Contract Bridge

This deal occurred many years ago in a board- a- match team contest in Maryland. The North- South pair in the auction shown were Simon Becker and B. Jay Becker, this writer’s uncle and father, respectively, both of whom passed away in the late 1980s.

The brothers Becker reached a shaky spade slam and were very fortunate to receive the opening lead of the ace of clubs, after which 12 tricks could not be denied. Had West led a trump, or had he led another suit and then shifted to a trump upon winning the ace of clubs, the slam could not have been made. The score came to 1,430 points (500 for game, 750 for slam and 180 for tricks).

Both Beckers thought they had won the board easily. They expected that even if the opposing North- South pair got to the slam, it would be defeated. But there was no way they could have anticipated the actual goings- on at the other table.

There, the Beckers’ teammates competed vigorously in hearts against North- South’s spade bids. When South eventually bid four spades, West, for some unknown reason, decided to double, and South redoubled.

West led the king of hearts and subsequently switched to a trump after taking the king of clubs with the ace. This held declarer to 11 tricks. After such a debacle, the Beckers’ teammates naturally assumed the board had been irretrievably lost.

The declarer at this table scored 480 points for his tricks, 50 for making the redoubled contract, 400 for the redoubled overtrick and 500 for game. This came to 1,430 points, so the two teams wound up tying the board!