BRIDGE
Cool
Andrew Robson
BIDDING a slam missing two cashing aces is always embarrassing. Here North's youthful 6V bid was responsible. He fell in love with his void in the opponents' suit little did he know that almost half his part- ner's points were in that suit.
The key to declaring a `two ace slam' is to look supremely confident — admire this week's declarer's cool performance.
Dealer North 4 10 9 8 6 9 4Q 3
4A 104 3
3 2 North-South 4 — V A Q 8
• 9 8 7 K J 2
vulnerable
7 5 2 2 4 Q J 5 J 4 • A J 10 6 54 4 9 8
N
W E 4 A K 7 4 K 106 3 • K Q 7 6 5 The Bidding South West North East
1,1 pass pass pass West led 410 and declarer calmly sur- veyed dummy's meagre assets. He saw a glimmer of hope if he timed the hand per- fectly. After some thought, he ruffed the opening lead in dummy and played a trump to V10 at trick two. This seemingly amazing play was absolutely necessary to declarer's timing — watch.
Having won V10, declarer led a 4. An unsuspecting West played low and declar- er won dummy's 4K, East following with 48. He crossed to YK, cashed 4A and 4K discarding both dummy's remaining 4s, and led 40. West covered with 4A, and East followed with 49. Declarer led a • from dummy and East rose with •A, felling declarer's •K, and played a second *, ruffed by declarer. He then led 47, planning to run it if West played low. In fact, West covered with 410, so declarer ruffed in dummy, ruffed dummy's penulti- mate • with his last rump and cashed 46, discarding dummy's last *.
Post-mortem gloats such as (South to North) 'How did you know I had 46?' are absolutely forbidden after such defensive debacles.
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