Goren Bridge

South was pleased to have play for his contract. Should the hearts split 2-2, or if there was a singleton queen, South could make his contract unless the clubs were extremely foul. The problem was that hearts didn’t rate to split 2-2 on this auction. East’s pass over five hearts was an invitation for partner to bid on to five spades with a suitable hand. East would surely have doubled holding two hearts, with or without the queen.

South ruffed the opening spade lead and cashed the ace and king of hearts, confirming that he had a trump loser. He still had a chance if he could discard three diamonds from dummy on his clubs. This required that West follow suit to four rounds of clubs, so South screwed his courage up and led a low club to dummy’s 10! He cashed the king of clubs, ruffed a spade back to his hand and cashed two high clubs, shedding diamonds from dummy. West ruffed the fifth club, but South discarded another diamond from dummy and only lost one diamond and one trump. Making five!

What is wrong with this picture? West shouldn’t ruff the fifth club. He should just discard a spade. Then he can win declarer’s diamond exit and draw dummy’s last trump. South will have two diamond losers after all. Anything else wrong? Yes! South can make his contract by cashing only one high heart. West would not then be able to prevent a diamond ruff in dummy without sacrificing his heart trick.

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