This remarkable hand occurred in a high-stakes rubber-bridge game. North should have passed one diamond, but he was the type of player who was constitutionally incapable of showing weakness by passing. So he responded one heart.

South, unaware that North was shortchanging him, jumped to three notrump. True, South lacked the balanced distribution normally expected for this rebid, but he and his partner had agreed that a three-notrump rebid in this sequence showed a long, solid suit and a reasonable chance for nine tricks in notrump.

East doubled, directing West to lead the suit dummy had bid. Delighted with the double, West licked his chops and led the seven of hearts. Dummy’s ten lost to the jack, and East returned the deuce of clubs.

South could have saved a bushel of points by inserting the nine, but, in an effort to go down only one, he put up the king. West won with the ace and led another heart.

East cashed five heart tricks and the jack of clubs and returned a spade, whereupon West took the ace and cashed the Q-8-6 of clubs to bring his side to 12 tricks. West then led a spade to East’s king, and poor South finished down nine -- 2,600 points!

North was primarily responsible for the debacle. His one-heart bid was strictly from hunger, but even worse was his failure to rescue South from three notrump doubled.

North should have recognized that he did not have even the most minimal values his partner was expecting from him. After East doubled, he should have hoisted the white flag and bid four diamonds, South’s known long suit. This would have been set at most two tricks, and even if doubled, North-South would have saved themselves 2,100 points.

Tomorrow >> Famous Hand.

— Steve Becker