Dramatic Double
By WBF In 15th World Bridge Series, Articles On 6th October 2018
When two partnerships chasing the title met in the Mixed Pairs final they encountered these dramatic deals:
When East led the 5 declarer ended up with all the tricks as East discarded a heart, +1020.
I have a feeling David Bird’s computer would opt for the A – remind me to ask him.
East led his club – nothing else is better – and declarer ruffed in dummy. The simple line now is to come to hand with a diamond and then play a club – East can score the Q, but declarer will ruff two clubs in dummy for eleven tricks. In practice declarer ruffed a spade at trick two and played a club. This line is still fine, but unaccountably declarer played the A and East’s ruff effectively cost two tricks, as declarer now had a losing as well as a heart and the ruff.