Sunday, October 28, 2001		Bridge

RECENTLY, I resumed an old partnership with Pietro Forquet (of the famous Italian Blue Team) in the Philip Morris European Pairs Championship at Salsomaggiore.

Although we did not feature in the main prize list, I have to confess that Pietro won the Bulletin prize for the best entertaining horror story of the tournament. This was the hand:

As West at game all I dealt and passed, North opened One Spade and Pietro overcalled with Three Clubs. South bid Three No-trumps, North asked for Aces and raised to Six No-trumps (a doubtful decision).

Now, can you see East’s problem? If he doubles — a Lightner slam double suggesting, on the bidding, a Spade lead after which the contract will almost surely be defeated, I would certainly have led a Spade as requested and, indeed, the slam would have failed by one trick.

But, reasoned partner, without a double I would be sure to lead his suit (Clubs) and with two almost certain entries in the shape of the King of Spades and the Ace of Diamonds, the contract seemed likely to go several off.

So he passed, I dutifully led a Club, and it proved easy for declarer to establish 12 tricks without taking a Spade finesse.

Yes, a Spade lead would have defeated the contract and — the ultimate horror — it was only the Club lead that gave declarer his twelfth trick for, with the void in dummy, he could not have taken the marked Club finesse himself.