Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: South | ♠ A J 10 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| Vul: All | ♥ Q 7 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ K 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ Q J 6 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♠ 9 7 4 3 | ♠ K | |||||||||||||||||
| ♥ | ♥ K 10 9 8 6 4 3 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 9 7 4 3 | ♦ 8 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♣ A 10 9 4 | ♣ 7 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♠ Q 8 5 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♥ A J | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♦ A J 6 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ K 8 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Opening lead: ♠3
South could have risen with dummy’s ♠A at trick one, spearing East’s singleton king, but that was against the odds. He played low from dummy, losing to East’s king. East shifted to a heart, and West ruffed South’s jack before leading a second round of trumps. South won in dummy and crossed to his hand with the ♠Q, drawing West’s last trump.
South could succeed at this point if he could get three club tricks, or find the ♦Q. He led a low club to dummy’s queen, crossed back to his hand with the ♥A, and led a low club to dummy’s jack. West had to duck both clubs, of course. Declarer now found the elegant play of leading dummy’s ♥Q and discarding the ♣K as East won with the king. What could East do? If East had a club to play, that would mean that West’s ace was now singleton. South would ruff and dummy’s long club would be good. A diamond lead instead would pick up the queen, so East decided to lead a heart.
South ruffed in dummy while shedding a low diamond from his hand. He now simply ruffed a club. East was now known to have started with exactly two diamonds. In this three-card ending, West still had the ♣A, meaning he was down to two diamonds also. The ace and king were sure to drop the queen and South had his game.