BRIDGE
Trickery
Andrew Robson
I AM very sad that this is my last column. But I am delighted that Susanna Gross is to be my successor. Susanna is currently having much success in the tournament scene and came fourth in the British Ladies Trials this year, but her great love is Rubber Bridge. Any spare time and she will rush to London's TGR Bridge Club to play in a high-stake game.
When I asked her which area of the game she enjoys the most, she was unhesi- tating in her reply: the psychology. She cer- tainly made a wonderful deceptive play on this week's hand.
Dealer West 4 K J 10 8 6 V2 ♦ 7 4 9 7 6 5 4 it • + 4 2 North-South 7 3 9 5 4 10 6 5 A Q J Vulnerable 4 10
4 Q 9 V A 0 10 8 7 6 ♦ A 4 8 4 3 2'
N
W E
S
4 A 5 V K .1 3
♦ K Q J 9 8 3 2
4 K
The Bidding South West North East 34 pass 44 5♦ pass pass pass With East-West jamming the bidding, Susanna, South, had no real alternative but to plunge in with 54 over 44 and pray for a suitable dummy. West led a quick V2 and dummy tabled four-card trump support and some useful 4s. But West's confident V2 lead — as opposed to a 4 — smelt of being a singleton so the defence threatened to take VA, trump a V, and subsequently score •A. Can you see what Susanna did to pull the wool over East's eyes? East won the first trick with VA and Susanna smoothly followed with VK! This outrageous play naturally convinced East that it was declarer who held the singleton V. East switched to 4Q. Susanna's prob- lems were not yet over, but when she won 4A, overtook 4K with 4A and cashed 4QJ10, both opponents followed to all four rounds. She was thus able to discard 45 and VJ3, and restrict her losers to VA and 4A.
Playing such a bold false card in tempo requires great nerve as well as sheer speed of thought. Even to think of the play is impressive, but actually to pull it off at the table ...
Previous page
