THE BRIDGE TABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20402, 2 November 1929, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BRIDGE TABLE.

" l/VHERE ANGELS FEAR—,! i

BT MAJOB TEHAd.

" Cavendish," of immortal mem cry, took delight in recording the caustic sayings of Jarnw Clay. But for thin, Clay's elaborate dictum on the player who refuses to lead trumps from five to an honour would be forgotten. Giving way to the same weakness I report the final judgment of a friend who held Y's cards in the following deal:

The score was love all in the. rubber game and Z dealt and bid one spade,. A Lid two clubs; Y, two diamonds; B r no bid; Z, two no-trumps, and all passed. The Opposing Suit. A led the eight of clubs. Dummy played the seven; B, the two and Z tha king. The play to this trick should have told Z one very important fact —tlmfc A held more than four clubs. For had A held only four B must also hold four and with four cards he would have " echoed"the lead. Since B's deuce cannot be the first card of an echo it is clear that A held more than four clubs. The importance of A's club length lies in the fact that if either opponent wins a trick in another suit before Z lias made game, clubs will be led again against Z to make game impossible. There is no reason why either opponent should get in before Z has made game for Z can count five tricks in spades, two in hearts, one in diamonds and one in clubs without letting go. In actual play A's lone king of diamonds will drop under dummy's ace and dummy's queen of diamonds will provide ?. useful overtrick. Z, of course, could not know that the king of diamonds would fall on the first round. Whether he saw the certainty of nine tricks and the risk of losing game if ha gave hp the lead before making them I do not know. I only know that after putting dummy in with the ace of hearts and making the singleton spade he led a small heart from dummy and finessed the nine in his own hand. The finesse succeeded (who shall deny the existence of a special providence?) and Z, after making his four spades, put dummy in with the ace of diamonds and repeated the heart finesse. He might have made a grand slam had not B, in sheer desperation, thrown his clubs in order to keep the jack of diamonds guarded. As it was Z made a small slam. He was verypleased with the result and asked lis partner what he thought of the play. Y finished entering the 250 points for rubber before replying: "The greatest expert would not have made small slam on that hand; but what about drawing for partners ? My heart is not as strong as it was." Interferences from Bidding. Hera is a hand which presents a little problem of deduction which may interest readers: At love score Z dealt and bid one spade; A, two diamonds; Y, twcJ spades; B, three hearts; Z, no bid; A, no bid; Y, three spades; B, no bid; Z, no bid; A, four hearts; Y, four spades, and all passed. A led the queen of hearts and when dummy went down Z could see the following cards:

Y played the ace of hearts, B the. four' and Z the three. What card should Z now lead from dummy, and why 1 The first thing to do, of course, is to draw trumps. Z must lose at least one trick to the kins of hearts and two to the aces of diamonds and clubs. He must catch the king of spades, therefore, or contract and game will be lost, and to catch the king he had better be ready to finesse spades twice. The only question is, should he run dummy's ten of spades through for the first finesse:, or should he lead a low spade from dummy and play the jack from his own band unless B puts up the king ? If B holds the king of spades bare and A has four spades to the nine, Z must lose a trick in spades by running dummy's ten; for he inust overtake B's king with his aco and A's nine will be good on the fourth round. If no other considerations entered into the problem, therefore, the low spade lead from dummy on the first round would appear to be preferable. But if Z leads a low spade'from dummy and the jack from his own hand holds the trick, he must put dummy in again to take the second spade finesse and he cannot put dummy in again without abandoning the lead. Can he abandon it without risk t Duck or Finesse. This is where the inferences from the bidding come in. A and B combined their hands at hearts, holding nine of thei suit between them; but before that A had bid diamonds. Since the king anril the queen of diamonds are in dummy,, the only honours in the suit A can hold are the ace-jack-ten; and even if he has the ace of clubs as a side strength, he could hardly have bid diamonds on less than five cards. Assuming, then, that A has five diamonds to the ace, B can hold but one. If this assumption is correct, there is serious danger of B getting a ruff in diamonds should Z abandon the lead before exhausting the adverse•trumpsi. "We have already seen that if Z leads a small trump from dummy and finesses thei jack in his own hand, he cnnnct put dummy in for a second finesse without abandoning the lead. Z's correct play, therefore,, is to load the ten of spades from dummy and duck it in his own hand unless B puts up the king. It is still true that should B's king be bare, the play will make good the thrice guarded nine in A's hand; but the five adverse spades are more likely to be divided three in one baud and two in the other than four in one hand and one in the other, and Z must play for the more likely distribution. Here is the full deal as it occurred:

In actual play Z did riot realise the diamond menace and led the four of spades from dummy to the second trick, thereby losing contract and game. Moral Draw what inferences yon can from tha bidding, and remember them*