CONTRACT BRIDGE j

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19300, 29 September 1932, Page 14

CONTRACT BRIDGE j

(By William Shackle.) (Specially Written for “ The Herald.”) A DIFFICULT HAND. NO. 18. Last week I mentioned that sometimes hands will not fit, and for that reason one is apt to consider perfectly good bidding as either risky or downright bad, because it did not “come off.” This week a further example of quite normal bidding is being given, but though there are sufficient tricks to make contract, such is difficult of attainment. It is in fact a most interesting hand, and I would ask each one of my readers to put out the cards and to play same for themselves before looking underneath the bidding at the solution. The hand is as follows: S K2 H AQIO 5 D J 72 C AQIO 9 S 3 Y S Q 976 H K 976 H 432 D AKIO 5 A B D Q 96 C 7632 C 854 Z S AJIO 854 H J 8 D 843 C KJ No score. Y deals. Y B Z A INo Trump No bid 3 Spades No bid 4 Spades No bid No bid No bid Quite normal bidding, and looking casually at the hand, contract seems easily obtainable. I have shown this hand to quite a number of good players, who practically without exception have considered contract impossible, provided A leads three rounds of Diamonds and B does not release his Queen of trumps, when led through. Actually Z can insure obtaining his contract by playing the cards thus:

The first three tricks are simple, B discarding 9 of diamonds on first trick and 6 on second, thus giving A the come-on signal. A responds, as he knows that B either holds Queen of Diamonds or that he can trump.

After the fifth round, Z knows that B holds Q 9 of trumps and that if he has to lead up to this combination, B must make one of them and defeat YZ’s contract. On the other hand, there is a risk that B also holds King of Hearts, but as in such a case Z cannot possibly make 10 tricks, he finesses through A. The whole problem is to make dummy lead at twelfth trick, and this can only be done by Z getting rid of his trumps or Y’s otherwise winning tricks. The above is called a Double Grand Coup, and it is not nearly so rare in occurrence as one may suppose.

Trks. A Y B Z 1 KD 2D 9D 8D 2 AD 7D 6D 4D 3 5D JD QD 3D 4 3S 2S 6S 10S 5 2C KS 7S 4S 6 3C 9C 4C KC 7 6C QC 5C JC 8 7C AC 8C 5S 9 6H or KH QH or AH 2H JH 10 10D 10C 3H 8S 11 as 9 as 9 4H 8H 12 9H 10H 9S JS 13 7H 5H QS AS