Magicians at Work

The Editor, together with the President of the Polish Bridge Federation, Radoslaw Kielbasinski recently penned a book featuring the Polish stars entitled 'The Bridge Magicians'. When Poland faced Norway on VuGraph in Round 5 of the Bermuda Bowl Round Robin it was therefore logical that he should go in search of some material for the sequel.

Marcin Lesniewski was the first to display his skills.

Board 2. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª K Q 7 © J 4 3 2 ¨ K 9 7 3 § 10 5
ª 10 4 3 © 9 8 7 6 ¨ A Q 6 § K 9 2		ª J 5 2 © A Q ¨ J 8 5 2 § A J 8 7
	ª A 9 8 6 © K 10 5 ¨ 10 4 § Q 6 4 3

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
		1§	Pass
1©	Pass	1NT	Pass
2NT	All Pass

South led the six of spades and North took the queen and found the heart switch. Declarer was in deep trouble now could not avoid two down, -100.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
		1§*	Pass
1¨	Pass	1NT	All Pass

South led the three of clubs, so declarer was off to a good start. He took North's ten with the jack and played a diamond to the queen and king. North returned the five of clubs and declarer won with dummy's nine. The contract was in the bag, but declarer was not averse to some sleight of hand and he cunningly played a spade to the jack and south's ace. His deception worked like a charm as South now switched to the king of hearts.
Declarer scoped that in and not being certain of the diamond position settled for eight tricks. +120 and 6 IMPs for Poland.

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

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
2©	Pass	3©	All Pass

A perfectly reasonable auction to a perfectly reasonable contract. The cards were lying well, and ten tricks were made, +170.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
2©	Pass	3©	Pass
4©	All Pass

Martens took not even a single second to raise to game, but after two rounds of diamonds he took considerably longer to decide on his line of play, eventually playing a heart to the king, a heart to the ace and three rounds of spades, ruffing in dummy, followed by running the ten of clubs. He showed his cards and claimed ten tricks, to collect the first double figure swing of the match.
Notice that the queen of diamonds was worthless, they key to the deal being the 5-4 trump fit, the extra trump in the East hand being worth a least an extra king.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª 10 6 © 6 ¨ K Q J 7 3 § A K Q 4 3
ª 9 © K J 5 2 ¨ 9 6 5 4 § 9 8 7 5		ª K 8 5 4 © A Q 10 7 3 ¨ 8 2 § J 10
	ª A Q J 7 3 2 © 9 8 4 ¨ A 10 § 6 2

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
	1¨	1©	1ª
4©	5§	Pass	5NT
Pass	6§	All Pass

Brogeland's Four Heart bid was enough to push the Poles overboard, North's Five Clubs persuading South his side had the values for twelve tricks.
The contract had to go down when the clubs failed to divide.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
	1¨	1©	1ª
3©	4§	Pass	4ª
All Pass

The defence started with two rounds of hearts and declarer ruffed and ran the ten of spades. When that held he came to hand with a diamond, cashed the ace of spades and used the power of his minor suit winners to arrive at eleven tricks, giving Norway its first major swing.

Both pairs met the bidding challenge imposed by the next deal:

Board 6. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª A 4 2 © 5 ¨ Q J 10 7 3 § A Q 8 7
ª J 10 8 © Q J 4 ¨ K 9 4 § 9 6 5 3		ª Q © 10 8 7 6 2 ¨ 8 6 5 2 § J 10 4
	ª K 9 7 6 5 3 © A K 9 3 ¨ A § K 2

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
		Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨*	Pass	2©
Pass	2ª	Pass	3ª
Pass	4©*	Pass	4NT*
Pass	5©	Pass	6ª
All Pass

We are fairly sure Four Hearts promised a shortage and once South discovered the queen of spades was missing via the 4NT enquiry, he settled for the small slam.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
		Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨*	Pass	2©
Pass	4ª	Pass	4NT*
Pass	5©	Pass	6ª
All Pass

A variation on a theme led to the same spot and a flat board.

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

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
		Pass	1©
Pass	2§	Pass	2©
Pass	2ª	Pass	3¨
Dble	Pass	Pass	3©
Pass	4§	Pass	5§
All Pass

It was a pity North did not try 3NT, as then we would have had the chance to see some magic, East obviously leading the queen of diamonds, and West unblocking when it is not covered.
Perhaps South should have tried 3NT - as it was Five Clubs was reasonable, but had no chance on this layout and was tow down, -200.

A conjuror was at work at the other table.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
		Pass	1©
Pass	2§	Pass	2©
Pass	2ª	Pass	2NT
Pass	3©	Pass	3ª
Pass	3NT	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	All Pass

3NT would have been a simple affair, but Helgemo could envisage a slam if helness had the right cards, so he cue bid his diamond control which led to the apparently doomed heart game.
Before he led the four of clubs Martens asked a number of questions - this may have raised some suspicions in declarer's mind.
Helgemo took the club in dummy and tried a diamond to the king and ace. He took the next club and played a third round, ruffed by East and overruffed by declarer. Now he ruffed a diamond, crossed back to hand with the ace of spades and ruffed his last diamond. Now he cashed the king of spades and ruffed a spade, overruffed by West who played a diamond. Declarer ruffed and was down to ©AQ8.
He made no mistake, exiting with the eight of hearts to endplay West. The VuGraph audience broke into applause, as did a smiling Martens, who recognized a piece of conjuring from a fellow member of the magic circle. That would get the Editor's award for sportsmanship.

It's a bidders game they say and the next big swing rested entirely on the respective auctions:

Board 11. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª A 6 © A Q J 8 7 5 ¨ - § Q 7 4 3 2
ª K 9 8 7 4 3 © K 10 4 ¨ K 7 2 § 9		ª J 5 2 © 9 3 2 ¨ 10 9 8 6 5 § 8 5
	ª Q 10 © 6 ¨ A Q J 4 3 § A K J 10 6

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
			1¨
1ª	Dble	Pass	3§
Pass	5NT*	Pass	6©*
Pass	7§	All Pass

Once South jumped over the negative double North simply wheeled out a Grand Slam Force, figuring that if the heart finesse was needed it was likely to be right. South's singleton meant it wasn't and +1440 was soon posted on the Polish card.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
			1¨
1ª	2©	Pass	3§
Pass	3ª	Pass	3NT
Pass	4§	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	5§
Pass	6§	All Pass

This time it was not so obvious that South had any extra values and the Norwegians failed to hit the top spot.

The bidding played a major part on the following deal:

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª K Q J 6 3 © 10 4 ¨ Q J 9 7 2 § 6
ª 5 © A Q J 8 6 5 3 ¨ 10 § J 9 8 2		ª A 10 © K 2 ¨ K 8 4 3 § K Q 7 5 4
	ª 9 8 7 4 2 © 9 7 ¨ A 6 5 § A 10 3

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
	2ª*	2NT	4ª
5©	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

The Polish gadget worked well on this deal.
North led his singleton club, collected a ruff and returned the two of diamonds. That made sure South took the ace and gave North a second club ruff, +500.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
	Pass	1NT	Pass
4¨*	Pass	4©	All Pass

Helness gave quite a lot of thought to bidding over both Four Diamonds and Four Hearts, but it would have been a big position to take. Helgemo could not pull a rabbit out of the hat this time and his lead of the two of spades enabled declarer to claim eleven tricks and a massive swing of 15 IMPs.

Board 14. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 3 © K J 6 5 4 ¨ J 10 8 7 § A K 8
ª 10 9 7 4 2 © Q 10 7 2 ¨ Q 6 2 § 4		ª A K J 8 6 5 © A 3 ¨ A 4 § Q J 10
	ª Q © 9 8 ¨ K 9 5 3 § 9 7 6 5 3 2

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
		2§*	Pass
2¨*	Pass	2ª	Pass
4§*	Pass	4¨*	Dble
Pass	Pass	4ª	Pass
Pass	5¨	Dble	All Pass

South's double was enough to persuade North that his side had a paying save. The price was a little higher than he hoped for. East led the queen of clubs and declarer won and played a diamond. East put up the ace, gave West a club ruff and after getting in with the ace of spades gave him another one. The ace of hearts meant +500.

Open Room Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
		1ª	Pass
3ª*	Dble	Rdble	4§
4ª	All Pass

The East hand looked like a Polish One Club opening, but not in the Martens-Lesniewski version. There were ten easy tricks for +420.

The very next deal saw the chance for a truly sensational piece of prestidigitation being missed at both tables.

Board 15. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª A 10 8 7 5 3 © K 8 7 ¨ - § A Q 5 2
ª 9 4 © A Q J 10 9 6 5 ¨ Q 8 5 § 7		ª - © 4 3 2 ¨ A J 9 7 3 2 § K J 8 3
	ª K Q J 6 2 © - ¨ K 10 6 4 § 10 9 6 4

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Balicki	Saelensminde	Zmudzinski
			Pass
4©	4ª	5©	6ª
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

The play was essentially the same at both tables.
The opening lead was the ace of diamonds. Declarer ruffed, ruffed a heart, ruffed a diamond, ruffed a heart, ruffed a diamond and ruffed a heart. There is no winning line from here and declarer was the same one down. The fatal error had already been made.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Martens	Helness	Lesniewski	Helgemo
			Pass
4©	4ª	5¨	5©
6¨	6ª	Dble	All Pass

Fred Gitelman kindly supplied the following text:

Take a few seconds to admire an auction that included excellent calls by all four players. Don't take too many seconds, however, as you might want to spend considerably more time thinking about how declarer can make 6ª doubled after the lead of the ace of diamonds (an unfortunate choice for East - declarer would have had no chance after a heart lead).
Tor Helness (one of the few declarers on our planet who would have even had a chance to make this contract) gave this problem a great deal of thought. I believe he figured out the layout of the East-West cards and he did come close to finding the winning line, but in the end the solution eluded him.
Tor can be forgiven for missing the answer given that nobody in the VuGraph theatre (where the layout of the East-West cards was certainly known) could think of a way to make 6ª either. I would like to take credit for the following analysis, but it was Deep Finesse (a remarkable computer program that can solve any double dummy problem) that showed me the light.
Your editor believed there was a winning line, but naturally checked it out with DF.
There is only one solution. Declarer must ruff the ace of diamonds and immediately ruff a heart in the dummy. A trump to his hand, ruff another heart, cross back in trumps, and ruff his last heart. Declarer now ruffs a diamond back to his hand, stranding the king of that suit in the dummy! Three more rounds of trumps lead to the following end position:

	ª 7 © - ¨ - § A Q 5 2
ª - © A Q J ¨ Q § 7		ª - © - ¨ J 9 § K J 8
	ª - © - ¨ K 10 § 10 9 6

When you play the last spade, East discards a diamond and you throw a club from dummy. Now you play a low club and East wins and has no good return.
How double dummy is this?
At the point before declarer overtakes the spade to return to hand he can be sure of the distribution in spades and hearts, and on the first auction the diamond position is probably clear as well, so the clubs are known to be 4-1.
If you see the possibility of using East to resurrect the dummy, then it you might just find the winning line - given enough time!

Poland won this magical contest 64-43 IMPs, 19-11 VP - and who is to say they will not end up with the biggest trick of all?