Bridge: Aug. 11, 2019

“Magic Mirror on the wall,” intoned the evil queen, “who is the best player of them all?”

“Thou, O Queen, art a master,” the Mirror replied nervously, “but based on recent tournament results, none can compare to Snow White. After all, I schooled her in the game myself.”

“What?” screamed the queen. “We’ll see about that.”

In the next castle tournament, Snow White’s team faced the queen’s team. With the match tied, both North-Souths reached 6NT, and West led a spade: eight, jack, queen.

When the queen was declarer, she saw no worries and led a club to dummy’s jack next. East took his king and returned a spade. Declarer won, but when the clubs split 4-1 and East held J-9-8-4 in diamonds, the slam was doomed.

Snow White was more careful. The only risk was a bad break in clubs, so at Trick Two she led a club to dummy’s ace. When the king fell, she had 12 tricks.

Suppose East-West had instead followed with low clubs. Then South would have returned to her hand to lead a second low club. If West held, say, K-10-9-7, he would have to play low. When dummy’s jack won, South could attack the diamonds (losing to East’s jack as the cards lay), winning four diamonds and 12 tricks in all.

If West had a singleton club, East could capture dummy’s jack and return a club, but the slam would be safe. If West had four diamonds, declarer could pick up the suit. If East had four, he would succumb to a minor-suit squeeze.

So Snow White won the deal and the match. Her astute play reflected well, so to speak, on her mentor the Magic Mirror.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

NORTH

S 9 8

H K 9

D K 10 7 3 2

C A J 6 3

WEST

S 10 7 6 3 2

H 8 7 4

D 5

C 10 9 7 2

EAST

S K J 5 4

H 6 5 3 2

D J 9 8 4

C K

SOUTH

S A Q

H A Q J 10

D A Q 6

C Q 8 5 4

South West North East

2 NT Pass 6 NT All Pass

Opening lead — S 3

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