April 2012 - 62

Winsome & Loathsome

Zeke Jabbour
jabbour@comcast.net

and now the worst that could happen was a push round. On the second
hand, vulnerable vs. nonvulnerable, I
picked up:
K 10 9 7 6 5 7 5 J 5 8 7 2.

My favorite hands
When people ask if I have a favorite
hand, I try to disguise my growing
inability to remember by casually
retreating into a declaration of "too
many to recount." Of course, I have
favorite hands. If a hand was particularly amusing, or thrillingly instrumental to victory, or continually evokes
warm memories of one kind or another, I have a chance to recall it. Sharon,
the 'Little Despot,' falls into the warm
memory category. Ugly memories are
deposited in the delete file.
Some of my fondest memories, of
course, do involve Sharon. On occasion, during our courtship, we played
together as partners. Once, in our
salad days, before she had blossomed
into the Little Despot we now know
and love, we were playing in a large
open pairs tournament. I was still her
bridge hero and she was my dream
bridge date. In spite of that, we were
doing well.
Going into the last session, we were
leading a strong field by a small margin and we seemed to be holding up.
Then ... a tipping point confrontation!
Our friends, the "enemy," hot on our
heels in the event, arrived at our table.
I can't recall the first hand, except
that we collected a telephone number,
62 Bridge Bulletin April 2012

My left-hand opponent, first seat,
started the auction with 3. Sharon doubled and RHO bid 5. I was
tempted, but passed; opener passed,
and once again, she doubled, showing
extra values. (She surely wasn't doubling on diamonds.) RHO passed and,
for better or worse, in sickness and in
health, I did bid 5, and all passed.
West led the A and the future LD
revealed pretty much the hand she
had advertised.
AQJ8
AK2
7
 A Q 10 6 5
 K 10 9 7 6 5
75
J5
872
Just about what I thought. I had
hoped for fewer diamonds and maybe
a club jack. My mustache must have
twitched because Sharon shot me a
look that, by itself, suggested that my
role of hero was in serious jeopardy if
I didn't bring this sucker home.
RHO played a low diamond, asking for a club switch. West dutifully
complied with the 9. Now I needed
to lose another trick. Many of you
already know why. How many tricks

can we count? I had six spades, a
diamond ruff in dummy, two hearts
and the A for a total of 10 tricks. I
needed 11. Without the club switch,
it would have been an easy strip and
endplay. (Just draw trumps; ruff the
remaining diamond and play the
A-K and ruff the deuce in my hand.
Then, I could play a club to dummy's
10 and claim; RHO is endplayed!)
Now a different plan: Allowing the
opponent to win the second trick
rectified the count. Still, the club lead
was scary. Had it been a singleton
club, LHO might have started with it.
I covered with the 10, won by RHO,
as I falsecarded with the 7. RHO
pondered a bit and decided a diamond
return was safest. I ruffed it in dummy
with the A; drew two rounds of
trumps, LHO following to both. Now
came the key play: I cashed the A;
both followed and the king didn't fall!
Assuming that the preemptor
started life with seven diamonds, he
had shown two spades and two clubs
and, we can infer, only two hearts.
RHO, therefore, held six hearts and
the K - the two elements needed
for a squeeze of some kind. I am
partial to Vienna coups. I ran all my
spades, pitching all of dummy's clubs,
coming down to A-K-2 while I
held two low hearts and a low, but
crucial, club. RHO, forced to hold the
K, released a heart. When I cashed
the A and K, the 2 won the final
trick - and the event! Sharon flashed
a subdued smile at that mighty deuce,
then at me.
Winning is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2012