Loose lips sink ships

by Henry Francis

Henry Francis is a great supporter of Junior Bridge, and has been the Editor of many Junior World Championship bulletins. Here is his specially commissioned contribution to these Championships.

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

How would you play Six Clubs on the lead of the jack of diamonds?

No doubt you win this in hand and consider the possibilities. There appear to be three - play for the ace of spades to be onside, try the heart finesse, or play for a major suit squeeze against West. But you quickly discard the idea of the squeeze - both the ace of spades and the king of hearts have to be with West. For the other two methods, all that is necessary is that you guess which card East has - the king of hearts or the ace of spades. It so happens it doesn't matter which you try - both fail and you go down one.

But you haven't seen the bidding, which went like this:

Now you know the heart finesse is destined to fail. And the chances are West has the ace of spades as well - otherwise that's quite an enterprising Two Heart bid. If this is the case, LHO is in serious trouble and can't escape. You win the first diamond in hand, cash seven rounds of trumps, then follow up by taking dummy's two diamonds, pitching a spade from hand. Now you are down to the ªK and ©AQ, while it appears that LHO has ªA and ©K10. Maybe LHO has blanked the ©K and kept two spades, but it's not at all likely. So you lead a spade to your king, and as expected West wins. But now West has to lead away from the ©K to give you the last two tricks.

It's another instance of a player doing too much talking - another case of loose lips sink ships. This was the full deal:

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

The following hand is really special, I think. The fact that it was played by a college kid adds to its attraction.

It occurred during an OKbridge matchpoint game.

You hold:

and you hear this bidding:

Well, did you fall victim and double? Of course you did! It certainly looks safe, and it doesn’t appear that the opponents have anywhere to run.

At the table East doubled, and South, Joe Veal, a student at the University of Oklahoma, didn’t like the look of his heart suit (©AJ982). East’s double sounded real. He decided to run. First he though of 6NT, but he feared that an opening heart lead would kill any hope for that contract. Finally he decided on 6ª - maybe partner had four, hopefully to the jack.

This was the full deal:

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

West led the eight of spades, and Veal wasn’t at all happy when he saw dummy. “I was amazed that I wasn’t doubled - it looked as if I would be going down three or four tricks.” Then he thought about the hand a bit. “Probably hearts are 5-0 because West didn’t lead one. Clubs probably are 7-2, based on West’s bid. That leaves six cards in each hand. Hey, maybe trumps will break three-three! If they do, so will the diamonds! Maybe I’ve got a chance to make this!”

So Veal won the first trump and led out two more, dropping the suit 3-3. If his figuring was correct, that accounted for 10 cards in each hand, so diamonds were going to fall. Sure enough, they did! On the run of the diamonds, Veal threw a heart and a club and East pitched two hearts. That left this position:

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

Veal led a heart. When East put in the queen, Veal ducked and claimed his unlikely slam bonus. East could get out with a club to the queen, king and ace, but now Veal would take the proven heart finesse - making six spades!

Guess it’s true - loose lips really do sink ships!