THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“I presume you’re mortal and may err.” -- James Shirley .....................

Today’s deal comes from Jeff Rubens’ “It’s All in the Game,” a compendium of articles written over the last 50 years by the world’s foremost bridge editor.

Here is Rubens explaining a hand to his wife: “There will be a lot of competitive bidding on this deal,” Rubens said, “but the player with the spades will usually prevail. Suppose South buys the contract in five spades. East has bid hearts vigorously, and the defense starts with two rounds of that suit, South ruffing.”

“It’s a laydown. South trumps the losing diamond in dummy.”

“Well, it’s not quite that simple. East has a singleton diamond and will trump the second diamond.”

“That’s peeking. I would have gone down.”

“What South should do is play just one round of trump before he goes after the diamonds. As luck would have it, this extracts East’s only trump and the contract rolls home. The incomplete trump removal is an interesting theme, and if this deal popped up (as it did at the club this afternoon), you could send it in to the papers if it had been played correctly.” “Was it played correctly?” “Yes, but not at five spades. NorthSouth tried to mess up the story by doubling East in five hearts. South led the diamond king and switched to the spade king and ace. East ruffed, cashed one round of hearts, and was then able to trump his losing club safely in dummy. So the incomplete trump removal showed up anyway. That’s what I mean about things straightening themselves out.”