The Right Technique by James Jacoby

Right Technique Rewarded in Par Bridge Championship 

The North American Collegiate Bridge Championship is a par contest, responsibility for preparation of the deals rests with Jeff Rubens co-editor of The Bridge World magazine. In a Par Contest participants can be certain of one thing — each deal will possess an element that will reward correct technique. In today’s deal, taken from the 1986 contest, South’s bidding showed 23 or 24 highcard points. North wisely bid 6NT, since the heart slam would fail in the trump suit. But even six no-trump was doomed if declarer made one careless play. Dealer: South. East-West Vunerable

	A 8 7 6 5 6 5 4 3 10 9 A K
Q J 10 9 4 3 Q J 10 9 8 9 8		— 2 7 6 5 4 3 2 7 6 5 4 3 2
	K 2 A K 8 7 A K Q J Q J 10

The Auction:

West	North	East	South
			2
Pass	2	Pass	2NT
Pass	6NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

Contract: 6NT Opening Lead: Q When the Q was led, declarer could see that winning 12 tricks depended upon the hearts dividing 3-2. Many contestants won the K and immediately played a low heart. West won the trick and continued spades. And now, try as declarer might, there was no way to squeeze out the 12th trick because proper transportation was lacking. The right technique is to win the K and bang down A-K. When declarer gets the bad news about hearts, he can cash A and K and then run his diamonds and the Q. As the last minor-suit winner is played, dummy has  A 8 and 8 3. West holds  J 10 and  Q 10. But West mast discard ahead of dummy. If he throws a Spade, dummy’s A 8 will provide two winners. If he throws a heart, declarer will shed the low spade from dummy and glue up a heart, taking the rest of the tricks.