Goren on Bridge

A wild and wooly auction. West’s double of seven spades might have been based on a sure trump trick, but South reasoned that it was more likely to be a Lightner Double, asking for an unusual lead. Looking at his club length, South could easily imagine West with a club void, so he ran to seven no-trump, hoping for the best.

South won the opening heart lead with his ace and led a club to dummy’s king at trick two, confirming that West was void in that suit. He led the jack of spades from dummy, saw East follow with the nine, and paused to think. South decided that, with West void in clubs, there was no reason to play him for shortness in spades also, so he won with his ace.

The ace and king of diamonds were cashed in case the queen fell, and a spade was led. East’s jump to five hearts suggested a short suit somewhere, and it could only be spades. South took the winning view of playing dummy’s 10 of spades and was rewarded when East discarded a club. It wasn’t over yet, as South was still a trick short. He solved that problem by cashing all of dummy’s spades, coming down to a two-card ending with dummy holding the jack of diamonds and the nine of clubs opposite his ace-10 of clubs. East couldn’t defend the position. East could not keep the queen of diamonds and the queen-jack of clubs and South had his contract. Very well done!

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