Zighelboim opened 1ª in second seat and North doubled. Steve Hamaoui made a very aggressive raise to 4ª and, when that came round to North, he doubled again, ending the auction.The opening lead was the § K to declarer’s ace. Zighelboim could see possibilities of playing the hand on a cross-ruff, but that would leave her one trick short of her contract even if everything passed off peacefully. At trick two she led her singleton heart and, when North played low, finessed the jack! It is unusual to finesse when you have a singleton and both king and queen are missing, but it was the key play on the deal, bringing the trick total outside trumps to four. Now the stage was set for the cross-ruff. Zighelboim cashed the © A, pitching a diamond, and proceeded to ruff three clubs in the dummy and three hearts in hand, cashing the ¨ A along the way, for a magnificent +590.

From the moment that Odette Zighelboim raised to 2© , Hamaoui was just concentrating on being allowed to play the hand at whatever level he could. Accordingly, he decided to go slowly and ‘reluctantly’ be pushed up by his opponents. 3¨ was ostensibly a game try and he later bid hearts at the lowest available level each time he had to. Alas, the Jamaicans were too wily for him this time. They had seen this gambit before and bid on to the good 7¨ save. The defense took what they could against 7¨ doubled, leading the ª A and, on getting a small card from partner, giving him his club ruff. That meant three down for –500. Only one other pair in any of the three events managed to take 7¨ three down.

A more straightforward approach led to a contract of 6© making at the other table so Jamaica picked up 12 IMPs on the deal.