The column that occupies this space was written by Michael Cassel every Sunday for thirty seven years until he retired in 1992. I recently had an opportunity to talk with his son, Michael Cassel II of Minneapolis, MN, while he was in Cleveland visiting his father at The Hospice of the Western Reserve. As bridge players will do, he was soon diagramming the hand shown above that he had played with his father at the 1994 Fall North American Bridge Championships on November 19th in Minneapolis. Cassel, the elder, held the East cards while Cassel, the younger, sat West and led the seven of diamonds against the two spade contract.
As I describe the defense that the Cassels used to defeat this contract, keep in mind that the elder Cassel was eighty-two years of age at the time that the hand was contested.
It was apparent from the cards in dummy and from the opening lead, that many North-South pairs would play this hand in a diamond partial making three for a score of plus 110. Cassel reasoned that South had a six card spade suit, a probable high heart honor (if partner had the ace-king of hearts he would have led one), and a top honor card in one (but not both) of the minor suits. If the defense can only take four tricks this will be a very bad board. Cassel set about constructing a defense to do better than that.
The queen of diamonds was played to trick one and was won by declarer's king. A small club went to the king in dummy. The singleton six of spades was led and East played the eight very smoothly. Declarer tried the ten which lost to the jack. West exits with the three of diamonds which is won by declarer with the ten. A small spade goes to East's ace and Cassel the elder finds that he is at the crossroads of this hand. A diamond lead will allow partner to ruff. He will then be able to cash the ace of clubs but will be left with no way to get off lead without allowing declarer to avoid losing a heart. With full malice aforethought, Cassel led the two of hearts. Declarer took the bait and played low. West won the king of hearts and cashed the ace of clubs before getting off lead with a club.
Once again this puts declarer to the test. The correct play is to trump the club return and lead another spade hoping to find spades divided evenly. Alternatively declarer can win the high club discarding a diamond from hand, play a heart to the ace and then play a spade. Declarer was not up to the task. He won the club in dummy, discarding a diamond from hand, and then led a diamond, trumping low. West over ruffed with the nine of spades and the king of spades became the setting trick.
The defense allowed declarer to take losing options at each opportunity resulting in a top score. Thoughtful play, as illustrated in this hand, is what has made Michael Cassel a valued partner and a worthy opponent for many, many years.