February 2021 - 66

Special Contributor

George's World
BY GEORGE JACOBS

NOBET8888@aol.com

T

he 55% game. Board 9. Forget that
I got a zero on the board because
I went down. Forget the bidding.
What is important is the end position,
one that you have never seen.
	
3
	
974
	
98652
	
A963
 A 9		
N
 K Q 8 3 2	 W
E
 10 7		
S
 K J 8 4		
	
 KJ76
	
 A 10 6
	
AQ
	
 Q 10 7 2

 Q 10 8 5 4 2
J5
KJ43
5

I opened 1NT as South. West bid 2
(hearts and a minor), and it went pass,
pass, back to me, I made a takeout double.
Robot partner bid 3. It went double on
my right, all pass. I had to play it, because
the human is always declarer in the
robot game.
The stiff club lead from East went to
the 2, jack and ace. I played a spade to my
jack. LHO won and played the K. I won
it, played the K, pitching a heart, and
ruffed a spade, LHO pitching a club. Now
I took the diamond finesse and cashed
the A.
Here is the position after seven tricks.
Can you see what's coming?

66 | Bridge Bulletin | February 2021

	
-
	
9
	
98
	
963
 - 		
N
 Q 8 3 2		 W
E
 -		
S
 K 8		
	
7
	
 10 6
	
-
	
 Q 10 7

 Q 10 5
J
KJ
-

I exited with the Q. LHO won and
played a club, ruffed by RHO, who cashed
his last trump and played ... who cares!
Look at the final three cards in dummy:
the 9, the 9 and the 9. Oh sure,
bidding, defense and declaring all have
their place, but this, my friends, is art.
During the recent USBF tournament
honoring the late Justin Lall, there was
extra security. Each round, you were in a
Zoom room with your screenmate. You
were on camera with them and could
speak directly to explain bids, ask questions, etc. In one match, my screenmate
was Tracey Bauer, whom I did not know.
She was in Carolina or someplace, visiting relatives. She would make a bid and
then go to the stove where she was cooking dinner. She mentioned to me that
she was playing in the Women's World
Online Festival that went around the
clock(!) for seven days [January, pg. 61].
In addition, she had committed to play
in the Tom Reynolds online knockout
match. Oh, and she was flying crosscountry and would be playing bridge on
the plane. This was fascinating to me, so
I asked her to keep me posted.
She is a prolific communicator and sent
me many hands. Over this 10-day span,
she played 700 hands of bridge under
tremendously stressful conditions. To
me, this is like the decathlon of bridge. In

a close, exciting, and probably sleepwalking final, Tracey wound up winning the
World Women's online championship in
the final event. Congratulations.
Here is another unbelievable squeeze
that you never heard of that was pulled
off by Aaron Jones against Claude and
me in the recent ACBL online Open
Pairs. We both saw it coming, but it defies
imagination. With three cards remaining
to be played, I will set the scene for you:
	
8
	
9
	
J
	
-
 - 		 N
 5		W
E
 -		 S
 10 5		
	
94
	
Q
	
-
	
-

65
-
A
-

Hearts are trump and declarer (South)
knows Claude (on his left) has the last
trump. He knows I have the A and
a club void. He has three winners, but
they are divorced. He knows both of our
hands. He must play a trump. I know
that the trump in his hand is bigger than
the one in dummy, and I know he has a
higher spade in his hand.
What do I play on the heart? If I pitch
the A, he will play a low spade to dummy's 8 and cash the good J. If I pitch a
spade, both his spades are good. I tipped
over my king, and we both admired the
end position.
Meet me in St. Louis(?). Ciao.
February 2021

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