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You are not down until you are….down!

Today’s deal features an attribute I admire in any sportsperson, whether they be chasing a ball or trying to make an impossible bridge contract. Never give up. You may have zero chance but until you are down, you are not down!

Round 6 of the Trans- Tasman Challenge took place last Friday and two declarers found themselves overboard in what we call a “hopeless slam”. Yet, one of these two declarers made their slam. What would be your line when you could afford only one loser with the following collection:

 

2 was a Weak 2 and your partner’s 4 was Leaping Michaels showing a good hand with at least 5 hearts and 5 clubs. Looking at your own holdings in those 2 suits, you decide that 6 cannot be far away..and so bid it! North leads K and partner puts down a decent dummy except that the heart suit is a little thin on top!

So, what is your line of play?

One declarer rather gave up by winning and playing A and a second heart. There was no miracle lie of the heart suit and the defence soon took a trump and a spade trick for a good plus score. In fact, there could be no “miracle lie” if the declarer played like that. A singleton trump king in the North hand creates a certain trump trick for South while if South had the singleton king, North’s J would be a trick.

This was the actual lay-out:

 

Yet, the slam did not have a  0 % chance of success, close to but not 0. Say one defender held two clubs and K doubleton. On the third round of clubs, the defender could ruff but West’s 10 would be discarded in loser on loser fashion.

There was also the very slim chance of a defender having the singleton A and Kx, where after a diamond ruff, the situation would be similar to the above.

“Slim pickings” you would say but the percentage is higher than 0! So, our second declarer won the A, following with 10 as though it was a singleton and played K and a club to the ace. All chances depended on a 3-2 club break! Next came a heart to the ace to be followed by 9

South was unaware of how many trumps West, the declarer, held. Thus, they ruffed with J forcing West to over-ruff with Q. Declarer ruffed a diamond back to dummy and played another club.

It's not over...until the fat lady sings! She had not quite started singing. 

Therein arose the extra chance. No doubt, South expected West held all the missing trumps and rather saw things differently from what they actually were. They ruffed in with K and declarer’s 8 was discarded. West ruffed the spade return, ruffed a diamond to dummy, drew trump and claimed.  

Of course, the slam could/should have been defeated. North was about to score their small trump as West discarded their spade loser.  If West held the three trumps South could not see, there was no hope. As unlikely as it seemed to South, discarding at the key point offered the same slim chance that West was playing for to make their contract. Could West have held three spades? Assuming North held 6 for their Weak 2 opening, the answer was “no”. Had North’s Weak 2 ever been a 5-card suit? Perhaps that is what South had hoped for by ruffing.

All conjecture. Look at the “ifs” and “buts” created by West playing out the board in the only slim way they could to see to make their contract. Their line was doomed to failure but we never quite know what goes through defenders’ minds…and this time, West profited by the ultimately wrong view taken by South.

Somehow, I feel this West player in slam deserved their success for the line taken.

The next round of the Trans-Tasman event is on Friday September 15^th at 8.00pm New Zealand time. Kibitzers are welcome. Hopefully, we can report more Kiwi teams in the top 5 after that round.

Richard Solomon

 

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