Goren on Bridge

North-South never bid any suits, so there was no reason for West to lead anything but fourth best from his longest suit. South was able to place West with exactly four spades when East played the king at trick one. West would not have led the two from queen-jack-ten-eight-two. South captured East’s king with the ace and paused to make a plan.

The contract was not very good. There were only seven top tricks. Clubs might provide an eighth trick, but where could South find a ninth? The only possibility was in diamonds. The normal double finesse in diamonds offered an excellent 75 percent chance for an extra trick, but he would need two entries to dummy, and the only sure entry was the ace of clubs. That would be enough if East held both missing diamond honors, but that was against the odds — far less than 75 percent.

South decided that his best chance required him to risk his contract, and an additional undertrick, with a finesse for the jack of clubs. He cashed the king of clubs, in case the jack was singleton, and continued with a low club. He inserted dummy’s 10 when West played low. Success! He next ran the jack of diamonds to West’s king. West cashed three spade tricks and exited with a safe club to dummy’s now stiff ace. A diamond to the nine held the trick and declarer’s total was up to nine. Nicely done!

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