Can you play like a champ?

h Q 5

b Q 9 7 6

f A 10

d 9 5 4 3 2

N

W E

S

h A 7

b A J 10 8 5 4

f K J 3

d 10 8

Source: Eddie Kantar

Dealer: W

Vul: Both

W	N	E	S
1h	P	2h	3b
P	4b	P	P
P

Opening Lead: h6

Contract: 4b

Sometimes it is fun to match wits with a famous player and see if you can do as well (or better) than he or she. The following hand was played by five-time world champion Billy Eisenberg many a moon ago. Ready?

At trick one Billy hopefully tried the hQ. No luck. East produced the king. Take it from here.

	h Q 5
	b Q 9 7 6
	f A 10
	d 9 5 4 3 2
h J 9 8 6 2	N W E S	h K 10 4 3
b K 3		b 2
f Q 8 5		f 9 7 6 4 2
d A Q J		d K 7 6
	h A 7
	b A J 10 8 5 4
	f K J 3
	d 10 8

Billy won the hA, led a diamond to the ten, cashed the fA, crossed to the bA and discarded dummy’s losing spade on the fK. Billy wound up losing two clubs and a heart. The question is, how did Billy know to play like this or was he just lucky?

He was not lucky. Once Billy saw East turn up with the hK and a high club honour he knew that West had all the rest of the high cards. Just a minute. When did Billy see a high club honour come out of the East hand? He did not actually see it, but he knew it was there. If West had the dAK he would have led a club, not a spade, on opening lead. Since a high club honour was marked in the East hand, Billy knew that the missing red suit honours were both in the West hand. You do not get to be a five-time world champion unless you can work things like this out.

The Bottom Line:

· When you are missing the AK of an unbid suit and that suit is not led by the stronger of the two defensive hands, assume the honours are split.

· Assume the opener has at least 12 HCP unless it becomes clear that the opener has a distributional hand (a six-card suit or two five-card suits). In those cases opener may have a few as 10 HCP.

September, 2010