Bridge Spectaculars 3
The Genius of Belladonna
(Majorca, 1967)
Previous deal - Home - Next deal

Contract : 3NT by South       Lead : ♠6

  Dummy (N)
♠ 8 (4)
♥ 10 8 7 5
♦ J 9 8 6 4 2
♣ A
Tricks won
NS : 1
EW : 0
West (Baird)
♠ A J 7 (6) 3 2
♥ K Q
♦ A 10 3
♣ K J
Next
East
♠ (9)
♥ 9 4 3 2
♦ 7 5
♣ Q 10 9 8 7 6
  Declarer (Belladonna)
♠ (K) Q 10 5
♥ A J 6
♦ K Q
♣ 5 4 3 2
 

Trick 1
Declarer (Belladonna) wins the trick with the ♠K !!!   Why ?
The bidding shows West with a 6-card spades suit. East had a singleton, gone after the first trick.
But Belladonna wants Baird to believe her Partern (East) has the ♠10. This would be a vital card to set up Baird's spade suit.
This keeps West away from Declarer's weak suit ♣. The lead of the ♣K (by an experienced player) would spell defeat of the contract. (The bidding suggest East holds at least 6 clubs.)

Keep in mind that this deal is played in a teams competions. An overtrick alters little to the score (in terms of IMPs), but a Game contract defeat would be a massive result.

© 2002 Andrew Ward, from his book 'Bridge's Strangest Hands'
Published by Robson Books, 64 Brewery Rd. London N7 9NT