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May 24, 1997
Bridge | Alan Truscott
Lapt Chan makes a slam despite a bad split in the Reisinger, an event that has seen better days. 

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    • North
    S A 9 7 6 2
    H A 3
    D A Q 6 5
    C 8 3
     
    West
    S J 10 8 4
    H J 10 9
    D K 10 9 8
    C 9 6
     
     
    East
    S 5
    H 8 7 6 4
    D J 3
    C Q J 10 7 4 2
     
    South (D)
    S K Q 3
    H K Q 5 2
    D 7 4 2
    C A K 5
     
    Neither side was vulnerable. The bidding:
    South West North East
    1 N.T. Pass 2 H Pass
    2 S Pass 3 D Pass
    3 S Pass 4 H Pass
    5 C Pass 5 D Pass
    5 H Pass 5 S Pass
    6 S Pass Pass Pass
    West led the heart jack.

     

    New York's most prestigious event, the Reisinger Knockout Team Championship, has been declining steadily for many years. Thirty years ago, 74 teams were entered, and the winning squad included three world-famous players: Oswald Jacoby, John Crawford and Tobias Stone. This week, only 14 teams competed, and some of the best players in the metropolitan area were missing from the ranks.

     The diagrammed deal, on which both teams reached six spades, played a vital role in the narrow semifinal victory over the top-seeded team by a group led by Lapt Chan of Forest Hills, Queens. He was the declarer after a transfer auction, and the reader should cover the East-West cards and plan the play after an oerning heart lead.

     In practice, South won with the ace in dumy and cashed the king and queen of spades. Finding the bad split, he finessed the diamond queen and cashed the ace. Then he cashed the king-queen of hearts, throwing a diamond from the dummy, and reached this position:

    North
    S A 9 7
    H --
    D 6
    C 8 3
     
    West
    S J 10
    H --
    D K 10
    C 9 6
     
     
    East
    S --
    H 8
    D --
    C Q J 10 7 4
     
    South
    S 3
    H 5
    D 7
    C A K 5

    The heart five was led, and West erred by throwing a diamond. South ruffed in dummy, cashed his club winners, and played his last club. This gave him two trump tricks and his slam, for if West ruffed the diamond loser could be discarded. 

    This gained 17 imps for the Welland team. But if West had discarded a club in the diagramed position, he would have beaten the slam and, as it turned out, won the match. Post-mortem analysis showed that South could have improved his plan and succeeded against any defense. If he draws two rounds of trumps with the king and ace, preserving the queen as an entry, he can then cash side-suit winners, ending in his hand, and score all dummy's trumps. 

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