Innocent Discard

Wes’s first discard looked harmless, but proved to have fatal consequences. When dummy went down, south did not feel very hopeful of success. things improved a little when south played low from dummy on the lead of the ♣J and the ♣K popped up. Still, where was a ninth trick to be found? 

South won the ace of clubs and crossed to dummy with a spade to lead a heart to the ♥Q and West took it with the ♥K. West had no reason to know the true heart position and, of course, if declarer held the ♥A, he would have only one of the top diamonds. So, West switched to a low diamond, east played the ♦J and south took it with the ♦K. Now, south played a second spade to dummy and West pitched a heart, as would many of us, I think. The contract was now cold! 

South played a second heart and east won. But West’s discard meant that defensive communications had been cut. If the hearts were not cashed now, declarer would win the return and cash his black winners then put West in with a club to lead into the ♦A - ♦10 at the end. So, east cashed his heart winners, only to squeeze his partner in the minors. South won the diamond switch and cashed two spade winners and West had no answer. Three NT made for +600.

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Choice of Poisons

This interesting and amusing deal was played by our popular director, Daxindas! mostly he is addressed as ‘Daxin’. He always explains the ruling in his Marathi English — always very helpful and hard working. 

West, whose finely waved hair was smarmed down with coconut oil, led the ♥8. Daxin captured ♥queen with the ♥A and played off all the clubs discarding three spades from his hand. East made a loud and clear discards of ♦J109 announcing the presence of ♦K. His fourth discard was ♥9. While West was reluctant to discard any card, choice of poison, and finally discarded the ♦A. I guess he was trying to unblock, but his reasons are unknown. Two hearts and a spade. 

Now Daxin played the ♦4 from the dummy and east hopped up with the ♦K and quickly played the ♥5. West was happy to cash his three heart winners and exited with the ♠K. Daxin grabbed it with the ♠A and played the ♦3 to his winner ♦Q out of the blue! And to east-West’s horror. West edged his chair and looked at Daxin with new-found respect. Daxin’s eyes shone with strange light as he did full justice to the slippery defense. 

Fortune favours the bold and the brave ones!

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The Better Chance

Over this weekend Otters Club held their annual State level Bridge tournament. The main organiser of the tournament is the ever smiling, courteous and always obliging Mr Chandru Bijalani. The pioneer of duplicate bridge in otters Club was Dr Tara Teckchandani. We very fondly remember her at every tournament. 

The above deal is courtesy ‘apro’ dara. 

West led ♠4, dummy rose with the ♠k and this lost to east’s ♠a, ♠7 came back, which west won and switched to ♦4. Declarer won this with ♦A. The contract would fail unless South could discard one on dummy’s long club suit. To achieve this, even if the club split 4-3, dummy must be reached no fewer than four times. The finesse offered the better chance. South played ♣5 to ♣A and ruffed a club in hand. He led a low trump and, when west played low, he put dummy’s ♥8, which won. South ruffed another club in hand. He played a second heart, capturing west’s ♥10 with dummy’s ♥J, and ruffed a third club, pulling west’s ♣k. Finally South played a third trump to dummy’s ♥9 and cashed his winning club, pitching one of the diamond losers. Game was scored! 

You can give others another chance, or you can forgive, let go, and give yourself a better chance!

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It seems Easy Enough

It was a rather wet and wild, but a colourful weekend with Holi celebrations in the city. 

South needed ten tricks to make today’s 4♥, and when West led the ♦Q, South can count eleven: in addition to winning the ♦K, ♦A, ♣A and ♠A, South can score all seven of his trumps separately with a crossruff. 

It seems easy enough. 

South took the ♦K, led a spade to dummy and cashed the ♦A, preparing to crossruff for his eleven tricks. it was all very easy – except that the ♦A South couldn’t cash as West ruffed and played a trump. Now two trumps had gone, hence south couldn’t win seven trump tricks to make the contract. When south took the ♦K, he should cash dummy’s black aces and start a crossruff. His actual play risked the contract for an overtrick. 

All things are difficult before they are easy! 

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