Bridge

Electronic Bilingual Review Nº 7 September 1996

Bridge

By Francis Vernon

There are Bridge hands that we almost never see, they are compositions which show strange things that a deck of cards can produce. Such is the case of the next hand composed a few years ago by the Canadian Mel Stover:

	AKQ AKQ - - - - - - Q1098765
86543 97654 K AK		2 32 AQ1098765 J4
	J1097 J106 J432 32

The contract is 3NT. West leads the K.
East has to overtake the K with the A and follow with the Q and ten of diamonds, upon which, his partner has to throw the Ace and King of Clubs in order to create an entry to East's J. It is the only way to defeat the contract. Meanwhile, over the three diamonds, South discards dummy's A, K and Q of and then plays J, 10 and 9 of from his hand discarding A, K and Q of from dummy . Finally, he plays the 7 up to West 8 who is endplayed and has to play hearts to declarer's J, 10, 8. Up to this point, South has made one, threes & threes and now he has two more tricks because East has been squeezed in the final position.

This is a curious hand where not less than 28 HP have been despised and discarded but it is the only way to make the hand.

Note: Francis Vernon has just published his APUNTES DE BRIDGE (Spanish version). It is an excellent summary of every thing a good player has to know about modern Bridge. It is particularly important for Spanish speaking players because there is nothing like in this language.

Vernon is a good teacher, he explains conventions and what is more important, he makes us think about when to use them, how and with whom. He also clarifies problems that appear during the bidding, defense and card play. We fully recommend it.

The cost is Bs. 8.000 and you can get it at the Bridge Club, 2a Calle de la Urb Campo Alegre, Qta Ekeko. In case you are interested, write to our e-mail: editorva ccs.internet.ve and we can send it adding the mail or transport costs.