| Show r CULBERTSON on CONTRACT by Ely Culbertson World Worlds Champion Chon Player and Gr Greatest Card Cud Analyst TIME AND TilE THE CARDS One reason that contract players players view pessimistically hands containing overwhelming honor strength h concentrated concen in one hand of the partnership is the prime requisite i of maintaining communication between the two hands if it the ultimate trick taking kinc power of the combined holdings is tobe to tobe tobe be realized The honors are essential essen Hal entries as well as stoppers in adverse suits which permit crossing from one hand to the other at the correct moment This is axiomatic and is realized by almost every contract con conS tract player However even with this knowledge not all nil players can utilize the full trick taking power of a hand because they do not properly time the manner in hi which tricks trick should be taken in Recently in an important cham match in Boston the hand han below was played Most 1 of the play ers erg were content to bid a small slam in hearts One of them Roger M Nesbitt however shooting for a top decided to bid for a grand rand slam am and made it due to his thorough elation of the element clement of time in combination com cornS with the cards he held South South Dealer Dealer Neither side vulnerable t K J 10 5 o A Q 6 J 5 I 7 O 72 3 o 0 8 7 6 W EO Ia KJ 9 32 w Si A Q CA G C V A K J 10 8 4 0 o 10 4 4 A 10 The final contract was seven hearts heart a a rather ambitious undertaking J It mu must t be admitted West chose as hi his opening lead lend the diamond 8 reasoning reasoning reason reason- ing that a fourth best lead from hi his worthless spades or clubs would b be futile Mr Nesbitt W was thus faced aced with a difficult situation at once In order to realize his contract he mus must either cither rely upon the success of the diamond fin e thus thu In tn h him ilm m or p play for o- o a squeeze t to make maketu tu he the thirteenth trick The diamond finesse offered considerably less than an even chance of success If West Wes was opening fourth best then hi his holding in diamonds included K J 9 the he only adverse cards in the suit sui hIgher than the card left Much more probable Mr Nesbitt thought was wa that hat the lead was top of noth nothing ng There was still a chance to make nake the contract even if this were so provided provided pro pro- vided East held the key cards to the defense which in this case were the diamond kin king and the tha club king kin queen Mr k Nesbitt therefore played the ace in Dummy and then immediately imme continued with six rounds o of hearts East was forced to find five discards discards dis dis- cards and on the hearts he discarded three dl diamonds and two clubs Dummy Dum Dummy my meanwhile had discarded dIscard cd the knave mave of clubs and the 6 of diamonds Mr Nesbitt next led four rounds o of spades discarding his losing diamond on the long spade in Dummy East again was faced with two discards He could not hold protection in clubs club and retain the diamond and the diamond diamond dia dia- mond he must old so long as the lead cad was in the Dummy Therefore he le was compelled to blank the club king and South thus realized the making of a grand slam through careful careful care care- ful and accurate play It Is of course apparent that the squeeze would not have been operative oper nU e f if the hand had been played in any other way if way if for instance after drawing the adverse trumps the declarer de dc darer h had taken the diamond discard on the spade ns RS in n that case the communication com cam between the two hands would have been cut and East would have been able to hold a guard in inthe inthe inthe the club suit TODAY'S POINTER The time f factor plays an important role in developing a hand at bridge Bridge e Is a miniature battle battIe waged by pasteboard armies annies under the generalship of their holder An appreciation ap of the value of time makes possible many contracts not otherwise otherwise other other- wise attainable TOMORROWS TOMORROW'S HAND The bidding and play of the hand han printed below will vili be discussed to morrow morlOw East East Dealer East and West vulnerable J I J 10 3 2 i 0 Q G I K A- A v K J. J N vo v- v o 0 K 97 4 2 EJ W E EIO 0 A J 10 8 g I 5 53 32 3 2 A 10 4 A A 7 6 5 4 v Q 10 8 5 4 3 0 0 Q 6 Study the hand decide how yo you would bid bd and play It it and then compare com corn pare the results you obtain with tho those shown in tomorrows tomorrow's article Copyright ht 1932 Ely Culbertson |
