Polish Polish

Dlr:
South
Vul:
N-S
North
♠ K 7 5 4 3
K 8 4
Q
♣ J 9 6 2
South
♠ J 8
A Q 10 7 6 2
K 10
♣ A 7 5
West North East South
1
Pass 2 Pass 4
All Pass

The following deal, played by Andrzej Wilkosz of Poland was judged to be the best effort at the now-defunct International Team Tournament in Amsterdam more than 30 years ago. It was reported by the late Hugh Kelsey.

Wilkosz received the lead of the 3. Winning in hand with the ace, he played a spade. West took the ace and continued with a heart to dummy’s 8. Declarer cashed the ♠K and ruffed a spade with the Q, West discarding a diamond. A diamond was played to dummy’s queen and East’s ace, and Wilkosz won the diamond return in hand. This was the position:

Dlr:
Vul:
North
♠ 7 5
K
♣ J 9 6
West
9
J 9 6
♣ 10 4
East
♠ 10
8 7
♣ K Q 8
South
10 7 6
♣ A 7 5

Wilkosz led the ♣5 from hand, putting in dummy’s 9 when West played the 4. East won the trick with the ♣Q but had no good return. A spade return would have been ruffed high, establishing a long spade in dummy. A diamond return would have conceded a ruff and discard, and a club return would have been ducked to dummy’s jack.

Note that as well as declarer played, West could have defeated the contract by discarding a club instead of a diamond on the third round of spades. The endplay against East then would not have worked – when East got in with a club honor, he would have been able to give his partner a ruff.

The full deal:

Dlr:
Vul:
North
♠ K 7 5 4 3
K 8 4
Q
♣ J 9 6 2
West
♠ A Q
9 5 3
J 9 6 4 3 2
♣ 10 4
East
♠ 10 9 6 2
J
A 8 7 5
♣ K Q 8 3
South
♠ J 8
A Q 10 7 6 2
K 10
♣ A 7 5