Instincts in the Wild   

At school we have all learnt that here are two types of reactions - voluntary and involuntary. An example of an involuntary action is removing your hand sharply from a hot plate on the stove. Instinct. This happens at the Bridge Table too....

OKB,     MP’s,    Board 225,     week ending 15th November 1997.

Abby and I were playing against our good friends KCR and FIAZA on OKB, when this hand came up:

Love All.
The bidding : Short and Sweet - 1NT on Abby’s left, 3NT from her right.
 I (West) led the Q.

 

NORTH (fiaza)
K 9 6
K 8
Q 8 7 5 3
J 8 7
(Hand rotated
for convenience)
   
EAST (abby)
10 7
A 9 6 3 2
4 2
6 5 4 2

The heart queen is ducked all round. 8, 2 (we play udca), 5. The heart jack comes back and the king is played perforce from dummy.


What do you play as East?


 

Abby ducked in an instant!!!   Great play!!!   And earned 93.75% for her troubles.   It was the only way to beat the contract.   She preserved my third heart as an entry to her hand.   Witness:

  NORTH (fiaza)
K 9 6
K 8
Q 8 7 5 3
J 8 7
  
  WEST (elsid)
A 8 5 3
Q J 4
K 10 6
10 9 3
 EAST (abby)
10 7
A 9 6 3 2
4 2
6 5 4 2
  
  SOUTH (KCR)
Q J 4 2
10 7 5
A J 9
A K Q		  

We collected the diamond king, spade ace, and 3 more heart tricks for -2.

We have heard of the attributes of great players -

Dorothy Hayden (the 6th sense); Petra Mansell (does Aerobics each morning during Tourney); Helen Sobel (who talked about the sharpness of mind); Bob Hamman (luck plays an important part); and Larry Cohen (use the LAW to improve your %);

but Abby did something else:   “Put Instincts Aside”

Yes, 93.75% of the players instinctively covered the heart king. Now there was no way to prevent 3NT from coming home.

Nicely, Abby !     ‘twas a pleasure for me to see it....

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