May 2018 - 22

The Philadelphia Story
Interesting deals from the Spring NABC in Philly
Sneaky D

Steve Robinson reported a neat
defense by opponent Espen Lindqvist
on this deal from the second qualifying session of the Kay Platinum Pairs.
Robinson was playing with Peter Boyd,
while Lindqvist was playing with Boye
Brogeland:
Dlr: East ♠ 9 8 4
Vul: E-W ♥ J 10 9
Bd: 6
♦ A 10 5
♣AJ87
♠J762
♠Q53
♥AK4
♥5
♦K93
♦QJ8764
♣954
♣KQ2
♠ A K 10
♥Q87632
♦2
♣ 10 6 3
West
North East
South
Brogeland Boyd Lindqvist Robinson
2♦
2♥
3♦
3♥ All Pass
Brogeland led a low diamond to
dummy's ace. Robinson attacked
trumps, West winning the king, and
declarer ruffed the diamond return.
Another trump went to West's ace, and,
again, the diamond return was ruffed
by declarer.
After drawing the last trump with
the queen, Robinson tried a low club
toward dummy, inserting the 7, as
Lindqvist won the ♣Q and exited
with a low spade. Robinson rose with
the ace and played the ♣10. West
produced the 5, the 8 was played from
dummy, and East played an in-tempo 2.
Convinced that LHO had started
with ♣K 9 5 4, Robinson then played
his remaining club, covering West's 9
with dummy's jack. Lindqvist unexpectedly won the king, however, cut-

22 Bridge Bulletin May 2018

ting declarer off from the ♣A in dummy. Robinson had no way to then avoid
a spade loser, so he finished down one.
Lindqvist's nice play left North-South
with just 17 out of 55 matchpoints.
Bridge Bulletin columnist Frank
Stewart wrote, "West could always
beat 3♥ with an early spade shift, but
as the play went, East needed no deception to beat the contract. He could
discard a diamond on the second round
of trumps, then a spade on the third
round. When he won the first club,
he could lead a diamond to force out
declarer's last trump, then win the second club and cash a diamond. Declarer
could avoid that by starting the clubs
before he drew the last trump. Then
the forcing defense would not work because dummy would still have a trump
to ruff a diamond lead."

Dutch treat
By Barry Rigal

Check out this deal from an A/X
Swiss Teams in the match between
Barbara Sonsini's squad and the one
captained by Ton van Overbeeke,
featuring an all-Dutch cast. East-
West were Bauke Muller and Simon
De Wijs, while North-South were
Maarten Schollaardt and captain van
Overbeeke.
Dlr: East
Vul: N-S

♠65
♥AK9853
♦A
♣8632
♠J972
♠43
♥764
♥QJ2
♦KJ83
♦ 10 5 4 2
♣AK
♣Q954
♠ A K Q 10 8
♥ 10
♦Q976
♣ J 10 7

West
North East
De Wijs Scholl. Muller
Pass
Pass
2♥
Pass
Pass
2NT
Pass
Pass
3♥
Pass
Pass
4♠
All Pass

South
Overbeeke
1♠
2♠
3♦
3♠

Declarer was lucky to find clubs
blocked. On opening lead, De Wijs
made the most of it by cashing the
♣A K, then playing a diamond. Now
declarer pitched his club on the ♥ A K,
ruffed a heart low, ruffed a diamond in
dummy, and ruffed a club high, West
pitching a diamond.
Now came a diamond ruff and a club
ruff high (West underruffing) to give
this ending:

♠J97
♥-
♦-
♣-

♠-
♥98
♦-
♣8

♠ Q 10
♥-
♦Q
♣-

♠43
♥-
♦ 10
♣-
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2018
