Hand of the Week
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1♥ | ||
| Pass | 1♠ | Pass | 2♣ |
| Pass | 2♦ | Pass | 3♣ |
| Pass | 3♥ | Pass | 4♥ |
| All Pass |
This deal, from the World Transnational Mixed Teams in Istanbul, Turkey, represented a big gain by a team from the host country.
Declarer was Kutluhan Unal of Turkey. He won the opening lead of the ♦2 with dummy’s ace, crossed to the ♣A to play a spade to the jack and ace. East cashed the ♦K, then played a low heart to dummy’s jack.
Unal cashed the ♠K, pitching a club, ruffed a diamond low, then cashed the ♣K and ruffed a club with the ♥A. At that point, Unal had seven tricks, so when he led a diamond from dummy, East knew that West was going to have to follow to the diamond and that declarer would be able to ruff low for his 10th trick.
East did the best that he could by ruffing with the ♥9, but Unal simply overruffed and played his losing club. West was in at trick 12 with a club and a heart left, while Unal had the ♥K 8 over East’s ♥9 7. No matter what West played, declarer had 10 tricks and a 14-IMP gain (the contract at the other table was a silly 6♣, down four).
The full deal:
