Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: South | ♠ J 10 5 3 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: Both | ♥ K Q 10 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 8 6 4 3 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ — | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ A Q 8 2 | ♠ K 7 6 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ 8 5 | ♥ A J 9 3 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ 7 | ♦ 5 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ K 9 8 6 4 3 | ♣ J 5 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ 9 | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ 7 6 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ A K J 10 9 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ A Q 10 7 | ||||||||||||||
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*Strong diamond raise
Opening lead: ♦7
Today’s deal is from the recent Australian National Mixed Teams in Canberra. South was Australian expert Keiran Dyke. Dyke’s pass over 5♣ is surprising, as we think most players would have doubled. It was a forcing pass, however, so there was no chance that his partner would not bid again. North’s choice of bidding 5♦, rather than double, was clear cut.
Dyke won the opening trump lead in his hand and led a diamond to dummy’s queen, drawing trumps. A spade to the nine lost to the queen, and West shifted to the ♥. East captured the king with his ace and led a low spade, ruffed by Dyke. The ♣A was cashed, dummy shedding a low heart, and a club was ruffed in dummy. A spade ruff back to his hand and Dyke was at the crossroads.
A heart to the 10 was an unappealing choice. Dyke was sure that West held the ♣K for his vulnerable preempt, so he decided to try and pin the jack in the East hand. If it didn’t work, he could always try the heart finesse later. Dyke led his ♣Q and hoped. West elected not to cover, so Dyke took a deep breath and discarded dummy’s ♥10. He was home when East followed with the jack. He had no trouble ruffing his remaining club and cashing his last heart in dummy to bring home his contract. Nicely played!