August 2024 - 67

George's World
Special Contributor
BY GEORGE JACOBS
NOBET8888@aol.com
F
antastic news! All your cards
and emails and telegrams have
had a wonderful effect. No, I'm
not getting any more space, deserving
as that might be, but something
greater. Through your efforts, June
10th has been declared National Egg
Roll Day. I'm speechless with gratitude.
While it is too late for this year,
the Editor has assured me that next
year we will have a contest at the
Spring NABC, and the winner will be
on the June cover. [Ed.: Ummm, no.]
This deal comes from a North
American Pairs qualifying game
where I was playing with Bob
Maxson:
Dlr: North s Q 2
Vul: Both h J 10
d K Q 9 7 6 2
c Q 5 3
s K J
h 9 8 7 6
d 10 8 3
c K J 9 7
s 10 5 3
h K 4 2
d A J 5 4
c A 8 2
Bob opened 2d. East passed. I
would have overcalled 2s, but that is
a personal decision. As South, I don't
have a great hand, but I do have a terrific
fit for partner, so I bid 2NT and
asked him to show a feature. He responded
3c, which I enthusiastically
took to show the king. I figured six
diamond tricks, two clubs, and hoped
I could make my hK on the opening
serve. (Sorry, I just finished watching
the French Open.) And thus, I
bid a very optimistic 3NT instead of
a normal but mundane 3d. As luck
would have it, I did get a heart lead
s A 9 8 7 6 4
h A Q 5 3
d -
c 10 6 4
(the 9), but ... right-hand opponent
won the ace and smartly shifted to a
low spade. As I was calculating how
I would explain going down two to
Bob, a funny thing happened: The
spades blocked. Even as I look at it
today, I can't figure out how. West
actually won the king and continued
with the sJ to the queen and ace,
and East played a third round of the
suit. Like the Rueful Rabbit, I gratefully
scooped up the s10.
The defense has now set up a winner
for me in each major, so 3NT is
cold. But you know the old saying:
Where there are nine, there are 10. Or
the other old saying: " Nine, come 10. "
(That one is actually, " 10 come 11, "
but that wouldn't make sense here.)
I now pounded six diamonds at
them. RHO had to make six pitches,
me two, and LHO three. RHO
pitched two spades, two hearts (as he
only needed to cover the jack with the
queen) and two clubs. I pitched two
clubs. East pitched one heart and one
club, and then kept his remaining
three clubs, so at trick 13, I made the
h2 for plus 630. It turns out that we
still would have qualified with plus
600, but the look of joy on Bob's face
made it all worthwhile.
I'm now on my fourth different person
who is writing " George's World,
the Unauthorized Autobiography, "
and they are clearly the best. My
beautiful bride, Stacy, has taken on
this monumental task. It is a twopart
series. In part one, we look at
past columns and fill in with lots of
local color and plenty of great stories.
In part two, we dish the dirt. Nobody
is allowed to skip book one. You will
understand later.
Chow. 2
CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
CHALLENGE ANSWER
continued from page 66
This is a textbook " strip and
endplay. " With no more diamonds
in dummy or the closed hand, and
with trumps drawn, declarer simply
" strips " clubs, i.e., eliminates
the suit by cashing the top winners,
and then plays a spade to the
dummy, covering whatever card
West plays, thereby endplaying
East. For example:
s A Q 9
h K 7 5 2
d K 3 2
c K 4 3
s J 7 6
h J 6
d Q J 10 6 4
c J 8 2
s K 10 8 3
h 9 4
d A 9 8
c 10 9 7 5
s 5 4 2
h A Q 10 8 3
d 7 5
c A Q 6
After ruffing the third round of
diamonds, drawing trumps and
cashing the cA K Q, play a spade
to dummy. If West plays low, cover
with dummy's 9. East can win the
10, but must then play a spade into
dummy's A-Q or give you a useful
ruff-sluff.
It doesn't help if West tries the
sJ on the first round of the suit.
You cover with dummy's queen.
When East wins the king, the
sA 9 in dummy protects you from
a spade return. 2
August 2024 | Bridge Bulletin |
67
August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2024
