Contract Bridge

B. Jay Becker, the former editor of this column, liked to tell this story about the time he was playing with Helen Sobel in the Masters Team-of-Four many years ago.

The bidding went as shown, and Becker became declarer at four spades. West led the K-Q-J of hearts, South trumping the third.

Becker’s principal problem was how to avoid losing two trump tricks. Several approaches were possible. If West had the K-J-x of spades, for example, declarer could not afford to play the ace and another spade, which would allow West to score the king and jack.

Alternatively, if East had the K-J-x and South led the ace and another trump, the contract would still be in danger if East took the second spade and returned the jack. In that case, Becker would not be able to ruff his losing club.

Then there was also the possibility that the club loser could be averted by taking a diamond finesse, or by cashing the A-K of diamonds and ruffing a diamond, hoping the queen would fall.

As Becker sifted these options in his mind, he took lots and lots of time. After a while, Sobel got up from the table, wandered around the room, came back to see whether her partner had played a card yet (which he hadn’t), went off again and eventually settled down at a nearby sofa to read a magazine.

Meanwhile, Becker’s opponents chatted amiably, occasionally getting up to stretch or get a drink of water. Time went on.

Finally, after more than 15 minutes, he decided to play the ace and another spade. When the trumps divided 2-2, he claimed the rest. Every other conceivable line of play would also have worked.

Sobel returned to the table shortly thereafter and asked anxiously, “Did you make it?” “Sure,” said Becker, “it was a laydown!”