Today’s deal is from the recent Norwegian Pairs Championship. Down south was Norwegian star Christian Bakke, who cruised to victory in the event.
The opening spades lead was a clear singleton, and ducking it made no sense. Bakke raised with dummy’s ace, led a heart to his ace, and cashed the queen of hearts, drawing trumps. At this point Bakke might have led spades. East would have to find the diamond shift immediately to beat the contract. Bakke found a brilliant solution that left the defenders with no chance.
Backe knew that West had only minor-suit cards left, and West had to lay down all the high cards in those suits for his opening bid. Backe cashed the ace of diamonds and went out with the jack of diamonds next to West’s queen. West chose to keep the diamonds ahead, making it easier for Backe. The better defense for West at this point would have been to cash the ace of clubs and lead another club. Backe was ready for that, too. Backe would have won the hand with the king and moved to dummy with the king of hearts. He would have cashed dummy’s queen of clubs and led another club, dropping two spades from his hand. West would now have been forced to give up a ruff-sluff and give Backe his contract. Well played!
