Financial Mail and Business Day

BRIDGE

Steve Becker

The bidding:

South West North East 11 Pass 2C Pass 21 Pass 41

Opening lead — nine of clubs.

This hand was played in the 1964 national men's boarda-match team championship by Lew Mathe, Los Angeles star. He became declarer at four hearts, and West led the club nine. In board-a-match play, each deal constitutes a separate match, and the aim is to outscore the opposing team on that board in order to win the one match point at stake. The margin by which the board is won — whether by 10 points or 1,000 points — makes no difference. Mathe took the club lead with the king and played the jack of hearts, covered by the king. After cashing the A-Q-10, he led a diamond to the ten and then a diamond to his ace.

Now assured of 12 tricks, he decided to try for a 13th by attempting an unusual squeeze. Accordingly, he cashed his two remaining trumps, discarding two clubs from dummy to produce this position:

When Mathe now led a diamond to the king, East discarded a club, but when dummy's jack of diamonds was next cashed, East had no safe discard.

Whatever he did, South was bound to take the rest of the tricks, so Mathe made seven for a score of 710 points.

Despite this, Mathe's team lost the board! At the other table, North played the hand in three notrump. East led a spade, which ran to North's queen, and declarer then took winning finesses in hearts and diamonds to make 13 tricks without a squeeze for a score of 720 points!

(c)2020 King Features Syndicate Inc.

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2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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