An exception to prove a rule

Press, 4 March 1981, Page 12

An exception to prove a rule

made for after drawing the outstanding trumps with the ace king and queen, the declarer still had a spade in dummy to ruff one of his small clubs and a spade jn his own hand to ruff a diamond. That was five tricks in trumps which with five in hearts added to the required 10, the only losers being two in diamonds and one in clubs. Should the hand be played by North w T ith hearts as trumps, however, nine tricks could easily turn out to be the limit, for East could well start the defence by leading a trump. The declarer will attack diamonds with the idea of ruffing one in the South hand, but each time they gain the lead the defenders lead trumps. Eventually, North makes five tricks in hearts plus four in spades but there is no way to the tenth trick. Like all rules, there are exceptions, and one appeared in an early round of the Quill morris Winners’ Tournament. This is an event for players who have won or performed well in local events and as such produces bridge of a good standard. Only one of the competing pairs, however, recognised the trap ip this hand dealt by South with only East-West vulnerable:

Generally South opened the bidding with one diamond, North responded one heart and the opener rebid one spade. After receiving enthusiastic support from his partner, South pushed on to six spades. Where West chose the queen of hearts for the opening lead, the declarer had an easy tun. Winning with dummy’s ace, he drew trumps in four. . rounds, played off the ace, king and another diamond giving up a trick to the queen, and claimed the rest. The king of hearts, of course, enabled him to discard the losing club from his hand. At least one West found the much more- successful opening lead of a low club,a nd the contract was doomed.

If the declarer drew all the trumps, when he lost a trick to the queen of diamonds the defenders would be able to run off a number of clubs. So South won the first trick with the ace of clubs, cashed the ace and queen of spades, finding out the bad news, then tried to make the ace and king of hearts on which he discarded his losing club. But West ruffed the decond heart and eventually also made the queen of diamonds to defeat the contract. Only M. Sykes and F. P. S. Lu, using the latest in sophisticated gadgetry, reached the ideal contract of six diamonds. Lu as South was able to establish his. partner held four cards in ’ each major suit, with three diamonds and a doubleton club. He also knew about the queen of spades, the ace and king of hearts and the ace of clubs. Judging very well,. South called six diamonds. After winning the opening club lead with the ace, the declarer cashed the ace and king of diamonds, then played off dummy’s two top hearts on which he discarded his second club. West could ruff with the master queen of trumps but that was the only trick for the defence and South scored up his well bid slam.