CONTRACT BRIDGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 178, 29 July 1932, Page 6

CONTRACT BRIDGE

"THAR'S GOLD IN THEM HILLS. ,, ) (By ELY CULBERTSON.) It k a genuine pleasure to see a difficult hand \ at Contract expertly played t>y the declarer and [ accurately defended by his adversaries. Often it • is touch and go as to whether or not the declarer i will be able to batter down his opponents' > defences or whether they, by superior strategy, will 'be able to utilise tlicir inferior forces and defeat his project. Necessarily, the fact that one side is the declarer, and this is particularly true when a game contract has been arrived at, carries ' with it the implication that he and his partner ; believe they have the superior force or will be • able to 60 utilise their forces, w'hioh may be '- nearly equal so far as honour strength is con- . earned, as to attain their object. Recently I had the pleasure of watching in • t a*"duplicate' team-of-foiir game some very accurate play on the part of Mr. Richard Frey, who with Geoffrey Matt-Smith won the Eastern Contract pair championship at New York in 1030. North and South.not vulnerable. East and Weist vulnerable. South dealer.

[ i The Bidding. (Figures after bids in table refer to numbered ! explanatory paragraphs.) South West North East U 2* Pass 2N.T. (1) Pass (2) • 3 N.T. (3) Pass Pass Pass I.—lt pays East to be cautious because his side is vulnerable. It is true Qiie hand contains two half honour tricks plus a Queen, and ' he knows that his partner is not making a "nuisance" bid against a non- vulnerable opponent. 2.—South might possibly have bid three Diamonds in v'ew-'of the scoring situation, but this bid would not change the ultimate declaration. 3.—West's bid of three no trump is fully justified. His hand contains three honour tricks and his partner's : bicl has shown stoppers in the Spade suit and unquestionable additional strength elsewhere. Against a no trump contract South is faced, with that difficult question, the choice of a lead. His hand is not of .the type that suggests the advisability of a "warning lead, which in this caee would be the lead of his highest Heart. In view of the bidding by East and West, North is probably trickless. South's hope of defeating the contract must be based upon the establishment of low cards in his own hand in addition to the honor tricks which'lie is sure to make. It would appear that the Diamond suit offers the best possibility of development. If East is compelled to lead the Spades, he may find his double stopper in that suit become only a single stopper, but actually a Spade lead would not have helped South against the line of play adopted by Mr. Fr'ey. The King of Diamonds was opened, and East permitted it to hold the trick. Upon seeing the double etopper. in the Diamond suit, South then shifted to the Spades, leading his fourth best card, the six; North played the Knave and East false-carded by playing his King. Now a small Diamond was led, and 'the Knave finessed in dummy. The Ace of Diamonds was laid down, upon which North discarded a small Heart. This was the first important development in East's plan of campaign. The Knave of Hearts was led ' from dummy and permitted to hold the trick. This was followed by the small Heart, which East won with the Ace." Now South was thrown in the lead with the Diamond, and at the- eighth trick he tossed the lead back to East by the lead of a small Spado. South could see the net 'being drawn more closely about him, but hie struggles were unavailing. The Heart King was discarded in the Dummy and the Spade Queen won the trick. Now East led the Queen of Hearts and South was forced to part with the card with which lie had hoped to set the contract. His hand, now contains nothing but tforee Spades and the King-Knave of Clubs. The' Spades are established, but to discard a Club would permit Ea«t, as South fully realised, to find his game-making tricks in the Club suit. Hoping against hope that North might be able to find a Club trick, he discarded one of his established Spades. East again threw him in tlie lead with a Spade and permitted him to make his two Spade tricks, after which South was compelled to concede the la.-t two tricks to East, a fitting reward for an accurately-played hand. If at trick eight South would have played t'.cc Ace of Spades instead of a small Spade, the result would have been the fame, although the play would have been delayed ono trick. If South had nlayed either the King or Knave of Clubs, the Hnart King would have l:cpn retained in dummy and the Clubs established for nine (rick?. Every play was carefully thought out and every move by the declarer had behind it a definite purpose.