March 2024 - 62

Advanced Players
Become
Bridge
Royalty!
Mike's Advice
What if?
S
If you are a graduating
high school senior and an
ACBL member who plays
and promotes bridge, you
could become the 2024
King/Queen of Bridge.
Recent winners have been
cited for outstanding
tournament performances
plus administrative and
recreational activities related
to bridge. The ACBL
Educational Foundation will
present a $2000 scholarship
to the King/Queen of Bridge.
This competition was
established in 1973 by Homer
Shoop, an Indiana banker, and
is administered today by the
ACBL Educational Foundation.
A list of previous winners
reads like a who's who of
bridge: Jeff Meckstroth,
Bobby Levin, Steve Weinstein,
Joel Wooldridge,
Martha (Benson) Katz,
Eric Greco, Gavin Wolpert
and Adam Grossack.
Deadline: May 31, 2024.
For more information,
please visit acbl.org/royalty
ometimes, things take a
strange turn:
Dlr: South s 5 3
Vul: None h Q 7
d A 9 8 7 4 3
c J 5 2
s A Q J
h A K 8 2
d Q J
c Q 10 6 4
West North East
Pass
1d
Pass 3NT
Pass
All Pass
South is in 3NT with the s4 lead.
East plays the king and South wins.
There are lots of potential tricks
here. At trick two, South leads the dQ,
which loses to East's king. East returns
the s9, South's queen winning.
South now plays the dJ, hoping to
take 11 tricks, with 12 being a distant
possibility if there is a squeeze. On
the dJ, West discards a low heart.
So diamonds don't divide. How serious
is this? Pretty serious. It means
South can't run the diamond suit.
East still has a stopper. South now
has three sure spade tricks and three
sure heart tricks but only two sure
diamond tricks. He will need to get a
club trick. But going after a club trick
runs the risk that the defenders will
set up the spade suit and can use it.
Is there a solution? South sees that
he can't run the diamonds if he wins
his jack. He can go over to the hQ to
continue diamonds, setting up the suit,
but can't get to dummy to use them.
But there is an answer. When
West shows out on the dJ, South can
62 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2024
South
1c
2NT
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
overtake it with the ace and lead the
d9. East can win, but the hQ is still in
dummy, so the diamond winners can
be used. Here's the complete deal:
s 5 3
h Q 7
d A 9 8 7 4 3
c J 5 2
s 10 8 7 4 2
h J 9 4
d 2
c K 9 7 3
s A Q J
h A K 8 2
d Q J
c Q 10 6 4
There are some little things going
on here besides finding the right play.
In the bidding, South rebid 2NT, not
1h. This is a sound strategy as long as
you have a proper hand for notrump. If
North has four cards in a major, there
are ways for responder to discover if
opener also has four cards. There are
so many possible ways to do this that I
can't cover them all here.
Postmortem: Here's a new scenario.
Say that at the point where South
leads the dJ, West plays a diamond.
At IMPs, making your contract is important.
You should overtake the jack
with the ace to cater to East having
a singleton diamond. If East has two
or three, you lose some overtricks but
you make your contract. If you are
playing matchpoints, you should play
in greedy fashion by letting the dJ
win.
One final tidbit: If North had the
dA 9 7 5 4 3 instead of dA 9 8 7 4 3,
everything in this article becomes
moot. The d8 was a powerful card in
this layout. 2
s K 9 6
h 10 6 5 3
d K 10 6 5
c A 8
http://www.michaelslawrence.com http://www.acbl.org/royalty
March 2024

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