HOW WOULD YOU RULE?
A series for duplicate players. Problems welcome!

John Errs Twice

by Mike Swanson

'What a truly dreadful evening! Nothing has gone right,' said Julie gloomily.

'Well, at least it can't get any worse, and for a change we haven't had the Tournament Director at the table once!' replied John. 'Look, they've finished at our next table, so we can start the last round early.'

John sat down and looked perplexedly at the board. He turned to North and said: 'You've twisted the board. I am West, not South.'

North glared back at John and said, 'It's an arrow-switch.'

9 6 2 Q J 10 9 8 6 A 7 A 9             8 K 7 3 K J 10 5 J 7 6 5 3         J 10 7 3 5 4 8 6 3 2 K Q 8             A K Q 5 4 A 2 Q 9 4 10 4 2

West	North Julie	East	South John
		Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	2NT
Pass	3	Pass	4
End

West led his fourth highest club, taken by dummy's ace. John then took a while to ponder on the play; he thought of playing another club to ensure a ruff in dummy, but realised that the opponents could then knock out his A, leaving dummy bereft of entries other than ruffs. At last he spotted that, if trumps broke, he could just draw trumps and play ace and another heart.

'Play a spade,' said John.

'Which one?' replied Julie.

'Oh, it doesn't matter, try the nine,' sighed John. (If only he could have seen through the backs of the cards, he would have realised that this was the only lead which could land him his contract.)

'Hold on,' protested West. 'If John says "Play a spade," dummy should play the smallest one.'

'Yes, of course you are right; well, as I said, it doesn't matter, so lead a small one.'

Julie played the 2 as instructed, and John soon discovered the bad news when East showed out on the second round of trumps. Now the hand was starting to look a real mess, so John exited with a club hoping against hope that he could get a ruff, giving him the opportunity to try the heart finesse, as well as leading a diamond towards the queen (not that either would do him any good!).

East took the club trick and drew dummy's trump. John took the trump trick and played the rest of the hand out very quickly for two down.

At this stage another pair came to the table, and asked John and Julie why they were sitting in their seats.

'No, we are in the right place,' replied John. 'We were at Table 5 last round and now we have moved to Table 6.'

John's right-hand opponent shook his head. 'This is Table 9, not 6. Director!'

After the situation was explained to him, the Tournament Director asked John and Julie whether they had played the board previously.

'I'm afraid we have,' replied Julie. 'I've just looked at the traveller and we played it as East-West when we defended 3NT. I remember it now: John managed to find a diamond lead round to declarer's queen, so he played ace and another heart and was able to make eleven tricks. Somehow we seem to have achieved the distinction of getting a bottom twice on the same board!'

'Well, actually your second score is void, though it would have counted had both pairs not played it previously,' replied the Tournament Director. 'Law 15 B states this clearly, so the two pairs who should have played the board against each other get 60% or their own average, whichever is the higher.'

'That can't be right, we just got a top, so effectively you are fining us 40%.'

'I'm afraid that is the law and I don't have any discretion in the matter. Meanwhile, John and Julie, you should go immediately to Table 6. I doubt that you will manage to play both boards, so I shall award you 40% on the one you are unable to play.'

'A 40% board should improve our score,' observed John dejectedly.

'Yes, the sooner we finish and I get home and tucked up in my bed on my own, the better,' said Julie quashing any hopes John might have had of drowning their sorrows together.