April 2009 - 53

ADVANCED PLAYERS

My Bridge and Yours
The PGA Tour keeps a player's
"bounce-back" statistics: how he responds to adversity. When he makes a
bogie, does he let one bad hole breed
more or does he recover with a birdie? All bridge players have disasters,
but to make the best of a bad situation
is a test of character.
In a regional knockout teams, I
have an expert partner, but the opponents are no less strong. With both
sides vulnerable, I hold as North:
K 4 K 6 A 8 4 A 10 7 5 3 2.
East deals and opens 3. My
partner overcalls 3, and West lifts
to 4.
My partner won't have bid on a
whim, vulnerable at the three level.
Nevertheless, I feel skewered by the
preemption. We could be cold for
almost anything, but I have no attractive call. My aces look good, but
my spade support is no better than
adequate, and my K in undoubtedly
worthless.
It's frustrating. I could blast into
6NT or settle for game, but I see
no middle-of-the-road action. After
thinking longer than I'd like (I might
give my partner an ethical burden to
bear), I take the timid road and compete with 4. West did bid only 4:
If he thought we could make a slam,
maybe he'd have done more.
Everyone passes, and West leads
the 4.
"They got me," I say as I put down
the dummy.
My partner grimaces for the least
instant. Then, impassively, he calls
low from dummy, and East plays the
9. Here's what my partner sees:

K4
K6
A84
 A 10 7 5 3 2
AQJ65
-
QJ62
KQJ4
Obviously, 7 is colder than
Labrador.
I can see my partner willing himself to stay in the present. After some
thought, he discards a diamond instead of ruffing. East continues with
the A, and South discards another
diamond. East leads a third heart, and
my partner pitches the J and ruffs
with dummy's low trump. He cashes
the K, gets to his hand with the
K and takes the A.
East discards, revealing a 5-1 trump
break, but the contract is safe. South
continues with the Q J and then
starts the clubs, leaving West with
his high trump. When West ruffs and
leads a heart, declarer ruffs with his
last trump and claims: Dummy is
good. The full deal:
K4
K6
A84
 A 10 7 5 3 2
 10 9 8 3 2
7
N
Q874
 A J 10 9 5 3 2
W E
 10 7 3
K95
S
9
86
AQJ65
-
QJ62
KQJ4
I was ashamed of our bidding,
although I doubt that any pair would
have reached 7 after East-West's
actions. West's gentle lift to 4 was

April 2009

Frank Stewart
franks@fayette.net

just right. It neither let me show my
clubs nor comfortably show any values; nor did it stampede us into slam.
"I should have doubled 3," my
partner says. "I could overcall in my
long major at matchpoints, but at
IMPs I ought to give us a chance to
play at any of the unbid suits."
My partner was right, but his play
showed character. A lesser player
might have been so distressed at
missing a grand slam that he'd have
forgotten to make 4. If South
ruffs the first heart and tries to draw
trumps, he goes down. After South
takes the K A, he can start the
clubs, but West will ruff the second
club and plug away at hearts. South
will be out of control. At double
dummy, South could take 10 tricks
even if he ruffed the first heart, but
his actual play was well conceived.
At the other table, East opened
3 again, and South doubled. Here,
West's approach was to preempt to the
max immediately: he jumped to 6.
North suspected his side could make
a slam, but he doubled. East guessed
the trumps and got out for minus 800,
losing a spade, a club and two diamonds. So my team lost 5 IMPs.
How are your "bounce-back" stats?
Would you have salvaged 4 or
would you have turned a 5-IMP loss
into a 13-IMP disaster?
r
53
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2009
