Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: West | ♠ 10 8 4 2 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: N-S | ♥ K J 7 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ 5 4 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ K Q J 5 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ Q 9 7 5 3 | ♠ A J 6 | |||||||||||||
| ♥— | ♥ 9 8 4 3 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ K Q 7 2 | ♦ 10 9 8 6 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ A 10 9 2 | ♣ 8 6 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ K | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ A Q 10 6 5 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ A J 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ 7 4 3 | ||||||||||||||
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Opening lead: ♠5
The opening spade lead went to East’s ace as South played his singleton king. A low spade was returned and South ruffed to lead the 10 of hearts. Had both opponents followed, he planned to duck a diamond and ruff a diamond, draw trumps, and knock out the ace of clubs. The 4-0 trump split changed things. Should he duck a diamond now, the defense would lead another spade, forcing him to reduce his trump length to the same as East’s. He would not be able to get off the board safely after ruffing a diamond and he would lose control of the hand.
South led a low club at trick three to dummy’s king as West ducked his ace. Three rounds of hearts came next, drawing trumps, and leaving this position:
| Dlr: West | ♠ 10 | |
| Vul: N-S | ♥ — | |
| ♦ 5 4 | ||
| ♣ Q J 5 | ||
| ♠ Q | ♠ J | |
| ♥ — | ♥ — | |
| ♦ K Q 7 | ♦ 10 9 8 6 | |
| ♣ A 10 | ♣ 8 | |
| ♠ — | ||
| ♥ 6 | ||
| ♦ A J 3 | ||
| ♣ 7 4 |
South had only lost one trick so far. A club was led to dummy’s queen, which West had to duck. He ruffed dummy’s last spade and exited with a club to West’s ace. South simply ducked West’s king of diamonds, leaving West on lead for another diamond lead into the ace-jack. Very well played!