THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“One should never make one’s debut with a scandal. One should reserve that to give an interest to one’s old age.” -- Oscar Wilde .....................

With the European open tournament taking place right now in Ostend, Belgium, this week’s deals all come from the most recent European Championships, which were held in Dublin, Ireland, and resulted in a win for Monaco. (Yes, you read that right.)

Today’s deal came from the very first match of the event. While the other members of the Norwegian Seniors Team had played for Norway before, this was the first international appearance for Johnny Holmbakken. He rapidly placed himself in the hot seat against Italy, and on the very first board of the match, too. I would not recommend his decision to overcall here, but that’s what he did, ending up in three diamonds.

Holmbakken won East’s club jack with the ace and ran the diamond nine to East’s ace. East cashed a club and exited with a diamond to the jack. A heart to the nine and jack was followed by the heart ace and another heart, which declarer ruffed. A club was ruffed in dummy, and a diamond put declarer in hand with the queen. Holmbakken was sure that West held the spade queen and played accordingly, putting the jack on the table! West covered, and dummy’s king won. Now came the trumps.

The last diamond squeezed East in the black suits, and declarer made the contract via two spade tricks when East kept his club. A menace transfer and squeeze -- what a nice debut!