In some circles in the bridge world, taking the thirteenth trick with the 7 while making your contract is worth a beer from partner. There are variations to this, as some believe that diamond contracts or slams shouldn't count. I've had quite a good run with the beer card lately. In my last seven or so events at the sectional or regional level, I've scored up about 10 beer cards, with all of them leading to good boards. Below are two hands on which I won (deserving) beers from partner. Boards are rotated for convenience so that I sit South as declarer.

 

EW Vul Dealer S	North   K84   J3   AK972   AK4
West   AT62   Q5   654   8732		East   QJ   A86   QJT83   QT5
	South   9753   KT9742     J96

 

I opened 3 as dealer as it was my turn to bid. My partner raised me to game even though we had previously discussed that 3 level preempts first seat favorable can be very light. LHO, however, comes to the rescue by leading the A which makes the contract much better. If I can pick up the trumps for one loser I'll lose only one spade, one trump, and one club. LHO continues with another spade which I win with the K as I notice RHO complete his echo with the spade honors . I play the AK discarding my two spades and lead the J from the board. The finesse loses to the Q as LHO returns another spade. I notice that I now do not have the entries to take advantage of even a 4-4 diamond break, but I did notice that this position looked an awful lot like the textbook trump squeeze position. RHO is in fact helpless as I reach this endposition:

 

	North       972   AK
West Immaterial		East       QJ   QT5
	South     42     J96

 

As I play my penultimate trump, discarding the 2 from dummy, RHO must either unguard his Q or discard a diamond, allowing me to reach dummy with a club honor and ruff my last diamond good, while still getting back with the remaining club honor. The opponents have been very friendly on defense so far and continue to be friendly as RHO discards a diamond. I get to dummy with a club honor and carefully ruff the 9, taking the last trick with the 7.

 

The beer card can also make declarers do strange things:

 

Both Vul Dealer S	North   AJ96   QJ7   A97   943
West   K753   AK32   T8   KT6		East   T84   85   Q532   AQJ8
	South   Q2   T964   KJ64   752

 

After two passes my LHO opens 1, and my partner makes an aggressive takeout double on his flat shape with no wastage in clubs. RHO raises to 2 and I bid my major, 2, buying it there. The defense begins with the A and Q and then my RHO switches to a small diamond. This goes to the 10 and dummy's A. I lead the Q from the dummy which LHO takes with the K. LHO now returns the 8 to the 9, Q and my K. I lead another trump out of my hand, unblocking the J as LHO flies with the A. At this point LHO cashes the last club trick and underleads the K which I let ride to my Q. I have the rest of the tricks now. But wait! That 7 in the dummy sure looks tempting. After counting the hand out again to make sure I'm not doing anything dumb, I draw the remaining two trumps and then lead my spade, finessing the J! I discard my J on the sA and claim the 7 as my last trick. Hmmm.... Beer....