Today’s deal was played many years ago in New Zealand, where locals are nicknamed kiwis, at least by Australians. South was New Zealand expert Malcolm Sims. North, whose splinter bid was a bit exuberant, was a young Paul Marston, who would later emigrate to Australia and accomplish some great things in bridge.
Sims saw that he could win the opening diamond lead and draw trumps, after which there would be an excellent chance of developing a diamond winner for a club discard. The problem was that the defense would surely shift to clubs, and unless there was a lucky blockage in clubs, they would take three club tricks to defeat the contract.
Sims found a clever way to improve his chances. He smoothly ducked the opening lead and allowed the Queen of diamonds to hold the trick. West might have shifted, but who would do that? It seemed that attacking diamonds was a good start for the defense. West continued with a low diamond to East’s 10 and Sims’s ace. Sims now drew trumps, ending in his hand, and ran the nine of diamonds. The ace of hearts and a heart ruff gave him an entry to dummy, and he discarded a club on the king of diamonds. Ten tricks and a nice reward for enterprising play.
