The dummy play in Bridge has produced some dazzling performances by Bridge experts who make it look so easy where ordinary mortals keep holding their heads in huddle as to how best they can meet the challenge ahead.
Our first illustration is the Mensch Cup hand, which attracts competitors from Austria, Poland and the former Czechoslovakia to Budapest for the annual tournament. NS land in 7D with south as declarer holding the following hand:
The bidding is not known but NS managed to bid 7D with the opening bid from west being the KC. Put yourself in the seat of the Hungarian expert and plan your play in this challenging grand slam.
On the face of it south has 5 top diamond tricks, 3 hearts, 2 spades and the ace of clubs making 11 tricks, an even heart break or even a heart or spade ruff in dummy takes the tally to 12 tricks. Can you find the 13th? Yes - there is an even chance of the successful finesse of the JS giving you the 13th trick or a spade ruff in dummy can be an alternate too plus a heart ruff too, making 3 hearts tricks, 2 ruffs in dummy, the AK of spades, AC and the 5 trumps in hand making 13 tricks. But for that to materialize, you need to have a 2-2 trump split. Alternately even if trumps are 3-1, then a 3-3 heart break or a successful spade finesse would make up for it. But now let me give you the EW hands:
As you can see neither hearts break favorably nor is the QS rightly placed for the declarer, which makes the play in this challenging grand slam all the more brilliantly executed by the Hungarian expert who took no time at all to find the best route of success in the 7D contract. He went up with the AC and at trick 2 ruffed a club - the key play. Yes, a reverse dummy play was in the offing with exquisite timing. He now lay down the AK of trumps to find trumps breaking adversely 3-1, nevertheless he now cashed the QH, ruffed a club, then back in dummy with the AH to ruff the last club in hand. Exhausted of trumps in hand, he now cashed his top spades AK and ruffed the JS in dummy with a low trump. By now he had amassed 11 tricks. Dummy's QD took care of east's last trump making the way for the declarer to cash his KH for his 13th trick in a neatly played grand slam that was made to look easy once declarer judged that the odds for a trump break of 3-1 were higher and the odds for even a heart break of 3-3 not favorably placed. A 50% spades finesse chance was a poor choice for a grand slam play. Hungary has produced some great card players and this was one fine specimen of it.
Let us end with a final illustration of card play where NS land in 6C on the following deal:
The opening heart lead from west is 10H. South wins with the KH in dummy and on playing the clubs finds the most adverse trump holding stacked against him, when east shows out. Can you still make the little slam? South found the sure way of stripping west first before finally throwing him in with the trump. Coming with KH, he ruffed a heart, continued with KS, AS and a spade ruff. 3 rounds of diamonds came next and when west follows all the way, the stage is set to cage in west who now holds nothing but the Q J 9 of trumps, with dummy sitting over him with 10 7 3.
Now comes the last diamond from south and there is no escape for west. Ruffing low west loses to dummy. Ruffing high he is end played. Either way the last diamond sets the stage for the coup de grace!
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North South
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7 5 A K J
A Q 4 K 8 7 2
Q 4 3 2 A K J 8 7
A 9 7 3 2
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North West East South
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A 9 6 Q 10 2 J 8 7 4 3 K 5
A K 6 3 10 9 8 Q J 4 2 7 5
K 8 J 7 2 10 9 5 4 A Q 6 3
10 7 3 2 Q J 9 5 - A K 8 6 4
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West East
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Q 10 8 4 9 6 3 2
J 10 9 5 6 3
5 10 9 6
K Q J 6 10 8 5 4
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