BRIDGE
Two imposters
Andrew Robson
TEAMS bridge is an especially enjoyable form of the game. Even if you have a disas- trous result, your team mates may have rescued you by doing equally well in the other room, holding the same cards as your opponents.
Dealer North 4 — V 108 7 3
• A 9 5 4 J 108 4 2 4 A Q J K 9 5 • K 103 +9
East-West vulnerable 7 3 2 4 10 9 8 5 4 V A 2
• 7 4A K 7 6 5
N
W E
S
4 K 6
VQJ 6 4
• Q J 8 6 2 Q 3 The Bidding South West North 14 East pass 2* pass 34. pass 44 pass pass double pass pass 540 double pass pass pass redouble pass West, Susannah Gross, led +J against 5+ redoubled and East, Neil Mendoza, won +A and worked out on the bidding that his partner almost certainly held no spades His 410 return was trumped by West, who returned V8. East won VA and led a second 4 for West to trump. Declar- er had to lose the ace of trumps so was three down redoubled — 1000 points to East-West.
North-South may have thought this result irretrievable, but their team mates, Johnny Hornby (West) and Johnny Acton (East) proved otherwise. Acton had over- called 2+ on the East cards and West had jumped to 5+ over South's 2*. When North doubled, Hornby had redoubled.
Acton made 5+ by trumping South's 4K lead, and leading V3 at trick two, allowing North to make a most unusual trick with V5. He won North's +9 switch, trumped a second 4, crossed to VA and led a third 4. South trumped with +Q, but that was the last trick for the defence, declarer scoring nine trump tricks and the two red aces. 5+ redoubled scored 1000 points to 'the two Johnnys' so the score was exactly the same in both rooms.
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