bring May flowers!” The Captain groaned again. “Rosy, show me the hand, please!”

The bidding went as follows at Table One:

Dealer: East	West	North(Vera)	East	South(Rosy)
			Pass	1D
	1S	Dbl	Pass	2H
	Pass	4H	All Pass

Rosy began her explanation. “While 3 hearts is a safe contract, four hearts is even more challenging. Would you like to see how it went?” Not stopping for an answer, Rosy continued. “With a look at the dummy hand that North, my favorite partner, Vera, placed down, I knew that I had to work especially hard to make this contract. After all, Vera was the one who pushed us on to game, and I couldn’t let my partner down.”

Here Vera piped in, “Of course not, Rosy.” (Even the other bridge players had begun to call Bertha by the Captain’s choice of nicknames.) “You know, Captain North, ‘A bid in the hand is worth two in the bush!’” Here the entire table burst into laughter, and the Captain looked at them and shook his head. “Go on with the hand, ladies.”

Recovering from their funny joke, Rosy continued, “My plan was to avoid drawing trumps, and you will appreciate this, Captain North, I planned to use a cross-ruffing technique to pick up the tenth trick!” She smiled with her plan, and she continued. “With the 2C as the opening lead, I took the KC in my hand for trick one. I led the Ace of diamonds from my hand and played the Queen from the dummy making a nice void there. Two for us!” Rosy was enjoying this immensely.

“I next led the 5D from my hand and used partner’s 3H for a ruff. Trick Number three! Yippee!” They all chortled again at the table. Poor Captain North.  Regaining her composure, Rosy continued, “For trick four, I had to live dangerously. I led the Ace of clubs from the dummy and played my nine. It went through for trick four.”

“For trick five, I led the 4C, expecting a ruff, and East used his 7H. I overtrumped with my JH. Back in my hand again, I led my 6D and trumped it on the board with dummy’s 5H for trick six. Then I led the 5C from the board, and when East did not trump this time, I used the 2H for trick seven. I then led the 8D from my hand and trumped with the 8H on the board for trick eight.”

“Two to go, Captain!” said Rosy with a big smile. “Next, I led the JC from the board, and this time when East trumped with 9H, I threw away the 3S, getting rid of one of my three spade losers. East-West had one trick while we had eight already. East led the 9S, and her partner took the AS for their second trick. She also cashed the QS for their third trick.”

“Here we are at the last two tricks, Captain North. Are you excited?” The Captain only nodded again. “When West led the JS from her hand, her partner trumped with the 10H, but I overtrumped with the AH in my hand for our ninth trick, and from my hand I led my last heart to the KH on the board making four hearts vulnerable. All ten tricks accounted for.”

Captain North surveyed the table, “Well done, Rosy! For today a rough crossing or a cross-ruffing works out just fine, doesn’t it?”

Here Vera spoke up again, “Well, Captain, you know ‘Bids of a feather flock together!’” The entire table erupted into huge peals of laughter once again. Captain North walked away, shaking his head. “Bridge players! You got to love them!” The captain smiled as the sun poked through the clouds.

Bridge Question on this hand: How does the East-West team defeat the four-heart contract of Rosy and Vera?

(Answer to last week’s question: “To the victor belong the spoils” is the famous quote by New York Senator William Learned Macy recited in the US Senate on January 25, 1832.)

Gerald Stein April 3, 2012 959 Words