Goren Bridge
Bob Jones
| Dlr: North | ♠ 10 7 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Vul: None | ♥ A 10 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ A 3 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ K 5 4 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♠ J 3 | ♠ Q | |||||||||||||||||
| ♥ K J 9 6 4 | ♥ 8 7 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ J 10 9 | ♦ K 8 7 6 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♣ A 9 7 | ♣ J 8 6 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♠ A K 9 8 6 4 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♥ Q 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♦ Q 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ Q 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
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*Drury, spade fit with 10 or more points
Opening lead: ♥6
South in today’s deal was ACBL Hall of Famer Michael Becker, from Boca Raton, Florida. His unusual rebid was based on the hope that his three queens would provide considerable value in a no trump contract, hopefully leading to a higher score than what might be available in a spade contract.
The opening heart lead went around to Becker’s queen and the ♠A showed that the spades were running. Becker had 11 sure tricks at this point for a score that would beat anyone taking 11 tricks in spades. A 12th trick would be icing on the cake. The ♣Q went to West’s ace and the ♥K was won with dummy’s ace. There were some chances for an extra trick, mostly depending on the location of the ♦K. When Becker played the ♠10 to his king, East signaled with a high diamond. Becker treated this as an honest card, showing the king, and proceeded accordingly.
Becker led a diamond to the ace and then ran all of his spades but one, leaving himself with one spade, the ♦Q, and the ♣10. Dummy had the ♥10 and the ♣K 5. On the last spade, West had to come down to a singleton club to hold the ♥J. Dummy shed the ♥10, and East shed his ♦K in order to keep two clubs. The ♦Q and the ♣K took the last two tricks. Making six for a huge matchpoint score!