CONTACT BRIDGE

FAMOUS HAND

This famous hand occurred in the 1948 European Championship during a match between Norway and Great Britain. West was S.J. Simon, author of the classic “Why You Lose at Bridge,” and East was the British star Terence Reese.

Reese missed the winning play, as he himself relates, but it is likely that most players would have done the same thing. Simon cashed the K-A of clubs — East playing high-low — and led a third club, which Reese ruffed. Reese then returned a heart.

The Norwegian declarer won the heart, crossed to dummy with a diamond, took a trump finesse, returned to dummy with a diamond, took a second trump finesse and so made four spades. His only losers were two clubs and a ruff.

The same series of plays occurred at the second table, where the English declarer also made four spades. The deal was thus a standoff, but later received wide attention because both Easts could have defeated the contract by making an extraordinary play.

East can stop the contract by discarding a diamond at trick three instead of ruffing the third round of clubs! Declarer can then reach dummy only once, and — since he requires two trump leads from dummy to stop East from making two trump tricks — he must go down one.

The contract is easy enough to defeat on paper. But at the bridge table, where second thoughts don’t count, practically any player holding the East cards would ruff the third club and then start thinking about what to do next.

The hand is an exceptionally fine illustration of why you can’t afford to play the game mechanically.

Never relax!