The All-Time Bridge Greats (5)

B.J. Becker

B. Jay Becker (1904-1987), originally from Philadelphia but latterly of New York, was an attorney, bridge teacher and bridge columnist. At various times, B. Jay was manager of three major New York bridge clubs.

One of the most conservative of experts, B. Jay played very few conventions, spurning even the universally played Stayman response to 1NT to ask for four card majors.

One of America's greatest players, Becker won the Vanderbilt teams eight times, the Spingold seven times, and the Chicago Trophy, precursor to the Reisinger, eight times.

He twice won the Bermuda Bowl, in 1951 and 1953, and represented North America on three other occasions. The last of those appearances came in 1973 when B. Jay partnered son Mike, the only father/son combination ever to play at this level, though Italy won the trophy. Mike was later to become a world champion in his own right, winning the Bermuda Bowl in 1983. B. Jay's brother, Steve, and other son, Jim, were also top class players.

This has to be one of the greatest declarer play hands of all time and, as so often when a contract appears hopeless, it was the result of a bidding misunderstanding.

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

West	North	East	South
-	-	-	1§
Pass	1¨	Pass	1ª
Pass	3§	Pass	4§
Pass	4ª	Pass	6§
All Pass

The misunderstanding came because Becker forgot that they had a partnership agreement whereby 4§ asked for aces. So when his partner, Dorothy Hayden, bid 4ª, he took that as an encouraging noise when actually it was merely showing two aces in response to what Hayden rightly took to be an asking bid.

West did not want to lead his ace when it seemed clear that North/South must have a heart control so tried a low diamond instead. Remarkably, the contract could no longer be defeated, though it took a real master to find the route home.

B. Jay took the diamond finesse, he cashed the ¨A discarding a heart, then ruffed a diamond. No good news. Now he played a club to the ace and ruffed another diamond, establishing the queen, then cashed the §K and the §Q. That left this ending:

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

Look what happened when Becker next cashed ¨Q. East had to pitch a heart to keep four spades and South also pitched a heart. Then comes ªQ and ª8, and East must split his honors to prevent declarer finessing the nine. Becker won the ªK and exited with ©J. Whoever won this trick was endplayed! If West won he would crash his partner's king and then have to lead into dummy's ©106, so he ducked. But now East was caught, obliged to lead into declarer's ªA9.

Incidentally, the particular kind of squeeze played here is known as a Winkle.