CONTRACT BRIDGE The Elimination Of Guess-work

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31982, 8 May 1969, Page 7

CONTRACT BRIDGE The Elimination Of Guess-work

tco»tmuttd by j.x.wj The Otago Bridge Club, founded in the 19305, is one of the oldest in the country. Some years ago, after a period during which nothing very much happened, the members bought themselves new premises, threw open their doors to many new players and created such a boom in bridge in the province that they had to assist in the formation of clubs in at least three other towns.

Always prepared to be a little unorthodox, they have several unusual customs. They have persuaded local firms ranging from Scotch whisky distributors to confectionery manufacturers to

provide prizes for their lad- i , der matches. They have a i 1 periodic match against the wharfles of Port Chalmers, r 1 the after-effects of which go i ; on until the small hours of I i the morning. Their open I 1 tournaments are noted for their hospitality, and they 1 - rarely show a profit. ’ The Otago provincial pairs < . this year then again attracted : a capacity entry from a wide I i variety of South Island clubs, ’ and was again most success- j i ful. As usual a strong coni tingent from Christchurch ’ , travelled to Dunedin and 1 I acquitted themselves well. ’ i The winners, however, were ’ • a local pair, R. R. Hudson and • > L. G. Townsend, who by temperament and experience are 1 well suited to the rigours of ‘ a long four-session event 1 They had, on this occasion, I to call on all their reserves J for they entered the final ] round some distance behind ] E. Dalton and L. S. Julian of Christchurch. Although the ] latter pair played steadily ; they were overtaken on the 8 post and narrowly beaten. H. ! Pickering and J. D. Thomson finished third, and other J Christchurch pairs occupied * the fourth and fifth places. This deal from the tournament provided a number of lessons for those prepared to t look: c N. I S—A63 I H—KJ4 c D—KJBS4 r C—lo 8 a W. E. J S—J52- S—QB , H—3 H—Q1098652 , D—Q 9 2 D—7 * C—AQ976SC—K43 J. S. I 5—K10974 r H—A7 ' t D—A 10 6 3 c C—J 2 d At one table, with North t the dealer the auction was: a W. N. E. S. I INT 2H 3S f No 4S All pass. Whether or not the North ’ hand is an ideal example of ii an opening bid of one weak a no-trump is open to question. ! but there is no doubt it made v i the subsequent auction much n 'easier. Ignoring East’s butt- p [in of two hearts. South ii jumped to three spades, show- p ing the values of an opening ic bid himself and a five-card u suit. North, with trump sup- a port and a possible ruffing p value in his shortage in clubs, g

was happy to raise to four spades. This on the -two hands Is a very good contract with several chances of success. [ Several North-South pairs, however, possibly distracted - by energetic heart bidding from East finished in five diamonds, a contract alwaya doomed to failure. Against four spades West . led his singleton heart, dummy played small and . East’s eight forced the ace. The declarer, after cashing the ace and king of spades, led a heart from hand. West discarded the nine of clubs, to indicate to his partner strength in the suit. The . trick was won by dummy’s king of hearts, and South sat back to take stock. Two rounds of trumps had been played, leaving the knave outstanding as one sure winner for the defence. There were two losers in clubs so he had to make the rest of the tricks to bring home his contract Since there were several ways of tackling the diamond suit he decided to find out as much as possible about the general distribution of the hand before committing himself to any particular line. Complete Count In dummy after the fourth trick the declarer led a small club which East took with his king to return a club to his partner's queen. West cashed the jack of spades to remove dummy’s last trump, and continued with the ace of clubs. After ruffing, South reached for. his mental abacus. Since West had failed to follow suit to the second round of hearts, East had started with seven of them. He had also followed to two rounds of spades, and three times in clubs. That was 12 cards, leaving him with one diamond only. It was then a simple matter to play the ace of diamonds and a small one towards the North hand. When West followed with the nine, dummy’s jack won, the king dropped the queen and South was home with four tricks in spades, four in diamonds and two in hearts. On deals of this sort, where sooner or later it is necessary to make a critical play in a particular suit it is usually right to defer that [Play and to build up as complete a picture of the whole deal as possible. Often, as on this deal, the crucial play is no longer just a guess.