Wait a bit
Susanna Gross
THEY SAY bridge is a social game, but you'd never guess it from the way some people play. Neil Mendoza (who, among other things, is co-owner of Hammer House of Horror films) is the most impa- tient player I know. We regularly play 'socially', but Neil's agitation begins as soon as we walk through the door. 'Enough chit-chat,' he announces as we greet each other. 'Let's play.' We do at least have a short break for dinner, but at Neil's insis- tence it's only ever a sandwich and, if any- one takes time off from eating to make a little conversation, they are promptly told: 'Hurry up, no talking!'
Sometimes, however, his impatience can make him play just a bit too quickly. The other evening, he was declarer on this deal: West led +K; Neil won and a spade finesse lost to West's *K. West then exited with a spade. When East showed out on dummy's IPK, Neil had an unavoidable trump loser. And with the +A offside, he later lost two diamond tricks, going one down.
Neil should have played more slowly at trick one. Since West's opening bid marks him with most of the points, he should have ducked the opening lead. West now has no safe continuation: if he plays anoth- er club, Neil can finesse dummy's +J fer two club tricks; if he leads any other suit, South get a free finesse and his tenth trick. Analysis over. Next!
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