Goren Bridge: Brilliancy in the Gloaming

Weekly Sunday bridge

Our thanks for today’s deal goes to Chris Dixon, from London. The deal is from a late-night rubber bridge game in London. East had enjoyed a few too many adult beverages and he was annoying the other players. Most evenings, they would not allow East to play in his current condition, but there was no other fourth available at this hour and they would rather play with him than go home.

North-South were playing the weak no trump, very popular in England, so North’s raise to two no trump showed 15-17 points. Through his self-induced haze, East saw his partner’s seven of hearts lead. Declarer played low from dummy and East cleverly applied the “Rule of Eleven”. He knew that he could win the trick by playing his jack of hearts, but what then? Partner could not have much more than the king of hearts and it seemed that defeating this contract was a hopeless task.

East came up with a brilliant plan. In one smooth move, he played his ace of hearts and returned the jack. He expected his partner to win the king and clear the suit with a third round of hearts, on which East would discard the king of diamonds! South would have no route to nine tricks without allowing West on lead with the jack of diamonds and the defense would prevail. “This is great”, thought East, “They will be talking about me for weeks here at the club.”

As East’s jack of hearts hit the table, the other players pointed out that the opening lead was not the seven of hearts, but the seven of spades. East was, in fact, the talk of the club for several weeks.