Headliner
By Mark Horton In 1st IMSA World Masters Championships On 18th May 2019
Some players always seem to make the news, none more so in recent years than Boye Brogeland. Along with his partner Christain Bakke, he was at it again on this deal from the third session of the Open Pairs at the 2019 IMSA World Masters:
The popular contract was 3NT, usually reached via 1NT-3NT.
With diamonds 2-2 and the K onside you would hope there was a way to take all the tricks via squeeze, but not everyone managed it.
After a spade lead one way to do it is to win in dummy, cash a couple of diamonds and play the J covered by the king and ace. Declarer then plays to reach this position:
The last diamond forces West to part with a heart. The 8 is discarded having done its work and East throws a club. When declarer crosses to dummy with the Q East is the victim of a non-simultaneous double squeeze.
However, it is clear that 6 is a good spot for NS – even if there is a diamond loser the club finesse will be enough to see you home as you can ruff a heart. However only player considered introducing the diamond suit:
The critical decision was to bid 4, risking that NS might have to play in 5 when a higher scoring 3NT was available. North’s 4 cue bid inferentially promised fair support for diamonds. Naturally declarer took all the tricks, +1390.