A friend told me (no, honestly — it was a friend) that she had had a dream from which she awoke screaming abuse and practising kick-boxing on her (no longer) boyfriend’s sleeping head. ‘What was the dream?’ I, her awestruck audience, gasped. Well — it turned out that said boyfriend’s ex-wife had told him that she (friend) had gone off in a totally cold contract in the worst played hand of the year. I nodded in sympathy and understanding. That would do it.
One man who does not floor a frigid game is David Burn. Sixteen pairs played the prestigious Welsh Invitational Pairs last weekend and David, partnered by Nick Sandqvist, won easily.
David has that special knack, which all great players have, of making the game look easy, but it stems of course from his enormous experience and attention to detail. Here he is showing how it’s done:
West led a welcome Heart to the Queen and Ace. The contract is laydown if trumps break 3–2, so David played a trump to Dummy’s Ace and returned the nine to his Jack in hand. Seeing the 4–1 break, it’s time to get your house in order by establishing the Diamonds, so declarer simply led a small Diamond out of hand. West won the Queen and returned one, but the path was now clear to twelve tricks: David cashed the ♥A and ruffed a Heart with dummy’s King of trumps and, because the ♣9 had been carefully unblocked, he could now finesse East’s ♣10 and claim the rest.
Well done, David and Nick. You can sleep peacefully!
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in