Ellensburg Daily Record – 26 Dic 1956
After four deals with Mr. Dale as his partner, Mr. Abel seemed completely relaxed, alert and ready to play his best. His errors had gone uncriticeized. His partner had taken the blame for the poor results and had even complimented him on occasion.
West dealer, E/W vulnerable
Mr. Abel burned with a desire to justify his partner’s confidence in him. Against Mr. Champion’s three no-trump contract Mr. Dale opened the five of hearts.
Mr. Champion played dummy’s queen and to his disgust found Mr. Abel with the king. Well, there was nothing for it now but to let the king hold. The ten of hearts was returned and again Mr. Champion ducked. He was forced to take the third heart with the ace.
Leads Clubs
He now led the king of clubs, followed with the jack of clubs and let it ride. He didn’t dare to finesse clubs toward Mr. Dale who, he correctly assumed, had two good hearts in his hand. Mr. Abel won the second club trick with the queen and went into quite a huddle. He wished he had another heart to lead to his partner, he studied every suit in dummy looking for a chink in the enemy’s armor. Finally a great light dawned and he led a card that literally brought Mr. Champion up out of his chair with a roar of rage.
Mr. Champion sensed that Mr. Abel had led the only card that could possibly defeat him. Face upon the table was the queen of spades. Note that a small spade lead wouldn’t have done the job, that would have killed Mr. Dale’s only entry.
Tries to Keep Lead
Mr. Champion had to keep Mr. Dale out of the lead. There was nothing for him to do but hope the old boy had started out with only a doubleton. He therefore let Mr. Abel’s queen hold the trick. But on came another spade and dummy’s ace won. Trying for his last chance, Mr. Champion came back to his own hand with the ten of clubs and finessed the queen of diamonds. Mr. Abel won with his king and reached his partner’s hand with another spade lead. Mr. Dale then gathered in two more heart tricks. Down four.
“That, partner,” said Mr. Dale, “wasn’t just a good play. It was magnificent.