GOREN BRIDGE

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST 1♦ 1♥ 2 2♠ 3♦ 4♥ 5♦ Dbl

All pass

*Diamond fit with at least invitational values

Opening lead: Queen of

North bid five diamonds as a sacrifice, hoping that five diamonds doubled would go down less than the value of the opponents’ game. The bad news is that East-west might not make their contract. In addition to North’s heart trick, South had two sure spade tricks and a possible diamond trick if the diamonds split 1-1. The good news was that five diamonds was a playable contract, needing only for South to pick up the king of trumps without loss.

How should South play the diamond suit? The two possible plays – banging down the ace or taking the finesse – are very close. Banging down the ace is a slight favorite, but an expert declarer will often judge to take the finesse instead. The common-sense play on this deal was to bang down the ace, reasoning that should the king fail to drop, the opponents were going to make four hearts and down one would be an acceptable result.

Before committing himself, South decided to try an old pro trick. He ruffed the heart continuation at trick two, after playing low from dummy twice, and led the queen of spades, overtaking it with dummy’s king. He then led the king of hearts. East’s ace had fallen on the second trick and South was trying to look like a man who needed a discard. East might have seen through this, but he had the lonely eight of diamonds and he did not see the harm in ruffing with it. Making five, doubled! Nice play!