Tales from the senior crypt

There are some stories to be told from the Swedish Senior Teams.

	ª 9 8 4 © K Q 10 8 2 ¨ A K 3 § Q 5
		ª K J 5 © A J 6 5 ¨ 7 § K 10 7 3 2

West	North	East	South
pass	1©	pass	2¨
pass	3¨	pass	4¨
pass	4©	pass	5¨
pass	pass	pass

After an entirely natural sequence West leads the three of spades to the king and ace. A heart to the king which you win, despite that partner shows an even number of hearts, which card are you now most interested in?

	ª 9 8 4 © K Q 10 8 2 ¨ A K 3 § Q 5
ª Q 10 7 3 2 © 7 3 ¨ 5 4 § J 9 8 6		ª K J 5 © A J 6 5 ¨ 7 § K 10 7 3 2
	ª A 6 © 9 4 ¨ Q J 10 9 8 6 2 § A 4

Yes, of course! The two of diamonds, since if you duck the first heart and declare doesn’t have the two of diamonds, he cannot make his contract.

Some boards are just bound to be washouts, regardless of what silly contracts that are played.

West dealer, North-South vulnerable.
	ª K J 9 8 © 8 5 3 ¨ A 9 6 5 § 7 5
ª Q 7 4 3 2 © A 10 ¨ K 7 3 § A 10 3		ª 5 © Q J 9 7 6 4 2 ¨ 10 4 § Q 8 6
	ª A 10 6 © K ¨ Q J 8 2 § K J 9 4 2

What would you expect to be the contract played at both tables? Two or three hearts making eight or nine tricks? No way!

At both tables West opened 1ª and East decided not to abandon partner there, so they emerged with the negative 1NT, which was passed out. North-South can score four diamonds and four spades for two down, but South naturally enough led a club to the queen and declarer happily collected nine tricks?

An even bigger miracle was this one.

East dealer, North-South vulnerable.
	ª 5 4 3 2 © J 9 6 5 4 ¨ 10 7 § J 6
ª K J 9 7 © K 3 ¨ 8 6 5 2 § A Q 7		ª Q 8 6 © A 10 7 ¨ 4 § 10 9 8 5 4 3
	ª A 10 © Q 8 2 ¨ A K Q J 9 3 § K 2

Peter Backlund opened 1§, strong, and North bid a negative 1¨. Hoping for some useful bits and pieces in dummy Peter optimistically ended the auction with a jump to 3NT.

This is a nice sacrifice since the opponents can make five clubs, although they may have problems getting there. Anyway, West was not a believer in fourth best leads in his strongest and longest suit, so he led a diamond to the ten. A heart to the eight was captured by the King and West persisted with another diamond. Peter run all his diamonds and when East dutifully refused to win the heart Ace when Peter played the Queen, South played his third heart.

Meanwhile West came down to ªKJ and §AQ. In response to his partners signals East played a spade to the ace and West rather unwisely played the jack. The ten of spades to the king was followed by the ace of clubs and the queen to the king.

At the other table South bid 2¨ after the strong club and weak diamond response. East led a club and West cashed his ace and queen. The king of hearts was followed by a heart to the ace and a heart ruff. Since declarer could not draw trumps and enjoy his good hearts the contract sadly went one down.

Some people are just impossible to shut out!

East dealer, all vulnerable
	ª 4 © A K 8 2 ¨ K J 5 4 3 2 § A 2
ª J 8 6 5 3 © 5 ¨ 10 9 8 6 § Q 10 8		ª A K Q 9 2 © J 7 6 4 ¨ A Q § 6 5
	ª 10 7 © Q 10 8 3 ¨ 7 § K J 9 7 4 3

Åke Sjöberg, Sweden

East opened 1ª and Åke Sjöberg as West raised invitationally to 3ª on his almost 7,5 loser hand ?. North doubled for take out despite the fact that partner normally should hold a Yarborough or something similar. East bid 4ª and South 5§. North converted to 5¨ and East doubled. South gave preference to 5© which came around to East who understood what was going on and doubled instead of bidding 5ª.

After two rounds of spades South played ace and king of clubs and ruffed the third round with the king. Ace of hearts and a finesse with the ten resulted in a mere 200 for East-West, not a satisfactory compensation for the 620 on offer in four spades.

Try a lead problem.

West delaer, East-West vulnerable.

ª 5 4
© J 6 4 2
¨ K 8 3 2
§ 8 4

West	North	East	South
pass	1ª	pass	2¨
pass	2©	pass	3NT
pass	pass	pass

The unbid suit, may be? A spade perhaps? Or a heart, but surely not a diamond? It appeared that anything was better than the unbid suit.

	ª K Q 10 8 2 © A Q 8 7 ¨ 9 § 10 9 2
ª J 5 4 © J 6 4 2 ¨ K 8 3 2 § 8 4		ª 9 7 6 3 © K 10 5 ¨ Q 7 5 § A Q 3
	ª A © 9 3 ¨ A J 10 6 4 § K J 7 6 5

At the table West led the fourth best from his longest and strongest, to the nine, the queen and ace. East allowed the club king to score the next trick, won the next club and returned the seven of diamonds to the jack which held the trick.

Now declarer could have made the game by unblocking the ace of spades, cross to the ace of hearts and cash his spades. But reasonably enough he attempted the heart finesse after the ace of spades, but it failed and the defenders collected five tricks.

Actually only a heart lead beats three no-trumps. If dummy plays the queen the defense can cut dummy off. And if declarer plays a low heart at trick one, East will win with the ten and return a diamond to West’s king and another heart. The defense will now make two hearts and at least three tricks in the minors.