Today’s deal was No. 25 in the Epson Worldwide Bridge Contest held on June 8. As West, I was somewhat amused when I picked up my cards — OK, I can take a joke, now show me my real hand — but of course it was my real hand. A suppose I should be grateful I was not playing rubber bridge for money.
South opened two notrump (20 to 22 points) and North jumped to four notrump. This was not Blackwood but a quantitative invitation to slam based on point count (North considered his hand worth more than 10 points because of the good five-card club suit). South was on the top of his range so he went directly to six notrump.
All this was no surprise to me — they could make eight notrump as far as I was concerned — but I had to choose a lead. A diamond would be routine (longest suit); however, in an event where the goal is to beat thousands of other pairs, this seemed like a good time to try something different. For no particular reason, I led a heart.
Dummy came down. Declarer called for a small heart, and East (my son Rich) finessed the 10 to force the king. On the surface this looks like a good start for the defense. It would be if I regained the lead (now there’s a fantasy), but this time it sealed our fate for a dismal score.
Declarer cashed the ace-king of diamonds (bingo!) and ran the rest of his minor-suit winners. East had to hold the heart ace, so he could not keep his spade stopper, and declarer won all the tricks.
I wondered if my son should have realized the danger and taken his ace at trick one. Perhaps, but his play was certainly normal, as there may have been a chance to beat the contract. Then it dawned on me: The only person who did anything abnormal was me; the offbeat heart lead virtually played the hand for declarer.
C’est la vie. Last week I showed you how Harold and Madelyn Shibe topped North America. Now you see how Pavlicek and Son bottomed out the world.
© 1990 Richard Pavlicek
by Richard Pavlicek by Richard Pavlicek