Goren on Bridge

North stretched a bit with his four-spade bid, but that is normal in a competitive auction. North’s bid was sound.

West won the first trick with his ace of hearts lead and continued with a heart at trick two. East ruffed and shifted to the king of clubs. South, worried that East might have a six-card club suit, won with dummy’s ace. This is the kind of deal that experts take pride in. Non-experts will draw the trumps and try to cash the diamonds for 10 tricks. When diamonds split 4-1, they curse their luck and move on to the next deal. An expert will think: “What can I do if the diamonds split poorly?”

Our expert declarer led a spade to his king and then cashed the queen of spades. He exited with his remaining club. West played his 10, but East saw that a third round of clubs by the defense would only help declarer, so he overtook the 10 with the jack and shifted to the jack of diamonds. Declarer won with his ace, led a low spade to dummy’s ace, and ruffed a club, leaving West with no more clubs.

He cashed his last trump, the jack, and discarded a diamond from dummy. East was helpless. In this three-card ending, East could not hold onto

his high club and three diamonds. East discarded a diamond and the king, queen, and five of diamonds took the last three tricks. Very nicely played!

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