BRIDGE
Softly, softly
Andrew Robson
MERELY because you expect the oppo- nents to go down in their contract does not mean you should double — as East found to his cost on this week's deal.
Dealer South North-South vulnerable 4A KQJ 104 illt) 9 • Q 9 +K8 3 49 V 10
• 10 6 5 4 Q J 10 7 6 5 2 W E
46 2 V8 7 6 5 2
• A K 8 3 +94
48 75 VA K J • J 7 2 • A
3 43
The Bidding South West 1V 4+ 5V pass pass pass pass pass North 4NT 64 7 pass East pass double double East's double of 64 was unsound — quite apart from the possibility that his honours would not cash. In fact both •A and •K would have survived and the con- tract would have gone one down. The real reason why his double was so ill-judged was soon revealed.
Declarer, feeling that East had doubled because he held •AK (why else had he doubled?), took a brilliant gamble. Seeking to put West on opening lead, he converted to 7V — the suit his partner had opened. It was certainly a courageous decision as his V support was barely adequate, but it was spectacularly successful.
West eventually decided to lead 49 against 7V — disaster. Declarer won dummy's *A, cashed VQ, noting the fall of West's V10, and followed with V9. He crossed to +A and drew East's three remaining trumps, discarding dummy's • Q9 and +8.
All that remained was to lead to dummy's 4 winners — 13 tricks.
If East had stayed quiet over 6+, he would have collected 100 points. By seek- ing to gain an extra 100 by doubling, he had lost 2,470 points.
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