This week, we will be featuring some well-played deals featuring North American bridge stars who were juniors in the 1990s.
At the 1999 World Junior Teams in Fort Lauderdale, Chris Willenken of the USA2 team picked up a game swing against Israel in the round robin. Chris has since won the prestigious Vanderbilt Knockout and a gold medal in the 2023 World Mixed Teams. He is now a core member of the Rosenthal team for NABC events.
Willenken sat South here. Both tables declared three no-trump from the South seat on a transfer auction after East had opened one club, and both Wests untrustingly led a heart rather than a club. The Israeli declarer tried to maximize his chances in hearts; he ducked in dummy and won the heart trick cheaply in hand. He next used up his entry to dummy by taking the spade ace to finesse diamonds. He then pressed on with that suit. However, East won with his diamond king and set up the hearts, with plenty of ways to regain the lead. Since he still had a heart left to reach his partner, the defense could set the hand one trick.
By contrast, at the table where Willenken sat South, he focused correctly on the problem of entries to dummy. He was prepared to sacrifice the slim chance of an extra heart trick to maximize his chances of getting to dummy twice. He put up the heart queen at the first trick, and when it held, he now had two entries to dummy to play diamonds for five tricks. That was enough for the contract.