Goren on Bridge

Both vulnerable, North deals

Aggressive bidding saw North-South land in an ambitious game contract. A 3-2 trump split would give South four trump tricks, four side suit winners, and a heart ruff — only nine tricks. South determined that he would need to score five trump tricks to bring home his contract, and he set out to do just that.

Declarer won the opening diamond lead with his ace, led a club to dummy’s ace, and ruffed a club. He cashed dummy’s ace and king of spades before ruffing another club. South took a deep breath, cashed his ace and king of hearts, and ruffed a heart in dummy.

That was nine tricks in the bank with the lead in dummy. South led dummy’s last club and scored his 10 of spades “en passant”. Should East discard on this trick, South would ruff the club for his tenth trick. If East ruffed high, instead, South would discard and enjoy his last trump later. 10 tricks either way and a well-played hand!

It took imagination and careful planning to take 10 tricks on this deal. It looked easy as we watched South do it. We think many players would have missed this line of play. Not you, of course. Right? 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. © 2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.