FORCED ENTRY
by Stephen Rzewski
dlr: West
vul: both
North
♠J987
♥K52
♦K3
♣K973
West East
♠4 ♠AQ653
♥AQJ107 ♥984
♦10652 ♦9874
♣AQ5 ♣2
South
♠ K102
♥ 63
♦ AQJ
♣ J10864
bidding: W N E S
1♥ P 2♥ P
P dbl P 3♣
(all pass)
opening lead: ♠ 4
Today’s hand came up in a club game many years ago. I was seated
East. The bidding is shown as it occurred. North’s reopening double is
questionable without better diamond support, but the opponents fell on their
feet when South found the 9-card club fit. My partner and I, each with a
singleton, were obviously cowardly lions that day and should have taken the
push to 3♥--- but in that case I would not have this bridge tale to relate,
one of my all-time favorites.
My partner, Harry Kaufmann of North Bennington, VT, led his singleton
spade. I won the ace and returned the 5♠, trying to show by a middle card a
lack of enthusiasm for either a heart or diamond play back. South made the
right play in spades by putting in the 10, as West ruffed and contemplated
what to do next. He knew that if I had the AQ of spades, I couldn’t have
much else, and with all those kings onside for the opponents, it looked as
though they were destined to fulfill their contract. But, in accordance with
the old saw, “Necessity is the Mother of invention”, my partner found an
ingenious way to set the hand. Even looking at all four hands, do you see
how he managed to do so?
At trick #3, West led the queen of hearts! As we were playing
Bergen raises, the play of the queen was unlikely to cost, since I nearly
always showed exactly three-card support for my single raise during the
auction, leaving declarer with two. Declarer called for dummy’s king. It
took me a moment to figure out what my partner was up to, and I signaled
with the 9, attempting to show the highest of touching cards of a sequence
and therefore implying the 8. After winning the heart in dummy, declarer
came to his hand with a diamond in order to lead a club up to the king.
But West rose with the ace, and, in a demonstration of faith in my previous
play, he led his lowest heart, the 7, enabling me to overtake with the 8 so
that I could provide him with a second spade ruff. Down one. 
stevesgames) wrote, 