Disappearing act
Unlucky Louie told me that he and his wife had attended an orchestral concert the previous evening.
“It was the Bermuda Philharmonic,” Louie said, “and the performance was weird. They were halfway through a piece by Stravinsky, and the triangle player disappeared!”
When I watched today’s deal in a penny game at the club, Louie was declarer at six hearts. The bidding was mysterious. Louie’s opening bid of four hearts wouldn’t have occurred to me; I would have opened with a pedestrian one heart. North’s raise to slam was a wild shot with Louie as South — he seldom takes 12 tricks — but would have been so even with someone luckier.
West led a diamond, and Louie won with the ace and let the queen of trumps ride. He next led a trump to the ace, but East discarded a spade. Louie returned a diamond to his king, conceded a trump to West, won the next diamond and ran his trumps. West threw spades, keeping his K-10 of clubs, and won the 13th trick.
“I couldn’t avoid my club loser,” Louie shrugged.
If you were declarer, could you make that loser disappear?
After Louie wins the first trick, he should take the ace of spades and ruff a spade. If either defender held K-Q-x, Louie could set up dummy’s jack for a club discard. Louie next leads the queen of trumps and a trump to the ace. When East discards, Louie ruffs a third spade and takes his other two high diamonds before leading a third trump.
When West wins, he is end-played. He has only clubs left and must lead from his king, conceding the slam. South dealer Both sides vulnerable