Pairs is in many ways a more difficult form of competitive bridge than a team event. For here the overtrick makes all the difference, not the success or failure of the contract. For being a duplicate game, all players in the same direction holding the identical cards would be competing with you. If the result is a normal one at all tables it is an average score.
Hence the quest for a winning score that yields an extra point, a bonus for the top. This calls for a pair strategy that is quite different from the other forms. The pairs game is therefore the one where the risk is worth taking, brushing aside safety precautions even at the cost of jeopardising your otherwise iron clad contract. Say you have 9 tricks in a 3NT contract and taking an unnecessary finesse into the danger hand could either give you 10 tricks - a top score or let you down for a minus score and a cold bottom. Similarly an favourable opening lead could give you the edge and distinct advantage over those who get the more killing opening lead which restricts their trick taking power.
Today's illustration is from a Master's Pair Championship of Britain played many decades ago by one of the most celebrated top notch British International Bridge star Albert Dormer. Who was sitting south in the following deal wherein the contract was quickly bid for a little slam in no trumps on the following north south hands shown below:
The opening lead was 2S which to a large extent was a standard lead showing neither any distinct advantage or disadvantage to declarer's chances on 6NT. When we look at the hands, we would be wondering as to what is in it that poses a problem for today as we can well judge that declarer has 4 spade tricks, 3 heart tricks 2 club trick and of course 3 sure tricks in diamonds even if the declarer fails to guess the queen of diamond's location.
But the crux of the problem lies in the fact that this is a match point pairs game where almost everyone would be bidding up to 6NT and making it with consummate ease. The problem for Albert Dormer was to score an over trick by guessing the QD right. Can you guess it as south for the vital overtrick? Well, this south who was Dormer needed no guesses for he had a more elegant solution to it.
Dormer knew from the start that if he carefully worked his way through the suits, taking tricks in a proper sequence. Some clues would come his way pointing to the location of the diamond damsel. The declarers at most tables were all good top notch players, who could well fathom that the queen of diamonds in a diamond break of 3-3 was not too difficult to guess. But if the diamonds were breaking 4-2 then obviously east holding the QD four times could be trapped but not west with Q9 always yielding a trick, come what may. So most of the Dormer's competitors placed QD with east and proceeded accordingly but the west east hands were as under:
How do you manage now? Dormer managed it quite well. Being in no hurry, he probed the distribution at AQ of hearts. When west showed out, Dormer knew west from his lead held 4 spades with a singleton heart pointing visibly to a 4-4-4-1 distribution wherein he was more likely to hold Q9XX. Dormer had his work cut out neatly to bring in the double squeeze with the following 4 card ending.
On the JS lead from dummy, east was squeezed first. Holding to JH, he let go a club, declarer now shed his useless heart and west felt the pinch. Holding precious 9D, he too let go of one club giving Dormer all clubs and all 13 tricks for a well played hand.
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West East North South
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10542 763 AQJ8 KQ
9 J10862 AQ5 K743
Q943 6 A82 KJ1075
Q1053 J874 A62 K9
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North West East South
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J - - -
- - J 3
- 9 - 7
A62 Q105 J87 K9
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The bidding:
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South West North East
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1D P 1S P
1N P 6NT
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ALL PASS
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