Financial Mail and Business Day

BRIDGE

Steve Becker

East dealer. East-West vulnerable. This deal occurred at the 1985 world team championship between Israel in and a match Venezuela. The declarer was Michael Hochzeit of Israel, who took advantage of a subtle slip by an opponent to bring in a seemingly impossible contract. After taking East's queen of hearts with the king at trick one, Hochzeit could count four spades, a diamond and two clubs to go with the heart already in the bank, but a ninth trick was nowhere in sight.

Undaunted, he began by cashing all four spades, on which East let go of a diamond and a heart.

While this last discard seems harmless enough, Hochzeit proceeded to prove otherwise.

The ace of diamonds was cashed, producing this position with South needing three more tricks:

Even with all the cards exposed, it isn't easy to spot the winning play, but Hochzeit found it looking at only two hands: He led the nine of hearts!

This play rendered the opponents helpless. Regardless of which defender won the heart, declarer was sure to make his game. If West overtook the ten to run his hearts, he would then be forced to lead a club, allowing South to score the jack.

Alternatively, if East's ten of hearts held and he cashed his two high diamonds, dummy's last diamond would become good. And if he didn't cash his diamonds, his club return would trap West's queen. In practice, West elected to overtake the heart, and Hochzeit scored three club tricks to make his game. Observe, though, that had East discarded a club or a diamond instead of a heart on the fourth spade, the contract would have failed.

THE BOTTOM LINE

en-za

2022-01-21T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-21T08:00:00.0000000Z

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