Contract Bridge

This deal occurred during the playoff to determine which of five teams would represent the United States in the 1981 world championship.

From the standpoint of drama, the timing of the deal was perfect. It was the last board of a 72- board match between the winners of the Spingold and Reisinger teamof-four championships. The teams were virtually tied after 71 boards, and the outcome of the 72nd hand would determine which team would be eliminated.

At the first table, with a Reisinger pair North- South, the bidding went as shown. North’s five- notrump bid was the so- called Grand- Slam Force; it accepted hearts as trump and instructed South to bid seven hearts with two of the three top honors in the suit.

South’s six- club response indicated one of the top two honors, and North signed off at six hearts.

East realized that South would almost surely make the vulnerable slam, worth 1,430 points, so he bid six spades as a sacrifice. This was doubled and went down only three tricks — 500 points — after a diamond lead by South.

At the second table, the bidding went:

North East South West 1 ♣ 1 ♦ 1 NT 2 ♦

3 ♦ 5 ♦ Pass Pass 5 ♥ Pass 6 ♥

Here, the Reisinger East did not gain nearly as much information about the adverse hands as East had gained from the bidding at the first table.

He passed six hearts, apparently hoping that his pre- emptive tactics had jockeyed the opponents into a shaky contract. Unfortunately for East, this did not prove to be the case.

Six hearts could not be defeated, so the Spingold team gained 930 points on the deal to win the match.