Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: East | ♠ A J 8 4 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A 7 5 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ J | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ A K 7 6 4 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ K 10 9 7 6 5 | ♠ Q 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ J | ♥ 10 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ 9 5 | ♦ A K 10 8 7 4 3 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ Q 10 9 2 | ♣ 8 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ K Q 9 8 6 4 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 6 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ J 5 3 | ||||||||||||||
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Opening lead: ♦9
This is another deal from the ladies match between teams from England and Austria some years ago. South was the late Michelle Brunner, playing for England. Brunner’s 4♥ bid did not include robust values, but we don’t think we could find an expert who would disagree with the bid. North’s blast to slam is completely reasonable.
East won the opening diamond lead with the king and shifted to a trump. Brunner won this in hand with the king and ruffed her remaining diamond on the table. She cashed the ♥A, drawing the last trump, and then cashed the ♠A and ruffed a spade. She crossed to dummy with the ♣A and ruffed another spade. The hand was now an open book. East had started with two spades, two hearts, and seven or eight diamonds. She could have no more than two clubs. Brunner started running her trumps knowing West would not be able to defend the position.
When she cashed her last trump, she still had the ♣J 5 remaining in her hand, dummy had the ♠J and the ♣K 7, and West the ♠K and the ♣Q 10. West was helpless. She chose to discard the ♣10, so Brunner shed dummy’s ♠J and claimed the last two tricks with dummy’s clubs. Well bid, well played!