BRIDGE
Idiot or genius?
Andrew Robson
UNFORTUNATELY I have not been able to track down the declarer on this deal. The two defenders — US World champions Nick Nickell and Dick Freeman — tell me that he was Venezuelan but unless I com- municate directly with him we will never know whether his play at trick one was out- rageously brilliant or just plain idiotic.
The scene is the 1999 Fall Nationals in Boston and the form of scoring is Duplicate Pairs where every trick counts. Here is the hand: Dealer East Neither Side Vulnerable The Bidding South West North East 1• pass pass pass Rather than leading partner's suit, West elected to lead 42. East underplayed dummy's 48 with 44 and, after appearing to reflect, declarer overtook 48 with his 49 and began to run off his trumps. Now put yourself in the defender's shoes — would declarer really have overtaken 48 with 49 if he held a void • and was now cut off from dummy's •AK? It hardly seemed possible in such a top class event so both East and West clung onto three 4s (though admittedly only one defender needed to) in order to prevent dummy scoring more than +AK.
After eight rounds of trumps, West's last five cards were VQ, •K and •J106 and East's were VA, •A and •Q98. Dummy held •Q10 and +AKS. Declarer led •5 felling •K and •A, East cashed VA, on which dummy's •5 was discarded, but was forced to lead a • at trick 11. Dummy took the last three tricks with •AK and •Q. Making 11 tricks — rather than the more mundane ten he would have made by win- ning dummy's 48 at trick one and immedi- ately cashing •AK — was a complete top for declarer.
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