| Show I BETTER Jf J f BRIDGE ty ity C G H. H GOUN N Neither side aide vulnerable North deals North J 86 V A A 4 J 9 r Wet West East 6 64 82 82 7 47 7 South 3 32 2 J 10 9 4 A IC J 9 7 10 8 4 The actual bidding North East South West Vest 1 club Pass 1 1 spade 2 diamonds Pass 2 no tp tp Pass 3 no trump Pus Pass Pass P Pass Pasa Opening lead King of spades My liMy partner must be wrong the the I opponents opponent are no doubt right II ba la is' a doctrine that has been adopted I Iby by vast hord hordes of bridge players It rears rears' its ugly head many times right at the opening lead Partner may have taken his life into his lands in hearts because the opening lead of of that suit is urgently desired The opponents go o gayly on to three no trump despite the fact that they hold but buta buti a i single st stopper The opening leader holds the J J 2 2 of hearts and promptly looks around for some other suit in which he holds something some some- thing hing like Jike 5 2 7 3 2 and starts attacking at at- tacking Didn't they bid no trump right ight over partners partner's suit When a player acquires acquires' a reputation reputations tation for refusing to lead fead partners partner's partners partner's partners partner's part part- ners ner's suit a canny adversary will frequently play successfully sully on that hat weakness by fantastic calls of three no trump In today's hand South went one step farther and tried Tied to scare West out of ot leading his own suit This is bravado of the he first order Yet but for East's inspired defensive coup his attempt attempt at- at tempt empt at highway robbery would havet succeeded When the final contract of three no trump was reached there was no chance to get West's mind off ott the spade suit so o the king came out very promptly When the Jack showed up in dummy East could not afford afford af- af ford to overtake and a low spade was ivas continued The ace won but the suit was blocked East could see ee that unless partner was able to obtain the lead the cause was lost Jost The instinctive lead would be a diamond but a a moments moment's thought made it evident that such plan had little ittle hope of ot success To bid no trump without the sign of ot a spade stopper and not much else South must have been relying on running the thc diamond suit Furthermore Furthermore Fur Fur- if it West had a a high diamond diamond dia dia- m mond nd it was unlikely that declarer could ever run enough tricks without without without with with- out first letting him in There was one remote hope and that was that Vest had the queen of hearts It was not a very bright prospect but butt it t was the only real chance East therefore p placed I 1 a ace c e d firmly |
