Professional bridge players should not need motivating, but the fact is that sometimes it would appear they are sleepwalking and need a veritable kick up the backside.
Our latest Gold Cup match against my friend Jon Vos was a case in point. Jon had been less than compulsive/obsessive about informing his team of the arrangements with the result that one of the opponents was 90 minutes late, and we were awarded a 24 IMP head start. That was our high spot, and as the match wore on the IMPs drifted and drifted until, with one set to play, we found ourselves behind.
A wake-up call was needed. Apparently it is called the ‘hairdryer treatment’, but whatever name you give it, it worked. A lot of hot air was expelled by moi and in we went for the final eight boards.
The following play is not difficult, but very easy to overlook. However, by now suffering a very bad hair day, there was no way Thor-Erik Hoftaniska was going to miss it.
West, who understandably had twitched over the 1♠ bid, led the ♦K on which South played the Queen. The Heart switch was ducked to East’s Queen, and after winning the next Diamond, West played another Heart to dummy’s Ace.
A Club to the Queen held, and was followed by a trump to dummy’s Ace.
When Thor-Erik next cashed the Queen of Spades, and East followed, he was farsighted enough to unblock the ♠10. This play would not often make a difference, but when both trumps and Clubs turned out to be 4–1 it was essential. He could finesse Clubs again, re-enter dummy for the last time with the ♦J, run the ♠9 through East and finish off with yet another Club finesse.
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