Three flattish deals followed, and I felt that we had settled back into a nice groove, although we were still below average for the session. Then, an opponent tried a dubious psych:
North dealer
Neither side vulnerable
|
|
NORTH
 Q 6 4 2
 Q 7 5 2
 K 8
 K 8 2 |
|
WEST
K 9
10 9 3
A 10 7 5
A J 9 4 |
|
EAST
A 10 8 5
A K 8 6 4
6
Q 7 6 |
|
|
SOUTH
J 7 3
J
Q J 9 4 3 2
10 5 3 |
|
Eddie Wold, North, opened a 10-12 notrump. I overcalled two clubs to show the majors, and we were on our way to a normal four hearts. South, Dick Zeckhauser, chose to make a psychic card-showing double. This was passed around to me, and I bid two hearts. David passed, and it looked as though we had missed our game for a bottom. Not so. North, David’s screenmate, had told him that South’s auction had created a force. Unwilling to double, but having to take some action, Wold took out to two notrump. This was passed around to David, who was ready to wield his ax. He doubled two notrump and subsequently doubled South’s runout to three diamonds. This was defeated three tricks, and North-South got only 1 matchpoint out of 70 for their efforts. (Recall the double matchpointing; in America, that would have been one-half out of 35.)
