Friday 16 October 2009

JOHNNY SUPREMO RESCUES THE SITUATION................ Well, there I was in 4 hearts when dummy came down with a hand that was a bit too good. Why I put the brakes on I do not know. My trade mark has always been aggressive bidding yet for once I chickened out. Partner's hand was : ....J8764....63....AKQ6.....A7.....which certainly took care of a few losers, opposite my : .....A.....AK98754....754...92. Hell, if hearts were breaking 2-2, 4H +2 was not going to get me a barrel load of match points on this board. But thankfully, the lead of the spade queen gave me a glimmer of a chance of making all 13 tricks. This way, I could end up beating all those who settled in 4 hearts but only making 12 tricks. Taking the first trick with my stiff Ace, I drew trumps in 2 rounds ( not good news ! ), and went across to dummy with a diamond. A second round of spades saw me ruffing, but I noticed the fall of my LHO's 10. Back to dummy with another diamond to run the jack of spades. My LHO opponent felt obliged to cover with his King, and so I ruffed the trick ( West showing out ). Back to dummy with a third diamond, happy in the knowledge that this suit was not breaking. Now came the 8 of spades, covered again by East with his nine, and ruffed by me. Now it was plain sailing, as I entered dummy again with the Ace of clubs ready to jettison my losing club on an established spade. Mercifully, this elementary play was enough to scramble a few extra match points, to keep me in pole position. And what did other declarers do to only make twelve ? They all chose to limply play out diamonds straightaway, hoping for a 3-3 break and a club discard on the fourth round. My approach however simply combined both options, which more than doubled my chances of pulling in that all important 13th trick.

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