Evening star., 1941-02-16

burg this week end and maybe win
the tournament. However, Al tells
us that from the three club and four
club bids. he knew the following:
That the North hand was five-four
III the minors; that it did not have
a stop in hearts COR North should
have bid three no-trumpl, and that's
not having as good as the king OF
/ hearts. North must have held the
spade ace. Hence, four spades should
be cold" unless Cd Mac had only
the blank ace of spades, in which
case, knowing his partner had only
four, he would go back to five OF
one of the minors for a sure game;
or (2) there was a five-two break
In spades. Things being what they
were the boys decided to take a
chance on (2), and they were lucky
enough not to get bad break, tAs
it turned out. West did not lead
from his ace-queen of hearts, and
Roth made five on the hand for
real top
When listing our local luminaries,
do not overlook o. L. Veerhof, who,
in his quiet, unassuming way, has
been making folks sit up and take
notice He has been on the right
side of many swing in the Clifford
Challenge total point matches.
In a recent tilt. Mr. Veerhoff
amassed a net 1,030 points for his
team when he successfully fulfilled
a contract Of six hearts. In this
hand, there were no losers outside
of the trump suit, and the trumps
were as follows:
N
VKex
S.
AJ8xx
Mr.. Veerhoff sized up the situa-
ton and made the very fine safety
play Of the heart ace Immediately.
When both opponents played small
another heart was led to the king
nine. Upon Vests again following
with a small heart, declarer put in
the fine from dummy. This line of
play was a safeguard against hold
ing of Q.-ten-X-X by either oppo-
nent. Actually, in this particular
deal, the West hand did hold the
Q-ten-x-X. Of course. the nine of
hearts held and the queen was the
only trick the opponents took.
This play of the ace, followed by
a small card, would have been
equally effective had East held the
Q-ten-x-X, for then West would
have shown out on the second lead,
dummy would have played the king,
and then led the nine through the
Q.-l0, up to the J-eight-x.
Mr.. Veerhoff. in another match. |
made a six-spade contract that was
mufaod by the opposing team. This
was the complete deal
.AKxx
= 10X
3 KQXX
AKJx
AK N. AxXX
= KQJx We. xXxxX
. J98x S.
Axxx Q10xx
Mr.. Veerhoff.
AQJ1ox
y AK
0 A10xx
AK
You can see right away that things
weren't what they ought to be! The
king of hearts was opened by West ,
and won with the ace. Three rounds |
Of trumps were taken: then the ace
and king of clubs were played, fol-
lowed BY a ruff, in an unsuccessful
attempt to drop the queen; now a
small diamond to the king: then an
other small diamond and the bad .
news that the suit did not break.
After winning with the ace of dia- |
monds, Mr.. Veerhoff led his last !
trump. West was forced to hold two
diamonds and the high heart. So,
on trick ten, Mr.. Veerhoff led a
heart to the ten spot and West was |
in and had to lead from the J.-nine
of diamonds.
Here is a hand on which 1t would |
be tough enough to make five hearts
double dummy. But S. G. Churchill
made five on the hand for an ice
cold top in the masters individual in
New York against a much cha
grinned but admiring Washington
pair:
N.
AxxX
0K9xx
dKxx
&Qxx