Today's
deal is from the Round Robin stage of the
1999 Canadian National Teams Championship.
North was Roy Hughes, South Irv Litvack.
Kokish: Pretty good hand for a normally weak jump to game, Roy.
Hughes: Canadian Club.
Kraft: Let me explain that cryptic rejoinder. Not the widely acclaimed
whisky but rather the less-widely acclaimed
home-grown bridge system, thrust by Irv (its
creator) upon a string of unsuspecting
partner-victims over the years. With South
limited to 16 points by the failure to open
a strong club and the possibility of a
moderate four-card suit, North's jump to
game was really the practical indicated bid.
Furthermore, North, whose second love is
positive numbers ending in two zeroes (his
first is the piano), had a bit more going
for him; his bid might goad his opponents
into 4
and a big penalty.
North-South vulnerable; East deals
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Hughes |
|
Litvack |
|
|
Pass |
1 |
1 |
4 |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:
3
With 4
doubled likely to cost 500 points and little
chance to jockey North/South to the five-level,
it will be much better bridge in the long
run to defend 4
with the East/West cards. Particularly when
West finds the best lead of the
3,
as he did at the table.
Declarer called for dummy's
Q,
covered by the king and ace. He led the
7 towards dummy's blank ten and, without
missing a beat, West went in with the ace to
continue with the
9,
which held. West cashed the A
before declarer could establish the
6
(leading the ten to smother the seven) and
continued spades. Declarer ruffed in hand,
led a trump to the jack, and soon lost a
trump to West for one down.
Moments later, South was kicking himself. "I should have made it. Instead
of playing a trump to the jack, say that I
play
K
and another club. West discards, but I ruff
my winner in dummy, play K,
spade ruff, East following. By now, I know
that West has five spades, two clubs, and (apparently)
three diamonds, leaving him with three
trumps. I intend to play him for the
K
in any case, but now I can see that the best
play is to lead the queen from my hand,
winning against singleton nine or ten in
East. If West covers, I win, ruff myself in
with a spade, and finesse against the other
minor trump honour."
Perhaps spotting the easy-to-overlook winning line so soon after missing
it should earn a consolation prize.
Kokish: No matter how skilled and experienced you may be, you have only so
much energy to expend. If you use some of it
to pick apart a deal that you won't be able
to replay, you might find that you could
have used that energy to master a fresh deal
later on.
Kraft: Fortunately for Team BALKAM (Eric Balkam-Mike Betts, John Stewart-Don
Presse, Maritimers all, and Hughes-Litvack,
Toronto), energy happens to be a commodity
in which Irv is invariably long. In the
strongest CNTC field in many years, BALKAM
played with flair and consistency and won
the round robin.