june

English 63 Horror Corner (7) Disaster for the Opponents Ram Soffer Usually this column deals with serious errors in bidding, defense and/or play which led to a disaster for the “offending” partnership. However, it’s not so uncommon to see obviously poor bids and plays which led to a disaster for the opponents. This time our source is Famous Bridge Disasters by David Bird . The author could not resist the idea of inserting one of his hands in the chapter titled Blackwood Disasters . The year was 1988. Dealer North, Vul E/W ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ QT8762 832 K954 - ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J3 KQT75 Q7 A843 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A J94 3 KQJT9752 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ K954 A6 AJT862 6 West North East South Hyde Elliot Bird Landy 2 ♦ * 4♣ 4 ♦ 4NT** Pass 5♣ Pass 7♣ 7 ♦ Dbl All Pass ` * multi – usually weak 2 in a major ** Blackwood (4 aces only) Since its invention, the Multi has created many problems for opposing pairs. Bird felt that his hand was too distributional for a simple overcall of three clubs. He bid one more. Given the vulnerability, this is not preemptive – it should show quite a good hand. Sandra Landy, an English international star, bid a natural 4 ♦ with South’s cards (as her partner’s suit was more likely to be hearts than spades). West expected a very good hand from his partner, and he bid Blackwood – not being worried of his two diamond losers (as well as his two spade losers). East responded 5♣. Were they already playing 1430 responses back in 1988?! The answer is negative, and David admits: “I feared I was somewhat light for my previous bid and decided to hide an ace”. He was holding eight sure tricks – inmy humble opinion, nothing to be ashamed of, even though partner might have been expecting a little more. For West, it was simple arithmetic. 5♣ was zero or three aces. A sane partner wouldn’t have bid 4♣ with zero aces, so East should have good long clubs and three side aces – enough for a grand slam! So far so good (actually it could have been quite bad had South been given a chance to double), but don’t forget North who Pass ed 4NT with a very weak hand and a great fit for his partner, planning to sacrifice in diamonds over whatever his opponents might have bid.