Beaver County Times – Mar 11, 2007

The best players are capable of wondrous technique. But they can also perpetrate monstrous errors.

In a team championship, Charles Goren found himself playing a contract of five spades with a trump suit consisting of K 10 5 4 opposite a void in partner’s hand—he would’ve made it had he been able to handle the trump suit for only two losers.

In the mid-’50s a British pair bid a grand slam missing the ace of trumps: “They might have made it had not the ace of trumps been off-side,” remarked Boris Schapiro.

In the 1966 European Championship Pietro Bernasconi and Jimmy Ortiz Patiño for Switzerland, against Italy, lost the first 13 tricks in a three-no-trump contract doubled and redoubled…

In 1971, France played a partnership of Roudinesco-Trezel; they took the wrong view in a 5response to Blackwood and ended in seven no-trump missing all four aces — difficult on any lead.

E/W Vul. Dealer North.

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

West	North	East	South
	2		4
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	5	End	6
Pass	Pass	Pass

Openning Lead: Who cares!

These pale in comparison with this deal. North’s two spades was strong and South’s jump to four hearts was a splinter bid showing shortness in the bid suit and good spade support.

North’s four no-trump was for-ward-going, followed by two red-suit cue-bids, when South cue-bid six hearts as a grand-slam probe, North decided his side had had a misunderstanding and that South held a strong, long heart suit, so he passed!

A suit slam without a single trump in either declarer’s hand or dummy is a record that can never be beaten!