2015 leaves many bridge players with mixed emotions. I have played in more wonderful, high-level tournaments than ever before (Iceland, Vilnius, Cavendish Monaco and Lederer to name four) but all of them were overshadowed this August by the greatest cheating scandal in bridge history. Four world-class pairs were outed and banned awaiting trial, three of their teams withdrawing from the Bermuda Bowl as they had qualified with cheats. For my last column of the year I want to pay tribute to possibly the greatest player of all time — USA’s Bob Hamman. I have taken the hand unashamedly from Bobby Wolff’s marvellous book of his favourite deals and it shows Bob’s genius at work in defence:
Wolff (West) led ♠7, dummy played low and Bob (East), reading partner’s 7 as his lowest, correctly inserted the ♠Jack which declarer ruffed.
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