January 2022 - 66

Special Contributor
Bridge with the Abbot
The Abbot's extra chance
T
he second round of the weekly
duplicate saw the arrival of Lucius
and Paulo at the Abbot's
table. There was one consolation in
playing Lucius so early, thought the
Abbot. At least he wouldn't have to
suffer the usual, " Several interesting
hands tonight, Abbot, " as Lucius took
his seat.
" Good evening, Abbot, " said Brother
Lucius, pulling back the East chair.
" Brother Damien just played a very
interesting hand against us. Remind
me to tell you about it later. "
The Abbot made a mental note to
do no such thing. What possible interest
could there be in some foolish
novice handing Lucius yet another
undeserved top? One person's " interesting
hand " was another person's
10 minutes wasted, when he had a
mountain of paperwork awaiting him
in his study.
The players drew their cards for
this board:
Dlr: South  A Q 6 2
Vul: Both k 6 4
l 8 4 2
' A K Q 10
 K 10 7
k Q J 10 7
l Q 6
' 9 7 4 2
 9 5 4 3
k A K 8
l A K 5 3
' J 6
West North East
Bro. Bro.
Bro.
Pass 2' Pass
Pass 6 All Pass
South
The
Paulo Xavier Lucius Abbot
1NT
2
66 | Bridge Bulletin | January 2022
 J 8
k 9 5 3 2
l J 10 9 7
' 8 5 3
The Abbot opened a strong 1NT
and paused for a moment after
Brother Xavier's Stayman response.
Perhaps he should deny a four-card
major, holding such a dreadful spade
suit? With 4-3-3-3 shape it could
undoubtedly be the right move. Still,
he did have a weak doubleton in clubs.
What's more, if he responded 2 and
Xavier bid 3NT next, the defenders
might be dissuaded from a successful
spade lead.
The Abbot admitted to four cards
in the spade suit and was somewhat
alarmed when he was raised to 6.
Brother Paulo led the kQ and the
Abbot surveyed the dummy anxiously.
As expected, the trump suit was
fragile. However, playing in spades
would give him an extra trick with
the heart ruff. 6NT would have virtually
no play.
Now, how should he give himself
the best chance in the spade slam?
Most declarers in the monastery
would finesse the Q within a second
or two of winning the opening
lead. The Abbot saw that he could
give himself an extra chance by
applying pressure on East. There was
no need to finesse the Q on the first
round. If he started with a low trump
from dummy, East might go in with
the king from K-x.
The Abbot crossed to dummy with
the 'A. " Small trump, please, " he
said.
Brother Lucius rose with the jack of
trumps and this card held the trick,
West following with the 7. The Abbot
won the heart return in his hand and
led a second round of trumps, the 10
appearing from West. What now?
The contract could not be made if
East's J was a singleton. The Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD
therefore had to assume that East
had started with either K-J or J-8.
Would Lucius have put in the jack
from J-8? It was rather a strange play
to make. Most defenders would play
low in such circumstances, expecting
declarer to hold the king. Against
that, if East did hold K-J doubleton,
Paulo must have played the 10 on the
second round from 10-8-7. Why not?
It was a cost-nothing play. Just the
sort of thing the Italian would do, in
fact, to deter declarer from dropping
a bare king offside. The Abbot steeled
himself. " Play the ace, " he said.
A disappointing 8-spot fell from
East and the Abbot faced his remaining
cards, conceding one down. He
turned ruefully towards Brother
Lucius. " You had K-J-8 in the trump
suit? "
" No, just the J-8, " replied Lucius.
" Fairly standard to play the jack, isn't
it? You would hardly bother going to
dummy for the first trump lead if you
held the king of trumps. "
For a small moment the Abbot
closed his eyes. Leading a low trump
from dummy was undeniably the
right way to play the suit. Only a truly
expert player would find a way to go
down.
January 2022

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