Goren on Bridge

Today’s deal is from a recent team event played in Europe. At one table, South was one of the world’s best players. He ran into some trouble when he won the opening heart lead with the ace and played a second heart. West won and continued with another high heart, ruffed in dummy with the 10 and overruffed by East with the jack. East shifted to a club. South won this with the king and played the ace and another trump. West won and shifted to a diamond. Declarer had no choice but to take the diamond finesse and finished down one when that failed.

At the other table, South did better by allowing the opening king of hearts lead to hold the trick. West shifted to a diamond. Declarer took the finesse, losing to East’s king. East reverted to hearts, South winning with the ace. Declarer cashed the ace of trumps, crossed to dummy with a low club to the jack, and led the 10 of spades. When the jack of spades appeared, South simply covered with his queen. West won with the king, but it was all over for the defense. Declarer won the return and drew the last trump. There were plenty of winners in dummy to provide a discard for the losing heart. Nicely played!

As in other sports, match results are not determined by the fame of the players. They still have to play the game. Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrove Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001. Email responses may be sent to tcaeditors@tribune.com. © 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.