Better Bridge in Barry County April 18 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West A♣

 

North Pass Pass	East 1♣ Pass	South 4♥ Pass	West Dbl

Captain M. North looked glumly out of his dining room window. The April rain pounded his roof, his siding, his windows. The thunder roared, the lightning lit up the sky, and the house shook. “T.S.Eliot had it right,” he muttered to himself. “‘April is the cruelest month.’” There would be no work today. There would be no cleaning and no repairs today. The Barry County Bridge Barge would have to wait for warmer and better weather.

Grabbing his coat, Captain North headed south to his local bridge club. Inside, the atmosphere was warm, cheery, and comfortable. Captain North took his place, ironically in the South chair, and met his partner June who was the dealer, and she passed. East, a formidable bridge player, opened 1♣. Captain North looked at his hand in amazement. There might be a sunny day in store for him after all. With all of those hearts and not much more, Captain North paused to make a proper bid. He remembered the words of Rosy and Vera, two of his frequent bridge players on his summer bridge cruises on the Thornapple River. A letter from the two of them spending time in Florida had arrived recently. The gist of the bridge hand that they had sent could be boiled down to Rosy’s final postscript. She had written these words: “Preempt early, and preempt often.”

Taking his cue from Rosy and Vera, Captain North bid 4♥ and West, another formidable bridge player, promptly doubled. “Oh, no,” thought Captain North. “That looks like a black cloud forming!”

With all passing following the double, Captain North assessed his hand again. His objective was clear. He needed ten tricks to make the four heart contract. He could only lose three tricks. He looked at the number of losers in his hand; there were probably none in hearts unless there was a very bad split which was probably unlikely. He counted two losers in spades, one in clubs, and two in diamonds for five losers. Two too many.

West who had doubled led the A♣ at trick number one. Down came the dummy from June, his partner, and he thanked her for her hand. Pausing to thank his partner also gave him time to look at the dummy and to see if there was a way to make some of the losers go away. Promoting the spades looked like a great way to get rid of several losers. There was nothing to do about the club. At least the lead was still in the West hand. Captain North would always play last as long as West had the lead.

West must have read his mind, as she led the 10♥ knowing that would put the lead to Captain North in the South. Captain North took the second trick with the A♥. Now was the time to work on promoting the spade suit. He had saved the J♥ on purpose as an entry to the dummy in case the defenders ducked the first spade lead. Captain North led the Q♠. His objective was to drive out the A♠ and use the K♠ on the board as a way to make his spade loser go away. West took the A♠ at trick three immediately and led the J♦ after seeing only one diamond on the board. East, the opener, took the trick with the A♦, but it would be the last one that the East/West team would take. Captain North would regain the lead on any card led by East, draw the final trump, play the good K♦, and play a small spade to the good K♠, making 4♥ doubled for an excellent score.

Captain North looked up to see his partner June smiling. She said, “Well done, Partner.” Captain North thanked her and looked out of the second story window. The sun had come out and the rain had stopped. It was a good day to play bridge.

 

Gerald Stein

April 11, 2013

Number of words: 816

 

Bridge notes: Did you notice that East/West have a powerful hand in diamonds? They can make a plus score of a diamond game by bidding 5♦. In fact, if North/South doubles them, they can be the ones who are doing the smiling. The sun would have been shining on them instead on North/South.