Rematch In New York

The four-spade contract was doubled in the closed room, but Los Angeles actually gained on this deal.

There, West led the diamond and the jack forced East's ace. Schleifer ruffed and led the spade 10. Knowing that Schleifer was good enough to lead the 10 from ace-king-10, West didn't dare withhold his jack. He covered, and East overtook, perforce. Now East made the same play of underleading the ace of clubs—with the better reason that, once the jack of spades had been played by West, winning two club tricks was the only hope of setting the hand. But South won the trick, discarded his three remaining clubs on dummy's good cards, and lost only one more trick to West's queen of spades, making an overtrick. That added another 2 IMPs to L.A.'s lead.

One more hand—the last one played in the August meeting of the two cities—will emphasize still another factor in any match between two powerful teams.

North-South vulnerable South dealer

NORTH

[Queen of Spades]
[9 of Spades]
[K of Hearts]
[8 of Hearts]
[5 of Hearts]
[10 of Diamonds]
[9 of Diamonds]
[2 of Diamonds]
[King of Clubs]
[10 of Clubs]
[7 of Clubs]
[4 of Clubs]
[2 of Clubs]

WEST

[Ace of Spades]
[5 of Spades]
[4 of Spades]
[2 of Spades]
[Ace of Hearts]
[7 of Hearts]
[4 of Hearts]
[2 of Hearts]
[Jack of Diamonds]
[7 of Diamonds]
[Jack of Clubs]
[8 of Clubs]
[6 of Clubs]

SOUTH

[King of Spades]
[7 of Spades]
[6 of Spades]
[Jack of Hearts]
[9 of Hearts]
[3 of Hearts]
[Ace of Diamonds]
[Queen of Diamonds]
[6 of Diamonds]
[4 of Diamonds]
[3 of Diamonds]
[Ace of Clubs]
[Queen of Clubs]