A Visit to the Dentist

Dlr:
North
Vul:
N-S
North
♠ —
K 7 6 3 2
K Q J 7 2
♣ 9 5 2
South
♠ J 9 7 6 4
Q J
A 9
♣ A K 7 3
West North East South
Pass Pass 1NT
Pass 2 2♠ Pass
3♠ 4 Pass 4
All Pass

Marcelo Caracci of Chile faced a significant challenge on this deal from the World Bridge Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey – and he was up to it. His opponents were Americans Steve Weinstein and Robert Levin.

Levin started with the ♠2, and Caracci made his first good play, discarding a club from dummy instead of ruffing. Weinstein, East, won the ♠A and also made a good play, continuing with the ♠5 instead of shifting to a club.

Caracci made his second good play, inserting the ♠6, forcing the king, which was ruffed in dummy. Caracci played a heart to the queen and continued with the jack, taken by Weinstein with the ace. Weinstein then correctly played the ♠Q to tap the hand with long trumps again.

When Caracci cashed dummy’s K, Weinstein was left with the last trump, but Caracci showed his accurate reading of the deal by cashing the ♣A and ♣K (dentist’s coup), then played the A and a diamond to the king. When Caracci continued with the Q, Weinstein’s choices were all bad for him. If he discarded a spade, Caracci would simply play another winning diamond.

When Weinstein ruffed the diamond, he had nothing left but the ♠10 8, while Caracci sat over him with the ♠J 9. After getting everything else right, Caracci was going to go wrong in the two-card ending.

The full deal:

Dlr:
Vul:
North
♠ —
K 7 6 3 2
K Q J 7 2
♣ 9 5 2
West
♠ K 3 2
10 9
10 8 6 5
♣ Q J 8 6
East
♠ A Q 10 8 5
A 8 5 4
4 3
♣ 10 4
South
♠ J 9 7 6 4
Q J
A 9
♣ A K 7 3

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