March 2014 - 64

Special Contributors

Bridge with the Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD

Brother Michael's poor defense
The Abbot's mood was improved
when the second round of the Thursday duplicate saw the arrival of the
monastery's weakest pair, Brother
Aelred and Brother Michael.
Brother Aelred sighed as he took his
seat. "They say that luck evens out in
the long run," he said. "Not for us, it
doesn't. This is the fourth week running that we've started with a really
bad round. We never seem to have
much luck against Brother Lucius."
For a moment the Abbot closed his
eyes. Did Brother Aelred really think
that bridge was just a matter of luck?
No wonder his game never improved.
This was the first board of the round:
Dlr: North ♠ A 5 3
Vul: N-S ♥ 10
♦K973
♣A9763
♠-
♠ 10 9 8 7 4
♥KQJ93
♥8642
♦Q864
♦ J 10 5
♣ Q J 10 8
♣2
♠KQJ62
♥A75
♦A2
♣K54
West
North
Brother Brother
Aelred Xavier
1♣
2♥
Dbl
Pass
5♥
All Pass

East
Brother
Michael
Pass
3♥
Pass

South
The
Abbot
1♠
4NT
6♠

Brother Xavier showed his three-

64 Bridge Bulletin March 2014

card spade support with a support
double and the Abbot then bid to small
slam, fortified by the knowledge that
his partner would be short in hearts.
He won the heart lead with the ace and
ruffed a heart. When he played the ace
of trumps, West discarded a heart.
"So much for you being an unlucky
pair," declared the Abbot. He returned
to his hand with the ♦A and ruffed his
last heart in the dummy. Since there
was a fair chance that East held only
one club, he continued with dummy's
♣A and a low club. If East were to ruff
from his natural trump trick, declarer
would follow with the ♣5 and easily
make the remaining tricks. Brother
Michael decided to discard a diamond
and the Abbot won with the ♣K. A
diamond to dummy's king left this
position:

♠-
♥Q
♦Q8
♣QJ

♠-
♥-
♦97
♣976

♠KQJ6
♥-
♦-
♣5

♠ 10 9 8 7
♥8
♦-
♣-

The Abbot surveyed the dummy as
if he were Rembrandt about to apply a
final brushstroke. "Play a diamond," he
said.
Brother Michael ruffed with the 7,

and the Abbot discarded his club loser.
He then faced his remaining cards,
claiming the balance.
Brother Aelred slumped backwards
in his chair. "You weren't thinking,
partner!" he exclaimed. "Throw a heart
and the Abbot has to ruff. I make a club
trick and your 10-9-8-7 of trumps
gives us a second trick."
Yes, I see now," Brother Michael
replied. "Sorry."
The Abbot's mouth fell open. "If he
throws a heart, I ruff with the six and
score three more trump tricks. Didn't
you follow my line of play? It was reminiscent of a tight-rope walker crossing
Niagara Falls. Not a step out of place!"
"I still think it's wrong to ruff when
you have a loser to throw," persisted
Brother Aelred. "You should always
make the right defense, that's my
principle. Even if it doesn't happen to
work!"
◾

Jeff Westheimer
1934-2014
Gerald J. "Jeff" Westheimer, winner of the first Cavendish Invitational
Pairs and the Reisinger Board-aMatch Teams, died Feb. 3. He was
79.  Westheimer, a nuclear engineer,
was a member of the winning squad
in the 1969 Reisinger (with Ira Rubin,
William Grieve and Phil Feldesman)
and won the 1975 Cavendish with
Jim Jacoby. He is survived by his
wife, Valerie.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2014
