Contract Bridge

This deal was played by many-time national and world champion Bob Hamman in the 1986 Grand National Teams championship, won by his Texas team. He and his partner, Bobby Wolff, reached six clubs, against which West made the most effective lead, the king of spades.

Hamman took the ace and could have banked everything on a club finesse. This would have resulted in losing the slam as the cards lie.

But Hamman didn’t become one of the world’s greatest players by relying on a finesse when a reasonable alternative was available. So, after taking the first spade, he cashed the A-K of hearts, discarding a spade from dummy, then led a diamond to the ace.

Next came the diamond queen, covered by the king and ruffed by declarer. A heart ruff felled West’s queen, establishing the ten, and Hamman was now at the crossroads.

One possibility was to trump a low diamond to establish the suit, then try a club finesse, planning to discard two spades on the J-5 of diamonds after trumps were drawn. But Hamman had good reason to suspect the club finesse would fail. West had thus far shown up with the Q-J-x of hearts and apparently had a good spade suit. If he also had the king of clubs, he probably would have opened the bidding.

So, after ruffing the heart, Hamman next cashed the ace of clubs, then played the jack of diamonds, discarding a spade, and ruffed a diamond. The ten of hearts was then led, West ruffing with the four and dummy overruffing. When dummy’s good diamond was now led, East ruffed with the king as Hamman discarded his last spade, and the slam was home.

At the other table, North-South bid and made exactly five clubs, so Hamman’s team gained 13 IMPs on the deal. Every one of those points proved absolutely vital, because the Texans won the match by just 1 IMP.