Contract Bridge

This extraordinary deal was played in a match between Poland and Iceland in the 1963 European Championship.

When the Polish team held the North-South cards, the bidding transpired as shown. Obviously, something went drastically wrong with the bidding, since the Poles got to a slam with two immediate club losers plus the possibility of losing one or two trump tricks.

But the sun shone brightly on the South Pole that day, and he made the slam anyway! West led the jack of hearts, and a few moments later, South had 12 tricks safely tucked away.

He won the heart lead with the ace, ruffed a heart and cashed the A-K-Q of diamonds, discarding the J-6 of clubs. He then ruffed a club, a heart, a club and his last heart.

By this time, nine tricks had been played, and South had won them all. The lead was in dummy, and South’s last four cards were the A-K-J-8 of spades, while West was down to the Q-10-9-7 of spades.

Declarer led a club from dummy and ruffed with the eight. West overruffed with the nine but had to surrender the last three tricks!

Strangely enough, even four spades could have been stopped had West been sufficiently inspired to start off with the king and another club. A club continuation by East would then have settled South’s hash.

The Poles finished third that year out of the 18 countries entered in the event. Had they had a few more hands like this one, they might even have won the European Championship!

Tomorrow: Second- hand high.