'I LEARNED MY LESSON' by David Rodney

I have learned to jettison aces! Earlier in this tournament there was a hand in the Daily Bulletin about a hand in the NABC Open Pairs where it was necessary to jettison the ace of diamonds to avoid an endplay. I failed to make this play and was subjected to some good-natured joking and teasing. Well, I try to learn from my mistakes. Yesterday in the Mixed Pairs final I was sitting West defending against three Notrump. The hand was as follows:

S KJ973

H AJ

D Q74

C AT2

S AT64 S Q2

H 976 H 8542

D A962 D T3

C 64 C J8753

S 85

H KQT3

D KJ85

C KQ9

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1D

Pass 1S Pass 1NT

Pass 2C (1) Pass 2H

Pass 3NT All Pass

(1) Checkback

I led a club, which declarer won in hand. He led a diamond to the queen and a diamond back to the king and my ace. I exited with a small spade, and declarer rose with the king and played four rounds of hearts. I pitched a small spade. Declarer then cashed a club in hand and led a club to dummy. This was the position:

S J97

H --

D --

C A

S AT S Q

H -- H --

D 96 D --

C -- C J87

S 8

H --

D J8

C 9

I pitched the ace of spades and avoided being thrown in to lead a diamond. My partner had the rest of the tricks when declarer had to lead a spade to his now-good queen. Hopefully I have learned one lesson this week.