oct 20

call of Pass . Her Polish opponents reached a hopeless 3NT contract and went two down following a heart lead. At the other table East (Zofia Baldysz) bid two hearts. Later her mother-partner Cathy competed to three hearts and got doubled, costing Poland -300 and 11 IMPs. Nevertheless, the next board was vital. The Polish E/W pair bid and made six spades. Catherine and her partner had to bid and make a slam as well, otherwise their team’s lead would have been wiped off. Dealer South. Vul E/W Q7 QT972 63 QJT2 AJ6 KT542 J A K82 AJ754 AK8763 54 983 K86543 QT9 9 West North East South Willard Kazmucha D’Ovidio Sarniak Pass 1♣ 1 ♥ Dbl 4 ♥ Dbl Pass 5 ♥ Pass 6♣ Pass 6 ♦ All Pass West’s double of 4♥ showed extras, and Catherine decided that her values were good for slam. She cue-bid the opponent’s suit at the five-level. Later she made another wise decision – to remove six clubs and let her partner choose between the other two suits. Six diamonds was not an ice-cold contract, but South saved declarer a guess by switching to a spade after winning the trump queen. The following hand (mentioned by Bob Jones at bridgewinners.com ) was played in the World Mind Games (China 2012): Dealer South. Vul All 86 AK852 54 KT87 AT9742 K5 Q9 JT43 QT73 9 3 Q96542 QJ3 76 AKJ862 AJ West North East South 1 ♦ 1♠ 2 ♥ Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass Catherine was the only declarer to make this 3NT contract despite the bad diamond break. West led the spade ten, and three rounds of spades cleared the suit (at trick three dummy discarded a heart and East discarded a club). Catherine decided not to put all her eggs in one basket and avoided the diamond finesse. Having played ♦AK, East discarded again. By this time, ten of West’s thirteen cards were known, and East became a clear favorite to hold the club queen, so she played a heart toward the ace and finessed in clubs. After the club jack won, she cashed ♣A and ♥K. At this point, the whole distribution became known. Catherine endplayed East by giving her two heart tricks, but eventually won the last two tricks with dummy’s king-ten of clubs. Seeing the original hand diagram, could you imagine declarer making four tricks in clubs?! ירחון ההתאגדות הישראלית לברידג'