Gill Trip Or Guilt Trip

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday December 3, 2008

Ron Klinger

In the Spring National Open Teams the HORWITZ team qualified second and had a good win against a strong team in the semi-finals. In the final HORWITZ led until the very last board, all in all a powerful performance.

To my mind this was the best deal of the Open Teams final, even though I was

on the receiving end: North dealer : East-West vulnerable

At one table Bill Haughie, North opened 1NT, 15-17, and played it there. He made eight tricks for +120. At the other table: West North East South

Hoffman Horwitz Klinger Gill

1C Pass 1NT

Pass 3NT All pass

Gill-Horwitz play a 14-16 1NT opening and so the North hand was too strong.

After 1C : 1NT, some Norths might raise to 2NT, but Horwitz is made of bolder stuff.

David Hoffman began with the S9, attitude, not keen on spades. South took the SA and led the DJ. At that point, I could take the DK and return the SJ. If declarer ducks, the SQ comes next and we will have two spades and three diamonds.

If declarer takes the SJ with the ace, West will assume declarer has the SQ.

Now when the next diamond comes, East can duck and West wins with the DQ.

Assuming spades are pointless, West can shift to a heart to give the defence the

extra trick needed.

At the table I ducked the DJ and West won with the DQ. The spade continuation was ducked and I won with the SJ. At this point I could do a number of things, but what

was vital was to lead a club at some point.

I could play the SQ, win the next diamond, cash the other diamond and lead a club OR I could take both diamonds and then play a club or I could simply lead a club without playing diamonds or the SQ. The effect of playing clubs would be to cut South off from dummy. Expecting Gills 1NT response to include three clubs, this club play eluded me.

What I did in fact was to cash the DA, DK and exit with the SQ, hoping to lock declarer in dummy. These cards now remained:

Peter Gill, South, diagnosed the position perfectly. Figuring I would have switched to

hearts if I did not have the HK, he cashed the HA and led the C3 to his king. Then

came the D9, leaving this position:

When the D6 was cashed, the H10 going from dummy, I was finished. If I let a

club go, the club finesse gives declarer all the club tricks. When I pitched the HK, it

was even easier for South. Gill had nine tricks and +400 for a well-deserved 7 Imps.

Half of your bridge experiences are below average in satisfaction.

Tomorrows problem:

East dealer : East-West vulnerable

West North East South

1NT (1) Pass

(1) 11-14

What would you do as West with:

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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