Snoozing Larry Klimko 805-964-0334 lklimko@ispwest.com The following hand, played at the Bridge Center on Friday, 9-4-04, shows that sometimes bridge players must set aside the "rules" of play and rely on basic common sense thinking at the bridge table. Here is the hand, Board 11, rotated 90 degrees. Dealer: West 3 2 Vul: none Q 10 6 4 2 K Q 4 Q J 5 J 10 9 7 A 8 6 5 4 A 5 7 3 9 5 3 A J 10 2 8 6 4 2 7 3 K Q K J 9 8 8 7 6 A K 10 9 And here is the traveller: N-S -------- 6@4HS +4 420 5- 3SxE -1 100 2 5HN -1 -50 - 4HS -1 -50 - 4HS making four seems to be the normal result. At our table the bidding went: W N E S --- --- --- --- P P P 1NT P 2D* Dbl 2H P 3NT P 4H All Pass _____ * transfer West led the spade jack. Yes, she should have led a diamond as her partner had asked for during the bidding. After the hand was over East commented gently on that point and West apologized, explaining that she had missed the double during the bidding. Apparently she was snoozing during the bidding. The West hand would put most players to sleep. East won the spade ace and returned the suit. Declarer won, led a heart to the queen and another heart back to the king and ace. West returned a club, but it didn't matter any more. A diamond would do no good at that point. Declarer won the club, ran the clubs pitching a diamond from dummy and drove out the diamond ace, making 4H. Notice that an opening diamond lead sets the contract. Declarer goes up with the king and loses to the ace. East comes back with the jack driving out the queen and when West is in with the heart ace, she returns a diamond. The defense gets its second diamond trick in addition to its two major suit aces. Simple. All thanks to the convention that the double of an artificial bid calls for the suit to be led. But East could have recovered for the defense after the opening spade lead. Do you see how? Suppose East wins the spade ace and returns the diamond jack. Declarer wins the king, but cannot take her diamond pitch until after trumps are cleared. And when West gets in with the heart ace, she returns a diamond giving the defense its two diamond tricks. Probably the diamond shift at trick two is hard to find because we are all conditioned to think that it is not right to underlead an ace against a suit contract, and we are so conditioned to return partner's suit. Perhaps East was snoozing as well. And what about all those other tables making 4H? Was everybody snoozing that day?