Mastery in Motion

Every winter Vancouver BC runs an extended teams competition that we call the IMP League.  Play begins in October and continues through the winter to mid-April, with playoffs in each division following in April and May (and sometimes slightly beyond).  Teams of 4-6 players play a match against another team two or three times a month, usually at a bridge club or occasionally at someone’s home.  Usually, there are two or three divisions to separate the top players from the more casual or social players, and in some years we have enough interest to have a division of newer players.

This year there are fourteen teams in Flight AX and six teams in Flight B. I am playing with Brad Bart on the Bart team with Chris Christophersen, Cam Doner, Paul Hagen and Cam Lindsay.

Our Brad Bart, not to be confused with the World Champion Bart Bramley from Dallas or the Les Bart from Florida of the Bart Convention fame, nor, although young in age, with the mischievous Bart Simpson, teaches computer science at Simon Fraser University. He shows, in his declarer play of this hand, why he is a two-time champion of the Canadian Open Pairs.

Brad was South and I was North.

East Dealer. North-South Vulnerable.

 

	North
	♠ AK75
	♥ Q63
	◊ 7542
West	♣ 107	East
♠ Q9632		♠ J108
♥ 7		♥ 109852
◊AKJ96		◊ 10
♣ 96	South	♣ K432
	♠ 4
	♥ AKJ4
	◊ Q83
	♣ AQJ85

 

This was the auction.

West	North	East	South
		pass	1C
1D	DBL*	pass	4H
pass	pass	pass

DBL* was negative double. We have been toying with the bid of one spade shows five after a heart overcall. I was on shaky ground when I made the negative double showing four – four in the majors after the one diamond overcall.

West led the diamond ace, two, ten and three. Continued with diamond king, four, spade eight, eight. Diamond six, five, east ruffed with heart two, queen. East shifted to club two. Having lost the first three tricks, Brad needed the club king on side, so played, in tempo, the five, nine and dummy won with the ten. Flowing with perfect rhythm, Brad now drew three rounds of trumps, played the heart three, five, king and seven. With the play of the heart ace, west chose to discard the diamond nine, six and eight. Next on the heart four, west discarded spade three, queen, nine. Brad finessed in club, seven, three, jack and six.

This left:

 

	North
	♠ AK75
	♥
	◊ 7
West	♣	East
♠ Q963		♠ J10
♥		♥ 10
◊ J		◊
♣	South	♣ K4
	♠ 4
	♥ J
	◊
	♣ AQ8

 

Now with the play of the heart jack, west discarded spade three, dummy the spade five, ten. Next came the club ace. What is poor west to do – left dangling between a rock and a hard place?  Discard the diamond jack and dummy would discard the spade five then diamond seven would be good. If west discards a spade then dummy would discard the diamond seven and spade seven would be good! Four hearts making for plus 620.

East was squeezed at trick two! If he had discarded a club instead of the spade then Brad’s club suit would have come in for five tricks with repeated club finesse and the club nine dropping.

If at trick four east led a spade to break up the transportation for the squeeze, Brad would still make the contract if he guessed to finesse the club, heart queen, cashed the spade king, finesse club, ruff a club to set up the club suit and return to hand with a trump to draw the rest of the the trumps.

The beauty of Brad’s line of play by way of the double squeeze was that he catered for bad breaks in both the trump and the club suit. Astounding.