Sometimes, bridge is like magic. Bridge Column for November 5, 2004, Harvey Bernstein Special To The Plain Dealer Both sides. South deals. North S: 9 6 3 H: K 6 4 D: Q 10 4 C: J 8 6 2 West East S: A Q J 7 4 S: 10 2 H: J 2 H: 10 9 7 D: 7 5 D: 9 8 6 2 C: A K 7 5 C: Q 10 9 4 South S: K 8 5 H: A Q 8 5 3 D: A K J 3 C: 3 The Bidding: South West North East 1H 1S 2H Pass 4H Pass Pass Pass Thanks to Eugene Gordon of Pepper Pike for this hand from a recent team event. He started the bidding with one heart. West overcalled one spade. Jack Knudson of Solon managed a two heart bid and Gordon jumped to the heart game. Even with the spade king poorly placed, at team competition, this hand should always jump to game. West led the ace of clubs and Gordon took inventory. He was pretty certain that the spade king would not produce a trick, and without a spade trick, he could only count on five heart tricks and four diamond tricks. This left him a trick short. Something good was going to happen if he was going to make this contract. The ace of clubs held the first trick and West continued with the king. Gordon realized that something good had just happened. Had West switched to any red card, there would not be enough entries for whet he was planning, but the club continuation solved the problem. Gordon trumped the club with a small heart and cashed the ace and queen of hearts. A small diamond went to the ten and a club was led off the dummy to be trumped with a small heart. A diamond went to the queen and the last club was trumped in the closed hand. Here was the end position: North S: 9 6 3 H: K D: 4 C: Void West East S: A Q J 7 4 S: 10 2 H: Void H: 10 D: Void D: 9 8 C: Void C: Void South S: K 8 5 H: Void D: A K C: Void Gordon cashed the ace and king of diamonds and led a small spade. West won the jack and cashed the ace for the third defensive trick, and while East still had the ten of hearts, the king sat alone in dummy as the tenth trick for declarer. By "reversing the dummy", Gordon was able to score six heart tricks and four diamond tricks. It's true that he had to find some favorable distribution, but there was no other play available, so what harm could it do to try? At the companion table, a diamond switch at trick two left declarer an entry short and the same contract was defeated one trick. Andy Halpern of Chagrin Falls is starting a new duplicate bridge game that will be restricted to players with less than 300 master points. The games will be held at Congregation Bethaynu, 27900 Gates Mills Boulevard, Pepper Pike, on Tuesdays, at 12:30 p.m., commencing November 9th. This game is sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League and master points will be awarded to the winners. The entry fee is $6.50 per person. For reservations or other information, call 216-464-3553. _______________________________________________ Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.