Even Duboin Nods

By Marc Smith

Watching the world's top players perform can be enlightening in a number of ways. On today's hand, we can all learn two quite different lessons by observing Italy's Giorgio Duboin, a multiple World Champion and one of the world's best young players.

Vul: None, Dealer North
	ª 7 5 © J 7 6 5 ¨ Q 4 2 § Q 9 8 5
ª 10 8 © Q 10 4 2 ¨ A J 5 § J 7 4 2		ª J 4 3 2 © K 8 ¨ K 10 8 3 § 10 6 3
	ª A K Q 9 6 © A 9 3 ¨ 9 7 6 § A K

West	North	East	South
Furness	De Falco	Helness	Duboin
	Pass	Pass	2§
Pass	2¨	Pass	2NT
Pass	3§	Pass	3ª
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Duboin landed in 3NT having shown first a balanced 23-24 and then his 5-card spade suit. Furness led the ©2, East put in the eight and Duboin took the trick with the ©9. How would you have continued?

When West's ten appeared on the second round of spades, Duboin decided that the suit was not splitting, which renders the contract quite hopeless. Championships are not won by giving up, though, and thus Duboin sought another string for his bow. His solution was both imaginative and extremely effective - he led a low diamond! When West followed with the ¨5, Duboin put up dummy's queen and now this 'hopeless' contract was cold. East could won with the ¨K and returned a club. These cards now remained:

	ª - © J 7 6 ¨ 4 2 § Q 9 8
ª - © Q 10 4 ¨ A J § J 7 4		ª J 4 © K ¨ 10 8 3 § 10 6
	ª Q 9 6 © A 3 ¨ 9 7 § A

Declarer has lost just one trick so far. If he now plays off his three remaining winners and then exits with a red card, West wins and can cash three red-suit tricks, but he must then concede the last two tricks to dummy's ©J and §Q.

When he led the diamond, Duboin was playing precisely for this type of diamond layout. Of course, the defenders could still have defeated the contract - West had to rise with the ¨A or put in the ¨J on the first round of the suit. To do so hardly looks like the obvious thing to do, though, and surely this play would have succeeded against all but the most alerts of defenders.

At the start of this write-up, I mentioned that we could all learn two things from this deal. The second is something that will give heart to all of us lesser mortals - even top players suffer from lapses in concentration. That is exactly what happened to Duboin here - after winning East's club exit he continued by playing the ªQ and a fourth round of spades. East won with the ªJ and exited with the ©K and declarer was again reduced to eight tricks. And thus a potential candidate for a brilliancy prize turned into just another flat board!

The Thinker

Bulletin Editors rely on several sources for copy, not least the players themselves. If Joey Silver comes to you with a hand you can be sure it will be a story worth printing. Take a look at these two from the match between Canada and Norway. The star of the show is Tor Helness.

Dealer North. All Vul
	ª K Q 9 3 © - ¨ K 9 6 5 2 § J 6 4 3
ª J 7 6 4 2 © J 4 3 ¨ J 8 3 § 10 7		ª 8 5 © A K 10 9 8 7 2 ¨ A 10 4 § 2
	ª A 10 © Q 6 5 ¨ Q 7 § A K Q 9 8 5

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Helness	Silver	Furunes
	Pass	1©	1NT
Pass	3©*	Pass	5§
Pass	6§	All Pass

Three Hearts showed a shortage and when South jumped to Five Clubs, Tor, who is a careful player, took a long time before getting it right by going on to the slam. As Joey said, the thing about a good player is that when he starts thinking he will almost always arrive at the winning solution.

Dealer South. All Vul
	ª A 9 4 © 10 7 6 ¨ A 8 6 2 § K Q 4
ª 8 2 © 8 5 ¨ K J 10 § A J 10 9 8 7		ª Q J 10 7 6 © K J 3 2 ¨ 7 5 § 6 5
	ª K 5 3 © A Q 9 4 ¨ Q 9 4 3 § 3 2

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Helness	Silver	Furunes
			Pass
Pass	1¨	Pass	1©
2§	Pass*	Pass	3¨
Pass	3NT	All Pass

North's pass denied three-card heart support. East led a club and declarer won with the king. His next move took a very long time, but it was very effective - the ten of hearts. East did his best by playing the king, but declarer took the ace and played a club. West put up the ace and returned a club. Declarer won in hand and played a heart to the nine, pinning the eight. He could return to hand with a spade and play his last heart, ducked by East. There was still a spade entry to dummy for the fourth heart.

Say that declarer had attacked diamonds rather than hearts. If East held the king of diamonds, West would be a heavy favourite to hold the king of hearts. However, if West was forced to win an early heart trick with the king, there was a decent chance that the king of diamonds would be onside.