Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: West | ♠ A J 10 8 4 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: All | ♥ A J 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ A 7 6 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ 4 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ 9 7 | ♠ 6 5 3 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ K 10 9 7 | ♥ 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ K J 8 | ♦ 10 9 5 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ A Q 8 7 | ♣ J 10 6 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ K Q | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ Q 8 6 3 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 4 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ K 9 3 2 | ||||||||||||||
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Opening lead: ♠9
West had no appealing lead. Spades was the only suit that wouldn’t give away a trick, so it was a good start for the defense. South won in his hand with the king and took stock.
There would be 10 easy tricks if the missing trumps split 3-2, so South led a heart to the jack at trick two. That won the trick, so he continued with the ♥A, getting the bad news. What now? West had to hold both the ♦K and the ♣A to justify his opening bid, so South set out to end-play him in hearts.
South cashed dummy’s ♠A, crashing his own queen, and continued with the ♠J, discarding a club. West also discarded a club, so South led dummy’s ♠10 and shed another club. West also parted with another club, but he was just postponing the inevitable. Declarer led a heart from dummy, losing the trick to West’s 10. West cashed the ♥K, but then had to lead one of the minors. West couldn’t escape his fate, but he made a good effort by leading the ♦K, which might have been the winner if South had started with a singleton diamond. South won this with dummy’s ace and cashed the ♠8, discarding a club. He crossed to his hand with the ♦Q and conceded a club to West, but he made his contract. Well done!