bridge

This deal from one of last season's Gold Cup matches between two leading teams was something of a curiosity. A rare thing happened: the bidding and play was identical at both tables with the two declarers making the same mistake.

South opened 1#, West doubled, and North raised pre-emptively to 3#. (3NT might have been easier but that was difficult to judge.)

West led !Q and declarer could see that, if he started on trumps, the defenders would win and drive out his other top heart. The best chance lay in setting up a club trick so that a losing heart could be discarded from the table.

West's double had marked him with most of the outstanding high cards, so it seemed reasonable to play him for both 2A and 2Q.

Accordingly, South won and led 2K at trick two. West took his ace and led a second heart to the ace. South led 2J and, when West played low, discarded dummy's last heart. East turned up with the queen, however, and that meant one down.

The declarers had the right idea but both of them failed to see that they needed only to find West with 2A and that the whereabouts of the queen of clubs was unimportant. Suppose they had led 2J at trick two: East wins and clears the hearts but now a ruffing finesse against West's 2A allows a heart discard from dummy.

Game all; dealer South

North

410 9 8 4 2

!7 4 3

#K J 3 2

22

West East

4K J 5 4Q 7 6 3

!Q J 10 9 !8 6 2

#A 7 #5

2A 9 7 4 2Q 8 6 5 3

South

4A

!A K 5

#Q 10 9 8 6 4

2K J 10