Better Bridge in Barry County November 8 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠ ♥  A J 10 8 4 2 ♦  A Q J 10 8 3 ♣  5
West ♠  7 5 4 3 ♥  K 6 4 ♦  K 9 5 4 ♣  7 3		East ♠  A 10 9 6 ♥  Q 7 5 ♦  7 6 ♣  A 10 9 6
	South ♠  K Q J 8 2 ♥  9 ♦  2 ♣  K Q J 8 4 2

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Both 7♣

 

North 1♥ 2♦ 3♥ 4♦ Pass Pass	East Pass Pass Pass Pass Dbl	South 1♠ 3♣ 4♣ 5♣ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

 

Today’s column illustrates the wild distributional swings that can happen in a hand of bridge. Look at the hands and decide where you would want to play this hand. Would you consider hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades, or no trump? As it turned out, no trump did not make three; hearts did not make four; spades did not make four; and diamonds did not make five. The only suit to make five was clubs and doubled at that. How did it happen?

Point-wise, North and South have almost the same number. North opened with one heart, the higher of the two six-card suits, and she had 16 total points. South responded with one spade, and he had 15 total points. With 31 points between them, how was it possible to make only one game with such powerful numbers?

Actually, a bidding war of sorts went on between North and South, with South prevailing to the five club level, only to be doubled by East. That was a good piece of information for South to know. The dangerous opponent would be on his right hand side, and South would always play after East had played.

After all three passes, the contract was set at five clubs doubled in the South hand. West duly led a trump, the 7♣, to her partner East who had doubled the contract. East took the first trick with the A♣, then took the A♠, for the first two tricks for East/West. Where would the setting trick come from?

Hoping to set up the 9♠ as the setting trick, East led the 10♠ hoping that partner might have the K♠ or could provide a ruff. No such luck. In fact, East/West have a Golden Fit in spades with eight spades between them.

South captured the 10♠ with the J♠, and drew three rounds of trump, depleting East of any trump tricks. The 9♥ to the A♥ in the dummy was led next. The A♦ from the dummy took care of the singleton diamond in South’s hand. A diamond led from the dummy was trumped in the South hand. Playing the top spades, the K♠, the Q♠, the good 8♠, and a final trump brought home the contract of five clubs doubled for the North South team and a well-deserved 750 points on their side of the score sheet.

Looking at the four hands in a post mortem, it is easy to understand why East/West thought they had a good chance to set the contract. With the North/South team struggling to find a trump fit, it seemed obvious to the East/West team that North/South were mismatched. This time, the North/South team had the right combination to make a difficult contract in spite of not having a good trump fit together. The wild distribution in the North/South hands paid off big dividends for them this time. Another time, a wild distribution might cause North/South to exclaim that no one can make anything with such wild distribution. We know better, however. It can be done.

 

Gerald Stein  November 1, 2012 Number of words: 624