Sheffield Bridge Club	Established 1936

THE  PIG  TRADER  PICKS  UP  A  COUPLE  OF  STRONG  HANDS

(From Sheffield Bridge Club Newsletter No 64, May 1991)

It is always pleasing to pick up a strong hand of cards but at Match Pointed Pairs it is especially pleasing to score well with them. The Pig Trader was recently heard relating the stories of the two strongest hands he had ever held. The first occurred one Saturday evening at the club nearly three years ago.

Twelve playing tricks! As dealer, the Pig Trader opened 2§ and Left Hand Opponent overcalled 2¨. By further enquiry, the Pig Trader could have discovered that partner held good club support, but he just checked that partner didn’t hold the missing ace and bid 6ª! This proved to be as cold as 6§ and the Pig Trader scored an outright Top!

More recently, the Pig Trader picked up the East hand on Board 22 of the Yorkshire Simultaneous Pairs on 21 June 1990:

Dealer East, EW Vulnerable.

W                          N                           E                            S

                                                            Pig Trader

                                                            No!!!                     No

No                         1©                         2©                         3©

No                         No                         4©                         No

5¨                         No                         6§                        No

No                         No

If the remaining black cards are divided evenly between the other three players, then the Pig Trader has 13 playing tricks!

The Pig Trader considered opening 2§, 6§ or 7§, but settled for passing, which, he reckoned, would give him the best chance of assessing the lie of the cards and for being doubled in his final contract! Luckily for him, North managed to find an opening bid, and this gave the Pig Trader a chance to use a Michaels Cue Bid to show Spades and a Minor. He repeated the Cue Bid at the 4-evel, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering partner, and the 5¨ response discouraged him from biding a Grand Slam, a lucky stop on the lie of the cards. (4NT – asking which Minor – is a better response from West than 5¨, but then the Pig Trader would have bid 7§.)

Only one East managed to get doubled and score better. Curiously, not many Easts reached as high as 6§. And, as it happens, 6ª is unbeatable!

Sheffield Bridge Club, 6 Thornsett Road Sheffield S7 1NA		Tel:  0114 255 0844
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