Challenges of good and brilliant play come rarely in bridge but when they do, the expert never falters, in coming out with flying colours as did the world famous British star Tony Priday in a European Open Championship of 1979 held in Luisanne, Switzerland where south's brilliant bid of 4H matched his play equally.
Let us give you first, the deal and the bidding and then place you in the south seat to see how you fare in competition with the British expert Tony Priday. The bidding was a bit oddly complex with east opening 2H, which in their convention could have a variety of meanings. When however, the bidding continued after south's double with west and north passing as 2S by east, it announced east 2H opening to be a 6 card weak spade suit. North being a passed hand originally showed minimum 4 hearts by passing and converting south's double into penalty. So that when 2S bid by east was passed on to him in the final run, north bid 3S to announce a 4 heart game. The double by east confirmed top spades held by him and south perforce had to bid 4H.
The opening lead was JS to east's king and also AS cashed, west following with the ten. East switched to 3C, declarer taking it with the KC. When Priday led the JH covered by QH and KH, he got a real rattle with east discarding a spade. This was a tough one, with west holding a solid Q9873 of trumps, which would definitely yield him 2 trump tricks - enough to sink the contract of 4H.
Now take over declarer's hand and see if you can cut back on the 2 trump losers to make 4H. An imaginative declarer is the one who has the foresight, the confidence and the vision to conjure up the right distribution favourable enough for the declarer to notch his tricks in the right order of priority.
Let us see what was apparent for the declarer at trick 3 when he led the trump J pinning west's QH under the K of hearts. By now he knew that west held 5 trumps and 2 spades. So west held 6 cards in the minors. Were they 3-3? Or 4-2. The declarer had to find out in the only way he could - by playing out the suits in the cherished hope that west held 3-3 minors. With confidence, Priday cashed QD and the KC. The 3D was then led to dummy's 10 and the QD followed; when east followed, he let it ride with diamonds breaking 3-3. He wanted to be in dummy to make the key play of ruffing out west's last exit card of a club before the throw in. Of course if east had shown out at the third diamonds. Priday would have overtaken QD with the king and cashed the JD.
The scene was now set for the real drama of end playing west. For Priday knew west to be holding all the 4 remaining trumps 9873. So that when he now led a spade, west perforce had to ruff in front of dummy, his own partner's winner. If west ruffed low with the 3, dummy would ruff with the 4 of trumps and the K10 of trumps would yield only one trump to west. So west perforce had to ruff with the 7 of trumps. Priday was brilliant in foreseeing the end in sight. Instead of over ruffing, he discarded the 2 of clubs and west was Kaput - end played, forced to lead away from 93 into dummy's K5 and declarer's 106. East knew he had run into a dead end.
==================================
North West East South
==================================
Q6 J10 AK7543 982
AK54 Q9873 -- J1062
Q109 742 865 AKJ3
9542 J106 Q873 AK
==================================