Don’t believe this one By Dan Howe

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune – 11 Oct 1970

Don’t believe this one. We don’t.

South dealer;  East/West: vulnerable

Since North-South were supposedly showing aces over two-club openings and the two-diamond response by North denied any ace, South’s four-notrump bid asked for kings. After North showed one king, South tried the heart slam. (Isn’t this deal ridiculous? If played at all. It must have been a joke from a certain men’s Tuesday afternoon game.)

West opened the queen of spades, dummy played low, and East ruffed the first trick. Now if Declarer blandly played low from his own hand after East ruffed, he was cooked. He would lose communication with dummy. It was incumbent on him to drop his ace of spades when East ruffed, in effect discarding a card that was apparently a winner!

East comes back with anything — say, a diamond —and Declarer wins and runs out his hearts. Before the last heart, this is the situation: aaxx.jpg

Declarer plays the last heart, the nine, and West is caught in a progressive squeeze. If West throws a spade, dummy has three spade tricks which, plus two clubs and the remaining high diamond in Declarer’s hand, give him the rest of the tricks. If West lets go a diamond. Declarer cashes his king-ten of diamonds, and on the second of them West is re-squeezed in spades and clubs. If West discards a club, Declarer takes his ace, king, and ten of clubs, and the ten of clubs re-squeezes West in spades and diamonds. Color this one purple for ab-surd. It just never happened, we are sure.