Contract Bridge

WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK

All important championships, whether local, regional, national or international, are played in a duplicate format in order to reduce the element of luck that might otherwise determine their outcome. Nevertheless, the luck factor cannot be entirely eliminated.

For instance, the succession of opponents you meet might or might not play well against you, which certainly will have an impact on how you fare. Also, you (or your opponents) might get to excellent contracts that go down because of horrendous distribution or get to poor contracts that make because of very favorable distribution.

Consider this deal played in the Blue Ribbon Pairs many years ago by Dorothy Hayden and B. Jay Becker, former editor of this column. They reached three notrump on the bidding shown. Hayden’s three-notrump bid with the singleton king of clubs was certainly imaginative and was amply rewarded when she made the contract after West led a low club.

She won East’s queen with the king and ran six diamonds, subjecting West to severe pressure. He followed twice and was able to discard a heart and a spade comfortably, but then, in order to protect the king of spades, he was forced to discard two clubs.

Hayden next led a heart. West took the ace and cashed three clubs, but that was the end of the line as he was forced to lead from the K-8 of spades at the end.

You could call the hand a brilliant success — if you were so minded — but, all the same, there was a lot of luck attached to it. At another table, against similar bidding, West made the inspired lead of the ace of clubs against three notrump, and East-West collected the first seven tricks to put the contract down three!

Fortunately for Hayden and Becker, they were sitting at the right table.