Goren bridge: Wild hand – The Hindu

Today’s deal is from a match between a team from Poland and a team from Brazil. At the other table, North passed over West’s three-club bid and there was no more bidding. Three clubs scored nine tricks.

At this table, North aggressively supported spades at the three level and South, Polish expert Krzysztof Martens, carried on to game. Martens ruffed the opening club lead in dummy and led a heart toward his king. East rose with his ace and shifted to a trump, won by Martens in hand. He led the queen of clubs, covered with the king, and ruffed in dummy. East did not over-ruff with his natural trump trick, discarding a diamond instead. Martens led a low diamond from dummy and ruffed East’s queen. He cashed his two top spades, followed by the king of hearts, seeing the queen fall from East. Martens led a heart to dummy, which East ruffed with his last trump. East led the ace of diamonds, but Martens discarded instead of ruffing and East had to lead a diamond to dummy, giving declarer the rest of the tricks and his contract. Beautifully done!

Note that both East and South made excellent plays when they refused to over-ruff. It was South’s day to come out on top.