Cunning club move, carnage for Ken

Some readers are mildly curious to know the background to the hands which feature in this column. Rest assured they are not just made up, but are taken mostly from Otago Bridge Club sessions or local tournaments. Usually your correspondent was sitting at the table during the play of the hand; hopefully this adds a whiff of authenticity to any commentary.

Having said that, today’s deal was provided by former Otago player Ken Smith, now of the Invercargill Bridge Club.

Ken was sitting East when his partner bid three diamonds. Although holding only 14 highcard points, Ken considered he had a clearcut threenotrump bid opposite a vulnerable opener. After all, his hand contained three quick tricks in the blacks, a heartstopper and a very valuable queen of diamonds. Would you have made the same call?

South led a spade.

Ken won in hand and immediately laid down the queen of diamonds, overtaking with the king on table.

Yes, he was hoping his queen would look like a singleton and so fool North into taking his ace (which he didn’t have anyway). But there was more to it than that.

Once the king of diamonds held the trick, Ken immediately switched to the queen of clubs. He planned to try to generate another entry to dummy.

Many players automatically cover an honour with an honour. It’s one of those principles that we were taught at bridge classes. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and today’s layout offers one such exception.

Our North was smart enough to hold off with his king of clubs. He rightly feared a firstround cover would see Ken win the trick, knock out the ace of diamonds, regain the lead and then sail back to dummy courtesy of the jack of clubs.

Ken’s last hope was to play North for doubleton king in clubs. When this failed, the outcome was, according to Ken, carnage. Knowing he gave the contract his best shot was some consolation later on, but only later on.