BRIDGE

This deal occurred in the 1984 World Team Olympiad in a match between Belgium and the United States. Because of the freakish nature of the South hand -- a 7-6-0-0 distribution occurs only once in 18,000 deals -- it was likely there would be all sorts of fireworks, and that is exactly what happened.

At the first table, where an American pair held the North-South cards, the final contract was five hearts doubled, played by South. Declarer made six after an opening club lead for a score of 750 points.

At the second table, with a Belgian pair now NorthSouth, the bidding went as shown. Philippe Coenraets, in the South position, chose a leisurely approach with his unusual distribution, bidding first one suit and then the other on an unhurried route to six hearts. After East doubled, Paul Soloway, West for the U.S., led a spade, and Coenraets ruffed.

At trick two, declarer played a diamond to dummy's king and returned the ten, ruffed by East, Bobby Goldman. Goldman then shifted to a trump, but declarer was now in full control. He won the heart return in dummy, ruffed a spade and ruffed a low diamond with dummy's last trump. A club was then ruffed, East's last trump was drawn, and South claimed the rest for a score of 1,210 points and a net gain of 460 points for Belgium.

When the play at the second table was over, both defenders were left to contemplate what would have happened had they each chosen a different course of action. For Soloway, the bitter pill to swallow was that if he had led a trump initially, the slam would have gone down one.

For Goldman, it was the realization that he could have let the opponents play the hand in one heart!

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