Contract Bridge

Famous hand

This remarkable deal occurred in a match between Italy and the United States in 1983. What happened at the two tables might seem incredible, but the plain, unvarnished truth is that everything took place precisely as described below.

At the first table, with Italy NorthSouth, the bidding went as shown, and the U.S. West led the king of clubs. East overtook with the ace and returned his singleton heart.

The Italian declarer won with the ace and led a trump to the ace, on which West unexpectedly showed out. This development apparently caused something to go wrong with declarer’s think tank, since his next play was a low diamond to the king.

At this point, the hand collapsed. West took his ace and led the queen of hearts. East ruffed dummy’s king, returned a low club to his partner, and West administered the final blow by cashing the jack of hearts to put the contract down two.

At the second table, with a U.S. pair now North-South, the Italian West likewise led the club king against four spades. Here also, East overtook with the ace and shifted to a heart.

The U.S. declarer’s play now varied slightly when he played the heart ten at trick two, covered by the jack and king. When South then cashed the ace of trumps and West discarded a heart, he suddenly found the contract could no longer be made regardless of what he did next. Eventually, he lost two clubs, a diamond and a heart for down one.

Considering that four spades was ice-cold from the word “go,” the outcome at the two tables was astonishing. All declarer had to do to guarantee 10 tricks was to take his ace of hearts at trick two, draw trumps and lead the king of diamonds. That’s all there was to it.

Even more astounding is the fact that both Souths would be voted among the 10 best players in the world! Each apparently suffered a mental block of some sort, proving that in bridge, as in life, it’s very human to err.