The Unluckiest Man in the World

Both Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: A

	meer 8 7 4 2 K 7 4 Q J 9 K 10 6
fifee J 5 A J 9 8 5 3 8 4 9 7 2		jimm Q 10 3 10 6 10 7 6 5 3 A J 3
	Maestro A K 9 6 Q 2 A K 2 Q 8 5 4

West 2 Pass

North Dbl Pass

East Pass Pass

South 1 4

Gee sits South and winds up declaring 4S after an ordinary but revealing auction. West’s 2H call probably shows six hearts and denies the CA.

She opens the HA, hoping for a ruff, and continues with a small heart to Gee’s queen, East signaling low-high for even count. Gee plays off the two top trumps, both defenders following.

Now the hand is almost cold. Play the three top diamonds, ending in dummy (noting how many times the defenders follow), and then the last top heart, discarding a club. If East ruffs in he is endplayed. If nobody ruffs in, lead a trump. If East wins, endplayed again. If West wins, then declarer’s play depends on the diamond count. If West followed to all three diamonds then her hand is 3-6-3-1 or 3-6-4-0, and she either gives up a ruff-sluff or leads her stiff club, on which declarer plays the CK from dummy, endplaying East, who can neither win nor duck.

If West ruffs in early on the diamonds and returns a heart, then you have a full count on the hand and play the clubs accordingly, going down only if the short club hand also holds CJ, or, conceivably, if AJx is with East and West’s original distribution was 3-6-1-3. All in all, about 90% to make.

There are, however, other lines. Our hero played a third round of trump immediately. West won and returned a harmless diamond, and the club finesse lost. Down 1.

“Never met anybody with less luck,” wails Gee. (I should note that this was a team game, and Gee won 3 IMPs because the other table went down 2 in 4S. I don’t know what the play was, but I’m taking a wild guess that the HA wasn’t led.) Call me sentimental, but I’m touched.