Brian Senior
Brian Senior
wikipediaBrian R. Senior (born 1953) is a professional bridge player and writer from Nottingham. He has represented Great Britain, England, Northern Ireland and Ireland in international competition and has won all the major English Bridge Union teams competitions. Senior is also the editor and publisher of the annual official world championship book, under World Bridge Federation auspices Senior played once in the World Team Olympiad, on the Ireland open team in 1988, which finished 15–16th in a field of 56. Since 23 August 2019, Senior has been Saturday bridge columnist for The Daily Telegraph. Sometimes, a trump reduction and endplay may allow what appears to be an impossible contract to succeed.
7 6 4 K J 3 A K 6 2 A Q 5
Q J 8 3 10 9 8 Q 10 7 8 6 4 Q 7 6 4 2 J 8 5 3 10 9 7 2
A K 10 9 5 2 A 5 9 4 K J 3
6 is an excellent contract. Declarer wins the heart lead and plays a top trump, ready to claim his contract if both defenders follow suit. When East shows out, declarer will curse his luck as West turns out to have all four missing trumps. All is not yet lost, however, though some good fortune will be required. Declarer continues by playing ace, king and a third diamond, ruffing low. Three rounds of clubs and the king of hearts are cashed and now declarer must judge whether to ruff the last diamond or heart in hand. The heart is the normal choice and if everything has passed off peacefully declarer’s last three cards are the king, ten and nine of spades. Exiting with the ten or nine endplays West, who comes to only one of his two ‘certain’ trump winners.

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