Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: North | ♠ A J 9 2 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A K J 6 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ A 9 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ 6 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ 7 4 | ♠ K 10 6 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ 10 2 | ♥ Q 9 7 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ K 6 4 | ♦ 10 8 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ K J 10 9 8 4 | ♣ A 3 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ Q 8 5 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ 8 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ Q J 7 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ Q 7 5 | ||||||||||||||
|
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*Splinter bid, four-card support with shortness in clubs
Opening lead: ♦4
The vulnerability, no doubt, kept West out of the auction. The opening diamond lead was ducked in dummy. South captured East’s eight with the queen and led a low spade to dummy’s jack. East won with his king and, with nothing appealing to play, led a low club. This worked fine, as West won with his eight and continued the suit, forcing dummy to ruff.
Dummy’s ace and king of hearts were cashed, followed by a low heart. South successfully ruffed this with the ♠8 and led his low spade to dummy’s ace. Declarer ruffed another heart, this time with the ♠Q, establishing the jack as a winner, and then ruffed his last club with dummy’s last trump, leaving this position:
| Dlr: North | ♠ — | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ J | |
| ♦ A 9 | ||
| ♣ — | ||
| ♠ — | ♠ 10 | |
| ♥ — | ♥ — | |
| ♦ K 6 | ♦ Q10 5 | |
| ♣ K | ♣ — | |
| ♠ — | ||
| ♥ — | ||
| ♦ J 7 2 | ||
| ♣ — |
South led dummy’s ♥J and East was helpless. He did his best by ruffing and leading a low diamond, but South played low from his hand and took the last two tricks with diamonds. Well done!