E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: North
Lead: 
8
vcaracci 9 7 5 3 K 7 6 2 10 9 6 4 3 — |
||
| aupaleti A 10 2 Q J 5 A Q 7 5 2 7 6 |
![[W - E]](http://gee.aaronhaspel.com/files/2012/10/t.gif) |
Maestro J 4 A 9 8 4 3 K J A K 10 9 |
| dkogut K Q 8 6 10 8 Q J 8 5 4 3 2 |
| West
4 |
North Pass Pass |
East 1 Pass |
South 3 Pass |
Today we reach 4H after an ordinary auction, and the play begins quietly. South leads his stiff diamond. Gee wins DJ hand and plays a low trump, covering the 10 with the jack as North wins the king and returns a diamond. Gee’s king holds as South discards a spade.
At this point two veteran Gee-specs begin to debate whether the hand is, in the argot, Gee-proof:
Spec #1: well, what do you think, gproof?
Spec #2: thk gee is at least even money here with 11 top tricks
Spec #1: can still find a way to go down
Spec #2: nah, no chance
With the battle lines thus drawn, Gee decides there’s no hurry to cash his eleven tricks. He plays the CA, and North ruffs and returns a spade, won with dummy’s ace. West cannot restrain himself; “Gerard?” he asks. No sweat, Gee assures him: “This way I make five, the other way only four.” (To the STCP™ who does not understand how one increases the tricks one takes by allowing an unnecessary ruff of a winner, I can say only, study harder. Maybe someday.)
Even after the ruff, though, declarer can still draw trump and take ten tricks. Pull trump ending in dummy and claim. Gee elects instead to cash the trump queen. Not optimal, I grant, but no problem. Since the hand with the long trump is also marked with the diamonds, just cash the two diamonds and you still make. Gee cashes one diamond, discarding a spade. He then pauses for effect, and makes the key play of leading a second trump, stranding his diamond winner, losing two clubs at the end, going down one, bringing an anguished cry of “Why???”* from his partner, and making an idiot of Spec #2, who — I cannot tell a lie — was me. Gee-proof. Wouldn’t you think I’d know better by now?
*Gee answered, “You made me doubt what I was doing.”
Gee’s partner should be perfectly aware that Gee, as an expert, has many layers of expertise, with one of these being the Turnaround. As such, Aupaleti should not be asking Why, when there can be no reasonable retort from a source where How is out of the question. Furthermore it could be said that blame must surely be taken for failing to bid his own suit, which might lead to notrumps being rightsided, in this case for twelve tricks, while to jump support Gee with only three trumps is not only a signoff, but is an invitation to getting doubled in principle.
Who can fault G for trying to make 12 tricks by ruffing his club loser. Although for this line to work South would have had to bid 3C on a 5 card suit – somewhat improbable. There is another improbable line that could lead to 12 tricks. He could play the preempter for the KQ of spades. The advantage of this line is that you make 11 tricks when it doesn’t work. After winning the 2nd diamond, play the rest of the trump pitching a diamond and spade from the dummy. Play one high club, cross to the AS, run diamonds squeezing South in clubs and spades.