VuBridge Online Player

IBPA Awards back in the days - Masters at the table Board # 3 Dealer: South Vulnerable: All You are: South Contract: 3 NoTrumps By South

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THE 1977 SOLOMON AWARD
FOR THE HAND OF THE YEAR

Harold Ogust (USA)
Journalist; Charles Goren (USA)

A thought in time saves nine

For the thoughtful and elegant play of Hand No.88 in Charles Goren's 100 Challenging Bridge Hands' reviewed in the Supplement to BULLETIN 163 of December 1976. Mr Ogust receives IBPA's plaque.

Harold Ogust, deserves credit for having found the successful line in a rubber bridge game, where it involved a mere matter of money

As declarer, South, you let the lead ride round to your ♣Q. East plays the ♣J and you win the trick.

It's your move. If you do not find the winning play by South in this deal, you may console yourself with the fact that few experts did, even when it was presented to them as a problem.

Which is why my great friend, Harold Ogust, deserves credit for having found the successful line in a rubber bridge game, where it involved a mere matter of money, not the winning of a national championship.

A good insurance man is usually able to convince a prospect that a small premium is worth paying if it safeguards the contract. But South's problem was to find a premium payment that would enhance his chances of bringing home the game.

Can you? Counting his "sure" tricks, declarer could see that if spades were breaking, he had ten readily available. Now, whenever you can count ten and you need only nine, you should look for a way to sacrifice one in order to have a better chance of bringing home the game.

If you cashed the ♠K Q before you took this into account, you're too late to consider locking the barn door. Your horse went that-a-way.

You have failed to consider that, with but a single entry to dummy, you cannot bring in the spade suit if it does not split. You will need to find some other source to bring your trick total to nine. Diamonds, for example.

If East had held the four spades, perhaps when West failed to follow to the second spade lead, you'd have made an alternate plan. Ogust didn't need that reminder. When he overtook the ♠Q with the ♠A, he risked losing a sixth spade trick, but he could do with only five if East followed suit, surrendering one spade but winning two clubs and two aces.

When East showed out after the overtake with the ♠A, Ogust had the lead where he needed it — in dummy. Abandoning the spade suit, he led the ♦10. As long as East held either two or three diamonds to an honor, declarer was bound to win four diamond tricks, whether or not East covered the 10.

With the ♣A in dummy for another diamond lead if necessary, South had given himself the extra chance that brought home his contract. Suppose the spades had split. Then you'll have to apologize to partner for your "error."

Click to Play	Description
	THE CHARLES SOLOMON AWARD for 'The Hand of the ...
	THE 1976 SOLOMON AWARD FOR THE HAND OF THE YEARTim...
	THE 1977 SOLOMON AWARDFOR THE HAND OF THE YEAR Har...
	THE 1978 SOLOMON AWARDFOR THE HAND OF THE YEAR Dom...

How to Play:

There is a Chinese saying:
'An image is worth 1000 words!'

You may want to take the
Online Player Guided Tour

1 - Bidding: Click the 'Play' button in the middle of the page to display the bidding box.

When you are ready, click the 'Start Bidding' button.

When a bid is alerted, it is shown on a yellow background. You can then click that bid to display the related alert.

When there is a comment or a question about your own bid, you can read it on the bidding box comments pane, and then, click the 'Ok' button to continue bidding.

Click 'Close Bidding Box' to proceed to playing the hand.

2 - Playing: The lead is automatic if you are declarer, otherwise you'll see the 'It's your lead' warning in the center pane.

You will play your cards and dummy's as if you were at a live table.

2.1 -Touching cards are considered equivalent! e.g. if you have 876 and you play the 7 while Vu-Bridge expects you to play the 6, then the 7 will blink and the 6 will be played.

2.2 -Sometimes there will be a comment or question during the play.
You should read it and click the 'Click to continue' button at the top of the comment text.

If its a question, there will be a 'Show Answer' button to click at the bottom of the comment panel.

2.3 - When a comment bears a 'Finish flag' button, you can click it to reveal hidden hands and continue playing. We use this to explain technical coups like end-plays, squeezes etc.

2.4 - You can review the last trick by clicking on the last won or lost trick (back of card) at the bottom of the screen. The last trick will show during 3 seconds and then play will continue.

2.5 - You can click the 'Undo last trick' button at the left of the screen in order to redo one or several tricks and review the attached comments.
You can review the auction by clicking the 'Auction' tab in the same area.
3 - Moving the comment panel:

When the mouse hovers the dark green background of the bidding box or the comment panel, you'll see a crosshair cursor and you can drag and move it around the page.

The left and right arrows on the top left corner of the comment panel allows you to increase or reduce the width for better readability.

4 - When a hand is finished, you can click the 'Board List' at the top of the comment panel, and play other hands From the same Series.

To play other Series, visit the Vu-Bridge's home page and click the 'Bridge Hands' button.

Bidding Box

Comment

Read the comment, then click "OK" to continue...

The final contract is shown above.

If necessary, the deal has been rotated to place your hand at the bottom of the diagram.

Auction
Results

Tricks won: 0 Tricks lost: 0

West	North	East	South
-	-	-	1♦
P	1♠	P	2♥
P	2♠	P	2NT
P	3NT	P	P
P

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from this Series,
click the "Board List" tab
above the comments. W E N S Dealer:
South

It's your
lead...

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