Since the star of the hand was Paul’s team-mate in the Crockfords Cup, Hugh McGann, we selected it as an example of David’s writing. The hand came from the 2005 Transnational teams in Estoril.

“West’s 2D bid showed the values for a weak two-bid in one of the major suits. East’s 2H meant that he was happy to play at that level if West’s suit was hearts. McGann’s leap to 5C ended the auction, and West led Ace and another heart. Declarer ruffed the second round of hearts, noting the fall of the jack and king from East. How would you continue to play?

McGann drew trumps in three rounds, pleased to see that East did not hold a trump trick. East had clearly opened 1C  on a hand of the weak no trump type. Since he was marked with two hearts and three clubs, his shape was likely to be 4-2.4-3. In that case, the odds favoured him to hold the JD. McGann saw that East would have problems if the trump suit was run.

Trumps were run and West threw the D7, a count signal to alert East to the diamond position. With one trump still to be played, McGann cashed two diamonds to confirm the position in that suit. Now West had HQ75 and H8 . Dummy had SJ9 and HQ10 and East SA10 and DJ8.

McGann led his last club, West and dummy pitching a heart. What could poor Louk Verhees discard in the East suit? If he threw a diamond, declarer would score an extra trick in that suit. If instead he threw the S10, he would be end played with a spade. He could throw the AS but then declarer could lead a spade and although West could win he would have to concede the last two tricks.

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