Phillip Alder Bridge

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

This example is good, not awkward

North

	A J 7 4
	K 4 2
	8 6
	K 5 3 2

West

	9 6
	10 9 6
	A J 9 2
	Q J 10 8

East

	K Q 10 8 3
	3
	K 10 7 5
	9 7 4

South

	5 2
	A Q J 8 7 5
	Q 4 3
	A 6

Dealer: South
Vulnerable: Both

South	West	North	East
1	Pass	1	Pass
2	Pass	4	All Pass

Opening lead:

     Mark Twain wrote, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”
     I wonder what he would have thought of the title of a Lewis B. Frumkes book: How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children.
     At the bridge table, you often use your I.Q. for the game to find a way to eat losers — a much more palatable process. How would you do that on this deal? You reach four hearts, and West leads the club queen.
     Your two-heart rebid guaranteed at least a six-card suit. North jumped to four hearts, upgrading his hand because of the nine-card fit (a big plus over an eight-card fit), one ace, two kings and a ruffing value (his doubleton). Also, North was tempted by the huge vulnerable game bonus.
     Count your losers by looking at your 13 cards and taking dummy's honors into account. You should see four possible losers: one spade and three diamonds.
     There are two common ways of eliminating losers: ruff them on the board or discard them. Here, since dummy has only two diamonds and you have three, you can ruff your third diamond.
     Take the first trick (I would use dummy's king to keep the ace as a later hand entry, but it does not matter here) and immediately play a diamond. (Yes, you can afford a round of trumps, but other layouts would make that fatal.) Let's suppose they win and shift to a trump. Take that and play another diamond. When you are next in your hand, ruff your remaining diamond, draw trumps, and claim ten tricks: one spade, six hearts, two clubs and the key diamond ruff.