South in today’s deal was Paul Bethe. A good player in his own right, he is the son of Henry and Kitty Bethe. His father was a National Champion and his mother a World Champion. He and his partner had a lucky misunderstanding in the auction. Paul thought his fourth-suit forcing three-spade bid followed by five clubs set clubs as the trump suit. His partner was on a different wavelength and bid the slam in the suit that, luckily, was breaking 3-2. It looked easy at first, so Bethe won the ace of hearts on the opening lead, led a spade to the ace, and ruffed a spade. He cashed the king of diamonds, ruffed a heart to his hand, and ruffed the queen of spades. A club to his ace and the ace of diamonds left this position: (See grid 2)
Bethe led a club and would have claimed 12 tricks had both opponents followed. He won with dummy’s king and led a heart. He didn’t know who held the last trump, but it didn’t matter. Should either opponent ruff, Bethe would have the rest. He ruffed the heart, led a club to the queen, and led another heart, scoring his last trump “en passant”.
