GOREN BRIDGE

LOOKS EASY

Opening lead: Jack of

Hard Luck Louie was doing well in the club’s Saturday night duplicate when he became declarer on this deal. North’s two no trump bid was an enquiry and Louie showed a minimum.

The opening diamond lead was covered by the king in dummy and won by East with the ace. East shifted to the queen of hearts and the defense took two heart tricks. The defense still had a certain club trick to come and Louie was down one. “Is every card going to be offside for me for the rest of my life?” asked Louie.

Lucky Larry declared the same contract with the same opening lead. Instead of covering the jack of diamonds, however, Larry played low from dummy! A second diamond went to the king and ace and was ruffed by Larry. Trumps were drawn in two rounds, ending in dummy, and the established queen of diamonds provided a discard for a low heart. Larry played the ace, king, and another club, eventually ruffing his last club in dummy. The defense took a heart trick but Larry made his contract. Nicely done!

This was a simple deal, but many players would have missed the winning play. The good players, like Larry, make it look so easy.