Slow Commitment

Goren Bridge


Bob Jones

Dlr: South ♠ A K 9 8 3 2
Vul: E-W 8 2
A K J
♣ K J
♠ J 10 7 4 ♠ 5
K Q J 9 7 6 5 3
8 3 10 9 7 6
♣ 10 9 2 ♣ 8 7 4 3
♠ Q 6
A 10 4
Q 5 4 2
♣ A Q 6 5
South West North East
1 Pass 1♠ Pass
1NT Pass 2♣* Pass
2NT Pass 3♠ Pass
4♠ Pass 4NT Pass
5♠ Pass 7NT All Pass

*New minor forcing
Opening lead: K
North would have bid 3♠ at his second turn if he intended an invitational sequence. Bidding the “new minor” first made the 3♠ bid forcing. North-South were playing Key Card Blackwood. North held the ♠K, so he read South’s 5♠ response as showing two aces plus the queen of trumps, spades on this auction. North made the inspired decision to bid the grand slam in notrump, where a bad trump split might be overcome.
South won the opening heart lead in hand with the ace. He saw that a 3-2 split in spades would see him home, but like any good declarer, he was in no rush to start playing on spades. He crossed to dummy with the A and cashed the K J and the ♣K J, before returning to his hand with the ♠Q.
He discarded dummy’s heart on the Q and two spades on the ♣A Q. This left a three-card position with North holding the ♠A K 9 and South holding the ♠6 and the 10 4. West could not keep the Q and three spades, so he discarded the Q, hoping that his partner held the 10. No luck for him as South, took the last three tricks with the 10 and the ♠A K. Well played!

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