Goren on Bridge

Today’s deal is from a rubber bridge game, where overtricks are not important. South played dummy’s queen of hearts on the opening lead, losing to East’s king. East accurately shifted to the seven of diamonds. Declarer played the 10 from his hand and lost to West’s queen. West reverted to hearts and South won with dummy’s ace.

South cashed the ace and king of spades, drawing trumps, and then cashed three rounds of clubs to discard his heart loser. He ruffed dummy’s last heart with the jack of spades and led his low spade to dummy’s 10. He tried a diamond to the king, but West won with his ace and led a diamond to East’s jack for the setting trick.

Declarer could have made this one. Can you spot how? There were nine tricks to start with and the diamond suit offered an excellent chance for a tenth if East could be prevented from leading a diamond early. South should have played low from dummy on the opening heart lead! He could win the heart continuation — nothing else is better for the defense — and draw trumps with the ace and king. Three rounds of clubs would allow him to discard his remaining heart and ruff a heart with the jack of spades.

He could now cross to dummy with the 10 of spades and lead a diamond, covering any card played by East. West would win, but he would have to give up a ruff-sluff or lead a diamond. 10 tricks either way.

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