Bridge Bites

BRIDGE BITES #89

CONJURING TRICK

Brian Gunnell

♠ Q2

♥ QJT6

♦ A432

♣ A62

None Vulnerable

South West North East

1♥ Pass 4♥? Pass

Pass Pass

North took the direct route to game, but there are other ways

to bid that hand. Most tournament players use 1♥-4♥ as a

preempt (5+ Hearts and a weak hand) and use a conventional

2NT bid for the actual North hand, thereby giving N-S the

the opportunity to investigate slam if appropriate (which in this

case it is not!)

Dummy

West East

Declarer

♠ AT

♥ K9743

♦ KQ5

♣ 543

Against 4♥ West led the ♣K, won by Dummy’s Ace. A trump was lost to West’s Ace, West cashed the ♣K (East playing the Jack), and then the ♣T (East pitching a Spade), before exiting safely with a Diamond. At this point you can count nine top tricks. Do you see how you might conjure up a tenth? And who has the ♠K?

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Before you commence any conjuring it will occur to you that West has shown up with ♥A and the ♣KQ, and that if he also held the ♠K he would no doubt have been heard from in the bidding. So, East has the ♠K.

At first glance it might appear that the only chance is for the Diamonds to break 3-3. What if one defender has four (or more) Diamonds and the ♠K? In that case could you rattle off all your trumps and save the day with a squeeze? Not if it is East who holds the vital cards, because he will be discarding last and will pitch whatever suit Dummy pitches. So that squeeze won’t work. And you know that West cannot hold the ♠K so clearly the squeeze won’t work against him. Does that mean that you are back to relying on 3-3 Diamonds?

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