Unexpected slam

When Wendy passed my 2S bid, I figured her for a bare minimum with spade support. When she laid down the dummy I was alarmed:

Edward	Wendy	Kathy	Paul
1	2	2	2
Pass	Pass	Pass

Wendy

 10 3

 Q 9 4

 A 7 2

 A Q 9 5 2

Paul

 A K J 6

 6

 K J 4

 10 8 6 4 3

But I made the best of it. After Edward's merciful diamond lead to Kathy's queen and my king, I traveled to the diamond ace in dummy (my only chance was that Edward hadn't led a singleton) and played the 10 of trump. Everyone followed low, as they did again on the trump 3 to the jack, and again on the ace. Finally Kathy dropped the queen under the king on the fourth round. A very felicitous split of the seven outstanding trumps!

I opted to press my finessing luck and led a low club to the queen, on which Kathy played her bare jack. Edward's club king fell to the ace on the second round, and the rest of the clubs were winners. The diamond jack won the twelfth trick, and I just had to lose a heart.

(This is to the best of my recollection. Please tell me, someone, if I'm misremembering any detail of the red suits.)

Neither my partner nor I had opening points, the opponents had more trumps than we did, and I didn't make a single ruffing trick. All in all a very surprising slam.

With DJ Slam on the decks

I had a dream I was in a rock band called the Three No Trump. Anybody want to join me?

Bridge movie

Sometimes you feel like the hero of a cheesy bridge movie. On Sunday I played for four hours and made exactly zero contracts. Not only that: my partners also made exactly zero contracts while they were sitting across from me. That's the penultimate scene of the movie. How will our hero survive?

Then, the next day, it's a tense rubber at the bar. Both sides are vulnerable. My partner passes, right-hand opponent bids three spades, and I bid four hearts, holding 22 points -- my first opening hand of the day. With my partner passing the whole way, I'm bid up to five hearts, then six, then doubled. The music swells as the dummy comes down:

Ben	Bryan	Paul	Wendy
Pass	3	4	4
Pass	Pass	5	5
Pass	Pass	6	Pass
Pass	Dbl	Pass	Pass
Pass

Vulnerable: both
Lead:  J

Dummy

 2

 2

 9 8 6 4 2

 K 9 8 7 5 3

Me

 - -

 A K Q J 9 4 3

 A Q 7

 A Q 4

I only have to lose a diamond trick, and I manage to avoid even that by leaving the low spade in dummy and pseudo-squeezing the opponents, who both guard spades, to make the 7 of diamonds win the last trick -- the beer card! The team gets 360 for the doubled 6H, 200 for a doubled overtrick, 750 small slam bonus, 50 for the insult, 100 honors, and 500 for a slow rubber. Combine that with an earlier 800 for a doubled contract set by four, and it's the biggest rubber I've ever won: 2720 points. It didn't quite make up for my 3000-point loss the day before, but it was exhilarating.

Never give up

Whenever I start to feel like I'm picking up some skills at the bridge table, I come across a bridge story that makes me realize I'll never master the game. The hand below was played by Oscar Irawan, age 17. He made what looks like an unmakeable contract. How would you approach it? (Hint: from the double, the declarer correctly inferred that East held all four outstanding trumps.)

North	East	South	West
Pass	Pass	2	4
4	Pass	5	5
5	Pass	6	Pass
Pass	Dbl	Pass	Pass
Pass

Lead:  K

North

 6 4 3

 - -

 10 9 8 5 4 2

 10 9 6 3

South

 A K J 9 5 2

 - -

 A K

 A J 7 5 2

- - - - - - - - -

SOLUTION:

Well, nobody seems to want to take a stab, so here's the answer. Irawan used an invaluable principle: when you can visualize only one possible way the opposing cards could lie that would enable you to win, assume that the cards do in fact lie that way, and play for the best chance.

West's 4H overcall showed some length in hearts, but the only way the contract could be made was if West in fact had nine hearts, leaving him with four cards in the minor suits. Moreover, those four cards would have to be divided 2-2, AND they'd have to be the highest outstanding cards in their suits. Playing for this slim possibility, Irawan trumped the heart lead in the dummy and undertrumped it in his hand. He led a trump from dummy and finessed in his hand -- East played the 7 and South the 9, West discarding a heart. Then declarer cashed the A and K of diamonds, on which West played the J and Q; and then A of clubs, on which West played the Q; and finally exited with the 2 of clubs.

The distribution was exactly right. West won with the K of clubs but now he had nothing left in his hand but hearts. He led a heart, which was trumped in dummy and again undertrumped in declarer's hand. Now declarer just had to keep playing winning diamonds from dummy, discarding clubs from his hand, until East trumped, at which point declarer would overtrump and win the rest of the tricks.

If declarer hadn't undertrumped on those two heart tricks, discarding clubs instead, he would have been forced to trump one of dummy's diamonds (since he'd have no clubs left to discard on them), which would leave East with a winning trump. The play shows a dazzlingly impressive combination of foresight, imagination, and luck. This was the full deal:

North

 6 4 3

 - -

 10 9 8 5 4 2

 10 9 6 3

West

 - -

 K Q 10 9 8 6 4 3 2

 Q J

 K Q

East

 Q 10 8 7

 A J 7 5

 7 6 5 3

 8 4

South

 A K J 9 5 2

 - -

 A K

 A J 7 5 2