Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: West | ♠ 10 3 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: Both | ♥ Q 8 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 7 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ K 7 6 4 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ 4 | ♠ 9 7 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ A 6 2 | ♥ K 10 9 4 3 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ 10 8 5 2 | ♦ K J 9 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ A Q J 10 8 | ♣ 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ A K Q J 8 6 5 | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ J 7 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ A 6 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ 9 3 | ||||||||||||||
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Opening lead: ♥2
South’s 4♠ bid is far from the worst bid we’ve seen, but it was probably too much against two bidding opponents. He caught seven points in dummy, which is the most he could hope for, and the contract still seemed to have no chance. Two hearts and a club were sure to be lost, and the defense should have no trouble getting either a diamond trick or a club ruff.
West, however, decided to under-lead his ♥A, creating a potential disaster for the defense. After a low heart is played from dummy, the normal play for East would be the nine, playing partner for the jack rather than the ace. Declarer would scoop up his jack, draw trumps, and lead a club toward the king for 10 tricks.
East was in no rush to play his nine. He sensed something illogical to declarer’s play. East had bid 1♥, but that didn’t mean that he had the king. Should declarer have the ace doubleton of hearts, he would not have played low from dummy. He would have played the queen hoping that West had led away from the king. It would have been his only chance for a second heart trick.
Trusting in his logic, and perhaps knowing his partner’s tendencies, East rose with his king at trick one, winning the trick. He shifted to his singleton club, got his ruff, and the ♥A was the setting trick. Well done!