Goren on Bridge

Today’s deal is another from the recent European Youth Teams. This is from a match between England and Finland. We only know that South’s name was Myllaeri, a young player from Finland.

The queen of clubs lead was covered by the king and ace. East returned a club and declarer shed a diamond as dummy won with the jack. South now cashed the ace and king of spades, followed by the ace and king of hearts, and a heart ruff on the table. South returned to his hand by ruffing a club. West should have over-ruffed and led a heart, but he discarded a heart instead.

Declarer saw what West didn’t see — that he couldn’t ruff another heart right away or he would be forced to lead a diamond away from dummy’s king-jack. South had to make a diamond play from his hand right now, so he led a low one toward the dummy. When West played low, South knew that his only chance was to insert dummy’s jack. Had West held the ace of diamonds, he would have played it, drawn dummy’s last trump, and cashed a heart trick. When the jack forced the ace from East, South had plenty of time to ruff his last heart and make his contract. Well done!

In the replay, the English player sitting East chose to open his hand with three clubs. This led to a double by South and a three no-trump bid by North, down four!

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