The euphoria effect
A SESSION of bridge, or even one deal, will have its ups and downs. A player must guard against what I call the euphoria effect: If he gets too high or low over good fortune or bad, he may lose focus. (I know from experience.)
In today’s deal, West led a diamond against four hearts, and East took the ace and returned the ten. Declarer took his king and cashed the A-K of trumps. When West discarded, South needed a discard for his diamond loser; he took the king of clubs and led to dummy’s jack.
ELATED
When the finesse won, South was elated. He threw his last diamond on the ace and next tried to guess the spades. Alas, he led to his queen, and when West took the ace and returned a spade, East’s jack scored for down one.
South must have been in a euphoric state since he missed a sure thing. After he takes his discard on the ace of clubs, he can ruff dummy’s last diamond and exit with a trump. East must break the spades to declarer’s advantage or concede a fatal ruff-sluff. DAILY QUESTION: You hold: J63 Q96 A 10 6 9 8 6 5. Your partner opens one spade, you raise to two spades and he tries three hearts. What do you say? ANSWER: Partner’s three hearts is a try for game and asks you to decide based mostly on your holding in his second suit. With heart honours, you should bid game even with a minimum raise in high cards. The decision is close here, but I would bid four spades. Partner may hold AK Q 5 2, K J 5 2, K 3, 7 2. North dealer Both sides vulnerable
NORTH APHIS, APISH, ASPIC, CANTRIP, CAPS, CARP, CATNIP, CHAP, CHINSTRAP, CHIP, CHIRP, CRAP, CRAPS, CRISP, HAPTIC, HARP, HARPIST, HASP, HATPIN, INAPT, NIPA, PACT, PAIN, PAINT, PAIR, PANIC, PANT, PANTS, PARCH, PARISH, PART, PARTI, PASCH, PAST, PATCH, PATH, PHATIC, PICA, PICT, PINCH, PINT, PINTA, PISH, PITCH, PITH, PRAT, PRINT, PTISAN, RAPIST, RAPT, RASP, SCARP, SCRAP, SCRIP, SCRIPT, SHARP, SHIP, SNAP, SNIP, SPAHI, SPAN, SPAR, SPAT, SPATHIC, SPICA, SPIN, SPINACH, SPIRT, SPIT, SPRAIN, SPRAT, SPRINT, SPRIT, STIRP, STRAP, STRIP, TAPIR, TAPIS, TAPS, THRIPS, TRAP, TRAPS, TRIP