Kiwi triumph
The Hindu
Charles Wigoder, from New Zealand, has been an important member of the bridge community in New Zealand for several decades. His reputation has been built mostly as an administrator, but he is also a fine player. He was South, in today’s deal.
The opening spade lead went to dummy’s jack and East’s king. East returned the suit to dummy’s ace. Wigoder led the 10 of clubs from dummy, covered by East with the jack and won in hand with the queen. West’s heart discard to this trick was very revealing. Wigoder led his king of hearts and continued with the queen when West held up his ace. West won the second heart and shifted to a diamond, hoping to disrupt declarer’s communication.
Wigoder won with dummy’s ace of diamonds and cashed the king and queen, discarding a low spade and his remaining heart. At this point, East had followed suit to two spades, two hearts, and three diamonds. He was known to have started with six clubs, so Wigoder had a perfect count on the hand. He led a club from dummy and elegantly played low from his hand when East played the nine. East was down to only clubs and had to lead one, so Wigoder scored his ace and eight of clubs for nine tricks. Well played!
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