CONTRACT BRIDGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23017, 20 April 1938, Page 20

CONTRACT BRIDGE

TRAPPING THE DECLARER LONG SHOT SUCCEEDS BY 0. L. EASTGATJB There is a Latin quotation, "Timeo danaos et dona ferentes," which has a distinct bearing on the subject matter of this article, and tells us to beware of the Greeks when they coine bearing gifts. In the following hand the declarer was offered a heaven-sent opportunity to get into a dummy which looked entrvless, and he should have asked himself why. But he did not, and rightly paid the penalty. South dealer. Both sides vulnerable. Both sides 30 part-score.

The bidding:— South West North East 1 A 2 A pass 3 0 pass 3 <V pass pass 3 A 4 V pass pass 4 A 5 W double pass 5 A double pass pass pass It looked as if South was attempting to mask his freak hand from the start and get tho contract as cheaply as possible. Naturally, West refused to stop until he felt he had reached his own limit. Oontract Undefeatable As the cards lay, South's contract was undefeatable; as he could not reach dummy for a club finesse, he would he forced sooner or later to bang down the club ace, and which would drop the singleton king. But that is not what actually happened. West opened the heart king, and declarer ruffed. With five clubs missing, the chance of dropping the king looked remote, and, of course, there was no obvious entry into dummy for a finesse. From the declarer's point of view what looked the best plan seemed to be the establishment of a pseudosqueeze; to give the opponents the impression that he held three diamonds and only one club. Ihey would soon be able to count his spade length. To further the impression that he needed to ruff a diamond, South promptly played the diamond king to the second trick, knowing, of course, that the opponents would at once remove dummy's trump to prevent a possible ruff.

A Suspicious Happening East took the diamond king, and shifted to his singleton spade. To declarer's astonishment the king held the trick; West had played low and declarer found himself in dummy. Now, a good plaver in declarer's place would have viewed this with the utmost suspicion. He would have seen that no degree of error on the opponents' part could have resulted in his gaining entry to dummy, and therefore would have concluded that it had not been an error. Declarer's actual finesse to the club queen, therefore, was the essence of gullibility and cost him his contract. It should not have deluded any player of average intelligence. West seized the opportunity to make the play, and while he was. perhaps, fortunate in a gullible declarer, he at least supplied the material for the trap.

South is in a contract of seven hearts and West led the 10 of clubs. There is bad duplication of values here, there being no length in the club suit, with all the tops, on which to discard a losing spade. Declarer won the opening lead in dummy and drew five rounds of trumps, then cashed the diamond ace and returned to his own hand with the club ace. He then played his sixth trump, discarding a low spade from dummy. East, having to reduce to four card's, is "stuck." To hold three spades and the diamond king allows declarer to go across to the spade ace and ruff diamond nine, thereby making the jack good. So East held the Q-J of spades and the K-Q of diamonds, but now declarer cashed the ace-king of spades, and re-entered his own hand with a diamond ruff, and the eight of spades provided the 13th trick. A trump squeeze.

CURRENT EVENTS At Pritchard's the third round of the Meyer Cup resulted:—North-South: Dr. Bruce MacKenzie and Mr. Bruce Smith, 58.1 per cent, 1; Mrs. Sheldon and Captain Barnes, 56.9 per cent, 2; Mrs. Heighwav and Mr. Morgan, 55.8 per cent, 3. East-West: Mrs. Murray and Miss Knock, 57.8 per cent, 1; Mr. Murray and Captain Atwell, 57.3 per cent, 2; Mr. McClelland and Mr. Taylor, 52.0 per cent, 3.

The bidding: South West North East 10 I A 3 0 pass 3 N.T. pass 5 0 pass pass pass North's five-diamond bid was not good, and he might well have passed the three no-trumps. However, West opened the heart ace and continued hearts. How should declarer play, and can the contract be set against the best pLay by declarer?