What Dreams May Come

It is not unusual for a bridge player, suffering from the combined effects of jet lag and the myriad possibilities of countless deals flashing through the brain to find it difficult to embrace the arms of Morpheus.

Nevertheless, some players claim that they often dream of the right solution to a problem. Here are a few that may have been on the minds of the players trying to qualify for the final session of the Silodor Open Pairs.

Dealer: South Vul: None		North
		♠	9 7 5
		♥	10 9 3
		♦	K Q 7 3
		♣	Q 3 2
West				East
♠	A K 8 6			♠	10 4 3 2
♥	A Q 5 2			♥	8 7
♦	8 6			♦	J 10 4
♣	A 10 9			♣	K 8 7 5
		South
		♠	Q J
		♥	K J 6 4
		♦	A 9 5 2
		♣	J 6 4

West: Cohen	North: Horton	East: Berkowitz	South: Helman
			Pass
1♣*	Pass	1♦ *	1♥
1♠	All Pass

1 ♣=Precision

The Rabbi’s approach to the auction posed a problem for Larry Cohen, who elected to introduce what should have been a five card suit.

Declarer won the heart lead with the queen, cashed the ace and ruffed a heart. A spade to the king was followed by a diamond and North won and exited with a spade. Declarer won and tried another diamond, but North won and exited with a diamond. Declarer ruffed and ducked a club to South , but the heart return ensured a trick for North’s nine of spades.

+140 looked promising for East/West at the time, as eight tricks should be the limit in no trumps, but it turned out that it was North/South who collected the Lion’s share of the matchpoints, as many declarers in spades collected ten tricks.

As long as declarer postpones ruffing a heart, the combination of the 3-3 break in clubs and the lucky spade position brings home the bacon.

Dealer: West Vul: North/South		North
		♠	3 2
		♥	A 6 5 2
		♦	3
		♣	A K J 7 6 4
West				East
♠	K 8 6			♠	Q 9 5
♥	K J 3			♥	10 7
♦	A 9 8 6			♦	Q J 10 5 2
♣	10 9 2			♣	Q 8 5
		South
		♠	A J 10 7 4
		♥	Q 9 8 4
		♦	K 7 4
		♣	3

West: Cohen	North: Horton	East: Berkowitz	South: Helman
1♦	2♣	3♦	Pass
Pass	3♥	All Pass

The defence started with two rounds of diamonds and declarer ruffed and took a spade finesse. West won and played another diamond and declarer ruffed, took another spade finesse, cashed the ace king of clubs, ruffed a club, cashed the ace of spades, ruffed a spade with the ace of hearts and played a club. There was no way the defenders could prevent declarer scoring one more trump trick.

Fort the second time in the round, +140 looked promising, but it was East/West who collected the majority of the points.

When East passed N/S would bid unopposed 1cx-1sx-2cx-2hx-4hx and from the South side the game is unbeatable.

By the way, you may be interested to know that the long standing partnership between Larry and David is taking a sabbatical. They have one of the best records around (including a silver medal in the World Pairs Championship) so if you are lucky enough to play against them this week enjoy the moment – it will be a while before you get another opportunity.

This was an awkward bidding problem (well, I found it awkward). Take the North chair:

North
♠	Q 9 6 5 3
♥	6
♦	K Q J 7
♣	A J 9

West	North: Horton	East	South: Helman
		Pass	Pass
3♥	?

My immediate instinct was to double, but on reflection I decided that the risk of missing a 5-3 spade fit was more significant, so I introduced my moth-eaten suit and bid Three Spades. The Rabbi raised to game and East led the jack of hearts. This was the full deal:

Dealer: East Vul: None		North
		♠	Q 9 6 5 3
		♥	6
		♦	K Q J 7
		♣	A J 9
West				East
♠	10 8 4			♠	K J 7
♥	K Q 9 8 4 3 2			♥	J 5
♦	5			♦	A 9 8 6 2
♣	Q 7			♣	10 8 2
		South
		♠	A 2
		♥	A 10 7
		♦	10 4 3
		♣	K 6 5 4 3

I did not miss the 5-2 fit either!

When the defenders failed to find their diamond ruff I managed to make +420, slightly over average.

With this type of heart guard where ducking once will generally keep West out of the game South ought to prefer 3NT – and on this layout his reward should be ten tricks and most of the matchpoints.

I’ll leave you with a well played deal by a World Champion (and he will be taking his seat opposite David Berkowitz in Washington) – but I shouldn’t have given him the chance:

Dealer: North Vul: North/South		North
		♠	—
		♥	K Q 8 5 4
		♦	Q J 7 6 4 3
		♣	9 7
West				East
♠	A 6			♠	J 9 8 7 3
♥	10 9			♥	A 7 3 2
♦	A K 10 5			♦	9 8 2
♣	A Q 10 4 2			♣	5
		South
		♠	K Q 10 5 4 2
		♥	J 6
		♦	—
		♣	K J 8 6 3

West: Sontag	North: Horton	East: Osofsky	South: Helman
	2♦	Pass	2♠
2NT	All Pass

I was sorely tempted to lead the four of hearts, which should leave declarer a trick short, but a low diamond gave declarer a vital trick.

He won with dummy’s nine, played a club to the ten, cashed the ace of clubs and exited with a club. South won and switched to the king of spades, but declarer won and ducked a heart to South. He won the heart return with dummy’s ace, cashed two diamonds and exited with a spade, forcing South to concede the last trick to declarer’s queen of clubs.

-120 felt depressing, but with several pairs getting into trouble on the N/S cards it proved to be a little over average.

With the Silodor being played on Friday the thirteenth I would have liked to have delivered a story about Triscadecaphobia – but this was the nearest I got!