Belgium vs France – Round 17

By Barry Rigal

There were a couple of interesting play hands in the Round 17 vugraph match between France and Belgium.

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

West	North	East	South
Palau	Kaplan	Multon	Polet
		Pass	Pass
Pass	2§	Pass	2¨
Dble	Rdbl	All Pass

Guy Polet was manoeuvred into a contract that would give the vugraph audience maximum interest and then he played it to extract the most from the cards.

Guy was the only South to play in 2¨ redoubled (maybe all the other Easts or Wests felt obliged to open something?). On the lead of the jack of spades he carefully won and played the §Q followed by a club to the ace. When East gave count in clubs, it persuaded West to rise with the ¨A on the next trick to try to give his partner a club ruff – no luck there! Polet took the heart winners then exited with the ace of spades, ruffed by West. In this ending:

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

Palau led a heart, ruffed by Polet who led a club, ruffed by the ¨7 as dummy discarded a spade. This left Palau with only trumps and a heart and, when he led a heart, declarer could ruff in dummy, over-ruff in hand and make a trump coup for +960 and a 10 IMP gain against +490 in the other room.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª A K Q 7 © 8 7 ¨ Q J 6 § Q 8 6 2
ª J 10 9 © Q 10 6 3 ¨ K 9 4 § K 7 4		ª 8 6 5 3 2 © A J 9 ¨ 7 5 3 § J 10
	ª 4 © K 5 4 2 ¨ A 10 8 2 § A 9 5 3

West	North	East	South
Palau	Kaplan	Multon	Polet
Pass	1§	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2¨
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Franck Multon, France

In the other room the Belgian defence did not find the early heart plays required to beat 3NT. However, Multon as East led the ¨7 and Palau won the king and shifted to the ©3. Had Multon inserted the nine, he would probably have set the game. Instead, he went in with the ace and returned the ©J, ducked, then the ©9. Kaplan won and, after much thought, cashed the three top spades before running the diamonds. In the three-card ending, West was forced down to two clubs and a heart and was thrown in with the heart to lead clubs, allowing declarer to put up the queen and flatten the board.

The Pairs Game

by Tjolpe Flodqvist

All tricks are equal, but some tricks are more equal than others. I am, of course, thinking of tricks in the pairs game.

Gunnar Hallberg, who is a reliable source of interesting boards, gave me this one from the Sunday Gold Tournament of the Swedish Bridge Festival.

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

West	North	East	South
Magnus	Staffan	Gunnar	Rolf
Eriksson	Larsson	Hallberg	Bengtsson
		2¨	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

Magnus lead the king of hearts and Gunnar dropped the jack There is obviously ten tricks with the aid of a diamond finesse, but when you’ve got ten you want eleven. Rolf won the next heart and rattled off his club winners, discarding a heart from his hand. Which cards do you think that the defenders should keep in the three-card ending?

If West throws a spade and two hearts, declarer will play the jack of diamonds to East’s king and then squeeze West in the majors. Therefore West immediately threw two spades and East kept his three small spades.

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

Now declarer played the jack of diamonds to the king and ace and followed with the queen and a third round to East. West discarded the ten of hearts and dummy the eight. The forced spade return went to the jack and king and South continued with a spade to the ten – and collected only nine of the cold ten tricks?