This deal was played during a Pair contest, and Garozzo was North. He and his partner had been having a run of bad luck and desperately needed to make game…
The Palm Beach Post – Sep 29, 1967
9 5 2
Q 10 8 6
Q J 10 5
K 10
A K 3
A 7
A 9 8 7 6
9 8 7
West
North
East
South
1
1NT
Pass
2NT
Pass
3NT
All Pass
Garozzo
This deal was played during a Pair contest, and Garozzo was North. He and his partner had been having a run of bad luck and desperately needed to make game, which explain why they reached the optimistic bid of 3NT on rather indifferent hands.
West opened Q on which East played the 6. At that point, Forquet (south) paused to evaluate the possibilities offered by the hand. There were no entries to dummy. He couldn’t hope that the A would be in West hand, for East’s opening bid had indicated that he held the honors. If South played the A in the closed hand and then ran diamonds, he could count on taking eight tricks.
Since all the visible odds were against him, he decided to pin his faith on the Spades being unevenly divided and took the first trick with the A, cashing the K next and then leading the 3. Luck was with him: the Spades turned out to have been divided 5-2 and East took two Spade tricks on which South discarded two clubs in the closed hand and two hearts in dummy.
East led a Diamond, which was correct, inasmuch a Heart or Club lead would have given South two tricks. However, the lead provided Forquet with the much longed opportunity of entering dummy, which he did and ran the diamonds for the following position:
Q 10
K
A 7
9
K 7
Or
A (7)
If East was left with the K guarded and an unguarded A. South could lead the 9, allowing his opponent to take the trick with the A. East would then have to lead a Heart into South’s A and the Q in dummy.
If, on the other hand East was left with the K unguarded and the A, South would lead the A in the closed hand, then cash the Q in dummy and allow East to take the final trick with the A.
Here is the diagram of the entire deal:
9 5 2
Q 10 8 6
Q J 10 5
K 10
