Contract Bridge

This deal occurred in the 1977 Life Masters Pairs. North was Peter Weichsel, and South was Alan Sontag, both well- known stars.

They were playing their own version of the Precision System, and most of the bids shown were artificial. One club guaranteed at least 16 high- card points; one notrump showed nine to 12 points and a balanced hand; two clubs asked South to define his distribution; two hearts showed a four- card spade suit!

Two notrump asked for any other four- card suit; three diamonds showed four diamonds; four diamonds asked whether South had either the ace, king or queen of diamonds; four hearts said no.

West led a heart, and Sontag had to solve the problem of how to reach his A- K- Q of spades. He won the heart with the ace and cashed the ace of diamonds, planning to continue with the king and another diamond to establish his ten as an entry if the suit divided 3-2.

But when East played the diamond queen on the ace, Sontag abandoned his original plan. Instead, he cashed the K- Q-J of hearts and A- K of clubs. He then played the diamond four from dummy and the five from his hand.

West won the trick with the eight but was helpless. He had the 10-7-3 of spades and the J- 9 of diamonds at this point, and — whether he returned a spade or a diamond — Sontag would gain entry to his hand and so take the rest of the tricks.

Sontag had correctly decided, after West showed up with four hearts and probably four diamonds, that West was likely to have at least three of the nine missing spades, and therefore no more than two clubs. That was why he cashed the A- K of clubs before leading a low diamond from dummy to endplay West.