Maximum number of trump tricks

By Svend Novrup

Many good plays were made on this hand from the round 25 VuGraph match between Norway and Italy, which was so important for the standings in the top of the table.

Dealer East. All Vul.
	ª A J 8 4 2 © 4 ¨ 8 5 3 § Q 10 6 3
ª K Q 9 © 10 9 8 3 ¨ A 7 2 § 8 7 4		ª 10 6 3 © A K Q 9 ¨ J 9 4 § K J 9
	ª 7 5 © J 7 5 2 ¨ K Q 10 6 § A 5 2

West	North	East	South
Groetheim	Bocchi	Aa	Duboin
		1NT	All Pass

In the closed room Bocchi - Duboin played an impeccable defence against 1NT played by Terja AA, sitting East. South led ¨K, and declarer somewhat dubiously won dummy's ace, cashed two high hearts followed by a spade to ªK. A club to the jack was won by South who played a spade through. North cashed his spades and played a diamond through. Five tricks and +200 for Italy.

West	North	East	South
Versace	Helness	Lauria	Helgemo
		1§	Pass
1ª	1ª	2ª	Dble*
Pass	2ª	All Pass

Helness faced the difficult task of keeping down the loss to 3 IMPs by landing his contract. East started with two top hearts, North ruffed the second, played a diamond to the king and ruffed another heart. A diamond to the 10 was ducked, too, and he ruffed dummy's last heart before putting West on play with a third round of diamonds. West switched to a club to the ten and ace and Helness asked for the established ¨6. West inserted ªQ but Helness just discarded a club and was destined to make two more trump tricks, five in all. +110 to Norway but still an Italian win of 5 IMPs.

The contracts were the same in the Ladies Series between the world champions from the Netherlands and Denmark who up to that point had only won one single match. This board contributed to their rather surprising doubling of that total. In one room the Danish East won her 1NT while in the other Charlotte Henriksen, sitting North, equalled the feat of Helness. The play was the same until West won ¨10 with her ¨A and switched to a sly trump. Henriksen, however, made no mistake, winning with the jack, going to dummy with the club ace to ruff the last heart and cash a diamond for eight tricks and 5 IMPs to Denmark who won the match 17-13 after being behind 0-26.

Nervous Dreams

By Peter Lovasz - Hungary

Last night my wife (a player of the Hungarian Ladies Team) slept very nervously. She mumbled more than once: Oh, Jesus, one down, one down. I suppose, she dreamed about this board in the Czech Republic - Hungary match:

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª A Q 10 5 2 © 9 6 ¨ J § A K 9 6 4
ª J © A K 7 5 ¨ A K 10 9 § Q 10 8 2		ª K 8 7 3 © J 10 4 3 2 ¨ Q 4 § 7 5
	ª 9 6 4 © Q 8 ¨ 8 7 6 5 3 2 § J 3

West	North	East	South
Topolyi		Welker
		Pass	Pass
1§*	1NT*	Pass	2§*
Pass	2ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass
1§ Strong
1NT Two-suiter
2§ Asking
2ª Spades and Clubs, minimum 5-5.

Did East do well to pass the double? Who knows?
Four Hearts would go down as long as the defenders manage to promote South's queen of trumps into a trick.
So, what about Two Spades?
The opening lead was the queen of diamonds, followed by a second diamond.
East must switch to a heart at trick two if the queen of diamonds holds. Editor Declarer ruffed, cashed two high clubs and played a third club, ruffed on the table. Now she played a diamond, discarding a heart from her hand. West won, and played the jack of spades but it was too late. North Went up with the ace and played a club and eight tricks could not be prevented.
What happens if West wins the first diamond, and switches to the jack of spades?
North wins with the ace, plays three round clubs, ruffing the third one in dummy, but on it East discards her last diamond. Now comes a diamond from the table, a heart being discarded as before. West wins, cashes the ace of hearts and switches to a diamond.
This is the situation:

	ª Q 10 5 2 © - ¨ - § 9 6
ª - © K 7 5 ¨ 10 § Q		ª K 8 7 © J 10 4 ¨ - § -
	ª 9 © Q ¨ 8 7 6 5 § -

If North ruffs high, East discards a heart, and will have three spade tricks. If North ruffs low, East over-ruffs, plays the king of spades and the declarer cannot ruff the fourth club.
'Be easy darling!' I said.
'It was not the first time, and, - I am afraid, will not be the last'.

Red faces on Tenerife

By Svend Novrup

Coming to Tenerife from a place where the spring has not offered the opportunity to achieve a nice suntan you could really have a red face in no time. If, however, you play so much bridge that you have had no time for the sun you could get your red face for another reason. Let us take a look at this deal from Round 25 which left many players, declarers and defenders alike, with red faces.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª 6 5 © 8 6 5 ¨ K 2 § A K Q J 8 7
ª Q J 9 8 3 2 © K Q J 4 ¨ 10 5 3 § -		ª K 7 © A 9 3 2 ¨ A 8 4 § 10 6 4 3
	ª A 10 4 © 10 7 ¨ Q J 9 7 6 § 9 5 2

West	North	East	South
2ª	3§	Dble	Pass
3©	Pass	4©	All Pass

The bidding took many roads depending on West's first action. At some tables he opened 1ª, at others 2ª, and at many tables he/she passed, planning to show his/her majors later on. 4ª is the best game contract which will never be defeated but it is very easy to end up in 4©. An exciting contract - will it make?

One pair played from the contract from the East hand and when South led a diamond, the contract posed no problems at all, but at the many tables where West was declarer, North invariably led a top club, and declarer was in some trouble. Most declarers ruffed and played a spade to the king, taken by South with the ace.

In the post mortems these actions will have caused many, many red faces as West should not ruff the club, and South should not win his spade ace. If he ducks, declarer will go down. When he plays another spade South will win and force declarer with a second club after which he will lose control. One Lebanese defender realised that and ducked but we will not mention his name, anyway, as he later fell from grace, and the contract was made.
That is not quite right, as if South ducks the ace of spades declarer plays a second spade. South wins and plays a club. Declarer ruffs, cashes a top heart and now plays on spades, discarding diamonds from the dummy. Editor

Despite that, the hand was a piece of Lebanese brilliancy as Michel Eidi in the other room made the brilliant play he had promised e-bridge when he discarded diamonds on the § A as well as the §K. Now he could no longer be defeated! The bidding shown above, by the way, is from his table in the drawn match against the Netherlands.

Try asking around. How many faces can YOU collect by means of this hand?