Black Magic By Bill Jacobs

0
169

Source: VBA Bulletin February 2015            

Bill Jacobs has won many Australian national championships, the most recent three playing Fantunes, and has twice represented his country at Open level. He regularly provides astute vugraph commentary on Bridge Base Online. For the past ten years he has been editor of the monthly bulletin of the Victorian Bridge Association.


Bridge is a game of infinite variety. In particular, and despite there being just 13 tricks to a deal, card-play offers seemingly unlimited potential for unusual strategies. In this series, we will look at examples of unusual plays that give off an aura of black magic. Some involve deception, others are simply technically correct approaches that do not initially leap to mind.aaxx

West leads Q.

There are 9 top tricks, and finding East with A will lead to an easy tenth. Is there any other chance?

Indeed there is. You can add another arrow to your quiver by playing for East to have both the king and queen of clubs (or, less likely, Qx or Kx in clubs).

You must allow the Q to win the first trick!

Let’s assume a second spade is now played. Win your A, play to the 10 and lead a club up, intending to play the jack. If this loses, then you will later play the A (just in case the other honour drops), discard a losing diamond on your K and hope the diamond finesse works.