Better Bridge in Barry County February 15 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West North/South 4♦

 

North   Pass 2♠ 3♠	East   1♦ 3♦ Pass	South   1♠ Pass Pass	West 1♣ Dbl. Pass Pass

Captain M. North stared gloomily out of his sunroom window. The wind was howling; the temperatures were below zero; the wind chill was dangerously cold; and spring was a long way off. Even the birds were hiding and not allowing him to participate in the Great Bird Count for this year. “Winter in Barry County is tough,” he muttered to himself. His mind wandered back to the warmer days of last summer and the bridge cruises on the Thornapple River. “Ahhhh,” he thought. “Now that is a pleasant memory.” He dug into his stack of papers by his favorite rocker. There he found just what he was looking for: one of the hands that had given his bridge-playing group fits last summer. Today was just the time to take a look at why it had been so difficult for so many of the bridge players.

Captain North looked over the hands, and he noticed that there was a lot of bidding going on by all four of the players. East and West were looking for a part score in the minor suits, and South with the best hand at the table took a look at his spade suit, and at fourth seat overcalled 1♠. After a double by West, North came to life with four spades and a little help and pushed them to reach a 3♠ contract. Captain North looked at all four hands again and noticed that the high card points were split evenly between the two teams. Each pair had exactly twenty points. South would have a tough time making three spades with only twenty high card points.

West on lead tabled the 4♦. South thanked his partner and looked at the resources. While there were four spades in the North hand, there was not much else to help out. Before South did anything, he stopped to make his plan. East had bid the diamonds, so East probably had the K♦ since South could see the A♦ on the board and the Q♦ in his hand. Accordingly, South played a low diamond from the North hand, and sure enough, East gobbled up the diamond lead with the K♦. “That was a key play,” thought Captain North. By playing low, South now had two diamond tricks instead of just the one if he had put up the A♦. Still, there was a trump issue to worry about.

East on lead remembered his partner’s opening bid of 1♣, and sent the 8♣ through South to his partner. Again, South played second hand low, and saw his 10♣ lose to the J♣. “That was another key play,” thought the Captain. “Those clubs might come in handy later on.”

West seemed to be in a hurry to make something happen, so he led out the A♠. All he saw was small spades fall all around. Hesitant to start the heart suit, West then chose to underlead his K♣ and led the 7♣ right into South’s waiting Q♣. Captain North smiled. “South had to be happy with that lead,” he thought.

Next, South led the K♠ and saw a spade from West but a diamond discard from East. West would still get his Q♠ later on. Rather than take two of his trumps for one of West’s, South elected to use his good Q♦ next. “Ahhhh…” thought Captain North. “That was another key play for South.”

South then played the A♣ from his hand, dropping the K♣ from the West hand. “That too was a smart play!” Captain North had forgotten all about the awful weather outside. This was becoming an interesting hand. Would South make his contract after all?

With his work now done in his hand, South led a small spade from his hand, allowing West to win with the Q♠. True, he had to give up two for one, but now West had to lead back a heart. South won the return in his hand with the A♥, and then he led a small spade from his hand to the J♠ on the board. Now Captain North was captivated. “Nice move,” he muttered. In the North hand, South then led the good A♦ and promptly discarded one of his losing hearts from his hand. Still in the North hand, South then led the good 9♣ and discarded his other losing heart. “Well, done!” exclaimed Captain North, the howling wind and blowing blizzard long forgotten. The last trick, of course, would be won by South in his hand with the last good spade, the 10♠.

Captain North let out a contented sigh. He could now see why the hand had been so difficult for many of the players last summer on the Barry County Bridge Barge’s weekly trip down the Thornapple River. There were nine tricks there for the taking, and a sharp South had found just the right moves to get all of the needed tricks and make the contract. “Now, if only I could find the right moves to make this bad weather go away!” Captain North resumed staring out the sunroom windows. There were no birds in sight.

 

Gerald Stein

Number of words: 963

February 15, 2015