Put
yourself in the South seat for a moment.
East comes in over partner's 1
opening with 3
at unfavourable vulnerability so he will
surely have a good suit. With two aces and a
club fit you'd like to take some action, but
is there a call that makes sense?
If you were playing negative doubles at this lofty level, you might look
no further, but without this gadget you
would have to choose among a gentle pass, a
somewhat misdirected 4
(you are not very interested in 5),
an aggressive penalty double, and a bold
3NT.
Souths deals East-West vulnerable
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1 |
3 |
3NT |
Pass |
4NT |
fin |
|
Opening Lead:
K
When this deal was played (back in the sixties) Toronto's Eric Murray was
South, Sami Kehela, North. South, true to
his character, took a shot at 3NT. Just
right! It would have been a bad idea to
double 3
for penalty because it would have made in
comfort and 3NT was quite cold.
Unfortunately for South, North had a good
hand and invited slam with a natural raise
to 4NT.
West led the
K
against 4NT and the contract seemed to turn
on the heart finesse. If someone had told
South that his 3NT bid would produce an even
money chance for game, he would have been
delighted, but perhaps there was an even
better chance.
Although East had advertised a hand with little defensive strength, it was
possible that he held the
K. West figured
to hold more hearts than his partner,
however, and so was more likely to hold the
K. Declarer based his play on that
assumption.
He won the
A
immediately and ran six clubs. West had to
make four discards and threw three hearts
and one diamond. Declarer cashed the A to
extract West's exit card and led the
10. West could take his three diamond tricks but
then, at trick twelve, had to lead a heart
away from the king, giving declarer his
tenth trick.
Murray explained that it had taken great restraint for him to pass 4NT,
but no one was listening, least of all his
partner, who was quite enjoying a Monte
Christo. Ah, those were the days.
The four hands were: