Goren Bridge: Tiny Difference
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Goren Bridge: Tiny Difference

The Hindu  

Today’s deal is from a match between a team from the USA and a team from Indonesia. Both declarers won the opening lead and led a spade to West’s ace, and both Wests continued with the ace and another trump to South. West covered with the king and Greco won with dummy’s ace. Greco ruffed a spade in dummy and led the 10 of clubs for a ruffing finesse. West could have ruined declarer’s timing and defeated the contract by not covering the queen of diamonds, but West, like most of us, could not see into the future.

West Greco  spade  diamonds  tiny  wests  queen  goren  difference  bridge  team  won  west  ace  led  greco

History of this topic

Goren Bridge: The illusion
1 day, 19 hours ago

Goren Bridge: The illusion

The Hindu  

South’s five-club bid is perfectly reasonable. He did not know whether or not four spades was making — it wasn’t — but five clubs might also make and it could not be a very expensive sacrifice. West found the most effective lead of a trump, preventing any real chance of ruffing two hearts in dummy. South’s first thought was that …

The Clutch Play: Sabine Auken's Brilliant Defense Against West's Aggressive Pre-emptive
2 months, 2 weeks ago

The Clutch Play: Sabine Auken's Brilliant Defense Against West's Aggressive Pre-emptive

The Hindu  

A women's event from 2024 shows how players will go to extremes to interfere after a strong club opening. The opening diamond lead went to East's ace, and she devilishly returned a low diamond to force declarer to ruff. She saw a way out of this provided East started with at least three clubs, so she cashed the ace and …

Goren Bridge: Fancy Methods
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Goren Bridge: Fancy Methods

The Hindu  

Many new bidding ideas have become popular in various parts of the world. East won the opening heart lead with the ace as South, cleverly played the king. South needed the ace of clubs onside, as well as some other things going his way, so he rose with dummy’s king of clubs, winning the trick as East played the queen. …

Goren Bridge: Intricate deal
5 months ago

Goren Bridge: Intricate deal

The Hindu  

Today’s deal is from the recent Norwegian Pairs Championship. Bakke rose with dummy’s ace, led a heart to his ace, and cashed the queen of hearts, drawing trumps. Bakke cashed the ace of diamonds and exited with the jack of diamonds to the West’s queen. A better defence from West at this point would have been to cash in on …

Goren Bridge: Seeking information
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Goren Bridge: Seeking information

The Hindu  

The auction and the final contract in today’s deal were routine, but the play was a step above. The opening spade lead went to East’s ace and East returned a spade to South’s king. Many players would cash the ace and queen of clubs, thinking that they could only pick up a poor club split if West had the length. …

Goren Bridge: Plan ahead
11 months, 4 weeks ago

Goren Bridge: Plan ahead

The Hindu  

South won the opening club lead with his ace and drew trumps in three rounds, ending in his hand. He led a spade to dummy’s queen and then a diamond to his king and West’s ace. South should have won the club opening lead and led a spade to the king before touching trumps. South could win and draw trumps …

Goren bridge: Some writers can play
1 year ago

Goren bridge: Some writers can play

The Hindu  

South in today’s deal was Barry Rigal, of New York. Rigal ruffed a spade, cashed the ace of hearts, and led another heart. Dummy’s ace won the trick as Rigal shed a low diamond. Should East duck, Rigal would duck a diamond in both hands, losing to the now singleton ace. Even if East held a low diamond instead of …

Goren bridge: Foresight
1 year, 1 month ago

Goren bridge: Foresight

The Hindu  

South in today’s deal was Ferit Tavlan, from Germany. He would surely come to nine tricks if the club suit provided six of them, but he did not want to overtake his queen of clubs. The queen of spades was a possible entry to dummy, if West held the ace, but the defense would probably see this. East could shift …

Goren Bridge: Discovery
1 year, 1 month ago

Goren Bridge: Discovery

The Hindu  

Today’s deal is from a team match in Europe. McGann was not particularly surprised to hear East open one club. Many European players open one club with 12-14 point balanced hands, regardless of their length in the minor suits. McGann cashed two high diamonds, hoping for the jack to fall. Had East shed both high spades, West would have won …

Goren Bridge: The Battle
1 year, 2 months ago

Goren Bridge: The Battle

The Hindu  

A pretty normal auction. He led a low diamond toward the dummy, and West rose with his king of diamonds to lead another trump. West led a low diamond to East’s ace, who led his last trump. The winning line was to rise with dummy’s ace at trick one and lead a club to the jack. Should the defense lead …

Goren Bridge: Surprise information
1 year, 3 months ago

Goren Bridge: Surprise information

The Hindu  

North’s two-diamond response to South’s two-club opening showed a negative hand – fewer than seven points. West, who might have led his singleton club to terrible effect for the defense, led the ten of diamonds and East quickly cashed two high diamonds and then led the eight of diamonds. The eight looked like a suit-preference signal for spades, although it …

Goren Bridge: Thoughtful play
1 year, 5 months ago

Goren Bridge: Thoughtful play

The Hindu  

The opening jack of spades lead went to the queen, king, and ace. South saw that he would need a successful diamond finesse to get up to 12 tricks. When West followed to the queen, it became perfectly safe for South to overtake the queen with dummy’s ace. And the poor split in diamonds made South’s care in the club …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
4 years, 1 month ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

The correct action with the South hand over East’s pre-empt is not clear, but South’s choice of double was certainly reasonable. Sontag realised that there was no chance for the king of spades to be right, as East couldn’t possibly have that card along with diamond strength and the king of clubs. Sontag captured the king with his ace and …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
4 years, 11 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

South’s slightly aggressive jump rebid caused North to use Key Card Blackwood — standard among today’s tournament players. The fiveclub response showed zero or three key cards, among the four aces and the king of the agreed trump suit. North, presuming three key cards due to South’s jump rebid, continued with five diamonds, asking for the queen of trumps. A …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 1 month ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

Hard Luck Louie was hoping for a strong finish in the club’s Saturday night duplicate when he became declarer in this tricky game contract. He played low from dummy on the opening club lead and won East’s 10 with his ace. Larry led a low diamond to the queen, winning the trick, and led dummy’s last trump for the proven …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 3 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

Sometimes a great player makes a great play that is difficult to explain. At the other table, South won the opening heart lead in hand and led a low spade to dummy’s jack, which East allowed to hold. A second club forced dummy to ruff and South couldn’t avoid the loss of two trumps and two clubs. McCallum also won …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 5 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

South played low from dummy on the opening seven of spades lead, overtaken by East with the eight. Declarer decided East likely had a six-card spade suit and a hold-up play would be pointless, so he won the opening lead with his ace. The queen of hearts was ducked, but East won the heart continuation with the ace and led …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 7 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

The hold-up play is common in bridge. South played low from dummy on the opening heart lead, and East made the key defensive play of playing low from his hand, allowing dummy’s 10 to win the trick. Declarer led a low spade to his jack and continued with the ace of spades after the 10 fell from East on the …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 8 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

Would you have bid three diamonds with the East hand? The lead now looked like a doubleton and allowed Shenkin to place East with a seven-card diamond suit. Shenkin won the diamond opening lead with his queen and cashed the ace of hearts, noting the fall of the jack from East. Playing East for a seven-card diamond suit, however, Shenkin …

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones
5 years, 9 months ago

Goren Bridge by Bob Jones

The Hindu  

Puppet Stayman has a big following among tournament players. South was known to hold a four-card spade suit when he bid three no trump, or he would have bid four hearts, so the lead-directing double was the only way to get West to lead a spade. The contract went one down when East had the ace of diamonds along with …

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