Evening star., 1933-11-29
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Both sides were vulnerable. I was
the dealer in the South position; and
East opened with heart after three
passes.
I overcalled with one spade. 1t Is
true that this is the kind of hand with
which I generally prefer to double, In
tending to bid my suit later. However.
in selecting between an overcal and
double one must take the suit rankings
into account. Had ! doubled felt sure
my partner would bid minor suit.
probably diamonds, so that would have
to bid my spades at the tWo-level. BY
oyercalling, I could bid them at the
one-level. West bid two diamonds.
North passed, East rebid his hearts and
I went to two spades. West and North
passed, but East now bid three dia-
monds, showing his partner that they
had some kind of fit for trump suit.
I passed, as did West; but my partner
now knew that I held at most one dia-
mond, and that had unusual strength
in spades. He rightly bid three spades;
he felt we might concelVably nave a
game, and that he must at any rate
defend the part score, it being match
point tournament. with so points bonus
for part scores. East passed; so did I.
having bid defensively throughout and
received no early support from my part
ner. West doubled. and all passed.
The Play.
West opened his singleton heart; East
won and returned the heart, which was
ruffed. West now played the jack OF
clubs: I covered it in Dummy. East won
and led third heart. West rufted and
led a diamond. Dummys ace won 1t.
I had now lost four tricks, and real
lied that my only hope was to squeeze
West, whose hand I now had counted
beyond any doubt. To do this, I must
make him responsible for protecting
both clubs and diamonds; that is to
say, I must extract the diamonds from
East's hand, otherwise East could guard
diamonds and leave the clubs to West.
I therefore led a small diamond and
trumped it. Next, I led out the ace OF
and entered dummy with the 8 of
spades. ruffed another diamond TAX
ing out Easts queen, and led out the
rest of the trumps. When I led the
last one at trick II, I had left in my
hand the 9 and Of clubs; West had
the king of diamonds and the 10 and
monds and the king and of clubs.
If West let go the diamond. my 9
would become good, and would throw
the small club from Dummy. II he let
go a club. Dummy would let go the dla-
mond. and I would win the last two
tricks with the king and 9 Of clubs:
AS YOU see it would not have changed
things if West had led the deuce OF
clubs instead of the jack. AS long as
East held no club higher than my
Except of course, his ace), the squeeze
was inescapable.
A Different Defense.
The enemy can beat me If West does
not Immediately lead hearts, ana East
holds onto the ace over Dummy'S queen.
In that event, West will only make one
trump trick--but the Dummy Will not
have sufficient entries to make the
squeeze effective. There will be no
trump entry to Dummy: East's third
diamond could not be taken out.
IDo Not Give This Hand As
Problem Hand.
The point is not whether or how or
whv East and West should prevent me
from making three spades doubled: IL
is that reasonable bidding Is at times
richly rewarded by the cards II you let
them work for you in their own nat
ural way-and use nice, long suit lor
some other purpose than trying TO
count probable tricks" in it.
Copyright, 1933o
+rart tbat are addressed to this newspaper
Cith a elf-addressed. stamped envelope