Column 7B86 (1-26-86) by Richard Pavlicek

Slam Bid Wins Match

Jim and Marietta Beery of Lauderhill (teamed with this writer and son, Richie) led the qualifiers with a record of six wins and no losses. I felt sure we had lost one match when Richie overbid on a hand, got doubled and went for a “telephone number.” But Jim and Marietta pulled out the match by reaching a slam on today’s deal that was not bid by the opposing team.

6 by South

None Vul	9 3 J 7 6 2 9 2 A Q J 9 2
K J 7 4 K Q 10 4 3 8 7 6 5		Q 10 8 5 A 9 8 5 10 8 7 6 4 —
Lead: K	A 6 2 3 A K Q J 5 K 10 4 3

West Pass Pass Pass All Pass

North 1 3 5

East Pass Pass Pass

South 1 2 3 6

Marietta, South, opened one diamond and Jim, North, responded in his moth-eaten heart suit. When South rebid two clubs, North offered some encouragement with a raise to three. South’s three-spade bid showed the ace (it could not be a real suit from her failure to bid one spade over one heart) and North leaped to game in clubs. (No one ever accused Jim of being a shy bidder.) This jump bid surely indicated good trumps, so South used excellent judgment in bidding the slam.

Declarer made short work of the play when West led the heart king and continued the suit, South ruffing. A club was led to dummy’s jack to ruff another heart with the club king; then the club 10 was overtaken with dummy’s queen to draw all of West’s trumps and claim the rest.

A more accurate defense (e.g., a heart lead then a shift to another suit) would have defeated the slam because of the cruel distribution of the minor suits. But the contract was an excellent one — the reward was just.