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DOWN A BEER OR DOWN THE CONTRACT?

Which is more important to a bridge player? Maybe if you are 25 or under..or a year or 20 over, then the answer is obvious. The chance of a free drink would certainly come at the expense of beating a part-score.

What about a game?        Maybe.

A slam?                            Don’t ask.

Just in case you are already lost, there is a quaint habit that if you win trick 13 with the 7, then your partner must buy you a beer. So, you drink wine? I am sure the rules can be bent.

Back to the world of defending and despite your best efforts at pre-emption, the opposition bid to 4 without much discomfort.

West              North                        East                South

                                                                                  1 (16+ any shape)

3                   x (5-7 any)              Pass                  4

All Pass

and there you are on lead with:

 9643

 T9

 AKQJT7

  9

You are playing Teams and have got to beat this contract if you can. So, try the 9 and hope:

 

Well, no A in dummy. So, there’s hope. Great hope. Partner plays A and declarer 10. Back comes 2 after a pause while, presumably, partner wondered whether a diamond was required. Declarer plays low and you ruff.

What now? Could partner have the A and you can get a second ruff? It is theoretically possible. In your own hand and dummy, there are 16 hcp while South could have the bare 16 and partner two aces. Adds up but partner played back 2 which does not seem to ask for a spade. It does not look from your hand that they want a diamond, either….. but you hatch up a plan. Lead the 7 and if partner has the 9, they can win the trick and the second club will defeat the contract in glorious style.

Let’s face it. Your chances of the 7 scoring the 13^th trick are pretty remote. Maybe if you were declarer in diamonds…but not with hearts as trumps! So, the sacrifice was made! Alas, when that particular trick was over, you were still on lead!

 

Any declarer who wanted to make their contract would surely have made some attempt to win the trick by playing dummy's     8…or did they smell your rat….or did they just play low without a thought?

Whatever the reason, the contract was secure with South making an overtrick. You knew where the 9 was....now..but you could not get beneath it, even if South had a second diamond! Come to think of it...if South had two diamonds, there was another way to defeat the contract!

No beer to down, no contract down? Hey, it was meant to be a choice between one and the other. You got neither!

Partner might have had a red face..but you were there for them.

At trick 1, you had led a high diamond!

Richard Solomon

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