Salt Lake Telegram | 1949-05-25 | Page 10 | Better Bridge

BETTER r BRIDGE I Y C G H. H North NorthA A 87 V A ef J 10 6 J West Vest East EastA A 10 1032 3 2 A K Q 9 6 61 1 V 10 6 5 4 y A AJ J 10 8 4 3 4 J 9 7 4 South SouthA A V y Ii 9 7 4 North r and South vulnerable West Vest deals West North East South P P IA 1 P P P PP PP PP P Opening lead lead 10 10 of spades East's call of one spade i is somehow below the normal re requIrements requirements requirements re- re for an opening bid but butis buts is s in accord with modern practice which permits the opening in third position without about a half trick less ess than would be required in other positions at the table provided provided provided pro pro- vided a reasonably good suit is held South had a choice The orthodox orthodox orthodox ortho ortho- dox procedure is to double but buthe buthe buthe he reasoned that no matter what suit hi his partner bid he was going to bid t two vo no trump so he might as well do so at once trusting that partner artner would interpret this as a normal two no trump bid with a double stopper in spades Actually the South hand is one point short of a standard two no trump bid which requires 22 points North had just about enough to permit a raise to three no trump The 10 of spades spade was opened most modern players prefer to open the deuce under these circumstances circumstances circumstances circum circum- stances and East's queen was permitted permitted permitted per per- to hold A low spade was continued and the jack hack won Dummy was entered with the queen of f diamonds and the club finesse inesse se tried since the opening bid had lad apparently marked the king of clubs with East When the fine finesse e failed a spade continuation cleared the suit and the ace of hearts provided East with entry to cash the set setting ling trick in spades South had played carelessly in m taking aking for granted that East held the king of clubs If he had so 50 much nuch the better hetter he would have haveit it a minute or two later The king of clubs was no menace no mater matter matter mat- mat ter er who had it it since it could not give ive East an entry for his spades spade East's only tooth was the ace of hearts if that were yanked he couldn't bite declarer The first play by South should therefore have been the king of hearts If it held he could then cross to dummy dummy dummy dum dum- my for the purpose of taking the club finesse and nine tricks would be assured whether or not the fine finesse se succeeded If East wins the ace of hearts and clears the spade the club finesse can be taken with complete peace of mind since if it loses West Nest will have no spade to return or if by chance he has one there is only one more spade trick out against the declarer Copyright 1949 C. C H. H Goren