GOREN BRIDGE

South in today's deal was Barnet Shenkin, an expert from Scotland who has lived in South Florida for over 20 years. Overcalling on a fourcard suit would have been unthinkable when Charles Goren ruled the bridge world. Modern experts will overcall on a four-card suit at the one level, provided that the suit is good and the hand is reasonable. East's pre-emptive raise caused a problem for Shenkin, who chose to overbid slightly, thus ending up in a poor game contract.

Shenkin did not want to win the opening diamond lead with dummy's king of diamonds. It would block the diamond suit, and the diamonds would probably be needed for discards. Instead, he won in hand and tried to guess how many diamonds West started with. Shenkin won the first trick with the ace and cashed the queen, hoping that West started with exactly two. The hope was that West would now have to help Shenkin with his communication problems. Shenkin exited with his club to West's ace and West had a problem. Another diamond was not an option, so West led a club. Shenkin won with dummy's king while discarding a spade, and then ran the 10 of hearts.

West won with the ace and led a club, but Shenkin ruffed, cashed the king of hearts, felling the queen and drew the last trump. It was clear sailing from there.

The defense would have prevailed had West led the queen of spades after winning the ace of clubs. This would have created an entry to the East hand for a diamond ruff later in the play. Still, a beautifully played hand by Shenkin.